Classical Theology. Apollo And May.

CLASSICAL THEOLOGY . APOLLO AND MAY .

T . 0 XD 0 . V , SATCRBAV , JULY 30 , l- «' . i .

" Inventuni medicina aieum est , opiferque , per orbem Uicor , et herbariun o . st subjects potentia nobis . "—Metam ,, i . To those ivho are conversant Avith the writings of the pouts , May is the * most lovely month of the year : Yirgil p laces tlie creation , " when first arose this world ' s all bounteous frame , " in it . Lucretius says it is "led on by Venus . " Milton goes to " Pan ,

•* Knit AVith the graces and the hours in dance , " to bring the " eternal spring . " The feelings and scenes of the spot , " Where spring its earliest visit paid , " in those seasons gone by , tlie May days of our youth , ought never to bo forgotten—like the sunshine and the shoAver in

after life their reminiscences Avill enliven the gloom of our solitude and cheer onr mourning , or enlighten or delight the little rising waves around us as we sink into the ocean of life . The month takes its name from Maia , one of the Pleiades and the beautiful mother of Hermes the gocl of rhetoric and oratory , according to the Greeks ( better knoAvn

to us by his name of Mercury ) ancl for this reason the offering of sacrifices was made to him in this month ; which , nevertheless , as it regards us here , belongs to no other than the perfect and poiverful , ever young and ever glorious Apollo himself , who was advanced for his brilliant talents and inventions to the highest honour and worship .

But we have not to consider IIOAV he became immortalized ; but rather IIOAV he AVUS made one ofthe " gods of tho nations . " We have ourselves our own liking for poetry in art as Avell as in nature ; either as seen in a sculpture , a painting , or a poem . Wherefore the personal representation of a faculty or of a likenessfor instance—an image of science or of a sageof

, , faith , or of a fate—AVO can hi ghly appreciate and value ; and in this respect AVO are often running after and courting and being enamoured ofthe heathen gods and goddesses . Indeed , in the absence ofthe fourth commandment , AVO on the Avhole might be making unto ourselves " any likeness of any thing

that is in the heaven above , or that is in the earth beneath , or that is in the water under the earth , " to boiv ourselves doAvn "to them , " aud " servo them . " Kay , like the infidel and the savage , as a people unto this day , Ave might not be forgetting to reconcile the universal great Spirit of Evil with gifts , and with supplications , and with prayers . We should

not perhaps have given it a pagoda to live in , but it ivould liave had its temple , Avei'o it not for what AVO arc about to explain . ^ In speaking of the Evil Spirit , as likcAvise of the Holy Spirit , the meaning is generally received in the singular instead of its plural sense , as if there wero only one good and one

bad spirit in the world mystified by an ubiquity , in which case there coulcl be no angels of either denomination , dark or light , which Ave believe there are ancl we wish , to make " the Truth and the Word plain . " It did not escape the observation of Erasmus , when he was in this country , that our " ancient custom of bloAving horns on the first ( old date ) of

May , " was retained from some festivals in honour of Diana ; nor did he fail to notice the ceremony of depositing a deer ' s head ( also an Ethnic observance in honour of that goddess ) , "on the altar of St . Paul ' s church , " which was built , as appears from a record in a Cottonian manuscript , "by King Ethelbert , of Kent , upon the site of a temple of Diana , in the time

of Melitus , the first bishop of London . " NOAV , Ave see—without the Almi ghty Trinity in Unityhad not the Romans subjugated tlie JBAVS—AVC should still be hearing the rebellious complaint , "We will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth , to bum nieense to the queen of heaven , and to pour out drink offerings

unto her , as we liave done , we , and our fathers , our kings , and our princes , in the cities of Judah , and in the streets of J erusalem ; for then had AVO plenty of victuals , and were well , and S ; no evil . But since AVC left off to burn incense to tho queen of heaven , and to pour out drink offerings unto her , Ave have wanted all things , and have been consumed by

the sword and by the famine . " We say , we should in all likelihood , in this country , have had some Nebuchadnezzar setting up his image , and decreeing , "Whoso falleth not doAvn and worshippeth shall the same hour be east into the midst of a burning fiery furnace . " At all events , in every point of probability ( albeit we would render honour where honour is

due ) , Ave should have a Pagan priesthood consecrating the statues that aro set up m Europe , and where they are equestrian Ave should be made , or should be found fools enough , not only to worship the rider , but also the horse . This , to our thinking , is a convincing evidence of tlie necessity of Christianity , even if it had not overthrown , the falseand

, triumphed in the true religion , in Avhich is the saving of souls by redemption , and by the nevs spirit given . It may bo by tho fiery trial , but as far as the soraphimie attainment may be reached there is IIOAV no other w ay . Wc Avish every man to think for himself ) and for no man to judge botAvcen another man ' s conscience and God . Yet

AVC think we should be lauding dulnesss in not being able to foresee , in the vast strength and power and spread of Christianity , the universal religion ; and that Ave can only look to [ Freemasonry to prevent it from plunging itself ( God knoAvs where ) into Avar aiid bloodshed within its own domain .

Apollo is represented in his statue , holding sometimes a shield Avith one hand , and the Graces AA'ith the other . Howover , he is usually painted Avith his harp , and a shield , and his boiv and arrows j to signify , niythologically , his threefold power—in heaven , AA'here he is called Sol , on earth , where ho is named Liber Pater , and in hell , where he is styled Apollo

( Apollyon)—in Avhich way , Avith idolatrous nations , under different names , Ave can trace him up to this hour . His harp typifies that lie keeps all things in a state of deli ghtful harmony in heaven his shield SIIOAVS that he is mindfiil of the health lie gives to the creatures of earth , that he protects them against many ills , and that he maintains them in safety j

his bow aud arroAVS indicate his ability to strike from afar , and that whomsoever he smites he sends into hell , or , as hero meant , the place of judgment and purgatory , the abode of tho souls of tho dead . Something of this is typified in the lines AA'hich stand at the head of this article , taken from Ovid , who further states : —

' - —•— Per me concordant carnuna nervis ; Ccrta quiclem nostra est , nostra tamen una sagitta Certior , in vacuo qua ; vulnera pectore fecit , " Spenser in his " Faery Queen" presents us to" fair May , the fairest maid on ground , Decked all ivith dainties of her season ' s pride , And throAving floivers out of her lap around ;—"

as borne on the shoulders of the " Twins of Leda ; " iu allusion , Ave presume , to the sun entering Gemini ; but , under a hypercritical reservation and reversion , we conjecture it ought to be ' ofLatona . ' Cicero says , " Although there were many Apollos , all that they did is ascribed to one of them only—to him ivho was

bora of Jupiter and Latona , " the tivin brother of Diana . He is called Cynthius from the mountain C'yiiihus , in tho island of Delos , from whence Diana is also called Cynthia— . and Delias , from the same island , because he was born there , as it is related , under a palm or an olive tree , when his mother was pursued by the serpent Pythonwhom the

in-, censed Juno had sent and set against her to persecute her all OA - CI - the world , after having cast her out of heaven , and obliged the earth , by an oath , to give her no habitation wherein she could be delivered in safety . Tlie island , afc this time , was a floating isle , or lay beneath the sea , but emerged