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    Untitled Article

    into ^ vanquished countries discover hidden Ireaaures , as has been rented Iby : HS&p ; JohniOhar&iii , ^ hd referred tb -by * j $ aiah , chapter stlv ^ 8 , whoj it * "mropheoyV reptesentsHie Almighty & £

    ipi ^ tclnim uxg ^ to ^ tyrus , jsaying ^ * ' I ? will , give tthee the treasures of darkniess , t and h id den riches of secret places , that -that thou itnatyest know tlmt I the < Loird am the God of Israel . "

    Tfherpimctice of'cutting the atrm and hands in times of great affliction to appease the Deity , cannot also be . forgotten . This custom is evidently referred to by Jeremiah xli . 5 ; xlvii . & ; and xlviii . £ 7 . Baal ' s prophets in their contest with Elijah , were guilty *> f a similar superstition . We are told ,

    * ' they criedialoud , and cut themselves lifter their manner , with knives and -lancets , till the blood gushed out upon item / 1 * jBhe demoniac , * whose story is Mediated by Mark , t ^ probably cut ihimselfvuitht sharp stones , on the same principle . / Riis practice , ^ however , was not confined to tthose Who were

    in dread iof ithe displeasure of the © eity , but-was also employed , inconjuniition with cutting dff the hair from the forehead , % as a testimony of borrow ior theJloss of highly esteemed

    friends or 'relatives , as appears from JFeranmh « xvi . 6 , and Zechariah xiii . 5 , 6 ^ ^ and ^ kh « t this voluntary ^ voundiug / was ndtniicomnion , ^ niay be presumed from the circumstance of Moses

    having thought it necessary to forbid the practice . i 44 * Pe « h « ill not , " says he , * ' cut yourselves , nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead . " . § Were I not « expressly ^ treating on the practices of the ancients , many

    instances might be adduced to shew , that the Arabs 6 f the prfesent day occfcaally iiKike gashes in their arms swifch faftivtB » , ^ fbr-the purpose 'dfirecom-« ae « aing themselves in tfcBe tnoiSt effectnzl 'manner < to * the fevour 6 f their mifistresses ; ||

    # Kings xviii . 23 . f Mack vA 5 . . , J 4 < Tears flow'd from « ev * a ^ y ;^ ye , and o'Ter the dead , Eath clipt the curliiig" hohtours of his lieaa . ^ Homer ^ s Odyssey . ^ H ^ eMitwjftomytxiv . a . ; ] ! 4 ^ iiM «^« 'aiis < rf ^ atkms ^ n tfm ^ i ^^ - ^ gcs of Scri f HW ^ TM Ukl . 6 tf > . 1776 , « II . < r ¦<

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    In olqung my # « teou&tftif ? Iheicira toim anri practices of I the a » owdt Jevv ^ , ? it | fim $ t be r ^ n ^ i ^ kcd , ttrdt 3 tbe devout followers df "Moses arie ^ till extremely superstitious , : particulaiily

    respecting i } ie Sabb&tb , and the observance of times , and the management of culinary utensils , &c . Those who . areJcuriousiin examining into the nature of these observances may derive abundant information and

    amiBement from the perusal of that'payfcjerf the Mishnuwhich has been translated by Dr , Wotton , together with ^ his volume of discourses on ithe Jewirfi Traditions . The ndtion of the modern Jews , respecting the sacredness lof the Pentateuch , is , however ^ singular enough to deserve mention .

    These books nve usually written upon scrolls of parchment < or ipaper , with a rod of wood or bone or . * vory , firmly attached i : o each * end ^ of the rf ^ per or iparohmeiit ; jso that oneipaat * may be rolled upon one of the rods , while the other is ainrolled > for ^ fe

    ( pui : pose of being read ; and this is xa eontrivanee > for pre ^ ieiiAing the neces - sity of the . roll itself being touched'by the hand , which ^ vouldTrenderdtpermanently polluted . It seems tkwrt ithese books do ^ not fbecome isacred

    until they v are ftniafeed ; but the Jmoment » the last letter is written , -that moment the whole becomes iholy , and care must be t $ ken ever afterwanfcito preserve it frona being contaminated . It i » , therefore , immediately ^ depostted

    in some secureiplace , nvhere ^ it terniife in no danger Of being approached ^ by any living thing ; sfor , > if * even a mouse wereto » ron * overit , iit'would inevitfiWy be bo profaned , that no devout ^ Jie ^ could ever after make any use of it .

    I have , . however , no j intention of representing the Jews ^ s a tpeojile reinaFk ^ ble beyond ttH crthersifonthwtr superstition ; because , it-is-well-imown that in every 'nation * of « i 1 tiqu | ty ,

    where there has been a don ^ in ^ ertttg priesthood , every kind of -atesijrdity miid superstition has been inter w ^ v ^ n with the manners and habits i ^ fihe people . - ;•• , ho

    There isa « sect of Indians ^« puttify theowel ^ es with the dung aod uflrine jof the cow , and consider themaelvro 4 > olkited stay the » touch » oF m . % iewftic . tftwy wear a net » ot ^ t ^ # hm ^ motffta , leat they shotiia swallow u % by Victim Ami , ^ atid **« hrtt * rapt 'the progress

    Untitled Article

    On the general Mm ^ Amwe Superstition . &Q

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1818, page 263, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2475/page/39/