1. As to what the Teraphim were.

Selden. Syntag. 1. c. 11. "Imagines illas quas furata est Rahel, Ebræi vocant Teraphim. Genes. c. xxxi. comm. 9. Pro Diis esse habitas, testis est Laban. Quare, inquit ille, furatus es Deos meos, Jacobus adloquutus.... Utrum autem ut Dii colerentur Teraphim, utcunque Dii dicti, an verò divinationis tantum instrumenta haberent, vetus est inter magistros controversia..... Ben-Uzielis et Onkelos per Tzilmenaia in Genesi atque alibi vertunt Teraphim. Tzilmenaia verò figuras, effigies, seu imagines significant: Arabs item in dicto Genesis loco habet pro Teraphim; idola, simulachra, seu μορφώματα.”

Godwyn-Moses et Aaron, lib. iv. c. ix. Vox in genere notat perfectam hominis imaginem: in specie autem notat eidwλov, idolum, confictum ad hominum privatum usum in ædibus propriis, sic ut appareant fuisse idololatrarum penates, sive Lares..... Usus horum idolorum fuit, ipsa tanquam oraculum consulere de iis rebus, quæ pro præsenti ignorabantur, aut futuræ erant. Ex qua causa ab astronomis conficiebantur sub constellationibus certis ut essent idonea influentiis cœlorum, à quibus vocalia reddebantur.

Witsii Ægyptiaca, lib. viii. c. ii. (from Spencer, I believe.) "Teraphim simulacra quædam parvula, seculis antiquissimis frequenti in usu, in sacris primum ædiculis seposita; quæ spiritus cujusdam, sæpius impuri, præsentia animata, oracula fundere solebant: larium instar et penatum domesticorum."

Ibid. lib. ii. c. xiv. "Salomo Jarchius in 2 Reg. xxiii. 24. Teraphim fuerunt imagines quæ loquebantur per artes magicas. Qui faciebat eas opus habebat respicere horam certam, et annum certum convenientia ad id.”

....

Mede's Works, Vol. I. Disc. xxxvi. "Teraphim, among the idolaters, was answerable to the Urim and Thummim of the holy patriarchs. Both were ancient..... Both, also, were Oracles: for the Jews and others agree that Teraphim were small images, made under a certain constellation, which they used to consult in things doubtful and things future, supposing they had power to this effect received from heavenly influence; and, therefore, Ezek. xxi. 21, we read that the King of Babylon, among other divinations, consulted also these of Teraphim .... and Zech. x. 2, Surely (saith the text) the Teraphim have spoken vanity,' &c. .... Besides, from this like use of Teraphim with the holy Úrim and Thummim, we may read Ephod and Teraphim joined both together as things of like kind. As Hosea iii. 4, The children of Israel (saith the Lord) shall remain many days without a king, and without a prince, and without an offering, and without an image, and without an Ephod and Teraphim.' Yea, of so near a nature was this Teraphim unto the Urim and Thummim, that Micah, he that had an house of gods, when he had made an Ephod, because he had no Urim and Thummim, he put Teraphim instead thereof; as we may gather, Judges xvii. 5; and in chap. xviii. we may see also that when the children of Dan inquired of the Lord concerning their journey, it pleased him to give answer by the idolish Teraphim. So we may gather, likewise, that the Israelites, after Jeroboam's schism, having no Urim and Thummim, used Teraphim in the Ephod; and therefore it is that Hosea threatens that they shall be without Ephod and Teraphim.'"

It appears from Witsius, that Spencer was of the same opinion as Mede in respect of the transaction referred to in Judges xviii.; viz. that the Lord gave answer by the Teraphim. Witsius, lib. ii. ch. xi. of the Ægyptiaca, combats this opinion, I think successfully. He says, very truly, "Nullo verbo asserit sacer textus Deum per Teraphim responsum aliquod edidisse;" and, "Quæ sacerdotis verba, qui Dei verba esse dicit et quidem per Teraphim prolata, is aliquid Scripturæ addit."

