the use as above of the terms right and left, which will however be rectified by an explanation.

It was the practice both of the Greeks and Romans to divide the heavens into portions distinguished by the names of the right and left; words which had evidently a reference to the front or face of the earth, agreeably to the doctrine of the Egyptians. Cicero, regarding with ridicule the Roman auguries, notices the seeming contradictions observable in the exercise of the office of the augur in the following terms. "Where is there any consistent and admitted steadiness of decision among augurs? Ennius said, agreeably to the practice of our auguries,

With happy omen in a sky serene

It thundered on the left;

but the Ajax of Homer, enquiring of Achilles concerning the ferocity of the Trojans, speaks I know not what in manner following:

By right hand lightning Jove with favour spoke.

Thus with us the left is the best, but with the Greeks and other foreign nations the right appears most fortunate."h

Plutarch, in his Roman Questions, thus solves the difficulty which perplexed the Roman orator. He asks, Why are birds flying on the left hand a fortunate sign? After referring to some ancient usages illustrative of the augurial practice, he proceeds: Is it not that to persons looking toward the east, the north is on the left hand, which some regard as the right hand and the higher part of the world? But do not those who watch the actions of birds (the augurs) give importance to that which, though the weaker part, is notwithstanding the sign of good fortune? Overlooking the defect of power and intending to contrast things terrestrial and mortal to things heavenly and divine, they consider that

h Cic. de Divinat. lib. ii. c. 39.

the objects which, with us, are on the left hand, the gods send from their right.i

This augurial question depends altogether on the supposition that the world is a person, and having arms, the right and the left; that the person has a face, as also other parts of the human animal. This theory was sufficient to alter the primary kebla, or point of worship; and it caused the entrances of temples and the faces of idols to be turned from the west, as in the earliest times, to the east as in later ages, when idolatry had so far advanced as to adopt the use of images bearing the human form. Such are the authorities on which the reason for turning toward the east in worship depends, and such the reason by which the practice may be vindicated.

According to the statements given in the Asiatic Researches, this very same theory was adopted by the Hindùs, and most assuredly for the same reason, namely, that the world was a person, and as such had limbs, signified by names accordant with a person of the human form. The learned author of the seventh number of the eighth volume of the Asiatic Researches informs us that the Sanscrit word para signifies the fore part, or the east; that it also signifies the face or front of the person. Su-para signifies very far east, and is the name se-phar, called in the Book of Genesis a mountain of the east. The privative a prefixed to the word para forms the word apara, signifying the negative east, that is, the west. From this word the Sanscrit scholar derives the words Aphar, Ophir, and Africa. According to the same authority, dacshina, the south, is the Greek değɩov, (dexion) and dacsh-tir is the Latin dexter, signifying the right hand. Vama, or the north, is the left. All these terms presume a face as being a part of the person of the world. How far the Hindus attend to this form of the person of the world

Plutarch. de Quæst. Rom. p. 282. D.

k As. Res. vol. viii. No. 7, p. 372.

1 Genesis x. 30.

in the position of their sacred structures the reports hitherto obtained do not determine. Travellers, when aware of the importance of the question, will, it is hoped, attend to it in future visits. The present information, however, is sufficient to shew that according to the most ancient evidences the faces of the worshippers, whether at altars or temples, were invariably directed toward the western quarter of the earth; next they were directed toward the east. It seems from the words of the Alexandrian Father, that only the temples of ages long anterior to his time were constructed with the entrances facing the west, and that the position of the temple seems to have become in his days a matter altogether of indifference. The fronting of the tabernacle and the temple of the Israelites was not a matter of indifference; it was expressly commanded that the entrance should be at the east, and the kebla, or point of worship, on the western extremity of the temple. May not this matter have been so ordained, partly because the kebla had been from the first in that direction, and partly in opposition to the corrupt doctrines of the later idolaters, who taught that the world was God, and that, in turning to the east, they addressed him when worshipping, with face to face.

m

The terms face, hands, and arms, first used by the heathen augurs, have been adopted by the holy penmen to designate the powers and attributes of the Almighty. This practice, borrowed, like many others, with much advantage from the heathens, invites some remarks that may obviate mistake, and lead to a just understanding of their purport. It is obviously certain that the terms are used by the holy writers, not, as by the heathen, because they are indicative of a reality in the divine person, but as figurative only. They do not suppose when they mention the right hand of God, that the

m Exodus xxvii; Ezekiel xl.-Gross was the idolatry of worshippers of the sun turning toward the east to face their god, their backs were turned toward the entrance into the temple. Ezekiel viii. 16.

God supreme has parts or limbs; an idea incompatible with the true doctrine, that parts or limbs are not attributable to a Being having no parts nor passions. The term however having been made familiar by the usages of the augurs, may perhaps be absolutely necessary to signify the power and authority of the Saviour, who after his ascension into heaven, is said to sit at the right hand of God. The right hand being the most strong, and, according to the augurial doctrine, the side of power and good fortune, the phrase signifies, according to the true doctrine, that the Saviour has been highly exalted by the benefits won by him for the world by his death and sacrifice; and that being now raised to such a degree of eminence, he can dispense at will the divine beneficence with a power and authority signified by the right hand, the symbol of good fortune and happiness. Such is the symbolism adopted by the writers of the New Testament, and its use is sanctioned by the same divine authority as that which requires all persons to receive with implicit faith whatever is there stated. Thus do holy writers, thus does the Saviour himself, use earthly symbols, even those invented by idolaters, to illustrate, as far as may be possible, truths heavenly and eternal.

CHAPTER VII.

OF IDOLS.

A FABRIC more grand than the image of Jupiter in the temple at Olympia can hardly be imagined. It was a work noble from its magnitude; for although the image is sitting, the head nearly touches the roof sixty-eight feet high." It is magnificent from the rich and splendid materials of which it was composed; admirable for the taste and beauty with which the several parts were wrought; most instructive also from the doctrines taught, and the historical facts recorded by the emblematic figures and the historical scenes by which it was adorned. It may be considered as the perfection of sacred structures; it therefore demands particular attention in a treatise on the rise, progress, and import of the use of idols and idolatrous worship. The antiquary Pausanias recites from actual inspection the following particulars, which are selected from among many others, as being most relevant to the present subject.

The god is seated on a throne composed of gold, ebony,

n Strab. lib. viii. p. 353. D. Pausan. lib. v. c. 10, s. 2.

o Pausan. lib. v. c. 11.