heavenly Jerusalem, measuring 1500 miles on each side of a square, and as much in height, composed of gold and precious stones (Rev. xxi. 10-21).

From the supernal regions celestial beings appear, and messages and tokens are transmitted thence to favoured ones on earth. When Yudhishthira was born, "a heavenly voice was heard, which said 'This is the best of virtuous men.' "On the birth of Arjuna auspicious omens were manifested; showers of flowers fell, celestial minstrels filled the air with harmony, and a heavenly voice sounded his praises and future glory." When Pritha, the mother of Karna, informed him of his divine paternity, "a heavenly voice, issuing from the sun, confirmed her story." When Duryodhana fell in the war of the Mahábhárata, "flowers fell from heaven upon his head, and celestial music was heard in the sky." When the army of Bharata arrived at the hermitage of the sage Bharadwaja, heavenly beings displayed themselves, showers of flowers fell from heaven, and celestial music was heard. When Ráma killed Khara "the sound of the divine kettle-drums was heard in the heavens, and flowers fell from the sky upon the head of Ráma." Sakuntala, when reclaiming her husband, was "strengthened by a voice from the sky." When Ráma and Sítá, at the conclusion of all their trials and perils, were enthroned, "celestial music was heard in the sky, and the gods showered down flowers upon the head of Ráma.” (M. Williams, Ind. Ep. Poet. 96-114; Talboys Wheeler, Hist. of Ind. I. 341; II. 184, 275, 392; Mrs Manning, Anc. and Med. Ind. II. 94). In like manner, at the birth of Jesus, suddenly there was with the angels a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." When he was baptized, "Lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon. him and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." When he had undergone his temptation by the devil, "behold, angels came and ministered unto him." When he was agonized in the garden of Gethsemane, "there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him." On his disciples, after his death, being assembled at Pentecost, "suddenly there came a sound

from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them" (Matt. iii. 16, 17; iv. 11; Luke ii. 13, 14; xxii. 43; Acts ii. 2, 3).

Luxmana was translated bodily to the heaven of Indra when his career on earth was closed (Muir, Sansk. Texts, IV. 408); an incident which is paralleled by the bodily ascension of Jesus. The mode in which mankind, after the close of their mortal existence, should be raised to life, created a question. Ormuzd, in reply to the difficulty, "points to his almighty powers of creation, and as he is the creator of the grain of corn, which, after corruption, springs up afresh, so by his power also shall the resurrection take place" (Döllinger, Gentile and Jew, I. 411). The author of the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians suggests the same idea of a questioner, and solves his difficulty in identically the same manner. 'But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die: and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body (xv. 35-38).

All evil creatures, poisonous serpents, beasts of prey, crawling things, and vermin, are considered to be the work of Ahriman. He also administers death (Döllinger, Gentile and Jew, I. 387, 410). The same idea is put into the mouth of Jesus. "And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Jesus is said "through death" to have "destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Luke x. 18, 19; Heb. iii. 14).

Vishnu is stated to have descended to the infernal regions to recover the souls of six Brahmans and restore them to life on earth (Sir Wm. Jones in As. Res., I. 249). There is a touching tale in the Mahá-bhárata which reminds us of the Grecian legend of Admetus and Alcestis, relating to Sávitré and Satyaván. Sávitré knows that her husband Satyaván is

doomed to die within a year. She sees him die, and a terrific form, who is Yama, the god of death, comes for his soul, and bears it away. Sávitré follows him persistently, until Yama relents and restores to her her husband (M. Williams, Ind. Ep. Poet., 37-39). Christ, it appears, after death, visited these lower regions, his mission being to preach his gospel to departed spirits there imprisoned, of course for their renovation (1 Pet. iii. 19, 20; iv. 6).

The dogs of Yama are insatiable, and wander about among mankind as his messengers (Mrs Manning, Anc. and Med. Ind., I., 38; Muir, Sansk. Texts, V. 302). After a similar manner the great "adversary" of mankind, “the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. v. 8).

The heavenly regions have been polluted and disturbed with warfare raised by evil spirits. The Surs and Asurs of the Hindús have thus measured their strength, and Ahriman and his Divs, in the Zoroastrian legends, have come into open conflict with Ormuzd and his Amshapauds (Mr E. C. Ravenshaw in Jour. of As. Soc., XVI. 101, 102). The victory is of course with the holy ones. The Christians make a like repre

sentation. "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" (Rev. xii. 7-9).

I turn now to those models for the portraiture and acts of Jesus, which are furnished so remarkably in the Hindú conceptions and delineations.

