'm\ ': (dS 1 o 1 ■ ■ ^^ 1 1^ [ ^ # i g H>^ ! . -; « ' ■= 1 1 ^ S ' ^1 cl c^ ^ Ph =% ! ^^^ ^ « i \ ■^^ ur i ' ' FALSE WORSHIP AN ESSAY. BY THE REV. / S. E. MAITLAND, D.D. F.E.S. & F.S.A. LONDON: RIVINGTONS, WATERLOO PLACE. 1856. Latdy publisJied, BY THE SAME AUTHOR, SUPERSTITION AND SCIENCE AN ESSAY. Price 2s. CONTENTS. SECTION 1. Antediluvian Worship 2. The Deluge 3. The Origui of False Worship . 4. The descendants of the Giants . 5. Angels ; their sin and punishment . 6. The Abyss — Spirits in Prison . 7. Leviathan 8. Dsemoniacal Possession 9. Pagan doctrine of a Supreme Bemg . 10. The Nature of False Worship . 1 1 . The Worship of Angels . 12. Women in relation to False Worship 13. Fascination 14. Isaiah iii. Ezek. xiii. 15. The Moral character of Jewish women 16. Children in relation to false worship . 17. Healing 18. Oracles 10 15 20 27 45 53 67 78 88 96 116 134 152 192 211 243 257 273 274 279 JfOTE A. Hesiod of the Titans (referred to p. 44) . B. The Serpent of the Abyss (referred to p. 67) C. The Book of Enoch (referred to p. 69) D. Bishop Warburtou on Mysteries (referred to p . 96) 281 E. Female Superstition (referred to p. 117) • • 283 F. The Theological Critic (referred to p. 145) . 289 G. Invultuation and Facillation (referred to p. 150) 291 H. Kedesim (referred to p. 209) . . • • 299 I. Mesmeric Stance at Geneva (referred to p. 234) 307 K. Mr. Lacy and the French Prophets (referred to p. 236) 309 L. Spiritualist Therapeutics (referred to p. 257) • 313 M. The Delphic Oracle (referred to p. 264) . .316 N. Lucian and some recent phsenomena (referred to p. 270) 325 Note on Ezek. xiii. 18 (referring to p. 191) . 331 "Although I be as desirous to know what I should, and what I should not, as any of my brethren, the sons of Adam ; yet I find that the more I search, the further I am from being satisfied, and make but few discoveries, save of my own igno- rance : and, therefore, I am desirous to follow the example of a very wise personage, Julius Agricola, of whom Tacitus gave this testimony, ' Retiuuitque (quod est difiicillimum) ex sci- entia modum :' or, that I may take my precedent from within the pale of the Church, it was the saying of St. Austin, ' Mal- lem quidem eonim, quae a me quaesivisti, habere scientiam quam ignorantiam; sed quia id nondum potui, magis eligo eautam ignorantiam confiteri, quamfalsam scientiam profiteri.' And these words do very much express my sense. But if there be any man so confident as Luther sometimes was, who said that he could expound all Scripture ; or so vain as Eckius, who, in his * Chrysopassus,' ventured upon the highest and most mysterious question of predestination, ' ut in ea juveniles possit calores exercere ;' such persons as these, or any that is furious in his opinion, will scorn me and my discourse : but I shall not be much moved at it, only I shall wish that I had as much knowledge as they think me to want, and they as much as they believe themselves to have." Jeremy Taylor. FALSE WORSHIP PART I. Antediluvian worship— the Deluge — the Origin of false wor- ship — the descendants of the Giants. Except the sacrifices of Cain and Abel, the records of the antediluvian world furnish no ac- count of any thing which we should include in the idea of divine worship, or adoration paid by man to the Supreme Being. That such offerings as were made by these sons of Adam were expressions of adoration — that one offer- ing was acceptable, and the other unacceptable — and that the acceptance depended on the faith of him who offered — we know beyond all doubt from the inspired testimony that, " by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained B 2 ANTEDILUVIAN WORSHIP. [§ 1. witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts \" But, in the history of the antediluvian pe- riod, we are not directly told so much as that sacrifices had been required of man ; and we do not learn with what rites they were per- formed. We may assume that where there was an offering there was an altar ; but even then, it seems as if we might almost adopt the words of the Roman historian, " aram tantum et reve- rentiam^' — unless indeed he meant to exclude the idea of a material and substantial sacrifice. It looks as if we might say, not merely as he says of Mount Carmel, that there was no image, no temple, no building consecrated by holy rites, or dedicated to sacred purposes ; but that there was nothing like what we now call " religious service " consisting of confession, prayer and thanksgiving. But while we say this with regard to ritual worship, I think there can be no doubt that we should be authorized to add for our world, so far as it was then peopled, what a believer in the Bible would have added to the description of the sacred mountain by Tacitus — that it was sanctified, 1 Heb. xi. 4. § 1.] ANTEDILUVIAN WORSHIP. 3 and glorified, and linked to heaven by the inestimable gift of Prophecy. For reasons which will become more appa- rent as we proceed, I mention this at the out- set. It is in my view the link which unites the visible and invisible worlds ; and it is im- portant that we should come to an understand- ing on this point, as far, and as soon, as we can. It is the more necessary because well known, and highly respected, writers have used such language respecting the " liberty of pro- phesying," and the "large sense" of the word "prophet," as has tended to throw some ob- scurity on the matter ^ Without entering into 2 Take a specimen from Doddridge's commentary on Titus i. 12. " One of themselves, even a prophet of their own." He says " A Prophef] Epimenides, whose words Paul here quotes, is said, by Diogenes Laertius, to have been a great favourite of the gods ; but Aristotle says, he never foretold any future event ; which, as Dr. Scott justly observes, (Scott's Christian Life, vol. iii. p. 650.) is a plain argument that the word Prophet is sometimes used in a large sense, for one, who is supposed, by the person applying the title to him, to be an Instructor of tnen in divine things, from whom the will of the Deity may be learnt." Vol. v. p. 565. Suppose (and the thing is not altogether impossible) that Aristotle said rather more than he could prove, what becomes of the "plain argu- ment," and of the Commentator's claim to be considered a "prophet?" No doubt Dr. Doddridge and Dr. Scott were instructors of men in divine things. Bishop Patrick on B 2 4 ANTEDILUVIAN WORSHIP. [§ 1. details on this point, however, I will merely state what I believe to be the truth. When we speak of a "prophet_," the idea most commonly and readily presented to our minds is that of one who predicts future events. This, however, arises from our adopting a word which we suppose to imply the power of pre- diction. How far it suits the greek irporjji'iTrjg, I do not here enquire ; but clearly it does not embrace all that we ought to understand by the hebrew K^^l I do not mean that this hebrew term can be made to include either mere poets who wrote verses about divine truths, or teachers who merely preached ser- mons, sung psalms, or performed other divine offices of that nature. As far as I can under- stand, the characteristic of a prophet, was that in matters of thought, word, and deed, he was, either for the time, or habitually, under an influence which enabled, and required, him to 1 Chron. xxv. 1. which refers to the sons of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun who were separated to '* prophesy with harps" &c. ^' Who should prophesy. 