Enlightenment Corner
Antiquity Unveiled

Part 1

Notes | The Preface provides a good introduction to the content of this book.

   The object of publishing these important and startling revelations is not only because they are of universal interest, but to preserve them to the world as well as meet the popular demand of progressive minds in all civilized lands, civilised not by Christianity , but through education and intelligence. The corroborative evidence embraced therein demonstrates con- clusively that Apollonius of Tyana was the Jesus of Nazareth, the so-called Saviour of the Christian Scriptures. This great teacher now returns to earth, and inspires a medium through whom he explains the mysteries which have sur- rounded the origin of so-called Christianity. These facts being so highly important, it seems imperative that they should be widely disseminated; therefore we have concluded to issue them in a volume entitled Antiquity Unveiled. [...]

   This work differs from all others preceding it from the fact that it is dependent upon history only so far as to identify the individuals giving the communications, and to bring to notice collateral facts bearing upon their testimony.* Instead of the conflicting statements of history, we have the cor- roborative testimony from spirit life of those who were con- spicuous in the aneient history of our world. Some of these distinguished individuals were the leading lights in the propagation of the ancient religions from which the teach- ings of Christianity were borrowed. Others of their number lived at and subsequent to the date of the Christian era, and testify definitely as to the part they acted in the origination and promotion of Christianity, as formulated from ancient religions. Many of these witnesses now return and contradict the assertions of Christian writers, viz: that they taught and up- held Christianity while on earth. Others testify that they have learned in spirit life the fallacy of the teachings of Christianity. Still others testify, as they did in earth life, that they knew the teachings of Christianity were not in accord with truth, but were composed of fragments gathered from the decayed religions of the past, and moulded by skillful minds into the shape best suited for their purpose; after which all traces of their ancient origin were destroyed as far as possible, that they might appear as a direct inspiration from God. Hence we cannot expect to find the root of the Christian religion at the comparatively recent date df eighteen hundred years ago, but back through the dim vista of the Oriental ages. Many of these spirit witnesses it appears, fearing for their lives, withheld the truth while on

Notes | The excerpts below are taken from the last page from the three page Introductory.

   [Pg 13] Zoroaster says in his communication: “It will be difficult to find evidence of the truth of what I here reveal in any books now extant, for the reason that whatever was opposed to the Christian religion is no longer found in ancient writings, because of the care with which all such evidence has been eliminated or destroyed by Christian priestly zealots. Only such evidence as could be construed to favor Christianity or which did not in the least oppose it has been allowed to escape similar destruction.* I lived in the days of Belshazzar, Darius Hydaspes and Cyrus. The Jewish Book of Daniel, was abstracted bodily from the books written by myself or through me inspirationally concerning Ormuzd and Mithra. This book contains the account of the actual earthly experiences of Zoroaster at the Court of Nebuchadnezzar and the other kings whom I have already named. In the reign of Darius Hydaspes, I went through the ordeal of being thrust into a lion’s den, but I was attended by a power which protected me from physical injury. It was through what is now known to be superior mesmeric and psychologic power by which I was enabled to calm the fury of the lions. It was I, Zarathustra, who read the writing on the wall in the days of Belshazzar. I assure you I was the Daniel of the Scriptures and the Jews appropriated my work.”

   Now, the all-important question to be decided in this connection is: Are the statements of these ancient witnesses true? If the answer is in the negative, the proof that they are not true must be produced by whoever makes this claim, or they stand unimpeached. Without further comment or explanation, we invite the reader to a careful perusal of the pages of Antiquity Unveiled.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 14

   THE accompanying engraving represents Apollonius of Tyana, who proves to be the Jesus Christ of the Christian Scriptures. It may be interesting to the reader to be informed how the oil painting from which the engraving was taken came into existence.
   In 1874 the owner of the painting in his travels visited the late N. B. Starr, well known as a wonderfully inspired medium, through whom were painted very remarkable spirit portraits, and requested Mr. Starr to execute for him any portrait he felt impressed to paint. He could do nothing in his normal condition in the way of producing them, but while in an unconscious trance condition, with eyes closed, the colors were mixed and applied to the canvas in a masterly manner and with great rapidity.
   When the painting was received, on the lower edge of the canvas was found this inscription: — “The Nazarene, by Raphael. N. B. Starr, Medium.” Nothing was thought of the inscription until about eight years after, when several, of the ancient spirits, Strabo and others, in giving their communications a (full account of which will be found in the body of the work), alluded to the painting, saying that it represented Apollonius as near as it was possible on the earth plane.
   The painting as a work of art is a most marvelous production. Especially is this so from the fact that it was accomplished in four or five sittings of an hour each, through one who never received instruction in the art. Such an undertaking, in the hands of an accomplished artist unaided by spirit power, would require months to finish; even then it is doubtful if the remarkable effect portrayed in this spirit portrait could be produced by mortal hand unaided. Such, briefly, are the circumstances connected with the history of the portrait of Apollonius.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 17.

   “Let our salutation be, the survival of truth and its conquest of Superstition. I was born, according to the Christian calendar, on the 16th day of February, A. D. 2, of wealthy parents; was educated, until my 26th year, in general philosophy and literature, when I served for six years under Euxenes, of Heracleia, learning the Pythagorian philosophy. After acquiring all I could learn from the teachings of that philosopher, I went to Antioch, and from there to Jerusalem. On account of some wonderful physical manifestations of spirit power taking place through my then young mediumship, which persons living in Jerusalem had heard of, my entrance to that city was hailed, as it has been alleged the entrance of Jesus of Nazareth was hailed, with hosannas and songs of praise to one who came in the name of the Lord. And now, mark particularly what I say; this took place when I was thirty-three years of age. I want you to pay the closest attention to what I shall here set forth. You will, by examining Josephus’s work, ‘War of the Jews,’ see, that concerning the siege of Jerusalem a certain prophecy was given, or words were spoken, as is alleged, by Jesus of Nazareth, which were fulfilled. You will find what I refer to, in Matthew, 23d chapter and 35th verse, where the so-called Jesus is made to have asserted that that generation were guilty of all the blood that had been shed from Abel to Zacharias, the son of Baroch, slain between the temple and the altar exactly thirty-four years after the alleged death of Jesus. And you will find this prophecy then fulfilled, while Jesus is made to have said that it was fulfilled in his time; and here you have an example of the unauthenticity of the Christian Gospels. All this I learned at the very time at which Flavius Josephus wrote the history of the ‘War of the Jews,’ for I was employed and used by the Emperor Vespasian as his oracle, when in the same state as this medium is, who now sits before you.

   “Never, during my mortal life, did I desire to be worshipped after death — never did I, as a mortal man, teach such a doctrine. But I was deified after my death. Nine epistles were made a present to me by Phraotes ot Taxila, India, or rather between Babylon and India, who was a satrap, in those days. Those epistles contained all that is embraced in the present epistles claimed to have been written by St. Paul. And from what I have learned, as a spirit, I conclude that I am both the Jesus and St. Paul of the Christian scriptures. Flattering enough to my vanity, but the ruin of my happiness, it is my duty, here, to confess all I can bring to recollection, in order that spiritual darkness may disperse and the light of truth shine in. [...]

   [Pg 19] It was not through any qualities that I possessed different from, or superior to, those of any other man, that I accomplished what I did, but through the spiritual power within and with me. This fact I want to have especially marked. The highest sensitive mortals living in any age or generation, and who are living the nearest in accord with nature’s divine law of truth, will bring forth a child who may be the so-called Saviour of that generation. Those men and women who utter the highest and most beneficial truths to their fellow-mortals are the Saviours of their time.

   “Further, I have this to say, I retired voluntarily, for I was neither ostracised nor banished for anything I had done, said or written, to the same island to which, as is alleged, the St. John of Revelations went, in the years 69 and 70 A. D. I there wrote what occurred through me in a trance state, not knowing what I wrote, an almost identical story with that attributed to the so-called St. John the Revelator. That story was nothing more than an attempt of the spirit world to give the truth of the spirit life, through a mortal organism, in a day and generation that was not ripe to receive it. That is, the medium chosen for the expression of the teachings of spirits was too much imbued with the mysticism of Judea and neighboring countries to be well suited for that purpose.

   “What is known to you moderns as the anti-Nicene Library, contained documents, some of which are still extant, that fully warrant you in challenging the translators of to-day as to the correctness of their production. Let them examine, if they dare, the manuscripts referred to and they will find what is now being published erroneous in many particulars. They have followed too much what their ancestors translated, without having translated for themselves. [...]

   [Pg 20] When I lived on earth all the philosophers who taught men to expect redemption, according to more ancient authorities, taught that such redemption was to happen at that time. From what I have been able to learn as a spirit, I was the person who was designed by spirits to fulfil that mission. I claim no pre-eminence over any one. I only say that my mortal body contained more spirit than the average of men, or even the most highly developed among them, at the time I existed in mortal flesh.

   “My history, as it has come down to you moderns, written by one Damis, and by others afterwards, in regard to the main incidents of my life, is correct, but in regard to the glamour, romance and mystery of the narrative, it has no relation to me whatever. The latter was the work of my disciples and followers after my death, and was promulgated by them.

   “One thing more and I am through with my communication. It is this. Almost every picture that in modern times, is recognized as the likeness of Jesus, is the identical portrait of Apollonius of Tyana, painted in the reign of Vespasian. That emperor consulted me. I was the oracle in his camp. I was the means of saving the life of Flavius Josephus.” [We here asked him how it came that Josephus had made no mention of that fact in his “Jewish War?” He replied.] “The Jewish hierarchy of that day had a horror and dislike of even their best friends who Avere not of their faith, and Josephus being a Pharisee of the straightest sect was even more than usually prejudiced against a Gentile like myself. By this I do not mean that the Pharisees were bad people, but that they were so devoted to their religion as to be bitterly bigoted and prejudiced against those who differed from them.

   “It is my opinion, from all I can learn as a spirit, that all the Christian Gospels are borrowed from, and in fact that their origin was, the books that I brought from India, obtained in part from Phraotes, who was King of Taxila. I think those books were used by the Platonists, Eclectics and Gnostics of Alexandria, about one hundred and fifty years after. I died in the year A. D. 99, at Ephesus, and was 97 or 98 years of age, although some have enlarged the period of my earthly life to 150 years. The originals of the four gospels I obtained through one Hiram Ermandi, of Taxila, who took me forward into Farther India. They were written in characters not unlike those used by the Chinese, on thin, tough paper. They treated of the four stages of the life of Buddha. The first to his incar- nation and birth, the second to his childhood and youth, the third to his mature life, and the fourth to his old age and death. These books I obtained at Singapore, at the extreme point of India, on the strait between India and Sumatra.”

   [We here mentioned to him the fact that one week before we had received a communication from a spirit purporting to be Ulphilas, the Christian bishop of the Goths, who said he had translated from Samaritan manuscripts the epistles and gospels to which he, Apollonius, had referred into the Gothic tongue; and that the manuscripts that he translated Were the writings of himself, after the originals he obtained at Singapore, India. To which he replied.] “One Hegesippus made copies from my translations and modified versions of the originals in the Samaritan tongue and Ulphilas copied from the manuscripts of Hegesippus. I wrote in the Hebraic-Samaritan tongue, which was the language of my country.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 21 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   [Pg 21] As the best condensed sketch of the life of Apollonius that we have been able to find, we have chosen that of the “Penny Cyclopaedia,” London, 1834:
   We feel that we may safely assume as true and proven, the following historical statements concerning Apollonius. He was born of wealthy parents at Tyana in Cappadocia, at the very period when it is alleged the Christian’s Jesus was horn at Bethlehem. At the age of twelve years he was sent to Tarsus in Cilicia, the alleged birthplace and home of St. Paul. Not liking the frivolous habits of the people of that city, with his father’s consent, he retired to AEgae, a town a short distance from Tarsus, where he remained until after attaining to man’s estate. There he studied every system of philosophy, and perfected himself in rhetoric and general literature. There he took up his residence in the temple of Aesculapius, so famed for its miraculous cores, was initiated by the priests of that temple in their mysteries, and performed cures that astonished not only the people, but even those masters of the art of healing. He there finally decided to adopt the philosophy of Pythagoras, and vigorously observed the trying discipline instituted by the Samian sage. He performed the terrible task of five years silence, which he endured cheerfully and without a murmur of complaint. He abstained from animal food, wine and women — lived upon fruits and herbs— dressed only in linen garments of the plainest construction — went barefooted and with uncovered head — and wore his hair and heard uncut. He was especially distinguished for his beauty, his genial hearing, his uniform love and kindness, and his imperturbable equanimity of temper. In these respects he was the personal embodiment of the imaginary traits of the Christian Jesus, and was no doubt the original of the pictures of the so-called Nazarene, now so venerated by uninformed professors of the Christian religion. [...]

   [Pg 23] Quoting Cudworth, Dr. Lardner, in “The Credibility of the Gospel History,” says:

   “Cudworth, in his “Intellectual System,” says: * It is a thing highly probable, if not unquestionable, that Apollonius Tyanseus, shortly after the publication of the gospel to the world, was a person made choice of by the policy and assisted by the powers of the kingdom of darkness, for doing some things extraordinary, merely out of design to derogate from the miracles of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and to enable paganism the better to bear up against the attacks of Christianity.’ So Cudworth, and I suppose that many learned men of late times, may have expressed themselves in a like manner; but I cannot assent to them.”

   He further cites Huet, as follows: “He [Philostratus] aimed,” says Huet, “and thinks it to have been his principal design ‘to obstruct the progress of the Christian religion, by drawing the character of a man of great knowledge, sanctity and miraculous power. Therefore he formed Apollonius after the example of Christ, and accommodated many things in the history of our Lord to Apollonius.” Thus we see that the very learned and pious Christian, Huet, was forced to admit the common identity of Apollonius and Jesus — the first described by Philostratus according to the memoirs of Damis, made in the first century; and the latter described by no one knows whom or when, but certainly not earlier than the beginning of the third century of the so-called Christian era, as now contained in what is called the New Testament. As Christian writers have been forced to admit the identity of the respective narratives, concerning Apollonius and Jesus, the only question that remains to be settled is, which was the original author of the so-called Christian teachings? If this has not already been fully done, there remains very little yet to be done to complete the demonstration that Apollonius of Tyana was that author, and not Jesus of Nazareth, nor Paul of Tarsus, as is wrongly claimed by Christian writers. After stating many reasons for his conclusions, Dr. Lardner, than whom there is no higher Christian authority, says:

   “It is manifest, therefore, that Philostratus compared Apollonius and Pythagoras; but I do not see that he endeavored to make him a rival with Jesus Christ. Philostratus has never once mentioned our Saviour, or the Christians his followers, neither in this long work, nor in the ‘Lives of the Sophists,’ if it be his, as some learned men of the best judgment suppose; nor is there any hint that Apollonius anywhere in his wide travels met with any followers of Jesus. There is not so much as an obscure or general description of any men met with by him, whom any can suspect to be Christians of any denomination, either Catholics or heretics. Whereas I think, if Philostratus had written with a mind adverse to Jesus, he would have laid hold of some occasion to describe and disparage his followers, as enemies to the gods, and contemners of the mysteries and solemnities, and different from all other men.”

   Let it be remembered that Philostratus lived and wrote his life of Apollonius in the reign of Septimus Severus, about the beginning of the third century A. D. At that time there could not possibly have been in existence any of the scripture narratives of the life of Jesus Christ, so nearly analogous to the incidents and events which he related concerning Apollonius. Had there been such persons living, as Jesus Christ and his apostles, and their Christian followers, during the time that Apollonius lived and labored throughout the then civilized world, Damis, who accompanied him during much of that time, and who recorded every thing worthy of especial note, would have made some mention of such people, either favorably or unfavorably. That he did not do so, is of itself sufficient proof that neither Jesus Christ, his apostles nor the Christian religion, had an existence either before or during that period, which was the only time in which they could have had a real existence. At all events, nothing can be more certain than the conclusion of Dr. Lardner, that Philostratus did not write the life of Apollonius to disparage the Christian religion.
   But Dr. Lardner is not content to make that fatal acknowledgment of the Christian plagiarism of the life and labors of Apollonius; but makes an equally fatal acknowledgment in another direction. In disagreeing with Cudworth, Huet and others, as to the life of Apollonius, by Philostratus, having been written to oppose Christianity, Dr. Lardner says:

   “With due submission I do not think that Apollonius was a man of so great importance, as is here supposed; for it does not appear, that any adversaries of the Christians, either Celsus or Porphyry, or any other before Hierocles, at the beginning of the fourth century, under Diocletian’s persecution, ever took any notice of him in any of their arguments. Nor do I know that he has been once mentioned by any Christian writers of the first two centuries. When I first met with the observation of Cudworth [herein before given] I was very much surprised, considering the silence of all early antiquity. If this observation were right, I should have expected to find frequent mention of Apollonius in the history of St. John, and the other apostles of Christ; but there is none. We had in that space of time divers learned men, some of them as eminent for extensive literature as any men that ever lived; as Justin, Tatian, Bardesanes the Syrian, Clement of Alexandria, Irenseus, Julius Africanus, Tertullian, Minucius Felix; not to insist on Clement of Rome, Ignatius, or Polycarp, or the histories of them. Of all these we have some remains; they lived in the first two centuries or the beginning of the third; but of Apollonius they have not taken the least notice.”

   Very true, Dr. Lardner, and why did they not do so? That total silence on the part of those authors of the first and second centuries regarding so eminent a philosopher and teacher as was Apollonius of Tyana, can be accounted for upon but one theory, and that will show that it was a necessity to utterly ignore Apollonius and his philosophical and religious teachings, in order that the Christian religion could gain a foothold to usurp the field he had so grandly occupied. Of all the authors named by Dr. Lardner, the complete works of none of them have come down to us. Besides, the fragmentary remains of the works of the first three centuries that have reached us, have had to pass through the hands of Eusebius, Pope Sylvester I., and their coadjutors and successors, who, from the beginning of the fourth century downward to the time when the art of printing ended it, were so assiduously engaged in interpolating, mutilating and destroying every trace of evidence, within their reach, that showed the real origin and nature of the Christian religion. It should have struck the attention of Dr. Lardner, with vastly greater force, that no where in the books of the New Testament is there a single mention made of Apollonius, if we except in a few verses of 1st Corinthians, where it says. “For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who, then, is Paul, and who Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; hut God gave the increase.” In a very ancient manuscript of this Epistle found in a monastery of France by a Huguenot soldier, called the Codex Beza, the name is not Apollos, but Apollonius. But even this positive clue to the identity of Apollonius with the St. Paul of the Christians was attempted to be obliterated by substituting Apollos for Apollonius, as it originally stood. This studied avoidance of all mention of Apollonius in the Christian Scriptures, is positive proof that his recognition, in any way whatever, by the authors of Christianity would be fatal to their scheme of deception and fraud. We wonder they had not had the cunning to obliterate that one reference to the preaching and teaching of Apollonius, and the admission that his teaching was in perfect accord with the teachings attributed to St. Paul. It is an old saying that liars should have good memories. This was never more apparent than in the oversight of not eliminating that tell-tale confession from the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians. There it stands, and there it will stand, thanks to the art of printing, to confound those Christian enemies of truth, and make clear the fraud they are upholding.

