Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-05-14

of Jupiter and Saturn in their re-
spective orbits,
An eclipse Of the sun, and an
unusual freshet of the Tlber, short
" after the assassination of Julius
Caesar by Cassius and Brutus,
threw the whole of the Roman EN-
pire into CONSERVATION. 1t was
supposed that all the gods of heaven
and earth were enraged, and
about to take revenge for the mur'
der of the emperor; but since the
science of astronomy foretells IN
the calendar the time and the ex-
tent of the eclipse, the phenomenon
is not viewed as a miraculous and
portentous, but as common and
natural event.
That the pythoness and wizard
of the Hebrews, the monthly sooth-
sayers, astrologers and prognosti-
Gators of the Chaldeans, and the
sybils of the Greaks and Romans,
were mercenary impostors, there
can be no doubt.
TO say that the pythoness, and
all others of her class, were aided
in their operations by the enter
vention of familiar spirits, does not
mend the matter; for spirits,
whether good or bad, possess not
the power of life and death, health
and disease, with regard to man
and beast. Prescience is an in.
communicable attribute of God,
and therefore spirits cannot fore
tell future events.
The Affections of Job, through
the intervention Of Satan, were
miraculous. The possessions men
toned in the New Testament, in
all human probability, were mani.
acal diseases, and if, at their cures,
the supposed evil spirits spoke
with an audible voice, these events
were also miraculous, and effected
for special purpose. But from
miracles, no general conclusion can
be drawn with regard to the divine
government Of the world.
The conclusion is, that the pow
ers professed to be exercised by
the occult science of nccromancy
and other arts Of divination, were
neither more nor less than impos-
lures.
Amongst the Hebrews, the pro
fession of arts of divination was
thought deserving Of capital punish
ment, because the profession was
of Pagan origin, and of course in.
compatible with the profession of
theism, and "a theOcratic form OF
government. These jugglers perpe-
trated a debasing superstition
among the people. They were also
swindlers, who divestcd their neigh
bors of large sums of money and
valuable presents without an equiv
alent.
On the ground then Of fraud
alone, according TO the genius Of
the criminal codes of the ancient
governments, the oflensc deserved
capital punishment.
But is the present time better
than the past with regard to a
superstitious belief in occult inllu-
ences ? Do no traces of the poly
theism of our fOrefathers remain
among their christian descendants
This inquiry must be answered in
the affirmative. Should an altman
ac-maker venture to give out the
christian calendar without the
column containing the signs of the
zodiac, the calendar would be con-
demned as totally deficient, and
the whole impression would remain
on his hands.
But what are those signs? They
are the consultations Of the zodiac,
that is, clusters of stars, twelve in
number, within and including the
tropics of Cancer and Capricorn,
These consultations resemble the
animals after which they are named,
But what influence do these clus
ters of stars exert OH the animal
and the plant? Certainly none at
all and yet we have been taught
that the northern consultations
govern the divisions Of living
bodies alternately from the head tC
the reins, and in like manner the
southern from the reins to the feet
The sign then makes a skip from
the feet to Aries, who again as
sumes the government Of the head
and so on.
About half these consultations
are friendly divinitIes, and exert a
salutary influence on the animal
and the plant. The others are ma
lignant in their temper, and govern
only for evil purposes. They blast
during their reign the seed sown
in the earth, and render medicine
and the operations of surgery uD
successful.
We have read of the Hebrews
wOrshipping the hosts Of heaven
whenever they relapsed into idol
airy; and these same constella
tiOns were the hosts Of heaven
which they wOrshipped. We, it is
true, make no Offering to these
hosts of heaven, but we give
them our faith and confidence. We
hope for physical benefits from
those of them whose dominion is
friendly to our interests, while the
reign of the malignant ones is an