ancient as any portion of the science, yet which remains even to the
present day, and will probably remain for many years to come. I refer to
the influence which the planets were supposed to exert on the
successive hours of every day--a belief from which the division of time
into weeks of seven days unquestionably had its origin--though we may
concede that the subdivision of the lunar month into four equal parts
was also considered in selecting this convenient measure of time. Every
hour had its planet. Now dividing twenty-four by seven, we get three and
three over; whence, each day containing twenty-four hours, it follows
that in each day the complete series of seven planets was run through
three times, and three planets of the next series were used. The order
of the planets was that of their distances, as indicated above. Saturn
came first, then Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon.
Beginning with Saturn, as ruling the first hour of Saturn's day
(Saturday), we get through the above series three times, and have for
the last three hours of the day, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. Thus the
next hour, the first hour of the next day, belongs to the sun--Sunday
follows Saturday. We again run three times through the series, and the
three remaining hours are governed by the sun, Venus, and
Mercury,--giving the moon as the first planet for the next day. Monday
thus follows Sunday. The last three hours of Monday are ruled by the
moon, Saturn, and Jupiter; leaving Mars to govern the next day--Martis
dies, Mardi, Tuesday or Tuisco's day. Proceeding in the same way, we get
Mercury for the next day, Mercurii dies, Mercredi, Wednesday or Woden's
day; Jupiter for the next day, Jovis dies, Jeudi, Thursday or Thor's
day; Venus for the next day, Veneris dies, Vendredi, Friday or Freya's
day; and so we come to Saturday again.[14]
The period of seven days, which had its origin in, and derived its
nomenclature from astrological ideas, shows by its wide prevalence how
widely astrological superstitions were once spread among the nations. As
Whewell remarks (though, for reasons which will readily be understood he
was by no means anxious to dwell upon the true origin of the Sabbatical
week), 'the usage is found over all the East; it existed among the
Arabians, Assyrians, and Egyptians. The same week is found in India,
among the Brahmins; it has there also its days marked by the names of
the heavenly bodies; and it has been ascertained that the same day has,
in that country, the name corresponding with its designation in other
nations.... The period has gone on without interruption or irregularity
from the earliest recorded times to our own days, traversing the extent
of ages and the revolutions of empires; the names of ancient deities,
which were associated with the stars, were replaced by those of the
objects of the worship of our Teutonic ancestors, according to their
views of the correspondence of the two mythologies; and the Quakers, in
rejecting these names of days, have cast aside the most ancient existing
relic of astrological as well as idolatrous superstition.
Not only do the names remain, but some of the observances connected with
the old astrological systems remain even to this day. As ceremonies
derived from Pagan worship are still continued, though modified in form,
and with a different interpretation, in Christian and especially Roman
Catholic observances, so among the Jews and among Christians the rites
and ceremonies of the old Egyptian and Chaldaean astrology are still
continued, though no longer interpreted as of yore. The great Jewish
Lawgiver and those who follow him seem, for example, to have recognised
the value of regular periods of rest (whether really required by man or
become a necessity through long habit), but to have been somewhat in
doubt how best to continue the practice without sanctioning the
superstitions with which it had been connected. At any rate two
different and inconsistent interpretations were given in the earlier and
later codes of law. But whether the Jews accepted the Sabbath because
they believed that an All-powerful Being, having created the world in
six days, required and took rest ('and was refreshed') on the seventh,
as stated in Exodus (xx. 11 and xxxi. 17), or whether they did so in
remembrance of their departure from Egypt, as stated in Deuteronomy (v.
