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Of despicable foes. With thefe in troop
Came Aftoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd
Aftarte, queen of Heav'n, with crefcent horns;
To whose bright image nightly by the moon. 440
Sidonian virgins paid their vows and fongs,

In Sion also not unfung, where ftood

Her temple on th' offenfive mountain, built
By that uxorious king, whofe heart though large,
Beguil'd by fair idolatreffes, fell

To idols foul.

Thammuz came next behind,

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Whofe

"opinion which Lucian relates, viz. that this ftream at certain "feafons of the year, efpecially "about the feaft of Adonis, is of a bloody color; which the Hea"thens looked upon as proceed"ing from a kind of fympathy in "the river for the death of Adonis, "who was kill'd by a wild boar "in the mountains, out of which "this ftream rifes. Something "like this we faw actually come to "pafs; for the water was ftained "to a furprising redness; and as "we obferved in travelling, had "difcolor'd the fea a great way into a reddish hue, occafion'd doubtless by a fort of minium " or red earth, wath'd into the ri"ver by the violence of the rain, and not by any stain from Ado"nis's blood."

Addison.

Thammuz was the God of the Syrians, the fame with Adonis, who

according to the traditions died every year and reviv'd again. He was flain by a wild boar in mount Lebanon, from whence the river Adonis defcends; and when this river began to be of a reddith hue, as it did at a certain feason of the year, this was their fignal for celebrating their Adonia or feafts of Adonis, and the women made loud lamentations for him, fuppofing the river was difcolor'd with his blood. The like idolatrous rites were transferred to Jerufalem, where Ezekiel faw the women lamenting Tammuz, Ezek. VIII. 13, 14. He faid a fo unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt fee greater abominations that they do. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's houfe, which was towards the north, and behold there fat women sweeping for Tammuz. Dr. Pemberton in his ObE 2 fervations

Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd
The Syrian damfels to lament his fate

In amorous ditties all a fummer's day,

While fmooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the fea, fuppos'd with blood
Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love-tale
Infected Sion's daughters with like heat,
Whose wanton paffions in the facred porch
Ezekiel faw, when by the vifion led
His eye furvey'd the dark idolatries
Of alienated Judah. Next came one

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Who

ing behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold (upon the grunjel or groundfil edge, as Milton expreffes it, on the edge of the footpoft of his temple gate) only the fump of Dagon was left to him as we read 1 Sam. V. 4. Learned men are by no means agreed in their accounts of this idol. Some derive the name from Dagon which fignifies corn, as if he was the inventor of it; others from Dag, which fignifies a fish, and reprefent him accordingly with the upper part of a man, and the lower part of a fish. Our author follows the latter opinion, which is that commonly receiv'd, and has befides the authority of the learned Selden. This Dagon is called in Scripture

the

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Who mourn'd in earneft, when the captive ark
Maim'd his brute image, head and hands lopt off
In his own temple, on the grunsel edge,
Where he fell flat, and fham'd his worshippers:
Dagon his name, fea monster, upward man
And downward fish: yet had his temple high
Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the coast
Of Palestine, in Gath and Afcalon,

And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds.
Him follow'd Rimmon, whofe delightful feat
Was fair Damafcus, on the fertil banks

the God of the Philistines, and was worshipped in the five principal cities of the Philistines, mention'd 1 Sam. VI. 17. Azotus or Afhdod where he had a temple as we read in 1 Sam. V Gath, and Afcalon, and Accaron, or Ekron, and Gaza where they had facrifices and feastings in honor of him. Judg. XVI. Gaza's frontier bounds, fays the poet, as it was the fouthern extremity of the promis'd land, toward Egypt. It is mention'd by Mofes as the fouthern point of the land of Canaan. Gen. X. 19.

