s T A R. 343 lebtm) by an unerring Courfc to the Tabernacle of his Reft above; from whence, by the naoft fublime and wonderful Revelation, he hath declared himfelf to be the grand Accomplishment of the Scriptures; the Root and the Offspring of David, the .emphatically bright and, Morning Star. * ■ The Heathens, milled by a thou(and lying Vanities and Superftitions, paid their Adorations to the.Stars; and the heathenized IfraeUUs are reproached for.hearing the 'Tabernacles of Moloch and Chinn their linages, the Star of their Gods, which they made to thenfelves Rnt J eh o vah * Rev, x?ii, 16. < ■ f Amos v. 26. Ads vii, 43,, Various have been the Expofitions ©ffth'efe difficult Texts; and, when fo learned a Man as Wjm con- lelTes, that he does not underftand them, it may induce a Modeftjr artd‘ Moderation of Opinion in moft who follow him. However, it feem's generally.agreed, that Moloch, Melchom, orMilcom,, was an, fdol of the Ammonites, (anfwering to the Chroms or Saturn of the Greeks and Romans, the Mitbra of the Perfians, the Typhon of the Egyptians, and the Adrammelechand Anammelechof the Sepharvaitesj whom the heathen Nations worffiipped, fometimes with obfcene, and fometimes with barbarous Rites. It is fuppofed, that the Tapery nadeWt& S was only an Imitation,of the Tabernacle of tE'*7 *u>*\ as the Idolaters were eve* remarkable for copying and abufing the religious Inftitutions, both right and wrong, of their Neighbours. Satanalways inclined thole, oyer whom he had Power, to pervert the right Waysof theLor d. As to the Word Chiun in Amos,,which the LXX tranflateFpty&v Raiphan, and the Evangejifty.sfyQctv Rem- than, it is ohferved by feveral Authors, that the Letter 3 Caph in |VDChiunbeing miftaken for *1Rejh, and the Letter ft,epenthetically introduced ; fo confiderable an Alteration has been made from the Hebrew Text. GyraUus (\t\Herc. vit.) fays, that tjie Egyptians called Hercules iri their Language Chon ; and the Perfians aud Arabians, according to Aben Ezra, Kircher, &c, gave a nearly fimilar Name to Saturn. Under different Epithets, they all meant the ■ Sun. Thus Macrohius fays, that the Egyptian Priefts fignified by Hercules (the Etymology of which he makes to be | | g the Glory6 f the Air)' that he was vov Iv iracri hcc wccvluv rjAtoy, the Suns energetic Power in all andthrough all the materialWorlds [,The Fable Of his twelve Labors' js allb thought to be only a myftical Repre- fenta'tiort of the Bun’s annual Revolution through the twelve Signs ©f the Zodiac ; and that o f his wearing a Lion’s Skin feemS to-have been <derived from the EgyptianAftroldgers, by whic-h they implied, the Sigh:£*0 was the Sun’s peculiar Houfe in the Horofcope. The Starof Chiunor Remphan isfuppofed to hav-e been a Figure of Z 4
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