The RELIGION of the Ancient CANAANITES, SYRIANS, ARABIANS, &c. LL those nations, who inhabited the land afterwards called Palestine, were descended from Canaan the son of Ham; for although we find many sub-divisions among them, under as many different names, yet the general one was that of Canaanites: And here it is necessary that we should answer a deistical objection made by Lord Bolingbroke, and some others, against a passage in the sacred scripture; and this we the more readily comply with, because many weak, tho' otherwise wellmeaning persons, have been led into an error by those designing men. In Genesis ix. we read of Noah having got drunk with the fruit of the vine, and that while he was in a state of intoxication in his tent, Ham, his youngest son, came in and beheld his nakedness; but Shem and Japhet went backwards and covered him. When Noah awoke, and found how different the behaviour of his sons had been, he said (verse 25) "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." Now Canaan is no where mentioned the aggressor; but there cannot remain the least doubt, but he was, at that time, along with his father, and like Ham, mocked at the aged patriarch; a crime attended with many aggravating circum stances. But the deistical objections is this, "It was inconsistent, say they, with the goodness of god, to inflict a curse on a nation in latter ages for the guilt of an ancestor. Now let every unprejudiced reader attend to the passage, and then he will find that the whole was a prediction, and not an imprecation. Noah, by the spirit of prophecy, foreseeing that the descendants of his son Ham, would commit the grossest idolatries, only foretold what would happen to them in latter times, and that their names should perish from off the earth. That all this happened in the manner that Noah foretold will appear from the following narrative. From some circumstances, it appears, that when Abraham came to sojourn among these people, they were not all equally corrupt; and we do not read of any images among them; but as images will be often mentioned in the course of this work, we shall here say something concerning their original. No. 3. N The first images or statues were made in honour of great men, who had performed extraordinary exploits; and these being set up in particular places, great veneration was paid to them, which, in the end, turned to religious adoration. It appears, from Pliny, that those statues were at first made of brick, such as that used in building the famous tower of Babel. But to give beauty to those earthen statues, they painted them over with various colours. Next to earth, wood seems to have been most commonly used in the construction of images, as appears from what we read in the prophet, Isaiah (xliv. 14.) who reproves the idolators of those times for making to themselves graven images of cedar, cypress, and oak. In process of time, as the arts were more cultivated, they began to make their images, or idols, of richer materials, such as silver and gold, many of which they adorned with precious stones. It is, however, certain that many of the more learned and wise among the heathens, neither worshipped images, nor did they acknowledge a plurality of gods. They considered them as subordinate mediators, always looking up to one Supreme Being, as the Sovereign Lord of all things. This however, was no better than idolatry; of which we shall have occasion to speak largely hereafter. It begot a thousand unnatural crimes, not proper to be mentioned; of which we have a melancholy account in the conduct of the men of Sodom, who for their abominations were justly destroyed, by fire and brimstone being rained down upon them from heaven. The tribes of the Canaanites were never united under one form of government, every little district having a chief of its own, and every district had its particular god. Thus Baal-zebub, or Achor, was called the god of flies; the priests having given out, that no flies dared to come near his altars, while the people attended on sacrifices. This idol was in great repute, as appear from Ahaziah, king of Israel, sending his servants to enquire at his oracle, whether he should recover from a fall he had from a window. 