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Queen of Heaven, and figure her with a Crefcent, to whofe bright Image the Virgins of SIDON (d) every Night fung by Moon-light, and paid their Vows; which alfo was often done in SION, where her Temple ftood, on the offenfive Mountain of Olives, built by that uxorious King SOLOMON; SOLOMON; whofe Heart, though it was large, beguiled by fair Women from among the Heathen, fell to foul Idolatry,

NEXT Came THAM MUZ (e), whofe annual Wound in LEBANON (f) allured the Damfels of SYRIA, to lament

A Flock; from Afbtoreth, according to the Phænician Dialect; and one of their Goddeffes. Aftarte is Sephora, the Wife of Mofes, and the Moon.

(d) Siden; Heb. i. e. A Fish: because of the great Plenty and Riches, which the Inhabitants got by the Trade of Fish: or of Sidon the firft Son of Canaan, who first built it. Gen. x. 15. i. e. A Hunter. A Sea Port Town, the Metropolis of Phanicia, older than Tyre, Carthage or other Cities, which the old Phænicians built upon the Mediterranean Sea. It was taken by the King of Afcalon, a Year before the Deftruction of Troy, and 240 Years before the Building of Solomon's Temple; then they that efcaped built Tyre, which is 16 Miles from it to the South, and 36 Miles from Jerufalem to the North Weft. By their great Trade and Wealth, the Sidonians became very proud, idolatrous and abcminable to God: therefore he frequently punished them; now it is very much decayed; as the

Prophets had foretold. Sidor was famous for Purple and other fine Dyes, as well as Tyre.

(e) Thammuz; VI. Egypt. from the Heb. i. e. Hidden or Death; because of the fecret, infamous, and obfcene Rites performed to this Idol, which was Death to utter. Or from Thammuz, Heb. i. e. June; because thefe Feafts were kept in June, This Goddefs was Thammuz among the Egyptians, Carthagi nians and Jews, but Adonis among the Romans, &c.

(f) Lebanon; Heb. from Laban, i. e. white; because the Top of it appears white with Snow Or Frankincenje; because it abounds upon it. A very long, large, and high Mountain in Syria, about 200 Miles in Length, from Damafcus to the Mediterranean Sea Weftward, and the Boundary of Canaan to the North, about 120 Miles from Jerufalem. It is famous for Cedar Trees, which grow only there and in fome Woods of Ame rica. Some of thefe Trees are 20 Yards round, very tall and Spreading

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lament his Fate in Love-Songs a whole Summer's Day, while the smooth River ADONIS (g) ran coloured with Purple to the Sea, fuppofed to be with the Blood of THAM MU z wounded every Year; the LoveTale corrupted the Daughters of JERUSALEM, and warmed them with like Heat; whofe wanton Paffions EZEKIEL (b) faw in the facred Porch, when being led by a Vifion, he faw the dark Idolatries of the alienated Children of JUDAH.

fpreading. Solomon built his Temple of them chiefly; but now they are much decayed. Mr. The venot reckoned no more than 23, great and small, and Mr. Maundrel only 7. On the Top of it ftood a Temple of Venus, wherein lewd Men and Women debauched and prostituted themfelves moft infamously; for which Conftantine the Great demolished it. There is now Canobine, a Convent of the Maronites, about the fame Spot of Ground. The Head of it calls himself the Patriarch of Antioch.

(g) Adonis; VII. Heb. i. e. Lord. An Affyrian Idol, the fame as Thammuz. The Tale is, this Adonis was a fine Youth, the Son of Cynra King of Cy. prus by his Daughter Myrrha, beloved of Venus and Proferpina, killed by a wild Boar upon Mount Lebanon while he was hunting, and much lamented by thefe Goddeffes. Thefe Women kept a folemn Feaft at that Time, weeping, lamenting, and beating themfelves for his Death; after wards they rejoiced at his Return to Life. The Festival of Adonia was celebrated through Greece, in Honour of Fenus and Adonis,

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for two Days. See Potter's Antiq. of Greece, Vol. 1. P. 328. Adonis is the Sun, for fix Months he is in the loweft Hemisphere, as in Hell with Proferpina; and for the other fix Months in the upper; at which they rejoiced mightily, as they were forry for his declining from them. Here, the Name of a River which runs down Mount Lebanon, and at that Time of the Year his Waters are red, which the Heathens afcribed to a myfterious Sympathy in it, for the Death of Adonis; which is indeed and only caused by the Rains, that make it to fwell and run over the Banks, and to wash away fome red Earth; as Mr. Maundrel teftifies; and gave Occafion to this Fable and Idolatry.

