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ASTARTE AND THE VIRGIN MARY. 507
Christian Deity, nor does it mean belief in either. The writer is quite
impartial, and rejects
the testimony in favour of both, neither praying
to, believing in, nor dreading any such "personal" and anthropomorphic
God. The parallels are brought forward simply as one more
curious exhibition of the illogical and blind fanaticism of the civilized
theologian. For, so far, there is not a very great difference between
the two beliefs, and there is none in their respective effects upon
7norality, or spiritual nature. The "light of Christ" shines upon as
hideous features of the animal man now, as the "light of Lucifer" did
in days of old. Says the missionary Lavoisier, in the Journal des
Colonies:
These unfortunate heathens in their superstition regard even the Elements as
something that has comprehension! . . . They still have faith in their idol
Vayu—the God or, rather, Demon of the Wind and Air . . . they firmly believe
in the efl&cacy of their prayers, and in the powers of their Brahmans over the
winds and storms.
In reply to this, we may quote from Luke: "And he [Jesus] arose
and rehiked the wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased and
there was a calm''* And here is another quotation from a Prayer Book:
"O Virgin of the Sea, blessed Mother and Lady of the Waters, stay thy
waves." This prayer of the Neapolitan and Proven9al sailors, is
copied textually from that of the Phoenician mariners to their Virgin-
Goddess Astarte. The logical and irrepressible conclusion arising
from the parallels brought forward, and the denunciation of the missionary,
is that the commands- of the Brahmans to their Element-Gods
not remaining "ineffectual," the power of the Brahmans is
thus placed
on a par with that of Jesus. Moreover, Astarte is shown not a whit
weaker in potency than the "Virgin of the Sea" of Christian sailors.
It is not enough to give a dog a bad name, and then hang him; the
dog has to be proven guilty.
Boreas and Astarte may be "Devils" in
theological fancy, but, as just remarked, the tree has to be judged by
its fruit. And once the Christians are shown to be as immoral and as
wicked as the
Pagans ever were, what benefit has Humanity derived
from its change of Gods and Idols
That which God and the Christian Saints are justified in doing,
becomes in simple mortals a crime, if successful. Sorcery and incantations
are now regarded as fables; yet from the Institutes of Justinian
down to the laws of England and America against witchcraft—obsolete