having forsaken: "my holy MOUNTAIN !" alluding to Mount Moriah, on which God's house was built. In that learned work the Sanscrit Dictionary, printed at Calcutta, is the following article:-" Meni! the wife of the Hima-laya MOUNTAIN!" and signifies, "to me any one, not comparable or equal." Her name, in Tamul, is Meni. She was the mother of Parvati, the wife of the god Siva. "The sacred MOUNTAIN Maga-Meru, is the daughter of the Hima-laya, and is more honoured than the mother." In addition to the observations on Isa. xiv. 13, 14., and the note (which see), are the following on the Hima-laya, taken from the dictionary alluded to: "The Hima-laya range of mountains, which bound India on the north, and separate it from Tartary, the Imaus and Emodus of the ancients, giving rise to the Ganges! the Indus! Bramaputra! and many other considerable rivers, and containing elevations which have been calculated to exceed the Cordilleras. In mythology, the MOUNTAIN is PERSONIFIED! as the husband of Meni, and the father of Gunga or the Ganges, and Durga, or Uma in her descent as Pārvati, the MOUNTAIN nymph, to captivate Siva, and withdraw him from a course of ascetic austerities, practised in those regions." But what are the mountains Imaus and Emodus, said to be the same as the Hima-laya range? "Imaus, a large mountain of Scythia, which is PART of mount Taurus." "Emodus, a mountain of India. Plin.” "Imaus is a PART of Mount Taurus.” "Taurus, the largest mountain of Asia as to extent. One of its extremities is in Caria, and it extends not only as far as the most eastern extremities of ASIA, but it also branches in several parts, and runs far into the north! Mount Taurus was known by SEVERAL names, particularly in DIFFERENT countries. Between the Hyrcanian and Euxine seas, by that of Caucasus!" "Caucasus is the name of a series of mountains, of which Ararat! is a part; and another part of Caucasus is named Taurus." "This immense range is constantly called in Sanscrit, Himáchel, or Snowy Mountain, and Himálaya, or the Abode of Snow."* Here then we have a remarkable identity in the sublime and sacred heights of the Imaus, the Emodus, the Taurus, the Caucasus, the Ararat, the Kilasu, the Maga-Meru, and the Hima-laya, of ancient and modern, of Eastern and Western heathenism; and here we have another deplorable instance of the profanity of the Jews, who forsook the "HOLY MOUNTAIN" of Jehovah for "MENI!" the wife of the PERSONIFIED HIMALAYA, the mother of the goddess Parvati, whose emblem is the crescent moon! "Prepare for that troop," "Gad." The Tamul translation has this, "prepare a feast." In the fragments to Calmet (108.) it is said, "We see how Gad and Meni terminate in the sun and moon." In this conclusion I cheerfully join with the learned editor. The word Gad signifies good fortune, fecundity, plenty; the sun is the great source of plenty, the moon also is believed to bring forth innumerable "precious things;" and here again we see the great orbs of night and day shine forth in Siva, the supreme lord of those HOLY MOUNTAINS, and in his consort Parvati; i. e. Meni, for the sun is believed to be his right eye, and the moon his left, and in his temples, his cars, in the houses of his worshippers may be seen a representation of the sun and the crescent moon. But allusion is also made to those who "furnish the drink offering unto that NUMBER," i. e. "MENI." In general, drink offerings are not presented to the gods + of the Hindoos; * See Lempriere and Calmet, and the Sanscrit dictionary under Emodus, Imaus, Taurus, Caucasus, or Hyma-laya. There are, however, four demons to whom arrack and toddy and other intoxicating articles are offered. but to Kāli, an incarnation of Pārvati, the daughter of Meni, arrack and toddy are offered. That the heathen have taken their ideas of the gods descending or dwelling in the Hima-laya, or the Taurus, or Caucasus, from events ALLUDED to in the sacred Scriptures, I cannot doubt, and perhaps there is no single event which led mankind, in the EARLIEST ages, to reverence and almost adore those sublime heights of created nature, more than the ark of Noah having rested on "the mountains of Ararat," which form a PART of the glorious Taurus, and Caucasus of the West, and the Hima-laya of the East. In all these searchings, our minds revert to Him, "who rideth upon a swift cloud," who "toucheth the hills and they smoke." 20. "There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die an hundred years old." From the 17th verse to the end of this chapter, there is an evident allusion to ANOTHER state of things, whether it refer to the Millennium, to the complete conversion of the Jews, or to the happiness of the Gospel dispensation, I cannot say. That there is not a reference "to the future world," is manifest from the 21st and 22d verses. The Hindoos believe the next age, i. e. the Kreatha, will be the happy one. "In those days people will be in youth, at the age of one hundred years!" 22. For as the days of a tree are the days of my people." (Ps. xcii. 12.) The people of the East have a particular desire for long life; hence one of their best and most acceptable wishes is, "May you live a thousand years." " May you live as long as the Aali-tree," i. e. the Banyan or Ficus Indica. I never saw a tree of that description dead, except when struck by lightning. And to cut one down would, in the estimation of a Hindoo, be almost as great a sin as the taking of life. I do not think this tree will die of itself, because it continues to let fall its own supporters, and will march over acres of land if not interrupted. Under its gigantic branches the beasts of the forest screen themselves from the heat of the sun; and under its sacred shade may be seen the most valued temples of the Hindoos. LXVI. 17. "They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens, behind one tree, in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord." The margin has, instead of "behind one tree, in the midst; ""or, one after another." Dr. Boothroyd translates it, "They who sanctify and purify themselves in the gardens, after the rites of Achad." The Tamul translation has this, "in the midst of the groves." (See on Chap. i. 18. where it may be seen for what purposes the groves were used.) Bishop Lowth, and the Rev. Thos. Hartwell Horne, believe that Adad, a Syrian deity, is here alluded to; and that it is after his rites that the Jews went into the gardens. "Adad is supposed to be the sun.”* Kimchi says on these words, "Behind one in the midst," that he understands it "of a large fish pond, placed in the middle of their gardens." This criticism I consider to be most excellent. The objects for which the groves were used rendered it necessary to have some place where the votaries could PURIFY themselves; thus, in the midst of the topes there is generally a well or a tank, where the individuals perform their ablutions. Were it prudent to write with plainness on the marginal reading it would utterly astonish and appal the English reader. * Here again we have a resemblance to the unholy Siva and his lascivious rites. H H JEREMIAH. CHAP. II. verse 13.-"For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters; and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." In Eastern language, "living water" signifies springing water, that which bubbles up. The people had forsaken Jehovah, the never-failing spring, for the small quantity which could be contained in a cistern; nay, in broken cisterns, which would let out the water as fast as they received it. When people forsake a good situation for that which is bad, it is said, "Yes; the stork which lived on the borders of the lake, where there was a never-failing supply of water, and constant food, has gone to dwell on the brink of a well," i. e. where there is no fish, and where the water cannot be had. 37.-"Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine on her head, and went on crying.") Impenitent Jerusalem was to be punished for revolting against God; and, as a token of her misery, she was to go forth with her HANDS ON HER HEAD." Tamar "laid her hand on her head," as a sign of her degradation and sorrow. When people are in great distress, they put their hands on their head, the fingers being clasped on the top of the crown. Should a man who is plunged into wretchedness meet a friend, he immediately puts his hands on his head, to illustrate his circumstances. When a person hears of the death of a relation or friend, he forthwith clasps his hands on his head. |