2. The Sun worshipped by the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, under the names of Baal, or Beelsamen—By the Egyptians, under the names of Orus and Osiris—Connection between the Sun and Sirius—The Sun and his Satellite worshipped by the Israelites, under the names of Molech and Remphan, Baal, and Ashtaroth, during the Critarchal age—The Zabian idolatry set up at Jerusalem in the Monarchal age—The partial Reformation of Josiah—The ancient Persians, Sun and Fire worshippers—Origin of Mithras—The gods of Phenicia, Elioun, and Adonis or Tammuz. It is of some importance to our general argument, to refer to a few of the evidences of this universal species of idolatry, which are still to be found in the names ascribed to the gods which these different nations worshipped. Among the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Chaldeans, there existed from the age of Nimrod to the destruction of Nineveh and Babylon, the worship of _Baal_, in Hebrew ‏בעל‎ _Lord_, which signifies, astrologically speaking, _Lord of the Ascendant_; this term is in fact the same as ‏בל‎, _Bel_, or _Belus_, βῆλος, βέλις, or Ἡλιος, and signifies the _Sun_, who is called in Chaldee ‏בעלשמין‎, βεελσαμεν, or _Beelsamen_, the Lord or _Master of the Heavens_, and Leader of the Heavenly Host. Among the Egyptians arose, at a period perhaps prior to, or, at least, coeval with the age of Nimrod, the worship of _Orus_ and _Osiris_, and at a later period, their attendant or identical gods, _Isis_, _Apis_, _Serapis_, _Anubis_, &c.; yea, “all the gods of Egypt.” The earliest of these is _Orus_, from the Hebrew ‏הרס‎ _Eres_, or ‏חרס‎ _Heres_, the _Sun_; or from ‏אור‎ _Aur_, or ‏האור‎ _He Aur_, the _Light_, or _Fire_, a term also applied to the Sun; whence, evidently comes the Greek ὡρος,[44] and ὡρα, or _Horus_, _Hora_, and _Era_, Time, a period of Time, and the beginning of Time, all of which are measured by the revolutions of the _Sun_. Next comes _Osiris_, from the Hebrew ‏הרס‎, _Eres_[45] inverted, that is _Sere_, the Sun, or from ‏השר‎ and ‏הסר‎, _He Ser_, _the Prince_ or _Chief_; whence also, ὁ Σείρ and ὁ Σείριος, _the Sun_, or _Sirius_ (and the English terms _Sir_, or _Sire_, and _Sirrah_), the former denoting the _Chief_, or _King_ of Heaven, and the latter, his _Satellite_ or _Companion_, in Hebrew ‏סריס‎, _Seris_, a _Double_, or _himself_, as in Hesiod, “Opera et Dies” line 417, where he is called Σείριος ἀστὴς; otherwise, the terms Σείρ and Σείριος may be derived from ‏זהר‎ _Zeer_, _Light_; ‏שחר‎ _Seher_, _Morning_; or ‏זרח‎ _Zereh_, the East or Sun-rising. All these terms, both in Hebrew and Greek, have evidently an intimate connection with each other, and indicate that there was originally some astronomical relation between the _Sun_ and _Sirius_, the largest and brightest of all the stars in the firmament. The term Σείριον, _Sirion_, indeed, derived from Σείριος,