having elapsed between the annunciation by the angel of the birth of John and that of Jesus correspond with the six months between the day of the autumn equinox, on which the Church celebrates the conception of Elizabeth, and the day of the spring equinox, the festival of Mary's conception. Between these two equinoctial feasts with which the two mothers have been connected, and the solstitial festivals which mark the birthdays of the two sons, are in each case nine months. Moreover, in the Fourth Gospel the Baptist is recorded to have said of Jesus he must increase," and of himself: "I must decrease." Bearing in mind the connection of both mothers and sons with solar symbolism, we cannot avoid connecting these words with the fact that from the winter solstice, that is, from the supposed birthday of Jesus, the sun increases in strength, whilst it decreases from the summer solstice, the feast of John. We are justified in giving to the transmitted saying of the Baptist this not only astronomical, but also astrological interpretation, for it is proved that, at the time when the Gospels were composed, the same Zodiacal symbolism was connected with the birth of the Messiah and his supposed forerunner, and that the Christian Church. has accepted this connection.

At the time of the sun's entry into the winter solstice, also the birth of Mithras, Krishna, Bacchus, and of Būddha has taken place. The date given in Buddhist writings for the birth of Buddha is "the

1 Luke i. 11, 24, 26; John iii. 30.

eighth day of the second month." At an undefinable time of Indian history the first month was called after the Pleiades or krittikâs, which formed the first moon-station, and the first day of the year was our 17th of November, because then the Pleiades culminate at midnight. On that day at midnight, being the third day of the Isis-feast, Osiris was announced by the priests and astronomers as found again, and on the same day, according to Genesis, on the 17th of the second month, Noah is said to have entered the ark. Therefore the eighth day of the second month was the 25th of December. This cannot be a chance coincidence, and it proves that the same astrological system with which the birth of Buddha had been connected was introduced from the East into the West. This was probably done by the Magi, who may have connected this solar and astral symbolism with the birth of Sraosha, the Saviour and virgin-son. Without doubt the Essenes have transferred this Nature symbolism with the birth of Christ, since their conception of an angel Messiah can now be proved to have been of Buddhist origin.

The first so-called Messianic prophecy recorded in Genesis, as also the fulfilment of the same

1

Abhinishkramana Sutra," chap. iv. 3 b;

"Lalita Vistara."

"New

2 This was first pointed out by R. G. Haliburton, Materials for the History of Man" (Halifax, 1863). Abib, or Nisan, was originally identical with April; therefore Bul-Marcheshvan was our November. Since the Exodus there were two beginnings of the year, respectively about the spring and the autumn equinox. Starting from the latter, our November became the second month.

described in the Revelation of John, are both so directly connected with constellations that either astrology, the science of stars influencing human destiny, must be acknowledged as based on facts, and as a divinely appointed medium of revelation, or we are no longer permitted to connect this socalled prophecy with a divine plan. Of course we reject the astrological symbol, which the authors of Genesis and of the Apocalypse felt bound to accept because the not-initiated believed in it. To introduce a new symbolism would have been impossible, and therefore more or less new ideas were ingrafted on the transmitted symbolism. The composers of the first and of the last scripture in the Bible have not hesitated to imply that the curse, said to have been by God pronounced in Eden against the serpent, extending to all the days of its life, would lead to the victory over the same and its seed by the woman and her seed. Yet neither the text nor the star-symbolism on which it is based indicates such final victory. Both the astrological symbol and its ideal interpretation imply no more than that the woman shall aim at the serpent's head and that the serpent shall aim at her heel. If we separate the moral idea from the astrological symbolism on which it has been ingrafted, then this passage in Genesis, which the Christian Church regards as containing the first Messianic prophecy, may be taken to point to the conflict of humanity with evil, in which combat mankind will ultimately issue forth as victors through a divinely chosen representative.

We shall have to point out under what circum

stances and conditions Israel has expected the coming of a liberator, certainly since the captivity in Babylonia, if not from the times of Moses.

Among the passages in the Bible which have been Messianically explained, a sharp distinction can be made. On the one side are such which refer clearly to the supernatural, and the connection of which with astral and solar symbolism can be proved with more or less certainty; on the other side there are passages of the Old Testament which have been Messianically explained, but which do not disclose any reference to the supernatural and to astronomical observations. Only the latter Biblical passages will be here considered. We pass over the passage which refers to Judah's coming to Shiloh, the ancient sanctuary, the name of which signifies peace or rest. This passage has been referred to a personal Shiloh, or "man of peace," because later writers have connected the Messiah with peace, which is the signification of the name of Solomon. But the aboriginal Messianic explanation of Shilo we consider to have been the connection of Judah in the blessing of Jacob with the summer solstice, which in the Holy of Holies has been indicated as symbol of Divine Presence.1 We also take no cognizance of the Messianically explained prophecy of Balaam on the star of Jacob, a prophecy which found its fulfilment in David, nor of the passage referring to the Exodus from Egypt: "Out of Egypt have I called my Son."

1 See in the German work cited, i. 210, 267.

The Messianic times are described by Joel, Judah's first prophet, in connection with the capture of Jerusalem by Shishak or Sheshenk in B.C. 928.' To this event the prophet refers by saying: "Ye who have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my beautiful jewels; ye who have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Grecians, that ye might move them far from their border." Shishak had in fact taken the treasures from the house of the Lord, and the treasures from the house of the King, and he also took all golden shields which Solomon had caused to be made. Therefore the prophet announces that "Egypt shall be turned to a desert," but that "Judah shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation." A distinction is made between the Egyptian enemies from the south and him "from the north." The powerful and numberless people who passed over the land, and are described as a swarm of locusts, we explain as the multitude of people under Jeroboam, whose name signifies "he whose people is many." He

2

This year we have fixed by comparative chronology, and it is confirmed by the now established fact that Ezechiel's vision in the fourth chapter refers to Shishak's siege of Jerusalem, from the year of which, B.C. 928, begin the 390 years of Israel's "iniquity," which came to an end in B.C. 538, when Cyrus gave permission for the return, and when the Babylonian Isaiah (Joshua as high priest the anointed, Isa. lxi. 1) proclaimed that Israel's "iniquity” is pardoned (l. c., i. 228, 341).

Joel iii. 5, 6; 1 Kings xiv. 25, 26; 2 Chron. xii. 2 f.; (Bunsen's "Bibelwerk," ii. 727, 734; i. p. cliv.)