on account of the place they hold in the evidence for the immaculate conception. The bridal procession for bringing home the spouse was a very joyous ceremony in consequence of the importance attached to the probationary interval. It was headed by bands of music, next to which came the relations of the bride; then came her female companions, dressed in a simpler attire than that worn by the espoused lady; thus we read of the Egyptian princess, to whom Solomon was united: "She shall be brought unto the king in a raiment of needlework, the virgins her companions that follow, shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought; they shall enter into the king's palace." (Psalm 45. 14,15.) And here it may be remarked that the application of this very psalm to the delineation of the union between Christ and his Church is a clear proof of the great importance attached to the completion of a betrothal. The spectators joined in the acclamations raised by the members of the procession; and if the persons married were of high rank, a general holiday was observed on the occasion. A canopy was held over the head of the bride during the procession, and this is still used at the marriages of the modern Jews, though the ceremony is now performed in a house. C. nomes into which the valley of the Nile was divided. We find Solomon alluding to this national custom when addressing his Egyptian bride: "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army with banners?" (Cantic. 6. 10.) The same custom was in use among the Jews, for David declares, "In the name of God we will set up our banners," (Psalm 20. 5,) an expression which seems to intimate that the standards were consecrated by some religious ceremony. Isaiah (13.2,) notices the setting up of the royal standards as a signal for the mustering of armies; and Solomon (Cantic. 2. 4,) incidentally shows that soldiers, in ancient as in modern times, took a pride in being faithful to their standards. C. Egyptian Standards. koka STAR, kokab, and in the plural O bim. Under the name of stars the Hebrews comprehended all constellations, planets, and heavenly bodies, with the exception of the sun and moon. A pastoral people must always possess some knowledge of astronomy. Tending their flocks by night, they must necessarily be led to some observation of the heavenly tions which are visible above their horizon. These bodies, and to a speedy acquaintance with the constellaluminaries also must have been observed as guides by the navigators of the Red Sea, and by the Idumeans, who travelled over pathless deserts of sand before the use of the mariner's compass was known. The Psalmist, to extol the power and omniscience of God, says, "He telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them by their names." (Psalm 147. 4.) We have, however, no proof that the stars were grouped into constellations, and known by definite names, in the time of the patriarchs, or even of the Hebrew commonwealth, although such names are used by the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and our authorized version, in translating two passages in the Book of Job, and one in the prophet Amos. In chapter 9. 9, our translators, following the Vulgate, read, "Which maketh Arcturus ( gnash,) Orion (D5 kesil,) and Pleiades ( kimah), and the chambers of the south." Now in Job 4. 19, we have the word y gnash, signifying a moth, or any destructive insect, such as cause the blights so fatal to the labours of the husbandman in Eastern countries. The next term kesil, literally signifies "a fool," and the Rabbins inform❘ us that it was vindictively applied to the dog-star, because its rising was the precursor of excessive heat; in fact, that star is called "the little fool" by the Arabs at the present day. Finally, kimah, literally signifies "a heap," and is sometimes used to signify the agency of destructive winds and rains. The passage then may be rendered, Who maketh the insect blight, and the scorching heat, And the heaping rains, and the clouds of the south. In chapter 38. 31,32, ↳ kesil, and kimah, occur with two other words, which have been rendered by the names of constellations: "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season, or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?" scatter, disperse, and cast away;" it therefore most probably describes the simoom, whose pernicious blasts are so often felt in Arabia and Idumea. variety of symbolic significations, which demand attention. Stars are symbols of persons in eminent stations, and very fitly so, from the height of their own position. Thus, the star out of Jacob, in Numbers 24. 17, is coupled with, or explained by, the sceptre out of Israel, in Genesis 37. 2. Joseph's brethren are described as eleven stars, their subsequent renown as patriarchs justifying the appellation. In Numbers 24. 17, just quoted, where the Hebrew and Greek have a star, the Chaldee expounds it, "A king shall arise out of the house of Jacob," which interpreters apply first to David, and afterwards to the Messiah. In allusion to this prophecy, the infamous Jewish impostor Bar-cocab, or, as the Romans called him, Barchochebas, who appeared in the reign of Adrian, assumed the pompous title of "Son of a star," as the name implies, as if he were the star out of Jacob; but this false Messiah was destroyed by the emperor's general, Julius Severus, with an almost incredible num ber of his deluded followers. Stars were the symbols of a deity: "The star of your god Chiun." (Amos 5. 