Classical Theology. —V.

CLASSICAL THEOLOGY . —V .

LONDOiY , SATURDAY , OCTOBER 22 , 1830 .

JUPITEK AND JULY . In- the collective arrangement of the lieatlien mythology the gods were divided into four classes , the celestial , the terrestrial , the subterranean , and the Oceanian . * But these . again were severalty sub-divided . Yet still , there was another description of them -wliich might be considered as a separate class , althoughstrictly speaking , they formed three

, orders of themselves under their denomination of the second class . Tims the select , or superior gods , to whom was paid the highest worship , were styled Dii Majorum Gentium . Of these were the twelve most exalted , principal , ancl ruling Dii , called Concenies or the Dii Mdgni . These dignities were bestowed upon them because in all affairs of great moment ,

deliberation , and importance they were admitted to the confidence and council of Jupiter in Ms government of the universe . Genius was made a heavenly god ; and , oddly enough , so was Bacchus , and Janus also . Including Pluto , Sol , as distinguished from tho sun god , and Luna made distinct from the moon goddess , with Tellus ancl

Saturnusthese eight complete the twenty which is the total of all the select and superior deities ofthe ancients . The next in rank were the Dii Minorum Gentium , that is , gods translated from this earth into heaven , as Tally observes , ' ¦ 'by right of their own meritorious qualities , " for which reason they are also called , as we have observed , Adscriptilii

dii , Pcttalitii and Semidei ; of these , in the manner described hy Ovid , iEneas , by his mother Venus , was made a god . " Lnstratum genitrix divino corpus odore Unxit , et ambrosia cum child ncctare mixta Contigit os , " Sec . "With divine odours , and sacred ambrosia mixed with rich nectar , lie purified his body ancl deified him . "

Ihe next in order , among the ancient deities were the Mimiii , more frequently called Samones , the Vesci , and the Miscellanci ; these likewise were sometimes styled Patcllari after the name of certain small pans in which sacrifices were offered to the gods which were thought to appease and please them . Their merits although sufficiently great to elevate

tliem iu the estimation of the people to a superior rank to merely mortal men wore , nevertheless , still found wantiii" in tho scale to advance them to a place in heaven . To these again were joined an infinity of other deities , called Novcnsilcs ; such as by command of Tatius , the king , the Sabines brought to Borne ; and to these , as some believe .

we nmst add the gods aud goddesses of conquered countries . Lastly , to this vast class we must not neglect to add the d > ni Penates , Penetralcs , or secret spirits or gods , composing again three orders . So mighty were these , that one might suppose theiii to comprehend all , the other orders ; to which , indeed , they were thought to belong . As the great godsth

"e gods ( if tho country "—they ruled over kings aud kingdoms ; they watched over communities and cities ; and , " as the small gods , " they presided over particular houses and families . Then , not the least , and more truly as oppositcs to V deities of the cardinal vices , were those of the cardinal Virtues"through whose guidanceand aiding b "

, , y our means , remarks Tull y , in his perceptive way , " men are advanced to leaven . " Some indeed , compute Minerva , and Jupiter himself among the Penates . But a prosopopoeia , or personification , lnay substitute but cannot substantiate a personality or anti-/? 8 u Pi * el" i 11 what manner soever disguised to represen t Je liovah , could onlbe a counterfeit .

y u " l pantheology or mythistology , this plural rendering of jj ^ s as in fc ] ie JOible , has the siguificauey of spirits . God imself is represented bv his holy angels . Satan himself is avo ' 8 !? 1 ° f numbevs- Beo ] > Belzemeu , Beelzebub , and Baal ' * m names of Jupiter , from Belus ; but , as the son of t ) , at t , ho constituent elements of Aristotle . As here ranked , it signified tll « Water 6 S Wel ' e ° ' ° r be ] ou S hlS' to > t ] ™ ""' . er . rth , the lire , aud

Saturn , we can trace him to the Satan called the Serpent , with as certain a genealogy as any can tag him to Nimrod or to Noah . We admit that his Egyptian name , ' Apovn , was derived from the African ' Appov , or Hammon , in which respect , by a wonderful congruity of all accounts he was the first postdiluvian who caused an idol to be sot up . ®

