given to those who rejected the use of images in churches, and, on
certain occasions, vented their zeal in destroying them. The great
opposition to images began under Bardanes, a Greek emperor, in the
beginning of the eighth century; and was revived again, a few years
after, under Leo, the Isaurian, who issued an edict against image
worship, which occasioned a civil war in the islands of the Archipelago,
and afterward in Italy; the Roman pontiffs and Greek councils
alternately supporting it. At length images were rejected by the Greek
church, which however retains pictures in churches, though her members
do not worship them; but the Latin church, more corrupt, not only
retained images, but made them the medium, if not the object, of their
worship, and are therefore _Iconoduli_, or _Iconolatræ_, image
worshippers.
IDDO, a prophet of the kingdom of Judah, who wrote the actions of
Rehoboam’s and Abijah’s reigns, 2 Chron. xii, 15. It seems by 2 Chron.
xiii, 22, that he had entitled his work, _Midrasch_, or, “Inquiries.” We
know nothing particularly concerning the life of this prophet. It is
probable that he likewise wrote some prophecies against Jeroboam, the
son of Nebat, 2 Chron. ix, 29, wherein part of Solomon’s life was
included. Josephus, and many others after him, are of opinion that it
was Iddo who was sent to Jeroboam, while he was at Bethel, and was there
dedicating an altar to the golden calves; and that it was he who was
killed by a lion, 1 Kings xiii.
IDOLATRY, from εἰδωλολατρεία, composed of εἰδος, _image_, and λατρεύειν,
_to serve_, the worship and adoration of false gods; or the giving those
honours to creatures, or the works of man’s hands, which are only due to
God. Several have written of the origin and causes of idolatry: among
the rest, Vossius, Selden, Godwyn, Tenison, and Faber; but it is still a
doubt who was the first author of it. It is generally allowed, however,
that it had not its beginning till after the deluge; and many are of
opinion, that Belus, who is supposed to be the same with Nimrod, was the
first man that was deified. But whether they had not paid divine honours
to the heavenly bodies before that time, cannot be determined; our
acquaintance with those remote times being extremely slender. The first
mention we find made of idolatry is where Rachel is said to have taken
the idols of her father; for though the meaning of the Hebrew word
תרפים, be disputed, yet it is pretty evident they were idols. Laban
calls them his gods, and Jacob calls them strange gods, and looks on
them as abominations. The original idolatry by image worship is by many
attributed to the age of Eber, B. C. 2247, about a hundred and one years
after the deluge, according to the Hebrew chronology; four hundred and
one years according to the Samaritan; and five hundred and thirty-one
years according to the Septuagint; though most of the fathers place it
no higher than that of Serug; which seems to be the more probable
opinion, considering that for the first hundred and thirty-four years of
Eber’s life all mankind dwelt in a body together; during which time it
is not reasonable to suppose that idolatry broke in upon them; then some
time must be allowed after the dispersion of the several nations, which
were but small at the beginning, to increase and settle themselves; so
that if idolatry was introduced in Eber’s time, it must have been toward
the end of his life, and could not well have prevailed so universally,
and with that obstinacy which some authors have imagined. Terah, the
father of Abraham, who lived at Ur, in Chaldea, about B. C. 2000, was
unquestionably an idolater; for he is expressly said in Scripture to
have served other gods. The authors of the Universal History think, that
the origin and progress of idolatry are plainly pointed out to us in the
account which Moses gives of Laban’s and Jacob’s parting, Gen. xxxi, 44,
&c. From the custom once introduced of erecting monuments in memory of
any solemn covenants, the transition was easy into the notion, that some
deity took its residence in them, in order to punish the first
aggressors; and this might be soon improved by an ignorant and
degenerate world, till not only birds, beasts, stocks, and stones, but
sun, moon, and stars, were called into the same office; though used,
perhaps, at first, by the designing part of mankind, as scare-crows, to
overawe the ignorant.
