The worship of the "Virgin," the "Queen of Heaven," the "Great Goddess," the "Mother of God," &c., which has become one of the grand features of the Christian religion—the Council of Ephesus (A. D. 431) having declared Mary "Mother of God," her assumption being declared in 813, and her Immaculate Conception by the Pope and Council in 1851[326:1]—was almost universal, for ages before the birth of Jesus, and "the pure virginity of the celestial mother was a tenet of faith for two thousand years before the virgin now adored was born."[326:2]
FOOTNOTES:
In India, they have worshiped, for ages, Devi, Maha-Devi—"The One Great Goddess"[326:3]—and have temples erected in honor of her.[326:4] Gonzales states that among the Indians he found a temple "Parituræ Virginis"—of the Virgin about to bring forth.[326:5]
Maya, the mother of Buddha, and Devaki the mother of Crishna, were worshiped as virgins,[326:6] and represented with the infant Saviours in their arms, just as the virgin of the Christians is represented at the present day. Maya was so pure that it was impossible for God, man, or Asura to view her with carnal desire. Fig. No. 16 is [Pg 327]a representation of the Virgin Devaki, with, the infant Saviour Crishna, taken from Moor's "Hindu Pantheon."[327:1] "No person could bear to gaze upon Devaki, because of the light that invested her." "The gods, invisible to mortals, celebrated her praise continually from the time that Vishnu was contained in her person."[327:2]
"Crishna and his mother are almost always represented black,"[327:3] and the word "Crishna" means "the black."
The Chinese, who have had several avatars, or virgin-born gods, among them, have also worshiped a Virgin Mother from time immemorial. Sir Charles Francis Davis, in his "History of China," tells us that the Chinese at Canton worshiped an idol, to which they gave the name of "The Virgin."[327:4]
The Rev. Joseph B. Gross, in his "Heathen Religion," tells us that:
"Upon the altars of the Chinese temples were placed, behind a screen, an image of Shin-moo, or the 'Holy Mother,' sitting with a child in her arms, in an alcove, with rays of glory around her head, and tapers constantly burning before her."[327:5]
Shin-moo is called the "Mother Goddess," and the "Virgin." Her child, who was exposed in his infancy, was brought up by poor fishermen. He became a great man, and performed wonderful miracles. In wealthy houses the sacred image of the "Mother Goddess" is carefully kept in a recess behind an altar, veiled with a silken screen.[327:6]
The Rev. Mr. Gutzlaff, in his "Travels," speaking of the Chinese people, says:
"Though otherwise very reasonable men, they have always showed themselves bigoted heathens. . . . They have everywhere built splendid temples, chiefly in honor of Ma-tsoo-po, the 'Queen of Heaven.'"[327:7]
Isis, mother of the Egyptian Saviour, Horus, was worshiped as a virgin. Nothing is more common on the religious monuments of Egypt than the infant Horus seated in the lap of his virgin mother. She is styled "Our Lady," the "Queen of Heaven," "Star of the Sea," "Governess," "Mother of God," "Intercessor," "Immaculate [Pg 328]Virgin," &c.;[328:1] all of which epithets were in after years applied to the Virgin Mother worshiped by the Christians.[328:2]
"The most common representation of Horus is being nursed on the knee of Isis, or suckled at her breast."[328:3] In Monumental Christianity (Fig. 92), is to be seen a representation of "Isis and Horus." The infant Saviour is sitting on his mother's knee, while she gazes into his face. A cross is on the back of the seat. The author, Rev. J. P. Lundy, says, in speaking of it:
"Is this Egyptian mother, too, meditating her son's conflict, suffering, and triumph, as she holds him before her and gazes into his face? And is this CROSS meant to convey the idea of life through suffering, and conflict with Typho or Evil?"
In some statues and basso-relievos, when Isis appears alone, she is entirely veiled from head to foot, in common with nearly every other goddess, as a symbol of a mother's chastity. No mortal man hath ever lifted her veil.
Isis was also represented standing on the crescent moon, with twelve stars surrounding her head.[328:4] In almost every Roman Catholic Church on the continent of Europe may be seen pictures and statues of Mary, the "Queen of Heaven," standing on the crescent moon, and her head surrounded with twelvestars.
