Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 6.djvu/410

 37 2

��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

��secrated, to a particular planet. So the first hour of the first day was given to Saturn, the next to Jupiter, the third to Mars, and so on according to the above-named order, and the day re- ceived the name of the planet which presided over its first hour.

If, then, the first hour of the first day was consecrated to Saturn, that planet would have the 8th, 15th, and 2 2d hours of that day ; the 23d hour would fall to Jupiter, the 24th to Mars, and the 25th hour, or the first hour of the second day, would belong to the sun. In like manner and following the same rule the first hour of the third day would fall to the moon, the fourth day to Mars, the fifth to Mercury, the sixth to Jupiter, and the seventh to Venus, and thus the cycle being com- pleted, the first hour of the 8th day would return to Saturn, and all the others would succeed in the same order, and so the student will find that he may repeat the experiment ten thousand times with the same result. The number seven was one of the cabalistic numbers in astrology, as well as in the theology of the Jews and other ancient nations. But probably the student of to-day can explain the reason of this occurrence upon math- ematical grounds.

The Romans followed the Egyptians in the order of the days of their week, and the Roman names have been more generally and universally known and used than any others. The Eng- lish names of the days of the week are derived from the old Saxon names, having the same meaning, and corre- sponding with the Roman names as follows :

��ROMAN.

�SAXON.

�ENGLISH.

�Dies Saturni

�Saterne's-day

�Saturday

�Dies Solis

�Sun's-day

�Sunday

�Dies Lunae

�Moon's-day

�Monday

�Dies Martis

�Tiw's-day

�Tuesday

�Dies Mercurii

�Woden's-day

�Wednesday

�Dies Jovis

�Thor's-day

�Thursday

�Dies Veneris

�Frega's-day

�Friday

��The ancient Saxons had borrowed the week from some eastern nation and had substituted the names of their own divinities for those of the gods

��of Greece who were the same that the Romans worshiped, only under dif- ferent or Latinized names. In Egypt their astronomy, or astrology, consti- tuted no small part of their religion, as the sun, moon, and other planets were worshiped as divinities.

It will be observed that the day se- lected as the first day in the weekly cycle — that day, the first hour of which was selected to be consecrated to Sat- urn, the most distant of the planets, as they supposed, was the day observed by the Israelites as their Sabbath. Why was this ? This septenary divis- ion of time had, from the earliest ages, as we are informed, been uni- formly observed over all the eastern world. The Chaldeans, Assyrians, Egyptians, Indians, Persians, and Arabians have, from the earliest ages, it is said, used the week of seven days as a method of computing time. They began the week with our Saturday as being their important day. The He- brews observed the same day as their Sabbath, though numbering it as the seventh in their week — as modern nations usually have done.

Many vain attempts have been made to account for this uniformity, but a practice so general and so universal could never have prevailed had not the septenary distribution of time been instituted from the beginning and been handed down by tradition in all the East. The command in the dec- alogue as to the observance of the Sabbath, was no new selection of that day for that particular purpose ; but the Hebrews were commanded to "re- member" that day and observe it as havjng been designated for that par- ticular purpose from the beginning.

The division of time into weeks, or terms of seven days, which obtained so early and so universally in that early time, is a strong indication that one day in seven was always distinguished in some particular manner.

Next to the week, the month would be observed, and indicates, or desig- nates, the time occupied by an entire revolution of the moon about the

�� �