Sanchoniathon, who wrote his “Phenician Antiquities,” apparently with a
view to apologize for idolatry, traces its origin to the descendants of
Cain, the elder branch, who began with the worship of the sun, and
afterward added a variety of other methods of idolatrous worship:
proceeding to deify the several parts of nature, and men after their
death; and even to consecrate the plants shooting out of the earth,
which the first men judged to be gods, and worshipped as those that
sustained the lives of themselves and of their posterity. The Chaldean
priests, in process of time, being by their situation early addicted to
celestial observations, instead of conceiving as they ought to have done
concerning the omnipotence of the Creator and Mover of the heavenly
bodies, fell into the impious error of esteeming them as gods, and the
immediate governors of the world, in subordination, however, to the
Deity, who was invisible except by his works, and the effects of his
power. Concluding that God created the stars and great luminaries for
the government of the world, partakers with himself and as his
ministers, they thought it but just and natural that they should be
honoured and extolled, and that it was the will of God they should be
magnified and worshipped. Accordingly, they erected temples, or
_sacella_, to the stars, in which they sacrificed and bowed down before
them, esteeming them as a kind of mediators between God and man.
Impostors afterward arose, who gave out, that they had received express
orders from God himself concerning the manner in which particular
heavenly bodies should be represented, and the nature and ceremonies of
the worship which was to be paid them. When they proceeded to worship
wood, stone, or metal, formed and fashioned by their own hands, they
were led to apprehend, that these images had been, in some way or other,
animated or informed with a supernatural power by supernatural means;
though Dr. Prideaux imagines, that, being at a loss to know how to
address themselves to the planets when they were below the horizon, and
invisible, they recurred to the use of images. But it will be sufficient
to suppose, that they were persuaded that each star or planet was
actuated by an intelligence; and that the virtues of the heavenly body
were infused into the image that represented it. It is certain, that the
_sentient_ nature and divinity of the sun, moon, and stars, was
strenuously asserted by the philosophers, particularly by Pythagoras and
his followers, and by the Stoics, as well as believed by the common
people, and was, indeed, the very foundation of the Pagan idolatry. The
heavenly bodies were the first deities of all the idolatrous nations,
were esteemed eternal, sovereign, and supreme; and distinguished by the
title of the natural gods. Thus we find that the primary gods of the
Heathens in general were Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Apollo, Mercury, Venus,
and Diana; by which we can understand no other than the sun and moon,
and the five greatest luminaries next to these. Plutarch expressly
censures the Epicureans for asserting that the sun and moon, whom all
men worshipped, are void of intelligence.
Sanchoniathon represents the most ancient nations, particularly the
Phenicians and Egyptians, as acknowledging only the natural gods, the
sun, moon, planets, and elements; and Plato declares it as his opinion,
that the first Grecians likewise held these only to be gods, as many of
the barbarians did in his time. Beside these natural gods, the Heathens
believed that there were certain spirits who held a middle rank between
the gods and men on earth, and carried on all intercourse between them;
conveying the addresses of men to the gods, and the divine benefits to
men. These spirits were called demons. From the imaginary office
ascribed to them, they became the grand objects of the religious hopes
and fears of the Pagans, of immediate dependence and divine worship. In
the most learned nations, they did not so properly share, as engross,
the public devotion. To these alone sacrifices were offered, while the
celestial gods were worshipped only with a pure mind, or with hymns and
praises. As to the nature of these demons, it has been generally
believed, that they were spirits of a higher origin than the human race;
and, in support of this opinion, it has been alleged, that the supreme
deity of the Pagans is called the greatest demon; that demons are
described as beings placed between the gods and men; and that demons are
expressly distinguished from heroes, who were the departed souls of men.
Some, however, have combatted this opinion, and maintained, on the
contrary, that by demons, such as were the more immediate objects of the
established worship among the ancient nations, particularly the
Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, we are to understand beings of an earthly
origin, or such departed human souls as were believed to become demons.