1 Sing Psalms, which David and other prophets composed. For these young men were not prophets, as their fathers were ; but are said to prophesy^ because they sung in the service of God those divine pro- phetical hymns, which were composed by their fathers, who were men divinely inspired." § 1.] ANTEDILUVIAN WORSHIP. 5 think, and say, and do, things beyond his natural powers, and beyond the faculties of men in general. It might be that he predicted an event, or announced a command, or that he performed a miracle without speaking ; but in every thing relating to his official character, he — or more properly speaking the power by which he was instructed and influenced — was the link between the visible, and the unseen, world. It seems as if there had been prophets from the days of Enos, for so I think we must un- derstand — " then began men to call upon the name of the Lord." Gen. iv. 26. Who can believe that mankind lived on for centuries without prayer to God, or the invocation of his Name? and yet I know not what else our translators would have us to understand by the words which I have just quoted. Can they mean any thing but that hitherto men had not been wont to "call upon the Name of the Lord?" The Jewish interpretation is, if possible, still more unsatisfactory. According to it, the words mean, that at this period, men began to profane the name of God by giving it to false gods. Maimonides begins his tract on Idol- atry by telling us, that in the days of Enos, 6 ANTEDILUVIAN WORSHIP. [§ 1. mankind, and even the patriarch himself, fell into great error. They taught, he says, that God had created the heavenly bodies to rule the earth, and that he designed that those his creatures should share his glory, as a king desires to see his servants honoured, the re- spect being, in fact, paid to himself; and he adds, that, having taken up this notion, mankind fell to vv^ork, and built temples, and framed rites, in honour of the Sun, Moon, and Stars; and so idolatry was, it would seem, almost at once, established in full blown ma- jesty. These "undevout astronomers" must, I sus- pect, have been contemporary, if not identical, with the original politicians who framed social contracts, and invented civil governments ; but I notice the interpretation for two reasons — first, because in all cases, the traditional opi- nions of the Jews, on matters relating to their own history and language, are entitled to some consideration — secondly, because, though erro- neous as an interpretation, it appears to have reference to matters which may come under discussion in the course of this enquiry, and it may be desirable to refer to it \ 5 Pai'tly on the latter of these grounds I transcribe a § 1.] " ANTEDILUVIAN WORSHIP. 7 As to the passage of Scripture itself, surely we may say that, simply construed, it means, that from that time forth men began to speak, or proclaim, in the name of the Lord. It is barely possible, that if we had not the long sacred history which follows, we might be more or less in doubt as to the meaning of the phrase ; but what can be more plain when we are expressly told that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied (Trpo^cjiriTEvae Jude 14.), when Noah is described as a preacher of righteous- ness [hKaioavvr]Q KiipvKa 2 Pet. ii. 5.), and these early prophets are followed in Scripture His- tory, by a long line of chosen and inspired men, crying to one generation after another, "Thus saith the Lord?" It appears, as I have in part suggested, that a prophet, according to the Scriptural account, was a man whose thoughts, words, and actions were under an influence which it may not be remark of Dionysius Vossius, the translator of Maimonides. " Cceperunt cedijicare siderlhis templa\ Exposita origiue idolo- latrise, ad niodum autor transit. Primum cultum facit templa, sacrificia, hymnos, et adorationem. Vellem ordinis majorem paullo rationem habuisset. Nam simul cum religionis exordio templa esse ab hominibus exstructa parum sane verisimile videtur. Simplicissimi mortalium simplicissimo quoque eultu usi sunt." — Cap. i. § 2. 8 ANTEDILUVIAN WORSHIP. [§ 1. strictly correct to call foreign and external, but which might be either occasional, or habitual, and (if I may so speak) official. Without at- tempting to enter into detail or strict definition on the subject, I may just refer to the cases of Samuel and Saul. When all Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, perceived that the Lord was with Samuel, and did let none of his words fall to the ground, they knew that he was established to be a Prophet of the Lord * ; and that office he retained all the days of his life. The very singular and interesting history of Saul \ furnishes much matter for reflection, while it wonderfully illustrates the other case, or what I have ventured to call the occasional exercise of the prophetic character ; but this is not the place for discussing it. It is more properly our business to observe, that if the records of the Antediluvian world furnish but little information respecting the worship of the true God, they say absolutely nothing of Idolatry, or the worship of false gods. This is a very remarkable fact ; and one which the reader should keep in mind, not only in this enquiry, but when commentators * See 1 Sam. iii, 19. 20. ^ Ibid. ch. x. § 1.] ANTEDILUVIAN WORSHIP. 9 tell him about the pious descendants of Seth, and the idolatrous progeny of Cain. We may add, that what the Bible does say of the state and proceedings of men before the flood, even supposing it to be capable of being so stretched as to make it comprehend every kind of sin, does not seem ever to have been understood as relating to idolatry, or as implying that the sinners were guilty of that particular species of impiety. In the sixth chapter of Genesis we read that, " the wicked- ness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." v. 5. — 'Hhe earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth ^vas filled with violence.