goat-and given to drink like fishes? The astrologer affirms it may be so; he contends that God is the author of evil, charges his Maker with iniquity, and prates about mysteries in the Divine government. I admit that there are mysteries in the government of God, and it would be well if vain men would not attempt to search them out; but I contend that they are such as in every respect harmonize with the HOLINESS of the Lord. "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." (Isa. vi. 3.) Oh! the awful daring of the astrologer, to charge upon the Majesty of the skies, the creation of such influences as these! Is this the way in which the Great God governs the world? The astrologer says it is. Will he affirm this at the day of judgment? He now says (Gram. p. 15) "If the moon be afflicted, the native will be idle, and given to drinking, gluttony, and debauchery. When evil aspects are found between the Moon, Mars, and Mercury, the native is inclined to dishonesty." What! will He who says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery,”—“Thou shalt not steal," send from his heaven a moral pestilence, to urge men on to acts of debauchery and theft?-But I will tell the abettors of this abominable system, that, as the stars were not so disposed by the great author of nature, as to correspond with the outlines of a ram or a bull; and that, as the figures

of the zodiacal constellations are altogether imaginary, the influences borrowed from them must be so too; and I will defy all the astrologers in the world to escape from this conclusion. It may further be remarked, that the fact of what is called the precession of the Equinoxes, plays havoc with their system. The equinoctial points recede annually about 50 seconds; and by this motion the constellation Aries is now in the sign Taurus, and the supposed influences of the stars must therefore have moved with them; and the first thirty degrees of the ecliptic are now occupied by the stars that compose the constellation Pisces ; yet the same astrological effects are ascribed to this sign now, as were by Ptolemy seventeen hundred years ago! In vain will the astrologer attempt to get clear of his perplexity, by asserting that his influences proceed from the ecliptic, and not from the stars themselves.* What is the ecliptic? It has been confounded with the orbit of the earth; but the earth's orbit is merely that track in space which it describes in its revolution round the sun; and if we suppose the plane of this orbit every where extended till it meets the starry heavens, we have a great circle called the ecliptic. This imaginary circle is undoubtedly of great importance in astronomy, but

* Appendix, No.5.

it is a circle contrived by man, and is not to be found in the book of nature. The astrologer labours hard to draw his principles from nature--he places her upon the rack, and endeavours to wring from her bosom his impious conclusions; but to chatter about influences which have no bodies to send them forth, to endeavour to fetch them out of an imaginary circle, are vain efforts. Ex nihilo nihil fit.

It is evident from the preceding arguments that a man, upon astrological principles, may be lost in the other world, for what he was fated by the stars to do in this. To clench this I shall give a quotation from the Grammar, (page 44.)

"Remark. The word fate does not here imply inevitable fate; for the planets produce a certain influence in the native's affairs, yet that influence is capable of being opposed by the human will, and may by that means be either overcome or greatly mitigated. If, however, it be not attended to, but allowed its full scope, it will then certainly produce its full effect; and the reader must remember, that astrologers, in predicting events, always presuppose that this last circumstance will be the case."

Now all men cannot study the heavens; there are but comparatively few who have leisure and ability for such a pursuit: how then shall the mass of mankind guard against those evils which are supposed to be continually hovering over their heads? the astrologer says by consulting me. But the prophet Jeremiah says (xvii. 5.) "Thus saith the Lord,

cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord;" and David (Ps. xxxii. 10), "Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about." The first chapter of Proverbs ends with a passage close to the point: "But whoso hearkeneth to me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil." God has promised to keep those in perfect peace whose minds are stayed on him; and that a good man "shall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart being fixed, trusting in the Lord" (Psalm cxii.) And though the astrologer may attempt to "devise his way" (Prov. xvi. 9) through this dangerous wilderness, I desire with the psalmist ever to say, "Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe." (Psalm cxix. 117.) In my next, I purpose making some remarks upon the planets, the aspects, and the twelve houses of heaven. I am, Sir, &c.

November 30th, 1835.

T. H. MOODY.

SIR,

BEFORE I proceed to consider the astrological principles connected with the planets and aspects, some remarks may be expected on the letter of Lieutenant Morrison, which appeared in your last paper. He observes that I seem to "fear if astrology be proved to be true, it will overthrow the Bible"-I have no such fear, being satisfied that this art is from beneath -that it proceeds from the father of lies, and will overthrow nothing but a weak, daring, superstitious mind, and

He

says

"Make the man the most despised

Where most he wishes to be prized."

that I have “burst upon your readers with a NAUSEOUs string of daring assertions" which he has proved to be false. I am not at all disturbed by this invective, having good evidence, that what the Lieutenant nauseates, has been very well received by the public. I have no doubt that he consulted the stars as to the precise time of writing his own