Dr. Inman, in his "Pagan and Christian Symbolism," gives a figure of the Virgin Mary, with her infant, standing on the crescent moon. In speaking of this figure, he says:
"In it the Virgin is seen as the 'Queen of Heaven,' nursing her infant, and identified with the crescent moon. . . . Than this, nothing could more completely identify the Christian mother and child, with Isis and Horus."[328:5]
This crescent moon is the symbol of Isis and Juno, and is the Yoni of the Hindoos.[328:6]
The priests of Isis yearly dedicated to her a new ship (emblematic of the Yoni), laden with the first fruits of spring. Strange as it may seem, the carrying in procession of ships, in which the Virgin Mary takes the place of the heathen goddesses, has not yet wholly gone out of use.[328:7]
Isis is also represented, with the infant Saviour in her arms, enclosed in a framework of the flowers of the Egyptian bean, or lotus.[328:8] The Virgin Mary is very often represented in this manner, as those who have studied mediæval art, well know.
Dr. Inman, describing a painting of the Virgin Mary, which is to be seen in the South Kensington Museum, and which is enclosed in a framework of flowers, says:
"It represents the Virgin and Child precisely as she used to be represented in Egypt, in India, in Assyria, Babylonia, Phœnicia, and Etruria."[329:1]
The lotus and poppy were sacred among all Eastern nations, and were consecrated to the various virgins worshiped by them. These virgins are represented holding this plant in their hands, just as the Virgin, adored by the Christians, is represented at the present day.[329:2] Mr. Squire, speaking of this plant, says:
"It is well known that the 'Nymphe'—lotus or water-lily—is held sacred throughout the East, and the various sects of that quarter of the globe represented their deities either decorated with its flowers, holding it as a sceptre, or seated on a lotus throne or pedestal.Lacshmi, the beautiful Hindoo goddess, is associated with the lotus. The Egyptian Isis is often called the 'Lotus-crowned,' in the ancient invocations. The Mexican goddess Corieotl, is often represented with a water-plant resembling the lotus in her hand."[329:3]
In Egyptian and Hindoo mythology, the offspring of the virgin is made to bruise the head of the serpent, but the Romanists have given this office to the mother. Mary is often seen represented standing on the serpent. Fig. 17 alludes to this, and to her immaculate conception, which, as we have seen, was declared by the Pope and council in 1851. The notion of the divinity of Mary was broached by some at the Council of Nice, and they were thence named Marianites.
The Christian Father Epiphanius accounts for the fact of the Egyptians worshiping a virgin and child, by declaring that the prophecy—"Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son"—must have been revealed to them.[329:4]
In an ancient Christian work, called the "Chronicle of Alexandria," occurs the following:
"Watch how Egypt has constructed the childbirth of a virgin, and the birth of her son, who was exposed in a crib to the adoration of the people."[330:1]
We have another Egyptian Virgin Mother in Neith or Nout, mother of "Osiris the Saviour." She was known as the "Great Mother," and yet "Immaculate Virgin."[330:2] M. Beauregard speaks of
"The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin (Mary), who can henceforth, as well as the Egyptian Minerva, the mysterious Neith, boast of having come from herself, and of having given birth to god."[330:3]
What is known in Christian countries as "Candlemas day," or the Purification of the Virgin Mary, is of Egyptian origin. The feast of Candlemas was kept by the ancient Egyptians in honor of the goddess Neith, and on the very day that is marked on our Christian almanacs as "Candlemas day."[330:4]
The ancient Chaldees believed in a celestial virgin, who had purity of body, loveliness of person, and tenderness of affection; and who was one to whom the erring sinner could appeal with more chance of success than to a stern father. She was portrayed as a mother, although a virgin, with a child in her arms.[330:5]
The ancient Babylonians and Assyrians worshiped a goddess mother, and son, who was represented in pictures and in images as an infant in his mother's arms (see Fig. No. 18). Her name was Mylitta, the divine son was Tammuz, the Saviour, whom we have seen rose from the dead. He was invested with all his father's attributes and glory, and identified with him. He was worshiped as mediator.[330:6]
There was a temple at Paphos, in Cyprus, dedicated to the Virgin Mylitta, and was the most celebrated one in Grecian times.[330:7]
The ancient Etruscans worshiped a Virgin Mother and Son
,
who was represented in pictures and images in the arms of his mother. This was the goddess Nutria, to be seen in Fig. No. 19. On the arm of the mother is an inscription in Etruscan letters. This goddess was also worshiped in Italy. Long before the Christian era temples and statues were erected in memory of her. "To the Great Goddess Nutria," is an inscription which has been found among the ruins of a temple dedicated to her. No doubt the Roman Church would have claimed her for a [Pg 331]Madonna, but most unluckily for them, she has the name "Nutria," in Etruscan letters on her arm, after the Etruscan practice.