Upon Hosea iii. 4, which Mede refers to, I will direct your readers to a note in D'Oyly and Mant's Bible, from Bishop Horsley :

:

Without an image, and without an Ephod, and without Teraphim.] These are mentioned as principal instruments of idolatrous rites; and the sum of the fourth verse is this, that, for many ages, the Jews would not be their own masters; would be deprived of the exercise of their own religion, in its most essential parts; not embracing the Christian, they would have no share in the true service; and yet would be restrained from idolatry, to which their forefathers had been so prone.

Brown, also, in his Historical Dictionary, says, on this passage, "The Jews, in their present dispersion, are without images and Teraphim, as they profess great detestation of idolatry." That God should give answer by idolatrous instruments to his people, as Mede supposes, seems most improbable.

Shuckford's Connec. Vol. I. Book V. "Laban.... had his Teraphim, in our translation Gods, which Rachel stole from him; but we have no reason to suppose that these were image-gods; it is more probable that they were little pillars, or stones, which had the names of their ancestors inscribed upon them. As they erected larger pillars to their deities, so they made smaller and portable ones in memory of their ancestors, which were esteemed by them much as family pictures are now by us; and that made Rachel so fond of taking them when she went away from her father's house, and Laban so angry at the thought of their being taken from him."

Bryant's Analysis of Ancient Mythology, Vol. III. p. 321. "As the worship of Lebana, or Selene, prevailed so much at Carrhæ, or Haran; we may form a judgment from the name of the person, by Moses called Laban, of the nature of his idolatry. We may presume that he was so named from this worship, and that it consisted in an undue reverence to the arkite emblem Labana. It is, moreover, highly probable, that those images which are supposed to have been invented by Terah, and from him named Teraphim, the same which Laban worshipped, were lunar amulets, or types of the ark in the form of a crescent."

2. As to the manner in which the Teraphim were made,

Schedius de Diis Germanis, p. 569. “Elias in Thisbi refert ex capite R. Eleazaris. Mactabant hominem primogenitum, cujus caput torquendo præscindebant, vel ungue secabant; Caput vero abscissum sale et aromatibus condiebant, scribebantque super laminam auream nomen spiritus immundi, qua supposita capiti ejus, ponebant illud in pariete, incendentes coram eo candelas et adorantes coram eo. Atque cum istiusmodi loquutus fuit Laban. Labanis autem Dii vocabantur Teraphim, Gen. xxxi. 9. .... Quidam tamen putant, non fuisse caput humanum, sed statuam humana forma factam ab astrologis, ut cœlestis influentiæ capax futura prædiceret, ut R. D. Kimchi et R. Abenezra notant. R. M. Ben-Maimon in more Nevochim, 1. iii. c. xxx. sic ait; ædificaverunt palatia et posuerunt in eis imagines, et dixerunt, quod splendor potentiorum stellarum diffundebatur super illas imagines, et loquebantur cum hominibus et annuntiabant eis utilia."

Godwyn, Aaron et Moses, de Teraphim, Note 1, observes, on the above account of R. Eleazar, "Hoc redolet ɛvdoλoyíav isti genti familiarem."

3. As to the Reason of Rachel's taking the Teraphim.

Brown's Dictionary of the Bible, Article Teraphim.-"To transfer her father's good fortune to herself and family, or in order to worship it, Rachel stole her father's teraphim."

Whiston's Josephus, Bk. i. c. xix. 9.-"The reason why Rachel took the images of the gods, although Jacob had taught her to despise such worship of these gods, was this, that in case they were pursued and taken by her father, she might have recourse to these images, in order to obtain his pardon."

Selden, de Diis Syris Syntag. I. c. 2.-"Inter causas etiam, cur Rachel eas (imagines) sustulerit, hanc unam recensent (i. e. Aben-ezra and Kimchi) ne scilicet Labani illarum inspectione innotesceret, per quod iter illa abierat."

