proposal, that the whole might not perish. "Ver. 13. Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring to land, but they could not; for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them. "Ver. 14. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life; and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, hast done as pleased thee.' "This places the behaviour of the Jews, in respect to our Saviour, in a very unfavourable, but true light. These heathen in the ship beg of God that the death of this man may not be laid to their charge. They are afraid of the imputation of guilt, though he was a guilty person; and the whole was effected by his own counsel and permission. But when Pilate told the Jews that he was innocent of the blood of the just person who stood before them, the man without sin; and added-See ye to it: they answered, out of their great blindness and infatuation-His blood be on us, and on our children: which curse was most terribly fulfilled. When, therefore, the mariners in the ship had done every thing in their power to save the devoted person, and found that it was expedient for one man to die that the whole might not perish, they at last yielded to necessity. "Ver. 15. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth in to the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. "Ver. 17. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah': and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.' in the fish, offers up a prayer, or "The prophet, during his abode rather a hymn, to God, the whole of which is a composition of uncommon sublimity. Among other things, he compares his situation to a state of death, and his place to the hollow of hell, or hades: and he adds I went down to the bot toms of the mountains; the earth 'with her everlasting bars was about me: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord, my God. When my soul fainted within me’or, as the Greek version expresses it εν τῷ εκλείπειν απ' εμού την ψυχήν μου, • When my soul was in the article of forsaking me, I re'membered the Lord, and my prayer 'came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.' And he concludes with saying- Salvation is of the Lord.' The history of this fugitive prophet is very plain, without the least ambiguity: every event is precisely, told, so that there can be no doubt about any portion of the narrative. There is no palliating nor evading any part: we must take it intire, without any qualifying or diminution, just as it is transmitted to us. The only question, therefore, in respect to those who entertain any prejudices is, whether it was consistent with the wisdom of God to exhibit this miracle; and whether there was any necessity, or any call for its being displayed. Lastly, as I have endeavoured to show, whether these miracles and judge M 3 ments 1 ments of God had a proper ten- CONCERNING THE FLIGHT OF "We have seen, that Jonah was of a portion of Israel, called Galilee; which in his time was devoted to idolatry. Few, or none of the people went up to Jerusalem to ce lebrate the passover, and to perform the rites appointed by Moses. Instead of these, they had recourse to the idols at Bethel and Dan; and were farther tinctured with the idolatry of their Gentile neighbours. These consisted of different people, who were either the remains of the ancient inhabitants, the Canaanites, or were a mixed race from Tyre, Hamath, and the cities of Syria, who had forced themselves into the country, and had brought their rites and religion with them. In the midst of these was the prophet Jonah; who in his distress gave out, that he feared the Lord. But it was a blind fear, attended with little reverence and duty. He did not seem to know the nature of the true God, nor to have been acquainted with his at tributes. This is manifest from his thinking to free himself from his influence and power, by retiring to a distant region: as if God could not exert his might beyond the limits of Israel. He must, therefore, have been very ignorant of the doctrines of the divine psalmist, who would have given him much higher ideas of the Deity, and his omnipresence. Whither shall I go from thy spirit, and whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up to heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in (hades) hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness will cover me; even the night shall be light about me:- Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. "From this ignorance of the prophet we may judge of his faith and attachment, and from his whole conduct conclude, that if he had any regard for the true God, he had at the same time no dislike to