,
who was represented in pictures and images in the arms of his mother. This was the goddess Nutria, to be seen in Fig. No. 19. On the arm of the mother is an inscription in Etruscan letters. This goddess was also worshiped in Italy. Long before the Christian era temples and statues were erected in memory of her. "To the Great Goddess Nutria," is an inscription which has been found among the ruins of a temple dedicated to her. No doubt the Roman Church would have claimed her for a [Pg 331]Madonna, but most unluckily for them, she has the name "Nutria," in Etruscan letters on her arm, after the Etruscan practice.
The Egyptian Isis was also worshiped in Italy, many centuries before the Christian era, and all images of her, with the infant Horus in her arms, have been adopted, as we shall presently see, by the Christians, even though they represent her and her child as black as an Ethiopian, in the same manner as we have seen that Devaki and Crishna were represented.
The children of Israel, who, as we have seen in a previous chapter, were idolaters of the worst kind—worshiping the sun, moon and stars, and offering human sacrifices to their god, Moloch—were also worshipers of a Virgin Mother, whom they styled the "Queen of Heaven."
Jeremiah, who appeared in Jerusalem about the year 625 B. C., and who was one of the prophets and reformers, rebukes the Israelites for their idolatry and worship of the "Queen of Heaven," whereupon they answer him as follows:
"As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us, in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the city of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then we had plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
"But since we left off to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. And when we burned incense to the Queen of [Pg 332]Heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?"[332:1]
The "cakes" which were offered to the "Queen of Heaven" by the Israelites were marked with a cross, or other symbol of sun worship.[332:2] The ancient Egyptians also put a cross on their "sacred cakes."[332:3] Some of the early Christians offered "sacred cakes" to the Virgin Mary centuries after.[332:4]
The ancient Persians worshiped the Virgin and Child. On the monuments of Mithra, the Saviour, the Mediating and Redeeming God of the Persians, the Virgin Mother of this god is to be seen suckling her infant.[332:5]
The ancient Greeks and Romans worshiped the Virgin Mother and Child for centuries before the Christian era. One of these was Myrrha,[332:6] the mother ofBacchus, the Saviour, who was represented with the infant in her arms. She had the title of "Queen of Heaven."[332:7] At many a Christian shrine the infant Saviour Bacchus may be seen reposing in the arms of his deified mother. The names are changed—the ideas remain as before.[332:8]
The Rev. Dr. Stuckley writes:
"Diodorus says Bacchus was born of Jupiter, the Supreme God, and Ceres (Myrrha). Both Ceres and Proserpine were called Virgo(Virgin). The story of this woman being deserted by a man, and espoused by a god, has somewhat so exceedingly like that passage, Matt. i. 19, 20, of the blessed Virgin's history, that we should wonder at it, did we not see the parallelism infinite between the sacred and the profane history before us.
"There are many similitudes between the Virgin (Mary) and the mother of Bacchus (also called Mary—see note 6 below)—in all the old fables. Mary, or Miriam, St. Jerome interprets Myrrha Maris. Orpheus calls the mother of Bacchus a Sea Goddess (and the mother of Jesus is called 'Mary, Star of the Sea.'")[332:9]
Thus we see that the reverend and learned Dr. Stuckley has clearly [Pg 333]made out that the story of Mary, the "Queen of Heaven," the "Star of the Sea," the mother of the Lord, with her translation to heaven, &c., was an old story long before Jesus of Nazareth was born. After this Stuckley observes that the Pagan "Queen of Heaven" has upon her head a crown of twelve stars. This, as we have observed above, is the case of the Christian "Queen of Heaven" in almost every Romish church on the continent of Europe.