Witsius, Egypt. lib. ii. c. xi.—“Quo illa (Rachel) animo patrios Teraphim furata sit, quum sacra historia non exponat, nemo nisi hariolando dixerit. Sunt qui volunt pio id eam fecisse animo, ut sublatis superstitionis instrumentis patris ab idololatria avocaret. Alii metui attribuunt; quasi, verita ne a loquacibus illis imagunculis mariti clandestinum iter proderetur, illas secum sumere quam id discriminis adire maluerit. Pererio Maximè probatur, quod quia pretiosa fuerint, ex auro puta aut argento, eas sibi vindicaverit, partim pro mercede qua maritum suum Labanus avaritiose fraudaverat, partim pro dote sibi et sorori suæ

debita."

Ibid. lib. i. c. viii. xvii. Spencer speaking of Rachel-" Patri suo Labani sua suffurata Teraphim est, non sane ut patris studia ab idololatria avocaret, vel ne eorum inspectione cognosceret ille quonam iter institueret Jacobus id enim si egisset Rachel, potuisset eos multo minore negotio ac discrimine vel in via defodere, vel in Euphratis profluentem abjicere. Verum affectu religioso, vel, si mavis, superstitioso, icunculas illas prosecuta, id præprimis operam dedit, ut ex omnibus quæ familiæ suæ charissima erant ejus potissimum Theraphim possi

deret."

Most of the above reasons are assigned in the note from Bishop Patrick, and Stackhouse in D'Oyly and Mant's Bible. Gen. xxxi. 19.

4. From whence the derivation of Teraphim.

Simonis Lexicon.-♫ m. unde pl. ' nomen Simulacrorum, sic dictorum, quod ea de rebus dubiis et occultis percontarentur et consulerent, a rad. Syr. percontatus est, coll. Ezech. xxi. 21, Zach. x. 2. (Alii Deos penates intelligunt, fortunæ commodioris præsides et largitores, qui ad amplificandam et tuendam rem domesticam colebantur, a rad. bonis commodisque vitæ affluxit, . . . commoditas fortunæ et vitæ. v. Ludov. de Dieu, &c.) Quid vero (he adds) propriè fuerint, incertum est, quamvis plurima eruditorum de illis exstent scripta.

Kircher derives it from Serapis; Godwyn from Seraphim; Spencer from the same. Witsius argues against both these derivations, and seems to prefer that of Ludovicus de Dieu before them. He says,

a

"Si conjectura standum, non video cui cedere debeat illa doctissimi viri Ludovici de Dieu. Constet, inquit, ex Gen. xxxi. 19. imagines Teraphim Syria ortum ducere. Videntur autem ex hoc loco; et 1 Sam. xix. 13, fuisse Dii Penates, qui ad tuendam amplificandamque rem domesticam colerentur. Hoc sensu referri posset ad Arabicum uberem et affluentem reddidit. Quam significationem in lingua Ethiopica habet, ubi significat restare; reliquum esse, Matt. xiv. 20, inde, abundantia cordis, Matt. xii. 34. Hinc forte Dii qui rem familiarem abundare faciunt."

Beyer, in his Additamenta to Selden's book, mentions some further derivations. Selden mentions that the LXX. render Teraphim in Ezech. xxi. 21, by yλurà; in Genesis by owλa; in Judges by θεραφεῖν ; in Historia Michal et Davidis κενοτάφια; Hosea, Δηλούς, (quo vocabulo Urim etiam iis vocatur 1 Sam. cap. xxviii. quod per Awo eadem mente, Exod. xxviii. vertunt); Zach. vero TOUS

άлорОεуyоμévоvç. Aquila (he adds) teste Hieronomo, vertebat per μορφώματα, nonnunquam per φωτισμούς. Mechavi, id est, annuntientas vocat.

Targum Hoseæ

I am, Sir,

your

obedient Servant,

U. Y.

For other information upon the above subject we scarcely need to refer our readers to Calmet, sub voce Teraphim.

PRO-POPERY SOPHISTRY.

MR. EDITOR, -My present subject is a sophism which has been much circulated in Parliament, and in private society; to wit, that the late measure would have the effect of increasing Protestantism (your readers start, but let them hear how, and they will be still more surprised) by gaining the open conversion of those nominal Papists, who, being Protestants in heart, were withheld by honour from declaring themselves to be such, till the antipopish restrictions should be repealed.

