AN ESSAY

ON

CERTAIN STONE MONUMENTS OF ANTIQUITY FOUND IN THE BRITISH ISLES, &c.

CHAPTER I.

A DISSERTATION, SHEWING THAT SOME OF THE MONUMENTS HAD THEIR ORIGIN IN JACOB'S

TIME.

WHEN the venerable Jacob was about to bid adieu to his family, as well as to all earthly things, calling for his son Joseph, he addresses him thus: "God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz-the place afterwards called Bethel'-in the land of Canaan, and blessed me," &c. Of this important epoch in the life of the patriarch, the sacred historian gives us an account in a preceding chapter.* There we find that, in his journey from Beersheba to Haran," he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to

* Gen. xxviii.

B

heaven and behold, the angels of God ascending, and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth; and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; and in thee, and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land: for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. name of that place Beth-el; but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on; so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God. And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of

And he called the

all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee." The whole passage is so interesting, as well as connected with our subject, that we could not curtail it. Now, who would have supposed that this event, so sacred, so held in reverential remembrance by the pious descendants of Jacob, should have become the innocent occasion of stone idolatrous worship? Yet it appears to have been so, and alone presents us with a satisfactory idea of the origin of those remains of stone antiquities that we learn have been connected with idolatry, and which have so much attracted the attention of the antiquary. We conceive that they took their rise from a particular circumstance mentioned in this narrative; that of Jacob's placing the stone on which he lay, and on which in his sleep he beheld the vision of the Almighty, as a sacred pillar, around which he and his household were hereafter to meet for the worship of God. And if we connect with this circumstance that when, after Jacob's return from Padan-aram, God appeared to him again, and that he "set up another pillar in the place where the Almighty thus appeared, pouring not only oil thereon but a drinkoffering," the evidence will be still stronger-in connexion with that which will be hereafter adduced —that it was from this particular circumstance of the "pillar" of stone being raised as a Bethel, a house of God, that stone idolatry originated. The sacred vision and manifestation of the divine pre

sence inspired Jacob, not less with gratitude than with holy dread; and therefore he " rose up early in the morning," it is said, " and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel," which signifies a house of God, as he afterwards explains it himself. "This stone which I have set for a pillar," says he, " shall be God's house;" that is, "here I and my household on my return will meet together for the worship of God." And God affixed his seal to this transaction, by afterwards saying, "I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar."

To make it sacred, he poured oil upon the top of it, or, as the inspired historian expresses it, he "anointed the pillar." This is the first time that we read of the pouring out of oil or anointing for a sacred use; we cannot therefore explain the ceremony from any preceding part of the sacred history, but must look to some of its subsequent parts; and thence we shall find that anointing with oil, both as to persons and things, was a holy rite, frequently occurring in matters of worship. And, by the light of the New Testament, we shall discover, that it was designed to be significant of that "love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit," which sheds its fragrancy, as the anointing oil of the Jewish priests did throughout the temple, over all the affections of the soul, and

is the life of all religious worship. Nor was this all the ceremonial, at least on the second divine appearance, when, besides the pouring the oil, Jacob poured a drink offering on the pillar, must be significant. And, if the one was significant, so was doubtless the other; and, guided by subsequent scripture, as before, we may conjecture that this was designed to signify the cheering nature of this worship. Whether, however, we are right in our explanation of the ceremonial here observed or not, the great point is certain, that the stone pillar was to be considered as marking a sacred spot, and that it was a spot dedicated for the worship of God. Accordingly, when Jacob appeared somewhat tardy about fulfilling his vow, we find sometime afterwards that God said unto Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother." And Jacob went with his household, or, as it is said, "all the people that were with him." And he built there an altar,* and called the place "El-beth-el," which signifies "the God of Bethel."

Now this stone that Jacob set up, say the Jews,

* Worthy of remark it is, that sacred as this place was, there must be an altar of sacrifice erected; teaching us that there is no intercourse with God but in virtue of the sacrifice of Christ. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, Moses, Israel, all first-built altars.