The goddess Cybele was another. She was equally called the "Queen of Heaven" and the "Mother of God." As devotees now collect alms in the name of the Virgin Mary, so did they in ancient times in the name of Cybele. The Galli now used in the churches of Italy, were anciently used in the worship of Cybele (called Galliambus, and sang by her priests). "Our Lady Day," or the day of the Blessed Virgin of the Roman Church, was heretofore dedicated to Cybele.[333:1]
Minerva, who was distinguished by the title of "Virgin Queen,"[333:2] was extensively worshiped in ancient Greece. Among the innumerable temples of Greece, the most beautiful was the Parthenon, meaning, the Temple of the Virgin Goddess. It was a magnificent Doric edifice, dedicated to Minerva, the presiding deity of Athens.
Juno was called the "Virgin Queen of Heaven."[333:3] She was represented, like Isis and Mary, standing on the crescent moon,[333:4] and was considered the special protectress of women, from the cradle to the grave, just as Mary is considered at the present day.
Diana, who had the title of "Mother," was nevertheless famed for her virginal purity.[333:5] She was represented, like Isis and Mary, with stars surrounding her head.[333:6]
The ancient Muscovites worshiped a sacred group, composed of a woman with a male child in her lap, and another standing by her. They had likewise another idol, called the golden heifer, which, says Mr. Knight, "seems to have been the animal symbol of the same personage."[333:7] Here we have the Virgin and infant Saviour, with the companion (John the Baptist), and "The Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world," among the ancient Muscovites[Pg 334]before the time of Christ Jesus. This goddess had also the title of "Queen of Heaven.
"
[334:1]
"
[334:1]
The ancient Germans worshiped a virgin goddess under the the name of Hertha, or Ostara, who was fecundated by the active spirit, i. e., the "Holy Spirit."[334:2] She was represented in images as a woman with a child in her arms. This image was common in their consecrated forests, and was held peculiarly sacred.[334:3] The Christian celebration called Easter derived its name from this goddess.
The ancient Scandinavians worshiped a virgin goddess called Disa. Mr. R. Payne Knight tells us that:
"This goddess is delineated on the sacred drums of the Laplanders, accompanied by a child, similar to the Horus of the Egyptians, who so often appears in the lap of Isis on the religious monuments of that people."[334:4]
The ancient Scandinavians also worshiped the goddess Frigga. She was mother of "Baldur the Good," his father being Odin, the supreme god of the northern nations. It was she who was addressed, as Mary is at the present day, in order to obtain happy marriages and easy childbirths. The Eddas style her the most favorable of the goddesses.[334:5]
In Gaul, the ancient Druids worshiped the Virgo-Paritura as the "Mother of God," and a festival was annually celebrated in honor of this virgin.[334:6]
In the year 1747 a monument was found at Oxford, England, of pagan origin, on which is exhibited a female nursing an infant.[334:7] Thus we see that the Virgin and Child were worshiped, in pagan times, from China to Britain, and, if we turn to the New World, we shall find the same thing there; for, in the words of Dr. Inman, "even in Mexico the 'Mother and Child' were worshiped."[334:8]
This mother, who had the title of "Virgin," and "Queen of Heaven,"[334:9] was Chimalman, or Sochiquetzal, and the infant was Quetzalcoatle, the crucified Saviour. Lord Kingsborough says:
The Mexicans had pictures of this "Heavenly Goddess" on long pieces of leather, which they rolled up.[335:2]
The annunciation to the Virgin Chimalman, that she should become the mother of the Saviour Quetzalcoatle, was the subject of a Mexican hieroglyphic, and is remarkable in more than one respect. She appears to be receiving a bunch of flowers from the embassador or angel,[335:3] which brings to mind the lotus, the sacred plant of the East, which is placed in the hands of the Pagan and Christian virgins.
The 25th of March, which was celebrated throughout the ancient Grecian and Roman world, in honor of "the Mother of the Gods," was appointed to the honor of the Christian "Mother of God," and is now celebrated in Catholic countries, and called "Lady day."[335:4] The festival of the conception of the "Blessed Virgin Mary" is also held on the very day that the festival of the miraculous conception of the "Blessed Virgin Juno" was held among the pagans,[335:5] which, says the author of the "Perennial Calendar," "is a remarkable coincidence."[335:6] It is not such a very "remarkable coincidence" after all, when we find that, even as early as the time of St. Gregory, Bishop of Neo-Cæsarea, who flourished about A. D. 240-250, Pagan festivals were changed into Christian holidays. This saint was commended by his namesake of Nyssa for changing the Pagan festivals into Christian holidays, the better to draw the heathens to the religion of Christ.[335:7]
The month of May, which was dedicated to the heathen Virgin Mothers, is also the month of Mary, the Christian Virgin.