[...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 35

   “I Salute You, Sir:— All subordinate conditions, or such as may be regarded as of an inferior character, must give way where a great object is to be obtained. The spirit opposition to what I am here to say is of the most intense character. Everything has been done that it was possible to do to prevent my coming here. In the first place I know personally the truth of all that I shall here say; secondly, I know that the evidence exists that will support all I say; and thirdly, I know that Apollonius of Tyana, my master or teacher, was the Jesus Christ of the Christians. [...]

   [Pg 35] Apollonius made two journeys to India, and not one as is generally supposed. The last of these was about from A. D. 45 to 50. It was, when on that journey, that he reached Farther India, whence he brought back the Indian gospels in relation to the Hindoo god Christos. The first journey to India, by Apollonius, was about from 36 to 38 A. D. On that journey he only obtained a few extracts from those Hindoo gospels. The first attempt of Apollonius to introduce the religion of Christos in Western Asia was made shortly after his return from India, at Nazarita, a small village near Gaza. He there formed a community according to the Gymnosophic ideas and practices. [...]

   [Pg 36] The most important part of the life of Apollonius extended over the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Xero, Vespasian, Titus, Doniitian, Nerva and into the reign of Trajan. I passed to spirit about 90 A. D. I wrote memoirs of Apollonius from about 34 A. D. to SO A. D. The Greek followers of Prometheus mutilated those memoirs. They were greatly opposed to the introduction of the Indian Christos among the Greeks, and were exceedingly opposed to Apollonius and his teachings. [...]

   [Pg 36] Apollonius was the real Paul, this is rendered plain by the Epistles to Timothy. I was called Timotheus by the Thessalonians. What you have received in relation to Apollonius of Tyana is all true. Apollonius was the founder of the Nazarite sect. The word Nazarite meant to clear off the head bare. Ques. How came the Nazarites, to afterwards take the name of Essenes? Ans. The name Essene is Phoenician, and meant Sun baptism, or fire baptism. The initiation into the sect of the Essenes required the candidate to pass through two flames, one a bright and the other a pale one. [...]

   [Pg 37] Marcion and Lucian obtained mutilated copies of my Memoirs concerning Apollonius and used them in shaping their gospel tragedies.

[...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 37 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   We regard this communication as of the very highest import and value as a means towards solving some of the most perplexing problems connected with the origin and real nature of the Christian religion. [...]

   [Pg 37] Very little can be gleaned from biographical or historical sources concerning Damis, and very little of that can be relied upon, on account of the efforts that have been made to conceal everything possible that was true in relation to Apollonius of Tyana and his Nazarite disciples. We take the following brief reference to him from the Nouvelle Biographie Generale:

   “Damis a Greek historian, of Assyrian origin. He wrote in the first century A. D., and was an inhabitant of New Nineveh. He joined Apollonius of Tyana in that city, and accompanied that thaumaturg in his journeys. He wrote an account of those journeyings, in which he inserted the discourses and prophecies of his master. This work seems to have served as the basis of the Life of Apollonius by Philostratus. The style of it was rude and indicated him to be a foreigner raised among barbarians.”

   The Biographie Universelle in treating of Apollonius of Tyana, alludes to Damis as follows:

   “He (Apollonius) quitted Antioch, followed only by two servants, and went to Nineveh, when chance offered him a new disciple, named Damis, who became his faithful companion and remained attached to him as long as he lived. This young man who was versed in the languages of the East, was very useful to his master on his journey, and constantly expressed for him a religious veneration that often amounted to superstition.

   “Damis had written very full details concerning his master. These writings bequeathed by him to one of his relatives, at a later period became the property of Julia, the wife of Septimius Severus. This princess entrusted to Philostratus, an eloquent sophist of high reputation, the duty of editing the Life of Apollonius, the philosopher of Tyana.” [...]

   [Pg 44] On his second journey to India, he obtained the full Reformed Hindoo Gospels of Deva Bodhisatoua which had been drawn up by Deva, and adopted at the Council of Asoka, by the Buddhist followers of Christos.
   These are points of information in relation to the second journey of Apollonius to India that are worthy of especial attention. The attempt of Azabelle, king of Asoka, to reform the Hindoo religion and weaken the arbitrary power and rapacity of the Buddhist priesthood, as a matter of course, called forth a deadly hostility on the part of the Brahman priesthood; and, although Azabelle was powerful enough to carry his reform over the greater part of India, as the monuments still standing in various parts of that vast country show, yet it is known that in later years the Buddhist reformers were driven into Southern India and finally out of the country, as priests of an established religion, the last Buddhist patriarch, Bodhishormah, taking his departure for China in the early part of the Christian era. The Buddhist reformation took place about from 250 to 290 B. C. When Apollonius went to India in A. D. 45 or 46 in search of the reformed Buddhist gospels, he was compelled to travel into Farther India, as Damis tells us, to find them, on which journey, Damis says he accompanied him. It was there, near Singapore, at the extreme southern limit of Farther India that Apollonius found Iarchus, and through the kind offices of Phraotes, king of Taxila, obtained from him the reformed Hindoo Gospels, of Deva Bodhisatoua with which he returned to his Nazarite followers, and began those modifications of his original plan which led to such bitter opposition on the part of Apollonius of Alexandria, Phygellus and Hermogenes, which Apollonius in his letter to Timotheus, or Damis, refers to as follows, 2d Tim. i, 15:

   “This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.” The spirit of Hermogenes, in his communication, fully explains the nature of the controversy between himself and his Essenian associates arid Apollonius which grew out of Apollonius’s sacerdotalizing tendencies, which were considered by his Opponents as destructive of the communistic polity of the Nazarite sect. [...]

   [Pg 45] In that distant and last refuge of the reformed Buddhism of Deva Bodhisatoua from the hands of Iarchus, the chief of the reformed religion, Apollonius obtained the gospels which he afterward used in propagating the Essenian faith, and which have been since modified into what are called the Christian Gospels. Of these facts there can be no reasonable doubt. It has long been known that the Christian Scriptures could not possibly be what they purported to be, by those who sought, without prejudice, to comprehend them, but to find out where they originated and what they really were, has never been possible until these spirit testimonies in relation to them were given.
   What the spirit says about the reigns of the Roman emperors during which the most distinguished part of the labors of Apollonius of Tyana were performed is certainly true, for they extended from A. D. 33 to A. D. 98 or 99. It has never been known how long Damis lived or whether he survived Apollonius. He tells us he did not, but that he died ten or twelve years before him at Alexandria in Egypt. This accounts for the fact that Damis gave no account of Apollonius’s work while in retirement on the island of Patmos, and his subsequent publication of the Gospel of St John and the Apocalypse, as they are called, at Ephesus, where he closed his long and remarkable labors.
   The spirit explains another point which has been lost sight of in the confusion of the history of the first three centuries of the so-called Christian era, and that is, that the Greek and Roman priestly followers of the God Prometheus were bitterly hostile to the Nazarite and Essenian propagation of the teachings and doctrines relating to the Hindoo Saviour Christos (Chrishna, as he has been miscalled) and not less hostile to Apollonius himself. They no doubt, did all they could to create prejudice and doubt concerning the Christosite teachings of that real founder of the Christian religion. It is impossible to now judge how far the writings of Apollonius came into the hands of Marcion and Lucian in their original shape; those two Greek writers being none others than the St. Mark and St. Luke of the Synoptical gospels; and it is equally impossible to know to what extent the latter altered them before they came into the hands of Eusebius of Caesarea and his contemporaries and coadjutors of the Council of Nice. It is enough to know that in spite of all this modifying by the priests of Prometheus, and the priestly founders of the Orthodox Christian religion, the Apollonian or Essenian Christosism is shown to pervade it from beginning to end, and that there is nothing original or true connected with it as a distinctive or original religion. [...]

   [Pg 47] That being so, it seems certain that through this testimony of Damis we have been taken to the source of Christianity which we find to have been in India, and that instead of its having any relation to Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth, it relates to the Hindoo saviour Christos; and was carried in to the Roman empire by Apollonius of Tyana about the time when it is alleged the mission of Jesus Christ began.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 48.

   [...] “SAIB, I SALUTE YOU: — In all things pertaining to the spirit and mortal life, experience must be the guide and reason the teacher. It is my duty as a spirit, being appointed by the higher order to come here, to tell you what I know of what are termed the Christian Gospels — more particularly those relating to what are termed Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Right here I might go into a personal history of myself, in order that you may understand more thoroughly what I herein set forth. I am of a line of teachers or prophets from Buddha down. Whether you can obtain, through the en cyclopaedias of to-day, the information I shall give you I cannot tell. But if you can obtain the Japanese Encyclopedia of 1821, translated by Abel Remusat, you will be able to learn a great deal about myself. In the Sancrit tongue my name was Deva Bodhisatoua; in the Chinese tongue my name was Phou-sa, and in the Hindoo tongue it was Ma-Ming. I commenced exactly as this man I am using to-day — a trance medium, in the Mahabarata country, and it was I who first taught, in India, long before the Christian era, the metaphysical-allegorical style claimed to have come from one who never existed, called Jesus of Nazareth. These gospels were transferred to Singapore, where they afterwards fell into the possession of Apollonius of Tyana. Their original names, in your modern tongue, would represent the four seasons; but were afterward used, or misused, to typify a saviour of men. The originals, as understood by the Hindoos, were in this way. First, the preparation of the ground — the planting of the seed — the harvest time the gathering in — and the feast time or harvest home. This was what those books, interpreted by the aid of certain stars, in what is now termed the zodiac, meant. The ‘Star in the East’ was simply a signal of seeding time or planting time. Now, these mysteries were used by Hindoos, to show certain things occurring in the life of man that resembled the offices of nature, such as the infancy, youth, maturity and old age or death, of man. You see the beauty of these things when properly understood. [...]

   [Pg 49] In an allegorical sense these writings can injure no one; but when used by priests to gain power — and as they keep the key to themselves — end in enslaving the intellects of their fellowmen. We believed in re-incarnation; we believed, in the language of Buddha, that, as long as there was a decline of virtue in the world, a good man was raised up to re-establish morality; and that this man was either Buddha himself, or that, at his conception, he was over- shadowed by the holy spirit of Buddha. These epistles or gospels brought from India by Apollonius, were modified by him to suit his spiritual nature. Much of the force and sublimity of language in them is lost in their translation through so many different tongues.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 55 Compiler Additional Information

   [Pg 55] [Mr. Roberts in the above comments states that he was unable to find any historical reference to Bodhisatoua, and therefore was compelled to depend upon the works of Abel Remusat for corroboration of the identity of this spirit. Just as the manuscript was being put into type, the most valuable information came to hand from an unlooked for source, which proved to be the much sought after line of patriarchs spoken of in the communication. In this we find that what Bodhisatoua says is absolutely correct, and that he did live at the time stated, did transfer the gospels, etc. We regard it as a most significant fact that just at this time, we should be able to refer our readers to the work of Abel Remusat, entitled “Melanges Asiatiques,” from which the following is translated. — Compiler.]

   “The eleventh of the line of patriarchs was Founayche, who was succeeded by Ma-Ming or the celebrated Phou-sa, his name in Sanscrit was Deva Bodhisatoua. This one who was of the order of the incarnate divinities coming immediately after Buddha has given into the whole class of gods of the second order, the different names that he has received in the lan- guages of the various Buddhistic people. The Hindoos calls him Bodhisatoua, which signifies sensitive intelligence, the Tibetians have changed his name into Djangtchhoub or Djangtchhoubscmspah. The Chinese have abbreviated it into Phou-sa, which by a very ridiculous misunderstanding, some Chinese idolaters, and following them many missionaries have given him the name of Goddess of Porcelain, [...]

   [Pg 56] We do not have at present to seek the allegorical sense of all these names, but it is very important to determine the age of the historical personage to whom they attributed them, for Bodhisatoua seems to have been one of the reformers to whom the Buddhist philosophy is most indebted.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 57

   “OURS IS A WAR FOR TRUTH: — As it was with me in the mortal form, so it is now with me in the spirit. While you fight with benighted souls in the mortal form, I am fighting with the deluded millions in spirit. The school to which I belonged is known to you moderns as the Neo-Platonic; by us it was called the Eclectic. The founder of this school was Ammonius the Peripatetic; but the person who really furnished the materials for this school was Apollonius of Tyana; and all the ideas that this school ever gave forth under Potamon, Ammonius Saccas and myself, were gathered from the originals of the school of that famous Hindoo, known to us by his Sanscrit name of Deva Bodhisatoua. His writings were the foundation, combined with some Platonic writings, which form the whole of what the Eclectic sehool taught. In the first place, the whole history of Jesus of Nazareth, so-called, was started by that Hindoo representing the life of Buddha, and afterward taught by Apollonius of Tyana. In my mortal life I was a particular friend of the Emperor Gallienus. I had frequent conversations with those who claimed to know anything of this Jesus, and proved to them so conclusively that Apollonius was the real Jesus, that my works were destroyed by the Christians; and the next spirit that communicates after me, shall be the one to tell you when and where they were destroyed. This pope comes here by the force of my mediumistic power. I acted in precisely the same capacity to the Emperor Gallienus that Apollonius did to Vespasian, that is, I was his oracle.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 58 Compiler additional information & J.M. Roberts Commentary

   [For the historical record of Plotinus, we refer the reader to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, also Nouvelle Biographie Generale. — Compiler.]

   We have found enough evidence in the works referred to above to show that Plotinus was beyond all question a medium; and no one will deny that he was the first Neo-Platonic Eclectic author of whose writings we have any trace. It is the spirit of this truly great and good man who comes back to testify to facts regarding the Christian Scriptures and religion, which absolutely confirms the spirit testimony of Ulphilas, Apollonius of Tyana, Vespasian, Deva Bodhisatoua, Felix, Ignatius, Gregory, Hegessippus and many others; that the original source of all that is called Christianity was the Scriptures of Buddhism, introduced into Western Asia, Europe and Africa, by Apollonius of Tyana, afterward modified by Amonius the Peripatetic, Potamon, Amonius Saccas, and Plotinus himself.

   [...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 59

   “Good Day; I come here by force, as the preceding speaker (the spirit of Plotinus) told you; and what is worse, I am forced to tell you exactly what I did, when here in the mortal form. When living on earth I was known as Pope Gregory, and what I am here for to-day is to own to the destruction of the Library of the Palatine Apollo, which contained the whole of the writings of the School of Alexandria from the days of Potamon to the days of one Maximus. And what was my excuse for its destruction? Religious bigotry. I made the excuse for it, that I did not want the clergy to have their minds diverted from their holy work by studying heathen literature. But the real cause of my action in that matter was, that there were recorded in that library all the facts that would prove that no such person as Jesus of Nazareth ever existed; and therefore, feeling the weakness and insecurity of my position, I did all I could to strengthen it, by letting as few as possible know what the real contents of that library were.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 60 Compiler Additional Information

   [Pg 60] [It seems to be a disputed question among writers as to whether Gregory I, or Gregory VII, ordered the destruction of the library Palatine Apollo. It is well known, however, that this library was wholly or partially destroyed several times. It is possible, in fact probable, that both of these Popes caused its destruction in the time of their various reigns, and this may be the solution of the much discussed question, which arises from the fact that John of Salisbury is the only authority for the statement that the Palatine Apollo library was destroyed by the order of Gregory, and cites his proclamation to that eflect in his work, “The Policraticus.” Who was John of Salisbury? A historian who was the private secretary of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and through him ambassador to the Papal See, which very fact gave him opportunities to obtain knowledge, the nature of which is not to he carelessly estimated in considering his works, which even to-day, are regarded invaluable. Men like Gregory I, and Gregory VII, whose whole lives were given to perpetuating the power of their church, would certainly not stop at the burning of a library to accomplish their object. Therefore, whether Gregory I, or Gregory VII, caused the destruction of the valuable library in question, the facts which come down to us show that it was destroyed in the interests of the so-called Christian church.— Compiler.]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 61

   “Good Evening, Sir:— My name was Euthalius of Alexandria. I lived in the fifth century and was a commentator on the Pauline Epistles. Those epistles are those which were brought from India by Apollonius, and obtained by the latter through King Phraotes of Taxilla. The Gospel according to Matthew is not original, but is of Armenian origin. The Gospel according St. Mark, was left by Apollonius with the Thessalonians according to the text of the epistle to them. The Gospel according to St. Luke is but a modified version of the legend of Prometheus Bound as rendered by Lucian and Marcion at Rome. The Gospel according to St. John was written by Apollonius of Tyana toward the later part of his life, when he was an old man, on the island of Patinos, where he retired to end his days, in isolation from the human race. That gospel is a blending with what the inspired seer hoped for, and the knowledge which he feared to impart in such terms as uneducated mortals could understand. The Acts of the Apostles relate the doings of Apollonius and his disciples, and this was fully understood by the Gnostics and Neo-Platonists up to the time of Eusebius of Caesarea. Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus, and their followers, were Gymnosophists, Gnostics and Neo-Platonists combined. They had no idea nor intention of promulgating anything but what they regarded as truth.[...]

   [Pg 61] Their teachings had relation to the Brahmanical and Buddhistic canonical narratives concerning the Indian Saviour Krishna. I now see an ethereal spirit of light which appears behind and over you [These words were addressed to us.] who says he is Krishna, of whom the story of his divine origin, persecution by the tyrant Kansa, and miraculous performances were exaggerations; and that his sole work was that of a moral reformer, and his only object to make the people of his country happy. For these services he was worshipped, and regarded as an incarnation of Brahma, or the spirit of the universe. He shows me the figure three repeated four times, by which I understand him to imply that he was born 3333 B. C., in India, at the foot of a mountain near Mathura on the Junna. [We remarked we had always supposed Krishna to have been a myth.] No, he was a man, and the original of all the world’s modern Saviours. The canonical epistles as far as I knew anything about them, were all derived from the writings of Apollonius of Tyana, who, to conceal that fact, has been called Paul or Paul us. The names of James, Peter, John, and Jude, were attached to the other epistles sent to communities too insignificant to be mentioned. All these teachings were appropriated, either successfully or unsuccessfully, by Eusebius of Caesarea, to make good his theological Christian scheme. But, he failing in his purpose to some extent, and I seeing that it was a grand opportunity for me to gain renown, acknowledged their authority and set about establishing what Eusebius had failed to prove true regarding them from his standpoint. I put these Indian writings of Apollonius into my own shape and eliminated from them every mention of Apollonius or Krishna, and substituted therefor Paul, and the Christ idea. This work of Eusebius and myself became the better assured in proportion as the original writings and the traces of them became destroyed. What I have told you is the truth.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 63 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   We refer to account of Euthalius, to Nouvelle Biographie Generale.
   According to the spirit statement of Euthalius, it is very certain that the Gospels of Matthew and John were both the production of Apollonius of Tyana. The former written at an early period of his career, and closely in accordance with the Gymnosophic theology or philosophy; and the latter near the close of his life after he had matured his theological conceptions. There is no doubt that the theological and philosophical views of Apollonius underwent very material modifications as he advanced in his realization of the spiritual department of natural forces and causes, and hence the spiritual nature of the later gospel as compared with the crude, and less spiritually developed characteristics of the first or original gospel of his adoption. [...]

