26 HEBREW IN WELSH. words, runs thus :-' In the beginning was the Logos (Word), and the Logos was with God, and God was the Logos. He was in the beginning with God; all things by Him consisted, and without Him there was made nothing that was made. In Him life was, and the life was the light of men.' Here the Hebrew idiom of St. John, writing in Greek, appears good English idiom, aud can be read off in the very order of St. John's words translated. "Not so St. Paul. His educated Greek was written in Greek, not Hebrew idiom, and will not, therefore, 'run' when treated as above. Gal. iii. 16, 17, taken at haphazard, proves this. Translated word for word, the passage runs thus-and is not good English :- -Now to Abraham there were spoken the promises, and to the seed of him. Not, says He, And to the seeds, as to the many; but as to one, and to the seed of thee, which is Christos. For this I say, The covenant, the one that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the after years 430, made law, may not disannul, for the cancelling the promise.' This is nearly unintelligible, because the idiom of St. Paul was Greek, and not Hebrew English, like St. John's.' "—Banner of Israel, Nov. 7, 1883. No other language, we are informed, answers in idiomatic construction to the Hebrew but English. Babu-English is the result of thinking in Hindustani and speaking in English; Pigeon-English is Chinese thought expressed in English. In Barber's "Suggestion on the Ancient Britons," 1854, chap. v., p. 60, the following interesting passage occurs :-" Cases of direct and open evidence as to the fact of the Semitic language of the ancient Britons are very scarce. They were not scribes. In the "Gwawd Lud," however, occurs a passage which has been generally given up as unintelligible to the Welsh, and from the translations, when attempted as of Welsh, it scarcely appears why they should have preserved, what (by the introductory verse) 'Out of the sacred poems they cry aloud,' was an antique in the fifth century. "Or anant oniant -Rise woe to ye and woe to ye. Briton, Briton, alas. -Thou'rt wanderer of wanderings. Brith ye Brithan hai-Briton! Britons! alas! Know yourself naked, Wake Misery and nakedness." In page 61 an expression occurs referring to these Britons, "Goem Jehovah" (the very Hebrew words of Scripture), referring to the Israelites, "the people of Jehovah." In the "Mythology of the British Druids" the being they worshipped is also called Adonai, the Hebrew name of the Lord Almighty. Godfrey Higgins (see Celtic Druids, p. 63) gives complete phrases, which are as good Welsh as they are Hebrew. The following two are specimens : 66 Lam. ii. 2. Ps. vii. 10. Hebrew-Byuang Adonai-eth cal nesth Jangeob. Hebrew-Mageni ngal Eloim. English-My shield is from God; or My protection is from the intelligences. One of the Celtic lamentations given by Dr. Eadie, in his 'Biblical Cyclopædia," runs as follows:-"O son of Connal, why didst thou die? Royal, noble, learned, valiant, warlike, and eloquent. Why didst thou die? Alas! alas! he who sprang from nobles OF THE RACE OF HEBER, why didst thou die?" (" Origin and Destiny of Britain," by H. Brittain, p. 25). The above testimony shows the close connection that exists between Hebrew and Welsh; and the reference to Heber, the ancestor of the Hebrews, after whom they were called, confirms the testimony already quoted from Taliesin, the Druid bard. In connection with the above ancient Hebrew poetry in Wales, read Hosea ix. 17:—“ My God will cast them (Ephraim) away because they did not hearken unto me, and they shall be WANDERERS among the nations." The Hebrew word in the following passages translated "Covenant of the people" is "LE BRITHAM," To Britham (Isa. xlii. 6) :-"I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people (to BRITHAM) for a light of the Gentiles." Isa. xlix. 8:-" In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee, and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people (to BRITHAM, i.e., to Britain) to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages." Thus we understand that Christ is given to British-Israel (the Covenant people) for the purpose of showing forth Christ, the Light of the world, to the Gentiles. It is for this we are scattered throughout the heathen world. Oh that we individually could realise this our Divine mission and show forth Christ by a life consistent with our high and holy calling. CHAPTER IV. Heathen Customs. ACCORDING to a lately-discovered inscription, Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, says that he conquered forty-two countries and brought them under one god and placed them under the Magian religion— sun worship (Rawlinson's Herodotus, Note, vol. 1, p. 348). We have already shown that the two tribes of Israel were taken into captivity by the above-named king; and now we propose bringing forward a few of the many interesting facts which show how deeply the idolatrous customs of our ancestors had taken root, as to enable us at the present time to establish the co-relationship of certain customs and habits still imbedded in our national life with those of Israel under heathen influences. This may be an unpleasant subject to refer to, but if a heathen writer could say: "Socrates I love, and Plato I love, but I love TRUTH more,” how much more we who profess to be children of "the God of Truth." Worship of Baal. The Israelites were prone to idolatry, and the worship of Baal, a god of the Phoenicians, constituted their chief offence against God. We find consequently many evidences in Great Britain and Ireland of the continuance of some of the rites, long after the rays of the Sun of Righteousness had dispelled the darkness that brooded over the land. In Calmet's "Dictionary of the Bible," edited by J. Taylor, will be