reception of the offended spirit. This the following examples will shew.

Bishop Heber remarks that "most of the Hindù idols are of clay, and very much resemble in composition, colouring, and execution, the more paltry sort of images which are carried about in England by the Lago di Como people of Italy. At certain times of the year great numbers of these are hawked about the streets of Calcutta: they possess no sacred character, and are frequently given as toys to children and used as ornaments of rooms. But let these same images be consecrated by being washed by a Pandit with due ceremonies in the water of the Ganges, and they become gods, and any treatment indicative of irreverence towards the worthless though now sacred figures could not be seen without giving offence to every Hindu who beheld it." o

Buchanan, in his journey through the countries of the Mysore in the Indian Peninsula, P notices some pagodas and other public structures built nearly three centuries ago from treasures found under an image of the god Ganesa, in consequence of a communication made by him in a dream, in which he gave directions for the application. The image under which the treasure had been found was shewn to the traveller, who saw it to his surprise lying at one of the gates of the town unhonoured and neglected. On enquiring the reason why such a benefactor could be suffered to remain in such a plight, the people informed him that the finger of the image had been broken, and that the divinity had deserted it; for no mutilated image is considered habitable by a god. The universal adoption of this principle appears in the mutilated and disfigured images of the ancient pagodas of Hindosthàn. The earlier Mahomedan conquerors held it to be an indispensable duty to suppress idolatry, as well as conquer idolaters, and therefore all these acts of fanatical outrage may very justly be ascribed to them. The • Heber, Trav. chap. iii. P Buchanan. Journ. chap. vii.

not less fanatical Romanists who invaded the shores of India from the fleets of Portugal, may be well exempt from the charge of the mischief; it may be presumed that they found little of this kind of outrage to commit: the work, idle as it is found to be, had been finished before their arrival.

The same rule was equally applicable to the images or statues of the idolaters of the ancient world. Before consecration they were held in estimation only on account of the value of the material or the ingenuity and excellence of the work; after consecration they acquired another character, they were viewed with reverence, they were worshipped as gods. In many cases the images of ancient Greece and Rome were merely statues. Whether the Belvidere Apollo, the Medicean Venus, and the Farnese Hercules were images or statues only, it may be difficult to determine. The state, partly mutilated, in which they were found, leads to the opinion that they had been consecrated, and had been the objects of the violent indignation of iconoclasts.

The prevalence of this doctrine of the desecration of images by mutilation might be shewn by many facts recorded in the ancient history of Asia and Europe. One may suffice. The mutilation of the images of Mercury standing according to custom before the doors of the houses in Athens subjected Alcibiades, the most influential of the citizens, to the sentence of death. In earlier times this was the commandment given to the Israelite by the law of Moses: "Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works, but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and break down their images." This duty, such of the kings of Israel as attempted the extirpation of idolatry most zealously performed. The sacred historian, writing in the second book of Kings, gives the following record of the zeal of king Jehu for the extirpa

q Exod. xxiii. 24.

tion of idolatry. In obedience to his orders they "brought forth the images out of the house of Baal, and burned them; and brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught-house unto this day."r

The act by which the temple of Baal was thus desecrated rendered it inapplicable to idolatrous worship, even when in later reigns idolatry was revived in all its excesses. The Hindù caves described in former pages are now as fit, after some few repairs, for their intended uses, as they were when first wrought; but the disciples of the Brahmens leave them to utter neglect. They remain evidences of the zeal with which the men of former ages laboured in the worship of their idol gods: but their labours are now useless; some deed of desecration has been done, perhaps a cow may have been slaughtered within their precincts, and the injury remains irreparable. The pagoda of Sarnatha, outraged by Mahomet of Gazni, has never been rebuilt, and its once holy gates having been affixed to the tomb of that conqueror, were desecrated irrecoverably, and the offered restoration has not been accepted by the descendants of those Brahmens who in the eleventh century of the Christian era presided at the rich shrines of the god, and died as victims when his sanctuary was violated.

The facts stated in the preceding pages of this chapter will have afforded a general account of the principles and progress of idol worship, and also of the intent and purport of most of the almost countless symbols which are exhibited on the magnificent image of the Olympian Jupiter. A particular examination of each of the material forms, vegetable or animal, which adorn it, has not been given, but the import of many similar objects of various kinds has been stated, so that it must be easy to see with clearness and certainty the true import and intended meaning of every portion of the image above described. The following summary will collect into one view the different portions of the general argument and give clearness and certainty to the conclusion.

r 2 Kings x. 26.

The throne of the image is placed on a quadrangular basis, the symbol of solidity and stability, according to the authorities cited, especially in our introduction. The seat on which the image is placed is supported by pillars and legs, the known symbols of the power which upholds the world, of which the image is the immediate symbol. The numerous appendages of the image are symbols of the divine power and other attributes, some of which, as the naked state of the superior parts, as also of the age, have been noticed by the authors cited, namely, the sceptre surmounted by the eagle, the olive crown, and the figures of exulting Victory. The following will be equally intelligible from the instances already adduced. The rich materials of which the image is composed indicate the excellence which pervades the whole creation, and the riches with which it abounds: the numerous lilies wrought on the robe are symbols of vegetative virescence; the many animals denote the beasts that range over the regions of the earth. The fabled events exhibited, as the Thebans borne away by the Sphinx, and the slaughter of the children of Niobe, are significant of the triumph of the worship or votaries of the god achieved in different ages. The victory of Hercules over the Amazons records the suppression of the idol worship of that people which opposed the predominance of Jupiter.

Such was the image, such the import of the image of Jupiter, which long continued to excite the admiration and receive the worship of the Grecian states. It may justly be pronounced to have been the acme of symbolism, and the noblest object ever set up to gratify the passion for idolatrous acts. It may almost be regretted that such passion and propensities should have been prohibited by the divine command, but that command was dictated by wisdom, for idolatry leads to enormities of the most gross and extravagant character. Our protestant reformers seeing the evils of idolatry, not only cast down idols and images, but, sensible

that symbolism led almost immediately to idolatry, they discountenanced and nearly suppressed the use of symbols also. Doing this, perhaps they were not more judicious than they would have been, had they prohibited the use of food because it might lead to excess and intemperance. The path of right lies between the extremes of wrong; let but the proper track be chosen, and good will ensue. The sin and dangers of idolatry have been already briefly noticed; but let not symbols be rejected because their use may be abused, but let them be so exhibited that the rational symbolist may be made sensible of the danger attending the voyage of symbolism, and escape a wreck upon the rocks and quicksands of idolatry.

It is to be observed, and observed with sorrow, that the commandment which forbids idolatrous worship is obeyed only by the protestants of Europe and the disciples of Mahomet. The worship of the Roman Church, and of the Greek also, is a direct violation of it. They plead indeed that the reverence paid by the members of that Church to the image and of this latter Church to the picture is only done to promote devotion and to give force to prayer, and that such reverence is not worship: but the Romanist bows down at least to the graven image, and the Greek to the likeness, and this bowing God forbids as decidedly as the direct worship. It is obvious from the commandment that the Almighty requires more spirituality in our devotion than man is naturally inclined to give, and that the task is a trial. Thus far the obligation is clear and positive. But the divine commands require not only the avoidance of actual sin, but even the semblance of approach to transgression by even the slightest approval, and consequently the commandment serves not only to forbid idolatry, but it imposes a restraint upon even the sentiments of the antiquary; it bids him, while he zealously endeavours to exhume or to restore the perishing remains and figurative decorations of our ancient sacred structures, it bids him beware lest he