   [Pg 63] The spirit of Euthalius tells us that the Acts of the Apostles relate the doings of Apollonius and his disciples, and that this was fully understood by the Gnostics and Neo-Platonists, up to the time of Eusebius, A. D. 325 to 350. This is undoubtedly the fact, since Saul of Tarsus or St. Paul was no other individual than Apollonius of Tyana himself. Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus and Porphyry were undoubtedly Gnostic followers of Apollonius, and all were what Euthalius testifies they were, as good and pure men as ever lived. It is almost certain, that the divine incarnation in Apollonius’s system of philosophy and theology, was Krishna of the Hindoo theologies called Kristos in the Greek language and known in the various other languages by still other titles, as will be found in other communications.
   The spirit says that the canonical Epistles, so far as he knew anything about them, were all derived from the writings of Apollonius of Tyana; and that to conceal their real authorship Eusebius attributed them to Paul or Paulus, which was but a modification of Pol, the abbreviated name of Apollonius. Euthalius tells us that Eusebius did not perfectly succeed in robbing Apollonius of the credit of his labors, and that he, Euthalius, completed that work. In view of the facts that Euthalius is acknowledged to have broken the Epistles, canonical and Catholic, and the Acts of the Apostles into chapters and verses, in order to add to the contents of the chapters, and as it is also admitted historically, on the testimony of Euthalius himself, that he collated them with the copies in the library of Eusebius Panipliilus at Caesarea, there can be no doubt he was fully acquainted with the alterations that had been made from the originals by Eusebius. Indeed, he tells us that the Indian writings of Apollonius were at that time in the Pamphilian library at Caesarea, and that he modified them to suit himself, and eliminated from them the names of Apollonius and Krishna, and substituted therefor Paul and the Christ idea.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 64

   “Sir: — There has never been a religious idea promulgated on earth in latter times, that lias not had its counterpart in more ancient religious systems. The principal quarrels of the Christian church have been over the doctrines of the Trinity, or the effort to make three out of one. This has been the occasion of a vast amount of bloodshed. In my day I tried to reconcile these credal ideas of all religions systems, and to amal- gamate them together; but the same difficulties met my efforts that meet yours today. Ecclesiastics have but one means to keep their hold upon the people, and that is the encouragement of ignorance and bigotry. Wrest these from them and their power is gone. For trying to regenerate old ideas — for trying to make a better system or a more systematic religion, I was met by curses, and I ended my life in exile. I was banished because I tried to purify the then existing religious systems. But you have a far better day to work in, because you have the aid of the greatest art of modern times, namely, the art of printing, and you can scatter truth all over the land. Keep on with your work and although you may be persecuted there is one thing they cannot do — they cannot banish you nor take your life at this day. All the good you moderns enjoy has been the work of men who were infidels to the prevailing creeds and beliefs of their time.

[...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 67 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   [Pg67] There can be little, if any, reasonable doubt, that Potamon lived at the very time when it is said Jesus lived — that he sought to institute, as the communication says, “A better system, or a more systematic religion,” — that although the writings of all the other founders of religious systems in Greece and at Alexandria, have been preserved and brought down to our time, with the exception of the brief reference to him and writings, by his contemporary Diogenes Laertius, there is not an authentic trace of his writings preserved — that he was an illustrious philosopher and worthy to rank with the founders of the other great Grecian schools, in the estimation of the Eclectic biographer Diogenes — that the latter should have ventured to say so little concerning Potamon and his writings, or if he said more than has come down to us, that what he did say was suppressed by those who sought to rob this great religious reformer of the credit of his beneficent labors [...]

   [Pg 68] Potamon, a great-souled, learned and benevolent Greek, was the true author of the religions system which, no doubt greatly modified and altered to suit the interests of ambitious and tyrannical priests, has come down to us, as the work of Jesus Christ.
   But by far the most significant fact of all is the labored efforts of modern Christian sectaries and writers to show that Potamon did not found his Eclectic system of religion until the third century, and not at the very epoch at which it was said Jesus Christ lived and taught, as Suidas stated when he said “Potamon should have been contemporaneous with the Emperor “Octavius-Augustus.” It is equally significant that the same efforts have been put forth to make it appear that Diogenes Laertius did not live and write his biographical work “On the Lives and Doctrines of Illustrious Philosophers” until the third century or later; the latter having, as before mentioned, said, in speaking of Potamon, “It is but a short time since an Eclectic school was instituted by Potamon of Alexandria, which chose from the doctrines among the different sects.” The Christian plagiarists could not afford to have it known that the author whose writings they were stealing, lived at the very time when they pretended that their fictitious man-god lived. [...]

   [pg 70] we conclude that the communication is authentically from the spirit of the founder of the Eclectic school of Alexandria, that he lived at the precise time when Jesus Christ is said to have lived, and that he attempted the greatest and noblest religious reformation that is known in the past history of the world. That Diogenes Laertius and Suidas, contemporaneous writers of that day, should have noticed Potamon as the founder of a grandly beneficent school of religious reformers, and that they should have made no mention of Jesus Christ, as engaged in such a work, at the only period when it is pretended he was so engaged, puts an end forever to the misrepresentation that the teachings and inculcations of the New Testament were the work of any such human or divine being as Jesus.
   Every rational person might have known that the writings of the New Testament, were the work of a man or a school of men who sought to blend such portions of the preceding creeds, doctrines, ceremonies, practices, and religious formulas into a single religion, that would serve to harmonize and unite mankind in one common effort to advance the welfare of all. No person can attentively read the New Testament writings, and not perceive the fact that there is hardly a paragraph of them which does not contain very clear evidence that it is but a slightly modified reproduction of some tenet or doctrine of some one or more of the various religious systems prevailing at the time of their production, or that prevailed in the reign of Augustus, when Potamon lived and founded the Eclectic school of religious instruction. The religious systems of China, India, Persia, Egypt, Greece, Pome, Palestine, and even the Druidical system of Northern and Western Europe, were largely drawn from to make up the Eclectic system of religion founded by Potamon; a religion which for a period of more than a hundred years after he died in exile, was suppressed, and then revived as being of divine origin, and attrib- uted to “Ies,” the Phoenician name of the god Bacchus or the Sun personified; the etymological meaning of that title being, “i” the one and “es” the fire or light; or taken as one word “ies” the one light. This is none other than the light of St. John’s gospel; and this name is to be found every where on Christian altars, both Protestant and Catholic, thus clearly showing that the Christian religion is but a modification of the Oriental Sun Worship, attributed to Zoroaster. The same letters IHS, which are in the Greek text, are read by Christians “Jes,” and the Roman Christian priesthood added the terminus “us,” making the name of the fictitious author of the Eclectic system of Potamon, “Jesus.” This was a tub thrown to the Parsee whale by the successors of Potamon. To that name the latter added the name of the Hindoo deity Christau, thus, as the representative of the new system, making not Potamon its founder, but Jesus Christ, the compound deified myth of the Orientals and Hindoos, the nominal head of the church.
   In view of what we have here submitted for the unprejudiced consideration of our readers on a topic of transcendent importance, if t ruth is ever to attain to its proper place in the estimafion of mankind, we claim to have taken a position in relation to the true origin and nature of the so-called Christian system of religion that cannot be shaken, and in order to test its value we challenge the Christian world to show that we are in error, in our claim that Potamon and his followers were the founders of the so-called Christian religion, and not Jesus Christ, as they claim. We ask our readers to invite the attention of the Christian ministry, everywhere, to this fact and require of them in the cause of truth to explain, or like men acknowledge that the religion they are teaching is false.
   We will add in connection with what we have previously offered bearing upon the history of the great religious reformer Potamon, that we have given such references to him us have come down to us, or rather such references to him as the Roman Catholic priesthood have permitted to reach the public. Whether there is not in the Vatican library at Home, among the secret archives of the Pontificial church, much fuller information in relation to this remarkable man, we may never know. Enough, however, has been disclosed to show that Potamon attempted to formulate a religions system by taking the best portions of the various religious systems of his time, and blending them so as to make a system that would be adapted to take the place of all other religious systems. [...]

   [Pg 74] It has been the boast of Christian writers that there never was so perfect a religious system established upon the earth as the Christian religion, and yet there is not a tenet, dogma, doctrine, ceremony, form or prayer, fast or feast, title of deity, form of church government, official rank or religious observance of any kind, that is not identical with some prototype to be found in one or more of the more ancient religious systems. That being so, the originator of that religion was an Eclectic, whether Potamon or Jesus; and as both must have lived at or about the same time, if the latter lived at all, and as Potamon is by all authorities conceded to be the founder of Eclecticism in religion, and as Jesus is not so much as mentioned by any one as having been a teacher of Eclecticism, it becomes more than a reasonable certainty that Potamon, and not Jesus, was the founder of what has been called or miscalled Christianity.

   [Pg 75] For more than a hundred years there was little or no trace left of the teachings of Potamon or of the Eclectic system of religion which lie founded. About that time the books comprised in the New Testament, so-called, were brought to light, and were entitled the “Gospels According to St. Mathew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John, and The Acts of the Apostles,” etc. Why they were so designated, and by whom they were so designated, no one knows, or if they did know, none have told us. Those titles show very plainly that they are not the Gospel (or God-spell) according to Jesus Christ. If they had been the latter, the Christian priesthood would not have hesitated to say so. We have just as much right to infer that those writings were different versions of the teachings of Jesus; and we have vastly more reason to think so, in view of the facts we have stated and those which we intend to adduce in detail in the course of this investigation.

[...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 79

   “I Greet You, Sir I might as well introduce myself before I proceed to give my communication. I am sent here by Apollonius of Tyana, and my name was Vespasian. I commanded the forces at the taking of Jerusalem. I was afterwards an emperor. Amongst the Jews, at that time, there was no account of such a person as Jesus of Nazareth. But there were several Jesuses commanding the mutineers; yet neither Greek, Roman nor Jew knew aught of what is now known as the Christian Saviour. There was there, Apollonius, who was what you would certainly term, at the present day, a great medium. By laying his hands upon a roll, upon which nothing whatever was written, communications would come from the spirits of our ancestors. In that way this man was of immense benefit to me in the reduction of Jerusalem. He was deified after his death. His features and hair resembled very much the statues of the God Jupiter. He was looked upon in our camp as the reincarnation of the God Apollo. By reincarnation, I do not mean it in the sense in which you understand it to-day, but that he was a god in flesh. The real truth of the whole affair was, that this man was a medium, and all his teachings were identical with those in the God-book of the Christians. He rebuked fevers and diseases, and they left those afflicted with them. Our idea of disease was, that they were the result of demonology — that is, that they were produced by spirits that wore only elementary. But this idea was incorrect, for since I became a spirit, I have failed to find such elementary spirits. But I have found diseased spirits, who are attracted to mortals by their diseases, and they make sick, and help to kill those they obtain control of. Another thing I cannot understand is, that with all my endeavors to get possession of the old hooks of the Jews, I did not succeed in getting one; for the Jews destroyed them rather than that they should be desecrated bv heathens. Now, how Christians can claim that they have copies of the ancient Hebrew prophets, when I could not obtain one, I cannot understand. This is something I leave the present Christians and Jews to explain; because I searched their dead, their houses, their captives, but could obtain nothing of them except the acknowledgment that the Jews had such books, and none of them were allowed to fall into Roman hands. My main purpose in giving Josephus his life was, to get through him those books; but I failed even in that ease. The reason why Josephus never mentioned this Apollonius was, because the Jews, and especially the Pharisees, would have nothing to do with a heathen prophet or philosopher. In fact the Jews were the lowest heathens of my time on earth. They worshipped everything they felt like worshipping. They had no especial code or system of laws. The man that succeeded in gaining the most followers governed everything for the time; and that was the reason we Romans were so severe with them. If they caught a Roman soldier by himself, they would cut his throat with as little hesitation as they would kill a dog. You will receive further particulars from Felix, procurator of Judea. He says he wants to give his solemn spirit testimony that he never heard of one St. Paul, who, it is said, pleaded his cause before him. I thank you for giving me this hearing.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 80 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   We refer to the Penny Cyclopaedia for account of Vespasian. Such was the emperor who testifies as a spirit that Apollonius of Tyana was with him at the siege of Jerusalem, and acted as his medium for communication with the spirits of his ancestors. As shown in our remarks upon Apollonius, both Vespasian and Titus admitted in letters to Apollonius that they were under the greatest obligation to him for services rendered to them as an oracle or medium.

[...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 82

   “My Best Greeting to You, Sir:— It is true that in this mortal life I was, morally, a failure. I combined within myself licentiousness, rascality, and what was worse than all these, I was an unjust judge. I make this statement frankly, and that is what every rascal in the spirit world will have to do before he can hope to progress. He may defer this for centuries, but the time for his confession will have to come, finally. My name when here was Felix. I was Procurator in Judaea from A. D. 52 until about 63. At the time in which I lived there were more spirits taking possession of mortal organisms than I think has been the case ever since. The country was overrun with demoniacs, and those of all nations, coming to Judaea at that time to live off the then ruined Jews. The Jews were at that time engaged in all kinds of spiritual forgeries — all kinds of tricks; and my coming here to-day is to show how the Paul story originated. There was an Egyptian priest — his name was Alci bides — who came to Judaea from Alexandria. He was a good medium, but a most heartless trickster as well. He had an immense influence and many followers; and I looked upon him as one who was trying to persuade the people to revolt against the Romans. So I had him apprehended and brought before me, and he pleaded his case almost in the same manner as is set forth in the 24th chapter of Acts; and as he had so much influence I did not dare to kill him, as I had not enough Romans under me to quell a revolt; so I imprisoned him, and he was afterward turned over to Festus, my successor, and was sent to Rome, where he was crucified, head downwards, by Nero. This explanation will inform you just how far you can rely upon the Paul story, as it is my firm opinion that both Jesus and Paul were none other than that great oracle, Apollonius of Tyana. Yours for the truth, Felix. If you refer to Josephus you will find the proof of what I have said. You will not find the name but you will find the account to which I have referred.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 82 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography; also McClintock and Strong’s Ecclesiastical Cyclopaedia; also Acts xxiii, xxiv. [...]

   [Pg 83] The main points of the Bible story, to which the spirit refers in this connection is stated in Acts xxiii, 26, Acts xxiii, 31, Acts xxix, 1, Acts xxiv, 10, Acts xxiv, 22.
   Such are the chapters of the Acts of the Apostles to which this spirit refers. If they are carefully and critically read it will be seen that, if the name of Alcibides, the Egyptian medium, or wonder-worker and priest, is substituted for that of St. Paul, the story becomes perfectly consistent with probability; but when it is made to apply to the Apostle of the Gentiles, it has no relation whatever. This becomes all the more apparent, when we take into consideration the closing sentence of the communication purporting to come from Felix. He tells us that, “by referring to Josephus’s work, you will find the proof of what I have said. You will not find the name, but you will find the account to which I have referred.” We have referred to that work, and we find the following account in “The Jewish War,” Book II., Chapter XIV., Sec. 4, 5: [...] [Pg 85] View the matter as we may, and it becomes very clear that the authors of “The Acts of the Apostles” having learned of the “Egyptian false prophet” of Josephus, used his story regarding that disturber of the peace in Judaea, to give something of a personal narration of the fictitious personage that they called St. Paul, “The Apostle of the Gentiles.” It must never be forgotten that the whole of that Christian book was an after thought, and a concoction of Christian writers who saw the necessity of having something wearing the appearance of history, to bolster up the work of the Christian church. It is more than questionable whether there is any truth in it from beginning to end. That Flavius Josephus should have failed to make any mention whatever of Jesus of Nazareth, the twelve apostles, St. Paul, John the Baptist, or any of the other alleged founders of the Christian religion, or of any such religious sect as Christians, it is perfectly useless to pretend that such people lived and acted as they are represented to have done in the Christian Scriptures.
   Seeing this fatal absence of any allusion to any of the Bible characters of the New Testament, in the writings of Josephus, Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, whose whole life was devoted to interpolating, mutilating, or destroying the writings of the first three centuries of the Christian era; most bunglingly, perpetrated the following forgery to get away from so ruinous a fact.

   “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate at the suggestion of t he principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again on the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him, are not extinct at this day.”

   Is there any person fool enough not to see that Josephus, a Pharisee of the straightest sect, could never have written such manifest nonsense as that? So evident is this, that no theological critic can be found, of the least authority, who claims that paragraph to be genuine. The incidental reference to John the Baptist, in Josephus’s “Antiquities of the Jews,” is equally admitted to be an interpolation made as late as toward the middle of the fourth century, by Eusebius, or by some other equally unscrupulous Christian forger.
   We therefore conclude that the communication of Felix is genuine and authentic, and that Alcibides, the Egyptian priest and medium, and not Paul, the Cilician, was the defendant in the prosecution before Felix, described in Acts xxiii, xxiv.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 82

   “Sir: — Time is nothing to a spirit. We never grow old; but we are cramped by our mortal conditions. I was appointed to the position of consul or procurator of Bythinia and Pontus about the last part of the first century of the Christian era, by Trajan of Rome; and as I am an important witness in the settlement of the dispute concerning the reality of Jesus Christ, I come here to-day, by the invitation of a Persian sage, Aronamar. [The latter is the controlling guide of the medium.] One of the greatest proofs that the Christians bring forward to establish the historical existence of Jesus, is my letter to Trajan. I did write such a letter but the name Christian was not to be found in it. That word is a forgery. The word I used was Essenes not Christians. The cause of my inquiry into the nature and customs of the sect calling themselves Essenes was, they were what you moderns call Communists, and Trajan wanted to know whether they interfered with the rights of other people. I found them a very quiet and inoffensive class of people, holding everything in common; and I so reported to the Emperor. I had no knowledge whatever of the so-called Christian religion. I do not come here in malice to give this communication, but I do come because I wish to testify to the truth. As I hope for future happiness I affirm that what I have stated here is the positive and absolute truth. I have fulfilled my mission. Sign me Pliny the Younger.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 87 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to Biographie Universelle for sketch of Pliny the Younger. For letter refer to Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Encyclopaedia, of McClintock and Strong. [...]

   [Pg 88] In the light of the above communication of the spirit of Pliny and the internal evidence of fraud and forgery in the letter attributed to Pliny, we may conclude beyond all doubt or question that the letter was a pious fraud of a most unpardonable character. It is no wonder that independent investigators of Christian evidences have regarded it as spurious. Pliny says he did write a letter to Trajan reporting the result of his investigation of the practices of a religious sect of communists calling themselves Essenes, made at the request of the Roman Emperor Trajan; and that he found them a quiet, inoffensive people. That this is certain the historical character of the Essenes will show. And out of these few facts the spurious letter was manufactured. Is there any limit to the baseness of the founders of the Christian religion? We have failed to reach it yet.

