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Christian will readily acknowledge that the mystery of the Trinity of the sacred persons in the adorable Godhead, is the evident mystery contained in this triple celebration of the glory and holiness of Jehovah.

In the book of Numbers, xxi. 6, 8, the fiery serpents there mentioned are called seraphim, either from their color, or from their rage, or the effects of their venomous bite, which produced the most painful inflammation attended with insatiable thirst. Their luminous appearance, when flying, in the air, presented a shining form like fire; and as beings of the highest order in the celestial hierarchy, are styled "angels of the presence," from Isaiah vi. 2, 6; the prominency which has been given to the serpent in ancient worship and idolatry is doubtless founded on their symbolical character. The brazen serpent raised by Moses in the wilderness, was typical of the expected Messiah, the Saviour of mankind, and so recognized by those of the Israelites whose faith realized the saving remedy for all sin in the redemption of Christ. For proof of which they adduce that passage in John iii. 14: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." Some writers having indulged the conceit that the brazen serpent exhibited the shape of the cross, formed by the appearance of its wings, which resembled, however, more those of the web-like texture of the bat, than the feathers of a bird. Some of the Christian fathers and early commentators, suggest the idea, that the success of the arch-fiend over Eve, in the temptation of the garden of Eden, was mainly attributable to his assumption of the similitude of this splendid and illustrious figure, which she had observed always attended the majesty and manifestation of the divine glory or shechinah, mistaking the voice of

the serpent which addressed her as one of the Sons of God. Istum fuisse serpentem cui Eva ut filio dei crediderat.

CHERUBIM, is also another title by which the angels of God are designated; its etymon being derived from the Hebrew, and signifies, fulness of knowledge. According to some expositors the term is taken from a Chaldaic word denoting youth. Others, give it the meaning of swiftness of flight, as angels have usually appeared with the appendage of wings. Others, again, attribute to it the same root as Rabbi, a teacher, implying the extent of knowledge and vast intelligence possessed by angels, represented also by eyes in the mysterious and apocalyptic visions of Ezekiel and St. John. Full of eyes round about, and before, and behind, and within.

The first mention of cherubim recorded in the Scripture, is in 3d chapter of Genesis and 24th verse,* from which we learn they were divinely appointed as sentinels to guard the approach to the garden of Eden immediately upon the disobedience and apostacy of our first parents.

Respecting the history, the character, the nature and the design of the cherubim, much ingenuity has been exercised, learning expended, and an abundance of theological controversy and speculative explanations indulged. Those which Moses, by divine authority, was commanded to prepare and place at each end of the mercy-seat or propitiatory, and which overshadowed the ark, with expanded wings, in the most holy place of the Jewish tabernacle,

* The fiery flying serpent, whose body moving in the air resembled the vibration of a sword, like flaming fire, was appointed with the cherubim to guard the entrance of the garden of Eden. Cherubim and seraphim are frequently mentioned in Scripture as attendants upon the Divine Majesty or Shechinah; which appeared here in great glory, at the passage into the garden of Paradise, as well as in aftertimes, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation of Israel, to their great astonishment.-PATRICK.

were very splendid figures, made of pure and solid, beaten and burnished gold.-Exodus xxv. 18, 19. The original import of their name, together with their form or shape, excepting that they were alata animata, winged creatures, is not definitely ascertained. The opinion of Grotius, that they resembled the figure of a calf, or the supposition of Bochart and Spencer, that they partook more of the character of the bull, than anything else, is as groundless as it is infelicitous.* Josephus states that they were extraor dinary creatures, of a figure unknown to mankind. The opinions of critics founded upon the 10th verse of the 1st chapter of Ezekiel were, that they were figures composed of various creatures, as a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. But we are not furnished with any decided evidence that the figures placed in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle were of the same description as those symbolical representations which appeared, in a vision, to the prophet Ezekiel. The contrary rather seems to be indicated, inasmuch as they looked down upon the mercy-seat, which is an attitude not well adapted for a four-faced animal, like the

* All the multiform animals which appear in connection with Idolatry owe their origin to the cherubim; being misrepresentations of the doctrines or mysteries retained in the legends of these "overshadowers of the mercyseat." The satyrs, sphinxes, chimera, &c., which have been introduced and interwoven into every system of pagan idolatry, probably originated from the misunderstood remembrance of these Hebraic symbols.