*' v. 11. — "God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." v. 12. — the consequence was that the earth was "filled with violence." v. 13. We might, perhaps, make the language of these strong and repeated statements include the worship of false gods, if we found reason else- where for believing that idolatry was then prac- tised. But I know not w^here we can find evidence of this. Certainly we get no coun- tenance from the quarters to which we might 10 THE DELUGE. [§ 2. most naturally turn for information. Our Lord, in his reference to the days of Noah", speaks of the sinful carelessness, and carnal security, — perhaps of the sensual sin — of the antediluvians; but He suggests no idea of idolatry ; and the Jewish writers do not appear to have supposed that false worship had then come into existence. § 2. The Deluge, T have passed very hastily and slightly over the Antediluvian period because it is my desire to impress on the reader's mind, one very simple idea — namely, that if with such scanty materials as we have, we trace the history of divine worship from the Creation to the De- luge, we find no mention of false worship. This is I believe a fact ; and it is important to consider in connexion with it, that those who have taken up the subject of pagan my- thology, studying it in its maturity, and pur- suing an analytical and retrogressive method 6 Matt. xxiv. 38. Luke xvii. 27. § 2.] THE DELUGE. 11 of enquiry, have not only been unable to trace back false worship beyond the Deluge, but they have decidedly and unequivocally traced it up to that particular period, and demon- strated, as one of its most obvious and un- questionable characters, that it was, in some very peculiar manner, connected with that catastrophe. I shall so soon and so clearly show that I am not a convert to Mr. Bryant^s system of mythology, that I am not afraid to express my high respect for his character, and for the learning, industry, and ingenuity, which cha- racterize his "Analysis." I must even go farther; and say, that making only due allow- ance for specific mistakes and errors such as must occur in so large a work, on so wide a subject, I think he proves most of his points, except the point to which, in his view, all his proofs tended. As I have already suggested, he traced up the Mythology of the ancients to the flood. " Time with the ancients,^' he tells us, " commenced at the Deluge ; and all their traditions, and all their genealogies terminated here; even the birth of mankind went with them no higher than this epocha ^'' " I shall 7 Vol. iii. p. 98. 12 THE DELUGE. [§ 2. endeavour '^ he says " to show that the history of the deluge was religiously pre- served in the first ages : that every circum- stance of it is to be met with among the his- torians and mythologists of different countries : and traces of it are to be particularly found in the sacred rites of Egypt, and of Greece'." This task Mr. Bryant performed with great labour and learning, and with considerable success ; but he was less happy in his attempt to raise what was in fact the top stone of his structure. We may, indeed, almost without a figure, say that the Sun of his system was the deified Noah; — "They styled him" says he " Prometheus, DeucaUon, Atlas, Theuth, Zuth, XuthuS;, Inachus, Osiris. When there began to be a tendency towards idolatry; and the adoration of the Sun was introduced by the posterity of Ham; the title of Helius among others was conferred upon him \" In short, according to the system of this learned my tho- logist, all the gods were Noah, and all false worship, by whatever names or rites it might be distinguished, was directed ultimately to him. Mr. Bryant's readers had been prepared for this by his suggesting, that the details of the 8 Vol. iii. p. 7. ^ I^id- § 2.] THE DELUGE. 13 tremendous Deluge would be long remem- bered, and recounted with awe, by the sur- vivors. " We may," he says, " reasonably sup- pose, that the particulars of this extraordinary event would be gratefully commemorated by the Patriarch himself; and transmitted to every branch of his family : that they were made the subject of domestic converse; where the his- tory was often renewed, and ever attended with a reverential awe and horror: especially in those, who had been witnesses to the cala- mity, and had experienced the hand of Provi- dence in their favour. In process of time, when there was a falling off from the truth, we might farther expect that a person of so high a character as Noah, so particularly distinguished by the Deity, could not fail of being reverenced by his posterity : and, when idolatry prevailed, that he would be one of the first among the sons of men, to whom divine honours would be paid. Lastly, we might conclude that these memorials would be interwoven in the mytho- logy of the Gentile world: and that there would be continually allusions to these ancient occurrences in the rites and mysteries ; as they were practised by the nations of the earth \" 1 Vol. ili. p. 6. 14 THE DELUGE. [§ 2. That circumstances connected with the de- luge were interwoven with, and in fact gave rise to, the mythology of the Gentile world, I fully believe; and I feel very grateful to Mr. Bryant for the light which he has thrown on that point, but in his deification of Noah, I can by no means acquiesce. Supposing the Patriarch to have been treated by his descend- ants with a degree of reverence of which I find no trace, I cannot bring myself to imagine his being deified. We who look back on things which are obscure, but which having certainly existed, seem as if they must be accounted for, are under a great temptation to let explana- tions pass which would not stand cross-examin- ation. Moreover, in this particular case, we are prepared by having been made familiar from childhood with the notion of men being deified, and with explanations that so-called gods were only men whom their fellow-men thought fit to deify and worship. It is easy to suppose that this or that heathen god for whom nobody on earth knows how to suggest any other origin, was a king whom his subjects adored ; but I have no good faith in such idolatrous loyalty, and doubt whether it ever existed. I suspect that people who made their gods in such a way § 3.] THE ORIGIN OF FALSE WORSHIP. 