August 2, 1886.] 



♦ KNONA^LEDGE ♦ 



297 



Illustrated MAGAZINE "^^ 



-SC!ENCE,UTERATURE,& 



LONDON: AUGUST 2, 1886. 



THE UNKNOWABLE. 



By Richard A. Proctor. 



IN'FLUEKCE OP SDN-WORSHir OX LATKR RELIGIONS. 



HE phenomena of the development and of the 

 decay of 8abaism alike bear on our inter- 

 pretation not only of the past, but of the 

 present of religion, and even on our .antici- 

 pations in regard to its future. 



It must have seemed clear to those who 

 in past ages noted what the heavenly 

 bodies seem to do and to be, that in those orbs thej- had 

 recognised real powere, influencing in all-important degree 

 the fortunes of men and nations, nay, of the whole earth. 

 The belief and the ritual arising from this belief, the most 

 widespread and indeed the noblest of all forms of nature- 

 worship which civilised races have ever accepted, were the 

 product of too many generations of thinking men, and 

 related to too complicated a series of observed facts to be 

 lightly thrown off even when the more observant began to 

 perceive that the phenomena which h.ad seemed to indicate 

 individual power in reality are the product of continuously 

 acting law. With the student of science in our time change 

 of view means only the admission of previous error in regard 

 to physical phenomena. But at the time when men first 

 perceived that they must change their ideas in regard to the 

 heavenly bodies, that meant for them the rejection of what 

 had been regarded as intimately associated with the well- 

 being of the individual man, of the race, of whole nations of 

 r.aces, nay. of mankind itself. 



It had been held to be a solemn duc_v to offer daily prayers 

 and sacrifices to the sun-god at his rising and setting, .and 

 yearly to rejoice at his new birth, at his triumphant resur- 

 rection above the equator, and at his ascension towards the 

 fulness of his summer glory ; which, as he passed thence 

 towards the decay of his powei-s in autumn, rejoicing gave 

 way to anxiety (even while the autumn fruits were gratefully- 

 collected), and anxiety to lamentation as the gloom of winter 

 approached and deejiened. In like manner the monthly 

 movements of the moon, considered separately or connected 

 with the varj-ing glory of the sun, had been the occasion of 

 observances which were directly associated with the well- 

 being of the race. Planets and stars had taken their place 

 in the system of observance, in various ways according to 

 the various ideas of different nations, but with a certain 

 resemblance between all the different cults such as might be 

 expected from the circumstance that the objects worshipped 

 were the same for all, and the ideas underlying the various 

 systems of ceremonial in the main identical. 



Thus can we understand, even apart from any theory of 

 interchange of ideas between various races (though doubtless 

 such interchange took place), how Indians, Babylonians, and 



Egyptians (Japhetic, Semitic, and Hammitei, to say nothing 

 ' of C!bineso, jNIexicans, and Peruvians, shared those broader 

 religious ideas which sprang n.aturally from the worehip of 

 the heavenly bodies. We can see also why they had, in the 

 main, the same notions about many matters of detail which 

 at a first view seem merely fanciful. 



Thus among all ancient races which .attained any high 

 degree of civilis;itiou we find the idea of contest between 

 light and darkness regarded as powers. We find light asso- 

 ciated with good and darkness with evil. Darkness triumphs 

 for a while over light, but light is always restored, precisely 

 as night triumphs over d.ay but day returns, and as the 

 gloom of winter absorbs the glory of the sun but the sun is 

 born again and grows again to power. The short-lasting 

 victories achieved by night over day early lost their ten-ors. 

 Men soon learned that the sun would surelj' return d.ay 

 after d.ay to be their light and life. But it was otherwise 

 with the mystery of the sun's annual death. Less easily 

 interpreted, the fears it brought were less easily removed. 

 Yet here also men learned that the victory of darkness is 

 but temporary. The darker half of the celestial sphere 

 imprisons the sun for a while ; but though he is transpierced 

 as he crosses the equator, yet on the third day from that 

 on which his orb first touches the equator it has risen 

 wholly above it.* This would be true for all parts of 

 the earth and for all time ; but manj- details of the 

 sun-god's career would differ slightly, as supposed to be 

 read in the stars, at different places and at different times. 

 For the aspect of the zodiacal constellations, especially at 

 rising and setting, diffei-s with the latitude, at any given 

 time, and the critical parts of the sun's career, his solstices 

 and equinoxial transits, occupy diffei-ent parts of the zodiac 

 as the earth's precessional movement carries these parts 

 backwards among the signs. The first consideration is not 

 of any great importance, though there was a somewhat wide 

 range of latitude among the chief civilised n.ations of old 

 times ; but the effects of precession affected, of course, criti- 

 cally the apparent significance of the sun's yearly journey. 

 In about 2,150 years the equinoxes and solstices are carried 

 backwards through a whole sign. Thus the vern.al equinox, 

 now in Pisces, was in Aries 2,1.50 years ago, in Taurus 4,300 

 yeara ago, and in Gemini 6,450 years .ago. The summer 

 solstice now in Gemini was in Cancer for 2,180 years, in 

 Leo as long bsfore that, and before that for 2,150 years in 

 Virgo. When the s\in is rising at the winter solstice now, 

 or say on December 25, which in all the old s\-stems was the 

 date of the sun-god's annual birth, he is in the constellation 

 Sagittarius, and the constellation Gemini is setting in the 

 north-west; but 2,150 years ago he was in Capricornus and 

 Cancer was setting; 4,300 years ago he was in Aquarius 

 and the Lion was setting ; while 6,450 years ago he was in 

 Pisces, and the Virgin, with upraised arms (marked by the 

 stars /J, I), y, t and «), was setting in the north-western hills. 



Not to dwell in detail on a number of astronomical pecu- 

 liarities which would certainly influence the ideas mythically 

 associated with a sun-god. let us consider a few of the more 

 striking, .and inquire how far they appe.ar in the myths of 

 India, Babylonia, Eg}'pt, and other ancient nations which, 

 at one stage or other of their religious development, unques- 

 tionably worshipj>ed the heavenly bodies. 



In the first place, the conception and birth of a sun- 

 god, even if not associated with a constellation regarded as 



* The sun's diameter at the spring equinox has not differed much 

 from 32' within the last ten thousand years (a period which would 

 over probably the beginnings of all known Sabaistic religions). 

 His rate of crossing the equator is about 591 seconds of arc 

 hourly, so that his disc is on the equator about 325 hours. If he 

 began the crossing, for example, on Friday at noon, he would rise 

 on Sunday, the third day, clear of the equator. 



