18 



planetary figures engraved upon tlieni : Jacob buried them 

 under an oak near Sichem. These Michaelis, on the testi- 

 mony of Patisatiias, Lib. 6. cap. 24, informs us, were after- 

 wards found, and resembled the statues of Silenus* They 

 certainly aie the most ancient idols of which we have any 

 account; but we do not find that any were set up in 

 Chaldca as objects of public worship, until several ages after, 

 when temples were erected to the Gods represented by idols, 

 see Dan. iii. and xiv. and Diodor. 122, 123. 



Idols were frequently so constructed, a* to represent the 

 Divine attributes. Thus, the Divine Wisdom was represented, 

 by affixing to a human body a number of hea<ls. Omni- 

 potaice by a number of hands, and Onmiscieuce by a double 

 face, one before and another behind. These statues were 

 supposed to receive a divine influence, by the ceremony of 

 consecration, from the Gods they represented. Hence, the 

 Romans invoked the Gods of besieged towns, to quit their 

 statues; that is, to withdraw from them their supernatural in- 

 fluence. According to Pausan: in Achaicis, p. 28, the Greeks^ 

 addressed their prayers to brute stones, before they admitted 

 statues ; see also Pitiscus in voce Simulachrum. Tliis seems 

 to me to be the origin of the veneration in which the 

 Mahometans hold their Caaba. Thus, also, some savage 

 tribes, in the interior of Africa, venerate theiv Fetiches, Avhich 

 are any objects they chose, a block of wood, or even a 

 mountain. 



According 



* Comment. Societ. GoUing. ad An. 1758, 1762. 



