historian mentions the sect; and the name is, in the judg ment of Dr. Baur, a mere invention, to carry on the parallel between Apollonius and Christ (see Baur, note on p. 154).

In the third place, we know the sources, so far as they existed beyond vague tradition, of which Philostratus availed himself. The principal was the manuscript said to have been written by Damis. This had never been known to the world, until it came into the possession of the Empress Julia Domua, by whom it was committed to Philostratus, with direction to transcribe and revise it, paying "particular attention to the style and language; for the narrative of the Ninevite was plain, but not eloquent." This command to ornament the story might easily be extended to authorize additions which would make it more interesting. There is, however, with regard to the narrative of Damis itself, one very suspicious circumstance. That person joined himself to Apollonius in the early manhood of the sage, when he commenced his travels in the East for the acquisition of knowledge; and, as Damis then offered himself as an interpreter in various languages, he must have been, at least, nearly as old as the philosopher. He remained with him throughout his course, until sent by Apollonius from Ephesus to Rome, with a letter to the Emperor Nerva. Even allowing Apollonius to have been born later than the date generally assigned him, he and his biographer must have been, at the accession of Nerva (A.D. 96), at least eighty years old, if he was a philosopher of extensive travel and high distinction in the time of Claudius, more than forty years before. It is difficult to believe in one such venerable traveller; but the coincidence of the sage and his Boswell, passing from land to land, giving instructions and recording them, when both were near a century old, is too much for our credulity.

.

In the fourth place, the stories told in the life of Apollonius show their own falsehood by other traits than the possession of a miraculous character. The wonders are grotesque, -a speaking tree, a weeping lion, tripods moving of their own accord. With these are such wonders of nature as serpents with magic jewels in their heads, vases containing the

wind and the rain, and stones which eagles place in their nests as talismans to protect their young from serpents. How do these accounts contrast with the majestic exhibitions of power by the founder of the Christian faith; especially when we remember, that the biographer of Apollonius had before him the miracles of Christ, to copy, and if possible to excel, in those which he should ascribe to his own sage!

Still further, let any one compare the character of the Tyanean philosopher with that of the Man of Nazareth. We would not disparage what was real in the former. But we have not now to do with the real man, but with the representation of him which was brought forward in the third century as the rival of Jesus Christ. The Apollonius of Julia and Philostratus is the perfection of a heathen sage,cold, commanding, egotistic, urging on mankind the claims of a philosophy which, with some lofty thoughts, combines others that are partial, unnatural, or utterly false. Jesus of Nazareth has the warm heart of a gentle human being; and, while he leads his followers in devotion to the Father who sent him, he lays down his life for the good of mankind, leaving to all following ages the divine example of selfsacrifice.

That the attempt thus made to picture forth a "Pagan Christ" did not fully satisfy the defenders of the old religion, is evident from the fact, that the effort was repeated. Porphyry, who lived a generation after Philostratus, and Iamblichus, a contemporary of Constantine, alike passed by in silence the sage of Tyana, and devoted their praises to his master, Pythagoras. The earlier date of this personage left still wider space for imagination: hence we are told, not only that Pythagoras, like Apollonius, accepted the honors of divinity, but that, in -proof of his right to them, he uncovered his thigh, and showed that it was of gold. The tyrant Phalaris appears in his story, as the tyrants Nero and Domitian in that of the later philosopher. Of the two candidates, however, for the honor of competing with the Saviour, Dr. Baur justly gives the preference to Apollonius.

In him, then, heathen wisdom and classic culture did their

best-having the life of Jesus, too, before them to produce a counterpart to Him who "spake as never man spake." Imperial power and priestly influence joined their aid to establish the reputation of the teacher of Tyana, and to obscure that of the teacher of Nazareth. But the reverent love of mankind turned from the cold and shadowy.form of philosophic arrogance, and chose the service of Him whose claims were authenticated alike by external proof, and by the beauty and holiness of the message that he brought from God to man. The legendary life of Apollonius faded from the memory of mankind at large, and was left as an object of transient interest to the few who love to search in libraries for what is curious in the records of the past. But the gospel of Christ, opposed in its progress by monarch and priest and sophist, speedily won its way to the throne of visible empire, while it established an ever-widening dominion over the minds and hearts of men. At this day it reigns over regions that Apollonius, in all the pride of his philosophy, never imagined to exist; and its sacred Founder stands imaged in the cabinets of kings, and is cherished in the hearts of the humble, not in equal fellowship with other illustrious teachers, but in the unrivalled majesty of "the well-beloved," "the only-begotten Son of God."

