Becoming disatisfied with the slow progress of my teachings, and all Syria being in an uproar over the approaching War of the Jews, and many of my people being Jews, some of them left my society. Some returned to it honored. I found through them that the Jewish Rabbi Gamaliel had introduced the philosophies, both of myself and of Apollonius at Jerusalem; and that he had attributed them to the Jewish prophet Haggai, and he called it by a name similar to his, Hagiographa, which meant the sayings and doings of this Jewish prophet; as if he had said, that they were given through him as a medium by the spirit of Apollonius. He did this in order to give the credit of this philosophy to the Jews; but the real truth in relation to all these writings, and all the story of Jesus of Nazareth, as now handed down to moderns, is the mixed systems of the Brahmanic, the Buddhistic, the Jewish, the Essenian, and the Gnostic teachings. And these various systems all taught that every four hundred years a philosopher arises who combines the highest agglomeration of intelligence of his day and generation--that is, his brain becomes more susceptible to spiritual things, and therefore he becomes a keener analyzer of them. [Then Buddha following Hermes, Zoroaster following Buddha, Plato following Zoroaster, and Apollonius following Plato, were such instances as you refer to, which were recognized as starting new eras of religious thought and speculation?] Certainly, that is putting it plainer than I could do; and it is strange to say, that of all the people living at that time, and down to the time of Eusebius and the final overthrow of these ancient religions by Christianity, that all the most valuable manuscripts bearing upon the ancient gods, heroes and philosophers, have to be looked for amongst those of the Greek Church and not the Roman. That is, that in Armenia and Russia you will be more likely to find the remains of those manuscripts than you will among the Catholics. The Catholics have a few, but very few of them. Pope after Pope destroyed them in their religious fanaticism; and what the Catholics do hold of them, are held by obscure individuals, and are very hard to find. I left a document translated from the Syriac-Cappadocian tongue that I translated verbally as it was given to me by Apollonius, at the time of my meeting with him at Antioch. [Translated into what language?] A mixture of Hebrew and Armenian was the language used at Antioch in those days. [You say you translated it from the Syriac-Cappadocian language?] I took it down as it fell from his lips, in that tongue. He, Apollonius, through his superior spiritual insight, held direct communication in my presence with the spirit of Gautama Buddha. [Do I understand you rightly? You were present when Apollonius was controlled by the spirit of Gautama Buddha?] Yes. [Please state what the nature of the communication was?] This Gautama went on to say, through his instrument, that all that he received was given through the spirit or the overshadowing of the spirit of Krishna; that this Krishna said he received it from Zoroaster the elder; and Zoroaster the elder said that he received his notions of Ormuzd, the light, and Ahriman, the devil or evil, from a spirit who had lived, and was a king in Mesopotamia, two thousand years before his time, but that all their followers had corrupted their sayings, and claimed that they received them from God himself. And, so there was a connection in the control of this Gautama Buddha with ancient spirits occupying 16,500 years. [Running back through all that period?] Yes. [Buddha said this?] Yes. Through Apollonius; and these systems or spirit teachings were all cases of originating religions in isolated civilizations--that is at the time of their being taught, they had reached their height of grandeur, and then came on their decay, and their writings were stolen by barbarians. And thus the one history of affairs run through all the ancient nations.

And now I must bear witness to the principal point of my coming here. I knew of no Jesus who lived at that time and was killed, with the exception of one who was run through with Roman javelins for being a bandit: and I am certain that he knew nothing of philosophy. There were other men named Jesus, but they were not killed. [You lived during the time when it was said Jesus of Nazareth taught, which was about from 32 A. D. to 36 or 37?] I lived shortly after that. I commenced teaching at the age of twenty-one. I lived until A. D. 125. I met but once only, and that was at Alexandria, the great Jewish historian Josephus. He mentioned to me in the course of our conversation, which was altogether about spiritual things, he having been initiated with the Essenes, nothing about Jesus of Nazareth. He said he had learned that Gamaliel had appropriated my philosophy and teachings, but that he was too proud a Jew to attribute them to a philosopher then living, and so he plagiarized my philosophy in the name of Haggai. He said he did not think that it was doing me justice. I said I cared little how the truth survived, so it only did survive the then turbulent times. The apostles of this Jesus I never met. If they had existed at all, I certainly should have met them. But this Damis, the disciple of Apollonius, had seventy fellow disciples then scattered through Greece, Syria, Armenia and the Roman provinces, teaching the life,, sayings and doings of Gautama Buddha, as explained by Apollonius of Tyana; and the analogy between the teachings of Jesus and Buddha can be found to be very plain by reading even the modern Buddhist book called the "Path of Virtue," but which has been so tampered with by Christians, that they have destroyed a great deal of its real purport, as it comes to you to-day. But if you were in India, and would obtain from a Buddhist, the real "Path of Virtue," and have it translated by men who are not afraid to translate it, you would find that the morality of Jesus is the morality of Buddha. And I have one word more to say. It is a reflection upon a man now living, in whom the greatest trust is placed as to what he says: and whose translations you can challenge with perfect impunity, and that man is Max Muller. He is too much identified with the Christianity of to-day, to give the ancient religions a fair chance of being understood. Yours for the truth, Saturninus. [Let me say to you, before you leave, that by that communication, you have placed this world under an obligation greater than any returning spirit ever placed it under, in the past.] I hope you will succeed in ridding the world of my earthly teachings, and the erroneous teachings of others. Still out of the rough conditions of the present, will come the smooth conditions of the future."