[...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 89

   “Sir:— Many persons ask this question? Why do you and the spirits coming through this medium keep constantly agitating the question ‘did Jesus Christ really live?’ To those who are free from this, or at least to many of them, it makes no difference, but to the millions held in slavery to this soul-killing doctrine of redemption by his blood, this question is of vital importance. Centuries of time have elapsed since I entered the spirit life. I was reared a Pagan. I embraced this doctrine in my mortal life, but realized the foolishness of all its teachings before I entered spirit life. I regret that I ever wrote one sentence toward fostering and upholding the so-called Christian religion. The misfortune has been this. The Christian priesthood have been careful to preserve everything that I wrote in favor of their religion, but they have been equally careful to destroy all my written denunciations of it, at least so far as they possibly could. I was young when I first learned of Christianity. It appealed to my ardent nature so strongly, that it subjected my reason to a passion for religion, and especially for that religion. But as I matured in years, I became perfectly aware of the weak points of Christianity, and the more I studied it, the weaker the fabric became, and because I became an Infidel to that foolish teaching, I was accused by my contemporaries of having relapsed into Paganism. By the great Divine, I heartily wish I had never had anything to do with it. I am called one of the Christian Fathers. I deny the statement, because I do not want to be understood as the father of any religion. All religions are founded upon untruths, and they must and will all go down together. I here declare that Christianity and so-called Paganism are identical, for the one is the outgrowth of the other. All the evidence I could collect in my mortal life about their so-called Jesus, convinced me that no such person ever lived, and turned me against the Christian religion. I could find no evidence as to the existence or place of the birth of this Christ. There was not a scrap of authentic evidence to be found as late as the year 180 of the Christian era, that afforded any reliable information in relation to this so called Jesus Christ. The whole of the narratives in relation to such a person, were derived from the Greek and Egyptian godmakers I believed as a mortal, and as a spirit, I now know to be the fact. There never has been, and there never will be, so far as I can learn as a spirit, any interference whatever between God and man. But men and women have been interfered with by spirits; many of them with good purposes, but legions of them the devils of the spirit life. It is these poisoned and darkened human spirits that hang like a whip of scorpions o’er the earth to lash mortals for the errors they have made, and are still propagating. I have acquired a true knowledge of these things as a spirit, therefore I affirm that I have made this communication honestly, and have told the truth and nothing but the truth as I hope for eternal happiness. I was known when here as Origen.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 90 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography.
   We think if our readers will carefully read the account of Origen’s life by the light of the foregoing communication from the spirit of that great and learned man, they cannot fail to see the vast importance of that spirit communication. It makes plain all disputed questions in relation to the views and career of Origen.

[...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 91

   “I am here to-day, to testify in regard to a question which is of vital importance to humanity, and to untold millions of spirits also. It is in relation to the correctness of the doctrine of salvation through a Saviour. It has been claimed by historians and writers, that I was an Ebionite Christian. I positively deny the truth of that statement. I was a Jew of the sect of Pharisees, and at no time leaned toward the Sadducees or to the doctrines of the Essenes. I lived to see my nation dispersed and scattered. At the time when I wrote my histories, there was no such man as Jesus of Nazareth — a doer of wonderful works; and any person of ordinary comprehension, can see that the passage in which it is said I referred historically to such a man, was fraudulently interpolated by some Christian copier of my history. First, it interrupts the narrative which I was writing at that time; and in the second place, I always gave all the facts that I could glean concerning those persons of whom I wrote, and if so important a person, as this Jesus has been represented to have been, had lived at that time, I would have given a full description of him. There were no Christians at the time of my retirement from public life, in the year, 100, in the reign of Trajan. Christianity was the subsequent outgrowth of all the mystical religious systems previously existing. If any person will attentively examine the four Gospels, it will be found that all kinds of pagan worships are there expressed to the understanding of those who were initiated into a knowledge of their true meaning, and the final secret of the whole affair is to be found in the blue vault of heaven, being none other than a modified Sabaism, the worship of the Sun, Moon, Planets and Stars. The Jews were in many respects the same, and their idolatry consisted in symbolizing the signs of the zodiac. So general was this kind of star worship at the outset of the so-called Christian movement, that the founders of that religious system, at first, but slightly deviated from the older religious teachings, but as that system struck deeper, they sought to disguise by chicanery and interpolation of new expressions in the writings of the older authors, the nature of their religion, in order that the masses should never know that important fact. There is no priest nor clergyman living to-day, who can deny what I have here set forth, if they tell the truth.

[...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 93 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and MeClintock and Strong’s Ecclesiastical Cyclopaedia. [...]

   [Pg 93] The communication settles the question as to why Josephus wrote nothing concerning Jesus of Nazareth. That reason was that no such person lived in the only period of the world’s history in which such a man could have lived. The charge, therefore, that Josephus was governed by prejudice in taking no notice of Jesus and his alleged history, falls to the ground. Josephus fully confirms the astro-theological nature of the four gospels and the astronomical origin of the Jewish, as well as the Christian religion. We regard the communication of Josephus, as a whole, as most important.

[...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 94

   “I Salute you, sir:— I wrote the life and adventures of Apollonius of Tyana, by the order of Julia Domna; and no reasonable person would suppose for an instant that she would have desired an adept in Oriental languages to have transcribed them for her, if the character to whom they related had not been of great note. Whoever denies the statements of critics, that Apollonius of Tyana was a great man in his day and generation, denies the truth. Among the first and most remarkable discoveries of the Empress Julia, was the identity or striking resemblance of the sculptured features of the faces of the Roman deity, Apollo, and of Apollonius of Tyana, as they were then represented at Rome. I took the facts of my history of Apollonius from the Memoirs of Damis, (the St. John or beloved disciple of that great man) from his birth to the beginning of the second century; and from Mceragenes to the time of Euasthenes. All these men were biographers of Apollonius before my time, and from their works I wrote my history of him. But every effort has been made by succeeding popes and emperors since the reign of Constantine the Great, to destroy what I wrote of Apollonius. But it is a fact that he, Apollonius, was, by the Romans, worshipped in the days of Septimus Severus as the great Prometheus or the saviour of men, and this continued up to the time when I wrote his history. The feasts in honor of him were always celebrated, in connection with a certain star (such as the star of Bethlehem), and this star was in the constellation Aries or the Lamb. He was worshipped as the centre of God’s eternal circle. Under the idea of propitiatory sacrifice, mankind had sacrificed every animal from a frog to a horse, and finally ended with human blood offerings; and this was deemed a necessity in my age to purify a soul. This was concurrent with the purification related by Euxenes. From his days to my time there was just as much of sacrifice observed as in previous times. The purest virgin of Rome had to die in honor of the god Apollo, and her soul passed to Apollonius in Paradise. Now I will say in conclusion, I saw hundreds of persons kissing the Greek cross and offering up that last dying prayer of the Promethean saviour, accompanied with the burning of myrrh and frank-incense as incense, the same as you see this done in the Christian churches at your approaching Easter festival. The Catholic spirits are so shut up in their earthly acquired dependence upon their priests that they cannot ascend as spirits out of that condition, and they are forced back to the earth. No ascent is possible for them, while thus held, and they react upon you mortals with disastrous force. There was no such religion as the Christian religion in my day. There was a sect who worshipped the Hindoo Christos. Their religion was a mixture of Buddhism, Platonism and Greco-Gymnosophism; and their first and most important rite was circumcision. But they were not very numerous or widespread. They resided mainly at Ephesus, Cairo and Rome. The chief symbol of their religion was a circle within which were represented the. human sexual organs. They were very secret in their movements and their teachings were very obscure. No one knew of such a person as Jesus of Nazareth at that time. The Nazarites were held in the greatest contempt by the Jews, and it was for that reason the Christian priesthood chose that obscure village of Judea for the scene of Jesus’s abode. I am Flavius Philostratus.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 95 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography.
   It is not a little singular that this most invaluable work of Philostratus has never been wholly translated into English. It is very evident that the scholars of English speaking peoples, have too much regard for their popularity to venture to give their patrons an English translation of this Christianity — annihilating narrative of the life, adventures and teachings of the real author and founder of that ecclesiastical fraud. It is impossible for want of space to give all the extracts which seem important to get a true idea of the value of this communication. [...]

   [Pg 96] It is certain that when Philostratus wrote his biography, Jesus of Nazareth had never been heard of. That there is, therefore, any striking analogy between the life of Apollonius and the life attributed to the Christian Jesus, is sufficient to show that the latter is but a bungling parody, on, or plagiarism of Philostratus’s Life of Apollonius. Of this fact we have now in hand ample spirit and historical testimony to fully establish. We also call attention to the third chapter of Charles Blount’s English translation of Philostratus’s Greek text, where will be found the sources from which Philostratus drew his materials for the biography of Apollonius. [...]

   [Pg 97] It is by no means certain but that the copy of Philostratus’s work that has been permitted to come down to us, has been largely suppressed by the Christian pontiffs or their kingly tools. That gap covers the precise time when it is said Jesus of Nazareth was performing those miracles of spiritual power, for performing which he has been worshipped as God. In this connection we are led to notice one passage in the Gospel According to Matthew, which shows that the hero of that Gospel was not a Galilean, but quite another person. Matthew iv, 23, 24.

   “And Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

   “And his fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.”

   Now so far as Syria is concerned, that was certainly the case with Apollonius, who at Antioch, the capital city of Syria, was overwhelmed with his labors as a mediumistic healer. That Apollonius, who had for many years been performing his miraculous cures in tlie very heart of Syria, should have acquired fame in that extensive country was natural, but that Jesus of Nazareth of whom no one had heard until then, should have had such an extensive fame in so short a time was perfectly absurd. We venture to say that that brief mission, attributed to Jesus of Nazareth in after centuries as having been performed in Galilee and Judea, was nothing more nor less than a parody on the account of the journey made by Apollonius from Antioch to Jerusalem, and his stay among the priest-ridden and superstitious Jews. [...]

   [Pg 98] But more than all else, is the testimony of the spirit of Philostratus important, when he tells us that in the third century at Rome, the especial and original seat of the Christian Church, that Apollonius of Tyana was worshipped as the Saviour of men, at the very time he, Philostratus, wrote his biography. Is this not a most significant fact, for fact it is, as Christian writers are forced to admit? Had Jesus of Nazareth been so worshipped at that time, what sense or reason would there have been in the Emperor Severus and his subjects to have worshipped Apollonius as a saviour? But this is not all, the star dedicated to Apollonius, was a star in the zodiacal constellation Aries or Agnis, the Lamb, in which the Sun crossed the equinoctial line, at the vernal equinox, thus identifying Apollonius as the crucified lamb, whose crucifixion redeemed the world from the desolation and death of winter. The sacrifice of the purest virgin of Rome to Apollo, the Sun-god, and the supposition that her soul passed to Apollonius in Paradise, shows the veneration in which the memory of the latter was held, at least one hundred and fifty years after his transition to spirit life. We know from dear bought experience, that the spirit of Philostratus is correct when he says that Roman Catholic and other Christian spirits are the curse of humanity on account of their spiritually but voluntarily enslaved condition, and their earth-bound purgatorial despair.
   It is certainly true that there was no Christian religion at Rome until more than fifty years after Philostratus’s transition from earth. The religion relating to the worship of the Hindoo Christos was not openly taught and the sect was without influence. Their symbol, the phallic cross, showed the Indian origin of their belief. No such person as Jesus of Nazareth was then known, and the great probability is that Apollonius was the Nazarite who went through Galilee to Jerusalem. He was undoubtedly an Essene, and the Essenes were called Nazarites by the Jews as a term of reproach. It is impossible for us to dwell more fully on this most valuable communication, but we have adduced more than amply enough to show its substantial correctness from beginning to end.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 100

   “May we be blessed in the service of truth: — I lived in the sixth century and I was a traveller. I am known in connection with what is called the Adulian Marble. It is Qlaimed that this marble has inscribed upon it the life and career of Ptolemy Euergetes. Such is not the fact. I was the first one to call this to the notice of the learned of my day. The real facts of the case are these. I did not know them as a mortal, but I now understand them as a spirit. Upon that marble are the keys of the Christian religion. That is, the symbols are there. The learned of to-day treat this marble as if it were the history of a single king, when in reality it contains all such things as the doctrine of the trinity — the communion — the blood of Bacchus — the feast of the goddess Ceres, and other things analogous to Christian doctrines and observances. But the Christian priesthood are blind to things which they know to be true. They will never read inscriptions right, that are dangerous to their infernal superstition; but light will be thrown upon these things. If mortals do not stand up to their duty, truthful spirits will. We want no interference by priests with the truth. Even now, in the excavations that are being made for ancient ruins, they are continually manufacturing plates, in imitation of ancient ones, to support the Old Testament, and their operations should be closely watched by Spiritualists and Materialists. No tricks are too dark for them, that they think will help them to prolong their power. If this communication is thought upon and acted upon, it will do a vast amount of good. My name here was Cosmas Indicopleustes.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 100 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   For account of Cosmas Indicopleustes we refer to Encyclopaedia Britannica.
   When Cosmas tells us that “the Christian priesthood are blind to things whieh they know to be true; that they will never read inscriptions right that are dangerous to their infernal superstition,” he undoubtedly speaks whereof he knows, and plainly implies that, they have acted upon that policy in regard to the Adulian inscription. Cosmas tells us that even now, that priesthood under the pretence of honestly searching for the buried evidence of the truth of the Old Testament, are engaged in counterfeiting relics to bolster up that foundation of the Christian Scripture. But it will not avail.

[...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 101

   “Good day, sir:— The great difficulty that an antiquarian and searcher into the mysteries of the past has to contend with is the opposition to anything that will throw light on the origin of the Christian religion. In the first place, you are all more or less dependent upon persons who subscribe their money to help you, in various ways, in your researches into the mysteries of the past; and you must be careful, no matter what you may discover, of not trespassing upon their religious beliefs. But no antiquarian that ever lived has failed to discover that the whole of the modern Christian religion, under the different forms of symbolic worship, is written upon all the temples and tombs of antiquity. But not being able, when I lived on earth, to do as I pleased, I left a key for those who desired to use it, or who had the means to show up the subject of the Christian religion in its true light, and this was called the Alphabet of Palmyra, by means of which certain inscriptions upon the ruins of the temples of that ancient city could be used to throw a flood of light upon all the ceremonies of Christianity. There, is set forth the doctrine of the Trinity; there, is to be found the censor; there, is represented the eucharist in the feast of Bacchus; there, are the priestly robes; there, are the mitre and other insignia of popes, cardinals and bishops; there, are officiating priests, all paraded before you on those ancient ruins; and on other ruins in Kartoum, Egypt, and in what is known as the Abyssinian desert, these things have been frequently seen. There, also you will find the identical head that is to be found engraved in Christian bibles, as the representation of Jesus of Nazareth, carved as the object of heathen veneration. On tombs especially this may be found. It was my belief at first, from the knowledge I obtained, that this face or head was the representation of Ptolemy Euergetes; but I have found out, as a spirit, that it was of much later origin, and represents the likeness of the reviewer of ancient symbolism — Apollonius of Tyana. I have also, from the examination of drafts made by Sir Warren Hastings, of the cave of Elephanta, in India, found that instead of the Jews wearing the robe or dress that is set down in history as having been worn by Herod, that it was worn by the tyrant Cansa, representing the slaughter of the innocents, in the cave of Elephanta. I am also satisfied that the Adulian marble represents the life, adventures and miracles of Apollonius of Tyana and not of Ptolemy Euergetes; because the characters that are there engraved or cut do not belong to the time or age of that king, but they do belong to an age about three hundred years later, which would bring them down to the death of Apollonius. Besides, I know that there were to be found in basso-relievo, on tombs and temples, the face and effigy of that extraordinary man. Another fact bearing on this point is this: In our antiquarian researches we acquire the faculty of distinguishing differences of character and style between the antiquities of different ages. I might possibly, after controlling this man for a certain length of time, be able to show you what we antiquarians understand as to these differences of face, form, symbols and signs, and thus distinguish those of one age from another; but to do this upon the first control of this medium would be impossible for me. I want to say further, that there may be scholars who come here from the spirit world who will convey their ideas more clearly and explicitly than I have done; for under the circumstances, it is with the greatest difficulty I have been able to force this communication through the medium. My name was Jean Jacques Barthelemy. I passed to spirit life in 1795. I was the author of the travels of Anacharsis the Younger.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 102 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to account of Barthelemy in the Nouvelle Biographie Generale.
   The spirit of this learned antiquarian and reader of inscriptions that returns and confesses that he did not dare to disclose what he knew to be the truth in regard to them, doubtless gives us a true account of facts as he knows them. As a spirit he congratulates himself that he at least left behind him in his essay on the language and alphabet of Palmyra, the key by which what he left undone may be attained. But the fact of greatest significance is that the monuments in Upper Egypt and Abyssinia that have been supposed to have been erected in honor of King Ptolemy Euergetes, are in reality the monuments erected by the Gymnosophists of Upper Egypt and the regions still higher up the Nile, in honor of the great philosopher, medium and teacher, Apollonius of Tyana. [...]

   [Pg 103] Is it not more than probable that some pious Christian priests have recognized the importance of erasing that tell-tale portion of the inscription? [...]

