recognized, the ecliptic, the celestial
equator, and the poles of both great circles were known, and the five
principal planets were familiar objects. This Early astronomy must have
had its history, its stages of development, but we can only with
difficulty trace them out. It cannot have sprung into existence
full-grown any more than the other sciences; it must have started from
zero, and men must have slowly fought their way from one observation to
another, with gradually widening conceptions, before they could bring it
even to that stage of development in which it was when the observers of
the Museum of Alexandria began their work.

The books of the Old Testament were written at different times during
the progress of this Early age of astronomy. We should therefore
naturally expect to find the astronomical allusions written from the
standpoint of such scientific knowledge as had then been acquired. We
cannot for a moment expect that any supernatural revelation of purely
material facts would be imparted to the writers of sacred books, two or
three thousand years before the progress of science had brought those
facts to light, and we ought not to be surprised if expressions are
occasionally used which we should not ourselves use to-day, if we were
writing about the phenomena of nature from a technical point of view. It
must further be borne in mind that the astronomical references are not
numerous, that they occur mostly in poetic imagery, and that Holy
Scripture was not intended to give an account of the scientific
achievements, if any, of the Hebrews of old. Its purpose was wholly
different: it was religious, not scientific; it was meant to give
spiritual, not intellectual enlightenment.

An exceedingly valuable and interesting work has recently been brought
out by the most eminent of living Italian astronomers, Prof. G. V.
Schiaparelli, on this subject of "Astronomy in the Old Testament," to
which work I should like here to acknowledge my indebtedness. Yet I feel
that the avowed object of his book,[7:1]--to "discover what ideas the
ancient Jewish sages held regarding the structure of the universe, what
observations they made of the stars, and how far they made use of them
for the measurement and division of time"--is open to this
criticism,--that sufficient material for carrying it out is not within
our reach. If we were to accept implicitly the argument from the silence
of Scripture, we should conclude that the Heb