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Article NOTES ON ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCH. Page 1 of 5 →
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Notes On Antiquarian Research.
NOTES ON ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCH .
( Continued from page 674 :, Yol . i . ) CHAPTER X . ON" HOTGS .
A good man in the city [ an alderman ] , & c , wears nothing rich about him but the gout or a thumb-ring . —Northern Lays , 1632 . Em & EK-BXNOS are interesting as being the most ancient of all the ornaments we find mentioned in history , whether profane or sacred . So various were the uses of these little circles , that to describe them all minutely we should very soon weary our readers , adding at the same time chapter to chapter , until a folio resulted from our laborious task . ~ . . The origin of the ring is unknown ; the first mention of it is made in Gen . xxxviii . 18 , where the words of Judah , Jacob ' s son , to Tamar are thus recorded : " And he said , "What pledge shall I give thee ?
And she said , Thy signet , and thy bracelets , and thy staff that is in thine hand . " The ring is shortly after mentioned as having been in use among the Egyptians , for in the 41 st chapter of Genesis , ver . 42 , it is said , — " Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand , and put it upon Joseph ' s hand , ajud arrayed him in vestures of fine linen , and put a gold chain about his neck . " In the First Book of Kings , chapter xxi ., we read that Jezebel wrote letters for the apprehension of Naboth , and sealed them with Ahab ' s seal ; and we are told that Hainan ' s proclamation for the destruction of the Jews was not onlv
written in the name of King Ahasuerus ( Esther hi . 12 ) , but sealed with the king ' s ring . These passages show that in the earliest times the ring was used as the pledge of a covenant , as the reward of distinguished services , like those of Joseph , and as a seal to prove a royal proclamation to be true , and no forged document . A seal was not only affixed , however , to the royal proclamation , but was used in other royal acts . Thus ( Daniel vi . 17 ) a stone was brought , and laid upon the mouth of the den ; and the king sealed it with his own signet , and with the signet of his lords ; that the purpose might not
be changed concerning JDaniel . In this way the sepulchre ol our Lord was supposed to be sure , when a watch was set , and the stone was sealed . Prom this use of the seal the expression is often used figuratively in Holy Writ . It will be sufficient to quote in proof three passages : — " Ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise . " ( Ephes . i . 13 . ) " He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true . " " The foundation of God standeth sure ,
having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his . " ( 2 Tim . ii . 19 . ) The Jews , however , were not the only nation who made use of the ring , for it was worn by the Chaldeans , the Babylonians , Persians , and Greeks , while , from Quintus Curtius , we learn that Alexander
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Notes On Antiquarian Research.
NOTES ON ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCH .
( Continued from page 674 :, Yol . i . ) CHAPTER X . ON" HOTGS .
A good man in the city [ an alderman ] , & c , wears nothing rich about him but the gout or a thumb-ring . —Northern Lays , 1632 . Em & EK-BXNOS are interesting as being the most ancient of all the ornaments we find mentioned in history , whether profane or sacred . So various were the uses of these little circles , that to describe them all minutely we should very soon weary our readers , adding at the same time chapter to chapter , until a folio resulted from our laborious task . ~ . . The origin of the ring is unknown ; the first mention of it is made in Gen . xxxviii . 18 , where the words of Judah , Jacob ' s son , to Tamar are thus recorded : " And he said , "What pledge shall I give thee ?
And she said , Thy signet , and thy bracelets , and thy staff that is in thine hand . " The ring is shortly after mentioned as having been in use among the Egyptians , for in the 41 st chapter of Genesis , ver . 42 , it is said , — " Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand , and put it upon Joseph ' s hand , ajud arrayed him in vestures of fine linen , and put a gold chain about his neck . " In the First Book of Kings , chapter xxi ., we read that Jezebel wrote letters for the apprehension of Naboth , and sealed them with Ahab ' s seal ; and we are told that Hainan ' s proclamation for the destruction of the Jews was not onlv
written in the name of King Ahasuerus ( Esther hi . 12 ) , but sealed with the king ' s ring . These passages show that in the earliest times the ring was used as the pledge of a covenant , as the reward of distinguished services , like those of Joseph , and as a seal to prove a royal proclamation to be true , and no forged document . A seal was not only affixed , however , to the royal proclamation , but was used in other royal acts . Thus ( Daniel vi . 17 ) a stone was brought , and laid upon the mouth of the den ; and the king sealed it with his own signet , and with the signet of his lords ; that the purpose might not
be changed concerning JDaniel . In this way the sepulchre ol our Lord was supposed to be sure , when a watch was set , and the stone was sealed . Prom this use of the seal the expression is often used figuratively in Holy Writ . It will be sufficient to quote in proof three passages : — " Ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise . " ( Ephes . i . 13 . ) " He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true . " " The foundation of God standeth sure ,
having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his . " ( 2 Tim . ii . 19 . ) The Jews , however , were not the only nation who made use of the ring , for it was worn by the Chaldeans , the Babylonians , Persians , and Greeks , while , from Quintus Curtius , we learn that Alexander