Miraculous births from a divine parentage occur frequently in the Hindú mythologies. I have already had occasion to notice the births of Agasti, Kardama, Palastya, the seventh Manu, Ráma and his three brothers, Sítá, the Pándavas and Kauravas, Karna, Nahula and Sahadeva, and Draupadí, as thus effected.* Vasishta and Visvamitra had a like superhuman origin (Muir, Sansk. Texts, III. 247, 249). In the instance of Karna the mother was a virgin, and had her vir*The Legends of the Old Testament," 203.

ginity restored to her after the birth.

The mother of Vyasa

was in like manner made a virgin again after his birth (T. Wheeler, Hist. of Ind., I. 61, 94). The divine birth of Jesus is of similar order, produced by contact of the deity with a human female, whose condition as a virgin is dwelt upon.

At the outset of his ministry, Jesus underwent a fast of forty days and forty nights, after which he experienced hunger (Matt. iv. 2). Among the ascetics who visited Ráma during his exile, were some who fasted for eight months of the year, and some who never eat at all (T. Wheeler, Hist. of Ind., II. 247).

While he showed that he could thus do without food himself, Jesus created food to satisfy multitudes. He fed "about five thousand men, beside women and children," on five loaves and two fishes, and "four thousand men, beside women and children," on seven loaves and a few little fishes; and on both occasions the fragments apparently exceeded in quantity the original stock (Matt. xiv. 15-21; xv. 32-38). The sage Bharadwaja feasted the army of Bharata with a sumptuous provision of food of every description, and with spirituous liquors, created out of nothing by his prayers (M. Williams, Ind. Ep. Poet, 70).

Jesus converted six stone jars of water into wine (John ii. 6-10). The Aswins drew forth a hundred jars of wine from the hoof of a horse (Mrs Manning, Anc. and Med. Ind., I. 10).

Jesus went about healing the sick, curing lameness, deafness, and blindness. The Aswins did the like, enabling the lame to walk, the blind to see, and the aged to become young again (Mrs Manning, Anc. and Med. Ind., I. 10).

Jesus paid the tribute money demanded of him by directing Peter to open the mouth of the first fish he might hook in the sea, where the sum required he was told would be found (Matt. xvii. 24-27). The king's signet ring, which Sakuntalá had dropped into the water, is recovered from the maw of a fish (Mrs Manning, Anc. and Med. Ind., II. 188; T. Wheeler, Hist. of Ind., I. 47).

Jesus assured his disciples that if they had "faith as a grain of mustard seed," they should be able to move mountains from one place to the other (Matt. xvii. 20). The writer of the first epistle to the Corinthians contemplated the exercise

of such power, saying, "and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains" (xiii. 2); but, fortunately for the stability of things on earth, no one has yet disturbed the condition of its surface in the manner indicated, and the idea has never gone beyond the phase of expression in words. The Hindús, however, being bolder practitioners, have asserted the occurrence of the feat itself on more occasions than one. When Indra, in wrath, sent down a deluge of rain, Krishna raised the mountain Govardhana with his little finger and held it up over the heads of his people, and sheltered them (T. Wheeler, Hist. of Ind., I. 467). Hanumat flew to the Himalaya mountains, wrenched off the crest of a hill, and brought it bodily, with all its contents, to Ráma's army in Ceylon, and from the healing virtue of the plants on this mountain the dead and wounded of the army were instantly restored. He, in a similar manner, took up the whole mountain Gandha-mádana for the sake of a plant with which to heal Lakshmana, who had been desperately wounded by the demon Rávana (M. Williams, Ind. Ep. Poet, 84, 85).

Jesus washed the feet of his disciples in token of his power to cleanse them from sin. " If I wash thee not," he said to Peter, when the latter objected to the act as one of undue humiliation on his master's part, "thou hast no part with me.” “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit” (John xiii. 4-10). Dr Muir shows that the Hindús thus provide for the purification of the dead on their passage to heaven. The fourth or Atharva Veda describes the action. "Convey him; carry him; let him, understanding, go to the world of the righteous. Crossing the gloom, in many directions immense, let the aja (spirit) ascend the third heaven. Wash his feet if he has committed wickedness: understanding, let him ascend with cleansed hoofs. Crossing the gloom, gazing in many directions, let the aja ascend the third heaven" (Sansk. Texts, V. 304, note). At the Rajasuya or installation of king Yudhishthira, the divine Krishna is appointed to wash the feet of Bráhmans (T. Wheeler, Hist. of Ind., I. 166). Bali, whom Vishnu subdues in his dwarf Avatára, washes his feet, taking him to be a Bráhman (Muir, Sansk. Texts, IV. 122).

Jesus is described as "a lamb " led "to the slaughter," and