s_.[546:6]

Moore, in his Hindu Pantheon, observes:

"Although all the Hindu deities partake more or less remotely
of the nature and character of Surya, or the SUN, and all more
or less directly radiate from, or merge in, him, yet no one
is, I think, so intimately identified with him as Vishnu;
whether considered in his own person, or _in the character of
his most glorious Avatara of_ CRISHNA."

The ancient religion of EGYPT, like that of Hindostan, was founded on
astronomy, and eminently metaphysical in its character. The Egyptian
priests were far advanced in the science of astronomy. They made
astronomy their peculiar study. They knew the figure of the earth, and
how to calculate solar and lunar eclipses. From very ancient time, they
had observed the order and movement of the stars, and recorded them with
the utmost care. Ramses the Great, generally called Sesostris, is
supposed to have reigned one thousand five hundred years before the
Christian era, about coeval with Moses, or a century later. In the tomb
of this monarch was found a large massive circle of wrought gold,
divided into three hundred and sixty-five degrees, and each division
marked the rising and setting of the stars for each day.[547:1] This
fact proves how early they were advanced in astronomy. In their great
theories of mutual dependence between all things in the universe was
included a belief in some mysterious relation between the Spirits of the
Stars and human souls, so that the destiny of mortals was regulated by
the motions of the heavenly bodies. This was the origin of the famous
system of Astrology. From the conjunction of planets at the hour of
birth, they prophesied what would be the temperament of an infant, what
life he would live, and what death he would die. Diodorus, who wrote in
the century preceding Christ Jesus, says:

"They frequently foretell with the greatest accuracy what is
about to happen to mankind; showing the failure or abundance
of crops, and the epidemic diseases about to befall men or
cattle. Earthquakes, deluges, rising of comets, and all those
phenomena, the knowledge of which appears impossible to common
comprehensions, they foresee by means of their long continued
observation."

P. Le Page Renouf, who is probably the best authority on the religion of
ancient Egypt which can be produced, says, in his Hibbert
Lectures:[547:2]

"The Lectures on