THE WORSHIP OF THE ANCIENT ASSYRIAN OR BABYLONIANS

Followed that of the Syrians. It has been said be involved in much obscurity, but the scriptures wi help us so as to determine the worship of this ver ancient nation.

Nimrod appears to have been the founder of th Babylonian empire, for in the 10th chapter of Ger esis, ver. 10. it is said, and the beginning of kingdom was Babel. Some writers have give priority to Nineveh; they were both royal cities, b Babel appears by the scripture, which is the best authority, to have been the beginning of the empire of Babylon. It is said that Ashur went forth an built Nineveh, but the true reading is as follows from that land, he (Nimrod) went forth to Assyri and built Nineveh. So that there does not appe to have been any considerable time between the building of Babel, and the building of Nineveh.

Nisroch appears to have been the most favorit idol of the Assyrians, 2 Kings, xix. 37. and Isaial xxxvii. 38. Nisroch means the great one, the chief above all others, and was originally intended to per sonify the majesty of heaven. They had also a number of idols of lesser note, for when the king of Assyria took the Israelites away captive to Babylon,

he brought people from Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim. And these people, who were all idolaters, but of different sects, brought with them the idols of their particular worship. Thus we read that those, who came from Babylon, made Succoth Benoth. Lexicographers have supposed that these words, Succoth Benoth, meant temples dedicated to the daughters of the heathen, where they were to prostitute themselves once in their lives to strangers, who were on that account to make a gift to the goddess. But notwithstanding all that has been said concerning such an abomination, there has not been any thing advanced that can be depended on, to prove that this was permitted to be done. It is not possible to suppose that parents would countenance the ruin of their children, which must have been inevitably the case, had this been true. The bad policy of such a proceeding is too evident to obtain credit, as it would have added to the family, which would have given birth to much distress among the poor, and it would also have vitiated the minds of all the women in the nation. We cannot suppose that the wise men of that day would meet in their temples to worship young women, who themselves also went to worship.

Succoth Benoth is only a different name for Ashtaroth karnaim, or the Moon and Venus; for as

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Ashtaroth karnaim, means the horned circuitmaking goddesses,' so Succoth means to hide or overshadow,' and benoth, daughters;' alluding to those planets, when they assume the crescent form, as then the other parts of their bodies are hidden or overshadowed. As Ashtaroth karnaim and Succoth benoth are feminine nouns in Hebrew, it shows us that the moon and Venus being considered feminine in the European languages, is agreeable to the custom of those ancient people.

The sacred history proceeds. And the men of Cuth made Nergal, i. e. the rolling light, and the men of Hamath made Ashma, the mediator; and the Avites made Nebhaz, the examiner; and Tartak, the binder in chains, or the temple of judgment ; and the Sepharvites made Adramelek, the glorious king; and Anamelek, the humble king.

Babylon was in its origin a colony of Egypt, and therefore the idolatry of Egypt passed into that country. But we find that this empire became exceedingly great, and far out-shone the mother country, both as to extent and population. As there must, therefore, have been a cause for this great prosperity, either in the religious or civil order of things, we must draw our information respecting this matter from the scriptures.

At the commencement of the colony of Babylon,

the worship of the Serpent, which was the primary idol of the Egyptians, was also the idol of Babel. But in order to make this country vie with Egypt, they adopted the sound policy of permitting the settlers from the different idolatrous nations, to build temples to their idols they had been accustomed to worship.

Thus were the people of many nations permitted to settle in the province of Babylon, till at length, by the great increase of population, it laid the foundation of that power which subjugated all the nations of the east. They were all idolaters, but of different sects, a mixture from all the idolatrous kingdoms, and the empire was called on that account Babel, which means to mix or mingle; for so they permitted the people to mix with all professions. This was the one great cause of the prosperity of that nation, which prepared the way for the establishment of one of the greatest empires in the world; the greatest as to extent and population, and more lasting than any that succeeded it.

But as I have before observed, we are not to suppose that these ancient people, the most refined and learned of all the nations at that period, were so stupid in the beginning as to worship idols of gold, silver, brass, wood, and stone, as such only. They first looked on things in outward

nature, as representatives of the different passions and propensities in man; as we find in the prophet, where he is shown in the chamber of imagery, clean and unclean beasts, the first signifying the good, and the latter the evil affections; by representing the abomination of evil, and the beauty of holiness, which, however, in after-time were not at'tended to. On this account, the ignorant part of the community began to worship them, and at length the prevalence of example rendered this gross idolatry universal.

This was the state of the religion of the ancient Babylonians, when the empire was in the zenith of its prosperity. Their power became so great, that they conquered all the Eastern nations, and so formed a vast and universal empire. In this state it appears to have been, at the time of Nebuchadnezzer, when the unbounded ambition of that monarch introduced a new state of things in their religion, or rather an addition to the established worship of the land, by the deification of himself.

The Babylonian kings had many names. The name of Nebuchadnezzer appears to agree with the memorable dream in Daniel, concerning the tree which was to be cut down, but the stump was to remain in the ground; signifying that the kingdom was not to be taken from him, after he was sensible that the heavens did rule the kingdoms of this world.