warrior from the fangs of some monstrous dragon, like those of Perseus and Andromeda amongst the heathens, and St. George and Sabra amongst Christians, has been thought to refer to the destruction of the huge dracontian temples which existed in all nations; but the temptatio of Eve by the serpent was the undoubted prototype; while in all suc cases the deliverer was the promised Messiah. But the traditio thus far perverted, that instead of the moral principle which was destroye in our first parents, a physical destruction was supposed to take place in the persons of the exposed females. In Mexico is a rude carving preserved in one of the Dominican convents, of a serpent coiled up in an irritated erect position, with the jaws extended, and in the act of gorging an elegantly dressed female, who appears in the mouth of this enormous reptile, crushed and lacerated.

The serpent commenced his hateful career with uncompromising hostility to man, and his enmity has never been abated. In all ages he has been a scourge and a curse; and the adoration he has excited has been the abject devotion of a slave under the lash. It was a worship of propitiation. Pignorius (De Mensâ Isiacâ) says, that mankind being vanquished by the craft, pride, and malice of the devil, in the shape of a serpent, endeavoured to redeem the loss he had sustained by turning that reptile into a sacred idol. Hence the practice of offering the most valuable possessions, even wives and daughters, at its altar. And hence

the Grecian custom to which Clemens Alexandrinus refers, when he says (Pod. 1. 245), that "females were not ashamed to wear about their persons these symbols of the evil power; for as the serpent deceived Eve, so the golden ornament in the form of a serpent misleads her daughters."

In the most early period of Sabianism, and perhaps before the deluge of Noah, the serpent was made a symbol of the sun. Hence it is conjectured that the dracontian temples of Abury, Stanton Drew, Shap, and others in this island, were Ophite temples dedicated to the sun; and it is remarkable that the august structure at Abury was formed to represent a serpent connected with the sun, and was in the exact shape of the hydra of the sphere. We find in ancient mythology the most extraordinary legends about the serpent or dragon, which constituted a neverfailing theme of discussion amongst those who practised the abominations of ophiolatry.

61 With the terror usually inspired by this hideous vermin, might be blended another feeling of a higher and purer character. In the ages immediately subsequent to the flood, the sons of Noah would propagate amongst their posterity the fact, that the knowledge of good and evil was acquired by the original parents of mankind, through the intervention of a serpent endowed with speech, wisdom, and foresight. Such a representation, proceeding from such high authority, would naturally induce a feeling of respect and veneration for an animal possessing these extraordinary attributes, which, when the true God was entirely forsaken, would soon degenerate into actual worship. This may be assumed as one pristine cause of ophiolatry; and it is highly probable that it exercised some influence, not only with the heathen, but with the Christian, and also with the Jew.

The simple fact of serpent worship has never been disputed; for in the Apocalypse (xii. 8) the serpent is said to have deceived the whole world. Testimonies to that effect are purposely scattered throughout the writings of antiquity, which plainly intimate that some knowledge of antediluvian events was spread over the face of the globe by the erratic tribes whe

migrated from Shinar, how much soever it might be cast into shade in later times.

Serpent worship derived its origin from this source; and the name, applied with a transmitted authority to the destructive power, has reached our times; for the Deva or Dive of the East, who was considered the tempter of Eve; the Diu of ancient Hibernia; the Armoric Due; the Gaelic Dhu, were no other than the Diabolus of the Greeks and Latins, and the English Devil.

64 It appears that it only were serpents made emblems of the divine nature, and entwined about the rods of Mercury, Osiris, Esculapius, Trophonius, Hercyna, and many others; but they were also painted on the walls of the caverns of initiation, and also on the inferior rooms of Greek and Roman houses; and lamps were kept continually burning before them. Serpents were painted on the banners of the Assyrians, the Celta, the Parthians, Scythians, Chinese, and Egyptians, as the sacred portraiture of the deity; and the temple of Serapis, or the Serpent, was the largest and most magnificent sanctum in Egypt. In all nations the serpent was an object of worship; for being attached to the promise, it was accounted holy; not from its form or properties, the first being disgusting, and the latter baneful, but from a superstitious belief that its body was the residence of the divinity; and was hence adored as the emblem of a divine Saviour.

