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452. [Gen. xiv. 14.] House-born slaves were called Vernæ (quasi viri nati) by the Romans, and were treated indulgently. See Athenæum, Nov. 1808, p. 406.

453. [Gen. xlviii. 5.] To soften the unjust and odious distinctions which existed between Patricians and Plebeians, the Romans practised adoption. How many great men, in consequence, started up out of the mass of the People, to merit this kind of recompence, as illustrious as those which Coun try bestows, and still more addressed to the heart! Thus did the Catos and Scipios distinguish themselves, in hope of being ingrafted into Patrician families. Thus it was that the Plebeian Agricola obtained in marriage the daughter of Augustus.

St. PIERRE's Studies of Nature, vol. iii, p. 258.

454. [Gen. xvi. 15.] Adoption is very common among the Turks, and yet more so among the Greeks and Armenians. Not having it in their power to give their estates to a friend or distant relation, to prevent their property from falling into the grand Seignior's treasury, when they are not likely to have any children of their own, they choose some pretty child of either sex, amongst the meanest people, and carry the child and its parents before the Cadi, and there declare they receive it for their heir. The parents at the same time renounce all future claim to it; a writing is drawn and witnessed, and the child thus adopted cannot be disinherited.— The adopting fathers are generally very tender to those children of their souls, as they call them. I own, says Lady WORTLEY MONTAGUE, this custom pleases me much better than that absurd one of following our name, Methinks it is much more reasonable to make happy and rich an infant whom I educate after my own manner, brought up (in the Turkish phrase) upon my knees; and who has learned to look on me with a filial respect, than to give an estate to a creature without other merit or relation to me, than that of a few letters.

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458. [Gen. xxx. 3.] I have been informed, says the Hon. DAINES BARRINGTON, by a learned friend, that some years past it was not uncommon in many parts of England (in Oxfordshire particularly), for the grand-daughter to be delivered upon the knees not only of the grand-mother, but the grand-father. The husband often also places the wife upon his knees for this same purpose, amongst the lower class of peasants both in Prussia and Lapland.

Archæologia, vol. v. p. 126. The succession of emperors among the Greeks, for some generations before it was utterly extinguished by the Turks under the reign of Mahomet II., was interrupted to such a degree, that the title of Porphyrogenete, or person born in the Empress' lying-in apartment, was what many of their princes had no sort of pretensions to. PERRY'S Levant, p. 9.

459:

In Gen. 1. 23, as in Ruth iv. 17, and 2 Sam. xxi. 8, the Septuagint translate the Hebrew word jalad by teknogonia, which in 1 Tim. ii. 15, is rendered child-bearing; but in the former places it evidently denotes the adoption and consequent education of another's off-spring. For the children of Machin the son of Manasseh, were not brought forth, but brought up on the knees of Joseph; Nahomi did not bring forth Obed, but brought him up: and Michal was not the wife of Adriel, but Merab; and she had no children, but brought up those whom Merab had to Adriel. The Jews observe on this subject, that whoever brings up a pupil in his house, is in Scripture said to have begotten him. It is in this sense that, in Gen. xxxvi. 2, Aholibamah is called the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite; she being indeed the proper daughter of Ana, but the daughter of Zibeon by adoption or education.

Thus it is said, Moses was the son of Pharaoh's daughter, though she had only taken care of his education, Exod. ii. 10; and it is perhaps in this sense that the generations of Aaron are called the generations of Moses, Num, iii. 1.

Essay for a New Trans. part ii. p. 75.

460. [2 Kings xviii. 2.] As Ahaz was but twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned only sixteen years; Hezekiah must have been his adopted son, through the

medium of Abi, the daughter of Zachariah; otherwise he could have had no hereditary right to the crown, being actually born nine years before this Ahaz became king.

