the inanity of this and all other forms of
divination. . . . Of what other ancient civilized nation could
as much be said?"[145:1]

FOOTNOTES:

[136:1] R. A. Proctor, _The Great Pyramid_, pp. 274-276.

[139:1] G. V. Schiaparelli, _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 137.

[145:1] G. V. Schiaparelli, _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 52.

[Illustration: _By permission of the Autotype Co._

_74, New Oxford Street, London, W.C._

ST. PAUL PREACHING AT ATHENS (_by Raphael_).

"As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His
offspring."]

BOOK II

THE CONSTELLATIONS

CHAPTER I

THE ORIGIN OF THE CONSTELLATIONS

The age of Classical astronomy began with the labours of Eudoxus and
others, about four centuries before the Christian Era, but there was an
Earlier astronomy whose chief feature was the arrangement of the stars
into constellations.

The best known of all such arrangements is that sometimes called the
"Greek Sphere," because those constellations have been preserved to us
by Greek astronomers and poets. The earliest complete catalogue of the
stars, as thus arranged, that has come down to us was compiled by
Claudius Ptolemy, the astronomer of Alexandria, and completed 137 A.D.
In this catalogue, each star is described by its place in the supposed
figure of the constellation, whilst its celestial latitude and longitude
are added, so that we can see with considerable exactness how the
astronomers of that time imagined the star figures. The earliest
complete description of the constellations, apart from the places of the
individual stars, is given in the poem of Aratus of Soli--_The
Phenomena_, published about 270 B.C.

Were these constellations known to the Hebrews of old? We can answer
this question without hesitation in the case of St. Paul. For in his
sermon to the Athenians on Mars' Hill, he quotes from the opening verses
of this constellation poem of Aratus:--

"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that
He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made
with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though
He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath,
and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men
for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined
the times before appointed, and the bounds of their
habitation; that they should seek