15), there can be no question that among the Egyptians the Sabbath or
Saturn's day was a day of rest because of the malignant nature of the
powerful planet-deity who presided over that day. Nor can it be
seriously doubted that the Jews descended from the old Chaldaeans, among
whom (as appears from stone inscriptions recently discovered) the very
word Sabbath was in use for a seventh day of rest connected with
astrological observances, were familiar with the practice even before
their sojourn in Egypt. They had then probably regarded it as a
superstitious practice to be eschewed like those idolatrous observances
which had caused Terah to remove with Abraham and Lot from Ur of the
Chaldees. At any rate, we find no mention of the seventh day of rest as
a religious observance until after the Exodus.[15] It was not their only
religious observance having in reality an astrological origin. Indeed,
if we examine the Jewish sacrificial system as described in Numbers
xxviii. and elsewhere, we shall find throughout a tacit reference to the
motions or influences of the celestial bodies. There was the morning and
evening sacrifice guided by the movements of the sun; the Sabbath
offering, determined by the predominance of Saturn; the offering of the
new moon, depending on the motions of the moon; and lastly, the Paschal
sacrifice, depending on the combined movements of the sun and
moon--made, in fact, during the lunation following the sun's ascending
passage of the equator at the sign of Aries.
Let us return, however, after this somewhat long digression, to
astrological matters.
Horary astrology is manifestly much better fitted than the casting of
nativities for filling the pocket of the astrologer himself; because
only one nativity can be cast, but any number of horary questions can be
asked. It is on account of their skill in horary astrology that the
Zadkiels of our own time have occasionally found their way into the
twelfth house, or House of Enemies. Even Lilly himself, not devoting, it
would seem, five minutes to inquire into the probable success of the
affair, was indicted in 1655 by a half-witted young woman, because he
had given judgment respecting stolen goods, receiving two shillings and
sixpence, contrary to an Act made under and provided by the wise and
virtuous King James, First of England and Sixth of Scotland.
State astrology relates to the destinies of kingdoms, thrones, empires,
and may be regarded as a branch of horary science relating to subjects
(and rulers) of more than ordinary importance.
In former ages all persons likely to occupy an important position in the
history of the world had their horoscopes erected; but in these
degenerate days neither the casting of nativities nor the art of ruling
the planets flourishes as it should do. Our Zadkiels and Raphaels
publish, indeed, the horoscopes of kings and emperors, princes and
princesses, and so forth; but their fate is as that of Benedict
(according to Beatrice)--men 'wonder they will still be talking, for
nobody marks them.' Even those whose horoscopes have been erected show
no proper respect for the predictions made in their behalf. Thus the
Prince of Wales being born when Sagittarius was in the ascendant should
have been, according to Zadkiel, a tall man, with oval face, ruddy
complexion, somewhat dusky, and so forth; but I understand he has by no
means followed these directions as to his appearance. The sun, being
well aspected, prognosticated honours--a most remarkable and
unlooked-for circumstance, strangely fulfilled by the event; but then
being in Cancer, in sextile with Mars, the Prince of Wales was to be
partial to maritime affairs and attain naval glory, whereas as a
field-marshal he can only win military glory. (I would not be understood
to say that he is not quite as competent to lead our fleets as our
battalions into action.) The House of Wealth was occupied by Jupiter,
aspected by Saturn, which betokened great wealth through inheritance--a
prognostication, says Professor Miller, which is not unlikely to come
true. The House of Marriage was unsettled by the conflicting influences
of Venus, Mars, and Saturn; but the first predominating, the Prince,
after some trouble in his matrimonial speculations, was to marry a
Princess of high birth, and one not undeserving of his kindest and most
affectionate attention, probably in 1862. As to the date, an almanack
informs me that the Prince married a Danish Princess in March 1863,
which looks like a most culpable neglect of the predictions of our
national astrologer. Again, in May 1870, when Saturn was stationary in
the ascending degree, the Prince ought to have been injured by a horse,
and also to have received a blow on the left side of the head, near the
ear; but reprehensibly omitted both these ceremonies. A predisposition
to fever and epileptic attacks was indicated by the condition of the
House of Sickness. The newspapers described, a few years since, a
serious attack of fever; but as most persons have some experience of the
kind, the fulfilment of the prediction can hardly be regarded as very
wonderful. Epileptic attacks, which, as less common, might have saved
the credit of the astrologers, have not visited 'this royal native.' The
position of Saturn in Capricorn betokened loss or disaster in one or
other of the places ruled over by Capricorn--which, as we have seen, are
India, Macedonia, Thrace, Greece, Mexico, Saxony, Wilna, Mecklenburgh,
Brandenburgh, and Oxford. Professor Miller expresses the hope that
Oxford was the place indicated, and the disaster nothing more serious
than some slight scrape with the authorities of Christchurch. But
princes never get into scrapes with college dons. Probably some one or
other of the 'hair-breadth 'scapes' chronicled by the reporters of his
travels in India was the event indicated by the ominous position of
Saturn in Capricorn.
