Part 93 (1/2)

The ancient Persians wors.h.i.+ped the Virgin and Child. On the monuments of Mithra, the Saviour, the Mediating and Redeeming G.o.d of the Persians, the Virgin Mother of this G.o.d is to be seen suckling her infant.[332:5]

The ancient Greeks and Romans wors.h.i.+ped the Virgin Mother and Child for centuries before the Christian era. One of these was _Myrrha_,[332:6]

the mother of _Bacchus_, the Saviour, who was represented with the infant in her arms. She had the t.i.tle 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d, has somewhat so exceedingly like that pa.s.sage, 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 G.o.ddess_ (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 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 G.o.ddess _Cybele_ was another. She was equally called the ”Queen of Heaven” and the ”Mother of G.o.d.” 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 wors.h.i.+p 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 t.i.tle of ”Virgin Queen,”[333:2]

was extensively wors.h.i.+ped in ancient Greece. Among the innumerable temples of Greece, the most beautiful was the _Parthenon_, meaning, the _Temple of the Virgin G.o.ddess_. 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 t.i.tle 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_ wors.h.i.+ped 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_ before the time of Christ Jesus. This G.o.ddess had also the t.i.tle of ”Queen of Heaven.”[334:1]

The ancient _Germans_ wors.h.i.+ped a virgin G.o.ddess under 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 G.o.ddess.

The ancient _Scandinavians_ wors.h.i.+ped a virgin G.o.ddess called Disa. Mr.

R. Payne Knight tells us that:

”This G.o.ddess 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 wors.h.i.+ped the G.o.ddess Frigga. She was mother of ”Baldur the Good,” his father being Odin, the supreme G.o.d 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 G.o.ddesses.[334:5]

In _Gaul_, the ancient Druids wors.h.i.+ped the _Virgo-Paritura_ as the ”Mother of G.o.d,” 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 wors.h.i.+ped, 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 wors.h.i.+ped.”[334:8]

This mother, who had the t.i.tle of ”Virgin,” and ”Queen of Heaven,”[334:9] was Chimalman, or Sochiquetzal, and the infant was Quetzalcoatle, the crucified Saviour. Lord Kingsborough says:

”She who represented 'Our Lady' (among the ancient Mexicans) had her hair tied up in the manner in which the Indian women tie and fasten their hair, and in the knot behind was inserted a small _cross_, by which it was intended to show that she was the Most Holy.”[335:1]

The Mexicans had pictures of this ”Heavenly G.o.ddess” 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 emba.s.sador 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.