(b) Ezekiel or Jechezekel; Heb. i. e. The Strength of God.' The third of the four greater Prophets, carried a Captive to Babylon with Jechonia, when he was young: The Son of Buz, a very learned Prieft. Some miftake him for Pythagoras, the antient Heathen Philofopher; but he was contemporary with him, and learned much from him alfo. He faw in a Vi

fron

NEXT him came one, who mourned in Earnest, when the captive Ark difimembered his brutal Image; his Head and Hands being lopt off in his own Temple, where he fell flat by the Side of the Door, and Thamed his Worfhippers; his Name was DAGON (i), a Sea Monster, like a Man upward, and downward like a Fish; yet he had his Temple raifed high in ASHDOD (k), and was dreaded through the Coaft of PALESTINE, in GATH(), and ASCALON

fion the corrupted Women of If rael worshipped this Devil, in a Porch of the holy Temple of God at Jerufalem, when he was a.Captive at Babylon. A lamentable Sight indeed to him, Ch. viii. 14. He wrote very myftically, that the Heathens might not understand his Meaning. But reproving the Jezus fo boldly for their Idolatry, they put him to a most cruel Death at Babylon, about A. M. 3380.

(i) Dagen, VIII. Heb. i. e. A Fish. A God of the Syrians and Philiftines, who got valt Riches by Fish; which they afcribed to this Idol. It was half a Fish and half a Man. It was the Neptune and Saturn of the Greeks and Romans, whom they worshipped in this Form; because they got Riches from both Sea and Land,

(k) Azotus or Afhdod; Heb. i. e. Laying wafte; because it was a ftrong and victorious City; or of Efh, Heb. i. e. a Fire, and Dod, i. e. The Fire of Love. A Sea Port Town in Palestine between Joppa and Ascalon, 22 Miles from Jerufalem to the Weft, and one of the five chief Governments of the old Phili

lines. This City was so ftrong, that it held out a Siege against Pfammiticus King of Egypt, in the Time of Manaffes, King of Judah, for twenty nine Years; and fo did alfo the City of Meffina in Sicily for thirty Years against the Lacedemonians: Thefe are the longelt Sieges mentioned in Hiftory. Judas Maccabeus was flain upon M. Azotus, by Bacchides the General of Demetrius, King of Syria, Mac. ix. 18. It was a fair and rich City, but is now a poor ruinous Place; the Turks call it Alzete, i. e. The Village.

(Gath; Heb. i. e. A Wine Prefs; becaufe much Wine was made there, I. lxiii. 2. One of the chief Cities of the Philiftines upon the Sea, very rich and pow-> erful, diftant from Jerufalem a-: bout thirty-four Miles to the Weft, and famous for the BirthPlace of that Giant Goliath, and others of his huge, terrible Family, which were all cut off by the valiant King David, 1 Sam. xvi. It was called alfo MethegAmmah, i. e. The Bridle of Bendage; because it kept the adjacent Country in Subjection, 2 Sam. viii. 1.

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(m), and EKRON (2), and the Frontiers and Bounds of GAZA (0).

RIMMON followed him, whofe pleasant Seat was

(m) Afcalon; Heb. i. e. An ignominious Fire; or from Afcalus a Lydian, who is faid to have founded it. Another of the chief Cities of the Philiftines, on the fame Sea, thirty Miles from Jerufalem to the Weft. It was famous for a celebrated Temple of the Idol Dagon there. The Scythians or Tartars in an Expedition, about 640 Years before the Incarnation, demolished an antient and ftately Temple of Venus, and fome of them fettled in it; therefore it is called Scythopolis, Gr. i. e. the City of the Scythians, Judith iii. 10. Holifernes laid it in Ruins, and fo did Saladine in the Holy War. But Richard I. King of England repaired it, and Joppa, Cefarea, &c. A. D. 1192. The Turks call it Scalona, by a Corruption of the Word.

(n) Accaron or Ecron; Heb. i. e. Barrenness; because it was reared in a fruitful Soil. A City on the South of Cath, about thirty fix Miles from Jerafalem to the West. It was once a Place of great Wealth and Power, fo that it held out a long Time against the victorious Jews, Judg. i. But now it is a poor despicable Village.

