DAEMON. 
Philof. 1. i. c. 8.) re 
from Phar bodies, and as bees ate or bad aécording to 
No notion, he adds, was more 
vulgar. 
the fame or = = ae. as Fe ane doors 
taught ‘* that the fouls of the dam e for fome time 
changed into devils, in pe to be sere in ala 
mankind.”’ (See Calmet’s Diftionar rYs Art. Demon; Theo- 
phylaQ cited by Grotius in Matt. viii. ie Jofephus fays 
exprefsly (De Bell, Jud. 1. vil. c. vis § 3 ) ‘that demons 
irt i us (who is often 
defcribed as the prince of evil {pirits, and veckoned the very 
8 t 5 
ons), and Eve, before Adam 
er. t, wbi fupra. Vandale de Idolat. 
Buxtorf’s Lexic. Chald. Talmud. Bafnage’s Hitt. of the 
Jews, b. iv. c. 31. 
* It is not eafy to afcertain, whether demon is ufed in 
good or bad fenfe in the LXX. If we could determine tiie 
a we might ed how the term fhould be underftood in 
the “eftament, the writers of which have eae the 
ityle ae dition of the L at it was ufed,a = 
neratly, in a bad fenfe, feems to be probable for ce follow. 
i Some of the Heathens themfelves inferred 
from the adtions ae o their gods, and the rites by 
which they were appeafed, that they were not gods, but evil 
obit, ch. 
tins (in Matth.iv.14.) thought thet ie Hellenitts 
uted Saar in an ill a. asthe Hebrews did Baal; though 
both originally ind ferent in their fignifcation. Moreover the 
New TeRamert does certainly, on fome occafions, by da- 
mons mean evil fpirits (Matth. x 4. James, it. 19-)5 and 
therefore the word a have the ae meaning yes it 1s ap- 
plied to the heathen gods. Whatever notion ertain cor. 
cerning demons, in their reference to poffeffion, eee rwe 
fuppofe them to be ghofts cf wicked men deceafed, or lapfed 
angels, it is plaiu they were conceived to be malignant sabes 
They are exhibited as the caufes of the moft dreadful calami- 
tics to the unhappy perfons whom they poffefs, dumbnefs, deaf- 
nefs, pally, madnefs, epilepfy, and fimilar diforders. They are 
frequently called mvevpolle axafagle, unclean {pirits, fometimes 
They are reprefented as con- 
ifery and torments, though 
t has been ge- 
t that 
in the Septuagint are of tI e O} Pelanients ccor 
ingly the Ifraclites are charzed by Mofes (Deut. xx 
with the aggravated idolatry of facrificing unto de vile (che 
i whom he calls “new gods that came newly up, w 
new shee and their fathers feared not;’? and he 
pfs (Pf. cvi. 37.) reproaches them in fimilar terms ; 
; ea, they fac wrifiecd their fons and da ughters unto devils’? 
{{chedim) ; and in another place (Pf. xcvi. 5.) it is faid * all 
art 
hai ry, and that the 
the gods of the nations are idols.” In thefe three paffages 
the term ufed by the Septuagint is dcioue. If all tke 
gan gods were devils, fays Mr. Farmer, why are the Schedim 
WOF 
mo 
d:’? they were eine e great warriors who in their more 
] fate soe aa in the flaughter of the human race. 
to the Ifraelites, as they bad never ae fa 
it in Pate eben e they went into that country; but 
what they eaters ea of the Canaanites. Accord. 
ingly the /chedim are aaa ww i the pfalmift (Pf. 
evi. 38.) “ the idols of Can at one circumftance 
is there, adds our author, ae n lead us to fuppofe that 
either Mofes or ape Pfalmift, in ‘the forecited ages, is 
{peaking of devils, 
On the other hand, i is alleged that /chedim is derived from 
a verb, which fignifies to pour forth,to fhed, to [catter abroad, 
and ought to be rendered difiridutors. ‘T’nefe were the idol 
gods of Canaan, viz. Baal, the fun, moon, planets, and all 
the hols of heaven, as the feriptures ss sae y affure us; 
nor doth Mofes mention any other idol gods xence, it is 
faid, it muft be obvious to al A le ed pefons, that the 
— in the Old Teftam and demons in the New, 
are @ eee o thole gods which had never se men, and cane 
t denote deiked human {pirits. {Tell’s Deemoniacs, p. 71.) 
"There is another paffage in the Old Teftament (Levit. 
xvii. 7.) in which our Englifh tranflztors have introduced 
the ee devils, “¢ they fhail no more offer their facrifices 
B.S 
.O 
a 
2 
that, as pe el were the idols of Canaan, the /ecrim were 
the idols of Eg That this was the cafe appears from 
another pallage in be the fame word occurs, wiz. 
2 Chron, xi. £5. t the word /eirim (goats) s9 more fig- 
nifies devils than 2 ee ae Yr wor throughout the Bible. 
ing their ay y there, 
ed 
that es es obtained him priefts for the 
and for the devils, and for the calves he had ma ae id pet 
ous denote s, that Jceroboam lately returned from Egypt, 
eftablifhed aad. of the deities of that country, which 
was eminently that of goats and calves, or at leaft fet up the 
images of thefe animals as fymbols of the eee It could 
not refer to devils, in the fenfe now given to the word, be- 
caufe the Ifraclites are never charged by their prophets with 
atry as the worfhip o eee 
gyptians, whofe exz 
1 (@) 
pied, ever epee Soa under the figure of oe ic 
Calves. 