the other deities which had been introduced into his nation. If he had been thoroughly devoted to the God of his fathers, he must have known him better; and in this instance, as well as in many others, he would have shown more reve rence towards him, and respect to his commands. But we find that he fled from him, and betook himself to Joppa, a sea-port of Philistim, or Palestine Proper. Every city in that region had its own peculiar deity; but many of these deities were ultimately the same, though represented under different emblems, modified according to the particular fancy of the people. When Jonah arrived at Joppa, as he had deserted the God of Israel, we may suppose that he put him. self under the protection of the deity of the place. In consequence of this he must have made his oblations at the altar, and worshipped before TRANSLATION of one of the INSCRIPTIONS Ona PILLAR at DELHI. [183] before the shrine. What is extraordinary, this deity was described as a whale, or large fish. Pliny speaks of Joppa as a city of the highest antiquity, and concludes with saying-Colitur istic fabulosa Ceto *. Here the deity in the form of a fish, called Ceto, concerning which there are so many mythic histories, is worshipped. By Ceto, or Cetus, was understood, according to Hesychius, θαλασσιος ιχθύς wauueyans; a sea fish of an im mense size-and it is very properly translated a whale." TRANSLATION of one of the INSCRIPTIONS on the PILLAR at DELHI, by H. COLEBROOKE, Esq. With INTRODUCTORY REMARKS by Mr. HARRINGTON. [From the ASIATIC RESEARCHES, Vol. VII.] "I drawings and inscriptions, prepared under the inspection of their late member, captain James Hoare, and intended by him (I have reason to believe) for the use of the society." HAVE the pleasure of present Two of the drawings represent ⚫elevations, taken on the spot, of the stone building near Dehlee, called the Shikargah, or hunting place, of Feerōz Shah; with the pillar in the centre, and above the summit of it, commonly known by the designation of Feerōz Shah's Lat; and described, with an outline of the building and pillar, in the 21st paper of the 1st vol. of the society's Transactions. The copy of the inscriptions on this pillar, which was received by our reverend president and founder, from colonel Polier, enabled him to exhibit a translation of one of them, as accurate as the imperfect state of the transcript would admit; but on comparing it with a more perfect copy made for captain Hoare, it was found in several parts defective and inaccurate; and the date, instead of being 123 of the era of Vicramaditya, or A. D. 67, as appeared from the former copy, was clearly ascer tained from the present to be 1220 An accurate translation of this inscription has therefore been furnished by Mr. Henry Colebrooke (who has distinguished himself as a Sanscrit scholar by his version of the Hindoo Law Digest, compiled under the superintendance of sir William Jones), and is now submitted to the society; with the original Sanscrit in Roman letters. "Of the five other inscriptions contained in the accompanying book, and taken from the same pillar, but in a different character, no translation has been yet procurable. The deposit of them among the society's papers, and, if they think proper, the publication of an engraving of them in their Transactions, may lead to a future ex plication of them; which must be also facilitated by captain Hoare's collection of the characters. "The same characters appear in the inscription on the pillar at Allahabad, a specimen of which, with a modern Arabick and Persian inscription in the reign of Jehangeer, and a drawing of the pillar, are also contained in the accompanying book. I have not been able to procure any information respecting M 4 this this pillar, and understand from Moonshee Mohummud Morad, who accompanied captain Hoare, that his inquiries at Allahabad were equally unsuccessful. "The Feeroz Shah, whose name is now attached to the Dehlee pillar (though it must have been and adds the following passage, translated verbatim from his his tory: Among the places built by this king (Feeroz Shah) is a hunting-place, which the popu lace call the Lat of Feerōz Shah. It is a house of three stories, in the centre of which has been erected as some Hindoo monu-erected a pillar of red stone, ment at a much earlier period), ap- of one piece, and tapering uppears from Ferishtuh's history to wards. The visible part of the have reigned at Dehlee between shaft is, by measurement, twentythe years 1351 and 1388, in the last seven zirras, and it is said that of which he died at the age of one-third only is visible; the reninety; and Ferishtuh, in themaining two-thirds