in the sight of God: so that customs which might excite or entice to idolatrous practices, and which in any other view might seem perfectly innocent, were strictly forbidden, (Deut. xii., xiii.) Probably many peculiar provisions of the Jewish law, which seem to us arbitrary or trifling, may have originated in this very circumstance. Notwithstanding all that was done to guard them against it, the people of Israel fell into some of the most cruel and shocking practices of idolatry. Even the sacrifice of children, forbidden as it was under the most severe and summary penalties (Lev. xx. 2), was very common; and Jeremiah and Ezekiel both speak of it as a practice prevailing in or near their time (Jer. vii. 31; Ezek. xvi. 21). The rites of idolatry were often impure and obscene in the highest degree. The priests and the gods were alike the slaves and the patrons of the most scandalous and filthy practices; and hence the word whoredom is often used as synonymous with idolatry. Indeed, the present state of the heathen world, as it is represented by modern missionaries, who have seen and heard with their own senses, shows conclusively that debasement of mind, utter alienation of the heart from everything pure and holy, the grossest immoralities, and the most licentious practices, are inseparable from idolatry. Sam. vi. 5); Tzerim, figures or representations (Isa. xlv. 16), &c. Sometimes idol temples were the repositories of treasure (Judg. ix. 4), and were protected by a tower (Judg. ix. 46). IDUMEA. (See EDOM.) IJE-ABARIM. (See ABARIM.) ILLYRICUM (Rom. xv. 19)-a province north-west of Macedonia, lying along the Adriatic Sea, having Italy and Germany on the north, and Macedonia on the east. Its southern portion was the Dalmatia which Titus visited (2 Tim. iv. 10). Taking Jerusalem as a centre, it will appear that Illyricum was nearly the extreme north-western province of what was then no small part of the known world. Perhaps Paul went into Illyricum; but he speaks here only of having preached the Gospel unto its borders. and immortality (Gen. ix. 6; Jas. iii. 9). Christ enjoys all the glories of God, and so is the express image of the Father's person. The word is usually employed to denote an object of idolatrous worship. (See IDOL, MAN.) IMMANUEL (Isa. vii. 14)-a Hebrew word signifying " God with us," and used as one of the distinctive titles of the Messiah. (See AHAZ, CHRIST.) IMMORTAL, IMMORTALITY (1 Cor. xv. 53; 1 Tim. i. 17)—a state of being not subject to death. It is one of the attributes of the Supreme Being. IMAGE (Gen. i. 26, 27). We are told that God "created man in his own image;" and Christ is said to be "the image of God" (Col. i. 15; Heb. i. 3). The term imports a complete and exact likeness, like that which exists between a seal and its impression, when the original is perfectly preserved in the representation. Man originally possessed the image of God in knowledge, purity, and felicity. The higher spiritual features of this image have been obliterated by the fall, but many features yet distinguish fallen humanity, in intellect, The idols mentioned in Scripture are,-personality, dominion over the lower creatures, Adrammelech (2 Ki. xvii. 31), Anammelech (2 Ki. xvii. 31), Ashima (2 Ki. xvii. 30), Ashtoreth (Judg. ii. 13; 1 Ki. xi. 33), Baal (Judg. ii. 11-13; vi. 25), Baal-berith (Judg. viii. 33; ix. 4, 46), Baal-peor (Num. xxv. 1-3), Baal-zebub (2 Ki. i. 2, 16), Baal-zephon (Exod. xiv. 2), Bel (Jer. 1. 2; li. 44), Chemosh (Num. xxi. 29; 1 Ki. xi. 33), Chiun (Amos v. 26), Dagon (Judg. xvi. 23; 1 Sam. v. 1-3), Diana (Acts xix. 24, 27), Huzzab (Nah. ii. 7), Jupiter (Acts xiv. 12), Mercury (Acts xiv. 12), Molech or Milcom (Lev. xviii. 21; 1 Ki. xi. 5, 33), Merodach (Jer. 1. 