wrought in restoring a cripple to the full use of his limbs, intended to show their veneration of this illustrious condescension to them by celebrating a public and solemn sacrifice, and decked themselves, and the victims they intended to immolate, in this manner.1 The priest, therefore, of Jove, whom it seems they worshipped as the guardian of their city, and whose temple stood a little way out of the town, immediately brought victims and chaplets of flowers to crown the apostles agreeably to the pagan rites, and in this manner advanced towards the door of the house, where the apostles lodged, designing to sacrifice to them. This custom, here mentioned, was in conformity with the heathen ritual. All wore garlands at a heathen sacrifice, both the people and the victims."3 5. When the victim devoted to the sacrifice was brought before the altar, the priest, having implored the divine favour and acceptance by prayer, poured wine upon its head; and after the performance of this solemn act of religion, which was termed a libation, the victim was instantly led to the slaughter. To this circumstance St. Paul, knowing the time of his martyrdom to be very near, has a very striking allusion; representing this rite, which immediately preceded the death of the victim, as already performed upon himself, implying that he was now devoted to death, and that his dissolution would speedily follow. I am now ready to be offered, says he (2 Tim. iv. 6.): literally, I am already poured out as a libation; the time of my departure is at hand. A similar expressive sacrificial allusion occurs in Phil. ii. 17. Yea, says the holy Apostle, and if I be POURED OUT upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. In this passage he represents the faith of the Philippians as the sacrificial victim, and compares his blood, willingly and joyfully to be shed in martyrdom, to the libation poured out on occasion of the sacrifice.1 After the usual portions of the victims had been burnt on the altar, or given to the officiating priests, the remainder was either exposed by the owner for sale in the market, or became the occasion of giving a feast to his friends, either in the temple or at his own house. Meat of this deseription, termed sidwλóevra, or meats offered to idols, in Acts xv. 29., was an abomination to the Jews; who held that not only those who partook of such entertainments, but also those who purchased such meat in the market, subjected themselves to the pollution of idolatry. The apostle James, therefore, recommends, that the Gentile Christians should abstain from all meats of this kind, out of respect to this prejudice of Jewish Christians; and hence he calls these meats anoynuára, pollution of idols, that is, meats polluted in consequence of their being sacrificed unto idols. (Acts xv. 20.; com Acts xiv. 13. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice unto the people. 2 Πρὸ τῆς πόλεως. Ibid. Τὸ ΠΡΟ ΤΗΣ ΠΟΛΕΩΣ ̓Ασκληπίειον. The temple of Asculapius, which was before the town, or a little way out of the city. Polybius, lib i. p. 17. edit. Hanov. 1619. Dr. Harwood's Introduction, vol. ii. p. 301. Wetstein and Dr. A. Clarke on Acts xiv. 11-15. Parkhurst's Gr. Lexicon, p. 621. Harwood, vol. ii. pp. 219, 220. Drs. Clarke and Macknight on the passages cited. pare also 1 Cor. viii. 1. 4. 7. 10., x. 19. 28.) It appears from Judg. ix. 27. that feasting after sacrifice in the temples of idols was not unknown to the Schechemites. 6. Singing and dancing were the general attendants of some of these idolatrous rites: thus, the Israelites danced before the golden calf. (Exod. xxxii. 19.) To this day, dancing before the idol takes place at almost every Hindoo idolatrous feast. But their sacrifices were not confined to irrational victims: it is well known that the practice of offering human victims prevailed to a great extent'; and among the Ammonites and Phoenicians they were immolated to propitiate Moloch and Baal; and children were in some manner dedicated and devoted to them. The idolatrous worshippers are said to make them pass through the fire; denoting some rite of dedication and purification. This was most expressly forbidden to the Israelites. (Lev. xviii. 21.) In this manner Ahaz devoted his son (2 Kings xvi. 3.); but as Hezekiah afterwards succeeded his father on the throne of Judah, it is evident that he was not put to death. From the declarations of the psalmist (cvi. 36-40.), and of the prophet Ezekiel (xvi. 21., xx. 26. 