   [Pg 103] According to the Penny Cyclopaedia the inscription may be found in Montfaucon’s Collectia Nova Patrum, also in Fabricus’ Bibliotheca Graeca, and Chishulls Antiquita Asiaticae.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 104

   “Good day, sir:— There is no antiquarian — no inscriptionist — no linguist, but absolutely understands that all historic religions, either through relics, monuments or scrolls, have their origin in the sun; and that all the ancients, although their religions may be diversified, started on that central pivot, the Sun. And after a most laborious effort to come here to-day, and through an uneducated man to state what I know, I find it most difficult (as you mortals cannot and will not know, until you become spirits,) to carry out my purpose. We will commence with this, (what has been said being only preliminary.) ‘Abrasax.’ You will find that this word wherever written or carved, is claimed to have been derived from the Hebrew Ab Ben, and has been said to designate what might be termed in Hebrew — ‘father’ but in no case can the learned claim that this is true, for in reality it relates to the Persian god Mithras; and the Abraxas or Abrasax, means the amulet worn by the ancients; and in all cases is traced to Mithras, as typical of the Sun. I will next refer to G. Belzoni’s great discovery at Thebes, where basso-relievos cover the sides of a tomb that no antiquarian can claim to understand in any other light than astronomical. Also in the works of Edward Ruppel, and his discoveries in Egypt, Nubia, and Kordofan, it will be found that all the temple inscriptions and tombs, are, in every case, either built according to the ancient system of astrology; or, they are so sculptured, outside and in, as to render their astrological relations apparent. The first thing that strikes the attention of an antiquarian, are certain symbols always known as representing the sun, or the centre of the solar system. You will also find in the writings of Belzoni, concerning the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon, that the whole ancient system is a combination of the Sun with the first sign of the zodiac, or with Aries, the Ram or Lamb. The same kinds of basso-relievos, only of a ruder character, are found in the bases of the temples of India; among the principal of which are the caves of Elora and Elephanta. And that this principle is just as much observed to-day, in these ancient countries, I am prepared to prove, by the temples of Shoemadoo near Pegu in Birmah, called in English, the Golden Supreme; also by the temple near Rangoon of the Shoe Dagon or Golden Dagon. These temples are built upon exact astronomical principles. This last modern Dagon throws a full light upon the nature of the temple of the Philistines, spoken of in the Hebrew text, where Dagon fell down before the ark. No learned commentator can deny the identity of the modern Dagon with the ancient one. And now for my final effort through this man, to show where, from inscriptions and ruins still existing, I think it will be found that true civilization began; and to do this I shall have to go back before real history begins, and show that man having left his rude home upon the Asiatic plains beyond the Himalayas, made his descent into the fertile plains of India, with all his rude barbarian health not yet enervated by luxury. There, finding the soil to yield him the necessaries of life without labor, and everything that goes to make up material happiness, he naturally became mentally developed. And in those regions, I think, between 12,000 and 15,000 years ago, was invented and introduced what is termed by the learned, the Sanscrit tongue, the language of the real Sun worship; and which has governed every system of religion since. If there is any religion without the symbol of the Sun in Aries, or in the first sign of the zodiac, I have failed to discover it. All kinds of life that have taken on form have been worshipped, simply as types or way-marks to the great material god — the Sun. In writing they almost always, or as nearly as possible, wrote from East to West. It is a well known fact that all the early Christians worshipped, or manifested their adoration, by bowing toward the East — the counterpart of pagan Sun-worship. And, in Palmyra and Thebes, the principal object worshipped by the forerunners of Christianity, was Aries the Ram or Lamb; and the Therapeutae also worshipped the same symbol. You will find this proven in Sir William Jones’ Asiatic Researches. I am sorry, as a spirit, that I allowed Christianity to blind my eyes to the truth. As I did so, I owe it to my mortal brethren here on earth to set them right. If this succeeds in doing what I intend it shall, (and I have no doubt it will if properly followed up,) I will have done my part toward retrieving my mistake. And now I have this to say to you, that whilst I leave you to withstand the concussion of error, I as a spirit will always be with you in what I have here uttered. Yours for the public good, Henry Salt.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 106 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to the Biographie Universelle for account of Henry Salt.
   Such a man was Henry Salt, whose spirit, after a half century, returns to inform the world as to certain points of ancient history which his Christian prejudices prevented him from acknowledging when in the mortal form. Reader, think of what the world has been deprived of through the Christian training of this truly learned and accomplished antiquarian. If Henry Salt had, in 1809, when the result of his investigations into the antiquities of Hindostan, Abyssinia and Egypt was first published, then asserted what he now positively asserts, to wit: that all religions had their origin in the “sun,” from which they all started as from one pivotal point, — it would not be necessary for me to draw down upon myself the opposition and enmity of religious bigots, in laying bare the truth in relation to those time-honored delusions, called Christian truths. [...]

   [Pg 106] The spirit of Salt no doubt recalls what he was perfectly familiar with in his earth life, when he speaks of the astrologicotheological discoveries of Belzoni and Ruppel. He must have been personally acquainted with both, and they no doubt concurred in opinions as to the astro-theological origin and character of Christianity. No well informed antiquarian will question the assertion of this spirit, that the temples of India and Egypt corresponded as to their respective symbols, and the signification of them. That the Burman Dagon of modern times is identical with the fish-god of the Philistines, there is no doubt. They represent, alike, the Sun in the sign of the Fishes, and because of that fact the former is called the Golden Dagon, everything being considered golden that expressed the solar light. But here we have the spirit of one of the most learned men of the beginning of the present century, in the light of his mortal and spirit knowledge, asserting that the first written language was the Sanscrit, and that it had its origin between 12,000 and 15,000 years ago, in the elevated plains of Southern and Central Asia, among a people themselves fresh from a barbaric state; and what is most significant of all, that that language was invented to express the worship of the Sun by that rude and early people. Even at that early period, the Sun, in the sign of Aries, was a leading feature of the religion of the primitive Aryan people. It was on account of the fact of the Sun’s apparent movement from east to west, says the spirit of Salt, that the Asiatic peoples usually wrote from right to left instead of from left to right as we do. It is equally certain that the Essenes, who were the primitive Christians, worshipped the Sun, and always bowed or knelt toward the east in adoration of the Sun.

[...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 108

   “I salute you, sir: — All the Christians that ever lived, or ever will live, will find their ideal Jesus but a phantom — a myth. They can chase it as a child would a butterfly through a meadow on a summer’s afternoon, and it will elude theirgrasp. The Christian Jesus is nothing more than the Chrishna of the Hindoos; the Beal or Bell of the Babylonians; the Apollo of the Greeks; and Roma or Romulus of the Romans; modified in forms and ceremonies suited to modern superstition. All this I have learned in spirit life through the desire to be historically correct. When here I was a historian. As a spirit my inclinations lead me the same way. All the kings and princes of ancient times were worshipped at the same time the Christian Saviour was said to be on the earth. Now, I am here to tell the truth. There were no Christians nor Christianity in the time of Nero, from A. D. 45 to 68. We knew nothing of such a religion, nor was it in existence at that time. And I want it expressly understood that I was a historian, at that time gathering all the facts I could. If there had been the slightest evidence of it, I would have acknowledged it. But in my day, nobody knew anything of the Christian Saviour nor his apostles. There were two religions in the time of Nero that held supremacy, one was the ‘Sun’ and the other the ‘Son.’ You may ask me what was the difference between them. I answer the first was the sun worshipped in a material sense, and the second was the same solar orb spiritually or symbolically worshipped, in t he Ahnnian of Zoroaster of Persia. These were the predominating religions, and all the priests understood them as I have stated. My name was M. Servillius Nonianus. I lived about from A. D. 50 to 70.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 108 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography for account of Nonianus.
   Nothing whatever is said in the biography about his historical works, from which we may infer that they shared the fate of the labors of other historians who lived and wrote at the time when it was said Jesus and his Apostles were creating such a sensation in the world. That this communication is genuine we cannot doubt from the circumstances under which it was given. Here is another spirit who must have known of Jesus and his doings, if what is related of him was in any respect true; who comes back and positively denies that there was any such person, prior to A. D. 60, as Jesus Christ, or Jesus the Christ, or Jesus of Nazareth, or the Nazarene, or the Saviour of Men; or any Apostles who taught the religion of such a being.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 109

   “Good Day:— Humility is one of the attributes of true greatness, therefore I come here to-day, after the lapse of centuries, to try to bring to you as much light as possible under the circumstances. I was born and brought up in a way that developed in me a taste for literature. I was absorbed by a passion for books, and through my library-keeper Demetrius, I succeeded in securing about 280,000 rolls or books. What did all this vast mass of learning do to benefit humanity? There are no religious systems existing to-day but what obtained the principal parts of their creeds and tenets from the Alexandrian Library. Learned men of all nations and religions resorted to Alexandria, and from them I bought the principal works relating to their religions. In the course of time those men after investigating the works on religion in the Alexandrian Library modified and remodeled their respective religions. If you examine the ancient Egyptian coins of the date of my reign you will find myself and queen represented as divine brother and sister; for in order to preserve the cast of features of the royal family unaltered it was regarded as necessary to marry your own sister; and Arsinoe was my sister. I always desired to receive the truth, come whence and from whom it might. I intended, had not my life ended too early to accomplish the work, to have founded a system of morality and spirituality, to comprise all that was good, true and valuable in the religions of every people that I could reach. I would have saved untold numbers of human lives, and would have led the development of mankind to a point far beyond that which has been reached to-day. Spiritual mediumship has been the light of all nations and all peoples through all time. The nation or sect that scorns mediumship may flourish for a time, but they will soon perish beneath the wheels of progress. I had another object in making the vast collection of books before mentioned. I expected to be able to furnish to the world a legal code that would have established justice and abolished human slavery. It was this that caused me to liberate 100,000 Jews. But to accomplish tnis Herculean task, a mortal life was too short, amid the bigotry and ignorance of my age. Since passing to spirit life, I have been seeking mediums and have manifested myself through them, but never before have I found a medium I could control so well as the present one. You are absolutely correct in the stand you have taken regarding the Christian religion; and the more you search out and investigate the matter the more positive will become the conclusion that the Christian religion is the outgrowth of the library of Ptolemy Philadelphus. You can then throw down the gauntlet and challenge the world to an investigation of the facts. I will also say that your chronological tables are not correct. Perhaps at some future time I may be able to return and again communicate with you, when I will prove to you by comparing the works yet in existence that you are not living in the nineteenth century of the Christian era, but in the twenty-second. The originators of the Christian religion were many, each contributing something to the aggregate of what it represents. Potamon, in the reign of Augustus, more than two hundred years after the enterprise of projecting a new religion that should take the place of all previous religions that had been begun, arranged the incongruous materials in what he called the Eclectic system of religious observances and maxims. I am Ptolomy Philadelphus.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 110 J.M. Roberts Commentary & COMPILER Additional Information

   Refer to Biographie Universelle for account of Ptolemy Philadelphus.
   When this communication was received, we had no knowledge of the history of such a king, beyond the fact that he reigned in Egypt at some period of history. This communication seems to settle the disputed question as to whether Demetrius was really the keeper of the Alexandrian Library under Ptolemy Philadelphus a fact which has been strongly questioned, and which is another example of the manner adopted by these ancient spirits to correct history as it has come down to us, and give information to be obtained in no other way.
   [The value of this communication, is not to be estimated lightly. We call the attention of our readers to the accounts now extant of that vast library, bearing upon the history of antiquity. When we realize the difficulty attending the collection of books and manuscripts in ancient times, compared with the present, we can readily understand what a valuable collection it was for that period. Three times this vast accumulation of literature was destroyed, but not before many learned men had visited it and founded new systems of religion upon the knowledge there obtained. The library was considered the most valuable in existence, and even to-day scholars bemoan its destruction, although not giving credence to the report that it was destroyed by Christian vandals in the interest of their religion.

[...] — Compiler. ]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 112

   “My greeting to you is this: — I was appointed Procurator of Judea in the commencement of the reign of Octavius Augustus. At that time the Jewish nation was in a very turbulent state. Many men were brought before me on all kinds of charges, for these Jews were the most bitter sectarian bigots in regard to their religious views that I have ever met with as a mortal or spirit. There was never bought before me such a man or so-called God as the present Christian system claims. There was a Jesus Onanias who was tried before me for highway robbery and was crucified by my soldiers; but of the now renowned Jesus I know nothing whatever. In their Jewish ceremonies, conducted at their own temple in Jerusalem, they were just that kind of element to control as are the Jews of the present day. They were divided into three or four different sects, and each of these was striving to become the master of the others. It required the whole military forces under my command to prevent them from murdering each other in their own temple. At the time of my procuratorship in Judea, there was a great influx of visitors from all over the East — wise men, so-called, who came there for the purpose of trying to understand the Jewish rites and ceremonies; but they were so strictly guarded in their worship that they would allow none to communicate the secrets thereof. You know from history that it was the Roman policy to conquer and rule all nations by allowing them to enjoy without interference their respective religious systems. We did this simply because we found that religious ideas had become so rooted in the minds of different people that they would be subservient to us just so long as we would allow their religions free scope. Now I want to enter into further particulars. There was a sect of Jews called Essenes. They were what you moderns call Communists. They believed in having everything in common. They were also guided by the same principles that now govern the Shakers. The whole Christian story was conceived and framed among the Essenian brotherhood, who were hermits and lived apart from society. Christians to-day cannot prove anything about their man-God; and all their hopes would have been overturned and destroyed but for the destruction, by the Mahommedans of the Alexandrian library. Christianity would not to-day have any foothold if it had not been for the Mahommedans. They can thank the bigotry of the latter for the success of their own religion. I was Procurator in Judea in the fourth year of the reign of Augustus. I held the position nine years. In the latter part of my life I was banished for participating in a revolt at Rome, and I died at what is known to you as Trieste, in Austria, on account of being banished. This is the wrhole sum and substance of my career. As I hope for a happy spirit life, I can say I know nothing of any person, Jew or Gentile, of any Jesus, excepting the one mentioned in this communication. I am Pontius Pilate.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 113 COMPILER

   [This communication from Pontius Pilate is positively confirmed at the present time by the gifted and learned “Rabbi Wise,” who recently journeyed to Jerusalem ostensibly for the purpose of ascertaining if the Gospel account of Christ’s trial before Pontius Pilate, and condemnation to be nailed to the cross was true. The learned Doctor says he searched diligently the records of Pilate’s Court, which are preserved, for the trial of Jesus, but it was not recorded. He found the record of all sorts of criminals, both of a high and low degree, but the name of “Jesus of Nazareth” was not there and never had been. Thus it appears that this most important spirit testimony as to the trial, is confirmed by one of the most gifted minds of our day, who personally investigated the records of the court of Pontius Pilate, only to find that what is taught in the Christian churches to-day relating to the so-called personage Jesus Christ, is entirely without foundation. This testimony from Rabbi Wise comes to us almost ten years after the spirit of Pontius Pilate had voiced through the medium his important statement, viz: that no such person as Jesus of Nazareth was ever tried before him as set forth by Christian writers. Rabbi Wise no doubt after making the long journey to Jerusalem earnestly and truly investigated the matter to learn whether the Christian Gospels were correct. This testimony is disinterested but goes far to prove that these ancient spirits are coming to earth for the sole purpose of bringing light to mankind who have been misled and are groping in darkness, mystified by these false teachings. Day by day and Sunday after Sunday, according to what is termed the “Apostles’ Creed.” millions of Christians repeat in their religious exercises “Crucified under Pontius Pilate,” etc., yet in this nineteenth century, evidence which cannot be set aside reaches us, not only from the spirit of Pontius Pilate, who, above all others, should know the truth pertaining to the question under consideration, but from a distinguished individual on the mortal plane who unknowingly corroborates the spirit’s testimony. We can readily infer from the investigation by the learned Rabbi Wise that other claims of the so-called Christian religion if fully investigated would prove to be myths also. In view of these remarks we leave the reader to his own reflections, believing that the key we have furnished, is sufficient to unravel the mysteries hitherto concealed. — Compiler. ]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 114

   “Sir:— The vicissitudes of life are great both in the mortal and spirit condition. No more ardent follower of Jesus Christ ever appeared upon this planet than I was, but my prospect — my hopes — my realization, as a spirit, have all been blasted. By what? By the non-realization of what I expected. All this is sad to think of; and, far better is it for me to return from the spirit world and state my actual realization of spirit life to all people, so that none can be deceived. Vain is that hope that rests upon another’s merits. Cultivate the purity of your own mortal spirit and rely upon nothing but a determination to do right. Oh! sir, if I had to-day 1000 tongues, and as many transmigrations as the Buddha of old, I should ever aim to teach the truth and realities of a spirit life as I know them to be. Honesty in religion is no proof of its truth. Christianity has caused more blood to flow — more widows to weep — and more children to be fatherless, than have all other religions on earth to-day. I ask, can infinite love conceive deeper infamy than Christianity has brought to this planet? Millions on millions of ruined souls in the after-life and untold numbers on earth weep, when they reach the finality of common sense and reason, over what they have reaped from the teachings of Christianity. Oh! my heart is sad to-day. I feel the weight of the years that have elapsed since I left the mortal state, and would ask mankind to pause and reflect, now; for the time will come when it will be far more difficult to act as a spirit than it is now for them to act as mortals. Christianity is not from the Jews, but from the Greeks. It is a combination of the Platonic and Alexandrian doctrines, with the doctrines of Apollonius of Tyana, the Syrian Christ, about thirty-two years after the birth of the alleged Christ. Out of these, together with the forged letter to the Roman Emperor Trajan, from Pliny the Younger, A. D. 103, has grown Christianity. Deny these facts who can. In the British Museum, Library Department, you will find that I, Cyrillus, Patriarch of Alexandria, sent a copy of the scriptures, known as the Alexandrian manuscript, by Sir Thomas Rowe to Charles the First, King of England, and that manuscript was transcribed from the writings of Potamon of Alexandria, about the year 475, by Thecla, an Egyptian lady, and out of that transcribed copy, has their celebrated Alexandrian manuscript grown; as any one will find to be true who will examine into the historical facts of the case; and they are indisputable by the advocates of Christianity. I would say in conclusion, let the light of truth shine and let it drive away all darkness from the human mind. Cyrillus Luchar, Patriarch of Constantinople.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 115 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Cyrillus Luchar was a Greek Patriarch of Constantinople, noted for his efforts to introduce into his church the doctrines of the Reformed (Calvanistic) churches. He was born about 1568 in Candia, which at that time was under the sovereignty of Venice and the chief seat of Greek scholarship. [...]

   His attempt to Protestantize his church created many enemies against him in the Greek Church, and in 1638 a synod convened at Constantinople to try him. But, before sentence was pronounced upon him, the Janissaries arrested him by order of the government, carried him to a boat, strangled him and cast the corpse into the sea. Some friends found the corpse and buried it on an island, and ten years later a solemn funeral was held at Constantinople. [....]

   Refer to the Encyclopaedia Britannica for the history of the celebrated Alexandrian Manuscript which will show the material correctness of the communication.

[....]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 118

   “My best greeting to you:— When here, in mortal life, I was known as Quintillian, the grammarian, and lived at Rome from about A. D. 40 to A. D. 90. I was the master and teacher of Pliny the Younger; and it is by his invitation that I am here to-day. I am glad to bear witness to the truth. I was a teacher at Rome at the time when there was not a single man of any education but that was engaged in making proselytes to some religious views of his own. All of their religious views had a pantheistic tendency. In fact Pantheism had set men crazy, each and every one desiring to add another god to his household idols. In such a state were the religions of my day. In regard to that celebrated personage, whom the Christians claim once lived in Judea, there was no account of such a personage in my day; nor have I been able to find a single honest, unbiased spirit, in his or her religious views, who knows aught of Jesus Christ. Another thing that occurs to me in relation to the story of Jesus. It is my clear and positive conviction that the real Jesus was Apollonius of Tyana. While in mortal life I saw Apollonius. I was young then, and I heard him speak at Antioch. He preached the very same sermon or nearly so, that is called Christ’s sermon on the mount. Being young then I thought his sermon wonderful, but when I had grown older, and had seen other philosophers at Rome, I heard from them just as much truth expressed more clearly and in fewer words than ever fell from the lips of Apollonius. I am also clear in this, that the cross has been the symbol of various countries and religions since the days of Rameses II., of Egypt. There is not a single rite, form of baptism, ceremony or prayer but what has been stolen almost bodily from China or India, which any traveller in those countries can see for himself. As the ancient philosophers only taught as much truth as they could conceive, so you should examine everything submitted to you by the light of reason and analogy. If you do this no Christian teacher will dare to deny the facts which we spirits are bringing forward, from day to day. These spirit voices will make all false religions bow at the shrine of eternal truth. This will finish my discourse.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 119 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to the Encyclopaedia Britannica for account of Quintillian. [...]

