the seat of the image of Jealousy, whom he personifies, and the more to catch the attention of this corrupt people, converts into an Idol, THE IMAGE OF JEALOUSY which provoketh to jealousy; as if he had said, God, in his wrath, hath given you one idol more, to avenge himself of all the rest. After this sublime prelude, the prophet proceeds to the various scenery of the inspired Vision. I. The first of their capital idolatries is described in this manner: And he brought me to the door of the court, and when I looked, behold a HOLE IN THE WALL. Then said he unto me, Son of man, diy now in the wall; and when I had digged in the wall, behold a DOOR. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw, and behold EVERY FORM OF CREEPING THINGS, AND ABOMINABLE BEASTS, and all the idols of the house of Israel, POURTRAYED UPON THE WALL ROUND ABOUT. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do IN THE DARK, every man in the CHAMBERS OF HIS IMAGERY?* 1. The first inference I draw from these words is, That the Superstition here described was EGYPTIAN. This appears from its object's being the Gods peculiar to Egypt, every form of creeping things and abominable beasts; which, in another place, the same prophet calls, with great propriety and elegance, the abominations of the eyes of the Israelites.+ 2. The second inference is, That they contain a very lively and circumstantial description of the so celebrated MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS. For 1. The rites are represented as performed in a secret subterrançous place. And when I looked, behold a HOLE in the wall; Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall; and when I had digged in the wall, behold a DOOR. And he said unto me, Go in—Hast thou seen what the Ancients of the house of Israel do in the DARK? This secret place was, as the Prophet tells us, in the Temple. And such kind of places, for this use, the Egyptians had in their Temples, as we learn from a similitude of Plutarch's: Like the disposition (says he) and ordonance of their Temples; which, in one place, enlarge and extend themselves into long wings, and fair and open isles; in another, sink into dark and secret subterranean Vestries, like the Adyta of the Thebans; ‡ which Tacitus describes in Ezek. viii. 6, et seq. † Ezek. xx. 7, 8. This shews brute-worship in Egypt to have been vastly extensive at the Exodus; the time the prophet is here speaking of. † Ὡς--αἵ τε τῶν Ναῶν διαθέσεις, πῆ μὲν ἀνειμένων εἰς πτερὰ καὶ δρόμους ὑπαιθρίους καὶ καθαροὺς, τῆ δὲ κρυπτὰ καὶ σκότια κατὰ γῆς ἐχόντων στολιστήρια Θηβαίοις ἐοικότα καὶ σηκοῖς. «Περὶ Ἴσιδ. καὶ Ὀσίρ. p. 639, Steph. ed. these words" atque alibi angustia, et profunda altitudo, nullis inquirentium spaciis penetrabis.” * 2. These rites are celebrated by the SANHEDRIM, or the elders of Israel: And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel. Now it hath been shewn in the Account of the MYSTERIES, that none but princes, rulers, and the wisest of the people, were admitted to their more secret celebrations. 3. The paintings and imagery, on the walls of this subterraneous apartment, answer exactly to the descriptions the ancients have given us of the mystic cells of the Egyptians. † Behold every form of creeping things and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel pourtrayed upon the wall round about. So Ammianus Marcellinus-" Sunt et syringes subterranei quidam et flexuosi secessus, quos, ut fertur, periti rituum vetustorum-penitus operosis digestos fodinis, per loca diversa struxerunt : et excisis parietibus volucrum ferarumque genera multa sculpserunt, quas hieroglyphicas literas appellarunt." There is a famous antique monument, once a consecrated utensil in the rites of Isis and Osiris, and now well known to the curious by the name of the ISIAC or BEmbine TABLE; on which (as appears by the order of the several compartiments) is pourtrayed all the imagery that adorned the walls of the Mystic Cell. Now if one were to describe the engravings on that table, one could not find juster or more emphatic terms than those which the Prophet here employs. : : 3. The third inference I would draw from this vision is, that the Egyptian superstition was that to which the Israelites were more particularly addicted. And thus much I gather from the following words, Behold every form of creeping things and abominable beasts, and ALL THE IDOLS OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, pourtrayed upon the wall round about. I have shewn this to be a description of an Egyptian mystic cell which certainly was adorned only with Egyptian Gods and yet those Gods are here called, by way of distinction, all the idols of the house of Israel: which seems plainly to infer this People's more particular addiction to them. But the words, house of Israel, being used in a vision describing the idolatries of the house of Judah, I take it for granted, that in this indefinite number of All the idols of the house of Israel, were eminently included those two prime idols of the house of Israel, the calves of Dan and Beth-el. And the rather, for that I find the original Calves held a distinguished station in the paintings of the Mystic Cell; as the reader may see by casting his eye upon the Bembine Table. And this, by the way, will lead us • Annales, lib. xi. cap. 62. ↑ Thus described by a learned Antiquary: “ Adyta Ægyptiorum, in quibus sacerdotes sacra operari, ritusque et cæremonias suas exercere solebant, subterranca loca erant, singulari quodam artificio ita constructa, ut nihil non mysteriosi in iis occurreret. Muri ex omni parte pleni tum hieroglyphicis picturis, tum sculpturis.”—KIRCHER. † Lib. xxii. cap. 15. Part of the North Side of the Ramessæan Obelise from Kircher DBOR London Publushed by Thomas Tegy & Jun 13, Gine arrele to the reason of Jeroboam's erecting two Calves. For they were, we see, worshiped in pairs by the Egyptians, as representing Isis and Osiris. And what is remarkable, the Calves were male and female, as appears from 2 Kings, c. x. ver. 29. compared with Hosea, c. x. ver. 5. where in one place the masculine, and in the other the feminine term is employed. But though the Egyptian Gods are thus, by way of eminence, called the idols of the house of Israel, yet other idols they had besides Egyptian; and of those good store, as we shall now see. For this prophetic vision is employed in describing the three master-superstitions of this unhappy people, the EGYPTIAN, the PHENICIAN, and the PERSIAN. II. The Egyptian we have seen. The PHENICIAN follows in these words: He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Then he brought me to the gate of the Lord's house which was towards the NORTH, and behold there sat WOMEN WEEPING FOR TAMMUZ.* III. The PERSIAN superstition is next described in this manner: Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, Q son of man? Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and behold at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men with their backs towards the temple of the Lord, and THEIR FACES TOWARDS THE EAST, AND THEY WORSHIPED THE SUN TOWARDS THE EAST.† 1. It is to be observed, that when the Prophet is bid to turn from the Egyptian to the Phenician rites, he is then said to look towards the north; which was the situation of Phenicia with regard to Jerusalem consequently, he before stood southward, the situation of Egypt, with regard to the same place. And when, from thence, he is bid to turn into the inner court of the Lord's house, to see the Persian rites, this was east, the situation of Persia. With such exactness is the representation of the whole Vision conducted. 2. Again, as the mysterious rites of Egypt are said, agreeably to their usage, to be held in secret, by their ELDERS AND RULERS only so the Phenician rites, for the same reason, are shewn as they were celebrated by the PEOPLE, in open day. And the Persian worship of the sun, which was performed by the Magi, is here said to be observed by the PRIESTS alone, five and twenty men with their faces towards the east. These three capital Superstitions, the Prophet, again, distinctly objects to them, in a following chapter. Thou hast also committed fornication with the EGYPTIANS thy neighbours, great of flesh; ‡ and • Ezek. viii. 13, et seq. end of this book. ↑ Verse 15, et seq. See note 0000, at the |