Now that we have seen that the worship of the Virgin and Child was universal for ages before the Christian era, we shall say a few words on the subject of pictures and images of the Madonna—so called.
The most ancient pictures and statues in Italy and other parts of Europe, of what are supposed to be representations of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus, are black. The infant god, in the arms of his black mother, his eyes and drapery white, is himself perfectly black.[335:8]
Godfrey Higgins, on whose authority we have stated the above, informs us that, at the time of his writing—1825-1835—images and [Pg 336]paintings of this kind were to be seen at the cathedral of Moulins; the famous chapel of "the Virgin" at Loretto; the church of the Annunciation, the church of St. Lazaro, and the church of St. Stephens, at Genoa; St. Francis, at Pisa; the church at Brixen, in the Tyrol; the church at Padua; the church of St. Theodore, at Munich—in the two last of which the white of the eyes and teeth, and the studied redness of the lips, are very observable.[336:1]
"The Bambino[336:2] at Rome is black," says Dr. Inman, "and so are the Virgin and Child at Loretto."[336:3] Many more are to be seen in Rome, and in innumerable other places; in fact, says Mr. Higgins,
"There is scarcely an old church in Italy where some remains of the worship of the black Virgin, and black child, are not met with;" and that "pictures in great numbers are to be met with, where the white of the eyes, and of the teeth, and the lips a little tinged with red, like the black figures in the museum of the Indian company."[336:4]
Fig. No. 20 is a copy of the image of the Virgin of Loretto. Dr. Conyers Middleton, speaking of it, says:
"The mention of Loretto puts me in mind of the surprise that I was in at the first sight of the Holy Image, for its face is as black as a negro's. But I soon recollected, that this very circumstance of its complexion made it but resemble the more exactly the old idols of Paganism."[336:5]
The reason assigned by the Christian priests for the images being black, is that they are made so by smoke and incense, but, we may ask, if they became black by smoke, why is it that the white drapery, white teeth, and the white of the eyes have not changed in color? Why are the lips of a bright red color? Why, we may also ask, are the black images crowned and adorned with jewels, just as the images of the Hindoo and Egyptian virgins are represented?
When we find that the Virgin Devaki, and the Virgin Isis were represented just as these so-called ancient Christian idols represent Mary, we are led to the conclusion that they are Pagan idols adopted by the Christians.
We may say, in the words of Mr. Lundy, "what jewels are doing on the neck of this poor and lowly maid, it is not easy to say."[337:1] The crown is also foreign to early representations of the Madonna and Child, but not so to Devaki and Crishna,[337:2] and Isis and Horus. The coronation of the Virgin Mary is unknown to primitive Christian art, but is common in Pagan art.[337:3] "It may be well," says Mr. Lundy, "to compare some of the oldest Hindoo representations of the subject with the Romish, and see how complete the resemblance is;"[337:4] and Dr. Inman says that, "the head-dress, as put on the head of the Virgin Mary, is of Grecian, Egyptian, and Indian origin."[337:5]
The whole secret of the fact of these early representations of the Virgin Mary and Jesus—so-called—being black, crowned, and covered with jewels, is that they are of pre-Christian origin; they are Isis and Horus, and perhaps, in some cases, Devaki and Crishna, baptized anew.
The Egyptian "Queen of Heaven" was worshiped in Europe for centuries before and after the Christian Era.[337:6] Temples and statues were also erected in honor of Isis, one of which was at Bologna, in Italy.