2 Kings i. Baal-Berith, or lord of the covenant, was an idol worshipped by the Sechemites, and many of the idolatrous idolatrous Israelites erected altars to him. To him human sacrifices were offered; and it was common to appeal to him as a witness and judge in all matters of controversy; and, especially, when promises, covenants, engagements, or treaties of peace were entered into. The Moabites, and Midianites, who lived near the borders of the Canaanites, worshipped Baal-Peor; for we are told that the Israelites joined themselves to him, and that the great king Solomon built him an altar. Who this Baal-Peor was, we are not certainly informed; but all the Jewish Rabbies agree, that he was the god of lewdness, and that the most abusive rites were observed in his temple. He had groves planted, and altars erected on the top of a mountain in Moab, called Peor, from which, probably, he took his name; for Jupiter is often called Olympius, because his first temple stood on that mountain. It is certain that his priests offered human sacrifices; and what was still more unnatural, they cat of the victims that was sacrificed. Thus we read in Psalm cvi. "They joined themselves unto Baal-Peor, and eat the sacrifices of the dead." Baal-Zephon was another of their idols; and it seems to have been originally set up as a mark, or boundary, between Egypt and Canaan. Eusebius supposes it to have been upon the borders of the northern parts of the Red-sea, where the children of Israel crossed; for we read, that the children of Israel came to Baal-Zephon, on the third day after they left Egypt. The Jewish Rabbies have a tradition concerning this idol, which is not unworthy of our notice. They tell us, that when the destroying angel passed over Egypt, all their idols, excepting this, were demolished, whereupon the Egyptians formed a high notion of his power, and went in crouds to worship him. Moses, observing that they went in crowds thither, petitioned Pharaoh that he too might be permitted to take a journey to the place along with his countrymen the Israelites. Pharaoh complied with his request; but as the Israelites were employed on the shore of the Red-sea in picking up the precious stones, which the river Phison had carried into the Gihon, and from thence were conveyed to the Red-sea, whereby they were thrown upon dry land, Pharaoh surprised them; but deferring to attack the Israelites till next day, and offering in the mean time sacrifices to Baal-Zephon, they passed the Red-sea and escaped. This tradition may serve to shew, what wretched notions the Jewish Rabbies endeavoured to inculcate into the minds of their people; but this is rejected by the Jews of the present age. That Moses the servant of the true God should sacrifice to an idol, is such an absurd, idle tale, as does not deserve refutation: it carries confutation along with it. Chemosh was another idol worshipped by the Canaanites, and also by the Moabites, and he had his temples on mountains, surrounded with groves of tall oaks. As the Moabites seem to have been idolators from the beginning, and as they were the offspring of an incestous intercourse between Lot and his daughters, so we need not be surprised to read, that incest was not only tolerated by them in their temples, but even commanded as a duty. A powerful body of these people were called Philistines, and inhabited the sea coast of the Mediterranean, near where Tyre was afterwards built. They consisted of five tribes, under the command of so many chiefs; and it appears from scripture, that they were not routed out by the children of Israel; but remained to be a check and scourge upon them, as often as they relapsed into idolatry. The name of their chief idol was Dagon, called by the Greeks, Azotus; and the image represented a man upwards from the navel, and all below resembled a fish. He was the same with the god Jupiter, or supreme deity of the heathens, although worshipped under a different name. The Egyptians worshipped him under the shape of a fish; because, in Tryphon's wars with the gods, he concealed himself in the sea, under that form. This has induced some to believe, that Dagon was Venus; because Diodorus Siculus relates, that at Askelon a famous city of the Philistines, Venus was worshipped in the shape of a woman upwards, and a fish downwards. After all these conjectures, probably none of them are right; for this idol is mentioned in scripture, in the masculine gender. When the Philistines had taken the ark of God from the children of Israel, and brought it to Ashdod, they placed it in the temple of Dagon, close by the image of that idol; but the next morning, when they came into the temple, they found Dagon fallen on his face on the ground, with the head and hands broken off. This idol had a temple at Ashdod so late as the times of the Maccabees, for Jonathan, having beaten the army of Apollonius, Demetriu's general, they fled to Ashdod, and entered the temple of Dagon; but Jonathan set fire to the town and consumed it, and the temple with all those who had taken refuge in it. Milton places him among the fallen angels, when he says, Dagon his name; sea monster! upward man, And downward fish; yet had his temple high, Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the coast Of Palestine, in Gath, and Askelon., Upon Upon attending to the nature of the ancient mythology, it will appear that the Philistines had their idol in the form already mentioned, because they inhabited the sea coast, and were among the first who carried on commerce with distant nations, by means of the watery element. In the city of Gaza, now called by the Turks Gazera, in Palestine; about