New-York tribune., 1879-11-24
THE LECTURE.

IHE LLC lhE.
Mr.. Proctor pursued his theme between the
direct line of popular scientific argument ana tic border
land OF religious teachings and treated it manner
which seemed fascinating losan audience that nicd
every seat the body OF the hall and almost every seat
III the gallery. IL was composite audience.
For an hour and half the speaker held hs audience in
the closest attention His style of delivery even more
monotonous than usual, but there Infinite variety In
the ethoughts he poured forth with almost pauseess rapid
ity He stood with both arms ana part OF the
weight OF his body resting the reading desk
except when he took mp the long pointer To Indicate
which Oi the drawings the screen behind HIM Illus
irated tie subject hand and usual did not use
notes. Passing from explanation that In oiden
times there not merely religion OF astronomy
but that astronomy the religion and the
astronomers priests, said that the astronomers
had had 1t IN theiI power to preserve their religious
Influence To this day, and TO keep astronomy what
was, the greatest religion OF the world
but the astronomers had turned honest and
ceased TO claim moro than belonged 10 them.
Ii the ancient writer's could say tina. " the Heavens
reveal the glory OF God and the armament
showeh HIS handiwOrk" az time the science Of
astronomy was little developed. now much better
could this truth be understood today. when the tee-
scope had more comprehensive View OF the
magnitude Of The universe. The speakers description of
the splcndors nnnty of space lei with the blazing
glory unnumbercd drew forth applause. also
did his statement that II was not less reasonable 10 con
ceivc OF the OF creative lrpose m The face
OF infinite evolution than OF space and time
in view OF the infinite boundsLL,s to both. Iie
said that the earth was Vat least Ave
hundred milo years old and gave this sphere twenty
hundred millions Of longer ID become Ike the
mOon unfit for the support OF living things In
summing mp the results OF gcicnthc teach
ING he paused in conclusion whero science
could no longer light the way ani the sce mist was
obliged 70 say. Touching the Almighty, We cannot nnd
Him out"
ASTRONOMY A RELIGION IN OLDEN TIMES.
To some OF you. the lecturer said. subject OF
lee urc this eyeniug.Le name Of1t-GIay strange.
Ine Religion OF AstronomyW a. though as
trouoncrs had some special form OF religious ObsoTy
nuce some special moral truths that they
and they only, could indicate would remind you,
however that the auclents had not onya religion o.
astronomy, but that astronomy tier religion. Tie
astronomers their priests. the heavenly bodies were
their CODA Weknow thatthcre men who looked not
Only Tie and moon, at the planets and ~
m. stars bodies wbch couid not only influence tho
| actually had powero ruling and goyerning mankind
Nur, consider the matter arigIt and consider how
| unable man at the first 10 understand the
| nature Of the powers around lln' onSnt we
| 10 look witd scorn ana contempt on nose VINO
! ihus viewed tho heavenly bodies. Ihey, aittr
| al saw IN ihe bodies theY thus |nrs,mppt,d
earth and the science OF the present daY shows
lhry were i'-"' ~ a. I'1i''' ana f,c % w." o,o
| 10 regard the sun whose u-ht was poured upon
o sS hn IN The sense Of god ma the moon he
Ouoen o Night as goddess ~ in pcral Dower-thou g
the moon as a benenceut and the sun rs maIefcent
But having come to regard these two as The important
rulers link II natural that they should regard
the planets also a. bodies eHerting an important
TERRESTRIAL Influence and that they Should believe thai
| those which appeared M the longest periods. eud
,r,r ann"rcrfIv snord he esfecmc1 ~ the greatest
n,rortaTce II astronomers had no--fortunately Tor
| manknd-turned honest. IL wonli hare boon I'm their
power 10 have to this pre,enr timeI was
e 10 saw their old influence priests; but
think they c"ud bave dono somethlnc more JUST con
ceive what would We happened II thW hau peISuhd.l
rulers that Il dangerous for the people 20 learn
th-r ccrcra ana that heir studes bad been carried
under solemn O,th~ OF II they had done that.
