119 



to somewhat in the christian dispensation. St. Jerome* says, that 

 the Seraph, touching the mouth of Isaiah, denoted " EvangeUum 

 " testamenti missum ad Prophetam ;" and that there were two, to 

 represent the two sacred books.-f- The word " Seraph" means 

 " to bum ;" a derivation that preserves the connexion with the 

 " stones of fire," and other kindred types, of wliich we have already 

 spoken. 



The word Teraphim is the same as Seraphim, but in the Chal- 

 daean dialect, and the use that is made of it ia scripture, may not 

 unaptly be compared to the literal manner in which the Chaldaeans, 

 and other heathen nations, distorted the Jewish hieroglyphic to a 

 dialect of their own. It is translated " image J ;" and is men- 

 tioned with the ephod in Judges,§ and in Hosea, where it ma- 

 nifestly appears, from the context, to have been an idol. In my 

 opinion it was an image of the Cherubim, converted into an object 

 of worship, in like manner as the golden calf and the calves of 

 Jeroboam had been before. 



We see in all these shadows the faint images of the same good 

 things which were yet to come. Whether these emblems of the 

 Sphere and of the Cherubim were of antediluvian existence or not, 

 is not within the scope of my present inquiry ; but it is my belief. 



* Hieron. op. Ed. Lug. Bat. 1530. V. 3. p. 121. 



f Same Ed. V. 4. p. 175, — " Duo Seraphim clamant ad invicem. Ita duo testaraenta, fide- 

 " liter concordantia, sacratam conciiient veritatemDei." 



X 1 Sam. 19. 13— and Gen. 31. 19 It is said to have been derived from Terah, the fa. 



ther of Abraham, a great carver of images, (Maurice on Ruins of Babylon, &c. p. 45.) but 

 i do not entirely agree with this. 



j C. 17. 5. and Hos. 3, 4. see Bishop Horsley on this text. 



