the marriage of women, and the encouragement of vows of virginity. Convents of nuns have regularly and almost necessarily, attended those of monks and friars; and in both senses, the apostle's prediction, of a "power forbidding to marry," as well as of Daniel's, of a power not regarding the desire of women, has been literally fulfilled."* The neglect of the pure and genuine worship of God, and the discouragement of marriage, are appropriately combined with magnifying himself above all-for the promotion of which object they are represented as designed, and which in fact they did effect. The king who did according to his will, was not an athiest, or one who abjured the forms of religion; for although he did not regard the God of his fathers, in his estate he honoured the god of forces, and a god whom his fathers knew not, and a strange god, whom he would acknowledge and increase with glory. He was to be a worshipper of many gods or divinities, (a god of forces, or gods-protectors, being in the plural number,) but he was to cause them to rule over many, and to divide the land for gain. The gods whose worship he would promote or enforce, were to be made subservient to his aggrandizement or gain, for it was his character and aim to exalt himself above all. The term "a god of forces," used in our version, scarcely conveys any definite meaning. The Septuagint, Vulgate, Geneva, and other versions, such as that of Arius Montanus, the most literal of all, retain the original word Mahuzzim. It is also marked on the margin of the English Bible, and there translated gods-protectors. Mahoz, in the singular number, signifies strength, a fortress, a strong tower, or a rock. The use of it in the plural num * Scott. ber here denotes that, instead of the pure worship of God, there would be a plurality of objects of adoration, honoured and trusted in as divine protectors. The psalmist, in addressing the Divine Being, repeatedly uses the very term, but limits it to the worship of God alone. The Lord is the strength (mahoz) of my life, Ps. xxvii. 1. The Lord is the strength (literally the mahoz of salvation) of his anointed, Ps. xxviii. 8. Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock-be thou to me for a rock of strength (a rock of mahoz) -for an house of defence to save me, Ps. xxi. 2. Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me, for thou art my protector (mahoz), ib. ver. 5. The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength (their mahoz) in the time of trouble, and the Lord shall help and deliver them, Ps. xxxvii. 39. In each of these instances, Mahoz is translated in the Septuagint and Vulgate, or Greek and Latin† translations, by a word which literally signifies a defender or protector. Mahuzzim, which is simply the plural of Mahoz, thus expressly signifies defenders or protectors. "And how think you now,' Mede emphatically, after citing these passages,"are not saints and angels worshipped as Mahuzzims? True Christians have but one Mahoz,-but apostate Christians have their many Mahuzzims."I usks ܪ܂ "It is a thing not to be passed by," says Mede, "without admiration, that the Fathers and others, even at the beginning of saint-worship, by I know not what fatal instinct, used to call saints and their relics, towers, walls, bulwarks, fortresses, Mahuzzim, in the prime and original signification;"§ of * “υπερασπιςής. Mede's Works, p. 670. † Protector. The fourteenth chapter of Sir Is. Newton's Observations on Daniel, which occupies 28 pages, is devoted to the illustration of this fact. which he and Sir Isaac Newton adduce abundant proof.* By entering on their labours, a few instances may be selected. Basil, bishop of Cæsarea, who flourished in the latter part of the fourth century, concludes his oration on the martyr Mamas with a prayer that God would preserve the church thus fortified with the GREAT TOWERS of the martyrs. And in his oration on the forty martyrs he thus speaks, "These are they who, having taken possession of our country, like certain towers, afford us safety from our enemies. O ye common keepers of mankind, the best companions of our cares, and coadjutors of our prayers, most powerful ambassadors to God," &c.— "The body of St. Paul," according to Chrysostome, (Hom. 32.) "fortifies the city of Rome more strongly than any tower, or than ten thousand ramparts—as likewise does the body of St. Peter." Are not these, as Mede asks, strong Mahuzzim ?-Other cities and countries besides Rome and Italy, were not destitute, in the estimation of Chrysostome, of similar divine protectors, in the dead bodies of martyred saints. In his homily (70) upon the Egyptian martyrs, he avers-The bodies of these saints FORTIFY our city more strongly than an impregnable wall of adamant, and as certain high ROCKS hanging on every side, not only repel the assaults of those enemies which are seen with the eye, but also overthrow and defeat the ambassadors of invisible fiends, and all the stratagems of the devil. Here too are Mahuzzim. "If you dread the swords and wars of Italy," says Gregory, (lib. 7, ep. 23) "you should attentively consider how great is the PROTECTION of blessed Peter, the prince of the apostles in this city; wherein, without a great number of people, without the aid of soldiers, we have been for so many years, * Ibid, p. 673. in the midst of swords, safely preserved by God's providence from all hurt." Incredible as it may seem, the bodies of saints were actually confided in, and, so to speak, used as fortresses, and held as influential, as more substantial bulwarks. Even in the days of Constantine, and by his order, (on the authority of Gennadius,) James, bishop of Nisibis, renowned for holiness was buried within the walls of that city, a frontier town of the empire, for the protection or guardianship (custodiam) of the city (Gen. de vir. illust. cap. 6.)—The Antiochians petitioned Leo I. (A. D. 460) for the keeping of the body of holy Simeon, in these terms "Because our city has no wall, therefore we brought hither this holy body, that it might be to us A WALL and a FORTRESS- -(τειχος και ΟΧΥΡΩΜΑ which in Hebrew would be rendered MAHOZ.) Hilary, who was himself soon after ranked among the saints, asserts that "neither the guards of saints, nor the bulwarks of angels, are wanting to those who are willing to stand." The historian here naturally adopts the language of the ecclesiastic; and the testimony of Gibbon may, in this instance, be associated with that of churchmen, to shew how a disbeliever and perverter of the truth may unite with them in illustrating the scriptures, and in fixing a prophetic brand on a corrupt church, which marks a great falling away from the faith. "The primitive Christians were possessed with an unconquerable repugnance to the use and abuse of images. The first introduction of a symbolic worship, was in the veneration of the cross and of relics. The saints and martyrs, whose intercession was implored, were seated on the right hand of God; but the gracious and often supernatural favours, which in the popular belief were showered round their tomb, conveyed an unquestionable sanction to the devout pilgrims, who visited, and touched, and kissed these lifeless remains, .the memorials of their merits and sufferings. But a memorial more interesting than the skull or the sandals of a departed worthy, is a faithful copy of his person and features delineated by the arts of painting or sculpture.-At first the experiment was made with caution and scruple ; and the venerable pictures were discreetly allowed to instruct the ignorant, to awaken the cold, and to gratify the prejudices of the heathen proselytes. By a slow though inevitable progression, the honours of the original were transferred to the copy: the devout Christian prayed before the image of a saint; and the pagan rites of genuflexion, luminaries, and incense, again stole into the Catholic church. The scruples of reason or piety were silenced by the strong evidence of visions and miracles; and the pictures which speak, and move, and bleed, must be endowed with a divine energy, and may be considered as the proper objects of adoration. The use, and even the worship of images, was firmly established before the end of the sixth century. They were propagated in the camps and cities of the eastern empire; they were the objects of worship and the instruments of miracles; and in the hour of danger or tumult, their venerable presence could revive the hopes, rekindle the courage, or repress the fury, of the Roman legions.The cities of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt had been FORTIFIED With the images of Christ, his mother and his saints; and each city presumed on the hope or promise of miraculous defence."*-Images were not only esteemed as fortresses, or the saints as protectors, but, according to popish legends, the actual deliverance of cities was ascribed to them. "In the ecclesiastical page of Evagrius,” it is re * Gibbon's Hist. chap. xlix. vol. ix. pp. 113, 114, 115, 116, 120, 121. |