Doane 112

Selected FOOTNOTES with Text - from: A MARTIAN EXAMINES CHRISTIANITY Chapter XI The Martian Inquires As To Miracles [More references at bottom of this page.]
Page 85 [ the Martian] “ I find many records of saviours, the stories of whose lives on earth and whose deeds are similar to those of your saviour. I am particularly struck with the story of the Hindu god Krishna, for I find many remarkable parallels to the story of your saviour as told in your Bible, and I would like to point out these parallels so that you may explain to me why you consider one a myth and the other a true tale.” “ Vishnu, the all-ruling deity of the Hindus, said: ‘ I will become Incarnate Mathura in the house of Yadu and will issue forth to mortal birth from the womb of Devaki. It is time I should display my power and relieve the oppressed earth from its load.’ ²⁸ A chorus of Devatas celebrated with song the praise of Devaki, exclaiming: ‘ In the delivery of this favoured woman all nature shall have cause to exult.’ ” ²⁹ Doane, Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions, 7th ed. ²⁸ Ibid., pp. 113, 114. ²⁹ Ibid., p. 114. Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions (Page) 112 CHAPTER XII. THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. A Deliverer was hoped for, expected, prophesied, in the time of Jewish misery ^a (and Cyrus was perhaps the first referred to); but as no one appeared who did what the Messiah, according to prophecy, should do, they went on degrading each successive conqueror and hero from the Messianic dignity, and are still expecting the true Deliverer. ^a Instead, however, of the benevolent Jesus, the “Prince of Peace” — as Christian writers make him out to be — the Jews were expecting a daring and irresistible warrior and conqueror, who, armed with greater power than Caesar, was to come upon earth to rend the fetters in which their hapless nation had so long groaned, to avenge them upon their haughty oppressors, and to re-establish the kingdom of Judah. Hebrew and Christian divines both start from the same assumed unproven premises, viz.: that a Messiah, having been foretold, must appear; but there they diverge, and the Jews show themselves to be the sounder logicians of the two: the Christians assuming that Jesus was the Messiah intended (though not the one expected), wrest the obvious meaning of the prophecies to show that they were fulfilled in him; while the Jews, assuming the obvious meaning of the prophecies to be their real meaning, argue that they were not fulfilled in Christ Jesus, and therefore that the Messiah is yet to come. We shall now see, in the words of Bishop Hawes: “ that God should, in some extraordinary manner, visit and dwell with man, is an idea which, as we read the writings of the ancient Heathens, meets us in a thousand different forms.” Immaculate conceptions and celestial descents were so currently received among the ancients, that whoever had greatly distinguished himself in the affairs of men was thought to be of supernatural lineage. Gods descended from heaven and were made incarnate in men, and men ascended from earth, and took their seat among the gods, so that these incarnations and apotheosises were fast filling Olympus with divinities. In our inquiries on this subject we shall turn first to Asia, where, as the learned Thomas Maurice remarks in his Indian Antiquities, “ in every age, and in almost every region of the Asiatic world, there seems uniformly to have flourished an immemorial tradition that one had, from all eternity, begotten another god.” In India, there have been several Avatars, or incarnations of Vishnu,^b the most important of which is Heri Crishna,^c or Crishna the Saviour. ^b Moor, in his “Pantheon,” tells us that a learned Pandit once observed to him that the English were a new people, and had only the record of one Avatara, but the Hindoos were an ancient people, and had accounts of a great many. ^c This name has been spelled In many different ways, such as Krishna, Khrishna, Krishnu, Chrisna, Cristna, Christna, &c. We have followed Sir Wm. Jones‘s way of spelling it, and shall do so throughout. THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. 