The word Sultan is a title given to the Ottoman princes, born while their fathers were in possession of the throne.The epithet Sultan therefore, is bestowed on him who enjoys the right of succession, as being the eldest-born while his father possesses the throne. (BARON du TOTT, vol. i. p. 65.) -Zemes sailing to Rhodes, was there honourably received of the Great Master, and all the rest of the Knights of the Order to whom in their public assembly, three days after, he openly declared the causes of discord between his brother and himself: alleging as a color for his rebellion, that although Bajazet were his elder brother, yet he was born while his father lived in private estate, under subjection aud command, long before he possessed the kingdom, and so no king's son: whereas he himself was the first-born of his father, after he had become an emperor; and so not the heir of his father's private fortune, but of his greatest honor and empire.

2 Kings xvi. 2.

KNOLLES' Hist. of the Turks, p. 442.

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Round the pale of his tent, within a pistol shot, were above two hundred tents, pitched in such a manner that the doors of them all looked toward the Basha's tent; and it ever is so, that they may have their eye always on their master's lodging, and be in readiness to assist him if he be attacked. Exod. xxxiii. 8, &c. THEVENOT, Trav. part ii.

464.

P. 148.

In Africa the Cheyk's tent is always known by its situation in the centre of the dow-war, or wandering camp, and he by his garments, which are commonly longer and finer than those of the rest; and his office is to rule over, judge and take care of his little commonalty.-These inferior Cheyks are subject to a higher, styled either Cheykel-kibbeer, great lord or elder; or else Emeer, prince, who has a number of dow-wars under him, according to the numerousness of the tribe over which he presides,

Modern part of Univer. Hist. vol. xiv. p. 54.

465. [Gen. xxv. 16.] As the Ishmaelites were thus governed by twelve princes; so the Bedouins, their descendants, have always preserved some traces of this patriarchal government. Their families continue together; and under the name of Emir, one is prince among people, who are all his kindred, within a certain degree of affinity. SMITH'S Michaelis, vol. i. p. 232,

466. [Gen. xvi. 7.] The Mahometans consider Mecca as the once favourite residence of Ishmael, the Arabian patriarch. To represent also the flight of Hagar into the desert, they look behind, and on each side of them; examine every creek and corner with a seeming solicitude and concern, and afterwards testify all the marks of a sudden transport and surprise, as if they had actually found the very thing so earnestly sought. This religious custom, you may plainly perceive, was derived from the scripture account of the well where Hagar and her son, after a tedious search, at last quenched their thirst.

See ROLAND's Mahometanism.-
Nat. Delin. vol. ii. p. 235.

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CIRCUMCISION.

[Gen. xvii. 10.] And GOD said to Abraham, This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.

468. [Gen. xvii. 13.] This mode of ADOPTION, thus begun in Abraham's family, ran through the Mosaic œconomy of the law instituted four hundred and thirty years after the appointment of circumcision, and ended in God's adoption of sons among the Gentiles by the spirit of His Son sent forth into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father; Gal. iv. 4—6. Rev. RICHARD CLARKE.

469. [Gen. xvii. 11.] Grotius has evinced from a multitude of different authors, that God, in commanding Abraham to use the rite of circumcision, meant it as a mark of covenant between his posterity and the Creator; and that every other nation, practising it, learned it either from him or his descendants.

Univer. Hist. vol. xvii. p. 551.

470. The rite of circumcision has prevailed among almost all original and unmixed nations, and it now prevails among the savages both in the islands and continent of the Terra Australis, or great Southern Continent.

Modern Univer. Hist. vol. xvii. p. 105.

471. [Gen. xiv. 18.] Among the Israelites, if proselytes became circumcised, they were thereby separated from their own people, adopted as children of Abraham, and were bound to keep the law of Moses. These were called by the Jews proselytes of Justice, to distinguish them from proselytes of the gate, who were circumcised, only observing the laws of Noah, and therefore called Noachida.-These two sorts of proselytes became so numerous, that in Solomon's time there were a hundred fifty-three thousand and six hundred of them in his kingdom: 2 Chron. ii. 17.—As such proselyted Kings made peace betwen the nations they separated from, and the nations they were adopted to, we may hence see the reason why the patriarch of Sodom, who is styled King of Justice, is also denominated King of Peace.

See Univer. Hist. vol. ii. p. 370.