Although the Hindoo inhabitants of the East Indies deny the charge of
idolatry, using the same description of arguments as are so
inconclusively urged by superstitious Europeans in defence of image
worship, it is still evident that the mass of the Hindoos are addicted
to gross idolatry. The gods of Rome were even less numerous, certainly
less whimsical and monstrous, than those at Benares. In Moore’s Hindoo
Pantheon are given exact portraits of many scores of deities worshipped,
with appropriate ceremonies, and under various forms and names, by
different sects of that grossly superstitious race. Some of these
portraits are of images colossal to a degree perhaps unequalled by any
existing statues; others are exceedingly diminutive. Some are metallic
casts, and some apparently extremely ancient, which exhibit every
gradation of art from the rudest imaginable specimen, up to a very
respectable portion of skill, so as to approach to elegance of form, and
to ease and expression of attitude.
The principal causes which have been assigned for idolatry are, the
indelible idea which every man has of God, and the evidence which he
gives of it to himself; an inviolable attachment to the senses, and a
habit of judging and deciding by them, and them only; the pride and
vanity of the human mind, which is not satisfied with simple truth, but
mingles and adulterates it with fables; men’s ignorance of antiquity, or
of the first times, and the first men, of whom they had but very dark
and confused knowledge by tradition, they having left no written
monuments, or books; the ignorance and change of languages; the style of
the oriental writings, which is figurative and poetical, and personifies
every thing; the scruples and fears inspired by superstition; the
flattery and fictions of poets; the false relations of travellers; the
imaginations of painters and sculptors; a smattering of physics, that
is, a slight acquaintance with natural bodies and appearances, and their
causes; the establishment of colonies, and the invention of arts,
mistaken by barbarous people; the artifices of priests; the pride of
certain men, who affected to pass for gods; the love and gratitude borne
by the people to certain of their great men and benefactors; and,
finally, the historical events of the Scriptures ill understood. “One
great spring and fountain of all idolatry,” says Sir William Jones, “was
the veneration paid by men to the sun, or vast body of fire, which
‘looks from his sole dominion like the god of this world;’ and another,
the immoderate respect shown to the memory of powerful or virtuous
ancestors and warriors, of whom the sun and the moon were wildly
supposed to be the parents.” But the Scriptural account of the matter
refers the whole to wilful ignorance and a corrupt heart: “They did not
like to retain God in their knowledge.” To this may be added, what
indeed proceeds from the same sources, the disposition to convert
religion into outward forms; the endeavour to render it more impressive
upon the imagination through the senses; the substitution of sentiment
for real religious principle; and the license which this gave to
inventions of men, which in process of time became complicated and
monstrous. That debasement of mind, and that alienation of the heart
from God, and the gross immoralities and licentious practices which have
ever accompanied idolatry, will sufficiently account for the severity
with which it is denounced, both in the Old and New Testaments.
The veneration which the Papists pay to the Virgin Mary, and other
saints and angels, and to the bread in the sacrament, the cross, relics,
and images, affords ground for the Protestants to charge them with being
idolaters, though they deny that they are so. It is evident that they
worship these persons and things, and that they justify the worship, but
deny the idolatry of it, by distinguishing subordinate from supreme
worship. This distinction is justly thought by Protestants to be futile
and nugatory, and certainly has no support from Holy Writ.
Under the government of Samuel, Saul, and David, there was little or no
idolatry in Israel. Solomon was the first Hebrew king, who, in
complaisance to his foreign wives, built temples and offered incense to
strange gods. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who succeeded him in the
greater part of his dominions, set up golden calves at Dan and Bethel.
Under the reign of Ahab, this disorder was at its height, occasioned by
Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, who did all she could to destroy the worship
of the true God, by driving away and persecuting his prophets. God,
therefore, incensed at the sins and idolatry of the ten tribes,
abandoned those tribes to the kings of Assyria and Chaldea, who
transplanted them beyond the Euphrates, from whence they never returned.
The people of Judah were no less corrupted. The prophets give an awful
description of their idolatrous practices. They were punished after the
same manner, though not so severely, as the ten tribes; being led into
captivity several times, from which at last they returned, and were
settled in the land of Judea, after which we hear no more of their
idolatry. They have been, indeed, ever since that period, distinguished
for their zeal against it. See Image.