113 In the Maha-bharata, an Indian epic poem, written about the sixth century B. C., Crishna is associated or identified with Vishnu the Preserving god or Saviour. ^d ^d See Asiatic Researches, vol. i. pp. 259—275. Sir William Jones, first President of the Royal Asiatic Society, instituted in Bengal, says of him: “ Crishna continues to this hour the darling god of the Indian woman. The sect of Hindoos who adore him with enthusiastic, and almost exclusive devotion, have broached a doctrine, which they maintain with eagerness, and which seems general in these provinces, that he was distinct from all the Avatars (incarnations) who had only an ansa, or a portion, of his (Vishnu’s) divinity, while Crishna was the person of Vishnu himself in human form.” ^e ^e Ibid. p. 260. We may say that, “ in him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians, ii. 9.) The Rev. D. 0. Allen, Missionary of the American Board, for twenty-five years in India, speaking of Crishna, says: “ He was greater than, and distinct from, all the Avatars which had only a portion of the divinity in them, while he was the very person of Vishnu himself in human form.” ^f ^f Allen’s India, p. 397. Thomas Maurice, in speaking of Mathura, says: “ It is particularly celebrated for having been the birth-place of Crishna, who is esteemed in India, not so much an incarnation of the divine Vishnu, as the deity himself in human form.” ^g ^g Indian Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 45. Again, in his “History of Hindostan,” he says: “ It appears to me that the Hindoos, idolizing some eminent character of antiquity, distinguished, in the early annals of their nation, by heroic fortitude and exalted piety, have applied to that character those ancient traditional accounts of an incarnate God, or, as they not improperly term it, an Avatar, which had been delivered down to them from their ancestors, the virtuous Noachidae, to descend amidst the darkness and ignorance of succeeding ages, at once to reform and instruct mankind. We have the more solid reason to affirm this of the Avatar of Crishna, because it is allowed to be the most illustrious of them all; since we have learned, that, in the seven preceding Avatars, the deity brought only an ansa, or portion of his divinity; but, in the eighth, he descended in all the plentitude of the Godhead, and was Vishnu himself in a human form.” ^h ^h Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 270. Crishna was born of a chaste virgin, ⁱ called Devaki, who, on account of her purity, was selected to become the “ mother of God.” ⁱ Like Mary, the mother of Jesus, Devaki is called the “ Virgin mother,” although she, as well as Mary, is said to have had other children. (Page) 114 BIBLE MYTHS. According to the “BHAGAVAT POORAUN,” Vishnu said: “ I will become incarnate at Mathura in the house of Yadu, and will issue forth to mortal birth from the womb of Devaki. . . . It is time I should display my power, and relieve the oppressed earth from its load.” ^j ^j Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 327. Then a chorus of angels exclaimed: “ In the delivery of this favored woman, all nature shall have cause to exult.” ^k ^k Ibid. p. 329. In the sacred book of the Hindoos, called “Vishnu Purana,” we read as follows: “ Eulogized by the gods, Devaki bore in her womb the lotus-eyed deity, the protector of the world. . . . “ No person could bear to gaze upon Devaki, from the light that invested her, and those who contemplated her radiance felt their minds disturbed. The gods, invisible to mortals, celebrated her praises continually from the time that Vishnu was contained in her person.” ^l ^l Vishnu Purana, p. 502. Again we read: “ The divine Vishnu himself, the root of the vast universal tree, inscrutable by the understandings of all gods, demons, sages, and men, past, present, or to come, adored by Brahma and all the deities, he who is without beginning, middle, or end, being moved to relieve the earth of her load, descended into the womb of Devaki, and was born as her son, Vasudeva,” i. e., Crishna. ^m ^m Ibid. p. 440. Again: Crishna is the very Supreme Brahma, though it be a mystery ⁿ how the Supreme should assume the form of a man.” ^o ⁿ “ Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.” (Romans, xvi. 15.) “And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” (1 Timothy, iii. 16.) ^o Vishnu Purana, p. 492, note 3. The Hindoo belief in a divine incarnation has at least, above many others, its logical side of conceiving that God manifests himself on earth whenever the weakness or the errors of humanity render his presence necessary. We find this idea expressed in one of their sacred books called the “Bhagavat Geeta,” wherein it says: “ I (the Supreme One said), I am made evident by my own power, and as often as there is a decline of virtue, and an insurrection of vice and injustice in the world, I make myself evident, and thus I appear from age to age, for the preservation of the just, the destruction of the wicked, and the establishment of virtue.” ^p ^p Geeta, ch. iv. Crishna is recorded in the “ Bhávavat Geeta” as saying to his beloved disciple Arjouna: THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. 