SACRED ISLES IN THE WEST. 89 



diale6ls of that language. Another name for it would be As-gard, and 

 we find that both were in use in that sense. As-gard is constantly used 

 in the Edda^ and As-hurgh is the name of an ancient city called, by Pto- 

 lemy, Asburgium in the eastern parts of Europe ; and the learned agree, 

 that it is the same with As-gard, 



In Sanscrit it would be Isapura or Ispitri, the abode of the Lord, 

 or of the gods, in which light Vishnu is considered in India; and 

 though the JVliite Island is not expressly called Is'-puri, yet it is repea- 

 tedly asserted to be the abode of Vishnu called Is'wara^ Is'a and Dcva 

 or God. Such also is the opinion of the divines of Tibet y and of the fol- 

 lowers of Budd'ha in China, according to Du-Halde, who maintain, that 

 the holy one abides in the west : and Confucius had also declared, that 

 the holy one was to be found there. This tradition is of very great anti- 

 quity in the east ; for it is probable that the wise men were dire6led to 

 Judea in consequence of that very notion. In the Pur an as, and in the 

 Vedds also, as I am informed, the coming of a Saviour from the west is 

 often foretold. This predi6lion, the Hindus conceive, was fulfilled in the 

 person of CrTshna, who came from the west to be incarnated in the 

 house of Vasu-deva, near Mathurd. The Samaritans, equally cautious, 

 were in general of opinion, that all the prophecies relating to the 

 Messiah, had been fulfilled in the person of Joshua, who it is true, 

 introduced the chosen people into the land of promise. 



Is'a or Is'wara is the name of the Supreme Being in Safiscrit. This 

 word was pronounced Hesus by the Gauls; Aise by the Irish, and Galic 

 tribes; As and j^siRby tlie Goths; i^sAR by the Etruscans, and Asios 

 also by them : and the Greeks used the latter term. Thus probably Is'-puri, 



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