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earliest instance on record of the art of making a statue. Sculpture, in stone, was however known at this early date, for we read a command to this effectthat the Israelites were not to make images of stone. The image of the golden calf, as we have hinted, was doubtless formed after an Egyptian model; for it is recorded that the Egyptians had gods, not only of wood and stone, but also of silver and gold. And this is not the only one after which the Hebrews turned aside. In Joshua xxiv. 14, we are expressly told that they had, while in Egypt, served the gods of that country and how frequently they turned to such idol worship, even after they had settled in the land of Canaan, their whole history declares. It does not comport with the design of this work to describe each idol, which at one time or other became the object of their adoration : we shall, however, advert to one remarkable object in the antiquities of Scripture, which will show to what an extent they followed the idolatries of Egypt, in the days of the prophet Ezekiel. That object is

THE CHAMBERS OF IMAGERY;

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which are described as chambers wherein every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel," were "pourtrayed upon the wall round about," Ezek. viii. 10. This was a model which was evidently borrowed from the Egyptians; for how exactly it describes the inner chambers and sanctuaries of the temples, tombs, and

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mystic cells of Egypt, is obvious to every one who has read the various descriptions of such which modern travellers have supplied. The forms of the creeping things, abominable beasts, and idols, which are exhibited on these walls, are thus ingeniously enumerated in verse, by Mr. Salt, who travelled in that country.

And of such mystic fancies, in the range

Of these deep-caverned sepulchres are found
The wildest images, unheard of, strange,
Striking, uncouth, odd, picturesque, profound,
That ever puzzled antiquarian's brain;
Prisoners of different nations, bound and slain,
Genii with heads of birds, hawks, ibis, drakes,
Of lions, foxes, cats, fish, frogs, and snakes,
Bulls, rams, and monkeys, hippopotami,
With knife in paw, suspended from the sky;
God's germinating men, and men turn'd gods,
Seated in honour with gilt crooks, and rods;
Vast scarabei, globes by hands upheld,
From chaos springing, mid an endless field
Of forms grotesque, the sphynx, the crocodile
And other reptiles from the slime of Nile.

There is a "chamber of imagery," which affords a remarkable analogy to that described by the prophet, (not only in its interior decorations, but in its entrance,) in the great temple of Edfou, upon the roof of which the Arabs have built a miserable village. It is thus described in Madden's "Travels in Turkey, Egypt, etc." Speaking of an old Frank, who undertook to conduct him into the interior, he says, "Considerably below the surface of the adjoining buildings, he

pointed out to me a chink in an old wall, which he told me I should creep through on my hands and feet; the aperture was not two feet and a half high, and scarcely three feet and a half broad. My companion had the courage to enter first, thrusting in a lamp before him. I followed, and after me the son of the old man crept also; the passage was so narrow that my mouth and nose were sometimes buried in the dust, and I was nearly suffocated. After proceeding about ten yards in utter darkness, the heat became excessive, breathing was laborious, the perspiration poured down my face, and I would have given the world to have got out but my companion, whose person I could not distinguish, though his voice was audible, called out to me to crawl a few feet further, and that I should find plenty of space. I joined him at length, and had the inexpressible satisfaction of standing once more on my feet. We found ourselves in a splendid apartment of great magnitude, adorned with sacred paintings and hieroglyphics."

To what a miserable state of degradation the Hebrews had descended, by erecting such a chamber as this in the Lord's own temple, will be apparent to every Christian reader. The fact affords indeed one of the most painful lessons of the depravity of human nature on record, and is well calculated to teach us to look to our own steps, lest through "an evil heart of unbelief," we also should be tempted to turn aside from the living God. Human nature is the same in all ages of the world; and though we may not, like the

Hebrews, be tempted to err by the idol gods of Egypt, the world abounds with snares, which, if we are not careful, and are not preserved by the grace of God, may allure us from the paths of holiness.

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THE CATAPULTA AND BALISTA.

THE engines which Uzziah set upon the towers and the bulwarks of Jerusalem, 2 Chron. xxvi. 15, wherewith "to shoot arrows and great stones," is thought, with great probability, to have been analogous to the catapultæ and the balista of the Greeks and Romans. These machines were constructed upon similar principles; but the former was used in throwing javelins

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