of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him ?" The effect upon the mind of the inspired monarch, was the kind and gracious care of the bountiful Creator for his great family below. It is written, that "God is love." Did he then create the heavens to lour upon the children of men to pour down evil influences to distress them? No; when we gaze upon the glorious expanse above-the triumphal arch of God's greatness-we are assured that he who made those luminaries, made them to shine upon man, and not to frown upon him; and when he gave his Son to die for a lost world, did he not give a rainbow of promise of fair and beautiful weather to all who would believe on him? His frown is reserved only for the rebellious-the incorrigibly wicked; and his perpetual smile rests upon all those who love and fear him. The sun and moon, which God created to rule the day, were supposed by the ancient heathens to preside over the fortunes of men, and the stars and the planets were imagined to have a powerful control over the affairs of this nether world; so that at last arose a class of professors, who declared that they could not only read in the heavens the voice of the Great Governor respecting the times and the seasons, but even his fiat respecting the fates

of individuals, and the rise and fall of empires. But who made them prophets? Who gave them the key of heaven? Who imparted to them the knowledge of God's mysteries? Let the professors of this art reflect. When our Lord was asked by his disciples, when he would restore the kingdom to Israel, he replied, "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." But an astrologer would have erected a figure of the heavens for the precise time, when the question was put, and the heavens would, upon his principles, have furnished a ready answer to the presumptuous enquiry.-But the times and the seasons the Father hath put in his own power, and neither angel, man, nor devil, can break the seal of the volume of God's purposes, and predict what shall come to pass.

Among the most distinguished professors of the art, were the ancient Chaldeans, of whose skill we shall take due notice in the proper place. With us, ancient observations are supposed to afford substantial ground for modern predictions; for who will affirm that the studies of the moderns alone will furnish sufficient data for prophetic anticipations; for when we consider the endless diversified circumstances of human existence, the ever-varying configurations of the celestial luminaries; the shortness

of human life, and the consequent limited period for individual observation, we are assured that the only tenable ground that could possibly be assumed, would be an uninterrupted course of observations from the period of the Chaldeans, down to the present time, and conducted upon the same identical principles. Whether the astrologer has such ground shall be seen hereafter; that he professes to have it I shall show-that he has it not, I shall demonstrate; and here I must observe, that the astrologer not only undertakes to satisfy us respecting what a day may bring forth-what the morrow will produce, but even what distant years shall accomplish. Now a system, which makes such a demand on human belief, and which, when its principles are adopted, exercises so powerful a dominion over the mind, ought to be based on the sound deductions of reason, and verified by a plain and unequivocal experience. But that the scheme of astrology rests upon no foundation of rational argument; that its bold conclusions are not borne out by accredited facts; and that, in its principles, it is contrary to Divine Revelation, I trust, I shall be able to establish. Science flees not from the scrutiny of reason, but goes hand in hand with her at every step; religion shuns her not as a companion, but courts her closest investigation. It is the astrologer alone, who would desert her guidance,

and lead us to trust solely to that of experience. LIEUT. MORRISON, in his grammar, says, (see Zadkiel's Grammar of Astrology, p. viii.) that his work will be peculiarly acceptable "to those who think EXPERIENCE a safer guide than REASON in natural philosophy." But if our experience be not constantly brought to the test of reason, we shall ultimately find, that we have been following a will-with-a-wisp, and may make the discovery when it has conducted us to some filthy marsh, and we are perishing through our ignorance and folly. When we gaze upon the starry heavens, we are informed, that there the fates of men are written-there the destinies of nations are inscribed; and, in connection with this subject, I shall select a paragraph from the Grammar already noticed, as a specimen of the awful daring of superstition.

"If the present haughty style of declaiming against a science which the greatest men have taken a pride to cultivate in all ages and all countries, should, by this endeavour to open a clear path to its examination, receive a check, such as the power of truth only can offer to the headstrong course of prejudice, it will not have been written in vain; and if the cause of truth should thereby be assisted, either through public demonstration, by the test of experiment, of the utter fallacy of the doctrines of astrology, or on the other hand, by the conviction of the honest portion of mankind that the Almighty does indeed choose the heavenly bodies as the instruments of his will, in bringing about the ends of Providence; this little work will very well bear the lash of critics, whose pride will not believe that 'there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in their philosophy.''

Our modern philosophers are no dreamers, but are awake to the principles of sound science. But if for a moment, we should suppose the stars and their configurations to be the arranged means by which the ends of Providence are administered, I again ask where did the astrologer obtain the key of the celestial cabinet, to disclose the mysterious symbols-to lay open the hieroglyphical representations of man's destiny? Of the myriads of people scattered over the globe, from age to age, how many have had their nativities calculated? And, with regard to atmospherical astrology, have the ever-varying features of climate been observed constantly to tally with the supposed indications above? Certainly no astrologer has ever pretended to have received a revelation of these things. The truth is, that some looking at Mars, found him red; others, glancing at Venus, perceived she was fair; the one must therefore be connected with war and bloodshed, and the other with all that is attractive in human nature. But who does not here perceive the puny intellect of a worm of the dust, peering after what is infinitely beyond his reach-attempting to grasp the councils of the Most High—and to interpret the will of Heaven by his own wayward fancies. In the fables of Phaedrus is one, in which a frog is represented as envying the great bulk of the ox, and very desirous