15 would not be likely to worship any thing very much. We know that great men, belonging to times far too modern to be of use in our enquiry, when they were gone, were said to have been admitted to the number of the Gods; but even this, I suspect, was more in compliment to their successors than to them- selves. If they had not been succeeded by living dogs, even dead lions might have waited long enough for their altars. Folly and flattery may go a great way. I can believe that Virgil said, "erit ille mihi semper Deus^' &c. but I do not believe that the tower of Babel was built in honour of the God Noah, or that its many-tongued builders, or even their succes- sors at some uncertain period, concurred in calling him god, and worshipping him. § 3. The Origin of False Worship, What then may we consider to have been the origin of idolatry and false worship ? I believe that a writer of the present day has given the popular view of the matter when he says, " With respect to the way in which false reli- ]6 THE ORIGIN [§ 3. gions were first introduced, there can be no doubt that they must have crept in gradually. For men would not all at once forsake the worship of the great Creator, and forget his very existence, and serve other Gods instead of him. But it is likely, that when they had come to imagine certain inferior spirits to reside in the sun and moon, the sea, rivers, groves, &c. they would next be led to call upon these beings, in the hope that perhaps such prayers might be heard ^" This view appears to me to be very unsatis- factory for several reasons, of which I will at present mention only one. That is, that it seems to countenance a notion taken up by some unthinking talkers on the subject, who speak as if in their idea " a Religion'^ was a system cut and dry, and compacted — an eccle- siastical polity with all its properties of doc- trine, discipline, and practice— as if there had been, from the beginning, something of this kind universally acknowledged and established throughout the world — as if in the course of time, this established system had been con- 2 Quoted in " Lectures on the Scripture Revelations re- specting good and evil Angels" (p. 99.) from "Lessons on Religious Worship." § 3.] OF FALSE WORSHIP. 17 fronted and opposed by another — and then, after a trial of strength, like that between Elijah and the priests of Baal, one Religion had prevailed to the extinction of the other. But as I have already suggested, there was not, so far as I can find, any such system in the antediluvian ages. The sacrifices of Cain and Abel, and the fact that men prophesied and declared the will of God by divine inspira- tion, seem to be the only things on which we can ground any notion of ivorship. They are, indeed, pregnant facts as it regards religion, though they afford little information respecting the external observances by which it was mani- fested. It is likely that some men were more ignorant than others; but it is also Hkely, especially considering the duration of human life, that one generation after (or we may almost say, with) another grew up in the knowledge of God. That man, though fallen from innocence, acknowledged the true God and Him only. That, even while a disobedient sinner against Jehovah, he did not tender his allegiance to another sovereio;n. That if he neglected to worship the true God, he did not pretend to worship any thing. And, what is most of all to our purpose, that when he did c 18 THE ORIGIN [§ 3. come to worship any other being it was on other grounds^ and with worship of a different kind from that which he had rendered, and perhaps continued to render, to his Creator. Of course the progress of apostasy in indi- viduals, and in communities, may have been gradual. Who, I wonder, ever did suppose that men would " all at once forsake the worship of the great Creator, and forget his very existence, and serve other Gods instead oi him?^^ But our question is, How did apostasy begin ? How came men to take the first step ? Was it, as we are told that when they had come to imagine that certain inferior spirits were resi- dent in the Sun and Moon, they thought they would pray to them as a mere matter of experi- ment? It seems to me that, if we accept this explanation, it only throws us another step back, and we have to enquire how men came to believe that spirits resided in the sun and moon. How came they to imagine such a thing? What led to this notion about "in- ferior spirits?^' That mankind did believe in, and serve, and seek after, "inferior spirits^^ even while acknowledging a supreme power, is beyond all doubt. " Paganism ^^ said a very learned writer "was the opinion of all the § 3.] OF FALSE WORSHIP. 19 nations of mankind — one excepted. It is (as it were) the catholic tradition of the World. It is that of a world of lies and errors, and therefore is devoid of authority. But falsehood is usually built upon foundations of truth ; and therefore more things will perhaps be found to be untrue in Paganism, than quite unfounded'^ '^^ — and to avoid prolixity and obscurity I will at once state my belief that the " catholic tradi- tion of the World" on the subject of "inferior spirits" relates to, and is founded on the facts related in the sixth chapter of Genesis. I have elsewhere stated, at considerable length, my reasons for believing that by " the Sons of God" mentioned in that chapter we are to understand, "Angels." Without, there- fore, repeating what I have said in defence of that opinion, — and also in some degree antici- pating what I hope to establish by farther argument and illustration — let me ask the reader to consider in his own mind, how it was that the ancient heathen world ever came by the notion of a Theogony ? Whence arose the idea of Gods generated and generating? I will beg him to remember that, whether he 3 Brit. Mag. vol. xxi. p. 389. C2 20 DESCENDANTS [§ 4. believes them to be true words or false words, whether he refers them to angels or to men, these words, "the Sons of God*' and these facts relating to their wives and progeny, were WTitten long before the days of Hesiod and Homer. Ages before those pagan writers were born, people might read, and did read, about ^^the Sons of God" in the book of Genesis, if no where else. I am not saying that the tradi- tion of "a world of lies and errors" is of equal authority witli the scriptures ; but I think that the "catholic tradition of the world" on this point, even though partially " untrue" is not wholly " unfounded." I hope in the sequel to explain, and establish, the grounds of my be- lief that the foundation, in this case, was the Sin of the Angels — in fact, that the first false worship was introduced by them, and that they were themselves the first objects of it. § 4. The descendants of the Giants. 1 have suggested that so far as regards what I have just been stating, it makes no difference whether the reader applies the words of the § 4.] OF THE GIANTS. 