“Wide o'er the spacious regions of the North,
Boötes urges on his tardy wain.”
This perversion scarcely does justice even to human common sense, as waggoners do not use a sickle for a whip!
The constellation is a very brilliant one, having 54 stars, viz., one of the 1st magnitude, six of the 3rd, eleven of the 4th, etc.
The constellation of the Canes Venatici (the Greyhounds), i.e., the two dogs (Asterion and Chara), which Boötes holds by a leash, is quite a modern invention, being added by Hevelius (1611-1687). The bright star of the 3rd magnitude in the neck of Chara, was named “Cor Caroli” (the heart of Charles) by Sir Charles Scarborough, physician to Charles II., in honour of Charles I., in 1649. This is a good example of the almost infinite distance between the ancient and modern names. The former are full of mysterious significance and grandeur, while the latter are puerile in the extreme, almost approaching to the comic! e.g., the Air Pump, the Painter's Easel, the Telescope, the Triangle, the Fly, the Microscope, the Indian, the Fox and Goose, the Balloon, the Toucan (or American Goose), the Compasses, Charles's Oak, the Cat, the Clock, the Unicorn, &c. The vast difference can be at once seen between those designed by the ancients and those added by astronomers in more recent times.
These new constellations were added, 22 by Hevelius (1611-1687); and 15 by Halley (1656-1742). They were formed for the purpose of embracing those stars which were not included in the ancient constellations. This shows that the old constellations were not designed, like the modern ones, merely for the sake of enabling astronomers to identify the positions of particular stars. In this case all the stars would have been included. The object was exactly the opposite! Instead of the pictures being designed to serve to identify the stars, only certain stars were used for the purpose of helping to identify the pictures!
This is another important proof of the truth of our whole argument.
This is the first time that the word “Alleluia” occurs in the New Testament, and it is praise for judgment executed.
Where is its first occurrence in the Old Testament? In Ps. civ. 35, where we have the very same solemn and significant connection:—
“Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth,
And let the wicked be no more.
Bless thou the Lord, O my soul,
Hallelujah (Praise ye the Lord).”
Note, that—