[414:1] Prolegomena to Ancient History, pp. 416, 417.
[415:1] Tindal: Christianity as Old as the Creation.
[415:2] Manu's works were written during the sixth century B. C. (see Williams' Indian Wisdom, p. 215), and the Maha-bharata about the same time.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
WHY CHRISTIANITY PROSPERED.
We now come to the question, Why did Christianity prosper, and why was Jesus of Nazareth believed to be a divine incarnation and Saviour?
There were many causes for this, but as we can devote but one chapter to the subject, we must necessarily treat it briefly.
For many centuries before the time of Christ Jesus there lived a sect of religious monks known as Essenes, or Therapeutæ;[419:1] these entirely disappeared from history shortly after the time assigned for the crucifixion of Jesus. There were thousands of them, and their monasteries were to be counted by the score. Many have asked the question, "What became of them?" We now propose to show, 1. That they were expecting the advent of an Angel-Messiah; 2. That they considered Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah; 3. That they came over to Christianity in a body; and, 4. That they brought the legendary histories of the former Angel-Messiahs with them.