   [Pg 119] If this communication is genuine and to be relied on, then it is very clear that nothing was known of such a historical personage as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth, as early as the middle of the first century of the so-called Christian era. It is equally clear that although the learned Quintillian has been in spirit-life for eighteen hundred years, he has never met a spirit who knew aught of Jesus Christ. His opinion that the real character or hero of the Christian story was Apollonius of Tyana, he having heard that remarkable man preach, is most significant; and his testimony that the Sermon on the Mount, is substantially plagiarized from the preaching of Apollonius, leaves no reason to believe that there is anything original in the Christian scriptures, especially so far as its ethical and doctrinal features are concerned. It would seem equally clear that the cross, the forms, ceremonies and church ordinances, practiced and reverenced by Christians, are not original, but borrowed from the religions of China and India, through Egypt after the reign of Rameses II. one of the greatest sovereigns of that country (1300 B. C.). Truly, in view of such spirit testimony as this, “These spirit voices will make all false religions bow at the shrine of eternal truth.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 120

   “I greet you, sir:— My mortal life came to an end about A. D. 130. In the time when I lived on earth all was confusion. Mankind was struggling for more light. The spirit of progress - was strong, but it afterwards became buried beneath Christianity. To that religion we owe the long dark night of mental slavery. This religion was in its infancy in Rome, in my day; but I think I can truly affirm from what I positively knew, that not only did the man called Jesus Christ never live, but this — that none of his apostles, so-called, were known of at Rome when I lived there. I was engaged in writing a history of the Roman emperors at that time, and all sources of information were open to me, so that I could investigate all existing evidence and write a correct history of what I had taken in hand. Only a portion of my writings have been preserved and are in existence to-day. The reason of this was that there were three pages devoted to denouncing the Christian religion, which were condemned and destroyed by a pope called Urban IV., I think. The Christian popes were cunning, but enough has escaped their destroying power to prove that their religion is founded on mythology, and that there is no so-called revelations in the Christian scriptures that have not been taken from works antedating the time of Christ. The so-called revelation of Jesus has nothing new in it. It contains nothing that was not known to the ancients before that time. [...]

   My name was Julius Lucius Florus, a Roman historian. I was in the height of my work about A. D. 125.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 121 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography for account of Florus. [...]

   [Pg 121] Here we have another historian, writing at the very time when Christian theologians claimed that the Christian Scriptures were being composed, and who had access to all sources of information of that period, who declares that there was nothing then extant in relation to any man Jesus Christ or his alleged apostles. He admits that the religion that afterwards was called Christianity, was then in its infancy at Rome, but its Scriptures had no existence then. He says that he devoted three pages to denouncing the Christian religion, which was then taking shape, and for that reason a part of his writings were destroyed by one of the popes, he thinks by Urban IV. The Roman Catholic Church authorities, had a much better reason than that for destroying or mutilating the writings of Florus, and that was the fact that there was no reference in them to any of the events which are claimed as historical in the Holy Bible. To get rid of the damning fact that there is no historical basis for their theological fictions, the Christian priesthood have been guilty of the heinous crime of destroying nearly all trace of the concurrent history of the first two centuries of the Christian era. What little of it they have permitted to come down to us, they have so altered and changed, as to destroy its historical value.

[...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 122

   “Good day, my son: — I was known when here as Urban VIII., and I want to say this, that as a Pope and having been educated fully in Catholicism, I am able to give facts in regard to the mingling of paganism and Christianity. As Pope I took from the Pantheon at Rome, 450,000 pounds of bronzes to decorate St. Peter’s at Rome, and the bronzes were used with little if any alteration in their ornamental designs. There you may see the gods of antiquity converted into the Christian saints. Let those who have charge of that edifice deny this if they can. To my certain knowledge most of the churches at Rome are built on the ruins of heathen temples and of the material of the latter. Christianity has borrowed everything from paganism; and there is no Catholic priest who holds any office of consequence in the Catholic Church who does not know the common identity of a ceremony of the Eleusinian mysteries in Greece and the Lord’s Supper. They will not admit this as mortals, but there will come a time to them in the spirit life when remorse for their untruthfulness will lash them into giving the truth. ‘Why,’ ask these milk and water people, ‘do you so roughly attack Christianity?’ Because it claims for itself divine powers, and it has none. There is only one religion, and that is the religion of reason. There never was a spirit on this planet that in the end will possess any more power than another. So they can rely, that each one will get their just deserts exactly. You can make the road long and tedious, or you can have the light. It is for you to choose, both in the mortal and the spirit life. I will close by saying, I hope for the success of truth and the banishment of error.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 123 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to Chambers’ Encyclopaedia for account of Urban VIII.
   There are many points of great interest and importance in the communication of Urban. His emphatic testimony to the fact, that Christianity is only another name for paganism, is one. But of especial interest is the declaration, that in St. Peter’s at Rome, the bronze statues of the Greek and Roman gods now figure as the Christian saints, where some of them were placed by Urban himself. Not less significant is the declaration, that the ceremony of the Lord’s Supper is identical with a ceremony performed in the Eleusinian mysteries, and that the Bishops, Archbishops, Cardinals and Popes of the Catholic Church, have always known this great fact.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 123

   “I have been set down in history as a Jew — Afterwards as a Christian. There has been a great mistake. I was neither a Jew nor Christian. I was a Cappadocian, and they say I wrote a Greek version of the Old Testament. I did nothing of the kind. I combined extracts from the alleged teachings of the God Apollo with certain alleged facts in relation to Jove or Jehovah, but how these men succeeded in tacking my name to a Greek Testament I have been unable to find out even as a spirit. I lived in 128 A. D., and kept philosophical schools in certain portions of Judea and Cappadocia. In those schools I taught a mixture of Egyptian, Grecian and Judean doctrines, by which I gave great offence to the Jews, and on being summoned before a Jewish tribunal refused to recant anything that I had taught. The Jews, in consequence raised a sedition, and I was put to death by the Romans to appease them. But, as a spirit, I am no better or worse off for having taught my theology than the Jews for teaching the doctrines of their Jehovah; or the Christians for establishing the religion of their myth-god Erroneous teachings are not immortal. It is true that some are longer lived than others, but they all die of the dry-rot. Killed in the end by “old Father Time.” Good and kind actions form the incense that is eternal in its freshness, and wafts the spirit who performs those actions upward and onward toward the great Infinite. My name was Aquila — no Jew nor Christian, but a Cappadocian philosopher.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 124 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to the Biographie Universelle for account of Aquila.
   Who can read that communication from the spirit purporting to be Aquila, and the accounts that have come down to us concerning him, and not be impressed with the identity of the communicating spirit? No one has attempted to tell us, what was the manner or time of Aquila’s death. He, however, explains it. He was neither a Jew nor Christian, but a Greek teacher, of a mixture of the doctrines of the Egyptians, Jews and Greeks, which were so offensive to the Jews, that they compelled the Roman authorities to put him to death to stop their seditious commotion. Is it not most encouraging to know, that the lost or concealed facts of ancient history, are being brought to light by these ancient philosophers and learned men of old, even at this late day?

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 124

   “Well, sir:— You have, I think, a paper among you Spiritualists called ‘Light for All.’ That ought to be my salutation. In mortal life I was an orator, also a writer, and I wrote against the Christians. Now when a man writes against anything it is a proper question to ask: What are your reasons for doing so? In my case they may be set forth under three heads. First, because I knew there was no learned Christian but who must have known, on investigation, that the religion called Christian is but a duplication of the Eleusinian mysteries, and that those mysteries embody every dogma set forth by the Christian priests. Secondly, because I knew that these mysteries were remodeled by Ammonius Saccas, and that the doctrines that the Christians were teaching were not the doctrines of their Jesus, but were the teachings of Ammonius Saccus; and were Therapeutic doctrines. Thirdly, Theodotius, a Christian emperor or Pope, after my time, had 27,000 rolls of papyrus destroyed that contained the very doctrines that prove that those mysteries of ancient Greece were the original parent of the Christian religion. Fear was predominant — truth was not considered then. Spies and informers were set to watch your houses at all hours of the day or night, and if they could catch you reading anything contrary to the prevailing faith your life had to pay the forfeit. I have nothing to do as a spirit with those who were in this bond of iniquity, when I was in mortal form; but I think it is no more than my duty as a spirit to enlighten you as to the acts of priestly forgery in my day. There are three things that govern a spirit’s happiness, as far as I have learned — love, charity, and justice to yourself. You sit in judgement upon your imperfections and becoming enlightened seek to correct them through your own inward consciousness of what is best for you. I lived about 220 A. D. They have classed me as an Ebionite Christian. To define my true position I can come no nearer to it than to say I was what you are — a Spiritualist, to all intents and purposes. As it is hard to express our ancient names through the medium I will spell mine as one of the versions of the Old Testament was attributed to me; but it was a forgery. I had nothing to do with it. It was Lysimachus, who lived at Constantinople about A. D. 270 who was the author of that version.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 125 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to the Nouvelle Biographie Generale for account of Symmachus.
   Here we have another spirit returning and correcting the historical account of himself. He says he was not a Jew nor an Ebionite Christian, nor yet a Pagan, but a Spiritualist, and that he wrote against the Christians. There can be little doubt he was a Therapeutic follower of Ammonius Saccas, and if not himself initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries, had learned from the writings of Ammonius Saccas the facts that he sets forth. [...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 126

   “I was a geographer, and lived at the time it is said the Christian Saviour lived. I travelled in and examined many countries. There was none of those countries but what had their Saviours at that time. [...]

I met with one strange thing in my travels, and that was the fact that the goddess Diana, A. D. 44, was worshipped as the prevailing God at Antioch, and that there were no Christians there at that time. I spent three months there, and found none; and I know that neither at Antioch, nor at Ephesus, nor at Athens, nor at Rome was there any person who knew anything about the man called Paul, at that time. As a spirit, I have investigated the subject, to find who this Paul was, and I found him to be none other than the Cappadocian Saviour, Apollonius of Tyana. Apollonius has told me himself, in spirit life, that he wrote the so-called Christian Epistles to his followers. I ask no man to accept this because it comes from myself, but I know, as a spirit, that it is true; and if it is not found out to be so in this generation, it will be in the next. I died about A. D. 60. I was a native of Spain, at that time a province of the Roman empire.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 126 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, for account of Pomponius Mela.
   Thus testifies another spirit, a noted writer who lived and thoroughly observed and investigated all subjects of general interest during the very time that it is said that Jesus, the Christian Saviour, was on the earth, and that related to the scenes of his fictitious efforts. Especially did he note the matters relating to the religions of the various countries in which he travelled and of which he wrote. He tells us that as late as 44 A. D., he spent three months at Antioch, where the goddess Diana was the only deity worshipped and that there were no Christians there at that time. He testifies equally positively that he knows that, when he lived, there was no one at Antioch, Ephesus, Athens nor Rome, who had ever seen or knew anything about the man named Paul. Now it will be remembered that the first mention made of Paul, as a historical character, is in the book called “The Acts of the Apostles,” Chapter VII, 58. It is not said who he was or why he is there introduced. This is exceedingly strange if Paul was truly a historical character. From that time he is made the central figure of what is called the New Testament, Jesus himself being put in the shade by him. He is first made to figure as a terrible persecutor of Christians. Why no mention of any Christians as existing at that day, nor of Paul their terrible persecutor, was made by contemporaneous writers, no Christian writer has ever explained. Miraculously convinced of his error, as is alleged in “The Acts,” Paul became the foremost Christian in the world, not even excepting St. Peter, the rock on which the Christian Church was built. In Chapter XIII, of The Acts, verse 1, it is said: “Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers * * As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them.” This was the source of Paul’s authorization to speak for the Holy Ghost. If there was no Christian Church in Antioch at that time, then the Christian mission of Paul is without support. The spirit of Pomponius Mela says that there was no such church, as late as 44 A. D., at Antioch, and his statement being in accord with contemporary history, is undoubtedly true. But still more significant is his statement that no person at Antioch, Ephesus, Athens or Rome ever heard of Paul, who is represented to have figured so prominently, at the time when he lived and wrote, in those centres of religion of that period.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 128

   “Good day, sir:— My name was Stefano Borgia, Cardinal at Rome, from 1806 to 1810, and died in Lyons, France. There is one thing before which everything else must bow, and that is truth. Any religion — no matter what its power may be here — if not founded on truth, in the spirit life must fail. The atonement of the Roman Church is approaching, and its power will go down in a night of blood. As I can see this with a spirit’s eyes, I feel it my duty to say that those persons or characters spoken of in the New Testament never had an existence, and this is well understood by us priests. I was the leader or head of the Catholic Church at Rome, at the time of the entrance of the French into that city. The first and principal thing done was to hide all the works of the Latin Fathers. Why? Because Christianity cannot stand the blazing light of the originals when placed in the hands of scholars and free-thinkers. A child could almost see how the Epistles have been interpolated and changed to suit the views of the writers, and the foolish ceremonies these writers are advocating, show this. They fight about the communion ceremony — whether they should use water or wine — whether the bread was the real body or Christ or not. There has been more bloodshed, more spirit damnation on account of these follies in regard to these ceremonial laws than on account of all other things put together. This communication is yours for the cause of truth.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 128 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to the American Cyclopaedia for account of Cardinal Borgia.
   The importance of this communication may be understood from the fact that the learned Cardinal Borgia made it his especial business to collect the manuscript evidence of the writings of the Fathers of the Christian Church, and all that related to the anterior religious systems of the world. He therefore no doubt tells the exact truth in relation to the fact that the Roman Catholic Church could not afford to have the manuscripts of the Christian fathers fall into the hands of the learned critics of the beginning of the present century. [...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 129

   “I salute you with my best wishes:— It is astonishing to me in one way, and yet not in another, when, as a spirit, I look upon you mortals and see you in this liberal, enlightened and educated age, bowing before the superstition that such men as myself, during our mortal lives, endeavored to perpetuate for our own benefit. I do not believe that there were, at the Council of Nice, three persons present who believed in the truth of what was set down. If there were, it was on account of their ignorance. There was one thing that’ took place there that I think has not been recorded for the benefit of humanity. It was agreed among the bishops there assembled, to destroy all books that threw any light upon the mythological origin of the Christian religion. The result of that agreement, it is easy for you to estimate, since you have been receiving these communications from the spirits of the priests who flourished in that day and since; as you must have seen for yourself that this has been carried out as thoroughly as possible. I cannot even plead in my own favor that I agreed to this through ignorance. I was governed by the desire for earthly advancement. In fact, one-half your priests, ministers and bishops, are to-day materialists at heart, and they only advocate the Christian religion because it is popular, and yields them a happy temporal condition. Even in my day we resorted to bibliomancy to decide questions of church policy. That is, we opened at one page, then at another, reading the first verses our eyes met, and by that means decided who should be bishop and who not. But this was only subterfuge to cover the real object, for the priest who had the most gold to pay to the bishops, bought the best bishoprics. I will add, there was at that time nearly one hundred different versions of the gospels, so-called, and each writer interpreted them to suit himself, as did the bishops likewise. Therefore, enlightened persons, to-day, must be fools to follow the teachings of such dishonest barbarians as we were. If this communication causes one person to reflect on what I have said I am amply repaid. I was Caracalla, Archbishop of Nicomedia.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 93 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopaedia of Theological Literature, for “Bibliomancy.”
   Here we have a spirit returning, and testifying not only that bibliomancy was practiced by the Christian prelates of his day, himself included, but that it was only a subterfuge of Christian prelates to barter away bishoprics for gold, and to conceal the vile and corrupt object of those in authority as Christian prelates. Still more than this, that in the Council of Nice, it was agreed among the prelates there assembled, to destroy all writings that could show the mythological origin of the Christian religion. A pretty religion this to dominate the interests of humanity here and hereafter. [...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 131

   “My best greetings to you:— There is only a fragment of my mortal life now extant. I travelled through almost all the countries at that time accessible. My life was an eventful one. 1 am set down in history as a converted Jew, when in fact I was not a Jew at all. I was a Greek, and lived in Athens. As I travelled over all those countries, I found the idea of some God saving the people, who was to be born into mortal life, or in fact, as the speaker said, to-day, a reincarnation of some older God or Gods who would effect this. And upon this tradition the Christians have interpolated the small fragments extant now of the works of my mortal life. In reality it was nothing more than the teachings of the pupils or disciples of the Alexandrian school going out and spreading this idea, which they received from India through Apollonius. This I positively know to be the fact, because I talked with them, and was initiated in some of their secrets myself. But I found that a great deal of it was lost, and while they had some sound moral and philosophical thoughts, they had only one object in view as the basis of their teachings and that was to gain power. At the time I lived — A. D. 170 — there was a great desire to gather together these traditions, and to gain possession of ancient manuscripts, in order to patch up a new religion, out of the old ones. At that time, it was a fight between the power of learned scholars and the power of pagan priests. The priests bitterly opposed those who were regarded as learned men. My name was Hegesippus. You will find me mentioned, if anywhere, in Tiehendorf’s writings, who was one of the best scholars in New Testament matters among modern authors.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 131 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to McClintock’s and Strong’s Ecclesiastical Cyclopaedia and Nouvelle Biographie Generate, for account of Hegesippus. [...]

   We regard this communication as genuine and authentic, and highly important, as cumulative evidence of the fact that Apollonius, and not Jesus, is the real object of Christian worship. And yet this Greek heathen has been made a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 133

   “I am here:— You may succeed for many years in keeping back the truth, but a time comes when that which is hidden must be revealed. I was a bishop in the fourth century. I was also a writer, and I translated a set of gospels and epistles from the Samaritan tongue. They are now in the University, at a place called Upsal, and they are called the Codex Argenteus. It was written on what are called silver tablets. In truth, the fact is that I copied the gospel and epistles of Apollonius of Tyana, not originally written by himself, but brought by him from Singapoor, India, in Asia. That is he wrote versions from the originals himself, but these teachings of Apollonius bore, not the names that the Christians have given them. I used the names that the Christians wished to have at the head of their different books. I was paid well for doing this, and managed to gain great popularity and preferment by it, on this mortal plane; but my condition as a spirit has been one of torture. And know this; there is an influence amongst progressed spirits that forces all evil-doers back here to confess their sins, and show just where they lied and where they told the truth. This they are obliged to do finally, although they may defer it for a long time. I have stated here, as a spirit, exactly what I did as a mortal, hoping that it will bring out the truth. I am Ulphilas.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 133 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to Nouvelle Biographie Generale, Feller’s Historical Dictionary and Historical Dictionary by Menard and Desenne, 1823.
   We have given here several references as to where may be found, (as they have come down to us) the historical facts, relating to Ulphilas and his Bible, in order to enable the reader to appreciate the unprecedented importance of that communication. We challenge the Christian priesthood and clergy, as well as all who believe in the truth of the Christian religion, to successfully question the truth and authenticity of the statements embraced in that communication.