The antecedent absurdity of such a proposition I shall establish presently. Meanwhile let one short consideration engage us. Assuming the sophism to be true, "when he that letteth is taken away," as soon as the restraint is removed the effect would, of course, follow. There would be no necessity for one day's "honourable" hypocrisy. Now has one popish nobleman, knight, or burgess declared his conversion? No. A gentleman, with whom I lately conversed, stated that no fewer than six popish gentlemen in Ireland affirmed to him that they waited only the repeal of the disabilities to declare for Protestantism. (Hibernian secrecy this, by the by.) But I do not find that any one of the party has put his promise in execution. Here, then, the sophism is experimentally refuted. The expectation is proved unfounded. And no wonder, when we come to investigate its merits.

You, Sir, are a Christian Remembrancer, and you may naturally expect that I should argue this matter on Christian grounds; and this, if you will allow me the space, I will presently do. But I must crave your indulgence, if, in exposing the complications of the present sophism, I first touch upon those false laws of honour on which it is professedly founded. Without regarding the proselyte under a religious view, I will, for the present, simply suppose him governed by those maxims which sway the class of society to which he belongs.

However tergiversation and inconsistency may seem countenanced by high example, they have not, even now, lost their infamous complexion even among men of mere honour. I have heard the coryphoi of the apostasy, and much more the obsequious and contemptible slaves of it, most severely censured by consistent men of their own present opinions. I have heard them treated as men devoid of honour. Indeed, they have themselves frequently taken credit for the sacrifice they have made in losing the consideration of society. Why then should the exterior papist, restrained by honour from avowing his disbelief under unfavourable circumstances, avow it under favourable? If he has a motive for concealment under restriction, he has no motive

for avowal under qualification. Religion he must have none, by our supposition. He would therefore only hazard the honour and reputation of which he is so zealous, without even receiving the inducements which have operated on his parliamentary friends, the quid pro quo.

But further, I cannot perceive (not being on the "enlightened" side of the question) what honour has to do with the matter. If a man changes his religious opinions, he does so from motives altogether superior to all codes of honour, which last would never restrain him in such cases. But how easy would it be to separate that change from every appearance of unworthy motive, and even at no sacrifice whatever! Why should not the converted nobleman absent himself from the House of Lords? Why should the converted gentleman offer himself for a seat in parliament? Neither would be worse off by this abstinence than he was before his conversion: none could then doubt the purity and sincerity of his motives.

66

And now, Sir, let us take up the subject on christian considerations. A sincere man, educated in the Romish Communion, becomes, from conviction, a member of our Reformed Catholic Church. I can conceive but one motive which might prevent an avowal of his principles, and that motive is not justifiable, though it is one which might operate on the weakness of human nature, -temporal fear. This it was which kept Joseph of Arimathea a secret disciple: this it was which induced Cranmer to sign a recantation which his heart abhorred. Both were sincere, but their faith was not perfect. Now whatever may be the case of a poor Irish peasant, surrounded with the bloodhounds of Popery, it will never be contended that an Irish nobleman or gentleman could have been in any danger in consequence of conversion: in fact, it was not so much as pretended. If then it be an undoubted duty to "witness a good confession" at any hazard, it would not only not be a duty, but it would be an act of the grossest hypocrisy and the most gratuitous unaccountable rashness, not to profess where there was no motive of concealment; for false honour could be no bar to a religious man, and we have seen that even this demanded no sacrifice.

But perhaps some of the Papists were only men who had been educated as such, and cared little for either Popery or Protestantism. A system of exclusion gave these men opportunities for working on the minds of their wretched instruments, the Popish population of Ireland. Remove the exclusion, says the sophist, and you take the handle from the engine. I believe most of the active Irish Papists are of this description; BUT HAVE THEY BECOME PROTESTANTS? No, happily for us. Let us always, at least, see our enemies. Our betrayers would never have succeeded, if they had not worked under masked batteries. Such a remedy would be worse than the malady O'Connell and Shiel among the FRIENDS of the Protestant Church! Di, talem avertite casum !

A CATHOLIC OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND,

VOL. XI. NO. XI.

4 x