REMNANTS OF TIME. 497 hold him fast and not let him go : I will charge all the powers and passions of my nature not to yield to one sinful practice, nor provoke him to depart; for he is my everlasting and my al- mighty friend. Then, though I should have a thousand enemies set them- selves against me me, I would not be afraid ; yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I have found my God, and my God is with me. XX. The Figure of a Cherub. A CHERUB is a name used in scripture to denote some angelic power or powers under the figure of some strange animal; The plural number in the Hebrew is Cherubim, which signifies Cherubs, and I know not how our translators of the bible came so often to speak of Cherubims, adding an s to the Hebrew plural number instead of the English plural, namely, Cherubs. Perhaps some learned writers using the Word Cherubini in Latin instead of Cherubi, might lead them into this grammatical irregularity. The Jews themselves greatly differ about the form or figure of a Cherub. Josephus in his Antiquities, Book IIl. chap. 6. tells us, That cherubs are flying animals, like to none that were ever seen by man, and whose form no man knoweth. Abenezra, a learned Jew, supposes it to be a general name extending itself to all forms or figures, though in the writings of Moses he sup- poses it to come nearer the figure of a young man or boy. Some have imagined that the mereface of a boy with wings is sufficient to describe a cherub, and accordingly such figures are wrought into the ornaments of buildings and curtains, &c. but I know no just ground for this imagination, except it be that those on the ark were beaten out of the same mass ofgold which made the mercy -seat : and it must be çonfest this sort of figure is more easy to be thus formed than any tall shape with a body and feet ; Exod xxv. 10. and xxxvii. 7. It is generally represented in scripture like some strange living creature with one or more faces, having both wings and feet : When it has four faces, they are borrowed from a man, an ox, a lion and an eagle: the wings are described as very large, and the feet, when they are particularly described, are like those of an ox or calf : but whether the whole figure be more like that of an ox or of a man, the 'learned are not agreed. This is certain, that the several scriptures wherein cherubs are mentioned, can hardly be reconciled without supposing them represented in different forms, sometimes nearer to one of those forms, and sometimes to the other. If therefore after all our searches we cannot come to a full determination, we must be content to ac- knowledge our ignorance, though perhaps by diligent enquiry we may come pretty near to the truth.
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