A remarkable list of characteristics were derived by Zadkiel from the
positions of the various planets and signs in the twelve houses of the
'royal native.' Some, of course, were indicated in more ways than one,
which will explain the parenthetical notes in the following alphabetical
table which Professor Miller has been at the pains to draw up from
Zadkiel's predictions. The prince was to be 'acute, affectionate,
amiable, amorous, austere, avaricious, beneficent, benevolent, brave,
brilliant, calculated for government' (a quality which may be understood
two ways), 'candid, careful of his person, careless, compassionate,
courteous (twice over), delighting in eloquence, discreet, envious, fond
of glory, fond of learning, fond of music, fond of poetry, fond of
sports, fond of the arts and sciences, frank, full of expedients,
generous (three times), gracious, honourable, hostile to crime,
impervious, ingenious, inoffensive, joyous, just (twice), laborious,
liberal, lofty, magnanimous, modest, noble, not easy to be understood
(!), parsimonious, pious (twice), profound in opinion, prone to regret
his acts, prudent, rash, religious, reverent, self-confident, sincere,
singular in mode of thinking, strong, temperate, unreserved, unsteady,
valuable in friendship, variable, versatile, violent, volatile, wily,
and worthy.' Zadkiel concludes thus:--'The square of Saturn to the moon
will add to the gloomy side of the picture, and give a tinge of
melancholy at times to the native's character, and also a disposition to
look at the dark side of things, and lead him to despondency; nor will
he be at all of a sanguine character, but cool and calculating, though
occasionally rash. Yet, all things considered, though firm and sometimes
positive in opinion, this royal native, if he live to mount the throne,
will sway the sceptre of these realms in moderation and justice, and be
a pious and benevolent man, and a merciful sovereign.' Fortunately, the
time has long since passed when swaying the sceptre of these realms had
any but a figurative meaning, or when Englishmen who obeyed their
country's laws depended on the mercy of any man, or when even bad
citizens were judged by princes. But we still prefer that princes should
be well-mannered gentlemen, and therefore it is sincerely to be hoped
that Zadkiel's prediction, so far as it relates to piety and
benevolence, may be fulfilled, should this 'royal native' live to mount
the throne. As for mercy, it is a goodly quality even in these days and
in this country; for if the law no longer tolerates cruelty to men, even
on the part of princes, who once had prescribed rights in that
direction, there are still some cruel, nay brutal sports in which 'royal
natives' might sometimes be tempted to take part. Wherefore let us hope
that, even in regard to mercy, the predictions of astrologers respecting
this 'royal native' may be fulfilled.