115 “ He, 0 Arjoun, who, from conviction, acknowledgeth my divine birth (upon quitting his mortal form), entereth into me.” ^q Again, he says: “ The foolish, being unacquainted with my supreme and divine nature, as Lord of all things, despise me in this human form, trusting to the evil, diabolic, and deceitful principle within them. They are of vain hope, of vain endeavors, of vain wisdom, and void of reason; whilst men of great minds, trusting to their divine natures, discover that I am before all things and incorruptible, and serve me with their hearts undiverted by other gods.” ^r ^q Bhagavat Geeta, Lecture iv. p. 52. ^r Ibid., Lecture iv. p. 79. The next in importance among the God-begotten and Virgin-born Saviours of India, is Buddha, ^s who was born of the Virgin Maya or Mary. He in mercy left Paradise, and came down to earth because he was filled with compassion for the sins and miseries of mankind. He sought to lead them into better paths, and took their sufferings upon himself, that he might expiate their crimes, and mitigate the punishment they must otherwise inevitably undergo.^t ^s It is said that there have been several Buddhas (see ch. xxix). We speak of Gautama. Buddha is variously pronounced and expressed Boudh, Bod, Bot, But, Bud, Budd, Buddou, Bouttu, Bota, Budso, Pot, Pout, Pota, Poti, and Pouti. The Siamese make the final t or d quiescent, and sound the word Po; whence the Chinese still further vary it to Pho or FO. Buddha - which means awakened or enlightened (See Müller: Sci. of Relig., p.308) - is the proper way in which to spell the name. We have adopted this throughout this work, regardless of the manner in which the writer from which we quote spells it. ^t Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 86. According to the Fo-pen-hing, ^u when Buddha was about to descend from heaven, to be born into the world, the angels in heaven, calling to the inhabitants of the earth, said: “ Ye mortals! adorn your earth! for Bôdhisatwa, the great Mahâsatwa, not long hence shall descend from Tusita to be born among you! make ready and prepare! Buddha is about to descend and be born!” ^v ^u Fo-pen-hing is the life of Gautama Buddha, translated from the Chinese Sanskrit by Prof. Samuel Beal. ^v Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. 25 The womb that bears a Buddha is like a casket in which a relic is placed; no other being can be conceived in the same receptacle; the usual secretiona are not formed; and from the time of conception, Maha-maya was free from passion, and lived in the strictest continence. ^w ^w Hardy: Manual of Buddhism, p. 141. The resemblance between this legend and the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary the mother of Jesus, cannot but be remarked. The opinion that she had ever borne other children was called heresy by Epiphanius and Jerome, long before she had been exalted to the station of supremacy she now occupies. ^x ^x A Christian sect called Collyridians believed that Mary was born of a virgin, as Christ is related to have been born of her (See note to the “Gospel of the Birth of Mary” [Apocryphal]; also King: The Gnostics and their remains, p. 91, and Gibbon’s Hist. of Rome, vol. v. p. 108, note). This idea has been recently adopted by the Roman Catholic Church. They now claim that Mary was born as immaculate as her son. (See Inman’s Ancient Faiths, vol i. p.75, and The Lilly of Israel, pp. 6-15; also fig. 17, ch. xxxii.) “ The gradual deification of Mary, though slower in its progress, follows, in the Romish Church, a course analogous to that which the Church of the first centuries followed, in elaborating the deity of Jesus. With almost all the Catholic writers of our day, Mary is the universal mediatrix; all power has been given to her in heaven and upon earth. Indeed, more than one serious attempt has been already made in the Ultramontane camp to unite Mary in some way to the Trinity; and if Mariolatry lasts much longer, this will probably be accomplished in the end.” (Albert Réville.) Doane, Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions, 7th ed., pp. 116 et seq. Doane, Bible Myths pp. 58 et seq. Martian Visitor: Quoted excerpts and Footnotes to: Bible Myths. INDEX of Subjects. Martian Visitor ( Home ) Metaphysics: Which is PRIMARY? The Pagan origins of Easter THE WORLD’S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS or Christianity Before Christ CONTAINING New, Startling and Extraordinary Revelations In Religious History, Which Disclose The Oriental Origin Of All The Doctrines, Principles, Precepts, And Miracles Of The CHRISTIAN NEW TESTAMENT And Furnishing A Key For Unlocking Many Of It’s Sacred Mysteries, Besides comprising the History Of 16 HEATHEN CRUCIFIED GODS BY KERSEY GRAVES Copyright, 1875