21 sixth chapter of Genesis to men or to angels. I may say the same with reference to one or two remarks which I wish to make on the subjects of this section. However they may differ on other points, those who refer the history to the descendants of Seth, and those who understand it to relate to angels, are per- fectly agreed as to the fact that, at some time during the sixteen hundred years which elapsed between the Creation and the Deluge, the " Sons of God" took wives of the " Daughters of men;" and that these parties became the parents of a race of " Giants." The Scripture, they agree, states that these unions led to such sin and misery that the Creator resolved to destroy the race of mankind ; and that, except the few souls preserved in the ark, every living creature perished in the deluge. Perhaps we are liable, rather hastily to take up the notion that by this catastrophe the race of the Giants became extinct. When, in the history of later times, we read that " Og king of Basan remained of the remnant of the Giants * ;" and still later of " Ishbi-benob which was of the sons of the Giant';" we * Deut. iii. 11. =2 Sam. xxi. 16. 22 DESCENDANTS [§ 4. may perhaps be satisfied, as to the former, with Bishop Patrick's remark, that the Re- phaim were " a very ancient people in that country;" and for the latter by his suggestion that Ishbi-benob was a son of Gohah, "though Bochartus thinks the hebrew word Rapha sig- nifies any giant." Perhaps, I say, we may take this for commentary, without further en- quiry as to what "giants" had to do with the matter at all ; or if we are not satisfied with this, and think that we see reason for believing that the word here translated "giants" has reference to antediluvians^; it may be sug- gested that, as those original " Giants" or their offspring were " men of renown," there might probably be warriors in after ages who would profess to be the descendants of those heroes, and whose pretensions were not likely to be questioned while they were prepared to sup- port them by spears like weavers' beams. For my own part, however, I see no reason why Ishbi-benob may not have been personally '^ If I seem to assume this without proof, it is because 1 shall have occasion to state my reasons for the supposition in the sequel. They will be at least more intelligible, and per- haps more convincing, after we have noticed some other points, which bear on the question. 4] OF THE GIANTS. 23 and lineally descended from " the Sons of God/' whosoever they may have been. Some people were, I suppose, and why not he? We must consider, that though the ark contained only one family, consisting of but eight souls, yet in all probability that family represented five lines of pedigree. The Patriarch Noah, it may be remembered, was himself of the family of Seth. Whatever idea we may have of his personal holiness, and of the antediluvian piety of his sons, we are not, I suppose, authorized to assume that by something amounting almost to a miracle, the several lines of Noah himself, of his wife, and of his three daughters-in-law — lines going back perhaps through many ages and generations— were all kept pure from any mixture of giant blood. Those who imagine that the originators of all the evil which was raging in this world of violence and furious sin, were the descendants of Seth, and persons so eminent for holiness as to have been called, on that account alone, " the Sons of God," cannot fairly insist on a more rigid and scrupulous selection of partners by the sons of Noah. One can scarcely help feeling sorry that the very brief records which we possess do not enable us to form any precise idea of the cir- 24 DESCENDANTS [§ 4. cumstances of the Patriarch^s family. The statement that " Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begat Shem Ham and JaphetV' may perhaps be taken as consisting of two distinct propositions ; and may mean that when Noah was five hundred years old, he had be- gotten those three sons — at least, if (as appears to be the case) we are to understand that Noah received notice of the impending judgment at that time ; for in that earliest intimation his " sons' wives" are particularly mentioned^. Perhaps it is worth while to notice the pro- bability that most readers of Genesis, both those who consider the Sons of God as Angels, and those who take them for Sethites, have been apt to think of the offence which gave rise to this great visitation of mankind, as a criminal act committed by certain parties at a certain time, rather than as a course of trans- gression extending over an undefined, and per- haps protracted, period, growing worse and worse, and reaching to the day of vengeance — " they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark ^" I lay no stress on it, 7 Gen. V. 32. ^ Gen. vi. 18. 9 Matt. xxiv. 38. Luke xvii. 27. § 4.] OF THE GIANTS. 25 but would suggest that there may be a signi- ficancy in our Lord's words which has not been commonly observed. It seems natural that the eating and drinking should form a feature in the character of the gigantic sons of violence and sin ; and that it should be fol- lowed by every species of outrage ; but perhaps we should hardly have expected the mention of marrying. At all events, it is more easily understood if we consider it as relating to marriages essentially unlawful, and of such a character as to have called for the impending visitation. One thing, however, seems clear— namely, that so much knowledge of antediluvian his- tory and sin survived the flood as was likely to give colour and complexion to the history and the sin of later times. Imperfect as our infor- mation is, and doing our best to accept Mr. Bryant's charitable suggestion, we are unhap- pily precluded from the natural assumption that the offspring of the righteous patriarch, just delivered from such judgments, would thankfully and awfully remember the judg- ments which they had escaped, and walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. Little as we can learn of persons, 26 DESCENDANTS OF THE GIANTS. [§ 4. places, and things belonging to this period of history, we know too well that the land of " Ham," and the land of his accursed son " Canaan," were the hotbeds of false worship and superstition. " Magic and incantations are attributed to Chus " says Mr. Bryant, " as the inventor; and they were certainly first practised among his sons \" But instead of immediately pursuing our enquiry in this direction, it may be more convenient to drop it for the present, and to resume it after having considered some other points which require our attention. 