26.) Probably the figure of a star was fixed on the head of the image of a false god. A Greek scholiast on the place says, Erat simulachrum fronte ad figuram Luciferi. Moabitarum cum gemma pellucida et eximia in summa Chiun was a name for -gnaish, ren עיש dered Arcturus, is only another form of wy gnash, which, as we have already seen, signifies blight. We may, therefore, render the passage, Canst thou restrain the influences of the rains, And direct the blight with its children (viz., insects)? On the other hand, it must be confessed that the stars, as Moses has declared, have, from the earliest ages, been "for signs and for seasons," and that in the East, they are frequently employed to designate the physical phenomena which are expected about the time of their heliacal rising. Thus "the dog-days" is a phrase popularly used in England to designate very hot weather. The names, however, given to the constellations in the ordinary versions are obviously derived from the Greek mythology, with which it would be absurd to suppose that Job was acquainted. Whatever solution of the difficulties in the use of the terms we have examined may be adopted, the exegetical meaning of the passages will be the same; an assertion that man cannot regulate the seasons, the temperature, and the various physical agencies of the universe at his pleasure, so as to prevent the destructive effects of some, or secure the genial influ ences of others. One reason may be added to show the improbability of Job having used the names of stars as symbols of physical agency. It was the belief that they exercised such a power which led to Sabaism, or the adoration of the celestial luminaries, the first form of idolatry, and the pregnant source of all the subsequent corruptions of paganism. Astronomy does not appear to have been much cultivated by the Jews, and there is only one distinct allusion to astrology: "The stars in their courses fought against Sisera." These luminaries are chiefly mentioned as illustrations of the power and greatness of God; as the poet has it,— The spacious firmament on high, Saturn, as Spenser affirms. Plutarch, de Isid. et Osir., tells us the Egyptian priests affirm of their tutelary deities, not only of those that are immortal, but likewise of their deified heroes, that their souls illuminate the stars in heaven. A star, therefore, was often used in the Egyptian hieroglyphics as a symbol of their men-gods: this, as well as rays of light, was their common insignia all over the world. (LUCAN, vii. 458.) Fulminibus manes radiis ornabit et astris. With rays adorn'd, with thunders arm'd, he stands; And man's prayer and sacrifice demands. When Joseph said, (Gen. 37. 9,) "I have dreamed a dream, and behold the sun, and the moon, and the eleven his words in their symbolical and true meaning, restars made obeisance to me," his father, understanding buked him, and said to him, "Shall I, and thy mother, and thy brethren, indeed bow down ourselves to thee?" But, as the heavenly bodies mentioned by Joseph could not appear, even in a dream, as making obeisance to him, we may believe that he saw in his dream, not the heavenly bodies, but a visionary representation of his parents and brethren making obeisance to him; and that, in relating this to his father, he chose from modesty to express it in symbolical, rather than in plain language. Besides, as there never was any collection of stars called the eleven stars, the application which Jacob made of that appellation to Joseph's eleven brethren shows clearly that the word star, in common speech, was used to signify the father of a tribe. (MACKNIGHT, vol. iii. p. 496.) and nobles of a kingdom, who were thrown down and In Daniel 8. 10, the stars seem to denote the princes stamped upon by a power designated by the "little horn." In Revelations 8. 10,11, the star is said to fall from heaven, by which, in all probability, some king is to be understood as rebelling against another power. This star is called Wormwood, on account of its bitter consequences. Daubuz supposes this star to mean Attila, king of the Huns, who, in A.D. 442, laid waste several provincestof the Roman empire. Rev. 9. 1, "I saw a star fall from heaven to the earth," i. e. an inferior power revolting against a superior, and this in order to his own aggrandizement. Daubuz affirms this to be Mahomet, who in 622 began When the morning-stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy. Perhaps this may refer to an opinion that the stars are under the direction of guardian angels. But why the morning-stars? Because it was at the time of the Creation, the morning of the first day. Rev. 1. 20. The pastors of the seven churches are called the seven stars, on account of their office. Jude, verse 13. The false teachers are described as "wandering stars,” in allusion to those meteors arising from electrical matter in the air, which blaze and are in motion for a time, but are suddenly extinguished. Rev. 6. 13, "The stars of heaven fell upon the earth," i. e., some principal ruling powers fell from their authority into a state of subjection. Bishop Newton considers this to signify the downfall of the pagan Roman empire, when the great lights of the heathen world, the sun, moon, and stars, the powers civil and ecclesiastical, were all eclipsed and obscured, the heathen emperors and Cæsars were slain, the heathen priests and augurs were extirpated, the heathen officers and magistrates were removed, the heathen temples were demolished, and their revenues were appropriated to better uses. Rev. 12. 