Prayers, round balls of amber, wax, wood, glass, commonly of 15 tens, by which the Papists count their prayers, by reckoning of which they have repeated their paternoster, ave Marie, creed, &c. as they are enjoined by their priests. 492 Indulgences, dispenses pardons. Liberties granted by the Pope, to dispense with some duties or removing the infliction of some temporal punishment, due for sins past or to come. Bulls. (Bulla) The briefs or mandates of the Pope are called Bulls, from the leaden and sometimes golden seals affixed thereto. 495 Into a limbo large and broad, since call'd The paradise of fools. Limbus Patrum, (according to the notion of the Roman Catholics) a place where the deceased patriarchs resided till the coming of our Saviour, and also they who die without baptism. 510 The stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw. The life of Jacob exhibits many striking incidents. His mother Rebekah's partiality for him, in wresting the blessing from his brother was reprehensible. His brother Esau on his return from hunting, found him engaged in dressing a mess of pottage, of which he wished to partake, being faint, the request was trivial, but Jacob refused so small a favour unless he would give up his birth right, with which he complied. Fraud must meeet its punishment. The brothers lived 66 in wrath, and Rebekah saw the propriety of removing her beloved son; she says to him, “ Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel, thy mother's father, and take a wife from the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother. And God Almighty bless thee and multiply thee, and give the blessing of Abraham to thee." Our solitary wanderer is now travelling towards Haran. The shades of night began to close on him, and no place of rest in view. "But the shepherd of Israel, who neither slumbers nor sleeps," keeps his faithful servants in the night as well as day. Jacob looked around and laid him down with a stone for his pillow, in a place called Luz, where his mental eye was favoured with a remarkable vision. A ladder was set upon the earth, the top of which reached to heaven, and the Angels of God ascended and descended upon it. Above appeared the symbol of God's presence, from whence issued a voice assuring Jacob of his protection, and confirming to him all the promises which had been made to Abraham and Isaac, A Jewish commentator has given us the following explanation of this glorious vision; "The ladder represents divine providence, which governs all things, and particularly now directed Jacob in his journey, every step wherein was under the divine direction. Its being placed upon the earth signified the stedfastness of providence, which nothing is able to shake. The top of it reaching to heaven, shows that it extends itself all the world over. The several steps in the ladder signify the various motions of the divine power and wisdom. The L angels going up and down, are the great ministers of God's Providence, by whom he manages all things here below, and who are never idle but always in motion to succour and assist the servants of God. Their ascending shows their going to receive the divine commands, and the descending the exécution of them. Or to speak more particularly of Jacob's present condition, one signified their safe conduct of him in his journey to Padan Aram, and the other, their bringing him home again. Above the whole appeared the Almighty as the immovable director of all events, from which all things proceed as the first cause, and return at the last end." When Jacob awoke, the awful impression remained on his mind; and he felt a holy dread at the idea that this was the place where the Majesty of Heaven held communion with mankind on earth. Though the visitation was full of love and promise, yet there was something in it awful and tremendous, that it made Jacob afraid, and he said, "How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house of God; and this is the gate of Heaven." Gen. xxviii. 17. 521 Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. Luke xvi. 22. -522 Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds. Behold a chariot of fire, and horses of fire,and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 2 Kings ii. 11. When great Elijah in the fiery car, A seer remained to thunder what he knew, And with his mantle caught his spirit too. 531 Over the promis'd laud to God so dear, The land of Canaan, in Asia, has had the several names of the Land of Promise, the Land of Israel, Palestine, Judea, and the Holy Land. It received the name of the Land of Promise, because God had promised to give it to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 535 From Paneas the fount of Jordan's flood. The Jordan, a river in Palestine, which it crosses from north to south, and falls into the Red Sea, near the spot where Sodom and Gomorrah stood. 536 To Bëersaba where the Holy Land Beersaba, a place in Canaan; the Holy Land is bounded on the north by Syria, on the east and south by Arabia, and on the west by the Mediterranean. 537 Borders on Egypt 537 Egypt is a narrow vale on both sides of the Nile, bounded by parallel ridges of mountains or hills, in Africa. It is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, on the north; by the Red Sea, east; by Abyssinia, or the Upper Ethiopia, on the south; and by the Desert of Barça, and the unknown parts of Africa on the west. and th' Arabian shore; Arabia, a country in Asia. The climate is very various; in some parts it is excessively hot and dry, and subject to poisonous winds. In other parts the soil is fertile, and the air highly salubrious. In the desert travellers are guided 557 by the stars and compass, as mariners are at sea. Arabia is divided into three parts; Arabia Stony, Arabia the Desert, and Arabia Felix, or happy. Stony Arabia is a small province, north of the Red Sea, between Egypt and Palestine: The chief town is Suez. Between the narrow branches of the northern extremity of the Red Sea, are Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb; on which are several cells or chapels possessed by the monks. Arabia the Desert is the middle part of the country, the inhabited parts of which lie on the borders of the Red Sea. In Arabia is the wilderness through which the children of Israel were forty years in passing from Egypt to Canaan. from eastern point Of Libra The seventh constellation, the autumnul equinox is expressed by the balance or scales, in equilibro, because the days and nights being then of the same length, seem to make an equilibrium like that instrument. Hence this constellation is called by Virgil, "Astrea's balance". But when Astrea's balance hung on high, Betwixt the nights and days, divides the sky. Astre was called Justice, of which virtue she was goddess. She lived on earth, as the poets mention, in the golden age. All men were happy, and all men were good; the earth brought forth its fruits without the labour of man, and cares, wants, and diseases were unknown; but this happy state of man did not last long; in the golden age, innocence and brotherly love were a pleasing spectacle. But the impiety of mankind drove |