1 Vol. ii. p. 60. PART II Angels; their sin and punishment — the Abyss; spirits in prison — Leviathan — Dsemoniacal Possession. As the whole question before us is grounded on the assumption that the Bible is true, and I address myself to those who believe it to be a divine revelation, it is unnecessary to enter into any formal proof that there are such beings as angels. The church of England teaches her members to pray, "O Everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the services of Angels and men in a wonderful order ; Merci- fully grant, that as thy holy angels always do thee service in heaven, so by thy appointment they may succour and defend us on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord ;^^ and I have observed in a Collection of Hymns used in 28 angels; their sin [§ 5. many of our churches under very high sanction, language maintaining doctrine quite in unison with this prayer. " Angels, unseen, attend thy saints, And bear them in their arms, To cheer their spirit when it famts, And guai-d their life from harms ^" I do not know how much the greater part of those who use these prayers and hymns really believe respecting angels, and spiritual existences and interferences, but from my own observation I am inclined to think that many, if they spoke honestly, would say, " I think I believe all that the Bible says about them — what that amounts to I have not particularly enquired, and do not clearly know — but I hope that I do, in fact, believe and disbelieve enough 1 Hymn 83. of "Psalms and Hymns adapted to the Services of the Church of England" London 1850. The work is dedi- cated to the Bishop of London ; and, in the Preface, the Editor says that, " He is also bound to acknowledge with gratitude the condescension of the distinguished prelate to whom the volume is inscribed, in permitting the sheets, after they had received all the improvements which the various criticisms of friends could suggest, to be submitted to himself for his general opinion ; beyond which the Editor would not be understood as claiming the sanction of his Lordship's approval." § 5.] AND PUNISHMENT. 29 to keep me clear of infidelity on the one hand, and superstition on the other ^" No one, however, who has carefully read the Bible, needs to be informed, or even to be reminded, of the active part w^hich angels are represented as taking in the affairs of the world that noAv is, or of its being stated as a dis- tinctive characteristic of " the w^orld to come," that it is '^not put into subjection" unto the angels ^ It is, perhaps, scarcely more necessary to say that some of the Angels, " kept not their first estate; but left their own habitation*;" but, considering how we have been engaged in the preceding section, it may be well to state dis- 2 What may be the state of opinion among the dissenters I do not know. In the number for July 1855 of a penny publication now circulating among the Spiritualists, or Spirit- rappers in the North of England I find the Editor replying to an independent minister of Birmingham who had attacked him. " It had" he says " come to our knowledge previously, that several of those who put on a sanctimonious look, and talk loudly, and at great length about the ' Holy angels,' and * Heavenly messengei's' that are ever guarding our footsteps, had become alarmed at the belief which was becoming preva- lent that those things were realities — that Spirits were not only present, but that they could and were daily giving visible signs of their presence." 3 Heb. ii. 5. * Jude 6. 30 angels; their sin [§ 5. tinctly that in this present section I am not discussing the question whether " the Sons of God/^ mentioned in the sixth chapter of Genesis, were men or angels. Without refer- ence to that part of the scriptures, or to the events which are there recorded, it is agreed on all hands that at some time, and in some way, some of the angels did sin, and were punished. People may argue that this admitted fact has, or has not, reference to the Antediluvians, and the Sons of God ; but it is merely as a fact related in the scripture, that we are at present considering the sin of the Angels. St. Peter says " God spared not the angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment ^" The first thing to be observed in this pas- sage^-and it is the more worthy of observation, because there are so many other cases which provoke the same remark — is, that many diffi- culties, and mistakes, have arisen from the course pursued by our translators, who have so frequently, and I must add, without any suffi- cient reason, rendered the same original words 5 2 Pet. ii. 4. § S*] AND PUNISHMENT. 31 by different english ones, while, on the other hand, they have translated different originals by the same english ones. I say without suffi- cient reason— for, of course, on many occasions they could not have done otherwise than as they did without manifest absurdity, and mis- representation of their original ; but any one who enquires into the matter, or even observes the few instances which I shall have occasion to produce in this little work, will perceive that they indulged in a laxity on this point which has done much mischief by creating apparent difficulties, as well as concealing real ones. I need not say that ambiguity and confusion have arisen from their using the single word " Hell,'' as the equivalent for both Hades and Gehenna; but before we acquiesce in their identifying a third word with those two, we may do well to enquire about its meaning. The apostle's statement respecting the sinning angels is that having been tartarus'd (if, in order to avoid any assumption of meaning, I may make such a word to translate rafirapwaai;) they have been reserved unto judgment. It would seem that they had been consigned, not to Hades, nor to Gehenna, but to Tartarus. The question then is, what is meant by Tar- 32 angels; their sin [§ 5. tarus ? That is, what did a Christian Apostle mean by it ? To say that he used a popular word which he knew his readers would under- stand, is unsatisfactory on two grounds. First, that, in fact, neither he, nor any other writer of the New Testament did adopt, or use, this word, except in this single instance, and with reference to this particular case of the sinning angels. There is much in the New Testament relating to the condemnation and punishment of sinners — much of Hades and Gehenna— but (except in this place) not a word of Tartarus. Secondly, such a suggestion only removes the difficulty one step. The Apostle certainly might borrow the word from heathen writers ; but if so how had they come by it ? In dis- cussing such matters, the w^ords and notions of pagan writers whose works have reached us deserve great attention and respect; but we are not to look on them as if there were no higher antiquity of thought, or language, to which we might appeal, and which we must take into consideration. We come again, then, to the question, "What was Tartarus?" The popular account as it stands, in Lempriere's Classical Dictionary is, that it was "one of the regions of Hell, § 5.] AND PUNISHMENT. 