4, “His tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven," i.e., the power here alluded to would subdue the governments in the third part of the then known world. Here, as Daubuz observes, the decorum of the symbol is followed, crocodiles and some great serpents seizing their prey with their tails. T. STATUTE. See LAW. STEEL, nechushah. The word occurs twice, (Job 20. 24; Jerem. 15. 12,) but in both instances, it should be rendered copper or brass, for it is mentioned as a metal wholly distinct from iron. C. STEPHEN. The first Christian martyr, and the head of the seven deacons appointed by the Apostles. As his name is purely Greek, it is probable that he was an Hellenistic Jew, and therefore well suited to allay the jealousies which caused the institution of the order of deacons. His martyrdom was an illegal act, perpetrated by a fanatical mob in a moment of violent excitement; and the early Fathers assert that many of his murderers were converted by witnessing the faith, resignation, and courage which he displayed when exposed to their rage. St. Paul mentions another Stephen, or Stephanus of Corinth, whose whole family was baptized, and "addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints." (1 Cor. 1. 16.) C. STEWARD, one who manages the affairs, or superintends the household of another, as Eliezer of Damascus did that of Abraham. (Gen. 15. 2.) Great confidence was reposed on those who held such an office, and hence St. Paul describes Christian ministers as the stewards of God over his church and family. (Titus 1.7.) Believers also are described as stewards of God's gifts and graces, to dispense the benefits of them to the world. (1Pet. 4. 10.) Our Lord frequently uses the responsibilities belonging to the office of a steward for the purpose of illustrating his reasoning. In the parable of the unjust steward, who defrauds his master by col equivalent for the poison which serpents, scorpions, and STING. This word is usually employed as an other venomous creatures convey by their sting. The scorpion was very abundant in Palestine, where it sometimes attained the size of an egg, and its sting occasions of life. To this a reference is made in Revelations 9. 3-10, the most intense pain, sometimes even causing the loss where mention is made of "the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man." Mention of this animal has been deferred to this place as the py gnakrab, or scorpion, is the animal to which reference is most commonly made when mention is made of a sting without any further specification. C. STOICS. A sect of heathen philosophers mentioned Acts 17. 18. They were the disciples of Zeno, and derived their name from the stoa, or portico, under which he was accustomed to give lectures to his disciples. The distinguishing tenets of the Stoics were, that God is underived, incorruptible, and eternal; possessed of infinite wisdom and goodness; the efficient cause of all the qualities and forms of things, and the constant preserver and governor of the world. They held that matter, in its original elements, is also underived and eternal, and is by the powerful energy of the Deity impressed with motion and form; that, though God and matter subsisted from eternity, the present regular frame of nature had a beginning, originating in the gross and dark chaos, and will terminate in a universal conflagration, that will reduce the world to its pristine state of a chaotic mass. From this, however, the world will again emerge by the energy of the efficient principle, and be restored in all its organic forms. This belief in a succession of dissolutions and renewals was held by the ancient Hindús, and was revived in the last century by some astronomers, who mistook a periodic perturbation of the planetary motions for a continuous approximation of the planets to the centre of the system, where they must be crushed and consumed. Darwin has immortalized this erroneous belief in the following magnificent lines, which are perfectly consistent with the theory of the Stoics, though refuted by the discoveries of modern science:— Roll on, ye stars, exult in youthful prime, Mark with bright curves the printless steps of Time; Near and more near your beamy cars approach, And lessening orbs on lessening orbs encroach. Flowers of the sky! ye, too, to age shall yield, Frail as your silken sisters of the field; Star after star from heaven's high arch shall rush; Suns sink on suns, and systems systems crush; Headlong, extinct, to one dark centre fall, And Death, and Night, and Chaos mingle all. Till overhead, emerging from the storm, Primeval Nature lifts her changeful form, Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame, And soars, and shines;-another, and the same. Those among the Stoics who maintained the existence of the soul after death, supposed it to be removed into the celestial region of the gods, where it will remain until absorbed into the Deity. But many imagined that, before they were admitted among the divinities, they must purge away their inherent vices and imper fections, by a temporary residence in some aërial region between the earth and planets! According to the general doctrine of the Stoics, all things are subject to a stern irresistible fatality, even the gods themselves. Some of them explained this Fate as an eternal chain of causes and effects; while others, more approaching the Christian system, describe it as resulting from the divine decrees, the fiat of an eternal Providence. Considering the system practically, it was the object of this philosophy to divest men of their sions and