31.), it is, however, certain that many human victims were thus barbarously sacrificed. The adoration or worship which idolaters paid to their gods did not consist barely in the sacrifices which they offered to them, but likewise in prostrations and bowings of the body; thus Naaman speaks of bowing in the house of Rimmon. (2 Kings v. 18.) It was also a religious ceremony, to lift up the hand to the mouth and kiss it, and then stretching it out, to throw as it were the kiss to the idol: both this and the former ceremony are mentioned in 1 Kings xix. 18. And so Job, in order to express his not having fallen into idolatry, very elegantly says, If I beheld the sun while it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart had been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand, &c. (Job xxxi. 26, 27.); for to kiss and to worship are synonymous terms in Scripture, as appears from Psal. ii. 12. There is an idolatrous rite mentioned by Ezekiel, called the putting the branch to the nose (Ezek. viii. 17.), by which interpreters understand, that the worshipper, with a wand in his hand, touched the idol, and then applied the wand to his nose and mouth, in token of worship 1 The Egyptians had several cities, which were termed Typhonian,—such as Heliopolis, Idithya, Abarei, and Busiris, where at particular seasons they immolated men. The objects thus devoted were persons of bright hair and a particular complexion, such as were seldom to be found among that people. Hence we may conclude that they were foreigners; and it is probable that while the Israelites resided in Egypt, the victims were chosen from their body. They were burnt alive upon a high altar, and thus sacrificed for the good of the people: at the conclusion of the sacrifice, the priests collected their ashes, and scattered them upwards in the air,-most likely with this view, that, where any of the dust was wafted, a blessing might be entailed. By a just retribution, Moses and Aaron were commanded to take ashes of the furnace (which in the Scriptures is used as a type of the slavery of the Israelites, and of all the cruelty which they experienced in Egypt), and to scatter them abroad towards the heaven (Exod. x. 8, 9.), but with a different intention, viz. that where any the smallest portion alighted, it might prove a plague and a curse to the ungrateful, cruel, and infatuated Egyptians. Thus there was a designed contrast in these workings of Providence, and an apparent opposition to the superstition of the times. Bryant on the Plagues of Egypt, p. 116. 1 and adoration. There appears to be this difference, however, between the idolatry of the Jews and that of other nations, viz. that the Jews did not deny a divine power and providence; only they imagined that their idols were the intermediate causes, by which the blessings of the supreme God might be conveyed to them; whereas the heathens believed that the idols they worshipped were true gods, and had no higher conceptions, having no notion of one eternal, almighty, and independent Being.2 In the account of the decisive triumph of true religion over idolatry, related in 1 Kings xviii., we have a very striking delineation of the idolatrous rites of Baal; from which it appears that his four hundred and fifty priests, or prophets, as they are termed, employed the whole day in their desperate rites. The time is divided into two periods, 1. From morning until noon, which was occupied in preparing and offering the sacrifice, and in earnest supplication for the celestial fire, (for Baal was unquestionably the god of fire or the sun, and had only to work in his own element,) vociferating, O Baal, hear us (1 Kings xviii. 26.); and, 2. They continued from noon until the time of offering evening sacrifice (the time when it was usually offered to Jehovah in the temple at Jerusalem), performing their frantic rites. They leaped up and down at the altar3, that is, they danced around it with strange and hideous cries and gesticulations, tossing their heads to and fro, with a great variety of bodily contortions, precisely as the Ceylonese do to this day. In like manner the priests of Mars among the Romans danced and leaped around the altars of that divinity, from which circumstance they derived their name,-Salii.5 And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them: had not the intrepid prophet of the Lord been conscious of the divine protection, he