The Gospel in the Stars, or, Prímeval Astronomy

It may seem adventurous to propose to read the Gospel of Christ from what Herschel calls “those uncouth figures and outlines of men and monsters usually scribbled over celestial globes and maps.” So it once would have seemed to the writer. But a just estimate of the case cannot be formed without a close survey of what these figures are, what relations they bear to each other, whence they originated, and what meaning was attached to them by the most ancient peoples from whom they have been transmitted to us. Such a survey the author of this volume has endeavored to make. From an extended induction he has also reached conclusions which lead him to think he may do good service by giving publicity to the results of his examinations.
The first suspicion that the original constellations may perhaps have come from a divine or prophetic source was impressed upon the writer’s mind in connection with his studies of the marvellous wisdom embodied in the Great Pyramid of Gizeh. But it came only in the shape of an inference, which needed to be tested on its own independent grounds before it could be reasonably accepted. That inference, however, was so direct, and the subject seemed so worthy of being investigated, that a course of special study was instituted to ascertain, apart from all pyramid-theories, whether the facts and probabilities in the case would warrant a conclusion of so much moment.
If any others have treated directly, or even incidentally, of what is sought to be shown in this volume, its author has not discovered their records or their names.
With but little, therefore, but the star-maps and descriptions as given by astronomers, and such notices of the constellations as are to be found in the remains of antiquity and general literature, he had to make his way as best he could. With what success he has done his work, and in how far his conclusions are entitled to credit or respect, he now submits to the decision of a candid and intelligent public.Festival of the Epiphany, Philadelphia, 1882