one half of the temple of Dagon still remains, and this temple was built on the ruins of that destroyed by Sampson. Another idol worshipped in common by the Philistines and Syrians, was Derceto, supposed to be the same with Venus. Diodorus gives us the following account of it. In Syria, there is a city called Askelon, near which is a deep lake, abounding with plenty of different sorts of fish. Not far from the lake, stands the temple of the famous goddess Derceto, the mother of Semiramis, who has the face of a woman, and the rest of her body resembling a fish ; for which the Syrians assign the following reason: Venus having conceived a hatred against Derceto, caused her to fall in love with a young Syrian, by whom she conceived a daughter; but being ashamed of what she had done, she murdered the young man, exposed the child in the woods, and then threw herself into the lake, where she was transformed into a fish; for which reason the Syrians cat no fishes, but worship them as gods. Thus the poet says, The Syrians hence revere the scaly brood, Elagabalus, worshipped by the Syrians, as well as some of the Canaanites, was no other than the sun; but the meaning of the name is not easily known. But the most probable opinion is, that it means the god of the mountain; for the image represented a large stone on the top of an artificial mountain. This idol is often taken notice of by the poets. Thus we read: In the mid plains fair Apamea stands; It is remarkable, that Antonius Varius assumed the name of this idol, because he had formerly been one of his priests; and he ordered a temple to be erected for him at Rome, where he was worshipped under the form of a pyramid. The Sidonians, who were a sect of the Philistines, and very gross idolators, worshipped a goddess whom they called Ashtaroth, which, in the Syrian language signifies sleep; and this idol is often called the Queen of Heaven. Some believe the moon was adored under this name; and we find that Solomon introduced the worship of it, to please some of his concubines, who were natives of Sidon. Jezebel, the queen of Ahab, king of Israel, had aitars erected to this idol throughout every part of her dominions; and she had, at one time, upwards of four hundred priests to attend her. She was always worshipped under the character of a woman, but in different forms of dress, according to the different nations where divine honours, and religious worship were paid her. For the most part, she was represented with horns in the form of a crescent, and many have believed that by her was meant Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob, her name signifying sleep in the Hebrew. She is said to have consecrated the city of Tyre, by depositing in it a fallen star; from whence came the report, that a star often darted upon her temple, which the people believed to be Venus. Her chief temple was on mount Lebanus, which was actually a perfect sink of lewdness, a school for most beastly lusts, which were permitted here because Venus was said to have had her first intercourse in this place with her beloved Adonis. This is the same deity which was worshipped by the Israelites under the name of Astare, or Astrea, of whom Ovid makes mention when he says, When justice ceas'd and human blood was shed, From earth to heaven divine Astrea fled. Moloch was another god worshipped by these ancient idolators, particularly by the Ammonites, the incestous offspring of Lot and his daughters. We are told in scripture, that the children of Israel, as an aggravation of their impiety, caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch, which brought upon them the Divine displeasure, and at last Almighty vengeance. There have been various opinions concerning this species of idolatry, some believing that the children only jumped over a fire, and others, that they passed between two slow fires to the image. Both these notions, however, are contradicted by the clearest testimony of scripture; for we are expressly told, that the Ammonites, and, after them, the children of Israel, burnt their children alive to Moloch; and Moses prohibits the people from adoring this deity, under the severest penalties. Solomon built a temple to the idol Moloch on mount Oliver, and Manasseh, the most impious of all the kings of Judah, made his children pass through the fire to Moloch. Moloch. We are not told in scripture, whether Moloch was worshipped in groves, in valleys, or on hills, by the Ammonites; but certain it is, that the idolatrous children of Israel appropriated the valley of the son of Hinnom for this impious service. This valley lay eastward of Jerusalem, and was the same place wherein all the filth of the city was burnt at the time our Saviour was on earth. common amongst them to call their children by its name, especially such as they intended to dedicate to the priesthood. Young children were offered up in sacrifices to this idol, and mothers, without