Classical Theology.—Lxxi.

CLASSICAL THEOLOGY . —LXXI .

ZOJSDON , SATURDAY , DECEMBER 19 , 1803 .

JUNO AND JANUARY . We are told by Themistius that , till the time of Daedalus , all the Grecian images Avere without form , and that , amongst his skilful devices , this ingenious artificer Avas the first who gave them two separate feet ; whencesays Palrephatusit became reported Dsedalus

, , made statues to move and walk . Hitherto they were only called xSam ( Xoana ) , shaven , which word distinguishes an idol ; that is , as Heyschius says , E £ eBite > w ( Exedmenon ) , shaved out of wood or stone . In after eras , when graving and carvin g became knoAvn , they changed the shapeless idol , or lumps they

worshipped , into forms representing living creatures , generally of the human figure , in which respect an image was then called Bperas ( Bretas ) , that is , because it resembled a man ; yet , nevertheless , in still more refined ages , the unformed idols , were for their antiquity and ancient regard , reverentially presented , and , indeed , preferred to the rarest and most skilful works of art .

The temples among the most ancient Egyptians , if trust is to be placed inLucian , " Libra de ~ Dea Syria , " were without statues . The Greeks , also , up to the time of Cecrops , Avho liA r ed , according to Eusebius , in the age of Moses , worshipped their gods unrevealed by any visible representation . Commonl y , at first ,

the idol was a mere stock , whence they were denominated by St . Clemens ( Protrept . pp . 29 , 30 , and Strom , pp . 348 , 349 ) , 2 aeis ( Sanis ) , but Avherefore we are not informed . 2 « cis- ( Sanis ) , itis said , was a piece of wood to Avhich a malefactor or captive Avas fixed , to undergo torture , or was boundas a victimto be sacrificed .

, , The Statute Derum were often of stone , so like the Druids , it would seem , Pausanias tells us , the Peloponnesians used stones to represent their deities . He says , in Achaia there were , very religiously kept , thirty square stones , on wliich were engraven the names severally to that number , of their gods . INTo sort of

idol Avas more general than that of oblong stones set up erect , and therefore termed moves ( kiones ) , pillars . Thus , iu some parts of Egypt , they Avere placed on each side of the higliAvays or most direct roads . In Syria , in the Heliogabalus , or Temple of the Sun , there Avas one , asserted to have fallen from heaven .

Of this shape was the stone symbolically sAvalloAved by Saturn , supposing it to be the infant Jupiter ; though others rather think it Avas appointed by and in commemoration of the father of Saturn , as the first god . But more probably it derived its ori gin from the Hol y Pillars Abram and Jacob erected in Bethel

; namely , as it is written : — " And Abram AA'as very rich in cattle , in silver , and in gold . And he went on his journeys from the south even to Beth-el . . . unto the place of the altar he had made there at first : and there Abram called on the name of the Lord . "

"And Jacob rose up early in the morning , and took the stone he had put for ( or in lieu of ) his pillow , and set it up for a pillar , and poured oil upon the top of it . And he called the name of that place Beth-el : but tlie name of that cit y was called Luz at the first . And Jacob voAved a VOAA ' , saying , If God will be with me , and will keep me in this Avay that I go , and will

Classical Theology.—Lxxi.

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 all that thou shalt give me I will surely giA'e the tenth unto thee . "

Black is said to have been the prevailing colour of these stones , because , as some suppose—for it _ is but a mere supposition—it induced more solemnity in relig ious uses ; and so also , in being called Ban-uXia ( Baitulia ) , BairuAoi ( Baituloi ) , which , if derived from the Phoenician word Betheltheir name wouldtoo ,

, , signify " the House of God . " The place of the imagery was usually in the middle of the temple ; the idols stood on raised pedestals , enclosed with rails , above the height of the jiltar . Amongst tlie Greeks this place had the name of " 2 , - ( Sekos ) . Phavorinus gives us an erudite description

of the temples Nais and uphv ( Naos and Ieron ) ; or the entire edifice , he says , contained the altar of oblations , ea lledBm / ioi / ( Bomon ) , and npovaov ( Pronaon ) , the porch , within which there was usually an altar or image , and the place Te ^ os ( Temenos ) , upon which was erected the EiSoXov ( Eidolon ) , or image of the chief

god or goddess . Thus Ave read in Yirgil of Juno being represented in the temple ; that is to say , at the Fores dives , or the entrance of the Selcos , her image stood .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

THE I'KESTONIAN lECTUHES . I have hoard a good deal of the Prestonian Lectures , but in the town where my lodge meets no one seems to be able to give any account of them , in which dilemma , as I am an inquiring Mason , I naturally turn to " Notes and Queries" for instruction , and hope I shall not be disappointed in my inquiry . —A Youxc ! PHOVINCIAL

BHOTIIER . —[ The Prestonian Lectures were ai-rangedby Bro . William Preston , of the Lodge of Antiquity , totvai-ds the end of the last century . Before this , a system of lectures by the Eev . AVilliam Hutchinson had been very popular in the north of England , anc £ it is said , on tolerably good grounds , that Hutchinson : and Preston were united in " forming the series

calledthe Prestonian Lectures ; and this is borne out by thefact that the Hutchinsonian lectures are now not known ' to be in existence . In fact , they became merged in the-Prestonian . The labours of Bro . Preston continued to be used as the authoritative system until the union of the two Grand Lodges in 1813 , when the Eev . Dr .

Hemming , Senior Grand Warden , heAved and hacked their beauties into the disjecta membra which we now adopt . A system so inferior in diction , research , pathos , sublimity , and every essential of scholarly reading that they are , to Preston ' s classical knowledge , as the untutored outpourings of an uneducated boor . Though not generally accessible to the Craft at largo , Preston ' s Lectures

are yet preserved in their original integrity , and a brother is or ought to bo annually appointed , by the Grand Master , to deliver one of them ; but the Craft , asabody , appear to carelittle about them , and only a small number assemble , out of curiosity , rather than from a desire of knowledge , to hear them . One of the reasons that rendered the Prestonian

system so valuable was , that it presented a really philosophical system of Freemasonry for lodge instruction , such as no other had so copiously offered , or which the present contemptible hotch-potch can ever attain to . The commencement of the public delivery of the Preston lectures must , in effect , have been like the bursting forth