even unto Jager, they wandered through the wilderness, her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea. Isa. xvi. 8.

409 And Honoraim.

Two cities of the Moabites, one called the Upper, the other the Lower. Isa, xv. 5.

409 Seon's realm.

410

Sihon, King of Heshbon.

Sibma clad with vines.

O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee. Jer. xlviii. 32. A city in the valley of Moab, 30 miles east of Jerusalem.

411 And Elëale.

The ascension or burnt offering of God.-A town, thirty-six miles east of Jerusalem: it fell to the tribe of Reuben, after the conquest of those countries. Numb. xxxii. 37.

411 To the Asphaltic Pool.

From Asphalto's yielding bitumen and sulphur, salt and bitter water, the lake in Judea, where Sodom and Gomorrah stood, thirty-five miles east Jerusalem, twenty-four leagues long and seven broad: it is also called the Dead Sea, because no fish live in it.

412 Peor, his other name.

Bael-Peor, an idol of the Moabites (the same as Chemos). Jeremiah mentions this abominable idol with the greatest abhorrence.

413 Israel.

And Israel abode in Shittim, and joined himself unto Bael-Peor; and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel. And those that died of the plague were twenty and four thousand, Numb. xxv. 1, 3, 9.

413 Sittim.

A place in the plains of Moab, eight miles from Jordan, where the Israelites encamped, for the last time, under the conduct of Moses, and where they were tempted by Balaam to commit crimes; and to sacrifice to this idol, which provoked God to destroy two thousand four hundred of them. Here grew the wood whereof the Ark was made. Exod. xxv. 10, 37:

413 Nile.

A river in Egypt, which fertilizes the whole country.

415 Orgies.

All sacred feasts and rites among the Greeks, were called Orgia, particularly those of Bacchus. 417 Moloch.

Before explained, line 392.

418 Till good Josiah.

Moreover, the workers of familiar spirits, and the wizards and the images, and the idols and all the abominations, that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, 2 Kings, xxiii. 24.

420 Of old Euphrates.

A river in Asia, which falls into the Tinus Persicus, or Gulph of Persia.

422 Of Baälim.

Baälim and Baal. The first idol in the world; erected in Babylon, in memory of Belos or Nimrod, whom Minus, his successor, deified after his death.

422 Ashtaroth.

And the high places that were before Jerusa

lem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon King of Israel, had builded for Ashtaroth, the abomination of the Zidonians; and for Chemoth, the abomination of the Moabites; and for Milcolm, the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. 2 Kings, xxiii. 13, 14.

439 Astarte, queen of heaven.

Astarte, or Diana, the fabled daughter of Jupiter and Latona, and sister to Apollo. She presided over night, and was called Phoebe or the moon : the goddess of hunting. The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes for to the queen of heaven. Jer. vii. 18.

444 That uxorius King.

Solomon, king of Israel, being determined to fulfil his father David's solemn injunction, of building a temple to the glory of God, communicated his intentions to the King of Tyre, requesting that he would provide him a person qualified to superintend the work, together with labourers and materials. Hiram complied with his wish; and this magnificent structure was prosecuted with eagerness, and, on being completed, was consecrated in the most solemn manner. In the life of Solomon, we see all that human wisdom can possibly do, towards enriching the mind or sanctifying the heart. In him it will appear, that the most vigorous intellect is incapable of resisting temptation. The greatest part of Solomon's

reign was truly glorious; but we now see him sullying his reputation, and at a period when it might have been reasonably thought, that the passions were subdued, and the principles of piety become habitual. His connexion with strange women disgraced the close of Solomon's life; and this lawless love drew him aside after the abominations of the heathen. If such a man as Solomon could not resist the blandishments of vice, when he had suffered his affections to be ensnared, with what diligence should young and inexperienced minds shun the company of the wanton, the dissolute, and the prophane.

446 Thammaz.

Secret and prophane rites, performed to this idol, which was death to relate. He said, turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the house of Jehovah, and behold there sat women weeping for Thummaz. 447 Lebanon.

A mountain in Syria, famous for cedar trees, one hundred and twenty miles from Jerusalem. 450 While smooth Adonis.

The following is from the pen of the late Mr. Mandrell, of this ancient piece of worship, and probably the first occasion of such a superstition. "We came to a fair large river, doubtless the ancient river Adonis, so famous for the idolatrous rites performed here in lamentation of Adonis. We had the fortune to see, what may be supposed to be the occasion of that opinion which Lucian relates concerning this river, viz.: that this

stream, at certain seasons of the year, especially about the feast of Adonis, is of a bloody colour, which the heathens looked upon as proceeding from a kind of sympathy in the river, for the death of Adonis, who was killed by a wild boar in the mountains, out of which this stream issues. Something like this we saw actually come to pass; for the water was stained to a surprising redness; and as we observed in travelling, had discoloured the sea, a great way, into a reddish hue, occasioned, doubtless, by a sort of mimum or red earth, washed into the river by the violence of the rain, and not by any stain from Adonis's blood."

455 Ezekial saw.

456

And it came to pass, in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me. Aud he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of mine head, and the spirit lift me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me, in the visions of God, to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate, that looketh toward the north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. Ezekial, viii. 1. 3.

the dark idolatries of alienated Judah.

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