[...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 135

   “I salute you, sir: — Whether my name is recorded in history I care not; nor do I care whether it is disputed that I ever lived; but I know that I do live as a spirit, and what is more that I lived exactly at the time it is claimed that Jesus lived. Not only that — but it is claimed that I had correspondence with Christ. Now for the facts. My name was Abgarus. I was a priest at Abdera, in Thrace — afterwards a priest in Rome, in the reign of Tiberius Caesar. I held correspondence with a Jewish priest who lived, at that time, in Jerusalem and whose name was Jesus Malathiel. This correspondence was taken advantage of by Felix, bishop of Urgel, in Spain, in the eighth century, in the time of Charlemagne, and was used by Christians after that time, to prove the real existence of Jesus Christ, when no such person existed; and I had no correspondence with any other person than I have named. The points at issue between myself and this Jesus was whether my god Apollo or his god Jah or Jehovah was the older. There was at that time proof positive in ancient books then extant, that the Grecian god Apollo under the name of Bel or Baal, was worshipped by the very father of the Jewish religion, Abraham, in Chaldea, before he became the so-called progenitor of the Hebrew nation, and therefore, I won the debate between this learned Jew and myself. And concerning this controversy some of the apocryphal books, thrown out by the Council of Nice, contained accounts of my controversy with that Jesus; but the Christians have so mutilated the original argument, that it cannot now be understood. They have done everything they could to utterly destroy that argument. I have come here to-day, to throw what light I could upon this point, and I have done it honestly as a spirit. I care not whether history confirms what I say or not. I departed the mortal life about A. D. 60. This is yours for the truth.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 137 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   [Pg 137] It would seem that the alleged correspondence between Abgarus and Jesus Christ, was declared apocryphal as early as A. D. 494; or in other words, spurious.
   The reason for that declaration was not given nor was there any attempted explanation, as to how so recognized an authority as Eusebius, had been induced to cite the alleged correspondence as genuine. It would appear that the Council of Rome in 494 only declared the letter of Christ to Abgarus as spurious, but did not pronounce the alleged letter of Abgarus to Christ equally spurious. Both rested on the same authority and both should have shared the same disposition at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church. [...]

   [Pg 138] View all the facts as we may, this communication must strike the attention of thoughtful persons as of especial significance in showing what the so-called Christian religion really is, and furthermore it points us to the truth as to this important item of history, exposing the falsehoods that were built upon the single fact that Abgarus had corresponded with a Jew named Jesus.

[...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 138

   “I feel odd in coming back here. I come not of my own will. I am forced here to tell, in this communication, what I know about Christian interpolations, Christian robbery, and Christian lying. I lived for the sake of popularity. I deceived, because it gave me power. I professed a morality that I never possessed. In fact, I was a materialist at the bottom. I had no hope nor idea of an existence beyond the tomb, and I thought the best thing that I could do wras to secure physical comforts here. I tampered with the books that have been described here to-day. I substituted names in them that were not in the originals, and from these books, which taught only pure morality, I helped all I could to destroy the idea of man performing any good work of himself, and to induce people to rely entirely for the atonement of their sins on Jesus. I also destroyed many valuable books, for fear some one would discover my fraudulent conduct. I confess that I was one of the principal parties who placed the Christian Scriptures in their present shape, or very nearly so. It is known by every Christian priest, to-day, who knows aught of history, that Apollonius was the original Jesus; and the pagans in my day, in their answers to Christian bishops, said that those bishops positively knew they were lying when they claimed any other Saviour than the Cappadocian Saviour; and charged that, in their artfulness, when they could not destroy the knowledge of Apollonius and his teachings they interpolated the name of Jesus, when by every principle of right the name of Apollonius should have been allowed to remain there. If you must have a Saviour I do not see why you should not have the right one. It is better to build on a reality than on a myth. Apollonius, in spirit life, has a noble school of philosophy for spirits who desire to be educated. One of the most consummate villains that ever lived, and one that has done more to retard learning the truth regarding this Christ than any other, was Eusebius, for he spent his whole life in interpolating, mutilating and destroying everything that was against Christianity. And the first pope was also guilty of a similar destruction of those books. I might go on further, but the power of control is exhausted. Sign me Gregory of Constantinople.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 139 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   The spirit giving that communication must have been Gregory Nazianzen, so-called from the fact that he was a native of Nazianzus in Cappadocia. He was afterwards made bishop of Constantinople and hence gives himself that designation. See account of him in the American Cyclopaedia.
   It is the spirit of this Christian saint and church father who confesses that he was forced to come back and testify his knowledge of the fraudulent character of the Christian religion. It would appear that he was not the self-denying, unambitious man that history has described him to be, nor was he the ascetic moralist he feigned to be. Even more than this, he frankly confesses that he was a materialist at heart, and had no hope nor idea of the after-life. [...]

   [Pg 140] It is a well known historical fact, that prior to this epoch of the so-called Christian era, there was little unity of purpose and interest on the part of the Christian hierarchy. Then for the first time the present papal power took shape, and everything that was opposed to it was relentlessly destroyed or so modified as to assist in establishing this sacrilegious usurpation of the rights of humanity. It was then that men, wearing the garb of the votaries of divine truth, perpetrated falsehoods of the meanest and blackest dye, and labeled them religion. Most prominent in this work were Sylvester I, and Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 141

   “I yield under protest. I hate both my mortal and spirit life. I acted here, and still do act, a living lie. The prince of interpolators, forgers and plagiarists, now inhabits the organism of this man before you. Curse you and your book; but I will have, I suppose, to get my name in it. I have fought these spirit powers during two long years before they got me here tonight. I am fast in the net of truth. I am not (bad though I be,) the forger of the passage in relation to Jesus Christ, in Josephus. I merely copied it. Justin Martyr was the man who did that, in his epistle to Antoninus Pius, begging that he would not persecute the Christians, on account of the similarity of the Christian with the pagan God. In chap, ii of my Ecclesiastical history, you will find the sentence, as near as I can give it through this man, (Curse me if I was not watched, I would lie to you,) that the Epistles and Gospels of the ancient Therapeutae, are the Epistles and Gospels of the present day. And another thing I was compelled to say in my history was, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was neither new nor strange. There is a book extant that will settle this Anti- Nicene Library question, and what it is and where to find it will be told here to-night by a spirit who will follow me. There is no bishop, archbishop, cardinal, nor pope, that has not tampered with everything that could throw light upon Christianity. It had its origin with, and was founded by Apollonius of Tyana, and its principal exponent, or one who did most to spread it, according to the manuscripts that I copied from, was Ammonius Saccas. I think from my reading of them that he added the Egyptian (Alexandrian) element to the Hindoo originals. That is, he modernized them to suit the Egyptian schools of thought. All the Epistles and Gospels are, in reality, the creation of the Christian priests. Some were named as early as the second century and some not until the fourth century.” [Here the spirit stopped to say:] “In the first place I hate to give this communication.” [He was urged to do it without reluctance. He answered:] “It is a surrender of power. No man likes to give up power.” [He then resumed his communication.] “All the Gospels and Epistles of Apollonius of Tyana were in what might be termed the Syriac-Hebraic, or Samaritan tongue, and the Greek writers translated them, in those early ages, to suit themselves. That Christianity and paganism were identically the same, can be proven very easily by the feast in honor of Adonis or Adonai, which the Christians adopted — that is the Catholic Christians — and which is now their Easter festival, and you can see this at Rome on any Easter day. It requires very little learning to see their identity. The original (if ever there was an original,) Jesus Christ was a Hindoo god, known under the name of Christos, or Krishna, the modern way of spelling it, to disguise the real truth. According to documents that were extant in my day, this Christos or Krishna, was worshipped in the temple of Mathura on the Jumna, in the days of Sanchoniathon, 1200 years B. C.; positive evidence of which I think is to be found in some manuscripts, of the time of Alexander the Great, still extant, 330 B. C. I do not come here to-night to confess anything willingly. I am caught in the web of circumstances— trapped by spirits who know more than I do. I have confessed only what their power made me confess. I have had to do it. You know my name.” [We replied, Eusebius of Caesarea. He replied.] “I am Eusebius of Caesarea. But to me this is the worst experience I have ever had to undergo. I would rather have spent a hundred years in hell than to have acknowledged what I have done here.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 146 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   [Pg 142] In view of the great importance of that communication, we will give such facts concerning Eusebius as will serve to give it its due weight. Of Eusebius, Dr. Lardner says:

“‘Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, in Palestine,’ says Jerome, ‘a man most studious in the divine scriptures, and together with the martyr Pamphilus, very diligent in making a large collection of ecclesiastical writers, published innumerable volumes, some of which are these: The Evangelical Demonstration, in twenty books: The Evangelical Preparation, in fifteen books: Five books of Theophanie: Ten books of Ecclesiastical History: Chronicle Canons of Universal History, and an Epitome of them: and of the Difference between the Gospels: Ten books upon Isaiah: Against Porphyry, who at the same time wrote in Sicily, thirty books as some think, though I have never met with more than twenty: Topics, in one book: An Apology for Origen, in six books: The Life of Pamphilus, in three books: Several small pieces concerning the martyrs: most learned commentaries on the 150 Psalms, and many other works. He nourished chiefly under the emperors Constantine and Constantius. On account of his friendship for Pamphilus, he received his surname from him.’

   “Eusebius, as is generally thought, and with some degree of probability, was born at Caesarea, in Palestine, about the year 270, or as some think sooner. We have no account of his parents, or who were his instructors in early life. Nor is there anything certainly known of his family and relations. * * It is somewhat probable, though not certain, that Eusebius was ordained presbyter by Agapius, bishop of Caesarea, of whom he made a very honorable mention. He had a long and happy intimacy with Pamphilus, presbyter in that church, who was imprisoned in the year 307, and obtained the crown of martyrdom in 309. During the time of that imprisonment, Eusebius was much with his friend. After the martyrdom of Pamphilus, he went to Tyre, where he saw many finish their testimony to Jesus in a glorious manner. From thence, as it seems, he went into Egypt; where, too, he was a spectator of the sufferings and patience of many of his fellow-Christians; where likewise he seems to have been imprisoned. And because he did not suffer, as some others did, it has been insinuated, that he procured his liberty by sacrificing, or some other mean compliance, unbecoming a Christian. But that is a general accusation without ground. No one was ever able to specify any mean act of compliance in particular; as appears from Potamon’s charge in Epiphanius.”

   “Agapius succeeded Theotecnus in the see of Caesarea. And it is the more general opinion, that Eusebius succeeded Agapius in 315. This is certain, that he was bishop of Caesarea in 320 at the latest. After which we can perceive that he was present at most of the synods held in that part of the world. He died in the year 339 or 340.”

   Speaking of Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History, Lardner says:

   “Of all Eusebius’s works the Ecclesiastical History is the most valuable, but, as it seems to me the least accurate of all his large works, that are come down to us in any good measure entire. Some faults may be owing to haste, others to defect of critical skill, others to want of candor and impartiality. For our great author, as well as most other men, had his affections. He was favorable to some things and persons, and prejudiced against others. 1. He was a great admirer of Origen; in which he was in the right. Nevertheless, he should not have therefore omitted all notice of Methodius, because he was Origen’s adversary. 2. He had a great zeal for the Christian religion; and, so far, undoubtedly, he was right. Nevertheless he should not have attempted to support it by weak and false arguments. 3. Abgarus’s letter to our Saviour, and our Saviour’s letter to Abgarus, copied at length in our author’s Ecclesiastical History, are much suspected by many learned men not to be genuine. 4. It is wonderful, that Eusebius should think Philo’s Therapeutse were Christians, and that their ancient writings should be our gospels and epistles. (P. 55. D.) 5. Eusebius supposed Josephus to speak of the enrolment at the time of our Lord’ nativity, before the death of Herod the Great, related, Luke ii, 1-4; whereas, indeed, the Jewish historian speaks of that made after the removal of Archelaus, which is also referred to in Acts v. 37. 6. Our author does justly allege Josephus, as confirming the account which Luke gives, Acts xii, of the death of Herod Agrippa. But whereas Josephus says, that ‘Agrippa casting his eyes upward saw an owl sitting upon a cord over his head.’ Our Ecclesiastical historian says, he ‘saw an angel over his head.’ I know not what good apology can be made for this. 7. He transcribes Josephus’ account of Theudas, as confirming what is said, Acts v., 36; whereas, what Josephus says is reckoned to be a considerable objection against the Evangelical History. 8. In the Demonstration he transcribes a passage of Josephus relating to the wonderful signs preceding the destruction of Jerusalem, and then adds, ‘These things he writes, as happening after our Saviour’s passion;’ though they did not happen till about thirty y ears afterwards. To the like purpose in the Chronicle and in the Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius transcribes largely that passage of Josephus, as giving an account of the signs before the Jewish war. Concerning this matter may be seen Joseph Scaliger. 9. If the testimony to Jesus, as the Christ, had been from the beginning, in Josephus’ works, it is strange that it should never have been quoted by any ancient apologist for Christianity; and now in the beginning of the fourth century be thought so important as to be quoted by our author in two of his works, still remaining. 10. There is a work, ascribed to Porphyry, quoted by Eusebius, in the Preparation, and Demonstration. If that work is not genuine (as I think it is not), it was a forgery of his own time. And the quoting it, as he does, will be reckoned an instance of want of care, or skill, or candor and impartiality. 11. I formerly complained of Eusebius for not giving us at length the passage of Caius, concerning the Scriptures of the New Testament, or however, of St. Paul’s Epistles. But he abridges that, and afterwards transcribes at length several passages of an anonymous writer of little worth, concerning the followers of Artemon. It may be reckoned somewhat probable, that Eusebius’s aversion for Sabellianism, and everything akin to it, led him to pay so much respect for that author. 12. I add no more at present. Many observations upon this author’s works may be seen in Joseph Scaliger’s Prologomena to the Chronicle. Dr. Heumann intended to write remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History; but I do not know that he has published them.”

   So wrote the learned and pious Dr. Nathaniel Lardner concerning the famed Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius. From what follows, it will be seen he was equally dishonest and evasive as to the doctrinal views he entertained. Says Dr. Lardner:

   “It has often been disputed whether Eusebius was an Arian. It may be proper, therefore, for me to refer to some authors upon this question. The ancients were not all of one mind here. Socrates, in the 5th century, inserted an apology for him in his Ecclesiastical History.”

   “Among moderns it is needless to mention Baronius, whose antipathy to this writer is well known. Petavius readily places Eusebius amongst Arians. Bull vindicates him. Cave and Le Clerc had a warm controversy upon this head. Cave allows, ‘That there are many unwary and dangerous expressions to be found in his writings.’ ‘That he has at best doubtful and ambiguous expressions in his controverted doctrine;’ ‘ and that he was reckoned to be an Arian by Athanasius, and divers others his contemporaries, as well as others in the latter part of the fourth century, and afterwards.’ Still he says, he did not hold the peculiar doctrines of Arianism. Fabricius and Du Pin do not much differ from Cave. Valesius, too, was favorable to our author. G. J. Vossius says, his works would sufficiently manifest him to have been an Arian if the ancients had been silent about him. Of the same opinion was James Gothofred. Tillemont is clear, that Eusebius showed himself an Arian by his actions and his writings. Montfaucon says the same thing exactly, and earnestly, and at large argues on this side of the question; and that he showed himself to be an Arian as much in his writings, after the Council of Nice, as before it. As for his subscribing to the Nicene Creed, he supposes that Eusebius was moved by worldly considerations, and that he did not subscribe sincerely. Which is grievous to think; better had it been, that the bishops of that council had never met together, than that they should have tempted and prevailed upon a Christian bishop, or anyone else, to prevaricate and act against conscience.”

   Such is the testimony of Christian writers as to the dishonesty, worldliness and unfairness of Eusebius as a writer and a Christian bishop. We quote farther from Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography:

   “The character of Eusebius, and his honesty as a writer, have been made the subject of a fierce attack by Gibbon, who accuses him of relating whatever might redound to the credit, and suppressing whatever would tend to cast reproach on Christianity, and represents him as little better than a dishonest sycophant, anxious for nothing higher than the favor of Constantine; and resumes the subject in his ‘Vindication’ of the 15th and 16th chapters of the history. For the charge of sycophancy there is but little foundation. The joy of the Christians at Constantine’s patronage of true religion was so great, that he was all but deified by them, both before and after his death; and although no doubt Niebuhr has sufficiently shown that Constantine, at least up to the time of his last illness, can only be considered as a pagan; yet, considering that his accession not only terminated the persecution which had raged for ten years, but even established Christianity as the state religion, it is not surprising that Eusebius, like others, should be willing to overlook his faults, and regard him as an especial favorite of heaven. As to the charge of dishonesty, though we would neither expect nor wish a Christian to be impartial in Gibbon’s sense, [Why not, pray?] yet, Eusebius has certainly avowed, that he omits almost all account of the wickedness and dissensions of the Christians, from thinking such stories less edifying than those which display the excellence of religion, by reflecting honor upon the martyrs. The fact that he avows this principle, at once diminishes our confidence in him as a historian, and acquits him of the charge of intentional deceit, to which he would have been otherwise exposed. But besides this, Eusebius has written a chapter bearing the monstrous title,—‘How far it may be lawful and fitting to use falsehood as a medicine for the advantage of those who require such a method.’ Now at the first sight, [and why not 2d, 3d, 4th, and any number of other sights?] there naturally rises in our minds a strong prejudice against a person who, being a Christian in profession, could suppose that the use of falsehood can ever be justified; and no doubt the thought was suggested by the pious frauds which are the shame of the early Church. But when we read the chapter itself, we find that the instances which, Eusebius takes of the extent to which the principle may be carried, are the cases in which God is described in the Old Testament as liable to human affections, as jealousy or anger, ‘which is done for the advantage of those who require such methods.’”

   We have given enough and more than enough concerning Eusebius, to show his real character. We may now proceed to analyze the communication, which purports to come from his unwilling and resisting spirit. [...]