33 where, according to the ancients, the most im- pious and guilty among mankind were punished. It was surrounded with a brazen wall, and its entrance was continually hidden from the sight by a cloud of darkness, which is represented three times more gloomy than the obscurest night. According to Hesiod it was a separate prison, at a greater distance from the earth than the earth is from the heavens ^^' Though enveloped in this unnatural and characteristic darkness, some mortals are said to have obtained information respecting the interior of Tartarus. It was a prison which ^^neas was not permitted to enter, but he could hear the groans uttered by the prisoners, the blows inflicted on them, the grating of irons, the dragging of chains. He saw, more- over, Tisiphone, seated outside the portal, ready to summon her sister Furies whenever new victims should be brought to that place of despair. But, except in so far as that it was a place of punishment, did Tartarus resemble the scriptural account of Hades or Gehenna? I believe it did not ; and I apprehend that with ^ The reader will, of course, understand that I quote this passage, not for its accuracy, or as an authority, but merely as giving the popular account of the matter. D 34 angels; their sin [§ 5. regard to one very particular and characteristic point it differed entirely. The rich man was tormented by the flame in Hades ^. And our Lord warned his hearers against falling into the unquenchable fire of Gehenna ^ but I have discovered no trace of fire within the bounds of Tartarus. Outside its triple wall of brass, ran the fiery river Phlegethon, but I repeat that in such accounts as I have been able to meet with there is no trace of fire. On the contrary it is represented as a peculiarly cold place. Hesiod says Tdprapov eg KpvoevO' animaque ad Orcum descendebat Tartarum in frigidum ^. And Plutarch in his treatise De primo frigido, explains that Tartarus received its name on account of its coldness ; because to shiver, and tremble, and suffer from intense cold was called " tartarizing \^' ' Luke xvi. 24. « ^Qxk x. 43. 9 Sc. Here. v. 254. ^ " ^10 Koi TciprapoQ ovrog vtto TpvxpoTrjrog KSKXijTai. C)]\oi dt Kui '}i(Tlodog, httojv, rdprapov riepotVTa. Kai to piyovvra rraXXscrdai kuI Tpsf.ieiv Taprapi^eiv." 0^). Vol. ii. p. 948. § 5.] AND PUNISHMENT. 35 What then was there in Tartarus? What would ^neas have found if the fury porteress Tisiphone had opened the gate, and allowed him to pass ? Why, the very first thing would have been the Hydra ; a being (whether real or imaginary) rather to be looked for in water than in fire. What sort of place that monster was supposed to inhabit I do not precisely know. He seems to have been (popularly speaking) in Tartarus, and to have been con- sidered as the inside guardian of the gate ; but, at the same time it was not until after he was passed that Tartarus strictly speaking [tartarus ipse) began. And then what was it ? Nothing, that I can learn, but a mere gulph — a very dark and very deep barathrum, or pit, or abyss in what we may call the heart of the earth, or perhaps more properly in the language of scrip- ture, "the heart of the sea.^^ Take Homer's description ; — ri fxiv k\u)v pi'tpbt eg Taprapov rjtpotVTa TrjXe fidX', ijxi- (SdOicxTOv virb xOovoq Igti (SspsOpov, iv9a aidriptiai Tt irvXai Kai x<^XKtoQ ovcoQ Toaaov ivspO' 'Ai^tw, ocrov ovpavog tor' txTro yairjc. II. 9. 1. 13. Heyne Vol. i. p. 407. Aut ipsum coireptum projiciam in Tartarum tenebrosum Procul valde, ubi profundissimum sub terra est barathrvim, d3 36 angels; their sin [§ 5. Ubi ferreaeque portae et aureum jiraen Tantum infra orcum, quantum coelum distat a terra. But the matter of most interest to us is that it was the place of the Titans ; of those whom Hesiod calls " Subtartarus'd Titans" TtrfjvH* 0' vTroTapTapioL^. To return therefore to Vir- gil ; he also will tell us that in the lowest depth of this abyss lay the rebel Titans. It is true that there were other prisoners in Tartarus, but obviously the Titans were the principal offenders, and occupied the lowest depth. The Sibyl who conducted ^neas, and who had before directed his attention to the Fury sitting outside the gate ("Tartarei regina barathri" as Statius calls her^) afterwards proceeded to describe the interior. "Quinquaginta atris immanis hiatibus Hydra Ssevior intus habet sedem ; turn Tartai-us ipse Bis patet in prseceps tantum, tenditque sub umbras, Quantus ad ^thereum coeli suspectus Olympum. Hie genus antiquum Terrce, Titania pubes, Fulmine dejecti, fundo volvuntur in irao *." The apostle might, of course, have found the word Tartarus in many heathen writers ; but I think from all of them he would only have 2 Theog. 851. ^ Theb. v. 185. « ^n. vi. 57C. § 5.] AND PUNISHMENT. 37 gathered the idea of a cold, watery abyss — m fact something very like what might be ima- gined of the bottom of the sea. And with this view we must take into account that he was writing especially for readers of the Septuagint, who had there been told of " the Tartarus of the abyss." I confess that I do not understand the two passages of their version in which the Seventy saw fit to use the word ; but I shall speak more fully of them presently ; and in the mean time only observe that in each case it occurs in connection with Leviathan and the great deep ; and to say the least, singularly coincides with the pagan tradition of the Hydra and Tartarus. As to the origin of the word, I have met with nothing but what seems utterly senseless ^ ; and therefore I will venture to offer a conjec- ture. There is a passage in the prophecies of Isaiah (xiv. 22.) which stands thus in our ^ The only derivation that I have seen is from rapaVffw or rapaTTo) for which Scapula gives " commoveo, turbo," adding " proprie aquara aliquis TapciTTtt quum limum in ea eommovet et excitat : et medicus pharmacum quum id spatha agitat : ut apud Luc. in Lexiph." But this is alto- gether unsatisfactory ; for, of all places, the lowest depth of the abyss is least likely to be troubled and stirred up. 38 angels; their sin [§ 5. version — " I will rise up against them saith the Lord of Hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant and son and nephew, saith the Lord. I will also make it a possession for the bittern and pools of water : and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of Hosts." We have (from acquaintance with the use of it in this place) become so familiar with the phrase which I have marked by italics, that, content perhaps with admiring its strength and its fitness to represent the annihilation of a great city, we have never enquired whether it gives the real meaning of the original. But as to this it must be ob- served (1) In the first place, the words translated ^^ sweep" and " besom" are (as far as a verb and a noun can be) the same ; and this is the only place in which either of them is used. This renders us somewhat more dependent on versions than if we were dealing with words of more frequent occurrence. I presume that our translators were led by the Vulgate which has '' scopabo cam in scopa terens." Montanus has ^' scopabo eam in scopis delendo." (2.) Before I suggest any other rendering let me ask the reader's attention to Lowth's obser- § 5.] AND PUNISHMENT. 