Passing however, from trivialities, let us consider the lessons which
the history of astrology teaches us respecting the human mind, its
powers and weaknesses. It has been well remarked by Whewell that for
many ages 'mysticism in its various forms was a leading character both
of the common mind and the speculations of the most intelligent and
profound reasoners.' Thus mysticism was the opposite of that habit of
thought which science requires, 'namely, clear ideas, distinctly
employed to connect well-ascertained facts; inasmuch as the ideas in
which it dealt were vague and unstable, and the temper in which they
were contemplated was an urgent and aspiring enthusiasm, which could not
submit to a calm conference with experience upon even terms.' We have
seen what has been the history of one particular form of the mysticism
of ancient and mediaeval ages. If we had followed the history of alchemy,
magic, and other forms of mysticism, we should have seen similar
results. True science has gradually dispossessed science falsely so
called, until now none but the weaker minds hold by the tenets formerly
almost universally adopted. In mere numbers, believers in the ancient
superstitions may be by no means insignificant; but they no longer have
any influence. It has become a matter of shame to pay any attention to
what those few say or do who not merely hold but proclaim the ancient
faith in these matters. We can also see why this has been. In old times
enthusiasm usurped the place of reason in these cases; but opinions so
formed and so retained could not maintain their ground in the presence
of reasoning and experience. So soon as intelligent and thoughtful men
perceived that facts were against the supposed mysterious influences of
the stars, the asserted powers of magicians, the pretended knowledge of
alchemists, the false teachings of magic, alchemy, and astrology, were
rejected. The lesson thus learned respecting erroneous doctrines which
were once widely prevalent has its application in our time, when, though
the influence of those teachings has passed away, other doctrines
formerly associated with them still hold their ground. Men in old times,
influenced by erroneous teachings, wasted their time and energies in
idle questionings of the stars, vain efforts to find Arcana of
mysterious power, and to acquire magical authority over the elements. Is
it altogether clear that in these our times men are not hampered,
prevented to some degree from doing all the good they might do in the
short life-time allotted to them, by doctrines of another kind? Is there
in our day no undue sacrifice of present good in idle questionings? is
there no tendency to trust in a vain fetishism to prevent or remove
evils which energy could avert or remedy? The time will come, in my
belief, when the waste of those energies which in these days are devoted
(not merely with the sanction, but the high approval, of some of the
best among us) to idle aims, will be deplored as regretfully--but, alas,
as idly--as the wasted speculations and labours of those whom Whewell
has justly called the most intelligent and profound reasoners of the
'stationary age' of science. The words with which Whewell closes his
chapter on the 'Mysticism of the Middle Ages' have their application to
the mysticism of the nineteenth century:--'Experience collects her
stores in vain, or ceases to collect them, when she can only pour them
into the flimsy folds of the lap of Mysticism, who is, in truth, so much
absorbed in looking for the treasures which are to fall from the skies,
that she heeds little how scantily she obtains, or how loosely she
holds, such riches as she might find beside her.'
II.
_THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID._
During the last few years a new sect has appeared which, though as yet
small in numbers, is full of zeal and fervour. The faith professed by
this sect may be called the religion of the Great Pyramid, the chief
article of their creed being the doctrine that that remarkable edifice
was built for the purpose of revealing--in the fulness of time, now
nearly accomplished--certain noteworthy truths to the human race. The
founder of the pyramid religion is described by one of the present
leaders of the sect as 'the late worthy John Taylor, of Gower Street,
London;' but hitherto the chief prophets of the new faith have been in
this country Professor Smyth, Astronomer Royal for Scotland, and in
France the Abbe Moigno. I propose to examine here some of the facts most
confidently urged by pyramidalists in support of their views.
But it will be well first to indicate briefly the doctrines of the new
faith. They may be thus presented:
The great pyramid was erected, it would seem, under the instructions of
a certain Semitic king, probably no other than Melchizedek. By
supernatural means, the architects were instructed to place the pyramid
in latitude 30 deg. north; to select for its figure that of a square
pyramid, carefully oriented; to employ for their unit of length the
sacred cubit corresponding to the 20,000,000th part of the earth's
polar axis; and to make the side of the square base equal to just so
many of these sacred cubits as there are days and parts of a day in a
year. They were further, by supernatural help, enabled to square the
circle, and symbolised their victory over this problem by making the
pyramid's height bear to the perimeter of the base the ratio which the
radius of a circle bears to the circumference. Moreover, the great
precessional period, in which the earth's axis gyrates like that of some
mighty top around the perpendicular to the ecliptic, was communicated to
the builders with a degree of accuracy far exceeding that of the best
modern determinations, and they were instructed to symbolise that
relation in the dimensions of the pyramid's base. A value of the sun's
distance more accurate by far than modern astronomers have obtained
(even since the recent transit) was imparted to them, and they embodied
that dimension in the height of the pyramid. Other results which modern
science has achieved, but which by merely human means the architects of
the pyramid could not have obtained, were also supernaturally
communicated to them; so that the true mean density of the earth, her
true shape, the configuration of land and water, the mean temperature of
the earth's surface, and so forth, were either symbolised in the great
pyramid's position, or in the shape and dimensions of its exterior and
interior. In the pyramid also were preserved the true, because
supernaturally communicated, standards of length, area, capacity,
weight, density, heat, time, and money. The pyramid also indicated, by
certain features of its interior structure, that when it was built the
holy influences of the Pleiades were exerted from a most effective
position--the meridian, through the points where the ecliptic and
equator intersect. And as the pyramid thus significantly refers to the
past, so also it indicates the future history of the earth, especially
in showing when and where the millennium is to begin. Lastly, the apex
or crowning stone of the pyramid was no other than the antitype of that
stone of stumbling and rock of offence, rejected by builders who knew
not its true use, until it was finally placed as the chief stone of the
corner. Whence naturally, 'whosoever shall fall upon it'--that is, upon
the pyramid religion--'shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall
it will grind him to powder.'
