to be in direct communication with the holy gods, in whose hands were
the destinies of men.

The sun, the giver and vivifier of all life, was the primary god of
antiquity, being worshipped by Assyrians, Chaldeans, Phoenicians, and
Hebrews under the name of Baal or Bell, and by other nations under other
names. The priests of Baal always held a high position in the State. As
the sun was his image or symbol in heaven, so fire was his symbol on
earth, and hence all offerings made to Baal were burned or made to pass
through the fire, or were presented before the sun. Wherever, in the
worship of any nation, we find the fire element, we may at once suspect
that there we have a survival of ancient sun-worship.

The moon was regarded as a female deity, consort of the sun or Baal, and
was worshipped by the Jews under the name of Ashtoreth, or Astarte. Her
worship was of the most sensual description. The worship of sun and moon
formed one system, the priests of the one being also priests of the
other.

Apart from the priestly incorporation of which we have spoken, there was
another class of men who assumed knowledge of supernatural phenomena.
These were known as astrologers or star-gazers, wizards, magicians,
witches, sooth-sayers. By the practice of certain arts and repetition of
certain formula, these pretended to divine and foretell events both of a
public and private nature. They were believed in by the mass of people,
and were consulted on all sorts of matters. By both the civil and
ecclesiastical authorities their practices and pretensions were
sometimes condemned, and themselves forbidden to exercise their peculiar
gifts, but nevertheless the people continued to believe in them and
consult them. Their pretensions were considerable, extending even to