PREFACE. xxiii 



sacrifices " addressed to the Deity; one of them denomi- 

 nated "The Hymn of the Kegeneration " to The God 

 "whose only passion is to be The Good." There is a 

 certain likeness in these to the ancient Egyptian hymns to 

 Ea, to Hades, and Osiris, and to the Litany of Ea translated 

 and published in the "Eecords of the Past;" but a much 

 greater resemblance to several of the Psalms. Thus does 

 Hermes inculcate or imply several of the main doctrines 

 and objects of Christianity; but it is fair to admit that, as 

 before observed, he does not notice the fact of the Nativity 

 upon earth, or the Crucifixion, Death, Eesurrection, or 

 Ascension of Christ, or His Coming to Judgment. 

 Perhaps they did not come within the purview of his 

 intention, as neither within that of Paley in his " Natural 

 Theology." 



The astronomical teaching of Hermes is merely inci- 

 dental to the rest, and is simple enough. The whole 

 Universe is in the form of a sphere. Nature is composed 

 of four Elements Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. He 

 appears also to have inferred the rotundity of the Earth 

 fr^-. j that of the Sun, Moon, and Planets the latter perhaps 

 revolving round the Sun, but the whole cosmical system 

 round the Earth in an organized Harmony of one external, 

 of seven inner, circles; the varying motion of the Planets 

 being accounted for by a resisting medium. He was aware 

 of the difference between the revolutions of Venus and 

 Mercury and those of the other planets, but does not 

 account for it. He asserts plainly enough that the Earth 

 itself is stable and immoveable ; the Constellations, especi- 

 ally the Zodiac, fixed in a solid Firmament, circulating 

 round the Earth also, diagonally to the Equatorial Circle 

 and the orbits of the planets, with the Polar Star for a 

 central pivot, drawn round it by the COL stellation of the 

 Bear. The whole system of this KoV^oj, or Universe, and 

 of the Harmony thereof, is mainly the same as that of 

 Plato. 



It is remarkable that Hermes anticipates modern 

 philosophy by insisting that there is no void in nature, and 