65 He is termed in our scriptures, "the great dragon, that old serpent called the Devil" (Rev. xii. 9), and was considered an emblem of wisdom, and a foreteller of future events. Thus, in Grecian fable, Melampus having preserved two snakes from destruction, as he slept one day beneath an oak, the reptiles crept up and licked his ears. Awaking from sleep, he found himself able to understand the language of birds, and discovered that he was capable of prying into futurity. The Scholiast on the Hecuba of Euripides says, that serpents licking a person's ears, make him so sharp of hearing, that he can understand the counsels of the gods, and be capable of prophesying. Divination by the agency of serpents was very extensively propagated, and the superstition is scarcely yet extinguished: for the appearance of a snake on any person's premises is still accounted an omen either for good or evil.

66 Clem. Alex. cohort. ad Gent. p. 17. In the hieroglyphics of Egypt, a serpent casting his skin represented the eternity of the Deity (Pier. Hier. fo. 103), and it was believed that nothing could be eternal but God.

67 See Num. xxii. 8, compared with Wisdom xvi. 7. As Moses symbolized this august personage by a serpent, the early Christians accepted the emblem, and applied it to Jesus Christ.

LECTURE XLIII,

THE PRIESTLY ORDERS.

"The tabernacle might be considered as the palace of the Most High, the dwelling of the God of Israel; wherein the Israelites, during their peregrination in the wilderness, performed the chief of their religious exercises, offered their sacrifices, and worshipped God."-SMITH.

"The ruler of the Jews, perceiving how prone the minds of the ignorant were to be perverted by show and ceremony; and that the eye, being caught by pomp and solemn rites, debauched the judgment, and led the heart astray; and being convinced that the magnificent festivals, processions, sacrifices, and ceremonials of the idolatrous nations, impressed the minds of mankind with a wild degree of reverence and enthusiastic devotion, thought it expedient for the service of the God of Israel, to institute holy offices, though in an humbler and less ostentatious mode; well judging that the service and adoration of the Deity, which was only clothed in simplicity of manners, and humble prayer, must be established in the conviction of the heart of man, with which ignorance was ever waging war."-HUTCHINSON.

"The High Priest of every Chapter has it in special charge, as appertaining to his office, duty, and dignity, to see that the By-Laws of his Chapter, as well as the constitution, and the general regulations of the Grand Chapter, be duly observed; and that all the other officers of his Chapter perform the duties of their respective offices faithfully, and are examples of diligence and industry to their companions. He has the special care and charge of the warrant of his Chapter, as well as the right and authority of calling his chapter at pleasure, upon any emergency or occurrence, which in his judgment may require their meeting, and he is to fill the chair when present."—WEBB.

THE most extraordinary institution that distinguished the sojourning of the Israelites in the Wilderness, was the establishment of a permanent priesthood. During the continuance of the patriarchal dispensation, every head of a family, or tribe, united in his own person the threefold character of king,' priest, and prophet.2 But when God had determined to form his people into a body politic, and destined them to become a great and powerful nation; when he found it necessary to give them a code of laws for their local government, and a series of religious observances for their spiritual direc

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tion, he also set over them a gorgeous hierarchy, endowed with special privileges, and invested with a corresponding pomp and splendour. To the head of this hierarchy prophetical powers were attached, which the high priest possessed the privilege of exercising through the agency of a supernatural power inherent in the breast plate, which was the distinctive badge of his office. This power was denominated Urim and Thummim, or light and perfection; and it was the unerring oracle of the Israelites.

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That the priests might be unconnected with secular affairs, they were separated from the people; and the tribe of Levi, from which they were chosen, had no inheritance in the promised land. It was appropriated exclusively to holy purposes, and arrangements were made in the Mosaic law for its maintenance and support by the other tribes. The priests were intended to be more holy, more circumspect in their actions, and more pure in their conversation than worldly men. And as an emblem and perpetual memento of their purity, both in body and mind, certain parts of their dress were recommended to be white.10 Devoted to an attendance on the tabernacle worship, their office was to magnify the glory of God, and to prevent the people from returning to the idolatrous practices of that impure nation from which they had been redeemed.

Aaron was appointed by the Almighty to be the first high priest," and in that capacity was an eminent type of the great High Priest of a new and more perfect dispensation, 12 which should be revealed to man when the fulness of time was come ;13 and his glorious apparel was symbolical of the pure and shining graces of the spirit with which the Messiah was to be adorned.14 The priestly vestments15 were ten,16 a number which indicated perfection, and symbolized heaven." They were gorgeously embroidered, in colours of gold, in reference to the spotless virtues by which Christ was adorned.19 The white linen garment of the high priest," signified Christ's innocence;22 the girdle his justice; the crown and mitre his kingdom and power, both temporal and spiritual.23 His robes ornamented with bells and pomegranates, symbolized the prophetical office of Christ, and the golden plate in the mitre his priestly office. The ephod

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