467. Him follow'd Rimmon, &c.] Rimmon was a God of the Syrians, but it is not certain what he was, or why fo call'd. We only know that he had a temple at Damafcus, 2 Kings V. 18. the most celebrated city of Syria, on the banks of Ab

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bana and Pharphar, rivers of Damajcus, as they are called 2 Kings V. 12. A leper once he loft, Naaman the Syrian who was cur'd of his leprofy by Elisha, and who for that reason refolv'd thenceforth to offr neither burnt-offering nor facrifice to any other God, but unto the Lord, 2 Kings V. 17. And gain'd a king, Abaz his fottifh conquerer, who with the affiitance of the king of Affy. ria having taken Damafcus, faw there an altar, and fent a pattern of it to Jerufalem to have another made by it, directly contrary to the command of God, who had appointed what kind of altar he would have (Exod. XXVII. 1, 2, &c.) and had order'd that no other fhould be made of any matter or figure wharfoever. Ahaz however upon his return remov'd the altar of the Lord from its place, and set

Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid ftreams.

He alfo' against the house of God was bold : 479
A leper once he loft, and gain'd a king,
Ahaz his fottish conqu'ror, whom he drew
God's altar to difparage and difplace
For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn
His odious offerings, and adore the Gods
Whom he had vanquish'd. After these appear'd
A crew who under names of old renown,
Ofiris, Ifis, Orus, and their train,

up this new altar in its ftead, and offer'd thereon, 2 Kings XVI. 10. &c. and thenceforth gave himfelf up to idolatry, and inftead of the God of Ifracl be facrific'd unto the Gods of Damafcus, 2 Chron. XXVIII. 23. whom he had subdued.

478. Oferis, Ifis, Crus, and their

train, &c.] Ofiris and fis were the principal deities of the Egyptians, by which it is moft probable they originally meant the fun and mocn. Crus was the fon of Ofiris and Iis, frequently confounded with Apolio: and thefe and the other Gods of the Egyptians were worshipped in monftrous fhapes, bulls, cats, dogs, &c. and the reafon alledged for this monftrous worship is derived from the fabulous tradition, that when the giants invaded Heaven, the Gods were fo affrighted that they fled into Egypt, and there con

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With monstrous fhapes and forceries abus'd
Fanatic Egypt and her priefts, to seek
Their wand'ring Gods difguis'd in brutish forms
Rather than human. Nor did Ifrael 'fcape
Th' infection, when their borrow'd gold compos'd
The calf in Oreb; and the rebel king

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Doubled that fin in Bethel and in Dan,
Likening his Maker to the grazed ox,
Jehovah, who in one night when he pass'd
From Egypt marching, equal'd with one ftroke

Egyptians, Exod. XII. 35. The calf in Oreb, and fo the Pfalmift, They made a calf in lioreb, Pfa!. CVI. 19. while Mofes was upon the mount with God. And the rebel king, Jeroboam made king by the Ifraelites who rebelled against Rehoboam, 1 Kings XII. doubled that fin by making two golden calves, probably in imitation of the Egyptians with whom he had converfed, who had a couple of oxen which they worshipped, one called Apis at Memphis the metropolis of the upper Egypt, and the other Mnevis at Hierapolis the chief city of the lower Egypt: and he fet them up in Bethel and in Dan, the two extremities of the kingdom of Ifrael, the former in the fouth, the latter in the north. Likening his Maker to the grazed ox, alluding to Pfal. CVI. 20. Thus they changed their glory into the fimilitude of an ox

Both

that eateth grass: Jehovah, who in one night when he pass'd from Egypt marching, for the children of Ifrael not only pass'd from Egypt, but march'd in a warlike manner, and the Lord brought them out, the Lord went before them: equal'd with one ftroke both her firft-born and all her bleating Gods, for the Lord flew all the firft-born in the land of Egypt both man and beaft, and upon their Gods alfo the Lord executed judgments, Exod. XII. 12, Numb. XXXIII. 4. and Milton. means all their Gods in general, tho' he fays bleating Gods in particular, borrowing the metaphor from sheep, and ufing it for the cry of any fort of beafts. Dr. Bentley fays indeed that the Egyptians did not worship fheep, they only abftain'd from eating them; but (as Dr. Pearce replies) was not Jupiter Ammon worshipped under a E 4

ram,

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