and had taken advantage OF their mower by keeping
mignt made ~ astronomy reli don 20 which any
present form OF religion would nave been weak inl-
Returning the order IN which these heavenly bodies
! 'he carfn apparently in tho period Of one
mouth. was me we3kes'; thsn MercuFy. We
H. SO. 224 and 3G5 days respectively; Then
followed the sun ana tsOse IN higher order thau tr
that OF the suu. Jupiter twelve years. and Saturn
twonty-niue and one-hali years These seven orbit,
represented tho old system Of Assyna' Chaidea aud
Egypt
TIE DIVISIONS or TIME.
We are not to conclude that the eject OF this OLD
teaching has passed away. To-day IS Sunday, and We
retain the observance II the Sabbath day OF
Now the history Of sunday curious enough. II you
trace II out from The beginning OF the Chris
tan dispensaiion TO the present time, yOu
Will nud II holding rs ground at time
hy birthdays the Romin Emperors; at Others by
reason something else uut m last it takes -
emf position m place ~ the Jews sh Sabbath. The
being used a umcpiece-tle only Jne they hai cx-
cent the suu--i natural result that thy should
divide an time by weeks II seems natural that IN
al nations ucliod of seven days can't to ue laluu
division OF time and labor. aud they would naturally
make the day dividing u da, oi i,si. No" , noHge
and tie special influence of the plarrts every nonI
being given ~ succt-siou 10 the seven bodies SUP
! pose vpu begin with SATURDAY, which was tne ola
Sabbath Day Of the Assyrians and Egyptians. Tie hlsf
hour 81 that cav Was iirbntrd 10 Saufl me rest IN
tie order o the pauet the sth. l3th ana 22d would he
saturn again the 23d nour WON'T be Jupiter the 2ith
Mars ihe 2otl inc u't hOur 81 lhe mex y he enl
| winch would be Sunday. Then The next day, TIE
23d hour would be Venus, the 2lh Me,cnry, ana @ se
nrsi honI o the next day me Mooi-Mohday thr hOuns
dsy. following Sunday And so on with te rest OF the
panets one gay o.,ng Iameu "I % u 1nu a. & ,Ik c,es
spt,al obs, rVanccs ana ~ 40 i r'.t
tnat owe the beginning OF the sabbath observance
Egyptians. Yo don't ind before the sujnurn Egypt
that Job. speaking OF his never having bowed his
brightness mentions { at he did not Weld 10
Astronomical superstition or star worship We
do not md him mentioning mat he did not
observe the saboaIn Day. II you turn 10 the 2ofh
chapter o Numbers you VIII Ind that every single ,lc-
nhce named these OF astronomical character.
canrse the risns aud 1tne snn, and th, obs,ry,'ce
81 the moon. which regarded ui almost equal
importance To the Observance of the SUM- The Observance
Of the seventh day really AN observance the moon
Tnen thero Is the IassOvrrtna OF course was, xaned
by Moses In a 1erent way because he wac particularly
anxious 10 divert the peope from 81 these suersi
ous observances; but the Passover being cceDrate on
18th day OF nrsi month correspondcd to Ne ne
when the from the south 10 the nOtl OF ihe
equator The 10, day Of the seventh MONTH whtn the
passes from the north 60 the sOuth OI tAc equator
you viii find was also celebrated.
THE EXPLANATIONS OF MOSES.
But Moses was anxious that the people should know
but God and you notice how careful ne was to ex
plain the or gin OF the Sabbath in consistent with
the carrying out OF this idea But there little differ
euce The reasons gives. One o. tnem tnat God.
making the earth. rested and refreshed on tnat
fav 4 unfgh have I'VE
Guilty the minds OF the people 10 understand how an
infinitely powerful being should need rest matter