The learned of antient ages have believed that up to the time of Noah , and the traditional confusion of tongues , the inhabitants of the earth spoke one language—or as it is more plainly expressed in the commencement of Genesis xi ., "The whole earth was of one language , and of one speech : " some indeed go so far as to assert that all beasts understood

this language . The same was said of the Saturnian age , in which one speech was Common to men and brutes ; then was no servitude , as W are assured by Ausonius , but perfect liberty prevailed . It may have been so—wo do not venture to say it was , or it was not , or it may be so again . All that we require to know about it is—how " the serpent was more

subtil' ( cunning , nitid ; . Uiin , or rare ) , " than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made . " Tie said unto the woman , "Yea , hath God " said , ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden V "We have therefore a just right to presume that this animal could speak better than a parrot ; or any other , not human , tangible thing ; and we are able to

premise that it could glide about in a tree and also move about erectly . No doubt then but these facile and fluent qualifications induced Satan to assume the serpent , or to make use of him as a ready factitious instrument to his hand . f At all events , something in the-shape of a serpent wc are told tempted tho woman to violate God ' s orders , to eat of the only tree that was not then to be eaten of , the tree of tho knowledge of good and evil , by which beguilement hell , death , and the

devil became a part of our religious system . The consequences of the first disobedience to God's instructions were very terrible we all know . Tho tree of life was to remain in the paradise from whence man was driven , and a guard of one of the hi g hest order of angelsjj : was set upon it to * Asshur , or JNinus , was the son of this individual , and built the city

of Nineveh so called after his name . f AA e are not theorizing on the shape and size of this extraordinary serpent . Some ingenious guessers have surmised it to have been a crocodile ! AA e cannot , however , suppose that Moses ' s rod was transformed into an alligator and then called a lizard . It appears to have represented the genus of the common serpent of the Asiatic charmer , although it might have been much larger . It was doomed to eat dust all the days of its life ; there is , we may also remark , no mention made of its death ;

in foot it has been made to prefigure death itself _ and Satan . This reptile has been the cause of a wide spread superstition ; tho heathens still think it retains supernatural acquirements . However , wo can scarcely imagine that '" that wicked one , " ivho , in the presence of the Lord , said he camo " From going to and fro in tho earth , and from walking up and down in it , " stood , or " came hissing there " in tho corporeal form of a serpent . " Olympias , the mother of Alexander , avowed to Philip , her husband , she hacl conceived Alexander not by hiui , but by a serpent of a great size . " Philip iu the latter part of his life declared that Alexander was not his son , and divorced his wife as guilty of

adultery . At Epidaurus it was believed that JEseiilapius , under the form of a huge yellowish serpent , gave notice of his approach by loud hissings . The worship of the serpent was not confined to tho Kpidauriaus , nor alone to those places where . JEsculapius had a temple . A serpent was adored in Egypt as an emblem of tho divine nature ; aud in Cashmere there were no less than seven hundred places where carved figures of snakes were worshipped , " this wo find in Maurice ' s "Indian Antiquities . " It was sacred to the healing godaud as a type of his office it is coiled

, round his wand ; indeed in tho prescriptions of the ancient physicians snake ' s flesh was often used . At Florence , in tho Medici Gallery , there are two very fine antique statues of iEsculapius and of Hygeia , distinguished by these characteristics . J It has been conjectured that there were different orders of angels with God when he created tho earth ; and iu support of this theory , passages iu the psalms and iu the prophets havo been brought forward . of his Father

Christ ( Mark , viii . ) speaks of his coming "in the glory with the holy angels . " Also , in John , x ., he says "Jt is not written in your law , I said , yo are gods ? " In Job xxxviii ., v . 1 , occurs the following remarkable passage : " AAliere wast thou when I laid the foundations ofthe earth 1 When tho morning scars sang together , and all the Sous of God shouted for joy ? " Sattirniui of Antioch , who spread the heresies of Simon Magus , with some additions of his own , held the opinion ( which is said to have been cherished by many Jews ) , that the world and man wore created or made by gods or angels .