145 



accounted for the manner in which stones of varying shapes and 

 dimensions came to be considered as emblematic of the Deity. Yet 

 the earhest records, sacred and prophane, testify them to have borne 

 a highly sacred character. In the simpUcity of primeval times, 

 large stones were used for memorials, perhaps as conspicuous 

 objects of an unperishing nature, which should serve as solemn 

 testimonials, and continually recall to those dwelling around the 

 event which it was "to witness.."* ■ Hi: nil 



In this light they are mentioned in Scripture. When Jacob entered 

 into a solemn covenant with Laban,-f- he set up a stone, declaring 

 it to be a witness ; and accordingly the following morning, Laban, in 

 his parting address to Jacob, says, " This heap be witness, and this 

 pillar be witness." Again, on his way to Padan Aram, Jacob 

 sleeping at Luz, was favoured with a vision from God, and he set 

 up for a memorial a pillar, which he anointed with oil, and called 

 the place Bethel, the house of God.;}; The word used signifies a 

 pillar, saCivid, memorial, or witnessing ; and from the prefix Park- 

 hurst says should be translated " The witness." 



When Rachel died he placed upon her grave a pillar-stone 

 as a memorial ; and Moses adds, that it was there in his day. 

 A strong proof of the respect in which such monuments were 

 lield, since it remained unharmed in a country possessed by a 

 race inimical to that of Jacob, and whose descendants it was 



• The witness stone was a rude hieroglyphic ; those who lived soon after the Flood could 

 never turn their eyes upon Ararat without feeling it to be a lasting memorial of that event. 

 Hence in the spirit of commemoration which pervaded this early institution, when mankind 

 quitted the vicinity of the mountain, they erected, on solemn occasion?, great stones which were 

 hieroglyphics of the craggy peak, and were also to stand as durable memorials or witnesses. — 

 See Townsend on Idolatry. 



f Gen. xxxi. 4:5, &c. 



X Ibid, xxviii. 18. 



VOL. XV. U 