being buried words of his translator, lieutenant-in the earth. In this case, the tocolonel Dow, gives him the follow-tal length must be eighty-one ziring character:ras; and it is five zirras in cir engraved literal characters, which the most intelligent of all religions have been unable to explain. Report says, this pillar is a monu'ment of renown to the rajuhs (or Hindoo princes), and that Feeroz Shah set it up within his hunting. place. But on this head there are various traditions, which it would be tedious to relate.' Though no great warrior incumference. Round it have been the field, he was, by his excellent qualities, well calculated for a reign of peace. His severity to the inhabitants of Cumaoon for the assassination of the governor of Samana, is a great blot in his ' reputation. But to this he perhaps was prompted by a religious zeal and enthusiasm, for the per'sons murdered were seids, or descendants of the prophet. He "reigned thirty-eight years and nine months, and left many memorials of his magnificence in the land. He built fifty great sluices, forty mosques, thirty schools, twenty caravansaries, an hundred 'palaces, five hospitals, an hundred tombs, ten baths, ten spires, one hundred and fifty wells, one hundred bridges; and the pleasure- gardens he made were without number.' "The author of the Huft Akleem, Mohummud Ameen Razee, who wrote his history of the world, (or, as the title of his book imports, of the Seven Climes into which the Mahomedans divide the universe), in the reign of Akbur, corroborates the above character of Feerōz Shah, "The exact length of the zirra, referred to in the above description, is uncertain. But there can be no doubt but the height of the pillar, now visible above the building, is thirty-seven feet; and that its circumference, where it joins the terrace, is ten feet four inches. These dimensions I have from Moonshee Mohummud Morad, who himself measured the pillar for captain Hoare, in July 1797; and who adds, that, as far as it could be seen (which from the ruinous state of the building it cannot be, at pre. sent, below the upper terrace), it is certainly, as described in the Huft Akleem, a single stone, of reddish colour, as represented in the drawing. One of captain Hoare's drawings further represents the plans of the TRANSLATION of one of the INSCRIPTIONS on a PILLAR at DELHI. [185] the three stories of the Shikar-gah, and his moonshee informs me, the current opinion is, that they were used partly for a menagery, and partly for an aviary, which the plans appear to confirm. "Perhaps the same misguided religious zeal, which prompted his severity towards the inhabitants of Cumaoon, may have impelled him to erect a mansion for birds and beasts, round a venerable relic of Hindoo antiquity, the age of which cannot, I conceive, be determined by the date of the inscription now communicated to the society, as the character of it is modern, and altogether different from the older inscriptions, not yet explained. 1 "J. H. HARINGTON." SANSCRIT INSCRIPTION, IN ROMAN “1 CHARACTERS. "samvat 1220 vais'ác'ha sudí 15 s'ácambharí bhúpati s'rímad vélla dévátmaja s'rímad vísala dévasya. "1 ávind'hyád áhimádrér virachita vijayas tírt'ha yátrá prasangád udgrívéshu praharta nrĭpatishu vinamat cand❜haréshu prasannah áryávertam yat'hárt'ham punar api critaván mléchch'ha vichch'hédanábhir dévah s'ácambharíndró jagati vijayaté vísalah cshón'ipálah "2 brúté samprati báhujáta tilacah asmábhih caradam vyad'háyi ""1 ambhó náma ripu priyá na s'rímad vigraha rájadéva bha- samvat s'rí vicramáditya 1220 pratyacsham guà dánwaya cáyast'ha máhava putra s'rípatina atra samayé mahá-mantrí rájaputra s'rímal lacshan'a pálah. VERBAL TRANSLATION. "In the year 1220, on the 15th day of the bright half of the month Vaisac'h, [this monument] of the fortunate Vísala Déva, son of the fortunate Vélla Déva, king of S'ácambharí. "As far as Vind'hya, as far as Himádri, having achieved, conquest in the course of travelling to holy places; resentful to haughty kings, and indulgent to those whose necks are humbled; making A'ryáverta once more what its name signifies, by causing the barbarians to be exterminated; Vísala Déva, supreme ruler of S'ácambhari and sovereign of the earth, is victorious in the world. "This conqueror, the fortunate Vigraha Rája, king of S'ácambharí, most eminent of the tribe which sprang from the arms [of Brahmá,] now addresses his own descendants: By us the region of the earth between Himavat and Vindhya has been made tribu yanayoh pratyart'hi dantántarétary; let not your minds be void of exertion to subdue the re'mainder.' "Tears are evident in the eyes of thy enemy's consort; blades of grass |