teresting circumstances which occurred on this occasion, among the Hebrew captives at Babylon, a few observations regarding the nature of the religion of the Chaldeans may be necessary to elucidate the subject.

The Chaldeans appear to have been at once the philosophers, or learned men-wise men— and the priesthood of the Babylonians; and as such, were probably distinguished from the rest of the nation, in the same manner as the clergy are separated from the laity in our own country.*

These men pretended to prophecy, and to the gift of foretelling future events, according to certain rules of augury,-by the flight of birds, or by the inspection of victims offered in sacrifice: As Ezekiel with fine irony remarks, "they looked in the liver."

Being accustomed to the study and observation of celestial phenomena,-which the pure atmosphere, and splendid heavens of the Asiatic hemisphere, presented in all their sublime magnificence to their rapt contemplation,-they fell into the impious error of conceiving that God had created • See Universal History.

the stars, and greater lights of heaven, to govern the destinies of men, and to rule the world; and that it was the will of God that these objects should be feared and worshipped as his vicegerents, in the same manner in which a king requires a certain homage to be paid to his ministers and officers, out of respect and honour to his own authority. And here, as we perceive the impotence of human wisdom to fathom the mysteries of Jehovah, we should be yet more thankful for that revelation which informs us, that God created the lights of heaven to "rule the day and the night,-to be for signs, and for seasons, for days, and for years;" and that though they loudly "declare his glory," yet they are only the unintelligent ministers of his goodness to man.

From this error of the Chaldeans, appears to have arisen the first stage of Babylonian idolatry, which consisted in building temples or sacella to the stars, in which sacrifices were offered to the great luminaries of heaven, as to mediators, through whom their idolatrous worshippers were to obtain the favour of God. This superstition rose higher, or became more gross, by erecting im

ages in these temples or tabernacles, and under trees, and upon the tops of mountains, until, in the progress of years, the name of God became obliterated among men, and the most stupid and debasing idolatry usurped the place of true religion.

The origin of images, in this instance, has been conjectured to have arisen from the occasional absence of the planets beneath the horizon. Representations of these objects in wood, stone, metal, and gold, seemed indispensable to the deluded votaries of superstition, when the form of the idol they worshipped was invisible, or hidden from their sight; as otherwise they could not expect their worship to be acceptable, or their gods propitious..

To this source may be traced the origin of all the primary gods of the heathen; and upon the foundation of the religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians, the whole superstructure of Grecian and Roman idolatry has been raised. The Belus of the Babylonians is the Jupiter of the classicsthe Baal-peor of the Moabites-the Moloch of the Ammonites-and doubtless, the same idol worshipped, under different names, or with other at

tributes, by the Midianites, Amalekites, and Canaanites.

It has, indeed, been already asserted that Belus represented Nimrod; but this appears to have been at a later period, and the deification of mortals seems to have formed the third stage of Babylonian idolatry. The first, the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, or superior planets; the second, the worship of images, or representations of these; the third, the worship of mortal men, kings, heroes, and conquerors, out of extravagant admiration of their achievements,-from immunities granted to those who adored them,-strengthened no doubt by the magnificence, or precious materials of which the idol was formed, or by the exquisite skill of the artist in its execution.

As the origin of Belus, or the sun, is derived from the history of Nimrod, so that of Astarte, or the moon, is assigned to Semiramis; but in both cases these demigods appear to have been usurpers; and the greater and lesser lights of the material heavens were, no doubt, the original ol jects of Chaldean superstition.

Sheshach was another idol of the Babylonians,

"

and is considered to have been the earth; the same nonentity revered by the Romans under the name Tellus or Ops. The Succoth Benoth of the Assyrians is thought to represent the same idol as the Venus of the classics; and, doubtless, Mars, Saturn, and Diana, "with all their trumpery," might each find a fellow on the plains of Shinar. But as, of Nebo or Nabo, and of Bel, most of the names of the kings of Assyria and Babylon are compounded, it is probable these were the primary or highest order of their deities; and perhaps to one of them the idol of Nebuchadnezzar was consecrated. And if we may judge from the punishment inflicted on those who nobly refused to obey the monarch's command, "to fall down and worship," it would appear, that human victims were occasionally offered to them.*

When Nebuchadnezzar had made the image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits, he set it up in the plains of Dura, that it might be solemnly dedicated to his god. On this occasion, all the officers, civil and military of his immense empire, were

* Universal History, vol. iv.