472. [Gen. xvii. 11.] The first and most obvious design of circumcision, as God expressly declared on its institution, was to serve as the sign of a covenant into which the posterity of Abraham were to enter with the Only True God, to adore and reverence no other God but Him Alone. How it could be the sign of such a covenant, becomes intelligible, when we know (from Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Philo Ju

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474. Had such notions been adhered to, concerning the divine goodness, as the light of reason dictates, the Egyptians and some other Pagan Nations could never have thought that cutting off the foreskin (not to be performed without great pain and hazard) could have been esteemed a religious duty acceptable to a good and gracious God; who makes nothing in vain, much less what requires the cutting off, even with extreme danger as well as anguish. Had nature required such an operation, Nature, being always the same, would still have required it.

Christianity, as old as the Creation, p.77.

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476.

Univer. Hist. vol. x. p. 143.

As no one who was maimed, or any way mutilated, was allowed to appear in the presence of God even as a common Priest;-How could the Jews be circumcised, according to the preposterous and indelicate notion which has been too generally received respecting circumcision, since Gentiles as well as Jews began to err not knowing the Scriptures"?—In Chaldea, eunuchs were made: in Egypt, circumcision was barbarously performed in mutilating the flesh. Both acts are in Deut. xxiii. 1. peremptorily forbidden." Is any man called, being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised."-" Circumcision is nothing-but the keeping of the commandments of God."-Of course, "if thou be a breaker of the law thy circumcision is made uncircumcision."-Now the law, to which the Jew was separated in being circumcised or cut off from sin when he entered into the congregation of the LORD, might be ceremoniously kept

in the letter while it was virtually broken in the spirit, consequently true "circumcision," says the apostle, "is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God,"

Phil. iii. 3.

477. [Josh. v. 8.] The Israelites encamped in Gilgal on the 10th of the First Month, Josh. iv. 19. They were circumcised on the 11th, and kept the passover on the 14th of the same month, ver. 10. The circumcision therefore, used by Joshua, could not be that barbarous one of cutting the prepuce; which, according to Sir J. CHARDIN, obliged an adult to keep his bed for about three weeks: at least, says he, during that time the circumcised are not able to walk about but with great difficulty. See Dr. A. CLARKE's Commentaries, on Josh. v. 8.

478. [Ezek. xvi. 4.] In the Korân, circumcision is not once mentioned; but a loug account of this rite, as used by the Modern Arabs (and Modern Jews), may be met with in Dr. PocoCKE, and others.-The Mahometan Writers affirm, that their Prophet was born circumcised, or with his umbilical vessels cut, to the great astonishment of all present. (See Modern Univer. Hist. vol. i. p. 19. See in particular, Gagn. la vie de Mahom. tom. i. pp. 77. 78.)—And the Jews reckon seven saints who were born circumcised.

SMITH'S Michaelis, vol. iii. p. 92, Note STRABO (b. xvii.) reckons it among the customs of the Egyptians, that they circumcise boys and girls, as the Jews also did.

From NIEBUHR's Description of Arabia, pp. 76-80, we learn, that in Egypt until this day, Mahometan females are frequently circumcised.

The Abyssinians also, though Christians who deem not circumcision a divine command, do nevertheless practise it as a national custom, and on both sexes: this is well known from Jobi Ludolphi Historia Æthiopica, lib. iii. c. i.—See SMITH'S Michaelis, vol. iii. art. 185.

In Egypt the Copts, in common with the Abyssinians, administer circumcision to both sexes; and so scrupulous are they in that point, that, in the year 1689, one of their most considerable persons, at Alexandria, refused to marry a young woman of sixteen years of age, who had been espoused to him, till she had regularly undergone that religious operation.

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483. [Gen. xvii. 1.] The LORD appeared to Abraham, and said to him, I am the almighty GoD: walk before me, and be thou perfect.

The patriarch Abraham, and his descendants, knew God by the name El Shadai (Hebr.), the mighty or self-sufficient God, till He made His peculiar name Jehovah known to them. See Exod. vi. 3. Aud to worship Him under oaks, and in oaky groves, was common to all the descendants of Noah.

Univer. Hist. vol. xviii. p. 7, Note (E).