affections. They taught, therefore, that a wise man might be happy in the midst of tortures, and that all external things were to him indifferent. Their virtues all arose from and centred in themselves; and selfapprobation was their great reward. C. pas STONE. The erection of pillars or heaps of stone to commemorate any remarkable event was universal before the introduction of writing or inscription, and it is still employed for that purpose by many savage nations. Some sanctity in process of time was attributed to these memorials, and they began to be regarded with religious veneration. But other circumstances contributed to make stones an object of worship. Such phenomena as the rocking stones worshipped by the British Druids would naturally excite the astonishment of an Druidical Rocking Stone. ignorant people, and many commentators are of opinion that the D 18 eben mashkith, which the Jews were forbidden to erect, (Levit. 26,) was one of those bowing or rocking stones, especially as the phrase is used in opposition to a matzebah, which signifies "a standing pillar." Those rare phenomena, aëroliths, still more easily became objects of idolatry; they were generally of a similar kind to that mentioned by Herodian, as being consecrated to the sun under his name of Ελαιαγάβαλος, Elaiagabalos, and preserved in his magnificent temple at Syria; "in which," says the historian, "there stands not any image made with hands, as among the Greeks and Romans, to represent the god, but there is a very large stone, round at the bottom, and terminating in a point of a conical form, and a black colour, which they say fell down from Jupiter." Sacred pillars or stones were indeed frequently worshipped instead of statues by idolatrous nations, and traces of this preposterous veneration may still be found in various countries. The erection of monoliths or monumental pillars was forbidden to the Israelites, but it appears that they were permitted to erect cairns or piles of stone to preserve the recollection of great events, as Joshua did at Gilgal, that it might be a memorial of his miraculous passage over the Jordan. To the continuance of this practice the prophet alludes:And Jehovah their God shall save them, In that day shall he save his people as sheep, When sacred stones shall be erected for a standard in his land.-Zech. 9. 16. In trials it was the custom for the judges to be furnished with a white and black stone each; the former being dropped into the urn was a symbol of acquittal, the latter of condemnation. Hence in the book of Revelation, 2. 17, the giving of a white stone is mentioned as a mark of favour; it may, however, possibly allude to the Greek custom of giving a white stone to those who were victors at the Olympic games. Daniel (2.34,) compares the kingdom of the Messiah to a stone cut out of a mountain, which struck the feet of the colossal image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream, and having overturned that emblem of pagan power, increased in size until it filled the earth. This symbol may be supposed to allude to the origin of Christianity, at first taken from Judaism, but so rapid in its growth that it soon exceeded Judaism in extent, and will eventually overshadow all the nations of the earth. "The head stone of the corner," is that put at the angle of a building to unite the two main walls together, and which is therefore one on which the stability of the edifice in a great degree depends. Many allusions are made to it in Scripture, as in Psalm 18. 22; Matthew 21. 42; Mark 12. 10; Luke 20. 17; and Acts 4. 11. The metaphor is applicable to Christ in a double sense; first, as the most important and leading personage of the Church, "without whom all else were nought;" and secondly, as the stone that unites the believing Jews and Gentiles in one bond of faith. The Rabbinical writings show that this metaphorical use of the word stone is familiar to the Hebrews, for they apply it not only to kings and princes, but even to God himself. Stoning was a punishment much in use among the Hebrews; and the Rabbins assert that all crimes are subject to it, which the law condemns to death, without expressing the particular mode. They say, that when a man was condemned to death, he was led out of the city to the place of execution, and there exhorted to acknowledge and confess his fault. He was then stoned in one of two ways; either stones were thrown upon him till he died; or he was thrown headlong down a steep place, and a large stone rolled upon his body. To the latter mode it is supposed that reference is made in Matthew 21. 44. T. STORK, D chasidah. The Hebrew name of this bird signifies "the kind or benevolent;" its English name, derived secondarily from the Greek ToрYN, storge, "natural affection," equally testifies to the amiable STORK character attributed to the stork. It is a bird of the same species as the crane, from which indeed it differs only in a few particulars. The body of the stork is more corpulent than that of the crane, its colours are white and brown, the nails are flattened like those of a man, its beak is very long and furnished with jagged hooks, and its red legs are of a disproportioned appearance. It feeds on serpents and frogs, which was probably the reason of its being classed by Moses among the unclean animals, but from the same cause it is regarded as a sacred bird in all marshy countries. It has been long believed that the young stork, unlike all other birds, retains a love for its parents after having quitted the nest, and that it feeds and cherishes them when they have become too old to provide for themselves. This belief is well pourtrayed in the following lines of Beaumont: The stork's an emblem of true piety; Because when age has seized and made his dam The stork is a bird of passage, and is mentioned as such among others by Jeremiah, 8. 