certainly would not have used such freedom of speech, while he was surrounded by his enemies: And said, Cry aloud! Oblige him, by your vociferations, to attend to your suit. Similar vain repetitions were made by the heathen in the time of our Saviour, who cautions his disciples against them in Mat. vi. 7.6-For he is a God-the su 1 Mr. Roberts (to whom biblical students are so greatly indebted for the light he has thrown on hundreds of texts of Scripture by the application of Hindoo customs) is of opinion that to put the branch to the nose, was the idolatrous practice of boring a child's nose, and putting a ring therein in order to dedicate it to an idol; and therefore to show that it was under its protection, rather than that of Jehovah. Oriental Illustrations, pp. 488-493. 2 On the subject of the idolatrous worship of the heathens, the editor of Calmet's Dictionary has accumulated much interesting information. See the Fragments, particularly Nos. 107. 185. 212, 213. This is the marginal rendering, and most correct, of 1 Kings xviii. 26. From the statement of a Ceylonese convert to Christianity (who was formerly one of the principal high priests of Budhoo) Dr. A. Clarke has described the manner and invocations of the pagan inhabitants of that island (Comment. on 1 Kings xviii.), to which we are indebted for part of the present elucidation of the rites of Baal; and his account is confirmed by Dr. John Davy, in his Travels in Ceylon. 5 Jam dederat Saliis (a saltu nomina ducunt) Armaque et ad certos verba canenda modos.- OVID. Fast. iii. 387, 388. On the custom of dancing around the altars of the gods, the reader will find much curious information in Lomeier's treatise De veterum Gentilium Lustrationibus, cap. 33. pp. 413. et seq. The infuriated worshippers of Diana all with one voice about the space of two hours - preme God; you worship him as such; and, doubtless, he is jealous of his own honour, and the credit of his votaries. Either he is talking-he may be giving audience to some others; or, as it is rendered in the margin of our larger Bibles,―he meditateth- he is in a profound reverie, projecting some godlike scheme,- or he is pursuing. taking his pleasure in the chase, or he is on a journey-having left his audience chamber, he is making some excursions, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked.-Absurd as these notions may appear to us, they are believed by the Hindoos, to each of whose gods some particular business is assigned, and who imagine that Vishnoo sleeps for months in the year, while others of their deities are often out on journeys or expeditions.' Accordingly the priests of Baal cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner. This was not only the custom of the idolatrous Israelites, but also of the Syrians, Persians, Indians, Greeks, Romans, and, in short, of all the ancient heathen world. Hence we may see the reason why the Israelites were forbidden to cut themselves, to make any cuttings in their flesh for the dead, and to print any marks upon themselves. (Deut. xiv. 1.; Lev. xix. 28.) For the heathens did these things not only in honour of their gods, but also in testimony of their grief for the loss of any of their neighbours. The Scythians, as we are informed by Herodotus, were accustomed to slash their arms on the death of their kings; and it is not improbable that some similar custom obtained among some one of the neighbouring nations. The modern Persians to this day cut and lacerate themselves when celebrating the anniversary of the assassination of Hossein, whom they venerate as a martyr for the Moslem faith.3 7. The heathens showed their veneration for their deities in various ways, the knowledge of which serves to illustrate many passages of Scripture. Thus nothing was more frequent than the prostitution of women, with examples of which the ancient writers abound. According to Justin', the Cyprian women gained that portion which their husbands received with them, on marriage, by previous public prostitution. And the Phoenicians, as we are informed by Augustine, made a gift to Venus of the gain acquired by cried out, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." (Acts xix. 34.) Not to multiply unnecessary examples, see an illustration of these vain repetitions in the Heautontimoreumenos of Terence, act v. scene 1. We are informed by Servius that the ancient heathens, after supplicating the particular deity to whom they offered sacrifice, used to invoke all the gods and goddesses lest any one of them should be adverse to the suppliant. Servius in Virgil, Georg. lib. i. 21. (vol. i. p. 178. of Burmann's edition, Amst. 1746. 