Classical Theology.—Xxxviii.

practice before the destruction of the antediluvian world . "Without question , it was introduced into the "West from the East ; yet still it is current in the oldest and most distinctii * e compilations of all nations . As a profession , the Chinese have eultiA'ated it with assiduous attention ; and it is said , that in their study and practice of medicine and surgery it constitutes the essential part .

It is also incorporated Avith their political administrations . So involved is this science with the history of the Chaldeans and Babylonians , that Suidas conjectured it to haA-e originated with them . In India , although the principal Hindustani astrological terms are not Sanscrit , there is little doubt that long before the

Moslem conquest , ancl up to the present day , the Hindoos have regulated their most important councils and serious enterprises by the configurations of the starry heavens . In Egypt , astrology was of undeterminable antiquity . It was one of the occult arts , or , rather , potent accomplishments of the wise men mentioned by Moses , called Magi , from whose name the word " magic " is derived . In the Scriptures , frequent condemnatory allusions are made to it .

But although we believe that there is no dependence to be placed on astrological or magical prognostications , the ancient heathens held a A * ery different opinion , and made it a part of their doctrine of predestination to consult futurity , that the destiny of predetermined prayer might avert the destiny of premoustrated evil . Mahomet was a predestinarianand so have been all his

, followers ; consequently astrology , as a necessity for human actions , is regarded and taught by them , not less than by the Chinese , as an important accessory to life . The Moors in Spain inculcated the acquirement of the art , and the Crusaders conveyed it to their sei * eral countries , with other branches of the learning of the East .

Judicial astronomy , or astrology , among the Greeks met with no encouragement ; and , indeed , during the classical ages of Greece , it is scarcely apparent in tbeir -writings ; they either never sanctioned it , or thought it not worth mentioning . Their figurative system of theology may have supplied its place , or , AA'hat is more

likely , their oracular demonstrations and mythological expositions taught them to despise it . But from the time Eome subjugated Egypt , in defiance of the edicts and censures of the senate , the Eomans pursued with eagerness both the investigation and practice of astrology . In the second century , we are toldwith reference

, to Ptolemy ( Delam . Hist . Ast . Ane . ii . 5-1-2-4 ) , that eA'en he was infected , and all the world turned after the host of heaven , or , in other words , studied astrology . In the third century , the great ecclesiastic , Origen , recognised the stars as rational beings , but as such ( he asserts in his Tliilocalia ) thev did not affect the actions and

resolutions of men . determine their ways , nor exercise any power or influence over them , but only presaged , or pointed out and foretold the present , past / and the future . His explanations are somewhat more diffuse than clear , but , like St . Augustine , he argues against the art . Certain Lateran manifestoes denounce the appliances of astrology altogether ; butin despite of

thesemam-, , eminent churchmen attached themselves , nothing daunted , to the science : amongst ^ whoin , doubtless to attest his faith , the Cardinal JD'Ailly cast the nativity of the Saviour . The celebrated Hetrusci , or the sages of ancient Tuscany , attributedas we find in their booksto at least

, , nine of their deities the power of producing thunder , which they phrased minervales manubice , from the tempests in the vernal equinox being , as they imagined , caused by the noxious constellation of Minerva . Others ,

for instance , as Maro {/ En . A-iii ) , Pliny , and Ammianus Marcellinus , affirm that this power was committed to Juno , to Mars , to Auster the south wind ; and so on severally they reckoned up twelve sorts of thundermamibia , fulmina , popidaria , perversa , peremptalia , perstifera , renovatina , ostentatoria , familiaria , " bruta , clara , consiliaria . These namesin their adjective sensewere

, , used likewise in their substantive meaning as surnames for relative deities presiding over the spheres . Thus Jupiter and Juno , as an example , and Apollo and Diana , were titles as Avell as names . To exemplify this , Jupiter stood for king or father—in himself the god of heaven ; Juno for queen or wife—in herself the goddess

of heaven ; Apollo for the lord or son—in himself the god of heaven and earth ; Diana for the lad y or daughter—in herself the goddess of heaven and earth . Thus Homer , Ennius , and Virgil , appropriate Se . v la psya > , ) and Becjnator , as the proper titles of Jupiter ; as , consequently , we find Virgil saying ( JEn . i . 7 .

10)—' ' Homuium Rex , " " King of men . " " Suiiimi Eegnator Olympi , " Ruler of the highest Heaven . " Tetstrictly speakingJupiter Olympus does not mean

, , King or Eather Olympus , or the " Olympian Jove , " but the god Jupiter , of Mount Olympus . If he derived his name of Olympius from the " temple dedicated to him , which stood in a city near the mountain Olympus ( so widely celebrated for the games solemnised there ) , we should read ' * ' Jupiter of the temple of Olympius , " not ¦

'' the temple of Jupiter Olympus . " Neither , with reference to the stone which Ops presented to Saturn , declaring it to be Jupiter , can we accept the interpretation of Eusebius , AVIIO infers there reigned a King Lapis , in Crete . Nor , does it seem to us , sliould Ave thus dispose of the flint stone , whicli , according to historic

authority ( Cic . Up . xii ., and In CJiron . ) , the swearer held in his hand on making bargains , saying ( much in a similar manner to the Jews , who swore by the altar ) , " If to my knoAvledge I deceive , so let Diespiter savinothe Capitol cast me away from all good , as I do this stone , " bonis ejiciat , ut ego Jiunc lapidem ( JPest . ap . Lih ) . We cannot translate Jupiter Lapis into " King Lapis , "

or ' the Jupiter of stone , " correctly , but , rather , "the lapis of Jupiter , " or "the stone of Jupiter ; " that is to say , " Jupiter ' s stone . " But , still , Jupiter Amnion may be learnedly construed , with some exact probability , into "the God of the Ammonii , or of Ammonia ( an ancient name for Lybia , and of Juno ) . Also , as applied to Nothe city of Alexandria so calledor Scauderia

, , , in Egypt , though more probably Diospolis ( Thebes , so named by the Greeks , and alluded to in Jeremiah , xlvi ., Ezekiel , xxx ., and Nahuni , iii . ) . Anion , or Hamon , appended to No , supports its oivn meaning , as " the god of No , " or "the city of 'Amon , " as the Bios , joined to the pollsimplies that it is " the city of Jupiter . " But

, Amnion may be rendered as " the ram of Hammon , " under AA'hich form he was ivorshipped in Egypt , as the representative , as well as the god of the Ammonites , and , perhaps , of tho Ammanitai of Josephus , whence Amman . Here be it understood that Hammon , in allusion to the delugeor as tracedis the son of

, , Triton , ivho married Ehtea , and the grandson of Noah , who Avas the king , the goi * ernor , or father , and so the Jupiter of Asia — that is , under his surname , Hammon , which , as the horn of Hammon , has given rise to a legion of suppositious . It is not unlikely that a horn , or a precious golden-coloured