7. Even the stork in the heavens knoweth her stated times, And the turtle-dove, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the season of their coming, But my people have not discerned the judgment of Jehovah. The particulars attendant on the migration of storks are admirably enumerated in Thomson's Seasons. The stork assembly meets: for many a day STRANGER. See HOSPITALITY. C. STRANGLED. Animals put to death by strangulation had not the blood properly separated from the flesh, they could not therefore be eaten without a violation of the Noachic precept. (Gen. 9. 4.) The primitive Christians abstained from them, principally to avoid giving offence to the Jewish converts. (Acts 15. 20.) See BLOOD. C. STREETS. As the oriental streets are very narrow, the corners of them are usually the only parts which are frequented, and hence Our Lord reproves the Pharisees for praying at the corners of streets, which were public places. The Hindús, Mohammedans, and many other Orientals, still observe this fashion of parading their private devotions, and travellers have noted that the Mussulman saints, like the ancient Pharisees, are most ostentatious in the selection of a place for prayer. C. STRIPES. See PUNISHMENT. STUBBLE. In Egypt the reapers only cut off the ears of the corn with the sickle, leaving the straw, which they deemed worthless, to rot on the ground. Hence when the cruel Pharaoh commanded the Hebrew brickmakers to gather straw for themselves, though guilty of excessive tyranny, he did not, as some have supposed, ordain a physical impossibility. C. STUMBLING-BLOCK. The roads in Eastern countries are for the most part nothing more than accustomed tracks, worn to something like a level by the passing of travellers and caravans. When rocks and stones are placed in these tracks, riders are exposed to great danger from the stumbling of the horses; and hence Isaiah, (63. 13,) describing God's glorious deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, says, "He led them through the deep, as a horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble." Robbers and plundering hordes frequently placed huge stones and branches of trees across the roads, as stumbling-blocks to check and perplex caravans, in order that they might attack them during the confusion which such impediments would necessarily create. Thus, (Jer. 6. 21,)"Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people, and the father and the sons together shall fall upon them: the neighbour and his friend shall perish." C. SUCCOTH, ADD The name properly signifies tents, or booths, such as are frequently erected for temporary encampments in the East. It happened sometimes that an encampment long-continued gradually was changed into a city, an instance of which recently occurred in Hindustan, where Scindia's camp, at first designed to be merely temporary, has by degrees become a flourishing metropolis, under the name of Gwalior. The place where the Hebrews first set up their tents in Egypt received the name of Succoth, but, as it was soon abandoned, the circumstance was forgotten. This was not the case with Succoth on the east of Jordan and south of the sea of Galilee, where Jacob made an encampment on his return from Padan-aram, (Gen. 33. 17;) it became one of the principal cities of the tribe of Gad. The valleys near it supplied the best clay for making moulds, and on that account they were chosen by Hiram as the proper place for casting the large utensils for the Temple. Succoth Benoth, "The booths of the daughters," mentioned in 2 Kings 17. 30, were small tents in which the Babylonish women practised the impure and licentious rites of the goddess Mylitta. T. SUEZ. Although this isthmus, which connects Africa with Asia, is not specifically mentioned in Scripture, frequent allusions are made to the caravanroads between Syria and Egypt by which it is traversed, and the prophet Ezekiel describes Migdol, a fortress on the isthmus near the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile, as the frontier-town of Egypt. The navigation of the upper part of the Red Sea being always tedious, dangerous, and uncertain, the Phoenicians and the Hebrews, in the time of Solomon, went up the Gulf of Akaba, instead of the western inlet, which appears to have been neglected until after the accession of the Ptolemies to the throne of Egypt. If Suez was not founded by this dynasty, it certainly is indebted to them for its commercial importance; they made it one of their trading-ports, and projected the cutting of a canal through the isthmus, to connect the Red Sea with the Mediterranean. Suez has now become a flourishing place, in consequence of the establishment of communication between Europe and India by steam-vessels in the Red Sea. The changes which are rapidly taking place in the population, buildings, and commerce, render it unnecessary to give any account of its existing condition, for in a very bability, be quite inapplicable. It is enough to say that few months the description would, in all human proit is most advantageously situated near the northern extremity of the Red Sea; has a good port, with convenient anchorage, and is the residence of many European agents and factors, who are totally changing |