the wonderful documents
contained in the archives of the convent, treating of the life of Saint
Issa and the genealogy of the House of David. This he has translated and
gives to the public.

Just whether to take the history seriously or not is a subject that
requires much thought; but whether it be truth or fiction, whether the
result of patient investigation and careful study of an interested
scholar, or the wild imaginings of a feeble brain, it opens a wild field
of speculation to the thoughtful mind.

The first three chapters of this history, contain a brief epitome of the
Pentatouch of Moses. Though contrary to the teachings of tradition,
Moses is said not to have written these books himself, but that they
were transcribed generations after his time. According to this theory,
then, the seeming imperfections and inconsistencies and tautological
errors of the Old Testament as compared with the brief, clear, concise,
logical statement of the Buddhists may readily be explained by the
frailty of human memory, and the vividness of Oriental imagination.

Prince Mossa of the Buddhists, otherwise Moses of the Jews, was not, as
is popularly supposed, a foundling of the Jews, or a protege of the
Egyptian princess, but a full fledged prince, son of Pharaoh the mighty.
This abrupt over-throw of the tradition of ages is like all
disillusions, distasteful, but even the most superficial study of
Egyptian customs and laws of that time will serve to impress us with the
verity of this opinion. The law of caste was most rigidly and cruelly
adhered to, and though all the pleadings and threatenings and weepings
of the starry-eyed favorite of the harem may have been brought to bear
upon this descendant of Rameses, yet is it probable that a descendant of
an outcast race should receive the care and learning and advantages of
a legally born prince? Hardly.

The condition of the ancient Israelites in the Christian Scriptures and
in the Buddhist parchment are the same, yet there is reason to believe
that the former was transcribed many centuries after the hieroglyphics
of the latter became faded with age, hence, perhaps, the difference in
the parentage of Moses.

"And Mossa was beloved throughout the land of Egypt for the goodness and
compassion he displayed for them that suffered, pleaded with his father
to soften the lot of these unhappy people, but Pharaoh became angry with
him, and only imposed more hardships upon his slaves."

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