From the earliest periods a belief has prevailed among Jews and Gentiles, that in one mode or another the Supreme Being has appeared visibly on earth. In the Eastern World, Divine incarnations are taught in the Brahminical and other systems. For the origin of such a belief we must undoubtedly recur to the Divine appearances recorded in Moses and the prophets. Such visible appearances and the doctrine of the incarnation are taught in the Hebrew as well as in the Christian Scriptures.