4to.) For a remarkable instance of the "vain repetitions" of the modern Mohammedans, see Dr. Richardson's Travels in the Mediterranean, &c. vol. i. pp. 462—464, ' Ward's History, &c. of the Hindoos, vol. ii. p. 324. 2 Herodotus, lib. iv. c. 71. 3 Mr. Morier has given a long and interesting narrative of this anniversary. "It is," he says, "necessary to have witnessed the scenes that are exhibited in their cities, to judge of the degree of fanaticism which possesses them at this time. I have seen some of the most violent of them, as they vociferated Ya Hossein! walk about the streets almost naked, with only their loins covered and their bodies streaming with blood, by the voluntary cuts which they had given to themselves, either as acts of love, anguish, or mortification. Such must have been the cuttings of which we read in Holy Writ." Morier's Second Journey, p. 176. the same disgusting means.1 Hence we may account for Moses prohibiting the Israelites from committing any such atrocities. (Lev. xix. 29.) The Hindoos often dedicate their daughters to their gods, who at a certain age become prostitutes for life.-Others dedicated to them the spoils of war; others, votive tablets and other offerings in commemoration of supposed benefits conferred on them.2 A more frequent and indeed very general custom was the carrying of marks on their body in honour of the object of their worship. This is expressly forbidden in Lev. xix. 28. To this day, all the castes of the Hindoos bear on their foreheads, or elsewhere, what are called the sectarian marks, which not only distinguish them in a civil but also in a religious point of view from each other. Most of the barbarous nations lately discovered have their faces, arms, breasts, &c. curiously carved or tatooed, probably for superstitious purposes. Ancient writers abound with accounts of marks made on the face, arms, &c. in honour of different idols, and to this the inspired penman alludes (Rev. xiii. 16, 17., xiv. 9. 11., xv. 2., xvi. 2., xix. 20., xx. 4.), where false worshippers are represented as receiving in their hands, and in their forehead, the marks of the beast. The prohibition in Lev. xix. 27. against the Israelites rounding the corners of their heads, and marring the corners of their beards, evidently refers to customs which must have existed among the Egyptians during their residence among that people, though it is now difficult to determine what those customs were. Herodotus informs us, that the Arabs shave or cut their hair round in honour of Bacchus, who (they say) wore his hair in this way; and that the Macians, a people of Libya, cut their hair round, so as to leave a tuft on the top of the head. In this manner the Hindoos and the Chinese cut their hair to the present day. This might have been in honour of some idol, and therefore forbidden to the Israelites. The hair was much used in divination among the ancients, and for purposes of religious superstition among the Greeks, and particularly about the time of the giving of the law, as this is supposed to have been the æra of the Trojan war. We learn from Homer, that it was customary for parents to dedicate the hair of their children to some god; which, when they came to manhood, they cut off and consecrated to the deity. Achilles, at the funeral of Patroclus, cut off his golden locks, which his father had dedicated to the river-god Sperchius, and threw them into the flood. From Virgil's account of the death of Dido', we learn that the topmost lock of hair was dedicated to the infernal gods. If the hair was rounded, and dedicated for purposes of this kind, it will at once account for the prohibition. in this verse.8 6 A religion so extravagant as that of paganism could not have sub Calmet on Lev. xix. 29. Michaelis's Commentaries, vol. iv. pp. 183-185. 2 See much curious information on this subject in Dr. Clarke's Travels, vol. vi. pp. 444-448. 8vo. and Mr. Dodwell's Classical Tour in Greece, vol. i. pp. 341, 342. See Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 15. Herod. lib. iii. c. 8. and lib. iv. c. 175. Iliad, xxiii. 142, &c. Calmet, and Dr. A. Clarke on Lev. xix. 27. Roberts's Oriental Illustrations, p. 91. Roberts's Oriental Illustrations, p. 90. 'Eneid, iv. 698. |