Blue-grass blade. [volume] (Lexington, Ky.) 188?-19??, 1908-06-07


Philo Judeas born near the beginning
of the first century at Alexandria of most
wealthy and aristocratic parents. He received
a liberal education and became deeply i'm
bued with the Platonic philosophy His in
fuence Christianity enormous. There
was no Christianity called in his day. The
first verse of the Gospel of st. John is from
Philo Many of his valuable works are lost.
Eusebius Phamphilus, the ecclesiastical his
torian, and from whom all our knowledge of
early Christianity is derived quotes largely
from Philo, and believed he was a Christian,
yet Philo wrote 20 years before Jesus began
his ministry! Eusebius in his quotations from
Pho tells us, that Philo belonged to a relig
ious community which had pretended to have
apostolic fathers. They also Used scriptures
they believed to be inspired, which Eusebius
himself believed to be none other than the
substance of our gospels and they used the
same order in performing public worship. They
also had colonies communities established
in different parts of the country, which Fuse
bus tells in his sacred book of history
answered to every circumstance described of
the state, and discipline of the first community
of Christians to the letter. Now this condi-
ton nothing in Philos time but of
then long established notoriety, yet Philo who
wrote before Josephus and gave this particular
description of the Essences and Therapeutic,
buddhist communities of Egypt and what
if ever such a person had ever existed, was
not above ten years of age, and at least fifty
years before the existence OF any christian
whiting whatever, has never once given out
the remotest hint that he had ever heard of
the existence of christianity, Jesus or Chris
tans. Writing about this 10th chapter of
Eusebius, Winston says: 1.-THE Therapeutic
mentioned by Phio to have been those
first christian Ascetics, who were converted
from the Jews, chiefly in Egypt, soon after
our Savours passion, before The coming of
Mark thither, and to have both imperfecty
understood and practiced the christian religion.
Eusebius Epiphanius and Jerome plainly take
them for christians, and their sacred ancient,
mystical books are supposed to be the gospels
and epistes of the new testament. The mod
ern critics are entirely puzzled about these
Therapeutic, and yet not willing, com
monty to believe them christians" Why
should any one be willing to believe these
people were christians before Jesus heard
of? The truth is they were Buddhists without
a doubt, their practices and beliefs indi-
Gated. Buddhist missionaries were all over
the world preaching their doctrines centuries
before jerome says in his life OF
Mark, He went with his gospel into Egypt,
and there constituted a church; that he was
so remarkable in his abstemiousness Of his
life, that he obliged all his converts to follow
his example insomuch that Philo, the most
eloquent of all of the Jewish writer's, when he
saw the first church at Alexandria still OBJ
serving the Jewish customs, thought it would
be to the honor of his nation to write book
concerning their way of life; and Luke
says the christians, at Jerusalem had all things
in common, so he relates that il was at Alex
andria under Marks instructions" What an
inssEious covering of the facts in the case.
This auessson was hard one for the church