possibly be some allusion derived from tradı tion, in the four Iynxes here mentioned.*

The Cherubim were altogether a mysterious "similitude of the Great Ones," who themselves were none other than those, who, are elsewhere called in sacred scripture the Elohim or Aleim, and Jehovah. Of these titles, peculiar to the Supreme Being, and particularly of the latter of them, some traces are discoverable in mythology. The Carthaginians, for example, gave to their greatest deities of all, the name of the Alonim, while the Phoenicians and Syrians

The lynx was a bird made frequent use of by the heathen in their incantations. The tongue is sometimes said to have been the part most valued. Synesius de Insom. p. 134.

Stanleius. Philos. 1, 2, 3.

Nicephorus in Schol. Obser. 360. Chald. Orac. v. 115. The figures alluded to in the representation of Philostratus were perhaps suspended, with their wings outstretched, and hovering. Isaac. in Lycoph. Cassand. 310. Suidas. Pind. Pyth. iv. 380. Theocrit. Idyl. ii. 17. Nat. Com. viii. 18. Tzetzes mentions that when an oracle of this sort was consulted, the Iynx was turned round and round upon a magical wheel; which symbol was also introduced into the sacred dance of Cybele. Apoll. Rhod. i. 1139. The Iynxes in the temple at Delphi were golden ones, and thought by some to have been the same representation as the Sirens, which were compound. figures. The Egyptian Seraphis is sometimes represented with these mystic images hovering, or suspended around him. Kircher. Edip. Egpyt. tom. iii. p. 479.

named. Saturn the reputed father of the gods, El, Il, and Ilus, all of which are manifest derivatives from mbs Eloah, the holy name of the Creator in the singular number. Among the second, indeed, of these three nations, we hear 6 οι δε συμμαχοι Ιλε το Κρονε ΕΛΩΕΙΜ επεκλήθησαν the "companions of Saturn or Ilus were called "Elohim!" Analogous to this was the title of "the most high Elion," which they conferred upon one of their deities, and he was declared, according to that ancient writer Sanchoniathon, "to have begat heaven and earth." This very name is given by Moses to the one only and true God; for Abraham said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted up my hand to Jehovah, "the most high Elion, the begetter of heaven "and earth."*

In a fragment of Philo Byblius, taken from Sanchoniathon, and preserved in Eusebius,† a

* Euseb. Prep. Evang. lib. xxxvii. et ut supra. Bochart. Canaan. lib. ii. cap. 2. p. 784. Plautus in Pœn. Act. v. Scena 2. Scalig. not. in Fragm. Græc. Selden de diis Syr. Gale's Court of the Gentiles. Stillingfleet's Orig. Sac. iii. 5.

p. 404. Gen. xiv. 19, 22.

+ Euseb. Prep. Evang. lib. i. p. 18. Ancient Univer. Hist. Carthag. vol. xvi. p. 622, and the authors cited by these learned writers. Also Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. under the head Jehovah. Vossius de Orig. Idol. ii. 14.

pp. 378,

1

379.

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most remarkable mention is made of the god Jevo, and his priest Jerombaal, who was evidently Gideon, the Judge of Israel, styled in holy writ, from his contention with the idol atrous worshippers of Baal, Jerubbaal. Irenæus, Theodoret, Clemens of Alexandria, Eusebius, and Epiphanius have proved that the Jevo of Sanchoniathon was none other than Jehovah; and that the four letters which compose this awful name in the Hebrew, were written in Greek, Jaou, or Jau, or Jao. Diodorus Siculus, after enumerating several legislators who claimed for their laws the sanction of different deities, concludes by mentioning the name of Moses, who, he says, prescribed his ordinances to the Jews, under the authority of the god Jao.* The oracle of Apollo Clarius, at one time the most famous in the world, according to Macrobius, once uttered the following:

* Φράζεω τον παντων υπατον. Θεον εμμεν' ΙΑΟ.

"I declare that the supreme God of all is "Jah or Jehovah !" Nearly allied to these traditions is the title Juve or Jove, by which the Etruscans, who were descended from the Pelasgi, Phoenicians, and Lydians, addressed

* Diod. Sic. lib. i. cap. 7.

+ Macrob Saturn. i. 18. p. 246.

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their chief deity Jupiter, which itself in fact is only a corruption of Jao-pater. Aulus Gellius also affirms that the most ancient Latin name for Jupiter was Jovis or Jove. Now the Phoenician U answered to the Hebrew O, and therefore it seems pretty clear that Juve, or Jove, and Jehovah were originally one and the same title, involving in their signification the peculiar attribute of deity, which is self-existence. Varro, cited by St. Augustine, says, "Deum Judæorum esse Jovem, the god of the "Jews was Jove;" certainly shewing that it was merely a corruption of, and a tradition derived from the sacred name Jehovah. Seneca assures us that this Juve or Jove was the cause of causes, the great governor and director of the world, and the principle.of life and motion. According to Plato, the Greek name Zeus imported, properly speaking, the same that Jehovah does; that is, "the Being of beings, "the source of all existence." And in another place, this great philosophert asks T TO ON

* Jovis is used by Ennius as the nominative case. Montfauc. Ant. Exp. tom. i. p. 34, plate 9. Parkhurst. Aul. Gell. v. 12.

+ Plato in Timæo. Justin Martyr, Cohort ad Græc. pp. 19, 20, 23. See also the treatise passing under the name of this great father de monarchia Dei, passim. Plut. Isis et Osir p. 352. Euseb. Prep. Evang. xi. cap. ii. Bryant on the Plagues of Egypt, p. 198. Dickenson Delph. Phœn. x. 136.

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μεν αιει; γενεσιν δε ουκ έχον, "explain to me that deity On, which ever is, and never knew beginning nor production." The title On, is here equivalent to the Hebrew TM Jah, I am; He who is, simply, absolutely, and independently the self-existent Being the O ON! Hence, from Jah, the original name of the true God, the ancient Greeks had their In, In; and the Latins their Jö, Jö, in their frantic invocations of their gods. And hence, probably, those remarkable characters I (written after the oriental manner, from right to left) afterwards EI, were derived, which were inscribed over the door of Apollo's temple at Delphi; while by the deity On, into whose nature the Grecian sage was enquiring, was also denoted none other than the living God; nor is it likely that Plato could have borrowed this latter term from Moses, for the scriptures were not translated into Greek, until long after his death. He had, however, resided three years in Egypt, and procured his knowledge of the name of God from the same fountain whence the authors of the septuagint afterwards borrowed; namely, from the priests of the country, who had preserved the tradition and knew the import of the sacred title, although, as idolaters, they had abused it, conferring it upon their idol the sun,