IDUMÆA is properly the Greek name for the land of Edom, which lay to the
south of Judea, and extended from the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf of
the Red Sea, where were the ports of Elath and Ezion-Gaber. But the
Idumæa of the New Testament applies only to a small part adjoining Judea
on the south, and including even a portion of that country; which was
taken possession of by the Edomites, or Idumæans, while the land lay
unoccupied during the Babylonish captivity. The capital of this country
was Hebron, which had formerly been the metropolis of the tribe of
Judah. These Idumæans were so reduced by the Maccabees, that, in order
to retain their possessions, they consented to embrace Judaism; and
their territory became incorporated with Judea; although, in the time of
our Saviour, it still retained its former name of Idumæa, Mark iii, 8.
The proper Idumæans, or those who remained in the ancient land of Edom,
became in process of time mingled with the Ishmaelites; the two people
thus blended, being, from Nabaioth, or Nabath, the son of Ishmael,
termed Nabathæans; under which names they are frequently mentioned in
history. See EDOM.
ILLYRICUM, a province lying to the north and north-west of Macedonia,
along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Gulf, or Gulf of Venice. It was
distinguished into two parts: Liburnia to the north, where is now
Croatia, and Dalmatia to the south, which still retains the same name,
and to which, as St. Paul informs Timothy, Titus went, 2 Tim. iv, 10.
St. Paul says, that he preached the Gospel from Jerusalem round about to
Illyricum, Rom. xv, 19.
IMAGE, in a religious sense, is an artificial representation of some
person or thing used as an object of adoration, and is synonymous with
idol. Nothing can be more clear, full, and distinct, than the
expressions of Scripture prohibiting the making and worship of images,
Exod. xx, 4, 5; Deut. xvi, 22. No sin is so strongly and repeatedly
condemned in the Old Testament as that of idolatry, to which the Jews,
in the early part of their history, were much addicted, and for which
they were constantly punished. St. Paul was greatly affected, when he
saw that the city of Athens was “wholly given to idolatry,” Acts xvii,
16; and declared to the Athenians, that they ought not “to think that
the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and
man’s device,” Acts xvii, 29. He condemns those who “changed the glory
of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man,
and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things,” Romans i,
23.
That the first Christians had no images, is evident from this
circumstance,--that they were reproached by the Heathens, because they
did not use them; and we find almost every ecclesiastical writer of the
first four centuries arguing against the Gentile practice of image
worship, from the plain declarations of Scripture, and from the pure and
spiritual nature of God. The introduction of images into places of
Christian worship, dates its origin soon after the times of Constantine
the Great; but the earlier Christians reprobated every species of image
worship in the strongest language. It is sometimes pretended by the
Papists, that they do not worship the images, but God through the medium
of images; or, that the worship which they pay to images is inferior to
that which they pay to the Deity himself. These distinctions would be
scarcely understood by the common people; and formerly an enlightened
Heathen or Jew would probably have urged the same thing. The practice is
in direct opposition to the second commandment, and notwithstanding
every sophistical palliation, it has always led to a transfer of human
trust from God to something else. Hence idolatry, in general, is
condemned in Scripture; and all use of images in the worship of God,
making or bowing to any likeness, is absolutely forbidden. See
ICONOCLASTES and IDOLATRY.
IMMATERIALITY, abstraction from matter; or what we understand by pure
spirit.
IMMORTAL. That which will endure to all eternity, as having in itself no
principle of alteration or corruption. God is absolutely immortal,--he
cannot die. Angels are immortal; but God, who made them, can terminate
their being. Man is immortal in part, that is, in his spirit; but his
body dies. Inferior creatures are not immortal; they die wholly. Thus
the principle of immortality is differently communicated according to
the will of him who can render any creature immortal, by prolonging its
life; who can confer immortality on the body of man, together with his
soul; and will do so at the resurrection. God only is absolutely
perfect, and, therefore, absolutely immortal. See SOUL.