found some interesting statements and customs on this subject. "The worship of Bel, Belus . . . was general throughout the British Islands; and certain of its rites and observances are still maintained among us, notwithstanding the spread and the establishment of Christianity during so many ages. It might have been thought that the pompous rituals of Popery would have superseded the Druidical superstitions, or that the reformation to Protestantism would have banished them, . . . but the fact is otherwise. Surely THE BELTANE FIRE. 29 the roots of Druidism were struck extremely deep! What charm could render them so prevalent and permanent? A town in Perthshire, on the borders of the Highlands, is called Tillie Beltane, the rising ground of the fire of Baal. In the neighbourhood is a Druidical temple of eight upright stones, where it is supposed the fire was kindled. At some distance from this is another temple of the same kind, but smaller, and near it a well still held in great veneration. On Beltane morning superstitious people go to this well and drink of it; then they make a procession round it, as we are informed, nine times. After this they in like manner go round the temple. So deep-rooted is this heathenish superstition in the minds of many who reckon themselves good Protestants, that they will not neglect these rites, even when Beltane falls on Sabbath" ("Statist. Accounts of Scotland," vol. iii., p. 105). "On the first day of May, which is called Beltan or Beltain day, all the boys in a township meet in the moors. They cut a table in the green sod, of a round figure, by casting a trench in the ground, of such circumference as to hold the whole company. They kindle a fire, and dress a repast of eggs and milk in the consistence of a custard. They knead a cake of oatmeal, which is toasted at the embers against a stone. After the custard is eaten up, they divide the cake into so many portions, as similar as possible to one another in size and shape, as there are persons in the company. They daub one of these portions all over with charcoal until it is perfectly black. They put all the bits of cake into a bonnet. Every one, blindfolded, draws out a portion. He who holds the bonnet is entitled to the last bit. Whoever draws the black bit is the devoted person who is to be sacrificed to Baal, whose favour they mean to implore in rendering the year productive of the sustenance of man and beast. There is little doubt of these inhuman sacrifices having once been offered in this country as well as in the east, although they now pass from the act of sacrificing, and only compel the devoted person to leap three times through the flames, with which the ceremonies of this festival are closed" (Ibid. vol. xi., p. 621). "In the worship of Baal, as practised by the idolatrous Israelites in the days of their apostacy, the worship of the sun's image was equally observed; and it is striking to find that the image of the sun, which apostate Israel worshipped, was erected above the altar. Josiah, we are informed in 2 Chron. xxxiv. 4, caused the altars of Baalim' to be broken down 'in his presence, and the images (margin SUN IMAGES) that were on high above them, he cut down.' From all this it is manifest, that the image of the sun above, or on the altar, was one of the recognised symbols of one who ... 30 SUN-IMAGES IN CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. worshipped Baal or the sun. And here in a so-called Christian Church, a brilliant plate of silver, 'in the form of a sun,' is so placed in the altar that every one who adores at that altar must bow down in lowly reverence before that image of the sun. Whence, I ask, could that have come, but from the ancient sun-worship, or the worship of Baal?" (Two Babylons, pp. 265, 266). Now hear what Hurd says when describing the Romish altar :"A plate of silver, in the form of a sun, is fixed opposite to the SACRAMENT on the altar; which with the light of the tapers makes a most brilliant appearance" (Hurd's "Rites and Ceremonies,” p. 196). Easter. "The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven” (Jer. vii. 18.) Astarte, consort of Baal, is called Ishtar on the Assyrian monuments (see Layard's Nineveh, p. 629),—and worshipped under the title of "Queen of Heaven." The ancient votaries of this Babylonian goddess used to FAST FOR FORTY DAYS "in the spring of the year," and the custom is still observed by the Yizidis or Pagan devil worshippers of Kurdistan,-the very place, be it remembered, where the Israelites were placed by Tiglath Pileser (Layard's Nineveh). The ancient Pagan Britons called April Easter Monath, whereas the festival early observed by professing Christians, which answers to our modern Easter, was Pasch or the Passover, and it was not preceded by Lent nor connected with the Resurrection (as Gieseler in his "Catholic Church," section 53, p. 178, informs us), which was commemorated by the observance of Sunday. If our blessed Saviour was crucified in the spring-time, viz., in April or March, there would have been no need for Peter to have warmed himself at the fire that was kindled in the midst of the Court (Luke xxii. 55), as it is pretty warm in Palestine at that season of the year. "EASTER.-It is no honour to our translators that this word occurs in the English Bible in Acts xii. 4; it should have been Passover, which feast of the Jews we well know. Easter is a word of Saxon origin, and imports a goddess of the Saxons, or rather of the East, and is no other than Astarte, Æstært, in honour of whom sacrifices being annually offered about the Passover time of the year (spring), the name became attached by association of ideas to the Christian festival of the Resurrection, which happened at the time of the Passover; hence we say Easter day, Easter Sunday, but |