Page:Archaeologia Volume 13.djvu/268

 2, i o Mr. Aftle's Obfervallom on Stone Pillars, wormipped their Venus under the form, of a white pyramid, and the Brachmans the Great God under the figure of a little co- lumn of ftone ; the fymbol of Jupiter Ammon in his Egyptian Temple was a conic ftone, and in Africa, Apollo's Image was an- erec"l ftone of a pyramidal form. The Jews alfo were carried away by this ftrong current of idolatry, and they fet up Pillars on every high hill, and under every green treejYj. So that this idolatry of wormipping rude ftones may be reckoned to have infected by much the greateft part of the world, efpecially thofe parts which had any communication with Syria, Egypt, or Greece, and may with equal reafon be fuppofed to have occafioned the creeling of many of thofe large ftones which are to be found in Wales and Cornwall, whither the ancient Phenicians and Grecians frequently reforted for tin and other metals. After chriftianity took place (feys Mr. Borlace, p, 162) many continued to worfhip thefe ftones, to pay their vows, and to devote their offerings at the places where they were erected, coming thi- ther with lighted torches, and praying for fafety and fuccefs ; and this cuftom we can trace through the fifth and fixth centuries, even unto the feventh, as appears from the prohibitions of feveral councils. In Ireland fome of thefe {tones have crofTes cut on them, which are fuppofed to have been afterwards done by chriftians out of compliance with the Druid prejudices, that when Druidifm fell before the Gofpel, the common people, who were net eafily to be diverted from their fuperftitious reverence for thefe ftones, might pay a kind of juftifiable adoration to them when thus appropriated to the ufe of chriftian memorials by the fign of the crofs. There are ftill fome figns of adoration paid to fuch ftones in the 2 Kings, ch. xvii. v. 10. Scottish