(e) Gaza now Gazra; Perf. i. e. The Place of Treasure; because thither Cambyfes of Perfa fent thofe Treasures, which he had prepared for the Egyptian War. But it was called fo many

Ages before, Gen. x. 19. or rather Heb. i. e. A frong Torver, being a very strong and rich Place; and alfo Conftantia, becaufe Conftantine the Great gave it to his Sifter Conftantia. It flands about two Miles from the Sea on the River Bezor, near Egypt; therefore our Author here calls it the Frontier Bounds of those Countries; forty Miles from Jerufalem towards the South-Weft, and was one of the beft Cities the old Philistines poffeffed. Here they had a very magnificent Temple to their God Dagon, called Beth Dagon, Heb. i. e. The Houfe or Temple of Dagon, capacious to receive 5000 People at once, and ftood upon two main Columns, fo artfully contrived, that Samfon could grafp them in his two Hands, and pull the whole Fabrick upon them and himself, Judg. xvi. 21. Beth Dagon flood about 2000 Years, 'till Jonathan the Brother of Judas Maccabeus fet the City on Fire, and burnt that Temple, with all those his Enemies, who fled thither for Sanctuary, 1 Mac. x. 34. xi. 4. And fo long did a patient Deity wink at that Wickedness, before he punished them. Alexander the Great took this City in two Months, but it coft Alexander the third, Son of Hyrcanus a whole Year, before he became Mafter of it, 1 Maccab. xiii. 61, 62.

fair DAMASCUS (p), on the fruitful Banks of A B B ANA (q) and PHARPHAR (r), two Rivers of DA MASeus, whofe Waters are very pure and clear; he also was very bold against the Houfe of GOD, once he loft a Leper (s), and once he gained a King; AHAZ (t), his foolish Conqueror, whom he drew to defpife God's Altar, and displace it, for one made like thofe of SYRIA; whereon he might burn his abominable Offerings, and adore the Gods that he had conquered.

(p) Damafcus; Heb. i. e. Drinking Blood; because there Cain few his Brother; or the Habitation of Sem, because he dwelt thereabout; as alfo Adam and Eve, when they were expel led Paradife, as it is reported: Or from Eliezer of Damafcus, Abraham's chief Servant, Gen. xv. 2. whom others take to be the Founder of it. The Metropolis of all Syria, one hundred and fixty Miles from Jerufalem to the North, very beautiful, pleafant, fertile, and well watered by feven Rivulets. It is the oldest City upon Earth, built foon after the Flood, and was in the early Days of Abraham ; but now it is forely decayed, and called Damas by the Turks, by a Contraction of the old

Name.

(9) Abbana or Abana; Heb. i. e. Stony; because it runs down Mount Libanus among many Rocks and Stones, is very rapid, broad, and turbid. The chief River that runs by the Weft and South Sides of Damafcus and thro' it, into a great Lake hard by. The Fish in it are unwhole. fome. It is mentioned, 2 Kings v. 12. and is the Orontes in La tin, now Oronx, from the Name

of him who built the first Bridge

over it.

(r) Pharphar or Parpar, Heb. i. e. Fructifying. Another of the Rivers of Damafcus, or ráther one of the three Arms of the Abbana, now the Farfar and Chryforrhoes, Gr. i. e. Rúnning with Gold, because Gold is found in the Sands of that River. Some fay these are but two Branches of the Barraday.

(5) Leper; Fr. Ital. Span.

Lat. from the Gr. i. e. A Le
prous Man, full of Scabs or
Scales; one that is infected with
the Leprofy, Gr. i. e. A burn
ing or very hot Disease. Here,
Naaman the Syrian. This whole
Hiftory is recorded, 2 Kings v. 1.

(t) Aban; Heb. i. e. Taking
Poffeffion. An idolatrous King
of Judah, and the Father of
good Hezekiah. He was the
fourteenth King, about A. M.
2205, feven hundred and fixty
two Years before Jefus Chrift,
and reigned fixteen Years. He
caufed Uriah the chief Priest
to fet up an idolatrous Altar,
clofe by the Altar of God,
whereof he took the Pattern
from that at Damafcus, which
was ftrictly forbidden by the di-
vine Law. See 2 Kings xvi. 10.
AFTER

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