Mr. King tells us that the Emperor Hadrian zealously strove to reanimate the forms of that old religion, whose spirit had long since passed away, and it was under his patronage that the creed of the Pharaohs blazed up for a moment with a bright but fictitious lustre.[337:7] To this period belongs a beautiful sard, in Mr. King's collection, representing Serapis[337:8] and Isis, with the legend: "Immaculate is Our Lady Isis."[337:9]
Mr. King further tells us that:
"The 'Black Virgins' so highly reverenced in certain French cathedrals during the long night of the middle ages, proved, when at last examined critically, basalt figures of Isis."[337:10]
And Mr. Bonwick says:
The shrine now known as that of the "Virgin in Amadon," in France, was formerly an old Black Venus.[338:2]
"To this we may add," (says Dr. Inman), "that at the Abbey of Einsiedelen, on Lake Zurich, the object of adoration is an old black doll, dressed in gold brocade, and glittering with jewels. She is called, apparently, the Virgin of the Swiss Mountains. My friend, Mr. Newton, also tells me that he saw, over a church door at Ivrea, in Italy, twenty-nine miles from Turin, the fresco of a Black Virgin and child, the former bearing a triple crown."[338:3]
This triple crown is to be seen on the heads of Pagan gods and goddesses, especially those of the Hindoos.
Dr. Barlow says:
"The doctrine of the Mother of God was of Egyptian origin. It was brought in along with the worship of the Madonna by Cyril (Bishop of Alexandria, and the Cyril of Hypatia) and the monks of Alexandria, in the fifth century. The earliest representations of the Madonna have quite a Greco-Egyptian character, and there can be little doubt that Isis nursing Horus was the origin of them all."[338:4]
And Arthur Murphy tells us that:
"The superstition and religious ceremonies of the Egyptians were diffused over Asia, Greece, and the rest of Europe. Brotier says, that inscriptions of Isis and Serapis (Horus?) have been frequently found in Germany. . . . The missionaries who went in the eighth and ninth centuries to propagate the Christian religion in those parts, saw many images and statues of these gods."[338:5]
These "many images and statues of these gods" were evidently baptized anew, given other names, and allowed to remain where they were.
In many parts of Italy are to be seen pictures of the Virgin with her infant in her arms, inscribed with the words: "Deo Soli." This betrays their Pagan origin.
FOOTNOTES:
FOOTNOTES:
[326:1]See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 115, and Monumental Christianity, pp. 206 and 226.
[326:2]Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 159.
[326:3]See Williams' Hinduism.
[326:4]See Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 540.
[326:5]See Taylor
[326:6]St. Jerome
[327:1]Plate 59.
[327:2]Monumental Christianity, p. 218.
Of the Virgin Mary we read: "Her face was shining as snow, and its brightness could hardly be borne. Her conversation was with the angels, &c." (Nativity of Mary, Apoc.)
[327:3]See Ancient Faiths, i. 401.
[327:4]Davis China
[327:5]The Heathen Relig., p. 60.
[327:6]Barrows: Travels in China
[327:7]Gutzlaff's Voyages, p. 154.
[328:1]Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 141.
[328:2]See The Lily of Israel
[328:3]Kenrick's Egypt
[328:4]See Draper's Science and Religion, pp. 47, 48, and Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 804.
[328:5]Pagan and Christian Symbolism, p. 50.
[328:6]See Monumental Christianity, p. 307, and Dr. Inman's Ancient Faiths.
[328:7]See Cox's Aryan Mytho., vol. ii. p. 119, note.
[328:8]See Pagan and Christian Symbolism, pp. 13, 14.
[329:1]Pagan and Christian Symbolism, pp. 4, 5.
[329:2]See Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, pp. 45, 104, 105.
"We see, in pictures, that the Virgin and Child are associated in modern times with the split apricot, the pomegranate, rimmon, and the Vine, just as was the ancient Venus." (Dr. Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 528.)
[329:3]Serpent Symbol, p. 39.
[329:4]Taylor
[330:1]Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 143.
[330:2]Ibid. p. 115.
[330:3]Quoted in Ibid. p. 115.
[330:4]Ibid., and Kenrick's Egypt
[330:5]Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 59.
[330:6]See Monumental Christianity, p. 211, and Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 350.
[330:7]Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 213.
[332:1]Jeremiah, xliv. 16-22.
[332:2]See Colenso's Lectures, p. 297, and Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 148.
[332:3]See the Pentateuch Examined, vol. vi. p. 115, App., and Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 148.
[332:4]See King's Gnostics, p. 91, and Monumental Christianity, p. 224.
[332:5]See Dupuis: Origin of Relig. Belief, p. 237.
