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 of _Bacchus_, 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 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