39 vations on the nature and bearing of the pro- phecy. They seem to me to be very just; but I need hardly say that they were not made with any view to the purpose for which I quote them. I give his words exactly; but insert within brackets the texts to which he only refers. "Compare chap. xiii. 21, 22. xxxiv. 11. Babylon stood in a low marshy ground, and the prophet threatens that it shall be as entirely destroyed, as if it were sunk into the bottom of a great lake or pool. See Jerem. li. 64," [with 63, thus ''and it shall be when thou hast made an end of reading this book that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the Euphrates : and thou shalt say ' Thus shall Baby- lon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her, and they shall be weary" &c.] "This agrees with what is said chap. xiii. 19 that it shall be as when God over- threw Sodom and Gomorrah which were swallowed up in a lake of tire and brimstone. Several learned men are of opinion that the same sort of punishment is threatened to mystical Babylon Revel, xviii. 21." [A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea saying ^ Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all'] " which the prophet hath here all along in his eye." The idea of being " sunk into the bottom of a lake or pool" which Lowth derives from the whole tenor of the prophecy, is, I imagine, quite right. It is adopted by his son ; who, in 40 angels; THEIR SIN [§ 5. his version of Isaiah translates, " I will plunge it in the mii'y gulph of destruction," and in his note on the passage says "I have here very nearly followed the version of the LXX, the reasons for which see in the last note on De Poesi Hebr. Praelect. xxviii." The note re- ferred to is on the lines of the poetical version " vasta teget palus Demersam " and it defends the LXX version which is d^aw avTriv TrriXov (5apa9pov elg dirwXsiav, ponam earn luti voraginem in perditionem. But what is the hebrew word which, as I have said, occurs in this place only, and which the Septuagint translators rendered (5apa0pov} It is (at least it appeared to Michaelis to be) an unaccountable quadriliteral, only to be un- derstood from the arabic in which language it exactly corresponds and signifies, according as it is a noun, or a verb, fossa, or effodere altius fossam ; so that, as he observes, Lowth has well rendered the word ^ This hebrew quad- 6 Michaelis, in a note on this note, says " A J3N10 vix video, quomodo secundum leges grammaticas fieri possit quadrili- terum NtaNiD. Nee opus incerta derivatione, habet enim Arabia s !- f ^ i ipsuni hoc verbum {)o\^ effodere altius fossam etnomen Ij^'J^ § 5.] AND PUNISHMENT. 41 riliteral then is NtOXtO and it appears to me that if to TATA, we add the greek or roman termination og or tcs^ we get something very like Tartarus. Thus the noun which we trans- late " besom ^^ would mean an "abyss;" and the corresponding verb something which one could not exactly translate except by the medieval word abyssare, which the french have preserved in abijsmer and abimer ^ fossa. Sensus est idem, quem recte eximio carmine Lowthus expressit (Vol. ii. 605). ' Since this was written my friend Mr. Heath has pub- lished his very curious and interesting work on " The Exodus Papyri." How far he is right or wrong in supposing the MSS. to belong to the period of the Exodus, or in his version of them, I cannot, of course, form any opinion ; but I may express a hope that he will prosecute his enquiries, and farther elucidate documents which, on any hypothesis of date or origin, so well deserve investigation. I refer to the work here merely to mention one or two passages, the bearing of which on the subject of our enquiry I need not particularly point out. In some verses on the death of Amen-m-Apt the writer referring to the state and occupation of the deceased says " He sings to his God, He adores the Lord of the gods, Namely, of the lords in the abyss. Food is issued for thee in Tattou, And drink in Purgatory." *' The word" says Mr. Heath " which I translate Purgatory is literally the land of Divine contest. The idea was that a contest or trial is still to pi-oceed after death" &c. p. 78. 43 angels; THEIR SIN [§ 5. This etymology, I offer in particular to the readers of Bryant ; but I would call the atten- tion of all persons who are in any w^ay in- terested in the enquiry to the language of heathen writers respecting these Titans. Whe- ther Parkhurst is right in deriving their name from D'lD (a word which seems to be as nearly connected with ^^D^5l:0, as the Titans were with Tartarus) I do not undertake to decide ; but the terms used respecting them and their history are very remarkable. In addition to the spe- cimens already given let us take a few lines of the sentence against Rufinus, which Claudian puts into the mouth of Rbadamanthus. The infernal judge, absolutely shocked and dis- gusted, exclaims, — " Adspexisse sat est. Oculis jam parcite nostris, Et Ditis purgate domos. Agitate flagellis Trans Styga, trans Erebum. Vacuo mandate barathro Infra Titanum tenebras, infraque recessus TaHareos nostrum que Chaos. Qua noctis opacse The word Tattou occui-s elsewhere. " It may be remem- bered" says Mr. Heath "that in the Book of the Dead 82. 4. the deceased makes a feast of bread and common wine in Tattou*^ p. 151 "In chapter 124 the deceased is introduced as thus boasting :— My soul is edified triumphant in Tattou " p. 156. Is it merely coincidence of language \ § 5.] AND PUNISHMENT. 43 Fundamenta latent, penitusque immersus anhelat, Dura rotet astra polus, feriant dum littora venti *." It seems as if we might safely believe two things— First, That Tartarus was, in the Apos- tle's view, the place to which the sinning angels were consigned — secondly. That it was in the view of heathen writers a place where certain rebellious sinners had been confined with a view to subsequent punishment. What can be plainer than the language of Hesiod when he tells how Coslus rebuked and threat- ened his Titan progeny ? Tovg di irarrjp TiTrjvag i7r'iK\r](Tiv KaXsetTKSV UalSag vtiKiiiov nsyag Ovpavbg, ovg tskev avTog' ^dffKe de riTaivovTag draaOaXiy fisya ps^ai 'Epyov, Toio S' tTTiira riaiv fxiTOinaQiv lataQai, *' Illos vero pater Titanas cognomento vocabat, Filios objui'gans magnus Coelus, quos genuit ipse. Dictitabat porro, pcenas sumentes ex protervia magnum patrasse Faciuus, cujus deinceps ultio in posterum futura sit." Theog. V. 207. And does not the whole passage from which I extract the following lines, mark out a locality in the great abyss — the waters under the earth ? 8 In Ruf. 1. ii. 522. 44 angels; their sin and punishment. avrap virtpBtv Trig piZ,ai Trt^vaai Kai aTpvykroio Oa\da