[332:6]It would seem more than chance that so many of the virgin mothers and goddesses of antiquity should have the same name. The mother of Bacchus was Myrrha: the mother of Mercury or Hermes was Myrrha or Maia (See Fergusson's Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 186, and Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 233); the mother of the Siamese Saviour—Sommona Cadom—was called Maya Maria, i. e., "the Great Mary;" the mother of Adonis was Myrrha (See Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 314, and Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 253); the mother of Buddha was Maya; now, all these names, whether Myrrha, Maia or Maria, are the same as Mary, the name of the mother of the Christian Saviour. (See Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. pp. 353 and 780. Also, Dunlap's Mysteries of Adoni, p. 124.) The month of May was sacred to these goddesses, so likewise is it sacred to the Virgin Mary at the present day. She was also called Myrrha and Maria, as well as Mary. (See Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 304, and Son of the Man, p. 26.)
[332:7]Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. pp. 303, 304.
[332:8]Prof. Wilder, in "Evolution," June, '77. Isis Unveiled, vol. ii.
[332:9]Stuckley: Pal. Sac. No. 1, p. 34, in Anacalypsis, i. p. 304.
[333:1]Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 305.
[333:2]See Bell
[333:3]See Roman Antiquities, p. 73. Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 82, and Bell
[333:4]See Monumental Christianity, p. 308—Fig. 144.
[333:5]See Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., pp. 175, 176.
[333:6]See Montfaucon, vol. i. plate xcii.
[333:7]Knight's Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 147.
[334:1]Anacalypsis, vol. ii. pp. 109, 110.
[334:2]See Knight's Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 21.
[334:3]See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 374, and Mallet: Northern Antiquities.
[334:4]Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 147.
[334:5]See Mallet's Northern Antiquities.
[334:6]See Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. pp. 108, 109, 259. Dupuis: Orig. Relig. Belief, p. 257. Celtic Druids, p. 163, and Taylor
[334:7]See Celtic Druids, p. 163, and Dupuis, p. 237.
[334:8]Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 100.
[334:9]See Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 33, and Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 176.
[335:1]Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 176.
[335:2]Ibid.
[335:3]Ibid.
[335:4]Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 304.
[335:5]Ibid. vol. ii. p. 82.
[335:6]Quoted in Ibid.
[335:7]See Middleton's Letters from Rome
[335:8]Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 138.
[336:1]Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 138.
[336:2]Bambino—a term in art, descriptive of the swaddled figure of the infant Saviour.
[336:3]Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 401.
[336:4]Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 138.
[336:5]Letters from Rome, p. 84.
[337:1]Monumental Christianity, p. 208.
[337:2]See Ibid. p. 229, and Moore's Hindu Pantheon, Inman's Christian and Pagan Symbolism, Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. ii., where the figures of Crishna and Devaki may be seen, crowned, laden with jewels, and a ray of glory surrounding their heads.
[337:3]Monumental Christianity, p. 227.
[337:4]Ibid.
[337:5]Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 767.
[337:6]In King's Gnostics and their Remains, p. 109, the author gives a description of a procession, given during the second century by Apuleius, in honor of Isis, the "Immaculate Lady."
[337:7]King's Gnostics, p. 71.
[337:8]"Serapis does not appear to be one of the native gods, or monsters, who sprung from the fruitful soil of Egypt. The first of the Ptolemies had been commanded, by a dream, to import the mysterious stranger from the coast of Pontus, where he had been long adored by the inhabitants of Sinope; but his attributes and his reign were so imperfectly understood, that it became a subject of dispute, whether he represented the bright orb of day, or the gloomy monarch of the subterraneous regions." (Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 143.)
[337:9]Ibid.
[337:10]King's Gnostics, p. 71, note.
[338:1]Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 141. "Black is the color of the Egyptian Isis." (The Rosecrucians, p. 154.)
[338:2]Ancient Faiths, vol. i. p. 159. In Montfaucon, vol. i. plate xcv., may be seen a representation of a Black Venus.
[338:3]Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 264.
[338:4]Quoted in Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 142.
[338:5]Notes 3 and 4 to Tacitus' Manners of the Germans.
Extract from CHAPTER Worship of Virgin Mother, "BIBLE MYTHS AND THEIR PARALLELS IN OTHER RELIGIONS" By T. W. DOANE, 1882. Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Lisa Reigel, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31885/31885-h/31885-h.htm#Page_36