Roman Catholic Cardinal Archbishop.

A Roman Catholic Pontiff.

"Well, as Lord Bacon says I must come here, I suppose I must; but may the devil take you all. [This was said after a terrible resistance on the part of the spirit, and after much persuasion on our part.] If you had held power for thirteen hundred years, you would not feel like laying it down here to-night. If what I labored for and consummated, had been followed up by my successors, your infidels would not have dared to send your bold, daring and vindictive spirits over here to fight us. I united the Greek and Roman Churches after they had once separated. And I lay all the folly of these infidels to the fools who afterwards broke that union. Curse the truth! Damn the truth! I would lie to you, but I cannot. I am forced to tell the truth by two spirits who stand watch here--Apollonius of Tyana and Lord Bacon. I knew that Eusebius was a forger upon the writings of Apollonius of Tyana. I know that Eusebius was a scoundrel. I know I was a scoundrel myself. O, spirit psychology! how great is thy power! I was one who helped to destroy Marcion's Epistles, known in my day as the Pauline Epistles, which were nothing more than copies of the writings of Apollonius of Tyana, under that name. They were entitled, to the Galations, Thessalonians, Corinthians, and also Revelations. The Epistle to the Romans was considered spurious by me. In my day Jesus Christ was worshipped in the form of a Lamb; and shortly after my time this symbol was altered by Constantius Pogonatus to the Cross, to conceal his astro-theological origin. Romanism is Paganism changed into Christianity. I knew this, and I helped to destroy many copies of the writings of Apollonius, and of his disciple Damis, and also of the writings of Basilides, the Gnostic. And I destroyed them for the worst of all reasons, namely, to secure power. I have told all I know. [Here the spirit made a great effort to break from the control, but he was forced to proceed.] I knew at Rome, in my day, one Quintus Curtius, whose ancestors had known and conversed with Apollonius of Tyana when the latter was living, and therefore had positive evidence that Apollonius not only lived, but that he wrote the Christian Gospels; just as you have positive evidence that your George Washington lived. [The spirit here begged to be released, and his request was granted. Before leaving the control, however, he asked:] Was either of you ever compelled to tell the truth while assembled thousands looked upon your disgrace?"

