180 
goat, the water-carrier, the fishes. It will be noticed that 
they differ somewhat from the modern. A place was found 
for Ishtar the Virgin translated to the heavens as the mother 
of the young sun (the heavenly child in the mysteries). The 
zodiacal ram was the object of worship in all Syria and in 
Persia, when this was honoured as the sign under which the 
world had received its origin. 
The vernal equinox corresponded with. Aries* (the ram). 
The sun would have entered the first point of Aries at the 
vernal equinox since 2540 b.c., and still at the time of Hippar- 
chus marked the beginning of spring. Before this time it 
would have accorded with another sign (the buli).t 
Laplace marked the probable origin of the zodiac at 2500 
b.c., before much of the above had been discovered. 
The Temptation and Fall of Man. 
I approach now with some solicitude the most difficult part 
of my subject, in which lies, however, the very heart and 
kernel of the destinies of the human race. 
It is some relief to think that science has nothing whatever 
to say as to the moral or spiritual nature of man. AVe cannot 
subject his actions to the test of ultimate analysis, neither can 
we project a prism of his spiritual nature and define the 
meaning of the dark lines which cross the spectrum. 
It is with philosophy that our difficulty lies, for human 
wisdom might readily admit that the creation seems to find its 
crowning point in man. This has been admitted by deeply 
thinking heathen. But that man, created very good, should 
have fallen away from his Creator and become a rebel and an 
apostate ; — that hence arise the sin and misery that surround 
us, of which we are all partakers ; and also the doom of 
death that awaits us in consequence, — this is so humbling, that 
without faith it is impossible to receive the truth. If philo- 
sophy could lay aside her pride, she would no longer be the 
dangerous guide whom we have been refusing to follow. In 
fact, she would give place to enlightened faith. In the mean- 
time, failing to receive the help of religion, she becomes herself 
a notoriously unpractical teacher. 
As before explained, I take religion as my only guide in 
seeking to investigate the early destinies of man, and con- 
sequently receive by faith the account given in the third of 
* Rev. A. H. Sayce, Soc. Bib. Arch. Trans ., iii. 337. 
t Systeme du Monde, p, 369. 