Selected FOOTNOTES with Text - from:
A MARTIAN EXAMINES CHRISTIANITY
Chapter XI
The Martian Inquires As To Miracles

[More references at bottom of this page.]

Page 85
[ the Martian] “ I find many records of saviours, the stories of whose lives on earth and whose deeds are similar to those of your saviour. I am particularly struck with the story of the Hindu god Krishna, for I find many remarkable parallels to the story of your saviour as told in your Bible, and I would like to point out these parallels so that you may explain to me why you consider one a myth and the other a true tale.”

“ Vishnu, the all-ruling deity of the Hindus, said: ‘ I will become Incarnate Mathura in the house of Yadu and will issue forth to mortal birth from the womb of Devaki. It is time I should display my power and relieve the oppressed earth from its load.’ ²⁸ A chorus of Devatas celebrated with song the praise of Devaki, exclaiming: ‘ In the delivery of this favoured woman all nature shall have cause to exult.’ ” ²⁹

Doane, Bible Myths and their Parallels
in other Religions, 7th ed.
²⁸ Ibid., pp. 113, 114.
²⁹ Ibid., p. 114.

Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions
(Page) 112 CHAPTER XII.
THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS.

A Deliverer was hoped for, expected, prophesied, in the time of Jewish misery ^a (and Cyrus was perhaps the first referred to); but as no one appeared who did what the Messiah, according to prophecy, should do, they went on degrading each successive conqueror and hero from the Messianic dignity, and are still expecting the true Deliverer.

^a Instead, however, of the benevolent Jesus, the “Prince of Peace” — as Christian writers make him out to be — the Jews were expecting a daring and irresistible warrior and conqueror, who, armed with greater power than Caesar, was to come upon earth to rend the fetters in which their hapless nation had so long groaned, to avenge them upon their haughty oppressors, and to re-establish the kingdom of Judah.

Hebrew and Christian divines both start from the same assumed unproven premises, viz.: that a Messiah, having been foretold, must appear; but there they diverge, and the Jews show themselves to be the sounder logicians of the two: the Christians assuming that Jesus was the Messiah intended (though not the one expected), wrest the obvious meaning of the prophecies to show that they were fulfilled in him; while the Jews, assuming the obvious meaning of the prophecies to be their real meaning, argue that they were not fulfilled in Christ Jesus, and therefore that the Messiah is yet to come.
We shall now see, in the words of Bishop Hawes: “ that God should, in some extraordinary manner, visit and dwell with man, is an idea which, as we read the writings of the ancient Heathens, meets us in a thousand different forms.”
Immaculate conceptions and celestial descents were so currently received among the ancients, that whoever had greatly distinguished himself in the affairs of men was thought to be of supernatural lineage. Gods descended from heaven and were made incarnate in men, and men ascended from earth, and took their seat among the gods, so that these incarnations and apotheosises were fast filling Olympus with divinities.
In our inquiries on this subject we shall turn first to Asia, where, as the learned Thomas Maurice remarks in his Indian Antiquities, “ in every age, and in almost every region of the Asiatic world, there seems uniformly to have flourished an immemorial tradition that one had, from all eternity, begotten another god.”
In India, there have been several Avatars, or incarnations of Vishnu,^b the most important of which is Heri Crishna,^c or Crishna the Saviour.

^b Moor, in his “Pantheon,” tells us that a learned Pandit once observed to him that the English were a new people, and had only the record of one Avatara, but the Hindoos were an ancient people, and had accounts of a great many.
^c This name has been spelled In many different ways, such as Krishna, Khrishna, Krishnu, Chrisna, Cristna, Christna, &c. We have followed Sir Wm. Jones‘s way of spelling it, and shall do so throughout.

THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. 113

In the Maha-bharata, an Indian epic poem, written about the sixth century B. C., Crishna is associated or identified with Vishnu the Preserving god or Saviour. ^d

^d See Asiatic Researches, vol. i. pp. 259—275.

Sir William Jones, first President of the Royal Asiatic Society, instituted in Bengal, says of him:

“ Crishna continues to this hour the darling god of the Indian woman. The sect of Hindoos who adore him with enthusiastic, and almost exclusive devotion, have broached a doctrine, which they maintain with eagerness, and which seems general in these provinces, that he was distinct from all the Avatars (incarnations) who had only an ansa, or a portion, of his (Vishnu’s) divinity, while Crishna was the person of Vishnu himself in human form.” ^e

^e Ibid. p. 260. We may say that, “ in him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians, ii. 9.)