   [Pg 148] The statement of the spirit that he was compelled by the facts to state in his history, “that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was neither new nor strange,” is borne out by the following extract from Lardner:

   “The contents of the fourth chapter of the Ecclesiastical History is to this purpose : ‘That the religion published by Jesus Christ to all nations is neither new nor strange. “For though,’ says he, ‘without controversy, we are but of late, and the name of Christians is indeed new, and has not long obtained over the world; yet our manner of life and the principles of our religion, have not been lately devised by us, but were instituted and observed, if I may so say, from the beginning of the world by good men, accepted of God, from those natural notions which are implanted in men’s minds. This I shall show in the following manner: It is well known, that the nation of the Hebrews is not new, but distingushed by antiquity. They have writings containing accounts of ancient men; few indeed in number, but very eminent for piety, justice, and every other virtue. Of whom some lived before the flood, others since, sons and grandsons of Noah; particularly Abraham, whom the Hebrews glory in as the father and founder of their nation. And if any one, ascending from Abraham to the first man, should affirm, that all of them who were celebrated for virtue, were Christians in reality, though not in name, he would not speak much beside the truth,”

   Now Eusebius lived and wrote three hundred years after the alleged death of Jesus Christ; and yet we have him declaring that the name of Christians was then new, and that their religion and customs were of long antecedent date. Who believes that Eusebius would ever have given such a death blow to the pretence that Jesus Christ had taught or established a new religion or any religion at all, had he dared to face the facts that contradicted that pretence in his day? Who but the spirit of Eusebius would have recalled those annihilating declarations against Christianity made in his history of the Church? He well conjectured that those admissions on his part ought to be utterly fatal to the pretence of the originality of the so called Christian religion. As will be seen by the communication from the spirit of Sir Thomas Bodley, the fact of the existence of the Anti-Nicene Library to which Eusebius refers, is fully explained. The testimony of the spirit of Eusebius to the fact that Christianity had its origin with, and was founded by Apollonius of Tyana, as expounded by Ammonius Saccas, is not more important than it is true. That Ammonius Sacaas should have given them an Alexandrian coloring was to be expected, and this the spirit of Eusebius testifies was the case. When he says the Christian gospels and epistles were all the work of priests, we understand him to mean that the titles they bear, and their present modified forms, are the work of Christian priests. Equally important and truthful is the declaration of this spirit that the gospels and epistles of Apollonius of Tyana were in the Syriac-Hebraic or Samaritan tongue, and were subsequently translated into Greek by translators who construed them to suit themselves. The spirit testified truly when he said that Christianity and paganism were identical; and that the Christian Easter festival was but the feast of the Greeks and Phoenicians in honor of Adonis, which literally meant “Ad” the Lord, “on” the being, and “is” the fire, or One- Supreme-fire Being — the Sun. The confession of Eusebius, that it required very little learning to see that the original Jesus Christ was a mythical Hindoo god called Christos, is a stinging reproach of the Christian clergy who have shut their eyes to that almost self-evident fact. And here Eusebius states a most important and significant historical fact, and that is, that in his day there were documents extant that showed that Christos or Krishna was worshipped in the temple of Mathura on the Jumna, in the days of Sanchoniathon 1200 B. C. We find the following concerning Mathura in Johnson’s Universal Cyclopaedia:

   “Mathura, or Muttra, a town of British India, in the Northwestern Provinces on the Jumna, is a decaying and disagreeable place, but as the birthplace of Krisna, it is highly venerated by the Brahmans, and visited by a great number of pilgrims. The shores of the river are provided with gorgeous flights of steps, and the city contains an immense temple, from ‘which, however, foreign conquerors have carried away the idols of gold and silver with eyes of diamonds. Sacred apes are kept here; they are fed at the public expense, and allowed to do what mischief they like; swarms of holy parrots and peacocks are also maintained.”

   As Mathura was the reputed birth place of the Hindoo myth Christos, it is more than likely his worship had its rise there, and the statement of the spirit that Christos was worshipped there as early as the time of Sanchoniathon, the oldest of all known authors, 1200 B. C., is confirmed by known facts. For any one to pretend that £he medium, an almost illiterate man, ever concocted that remarkable communication is preposterous; and yet there are people who are so prejudiced or lost to all reason as to make that pretence.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 150

   “I salute you, sir:— I lived while in the mortal form at Athens, Eome and Alexandria, about A. D. 175. There are numerous letters of mine extant to-day, on various subjects connected with all the affairs of life, but they have been very careful to let none come down to the present generation, that could in any way invalidate the Christian religion. If they had done so, the whole secret of the ‘Wise Men of the East,’ coming to worship the young child would be known to you. The story was brought from India to Alexandria by the Gymnosophists. There were four gospels then extant connected therewith, under the title of ‘The Incarnation of Buddha.’ Also, in my day there came from Singapoor, India, to Alexandria, seven wise men, who came to compare notes upon the subject of religion and philosophy; and from the holy city of Benares they brought accounts of the gods Brahma, Crishna and Buddha, in exchange for similar accounts of a great many Egyptian, Grecian and Roman gods; and as far as I read their works, I think they were worsted in the exchange, for more lazy, good-for-nothing nothings than the priests of Egypt, Greece and Rome have never been upon this planet. They were even worse than the priests of to-day, for the latter work to cover up their tracks, while the pagan priests were openly licentious. I will say further, that I have seen at Alexandria books such as, if they were extant now, would overthrow the whole Christian fabric. My name I will spell — Alciphron.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 151 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography for account of Alciphron.
   This graceful Greek writer comes back to say that some of his most important letters have been suppressed, especially those which could in any way invalidate the fraud of Christianity. In view of such frequent testimony to the vandalism of the Christian priesthood it becomes a question whether there are any of the ancient writings that have not either been suppressed, destroyed or mutilated to such an extent as to conceal the true nature and bearing of them. [...]

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 152

   “Good evening, sir:— I might as well give my name now, so as to be sure of it, for my control may get weak toward the end of this communication. I was known as Sir Thomas Bodley. I was the founder of the Bodleian Library, attached to the Oxford University, at Oxford, England. In the 16th century, I collected manuscripts, and particularly those of a very ancient date, and I know that there was a collection deposited therein by me, called the ‘Controversy against the Council of Nice.’ It embraced writings of the Controversialists previous to and for a century after that Council, that are known to history; but how far the clergy have tampered with them since, I know not. I say this, because in the 16th and 17th centuries, if a priest saw a book or manuscript that was dangerous to Christianity, he did one of three things, stole it, bought it, or mutilated it. At Cambridge, you will find what is termed the Cambridge manuscript, of which sixty leaves were missing, ten of which have since been supplied. Supplied by whom, I would like to know! The marginal notes of ancient scribes were damning evidence of the authenticity of the originals from which they copied; and those lynx-eyed priests could not afford to let them come down to posterity. But if the manuscripts of this Anti-Nicene Library, or copies Of them are now extant, I think you will find them in Robert Watt’s Bibliotheca Britannica, published in 1824, 4 qto vols. , as it is the finest catalogue in the English language, and a work of vast research. That was the principal object of my coming here to-night. As there are others here to speak I close and thank you for this opportunity.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 152 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to the Encyclopaedia Britannica for account of Sir Thomas Bodley. [...]

   [Pg 153] It will be seen that the spirit states that in the 16th century, he collected manuscripts, and particularly those of a very ancient date, and that among those manuscripts, there was a collection of them deposited by him in the Bodleian Library called, “The Controversy Against the Council of Nice,” and that that collection embraced the writings of the Controversialists previous to and for a century after that Council was held.
   It is equally a significant feature of that communication, that the spirit should so clearly testify to the vandalism of the Christian clergy, Catholic and Protestant, in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the fluctuating ascendency of one or the other Christian faction was from time to time secured. No one knew better than Sir Thomas Bodley, the learned bibliotheke and critic, the extent of the destruction and mutilation of all then existing ancient works whether in manuscripts or in print. We have no doubt that the marginal notes, on many an ancient manuscript, sealed its doom. As directed by the spirit we sought the work of Robert Watt, a work we had never before heard of, and found it to be just what the spirit said it was, a work of four 4qto vols., published in 1824, which is truly “the finest catalogue in the English language, and a work of vast research.” We have no doubt that that invaluable work contains the mention of all the works ever embraced under the general designation of the “Controversy Against the Council of Nice;” but as Watt catalogues each work under its special title, we had nothing to guide us in our search. We have no doubt that this communication is authentic and true.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 154

   “I salute you, sir:— For my own benefit and personal aggrandizement, I brought to Rome the Pauline Epistles. I obtained them in Antioch. I changed or interpolated them to suit myself; because, being a scholar, and understanding those epistles to contain facts that were not known by the world at large, I thought that they presented a rare opportunity to make myself great. These epistles were written or copied from the originals by Apollonius, Apollos, or Paulus; and in order to disguise the identity of their author, Apollonius of Tyana, I interpolated that description of Paul that was afterward copied by Lucian. The principal foundation of those epistles was the sign of the zodiac known as Aries, the Ram or Lamb. The early Christians, as will be proven by one who comes after me to-day (Lucian), all worshipped a lamb instead of a man on a cross. Those epistles were written in the Cappadocian or Samaritan tongue. It is my duty as a spirit here to-day, to state positively that I was the first person to introduce these epistles to public notice, in A. D. 130, and in the manner I have described. This communication is given for the benefit of all thinkers who wish to be enlightened upon the truth. I was a native of Cappadocia, the country of Apollonius of Tyana; and my name was Marcion.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 154 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to the works of Dr. Lardner for account of Marcion.
   Who can read the analysis of the theological labors of Marcion by Dr. Lardner, in the light of the spirit communication of Marcion, and fail to recognize its complete demonstration that the epistles attributed to St. Paul by Christians, were nothing more nor less than certain epistles of Apollonius of Tyana, found some thirty-two years after his death at Antioch, by Marcion, who copied them, he making such alterations as would conceal their real authorship and object, and that they were taken by him to Rome, about A. D. 130, where he hoped to become the head of the Christian religion by establishing a new canonical scripture. This spirit testifies positively that he was the first to introduce those writings to the public, and this fact seems to be amply sustained by indisputable historical evidence. [...]

   [Pg 155] I ask the reader, whether in the light of the spirit communication from the spirit of Marcion, there can any longer be a question that there was a Gospel of Paul, and that the writer of it was none other than Apollonius of Tyana? This Gospel of Paul, was a Samaritan version of the Sanscrit gospel or gospels of Deva Bodhisatoua, obtained at Singapoor by Apollonius, and modified by him in accordance with his philosophic views. It was this Buddhistic gospel of Apollonius that was still further modified by Marcion in the gospel which he took to and preached at Rome. It was still farther modified by some writer thirty years afterward, and labeled the Gospel according to St. Luke. The author of the Gospel of Marcion, the Gospel of Luke, and the Pauline epistles being one and the same person and that person none other than Apollonius of Tyana, the only Apollos or Paulus or Paul, that ever had an existence. This shows the absolute truth of the spirit communication, for Marcion had propagated his New Testament in Pontus before going to Rome, and at least twenty years before Justin wrote. In speaking of the loss or destruction of evidence, Mr. Waite speaks of the writings of Marcion in the following just and forcible manner, which we cannot refrain from quoting in this connection.

   “Pure Christianity has suffered no greater loss, than that of the writings of Marcion, the great theological thinker of the second century — the compiler of the first complete gospel — the collector of the epistles of Paul — the editor and publisher of the first New Testament. While the elaborate work against him, written by Tertullian, who called him a ‘hound,’ h as been preserved, and the work of Epiphanius, who bestowed upon him the euphonius appellation of beast,’ the writings of Marcion have perished, except such as are found in the references and citations of his adversaries. His works have shared the common fate of those of the heretics of the second century, none of which, in their original form, have been permitted to come down to us.

   “Marcion was an educated man, and a profound thinker, and no relic of Christian antiquity, next to the Epistles of Paul, would to-day be more valuable, than his writings. Being himself a collector of gospel and New Testament manuscripts, his writings upon those subjects would forever set at rest the question, as to what gospels were then in circulation.”

   Can there be doubt any longer as to what the Gospel of Marcion was, in view of all the facts of the case? Through an unlettered man, who never heard of Marcion, a communication is given, which makes known the fact that the Paul of the Christian Scriptures was Apollonius of Tyana; and that the so-called Pauline Epistles were the writings of that Cappadocian sage, written in the Samaritan tongue and by himself procured and translated into Greek. Mr. Waite has demonstrated that the writer of Marcion’s Gospel, the Gospel of Luke and the Pauline Epistles were one and the same person. Can you doubt that Apollonius of Tyana was that author? If you do, then what is yet to come, and now in hand, will settle that point beyond all doubt.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 157

   “My salutation shall be, Death to Falsehood, whether in religion or in political affairs of spirits and mortals. The man who preceded me (Marcion) is the one from whom my description of St. Paul was taken, although never known to me by such a name. He was known to me as Apollos in the Greek tongue; as Paulus in the Roman; and it was understood by all scholars at the time I wrote, as relating to the life, travels, and miracles of one Apollonius, the oracle of Vespasian. In fact I merely followed the statements of Marcion, although I knew his statement was incorrect, never for an instant thinking that my description of this person would be seized upon by Christians, in after ages to perpetuate their fraud. I was of a satirical disposition of mind, and it made no difference to me if what I wrote was true or false. It was with me as with your dramatic writers of to-day; and it mattered not what events I sought to use, whether sacred or historical, so I could make them suit my purposes. [...]

   [Pg 157] That is all the light I can at this time throw upon the subject; and as a truthful spirit I want to assert nothing but what I know to be true. Lucian.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 157 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to McClintock and Strong’s Ecclesiastical Cyclopaedia, and Dr. Lardner, in Chap, xix, of his “Testimonies of Ancient Heathens,” for account of Lucian.
   Who can read the above communication and riot feel impressed with the insignificant measures used by the writers of that time to formulate the Christian Gospels. Judging from the writings of Lucian as they have come down to us, we can glean very little of their true inwardness, they bearing evidence of the mutilation they have suffered at the hands of those who wished to make use of them for selfish purposes.

   [Pg 158] Unless Marcion was a Christian and his gospel was true Christianity, Lucian never would have used the term Christian in connection with Apollonius and his teachings, his object being to ridicule the attempt of Marcion to launch a new religion made up of the materials left by Apollonius at Antioch so lamely disguised as not to escape the keen observation of the great Grecian satirist. Lucian makes known the fact that Proteus, nicknamed by him Peregrinus, (who was none other than Apollonius of Tyana, the supposed son of the god Proteus,) “interpreted and explained some books and others he wrote.” What books were those he explained, and what were those he wrote? They were undoubtedly books that his religious followers regarded as of divine authority, for Lucian says, the “Christians” spoke of him as a god and took him for a lawgiver, and honored him with the title of “Master.” All this is historically true regarding Apollonius, provided always that the followers of Apollonius were Christians. That those who accepted the teachings of Apollonius, after they were attributed by cheating priests to Jesus of Nazareth, were called Christians there can be no longer any doubt among well informed persons. [...]

   [Pg 159] The fact is Lucian ridiculed every thing in the shape of fraud and imposition that came in his way, accomplishing much by his raillery against superstition and false teaching. This has been taken advantage of by Christian writers who manipulated his manuscripts to suit their purposes and behold, he steps forth into the Christian Church as one of their greatest saints. This spirit who admits that he wrote to suit himself and who, even Dr. Lardner has to admit, had so many inaccuracies in his writings, is the one whom we are taught to revere as a Christian saint. He is the untruthful author of one of the four Christian gospels. And I strongly surmise that Marcion’s name, transmuted into that of St. Mark, was given to the third Christian Gospel, to disguise the fact that he was in reality the introducer of the Gospel of St. Luke. As Apollonius became the St. Paul of the Epistles, so Lucian, the Greek satirist, became St. Luke, and Marcion, the copier of Apollonius, the St. Mark of the New Testament. Thus, through spirit suggestion, we have been enabled to discover with considerable certainty who Luke, Mark and Paul were. That which no Christian has discovered or dared to disclose for the last seventeen hundred years.
   Reader, I regret to be compelled to pass the communications of Marcion and Lucian with so brief a notice. They are worthy of a special treatise. There is, however, so much pressing forward for recognition that I must move on.

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 160

   “God save the truth!— We have had redeemers enough. It is time to wake up to the fact that the true redeemer is a clear conscience; and it is in order to gain that, that I am here to-day. I presided at a council of prominent men, holding the highest positions in the Christian Church in A. D. 680; and what was that council assembled for? Simply because mankind had begun to progress and had done so to such an extent that a change of base had become necessary in order to veil the truth. Written upon ancient tombs in Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece and Rome, was the worship of the lamb, and it had become necessary to change this symbol. We finally adopted, after long debate, a religious symbol that we then thought was the least known, and that was the figure of Prometheus dying on a cross instead of upon a rock, which we thought would disguise the origin of it. But the form represented was really that of Prometheus — the head and face we adopted were those of Apollonius of Tyana. And from that time on, that symbol has been the badge of the Christian Church. The spirit who spoke first here this afternoon (Marcion) is the one through whose efforts I am here to-day. He made this offer to me: “If you will return and tell all you know of Christian symbolism I will do the same in relation to what I know of its origin and meaning.” We have done so because we know what we have said is the truth, and at most we could only delay these communications for a few years. My name was Constantinus Pogonatus.”

EXCERPT Notes | Pg 160 J.M. Roberts Commentary

   Refer to Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography for account of Constantinus Pogonatus. There is nothing therein said about the substitution of the crucifix for the lamb as the symbol of Christianity; but we take the following concerning that matter from McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopaedia of Ecclesiastical Literature:

   “Among the many symbols which the early Christians used to represent Christ as the central object of their faith, the lamb was the most predominant. In the beginning of the sixth century the lamb bears a triumphal cross: then it is lying on the altar at the foot of the cross; then it appears with blood flowing from a wound, in its side as well as from its feet; and finally, by the end of this century, a lamb is painted in the center of the cross, where the body of Christ was later placed. [...]

   [Pg 161] The sixth AEcumenical Council ordered that Christ should be represented with his proper human body rather than under the symbol of the paschal lamb, and in the following century crucifixes multiplied greatly throughout all Christendom. The way to this decision had evidently been prepared by several intermediate steps, by which the aversion and horror of death by the cross, though abolished as a mode of execution by Constantine, were gradually overcome in the minds of the Christian world.”
  
We have in the foregoing communication beyond all question the real object for which the sixth Council of Constantinople was called together, which was nothing else than to get away as far as possible from the fact that for five hundred years, from the time Marcion took the epistles of Apollonius from Antioch to Rome, A. D. 130, down to the time that Constantinus Pogonatus convened the sixth Council of Constantinople, the object of Christian worship was a “lamb” and not a “crucified man.” It was to conceal the heathen origin of the Christian religion and its purely astro-theological character that those high dignitaries of the Christian church convened at Constantinople; the result of iheir deliberation, after long debate, being the substitution of the dying figure of the heathen god Prometheus, extended on a cross, with the head and face of Apollonius of Tyana, to represent Jesus Christ, instead of the “bleeding lamb of Calvary.”
  
[...]

   The above engraving of the lamb nailed to the cross represents the Christian symbol prior to 680 A. D., though this fact is not generally known At the Sixth Ecumenical Council held at Constantinople in that year, it was ordained that in place of the lamb, the figure of a man should be portrayed on the cross. This has been known and recognized since that time as the Christian symbol. After the decree of the council in 680 A. D., the representation and worship of the lamb on the cross was prohibited, and that of the man was substituted in its place. By these items of history, we learn how and at what period the story of the so-called crucifixion of Christ was formulated. (See communication of Constantinus Pogonatus, Page 160). The decree of the council prohibiting the representation and worship of the lamb as the Christian symbol, as translated from the Latin, is as follows:
   “In certain representations of the images of the saints, a lamb is portrayed, etc. We, therefore accepting the old forms and shadows as signs of the truth and as traditional symbols of the church, prefer Grace and Truth, which we accept as the fulfillment of the law. So, that which is perfect, let us place in pictures, even before the eyes of all. We have decreed that that Lamb, which taketh away the sins of the world, Christ our God, ought to be portrayed henceforth in human form in place of the Lamb.” — In the Roma Sotteranea of Antonio Bosio Dell, concerning the image of Christ under the figure of a lamb.

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