Confucius and the Chinese Classics. Edited and compiled by the Rev. A. W. LOOMIS. A. Roman & Co., 417, Montgomery Street, San Francisco; and 17, Mercer Street, New York. 1867.

WE are living in a period of literary and historic reconstruction. The work which lies before our statesmen in the future consolidation of the Union, is not more radical than that which lies before every conscientious man of letters. The recent translation of Ewald, published in London, added to the life-long labors of Bunsen, offers material, on the one side, for years of Biblical and historic study. On the other,

we have the republication, or the first translation, of ancient works, that have been falsely estimated in the past, or lately questioned, as well by the superstitious reverence as the arrogant assumption of critics, giving an opportunity for biographical study, for a better understanding of the lives sometimes supposed to parallel the life of Jesus.

Among the latter, we class the proposed translation of the Chinese classics, by the Rev. James Legge, D.D., an officer of the London Missionary Society, well known at the British Museum as a Chinese scholar of thirty years' standing. When finished, it will consist of fourteen thick octavo volumes, of which four are already published. It is not only at the great centres of European thought and study, however, that such works are appreciated, and in a degree undertaken. The large influx of Chinese life into our Pacific coasts has created a literary interest in the Chinese nation. Dr. Legge's bulky work has already been ordered for the public libraries of California. His volumes contain the Chinese and English texts in juxtaposition, with copious notes and illustrations. The need of consulting a briefer exponent of Chinese ethics has induced Mr. Loomis to compile and print an abridgment in San Francisco. From his single volume, the ordinary student will have an opportunity of measuring the life of Confucius, and of judging what manner of man he was, whom certain scholars have called a prophet, and have foolishly allowed themselves to name in the same breath with Zoroaster and with Jesus of Nazareth.

Confucius was born 549 B.c. He married at nineteen, and, after the birth of one son who should transmit his name, divorced his wife, that he might devote himself to study! He would have done better to educate her till her sympathy became a stimulus. He is said to have been a stern moralist; but, when acting as prime-minister to the King of Loo, he did not hesitate to put to death whoever opposed his policy. In his fifty-seventh year, he was driven from office and home by a band of courtesans; and his life was only preserved afterwards by a succession of disguises. He died at the age of seventy-three; and, two thousand years after his death, eleven

To

thousand males claimed to have descended from his son. us, Confucius seems no inspired teacher, only a very petty pattern of a Benjamin Franklin. Franklin had at least some knowledge of a God; but Confucius knew neither God nor immortality. "What shall I say of death, since I know nothing of life?" was perhaps the most remarkable of his utterHis great work was the revision of the sacred books of the Chinese. These are "The Five Classics" and "The

ances.

Four Books."

Of the "Five Classics," we have first the "Book of Records." It contains a history of the first dynasties, and abounds in proverbs, analects, and practical counsel.

Second comes the "Book of Changes." The trigrams which Fuk-Hi, the founder of the Chinese monarchy, found on the back of a turtle, form the basis of this book. Out of the three lines so discovered, sixty-four combinations are made; and they are, of course, of infinite value!

Third comes the "Book of Odes," of which there are three hundred and eleven, partly written and partly selected by Confucius. They are of a moral and patriotic character. We all know that Confucius is still worshipped in China; but perhaps few people understand, that the letters, scattered so queerly over tea-cups, vases, trays, and furniture, are extracts caps' s" from this " Book of Odes," which Confucius advised

or 66

his pupils to study, that they might regulate their tempers, and become "largely acquainted with the names of birds, beasts, and fishes”!

Fourth comes the "Book of Ceremonies," which settled, at that remote period, all the minutiae of Chinese life and manners. The Chinese are a tractable, immobile nation: sit, stand, eat, talk, and laugh to-day, as Confucius bade them two thousand three hundred years ago. are signs, however, that the "breath of the world'

they

There

has at last penetrated the Celestial Empire.

ent

emperor attempted, a short time since, to university on the European plan, at Pihking.

The pres

found a

He was

about to import European professors; but this was more than the "Book of Ceremonies" had provided for. In one of