The cherubim mentioned by the sacred historian, were the sum and substance of the second and patriarchal dispensation, as the Jews truly confess the ark with the mercy-seat and cherubim to have been the whole Levitical service. There can be no doubt but these sacred emblems were carefully preserved by Adam and his believing posterity to the times of Noah, and from him to Moses.-PARKHURST, Lexicon.

The cherubim may be traced on the insignia of the armies of the Israelites. The standard of Reuben was the figure of a man; Judah's, that of a lion; Ephraim's, that of an ox; and Dan's, that of an eagle.

emblematical cherubim which Ezekiel beheld. The cherubim of the sanctuary were two in number, one at each end. of the mercy-seat, which, with the ark, was placed exactly in the middle, between the north and south sides of the tabernacle. It was here that atonement was made and God rendered propitious, by the high priest sprinkling the blood upon and before the mercy-seat.-Lev. xvi. 14, 15. Here the glory of God was manifested, and here, he met the high priest, and through him, maintained intercourse with his chosen people.-Exodus xxv. 22; Numb. vii. 89. From hence he gave forth his oracles; whence the whole place was called debir, from the root debar, which signifies to speak, because God who dwelt between the cherubim, declared his mind from hence, when he was consulted, by the high priest, with urim and thummin. These cherubim had feet whereon they stood, and which were joined in one continued beaten work to the ends of the mercy-seat, covering the ark, so that they were entirely over and above it. Those in the tabernacle were wrought solid gold, but of small dimensions; whilst those in the magnificent temple of Solomon were of great magnitude, fabricated from the wood of the olive tree, or tree of oil, overlaid with gold, and whose expanded wings extending the entire breadth of the oracle or altar piece, being twenty cubits broad.-1 Kings vi. 23-28; 2 Chron. iii. 10-13.

They are also styled cherubim of glory, not from the beauty or excellency of the material of which they are composed, but from constituting a glorious symbol of the Divine Presence or Shechinah which rested between them. As this glory resided in the inner tabernacle, and as the figures. of the cherubim represented the angels who surrounded the manifestation of the Divine Presence in the world above, that tabernacle was rendered a suitable emblem or image of

the court of heaven, in which light it is alluded to throughout St. Paul's epistle to the Hebrews.

*

The disciples of Mr. Hutchinson strenuously contended that the cherubim are emblematical representations of Jehovah himself, or rather of the Trinity of persons in the Godhead, with man received into the divine essence. To which objections have been raised;-that God being a pure spirit, without parts or passion, perfectly separate and remote from all matter, should require Moses to make material

*The most generally received opinions respecting the cherubim are, either that they were hieroglyphics of the Trinity, as they appear in the works of creation, providence, and redemption; or that they represent the character and office of the ministers of religion; or were descriptive of the general history of the church. The subject is intricate, but one leading idea runs through all the interpretations, namely, that they have evident reference to the plan of redemption, for they are allowed to be descriptive either of its divine authors, its divinely commissioned human instruments, or its general history.-WM. BROWN.

Cherubim were introduced into the tabernacle and the temple, and appear to have been considered as the emblems of the visible church.-TownSEND, Notes Old Test.

The word translated flaming sword, imports a bright flame of waving fire. That this appearance was permanent at the gate of Paradise, and supposed to be the same glory which was manifested to Moses in the Burning Bush. Under the Levitical institution the cherubic symbols and the burning flame were united both in the tabernacle and the temple; the cherubim being considered as emblems of the visible church, and the burning flame symbolical of the Divine Presence. The human form in Ezekiel's vision was a representation of the Angel-Jehovah; the head and protector of the visible church. From this Divine personage, out of the midst of the flame, between the cherubim, the prophet received his commission; and is the same mysterious and sacred Being who had appeared unto Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, "the school of the seers," under the Judaic, and prophetic economy as well as to the apostles, St. John, in the isle of Patmos, and the primitive saints, under the Christian dispensation, and who will descend to the Judgment, with the glory of heaven, surrounded by the resplendent train of attendant angels.

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