from the famous VISIONS of EZEKIEL, where their three capital idolatries are fo graphically defcribed. The Prophet reprefents himself as brought, in a vifion, to Jerufalem: and, at the door of the inner gate that looked towards the north, he faw the feat of the IMAGE OF JEALOUSY which provoketh to jealousy. Here, by the nobleft stretch of an inspired imagination, he calls this feat of their idolatries, the feat of the Image of Jealoufy, whom he perfonifies, 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 faid, God, in his wrath, hath given you one idol more, to avenge himself of all the reft. After this fublime prelude, the prophet proceeds to the various scenery of the inspired Vision.

WALL.

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 Then faid be unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, bebold a DOOR. And be faid unto me, Go in, and bebold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and faw, and behold EVERY FORM OF CREEPING THINGS, AND ABOMINABLE BEASTS, and all the idols of the boufe of Ifrael POURTRAYED UPON THE WALL ROUND ABOUT. And there ftood before them feventy men of the ancients of the boufe of Ifrael, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the Son of Shaphan, with every man his cenfer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incenfe went up. Then faid he unto me, Son of man, haft thou feen what the ancients of the boufe of Ifrael do IN THE DARK, every man in the CHAMBERS OF HIS IMAGERY?".

. EZEK. viii. 3. VOL. IV.

C

Ezak, viii. 6, & fig.

1. The

TIAN.

1. The first inference I draw from these words is, That the Superftition here defcribed was EGYPThis appears from its objects being the. Gods peculiar to Egypt: every form of creeping things and abominable beafts; which, in another place, the fame prophet calls, with great propriety and elegance, the abominations of the eyes of the Ifraelites.

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2. The fecond inference is, That they contain a very lively and circumftantial description of the fo celebrated MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS. For 1. The rites are reprefented as performed in a secret fubterraneous place. And when I looked, behold a HOLE in the wall; Then faid he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a DOOR. And be faid unto me, Go inHaft thou feen what the Ancients of the boufe of Ifrael do in the DARK? This fecret place was, as the Prophet tells us, in the Temple. And fuch kind of places, for this ufe, the Egyptians had in their Temples, as we learn from a fimilitude of Plutarch's: Like the difpofition (fays he) and ordonance of their Temples; which, in one place, enlarge and extend themselves into long wings, and fair and open ifles; in another, fink into dark and fecret fubterranean Veftries, like the Adyta of the Thebans ": which Tacitus describes in these words-atque alibi anguftiæ, et, profunda altitudo, nullis inquirentium fpaciis pene

+ EZEK. XX. 7, 8. This fhews brute-worship in Egypt to have been vastly extenfive at the Exodus; the time the prophet is here fpeaking of.

Ως

Σ' τε τῶν Ναῶν διαθέσεις, τῆ μὲν ἀνειμένων εἰς πλερὰ καὶ δρόμος υπαιθρίας καὶ καθαρές, τῆ δὲ κρυπλὰ καὶ σκότια καλὰ γῆς χόνων πολιςήρια Θηβαίοις ἐοικότα καὶ σηκοῖς. Пgi Io. Or. p. 639..

Steph. ed.

trabilis."

trabilis *." 2. Thefe rites are celebrated by the SANHEDRIM, or the elders of Ifrael: And there Stood before them Seventy men of the ancients of the boufe of Ifrael. Now it hath been fhewn in the Account of the MYSTERIES, that none but princes, rulers, and the wifeft of the people, were admitted to their more fecret celebrations. 3. The paintings and imagery, on the walls of this fubterraneous apartment, anfwer exactly to the defcriptions the ancients have given us of the mystic cells of the Egyptians". Behold every farm of creeping things and abominable beafts, and all the idols of the boufe of Ifrael pourtrayed upon the wall round about. So Ammianus Marcellinus" Sunt et

fyringes fubterranei quidam et flexuofi feceffus, quos, ut fertur, periti, rituum vetuftorum"penitus operofis digeftos fodinis, per loca diversa "ftruxerunt: et excifis parietibus volucrum ferarum

વ que genera multa fculpferunt, quas hieroglyphicas "literas appellarunt." There is a famous antique monument, once a confecrated utenfil in the rites of Ifis and Ofiris, and now well known to the curious by the name of the ISIAC or BEMBINE TABLES; on which (as appears by the order of the several compartiments) is pourtrayed all the imagery that adorned the walls of the Myftic Cell. Now if one were to defcribe the engravings on that table, one could not find jufter or more emphatic terms than those which the Prophet here employs.

* Ann. xi. c. 62.

y Thus, defcribed by a learned Antiquary, Adyta Ægypti> orum, in quibus facerdotes facra operari, ritufque et cæremonias fuas exercere folebant, fubterranea loca erant, fingulari quodam artificio ita conftructa, ut nihil non myfteriofi in iis occurreret. Muri ex omni parte pleni tum hieroglyphicis picturis, tum fculp

turis

Kircher.

z Lib. xxii. c. 15.

C 2

3. The

3. The third inference I would draw from this vifion is, that the Egyptian fuperftition was that to which the Ifraelites were more particularly addicted. And thus much I gather from the following words, Behold every form of creeping things and abominable beafts, and ALL THE IDOLS OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, pourtrayed upon the wall round about. I have fhewn this to be a defcription of an Egyptian myftic cell: which certainly was adorned only with Egyptian Gods: and yet thofe Gods are here called, by way of diftinction, all the idols of the boufe of Ifrael: which feems plainly to infer this People's more particular addiction to them. But the words, houfe of Ifrael, being used in a vifion defcribing the idolatries of the boufe of Judah, I take it for granted, that in this indefinite number of All the idols of the house of Ifrael, were eminently included those two prime idols of the houfe of Ifrael, the calves of Dan and Beth-el. And the rather, for that I find the original Calves held a diftinguished station in the paintings of the Myftic Cell; as the reader may fee by cafting his eye upon the Bembine Table. And this, by the way, will lead us to the reafon of Jeroboam's erecting two Calves. For they were, we fee, worshiped in pairs by the Egyptians, as reprefenting Ifis and Ofiris. And what is remarkable, the Calves were male and female, as appears from 2 Kings, c. x. ver. 29. compared with Hofea c. x. ver. 5. where in one. place the mafculine, and in the other the feminine. term is employed. But tho' the Egyptian Gods are thus by way of eminence, called the idols of the boufe of Ifrael, yet other idols they had befides Egyptian; and of thofe good store, as we shall now fee.

For this prophetic vifion is employed in defcribing the three mafter-fuperftitions of this unhappy

Feople,