relenting, heard the cries of their tortured offspring. We shall here insert what the Rabbins have told us concerning this idol. They say it was made of brass, the body resembling that of a man, and the head that of a calf, with a royal diadem, and the arms extended. They add, that when children were to be offered to him, they heated the statue, and put the miserable victim between his arms, where it was soon consumed by the violence of the flame. We are further told, that this idol had seven temples, or chapels. All these altars, temples, or chapels, were appropriated to the different sorts of sacrifices that were to be offered. Thus he who offered a bird, went into the first chapel; he who offered a lamb, into the second; he who presented a sheep, into the third; he who brought a calf, into the fourth; he who brought a bullock, into the fifth; he who brought an ox, into the sixth; but the seventh, the grandest of all, was destined for those who brought their own children. From the whole of this we may learn, that human sacrifices were the most acceptable at the altars of Moloch; which, undoubtedly, made our great poet Milton rank him among the infernal deities, as one of the fallen angels, and as one who was to be a curse to the idolatrous world. But of all the gods of the Syrians and Canaanites, none were honoured so much as Baal, who was no other than the Belus of the Chaldeans, and the Jupiter of the Greeks. It is probable, the sun was worshipped under this name; for Josiah, willing to make some atonement for the sins of his father Manasseh, in worshipping Baal and all the host of heaven, put to death the idolatrous priests that burnt incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and all the host of heaven. He likewise took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, and burnt the chariots of the sun with fire. This idol Baal is often mentioned in scripture in the plural number, Ballim, and always implies universal power, wisdom and knowledge. His temples were built within enclosures, for which reason they were called in the Hebrew and Syriac languages Chamanim, and perpetual fires were kept burning in them. Mr. Maundrell, in his journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, tells us that he saw many of the remains of them, but most of the statues were defaced. The Mahometans have a strange tradition concerning this idol, which for the use and amusement of the curious reader, we shall set down in this place. They say, that before Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans, he took an opportunity to break in pieces all the idols except Baal, about whose neck he hung the ax with which he had accomplished his design, that the people might suppose Baal himself was the author of all this mischief. Such is the manner in which the Mahometans relates this story, but the Jews tell it was somewhat different. Another god of the Syrians and Canaanites is called Rimmon, and he was chiefly worshipped at Damascus. He is mentioned but once in scripture, namely, in the account of Naaman, the Syrian general, when he came to the prophet Elisha to be cured of the leprosy. Rimmon, in the Hebrew, signifies a pomegranate, which fruit being sacred to Venus, some are of opinion that they were one and the same; but this cannot be, because Venus is in the feminine gender, whereas this idol is always in the masculine. The Syrians had an idol which they worshipped under the name of Adad, which, in their language, signified one. By him was meant the sun, and they gave him the earth to wife; for they painted Adad with rays shooting downward, and the earth with rays shooting upwards, to shew that all earthly pro-him a severe reprimand. ductions were owing to the influence of the sun. Josephus thinks this idol was worshipped in memory of Bennadad; but that is not in the least probable, because that prince lived long after the whole mass of idolatry was formed, and reduced into a system. Babia was another goddess of the Syrians; and worshipped under the image of an infant; for it was They say that Abraham performed this exploit in his father's shop, during his absence, and that Terah returning, and demanding the occasion of this disorder, Abraham told him that the idols had quarrelled about an offering of fine flour brought them by an old woman, and that the strongest of them (Baal) had got the better of the rest, and broken them to pieces. They add, that Terah, falling into a violent passion, carried his son before Nimrod, who gave Such were the principal idols worshipped by the Canaanites, and bad as idolatry is, yet had they confined themselves simply to the practice of image worship, possibly God might have suffered them to remain in their possessions till the fulness of time, when the Messiah was to enlighten all mankind by his gospel. But their horrid abominations were such that that they called aloud for vengeance from heaven. Murder, rapine, and