The Rev. D. 0. Allen, Missionary of the American Board, for twenty-five years in India, speaking of Crishna, says:

“ He was greater than, and distinct from, all the Avatars which had only a portion of the divinity in them, while he was the very person of Vishnu himself in human form.” ^f

^f Allen’s India, p. 397.

Thomas Maurice, in speaking of Mathura, says:

“ It is particularly celebrated for having been the birth-place of Crishna, who is esteemed in India, not so much an incarnation of the divine Vishnu, as the deity himself in human form.” ^g

^g Indian Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 45.

Again, in his “History of Hindostan,” he says:

“ It appears to me that the Hindoos, idolizing some eminent character of antiquity, distinguished, in the early annals of their nation, by heroic fortitude and exalted piety, have applied to that character those ancient traditional accounts of an incarnate God, or, as they not improperly term it, an Avatar, which had been delivered down to them from their ancestors, the virtuous Noachidae, to descend amidst the darkness and ignorance of succeeding ages, at once to reform and instruct mankind. We have the more solid reason to affirm this of the Avatar of Crishna, because it is allowed to be the most illustrious of them all; since we have learned, that, in the seven preceding Avatars, the deity brought only an ansa, or portion of his divinity; but, in the eighth, he descended in all the plentitude of the Godhead, and was Vishnu himself in a human form.” ^h

^h Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 270.

Crishna was born of a chaste virgin, ⁱ called Devaki, who, on account of her purity, was selected to become the “ mother of God.”

ⁱ Like Mary, the mother of Jesus, Devaki is called the “ Virgin mother,” although she, as well as Mary, is said to have had other children.

(Page) 114 BIBLE MYTHS.

According to the “BHAGAVAT POORAUN,” Vishnu said:

“ I will become incarnate at Mathura in the house of Yadu, and will issue forth to mortal birth from the womb of Devaki. . . . It is time I should display my power, and relieve the oppressed earth from its load.” ^j

^j Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 327.

Then a chorus of angels exclaimed:

“ In the delivery of this favored woman, all nature shall have cause to exult.” ^k

^k Ibid. p. 329.

In the sacred book of the Hindoos, called “Vishnu Purana,” we read as follows:

“ Eulogized by the gods, Devaki bore in her womb the lotus-eyed deity, the protector of the world. . . .
“ No person could bear to gaze upon Devaki, from the light that invested her, and those who contemplated her radiance felt their minds disturbed. The gods, invisible to mortals, celebrated her praises continually from the time that Vishnu was contained in her person.” ^l

^l Vishnu Purana, p. 502.

Again we read:

“ The divine Vishnu himself, the root of the vast universal tree, inscrutable by the understandings of all gods, demons, sages, and men, past, present, or to come, adored by Brahma and all the deities, he who is without beginning, middle, or end, being moved to relieve the earth of her load, descended into the womb of Devaki, and was born as her son, Vasudeva,” i. e., Crishna. ^m

^m Ibid. p. 440.

Again:

Crishna is the very Supreme Brahma, though it be a mystery ⁿ how the Supreme should assume the form of a man.” ^o

ⁿ “ Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.” (Romans, xvi. 15.) “And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” (1 Timothy, iii. 16.)
^o Vishnu Purana, p. 492, note 3.

The Hindoo belief in a divine incarnation has at least, above many others, its logical side of conceiving that God manifests himself on earth whenever the weakness or the errors of humanity render his presence necessary. We find this idea expressed in one of their sacred books called the “Bhagavat Geeta,” wherein it says:

“ I (the Supreme One said), I am made evident by my own power, and as often as there is a decline of virtue, and an insurrection of vice and injustice in the world, I make myself evident, and thus I appear from age to age, for the preservation of the just, the destruction of the wicked, and the establishment of virtue.” ^p

^p Geeta, ch. iv.

Crishna is  recorded in  the “ Bhávavat Geeta” as  saying to  his beloved disciple  Arjouna:

THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. 115

“ He, 0  Arjoun, who, from conviction, acknowledgeth my divine birth (upon quitting his mortal  form), entereth into  me.” ^q

Again, he says:
“ The foolish, being unacquainted with my supreme and divine  nature, as Lord of all  things, despise  me in  this human form, trusting  to the  evil, diabolic, and deceitful principle within  them. They  are of vain  hope, of vain  endeavors, of vain  wisdom, and void of reason; whilst men of great  minds, trusting to their divine  natures, discover that I  am before all  things and incorruptible, and serve  me with their  hearts undiverted by other  gods.” ^r

^q Bhagavat Geeta, Lecture iv. p. 52.
^r Ibid., Lecture iv. p. 79.

