94 



" which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt ;" and they 

 ehoose for this object, a part of the emblem which they desert ; 

 preferring the image of a calf, because it was that which predo- 

 minated in the sacred compound,* and which bore the name in 

 the singular that belonged to it. Were there any doubt, that, 

 in forming it, they had the Cherubim in view, it will be re- 

 moved by referring to the History of Jeroboam's Idolatry. This 

 prince, to prevent his people from going " upf to sacrifice in the 

 •' house of the Lord at Jerusalem," " made two calves of gold" 

 (each a substitute for one of the two compound symbols of the 

 Cherubim ;) " and said unto them, behold thy Gods, O Israel, 

 " which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt:" a similar 

 language, and used upon a similar occasion, to that of the rebellion 

 in Horeb. The calves of Jeroboam were plainly then substitutes 

 for the Cherubim, as was also the calf above mentioned. This 

 conversion is further evident from the language of the Psalms, 

 when speaking of the degenerate Israelites — " theyj turned their 

 glory," (" then Cherubim of glory o'ershadowing the mercy-seat," as 

 they are called by St. Paul, the glory that " departed from Israel,§ 

 " when the ark of the Lord was taken,") as is said in Samuel, 

 " into the similitude of a calff that eateth hay." I have asserted 

 that the figure thus copied from the Cherubim was set up as a 

 standard ; this, which seems probable from the mode of relating 



• The feet of the Cherubim were those of an ox or calf, 

 t 1 Kings 12. 2 and 28. Also several texts of Hos. chaps. S and 10. 

 t Ps. 106. 20. 

 11 Heb : 9. 5. 



$ 1 Sara: 4. 22. See also Ez. 9. 3— tS, 4, and Hos. 10. 4. 



^ An ox in the Bible translation. Faber says, that the form/of Baal was a bull. Orig.of 

 Pag. Idol. V. 1, p. 434, 