2), Nergal (2 Ki. xvii. 30), Nebo (Isa. xlvi. 1), Nibhaz and Tartak (2 Ki. The bodies which we inhabit while in this xvii. 31), Nisroch (2 Ki. xix. 37), Queen of world are corruptible, exposed to sickness, pain, heaven (Jer. xliv. 17, 25), Remphan (Acts vii. and death; but the soul can never die as 43), Rimmon (2 Ki. v. 18), Succoth-benoth (2❘ the body dies. Its very nature is immortal. Ki. xvii. 30), Tammuz (Ezek. viii. 14). So pre- Many arguments for the immortality of the valent was idolatry, and so multiform its soul might be adduced from Natural Theology, character, that the objects of idol-worship re- but they need the confirmatory evidence and ceive a great variety of contemptuous names,-authority of Scripture. There is a sense in 'Atzebh and 'Etzebh, carved images (Ps. xlviii. 5; Jer. xxii. 28); Aven, emptiness or vanity (Isa. Ixvi. 3); Bosheth, shame; Chammanim, probably images of the Sun-god (2 Chr. xxxiv. 7); Elilim, vanities (Lev. xix. 4); Elim, false gods (Isa. lvii. 5); Emim, terrors (Jer. 1. 38); Gillulim, blocks (Ezek. xviii. 12); Mascith, hieroglyphed stone (Lev. xxvi. 1); Miphlet zeth, objects of fear (1 Ki. xv. 13); Matzebah, stature (1 Sam. vii. 12); Nesec, molten image (Isa. xli. 29); Pesel, graven image (Isa. xl. 19); Semel, a figure or likeness (2 Chr. xxxiii. 7, 15); Shikkutz, abomination (2 Chr. xv. 8); Teraphim, images or household gods, like the Latin penates (Zech. x. 2); Tselem, likeness (1 | which the state of being on which the souls of all men enter at death is immortal. But the Scriptures speak of the future existence of the righteous as a state of immortality or eternal life, in distinction from the state of the wicked (Matt. xxv. 46; Rom. ii. 7); and it is obvious that the phrase "eternal death" might be employed to express forcibly the nature of that punishment-that living death-to which the wicked will be doomed in the world to come. (See DAMNATION, ETERNAL, HEAVEN, HELL.) IMPUTE (Rom. v. 13). By comparing v. 18 of the epistle to Philemon with Rom. iv. 5-13, we shall see the force of this term. The words translated “put that on mine account" The laws of inheritance, by the statutes of Moses, and the ordinary tenure of property, were very simple among the Hebrews. (See FIRST-BORN, BIRTHRIGHT.) Land might be mortgaged, but could not be alienated: the only permanent right to property was by heritage or lineal succession. The eldest son had a double portion. Females had not territorial possession; and if a man left no sons his daughters inherited, but on condition of not marrying, not merely out of the tribe, but even out of that family of the tribe to which the deceased parent belonged. If a man had no children, his land passed to distant relatives in the following order:-"If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father's brethren. And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall gave his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family" (Num. xxvii. 8-11). Moveable property only could be willed away as the testator thought fit. in the former passage, and that which is rendered by the words counted, impute, and imputed, in the other, have a common origin and meaning. The plain Christian sees and feels the force of the expression; and though he may be ignorant of technical distinctions, yet while he believes on ONE that justifieth the ungodly, he feels the blessedness of him to whom the Lord will not impute sin. The great principle involved is, that the sinner who accepts Christ is delivered from the guilt, power, and punishment of sin, and is clothed with a righteousness which is not his own, but the gift of God through Jesus Christ. His sins are put to the account of another who bore, and another's righteousness is put to his account by faith. Christ bore his guilt, and he is saved by Christ's merits. (See JUSTIFY.) INCENSE (Exod. xxx. 8) was a compound of frankincense and other gums or spices; the materials and manufacture of which are particularly prescribed (Exod. xxx. 34-36). (See FRANKINCENSE.) It was the business of the priest to burn it morning and evening upon a golden altar specially erected for this purpose, and thence called the "altar of incense." The INIQUITY (Gen. xv. 16)—whatever is done preparation of it for common use was positively against the law of God. Sin is the transforbidden; neither could any other composi-gression of the law: iniquity is a contempt or tion be offered as incense on this altar, nor disregard of the law (Ps. li. 2, 9; ciii. 10). To could this be offered by any but the priest. "bear the iniquity of the congregation” (Lev. (See ALTAR, CENSER.) x. 17) is to make that expiation or atonement which is an essential pre-requisite to their forgiveness (Isa. liii. 6). INCHANTERS, INCHANTMENTS (Exod. vii. 11; Deut. xviii. 