484. [Gen. xviii. 10.] JOSEPHUS (Antiq. b. i. c. xii. § 2.) calls the Being, who appeared to Abraham, and foretold the birth of Isaac, directly God; and afterwards (§ 3.) a divine Angel.

485. [Gen. xviii. 22.] It is not probable that Moses should call a mere angel by the name JEHOVAH; that Abraham should intercede with such a one, as Judge of all the earth; or that an angel should peremptorily say, If I find forty, thirty, or twenty righteous persons in the place, I will

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spare it for their sakes. It must therefore have been the Great Angel of the Divine Presence, CHRIST HIMSELF, emphatically called the JUDGE OF ALL THE WORLD. Univer. Hist. vol. ii. p. 371.

486. [Gen. xvi. 13.] Those who have once believed that God is the inspector of their lives, will not permit themselves in sin. any

JOSEPH. Against Apion, b. ii. § 17.

SODOM AND GOMORRAH.

487. [Gen. xix. 24.] The LORD rained upon Sodom and apon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire.

[Gen. xviii. 32.] I suspect, says HUTCHINSON, that the men of Sodom were guilty of a wickedness, of which what is now called sodomy, was but a consequence.—The worshipping the creature (the IMAGE OF A MAN amidst FIRE) was a crime that could be committed by every soul in those cities, or by all within ten; and if that kind of worship had at this time prevailed vastly more there than in other places, destroying them, as it were, by the hand of what they worshipped, was the most likely to reform their neighbours. (See his Nat. Hist. of the Bible, pp. 121–132.)—Thus was the religious world twice destroyed, when utterly fallen: first, by water, at the termination of the Adamic Church in Egypt; next, by fire, in the consummation of the Noaich Church at Sodom.-See 2 Peter iii. 5-7. Wisdom xiii. 1-9.

As it was still known in the world that the Shechinah had stood before Adam encompassed with fire, these wicked men counterfeited that appearance by exhibiting their Baal surrounded with a natural fire, as if he were the true Shechinah restored.-See Deut. iv. 36.

And as it was equally known at that time, that the Shechinah had re-appeared before Noah encompassed with a Rainbow of Light amidst a luminous cloud, these idolatrous descendants of the Noaich Church counterfeited also the manifestation of the LORD IN GLORY, by exhibiting a firefilled Moloch of brass amidst a cloud of smoke from incense and other combustibles.-See Ecclus. xvii. 13. xlii. 25. xliii. 1. Baruch iii. 37. 2 Esdr. i. 37.

This double mimicry of the Shechinah as he afterwards actually appeared to the Israelites in an illuminated cloud by day and in a fiery veil by night, constituted the fulness of the iniquity of that idolatrous Church which perished as to both its parts, at the awful, the memorable destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.-Eruptive volcanic fire destroyed Sodom, lightning or fire from heaven consumed Gomorrah.-See Wisdom x. 6, 7. Deut. iv. 36. Exod. xxxiii. 4, 10. xl. 34.

488. [Gen. xix. 24.] At Copenhagen, May 16th, 1646, when the whole town was overflowed by a great fall of rain, so that the streets became impassable, the air was infected with a sulphureous smell; and when the waters were a little subsided, one might have collected, says WORMIUS, in some places a sulphureous powder, of which I have preserved a part, and which in color, smell, and every other quality, appeared to be real sulphur, Mus. Worm. lib. i. c. 11. sect. 1.

489. [Gen. xix. 28.] The smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace; that is, from the volcanic eruptions which had destroyed the cities of the plain.

About four o'clock in the morning of June 16th, 1794, "the crater of Vesuvius began to shew signs of being open, by some black smoke issuing out of it, and at day-break another smoke tinged with red issued from an aperture near the crater; whilst a considerable stream of lava issued from the other side of the mountain, and ran with great velocity through a wood, which it destroyed. The conical part of Vesuvius was totally involved in dark clouds ; but above these we could often discern fresh columns of smoke rising furiously from the crater, until the whole mass remained in the usual form of a pine-tree, and amidst that gigantic mass of clouds, the volcanic lightning was frequently visible."

Gen. xix. 11. Wisdom xix. 17. Sir WILLIAM HAMILTON.

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