THE TRIAL OF JESUS CHRIST. 



61 



the winter sign was the "Water-Bearer, the bright 

 Foroalhant conjoining his rays with the sun's at 

 mid-winter. It is noteworthy that all these four 

 constellations really present some resemblance 

 to the objects after which they are named. The 

 Scorpion is in the best drawing ; but the Bull's 

 head is well marked, and, as already mentioned, 

 a leaping Lion can be recognized. The streams 

 of stars from the urn of Aquarius and the urn 

 itself are much better defined than the Urn- 

 Bearer. 



I have not left myself much space to speak 

 of the finest of all the constellations, the glorious 

 Orion — the giant in his might, as he was called 

 of old. In this noble asterism the figure of a 

 giant ascending a slope can be readily discerned 

 when the constellation is due south. At the 

 time to which I have referred the constellation 

 Orion was considerably below the equator, and 

 instead of standing nearly upright when due 

 south high above the horizon, as now in our 

 northern latitudes, he rose upright above the 

 southeastern horizon. The resemblance to a 

 giant figure must then have been more striking 

 than it is at present (except in high northern 

 latitudes, where Orion, when due south, is just 

 fully above the horizon). The giant Orion has 

 long been identified by nations with Nimrod ; 

 and those who recognize the antetypes of the 

 Ark in Argo, of the old dragon in Draco, and of 

 the first and second Adams in the kneeling Her- 

 cules defeated by the serpent, and the upright 

 Ophiuchus triumphant over the serpent, may, if 

 they so please, find in the giant Orion, the Two 

 Dogs, the Hare, and the Bull (whom Orion is 

 more directly dealing with) the representations 



of Nimrod, " that mighty hunter before the 

 Lord," his hunting dogs, and the animals he 

 hunted. Pegasus, formerly called the Horse, was 

 regarded in very ancient times as the steed of 

 Nimrod. 



In modern astronomy the constellations no 

 longer have the importance which once attached 

 to them. They afford convenient means of nam- 

 ing the stars, though I think many observers 

 would prefer the less attractive but more busi- 

 ness-like methods adopted by Piazzi and others, 

 by which a star rejoices in no more striking title 

 than Piazzi XHIh. 273, or Struve 2819. They 

 still serve, however, to teach beginners the stars, 

 and probably many years will pass before even 

 exact astronomy dismisses them altogether to the 

 limbo of discarded synibolisms. It is, indeed, 

 somewhat singular that astronomers find it easier 

 to introduce new absurdities among the constel- 

 lations than to get rid of these old ones. The 

 new and utterly absurd figures introduced by 

 Bode still remain in many charts despite such 

 inconvenient names as Honores Frederici, Glo- 

 bum Aerostalicum, and Machina Pneumatica ; 

 and I have very little doubt that a new constel- 

 lation, if it only had a specially inconvenient 

 title, would be willingly accepted. But, when 

 Francis Baily tried to simplify the heavens by 

 removing many of Bode's absurd constellations, 

 he was abused by many as violently as though he 

 had proposed the rejection of the Newtonian sys- 

 tem. I myself tried a small measure of reform 

 in the first three editions of my " Library Atlas," 

 but have found it desirable to return to the old 

 nomenclature in the fourth. 



— Belgravia. 



THE TEIAL OF JESUS CHEIST. 



Br ALEXANDER TAYLOR INNES. 



II.— THE ROMAN TRIAL. 



rpHE trial of their Messiah by the Sanhedrim, 

 -*- had it stood alone, would have no doubt 

 been the most interesting judicial transaction in 

 history. The law of Moses, perpetuated though 

 modified by Christianity, has perhaps been more 

 influential than any other code of the world. 

 Yet that law has had one rival, in the mighty 

 jurisprudence of Rome. "The" written reason 

 of the Roman law has been silently or studiously 



transfused " into all our modern life, and lawyers 

 of every nation look back with filial reverence to 

 the great jurisconsults of the great age of the 

 Imperial Republic. But between the two influ- 

 ences there is one important point of contrast. 

 In the Hebrew commonwealth, law was the prod- 

 uct of religion. It was received, as Christendom 

 has been content to receive it, as a divine rule. 

 There is no evidence whatever that the Jewish 

 race was remarkable for an innate passion for 

 justice, or for any such " tendency to righteous- 