If we examine the relations actually presented by the great pyramid--its
geographical position, dimensions, shape, and internal
structure--without hampering ourselves with the tenets of the new faith
on the one hand, or on the other with any serious anxiety to disprove
them, we shall find much to suggest that the builders of the pyramid
were ingenious mathematicians, who had made some progress in astronomy,
though not so much as they had made in the mastery of mechanical and
scientific difficulties.
The first point to be noticed is the geographical position of the great
pyramid, so far, at least, as this position affects the aspect of the
heavens, viewed from the pyramid as from an observatory. Little
importance, I conceive, can be attached to purely geographical relations
in considering the pyramid's position. Professor Smyth notes that the
pyramid is peculiarly placed with respect to the mouth of the Nile,
standing 'at the southern apex of the Delta-land of Egypt.' This region
being shaped like a fan, the pyramid, set at the part corresponding to
the handle, was, he considers, 'that monument pure and undefiled in its
religion through an idolatrous land, alluded to by Isaiah; the monument
which was both "an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt,
and a pillar at the border thereof," and destined withal to become a
witness in the latter days, and before the consummation of all things,
to the same Lord, and to what He hath purposed upon man kind.' Still
more fanciful are some other notes upon the pyramid's geographical
position: as (i.) that there is more land along the meridian of the
pyramid than on any other all the world round; (ii.) that there is more
land in the latitude of the pyramid than in any other; and (iii.) that
the pyramid territory of Lower Egypt is at the centre of the dry land
habitable by man all the world over.
It does not seem to be noticed by those who call our attention to these
points that such coincidences prove too much. It might be regarded as
not a mere accident that the great pyramid stands at the centre of the
arc of shore-line along which lie the outlets of the Nile; or it might
be regarded as not a mere coincidence that the great pyramid stands at
the central point of all the habitable land-surface of the globe; or,
again, any one of the other relations above mentioned might be regarded
as something more than a mere coincidence. But if, instead of taking
only one or other of these four relations, we take all four of them, or
even any two of them, together, we must regard peculiarities of the
earth's configuration as the result of special design which certainly
have not hitherto been so regarded by geographers. For instance, if it
was by a special design that the pyramid was placed at the centre of the
Nile delta, and also by special design that the pyramid was placed at
the centre of the land-surface of the earth, if these two relations are
each so exactly fulfilled as to render the idea of mere accidental
coincidence inadmissible, then it follows, of necessity, that it is
through no merely accidental coincidence that the centre of the Nile
delta lies at the centre of the land-surface of the earth; in other
words, the shore-line along which lie the mouths of the Nile has been
designedly curved so as to have its centre so placed. And so of the
other relations. The very fact that the four conditions _can_ be
fulfilled simultaneously is evidence that a coincidence of the sort may
result from mere accident.[16] Indeed, the peculiarity of geographical
position which really seems to have been in the thoughts of the pyramid
architects, introduces yet a fifth condition which by accident could be
fulfilled along with the four others.