Other men leave their private parts as they are formed by
nature, except those who have learned otherwise from them; but the
Egyptians are _circumcised_. . . . They are circumcised for the sake of
cleanliness, thinking it better to be clean than handsome." (Herodotus,
Book ii. ch. 36.)

[86:1] We have it also on the authority of Sir J. G. Wilkinson, that:
"this custom was established long before the arrival of Joseph in
Egypt," and that "this is proved by the ancient monuments."

[86:2] Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, pp. 414, 415.

[86:3] Ibid. p. 415.

[86:4] Ibid. and Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 89.

[86:5] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 415.

[86:6] Herodotus: Book ii. ch. 36.

[86:7] See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 114. Amberly: Analysis
Religious Belief, p. 67, and Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 309.

[86:8] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 414, and Amberly's Analysis, pp.
63, 73.

[86:9] Amberly: Analysis of Relig. Belief, p. 73.

[86:10] Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 414: Amberly's Analysis, p. 63;
Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 163, and Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. ii.
pp. 18, 19.

[86:11] Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 414.

[86:12] Kendrick's Egypt, quoted by Dunlap; Mysteries of Adoni, p. 146.

[86:13] Amberly's Analysis, p. 63, Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p.
309, and Acosta, ii. 369.

[87:1] Orton: The Andes and the Amazon, p. 322.

[87:2] This was done by cutting off the _clytoris_.

[87:3] Orton: The Andes and the Amazon, p. 322. Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv.
p. 563, and Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 319.

"At the time of the conquest, the Spaniards found circumcised nations in
Central America, and on the Amazon, the Tecuna and Manaos tribes still
observe this practice. In the South Seas it has been met with among
three different races, but it is performed in a somewhat different
manner. On the Australian continent, not all, but the majority of
tribes, practiced circumcision. Among the Papuans, the inhabitants of
New Caledonia and the New Hebrides adhere to this custom. In his third
voyage, Captain Cook found it among the inhabitants of the Friendly
Islands, in particular at Tongataboo, and the younger Pritchard bears
witness to its practice in the Samoa or Fiji groups." (Oscar Peschel:
The Races of Man, p. 22.)

[87:4] Luke, ii. 21.

[87:5] Matthew, v. 18.

[87:6] In using the words "the religion of Jesus," we mean simply _the
religion of Israel_. We believe that Jesus of Nazaret