Guards of “dishonour” now rather, if the teachings of _theological_ Christianity were true. But here comes in the cloven foot of the Jesuit. The ardent defender of Roman Catholic Demonolatry and of the worship of the seven planetary spirits, at the same time, pretends great wonder at the coincidences between old Pagan and Christian _legends_, between the fable about Mercury and Venus, and the _historical truths_ told of St. Michael—the “angel of the face,”—the terrestrial double, or _ferouer_ of Christ. He points them out saying: “like Mercury, the archangel Michael, is the _friend_ of the Sun, his Mitra, perhaps, for Michael is a _psychopompic_ genius, one who leads the separated souls to their appointed abodes, and like Mitra, he is the _well-known adversary of the demons_.” This is demonstrated by the book of the _Nabatheans_ recently discovered (by Chwolson), in which the Zoroastrian Mitra is called the “_grand enemy of the planet Venus_.”[9] (_ibid_ p. 160.) ----- Footnote 9: Herodotus showing the identity of Mitra and Venus, the sentence in the _Nabathean Agriculture_ is evidently misunderstood. ----- There is something in this. A candid confession, for once, of perfect identity of celestial personages and of _borrowing_ from every pagan source. It _is_ curious, if unblushing. While in the oldest Mazdean allegories, Mitra conquers the planet Venus, in Christian tradition Michael defeats Lucifer, and both receive, as war spoils, the planet of the vanquished deity. “Mitra,” says Dollinger, “possessed, in days of old, the star of Mercury, placed between the sun and the moon, but he was given the planet of the conquered, and ever since his victory he is identified with Venus.” (_“Judaisme and Paganisme,” Vol. II., p. 109. French transl._) “In the Christian tradition,” adds the learned Marquis, “St. Michael _is apportioned in Heaven the throne and the palace of the foe he has vanquished_. Moreover, like Mercury, during the palmy days of paganism, which made sacred to this _demon_-god all the promontories of the earth, _the Archangel is the patron of the same in our religion_.” This means, if it does mean anything, that _now_, at any rate, Lucifer-Venus is a _sacred_ planet, and no synonym of Satan, since St. Michael has become his legal heir? The above remarks conclude with this cool reflection: “It is evident that paganism has _utilised beforehand_, and most marvellously, all the features and characteristics of the _prince of the face of the Lord_ (Michael) in applying them to that _Mercury_, to the Egyptian _Hermes Anubis_, and the _Hermes Christos_ of the Gnostics. Each of these was represented as the first among the divine councillors, and the god nearest to the sun, _quis ut Deus_.” Which title, with all its attributes, became that of Michael. The good Fathers, the Master Masons of the temple of _Church_ Christianity, knew indeed how to utilize pagan material for their new dogmas.