ed to the heathen deity Hermes, or Mercury.
A "Hermes" (_i. e._, a _stone_) was frequently set up on the road-side,
and each traveller, as he passed by, paid his homage to the deity by
either throwing a stone on the heap (which was thus collected), or by
_anointing_ it. This "Hermes" was the symbol of Phallus.[46:8]

Now, when we find that _this form of worship was very prevalent among
the Israelites_,[47:1] that these sacred stones which were "set up,"
were called (by the heathen), BAETY-LI,[47:2] (which is not unlike
BETH-EL), and that _they were anointed with oil_,[47:3] I think we have
reasons for believing that the story of Jacob's _setting up_ a stone,
_pouring oil upon it_, and calling the place _Beth-el_, "has evidently
an allusion to Phallic worship."[47:4]

The male and female powers of nature were denoted respectively by an
upright and an oval emblem, and the conjunction of the two furnished at
once the altar and the _Ashera_, or grove, against which the Hebrew
prophets lifted up their voices in earnest protest. In the kingdoms,
both of Judah and Israel, the rites connected with these emblems assumed
their most corrupting form. Even in the temple itself, stood the
_Ashera_, or the upright emblem, on the circular altar of Baal-Peor, the
Priapos of the Jews, thus reproducing the _Linga_, and _Yoni_ of the
Hindu.[47:5] For this symbol, the women wove hangings, as the Athenian
maidens embroidered the sacred peplos for the ship presented to Athene,
at the great Dionysiac festival. This _Ashera_, which, in the authorized
English version of the Old Testament is translated "_grove_," was, in
fact, a pole, or stem of a tree. It is reproduced in our modern
"Maypole," around which maidens dance, as maidens did of yore.[47:6]

FOOTNOTES:

[42:1] See Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Transmigration."

[42:2] Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Transmigration." Prichard's Mythology,
p. 213, and Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 59.

[42:3] Ibid. Ernest de Bunsen says: "The first traces of the doctrine of
Transmigration of souls is to be found among the Brahmins and
Buddhists." (The Angel Messiah, pp. 63, 64.)

[42:4] Prichard's Mythology, pp. 213, 214.

[43:1] Gross: The Heathen Religion. Also Chambers's Encyclo., art.
"Transmigration."

[43:2] Ibid. Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 13; and Myths of the
British Druids, p. 15.

[43:3] Chambers's Encyclo.

[43:4] Ibid.

[43:5] Ibid. See also Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, pp. 63,