IMPOSITION OF HANDS. An ecclesiastical action, by which, among
Episcopalians, a bishop lays his hands on the head of a person, in
ordination, confirmation, or in uttering a blessing. In Presbyterian
churches, the imposition is by the hands of the presbytery. This
practice is also frequently observed by the Independents and others at
their ordinations, when all the ministers present place their hands on
the head of him whom they are ordaining, while one of them prays for a
blessing on him and his future labours. This they retain as an ancient
practice, justified by the example of the Apostles, when no
extraordinary gifts were conveyed. However, Christians are not agreed as
to the propriety of this ceremony; nor do they all consider it as an
essential part of ordination.
Imposition of hands was a Jewish ceremony, introduced, not by any divine
authority, but by custom; it being the practice among that people,
whenever they prayed to God for any person, to lay their hands on his
head. Our Saviour observed the same custom, both when he conferred his
blessing on children, and when he cured the sick. The Apostles likewise
laid hands on those upon whom they bestowed the Holy Ghost, but it was a
form accompanied by _prayer_, through which only the blessing was
obtained. And the Apostles themselves sometimes underwent the imposition
of hands afresh, when they entered upon any new design. In the ancient
church, imposition of hands was practised on persons when they married;
which custom the Abyssinians still observe. But this ceremony of laying
on of hands is now restrained, by custom, chiefly to that imposition
which is practised at the ordination of ministers.
[In the Methodist Episcopal Church, a bishop is constituted by the
election of the general conference, and the laying on of the hands of
three bishops, or at least of one bishop and two elders; unless it
happen that, by death or otherwise, there be no bishop remaining in the
church: in this case, the general conference is empowered to elect a
bishop, and the elders, or any three of them appointed by the general
conference for that purpose, to ordain him. An elder is constituted by
the election of an annual conference, and the laying on of the hands of
a bishop and of two or more elders. A deacon, by the election of an
annual conference, and the laying on of the hands of a bishop.]
IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. See JUSTIFICATION.
INCENSE. _Thus_; so called by the dealers of drugs in Egypt from _thur_,
or _thor_, the name of a harbour in the north bay of the Red Sea, near
Mount Sinai; thereby distinguishing it from the gum arabic, which is
brought from Suez, another port in the Red Sea, not far from Cairo. It
differs also in being more pellucid and white. It burns with a bright
and strong flame, not easily extinguished. It was used in the temple
service as an emblem of prayer, Psalm cxli, 2; Rev. viii, 3, 4. Authors
give it, or the best sort of it, the epithets white, pure, pellucid; and
so it may have some connection with a word, derived from the same root,
signifying unstained, clear, and so applied to moral whiteness and
purity, Psalm li, 7; Dan. xii, 10. This gum is said to distil from
incisions made in the tree during the heat of summer. What the form of
the tree is which yields it, we do not certainly know. Pliny one while
says, it is like a pear tree; another, that it is like a mastic tree;
then, that it is like the laurel; and, in fine, that it is a kind of
turpentine tree. It has been said to grow only in the country of the
Sabeans, a people in Arabia Felix; and Theophrastus and Pliny affirm
that it is found in Arabia. Dioscorides, however, mentions an Indian as
well as an Arabian frankincense. At the present day it is brought from
the East Indies, but not of so good a quality as that from Arabia. The
“sweet incense,” mentioned Exodus xxx, 7, and elsewhere, was a compound
of several drugs, agreeably to the direction in the thirty-fourth verse.
To offer incense was an office peculiar to the priests. They went twice
a day into the holy place; namely, morning and evening, to burn incense
there. Upon the great day of expiation, the high priest took incense, or
perfume, pounded and ready for being put into the censer, and threw it
upon the fire, the moment he went into the sanctuary. One reason of this
was, that so the smoke which rose from the censer might prevent his
looking with too much curiosity on the ark and mercy-seat. God
threatened him with death upon failing to perform this ceremony, Lev.
xvi, 13. Generally incense is to be considered as an emblem of the
“prayers of the saints,” and is so used by the sacred writers.