"To search for the truth persistently will always, in the end, bring success. That will be the prologue to my communication here to-day. In my mortal life I acted as a collector and manager of internal revenues, under Trajan Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, at Alexandria. During that time I conversed with all classes of people from the Roman provinces and all the countries that the Romans had conquered and held; and I found that the religion that was the most in antagonism with the religion of the Roman priesthood, went under the name of Essenianism. This religion was formulated by Ignatius of Antioch, Apollonius of Tyana and Basilides, the Alexandrian Gnostic. This religion interfered only with the interests of the priests. As far as the emperors, Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius were concerned, they cared little or nothing for either religion. They leaned toward the philosophy of Plato. In fact they were followers of Platonism, and cared very little for the priests who adhered to the pagan gods, Jupiter, Mars, etc. But in my time I never heard the name Christian mentioned. It is true there were followers of the Hindoo Christos at Alexandria at that time. [Why was the Hindoo god called Christos and not Krishna?] The religion I mention was a mingling of the doctrines of the Hindoo Gymnosophists, with the teachings and doctrines of one Apollonius (not Apollonius of Tyana). He was of Alexandria and the Greek modification of the name Krishna, made it Christos. During my life I wrote twenty-four books upon Roman history, about half of which are now extant, covering the time from the earliest history of Rome to the days of Augustus; and I added thereto by way of suffixes the annals of events in each country, from Augustus to the close of Antoninus Pius's reign. And because these latter writings embraced the time during which it is claimed Jesus Christ lived, and the Christian church was founded, and because I found no occasion whatever to make mention of either of them, these writings were destroyed by Christians in the days of Constantine the Great. All those destroyed writings can again be produced, provided I can find a medium whose hand I can control to write. Through such a medium I could reproduce these writings, and I intend to do it. I am seeking for such an opportunity. I also want to say, that in those days there were many persecutions of the followers of different sects and isms, and those who suffered the most were the Essenes. They had brought the modified doctrines of the Hindoo Gymnosophists to Alexandria and Rome, and they were persecuted for the reason that their teachings disturbed the even tenor of the pagan priesthood by their conversions. When they abstained from the propagation of their doctrines they were not persecuted under the reigns of the three emperors under whom I officiated. I met with a man whose name I cannot now recall, who wrote a biography of Apollonius of Tyana, but who was not Damis his disciple; he showed me some of his manuscript, and we conversed upon this subject. [The spirit most probably referred to Moeragenes who wrote a Biography of Apollonius.] He said, at that time, that at Rome he would show me that what he said was the truth; and this he did through a Dacian slave, who became controlled in my presence, when I saw this Apollonius of Tyana, and conversed with him as a spirit. I never disputed any of these things, but I was more of a stoic philosopher, than anything else. [How late did you live on the earth?] I lived until about 161 A.D., and during my life managed the affairs mentioned for the three emperors I have spoken of. There were four sects of the Essenians. One of them sprung from Ignatius of Antioch, who at times called themselves Ignatians. These differed from the other sect chiefly in relation to the communistic life, where all things were possessed in common; but Apollonius was the man who created the greatest ferment in matters of religion in those days. [You have mentioned four sects of the Essenians. Who were the others?] They were the Jewish Essenes and the Gymnosophists proper, who became the Gnostics of later times. It is hard to express all you have to say in so short a time. Essenianism took the shape of Gnosticism about A.D. 200, forty years after my time, and was fully established by Ammonius Saccas. He was the real father of what you now call Christianity--that is, he placed it in the shape, or very nearly so, that it now occupies. I might finish this communication by saying that these books of mine--I mean my historical books--were written without any prejudice in regard to any religion then existing. I simply noted down impartially such events as were authentically attested, or observed by me; and for that reason what I wrote has not been allowed to come down to you, and to bring to you the real light and truth in regard to Christianity. I thank you for this hearing."

Saint Bonaventura.

"I greet you all.--No Franciscan monk in the 12th century was more anxious than myself, to arrive at truth, but truth in some ages and some generations is a most dangerous thing to handle; and, therefore, I was authorized by certain ecclesiastical powers, at that time, to search into the contents of ancient manuscripts. The first manuscript that I examined, went to prove that Jesus was simply a character based upon the then Paganistic and Gnostic ideas, each struggling for ascendency, and each trying to show something original, that the others had not. [What was that manuscript?] It went on to state that, "I, Apollonius, Paulus, Paul, being in rapport with higher powers, (that is they controlling me) wish to state to the church at Thessalonica, to the Church at Rome, (or to the churches of other cities of the Roman Empire) that I demand of you to believe in Christos; and fulfil his commands in the name of God, Amen." That was the way those manuscripts commenced. [Was that merely the beginning of the Epistle to the Thessalonians?] It was not only the beginning of that Epistle, but of that of the Epistles to all the other churches. Certain persons such as Marcion and Lucian, obtaining possession of these Epistles, turned them in another channel. The favorite of Hadrian, who has communicated with you before, was the original of all the pictures of Jesus Christ in my day; that was so in the 13th century. And I, discovering all these things, and knowing (to use the language of my time,) that "a silent tongue insured a sound throat," had nothing to say in regard to these facts. At that time I accepted what was the general belief, and interpreted it in that way. [In what language were the manuscripts that were put in your hands?] They were in four different tongues. The doctrines of Apollonius, proper, were in the Syro-Cappadocian or Armenian tongue--that is they continued longer in the Armenian shape, and they are now in that shape for modern scholars to interpret. One of the principal depositories of those writings is to be found to the right of the entrance door of the Maronite Convent on Mount Lebanon, in Syria, and in front of the 6th apartment, and four feet from the bottom of the left of the niche in the shape of the cross. Those Maronite priests, will never allow those manuscripts to become known, unless they are compelled to. I was known in my mortal life as John Fidenza, a Franciscan monk. I was also called John Bonaventura. In leaving I would make the sign of the circle over your head instead of the cross. The circle divided from top to bottom and from side to side, constitutes the cross, the true meaning of the cross."