The next in importance among the God-begotten and Virgin-born Saviours of India, is Buddha, ^s who was born of the Virgin Maya or Mary. He in mercy left Paradise, and came down to earth because he was filled with compassion for the sins and miseries of mankind. He sought to lead them into better paths, and took their sufferings upon himself, that he might expiate their crimes, and mitigate the punishment they must otherwise inevitably undergo.^t

^s It is said that there have been several Buddhas (see ch. xxix). We speak of Gautama. Buddha is variously pronounced and expressed Boudh, Bod, Bot, But, Bud, Budd, Buddou, Bouttu, Bota, Budso, Pot, Pout, Pota, Poti, and Pouti. The Siamese make the final t or d quiescent, and sound the word Po; whence the Chinese still further vary it to Pho or FO. Buddha - which means awakened or enlightened (See Müller: Sci. of Relig., p.308) - is the proper way in which to spell the name. We have adopted this throughout this work, regardless of the manner in which the writer from which we quote spells it.
^t Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 86.

According to the Fo-pen-hing, ^u when Buddha was about to descend from heaven, to be born into the world, the angels in heaven, calling to the inhabitants of the earth, said:

“ Ye mortals! adorn your earth! for Bôdhisatwa, the great Mahâsatwa, not long hence shall descend from Tusita to be born among you! make ready and prepare! Buddha is about to descend and be born!” ^v

^u Fo-pen-hing is the life of Gautama Buddha, translated from the Chinese Sanskrit by Prof. Samuel Beal.
^v Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. 25

The womb that bears a Buddha is like a casket in which a relic is placed; no other being can be conceived in the same receptacle; the usual secretiona are not formed; and from the time of conception, Maha-maya was free from passion, and lived in the strictest continence. ^w

^w Hardy: Manual of Buddhism, p. 141.

The resemblance between this legend and the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary the mother of Jesus, cannot but be remarked. The opinion that she had ever borne other children was called heresy by Epiphanius and Jerome, long before she had been exalted to the station of supremacy she now occupies. ^x

^x A Christian sect called Collyridians believed that Mary was born of a virgin, as Christ is related to have been born of her (See note to the “Gospel of the Birth of Mary” [Apocryphal]; also King: The Gnostics and their remains, p. 91, and Gibbon’s Hist. of Rome, vol. v. p. 108, note).
This idea has been recently adopted by the Roman Catholic Church. They now claim that Mary was born as immaculate as her son. (See Inman’s Ancient Faiths, vol i. p.75, and The Lilly of Israel, pp. 6-15; also fig. 17, ch. xxxii.)
“ The gradual deification of Mary, though slower in its progress, follows, in the Romish Church, a course analogous to that which the Church of the first centuries followed, in elaborating the deity of Jesus. With almost all the Catholic writers of our day, Mary is the universal mediatrix; all power has been given to her in heaven and upon earth. Indeed, more than one serious attempt has been already made in the Ultramontane camp to unite Mary in some way to the Trinity; and if Mariolatry lasts much longer, this will probably be accomplished in the end.” (Albert Réville.)

Doane, Bible Myths and their Parallels
in other Religions, 7th ed., pp. 116 et seq.

Doane, Bible Myths pp. 58 et seq.

Martian Visitor: Quoted excerpts
and Footnotes to: Bible Myths.
INDEX of Subjects.

Martian Visitor ( Home )

Metaphysics: Which is PRIMARY?

The Pagan origins of Easter

THE WORLD’S
SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS
or
Christianity Before Christ
CONTAINING
New, Startling and Extraordinary Revelations In
Religious History, Which Disclose The Oriental
Origin Of All The Doctrines, Principles,
Precepts, And Miracles Of The
CHRISTIAN NEW TESTAMENT
And Furnishing A Key For Unlocking Many Of
It’s Sacred Mysteries, Besides comprising the
History Of 16 HEATHEN CRUCIFIED GODS
BY
KERSEY GRAVES Copyright, 1875