all sorts of cruelty, were but trifles when compared with human sacrifices, and unnatural crimes which ought not to be mentioned. Thus God, in his all-wise and holy providence, destroyed them, according to the prediction of Noah, to make room for his chosen people. The Arabians, of whose religion we shall here give some account, were the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, by his concubine Hagar; and they are, in some respects, even to this day, the most remarkable people in the world. The angel told Hagar that her son should be a wild man, and the Arabians remain uncivilized even to this day. His hand was to be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and so it is to this day, for the Arabians live by plundering, not only such as travel from this part of the world, but even the Turks themselves, who pretended to be their masters. He was to live in the midst of his brethren; and it is very remarkable, that the Arabians were never yet conquered. In vain did the great monarchs of the east attempt to subdue them, they still remain what they were three thousand years ago. After the death of Ishmael they multiplied extremely fast, and became a great nation; for we find them a trading people at the time Joseph was sold into Egypt. Like the rest of the eastern nations, they were idolators, and worshipped the sun, moon and stars under different names, the chief of which was Allat, in the city of Tayef, and it was held in such esteem, that when Mahomet ordered it to be destroyed, the people lamented most bitterly. waiting upon him, the one good and the other evil, that all evil actions were committed at the instigation of the evil spirit in the absence of the good Genii, who sometimes went on a message to heaven. They believed further, that these two angels, or Genii, were continually at war with cach other, and this the people considered as the cause of the contending passions in their minds. They were worshipped by the ancient Arabians as the companions or friends of God, and they believed that they appeared to them in their sleep. The principal Genii was called Hafedhah, and when the people went on journeys to plunder, they prayed he would send some strong Genii to protect them, and some wise ones to direct them in their journey. But although the Arabians worshipped idols, yet they believed there was one supreme God, to whom they ascribed the most sublime attributes; such as eternity, omnipotence, incomprehensibility, &c. which will appear from the following verses: "Why should we seek to comprehend what cannot be comprehended? "It is a tree which hath neither root, trunk, nor branches for thought to lay hold of. "It is a riddle in which we can neither find a natural nor a metaphorical sense, and of which there is no satisfactory explication. "God is infinitely above the capacity of our understandings, and we always lose ourselves when we would comprehend, or guess at what he is; let it therefore suffice us to adore him with a respectful silence." All those ancient heathen nations had temples, but it does not appear that any of them were very magnificent, that sort of grandeur having been reserved for the Greeks, of whom afterwards. In the mean time let us say something concerning their altars.. Another of the Arabian idols was Aluzza, worshipped by several of their tribes under the shape of an Egyptian thorn. At first it was adored in the open fields, but in time temples and altars were erected to it; it remained till the time of Mahomet, who caused all its temples to be demolished, and In the most early ages of the world, the pagans slew the priests who officiated in them. The Ara-made their altars of earth or turf, and they were, bians, who lived mostly towards the east, worship- for the most part, in groves or on hills, and besides ped Assaf under the shape of a calf, which they offering up sacrifices to the gods, they were used probably borrowed from the Egyptians, with whom for several other purposes. All alliances with foreign they traded. They had a goddess named Beltha, princes were ratified on the altars, that the gods and probably the Venus of the Greeks. They kept might be witnesses of the faithful performance of three holidays in the year to this idol, and the altars them; of this we have many instances both in anwhereon they sacrificed were at the gates of their cient history and poetry. Thus, Hamilcar made temples. The Sabeans, mentioned Job I. were the his son Hannibal lay his hand on the altar, and. principal worshippers of this goddess, and they made swear never to make peace with the Romans, and. a point of conscience to carry part of their plunder thus a poet says: to her temple. The leading principle in the religion of the ancient Arabians, was their fixed belief in Fairies or Genii; they believed that these Genii attended people through life, that every man had two No. 3 I touch the sacred altars. touch the flames, Another |