"I know not whether to salute you in a dozen different tongues or not. But to use a blending of Italian and English: Bellissimo the Truth! the beautiful Truth. I was known in a priestly way as Annius of Viterbo, a Dominican Friar, in the latter part of A. D. 1400 or the beginning of 1500; and by vote was selected to an office which I fulfilled honestly and conscientiously, and which proved my death warrant. All the manuscripts contained in the Colbertine Library were submitted to me, to see what I could obtain from them for the support of the Catholic religion. Although my history is not given as fully as I shall now explain it. I come to do good in accordance with spirit directions and with what it is my desire to fulfil. But enough will be found to substantiate what I say to you to-day. What were those manuscripts in the Colbertine Library that were submitted to me for translation? is the question; and it shall be answered by me as a spirit, definitely, as I hope for future happiness. They were the remains of the Alexandrian Library, as first appropriated by Constantine the Great, and afterward in the sixth century, or somewhere after that time, by Caliph Omar. Those manuscripts were all founded on the doctrines of another spirit, who, however much he may be disputed in the annals of history, or however much he may be looked upon as a myth, laid the foundation of the great facts which I shall state here to-day. He lived before Mizraim, and he started out with this pungent assertion; that no life can exist without heat. Heat is the governing principle of existence, and it comes from that glorious light--the sun, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. And again these manuscripts say: "As I find a decline of virtue in this world, I shall raise up an individual to reinstate it. [What was the name of that ancient writer?] As set down by Zoroaster it was Sunni or Ormuzd. But Sunni was the god of at least three dynastics before the time of the elder Zoroaster, of whom I am now speaking; and the spirit who will follow me to-day, Mizraim, who is set down in history as the founder of the Egyptian government, will tell how false it is. It is necessary that our communications shall interlock, in order to be understood. After a careful analysis of all these gods, and god-systems, I found that the principal point upon which they all entered was about 280 B. C. at the council Asoka in India--a Buddhistic council; and that out of the proceedings of that council, Ptolemy Philadelphus, some thirty-three years later than that council, had them translated by his distinguished librarian, Demetrius of Phalerus, who was the real collector of the Alexandrian Library; and that at the court of an Indo-Assyrian king, [Phraotes, no doubt.] Apollonius of Tyana blended the full and clear doctrines of the Brahmans and Buddhists with the books of the Platonic doctrines, both of the East and the West; and in this combination of doctrines, he taught an ideal character, almost similar to that of the modern description of the Jesus of Nazareth. His (Apollonius's) teachings, however, were a combination of the systems of all religions known to him, from the days of Mizraim, down to the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, when it first took shape. Plato received the impressions, and taught those doctrines through his mediumship. [Was Mizraim his spirit control?] I will explain it. You must know, that there are thousands of millions of spirits on the other side who had been taught the doctrines of Brahma and Buddha, and who existed in the past. These spirits in mass overshadowed Plato, and produced in Greece a kind of reform on the Indian philosophies. Now all these things that I here mention I published in seventeen books of antiquities; and the consequence was, I was poisoned by Caesar Borgia for doing so. He destroyed my life and confiscated my works because I proved too much for the place in which I was situated. I first took an oath that I would fulfil all the requirements asked of me, and as I was considered one of the best linguists of my time, I performed the work faithfully. The result was that my life paid the forfeit. [Now let me understand clearly, for it is very important I should do so. You say the manuscripts of which you speak are in the Colbertine Library, and that they demonstrate and prove the facts to which you have referred?] Yes. [What language were they written in?] At the time I translated them they were in the Egyptian, Syrian, Samaritan and other ancient tongues; and there were some also in the Armenian and Cappadocian languages, copies of the older original writings of Mizraim. That is they purported to be so, how truly I do not know, but they were dated in the first Egyptian dynasty. These Egyptian manuscripts I translated by the aid of the key that I saw at the entrance of the ancient temple of Apollo at Rome. That inscription key was covered at one time with a thin coating of plaster, but had become bare in my time. The signs there given as relating to Osiris and Isis of the Egyptians, I found used in those manuscripts. And it looked as if the Egyptians had really built that temple for the Romans, instead of the Romans building it for themselves. I died through violence in the way I have stated in 1502 A. D."