Ida Craddock

“ We thus see that the heathen gods and heroes whose father was Jupiter, the Christian Messiah whose father was the holy spirit and the traditional "giants" whose fathers were angels, were, in the eyes of at least one Church Father but different aspects of the same underlying principle the possibility of marital union between dwellers in the unseen world and dwellers upon the earth, for the purpose of begetting children. Today, however, we look upon the story of virgin born Perseus as fabulous. ”

“ In China, it is not considered respectable for widows to re-marry, for the express reason that their husbands are expected to return to them from the world beyond the grave and resume marital relations with them upon the Borderland.
In the case of widows it would appear to be but a resumption of a relation previously established between the two upon earth. And there are indications that the same stress is not laid upon passing preliminary ordeals as is the case with the virgin, who "has never known man." ”

“ And we must not forget that there is one miraculous birth which is accepted throughout Christendom the birth of Jesus from a Divine Father and an earthly Virgin-Mother. Nevertheless by the cultured heathen opponents of Justin, the story of the divine paternity of Jesus seems to have been regarded with a scorn similar to that with which we regard the above tales today, and that Church Father showed his wisdom when he placed heathen and Christian stories upon the same logical basis. ”

“ Among the Metamba negroes, a woman is bound hand and foot by the priest, who flings her into the water several times over with the intention of drowning her husband, a ghost, who may be supposed to be clinging to his unfeeling spouse. ”

“ His mother was Perictione, a virgin, who was betrothed to one Ariston at the time. In this case, also, Apollo appeared to inform the earthly lover of the child's paternity. Higgins, relating this tradition, adds:
"On this ground, the really very learned Origen defends the immaculate conception [Higgins evidently refers not to the Roman Catholic Doctrine of Mary's stainlessness by that term signified, but to the conception of Jesus] assigning, also, in confirmation of the fact, the example of Vultures (Vautours) who propagate without the male." ”

“ A. Gelline says, 'The wife of Publius Scipio was barren for so many years as to create a despair of issue, until one night, when her husband was absent, she discovered a large serpent in his place, and was informed by soothsayers that she would bear a child. In a few days she perceived signs of conception, and after ten months gave birth to the conqueror of Carthage." [3]
The Emperor Augustus was said to have been the result of a mysterious connection of his mother with a serpent in the temple of Apollo. ”