10). Inchanters were persons who pretended to possess the power of charming animals, &c. The practice of enchantment is allied to witchcraft and sorcery; and both the practice and practisers are decidedly condemned by God's law (Deut. xviii. 9-12). It is unquestionably true that persons have sometimes obtained a wonderful influence, particularly over serpents of the most deadly species; instances of which are often stated by eastern travellers. (See ADDER, ASP, CHARM, DIVINATION.) INDIA (Esth. i. 1; viii. 9). It is only mentioned, and that generally, as the eastern boundary of the dominions of Ahasuerus, as Ethiopia was the western. In this place it probably means the country of the river Indus -the Punjaub. (See OPHIR.) INGATHERING, FEAST OF. (See FEASTS.) INHERITANCE (Gen. xxxi. 14). In the modern use of this word it denotes the estate to which one succeeds on the death of the present possessor, and who is hence called his heir. In eastern countries, however, the portions of children were often distributed to them by the father during his lifetime. Among the Hindoos, the father is bound to make an equal distribution of his property whenever his children in a body apply for it. Hence the legitimacy of the application which the prodigal son and his brother made, and which resulted in the father's dividing unto them his living (Luke. xv. 12). The word inheritance is also used, in a more general sense, to denote property or participation. (Comp. Ezek. xxxiii. 24 with Acts vii. 5.) INK, INKHORN (Jer. xxxvi. 18; Ezek. ix. 2). It is supposed that the common ink of early ages was made of water and pulverized charcoal, or the black of burnt ivory, with the addition of some kind of gum. Other substances were doubtless used both for writing and colouring matter. The Romans used a dark purple liquid which was obtained from a species of fish for this purpose. The ink in common use at this day has been known for several centuries in European countries, and is usually made of nutgalls, vitriol, and gum. Ancient ink was more caustic, and less liable to fade or decay. Chinese ink is of the same quality. The professed writers or scribes carried with them, as they do at the present day in eastern countries, the implements of their business; and among these was an inkhorn, thrust into the girdle at the side. (See Book.) INN (Luke x. 34). In the earliest ages an inn was nothing more than the well or other convenient place where the company of travellers and their weary beasts reposed for rest and refreshment. At a later period it was the caravansary-a very comfortless, temporary enclosure, without rooms or doors. Afterwards the inn became what the caravansaries of Persia are at the present day-a place where travellers may get lodging, food, and fuel. This was perhaps such an inn as accommodated the poor wounded man, in the beautiful story of the good Samaritan, for the kind Samaritan paid for the reception of the wounded traveller, and also pledged himself to defray all necessary expenses. It was to the stable or out-building of such an inn that Mary was obliged to resort with the infant Saviour, because the general enrolment had brought so many strangers to the place as to fill the house before they arrived. Dr. Kitto's description of an inn, in the Pictorial Bible, is both graphic and correct:-"A khan, then, usually presents, externally, the appearance of a square, formed by strong and lofty walls, with a high and often handsome gateway, which offers an entrance to the interior. On passing through this, the traveller finds himself in a large open quadrangle, surrounded on all sides Eastern Inn or Caravansary. by a number of distinct recesses, the back walls of which contain doors leading to the small cells or rooms which afford to travellers the accommodation they require. Every apartment is thus perfectly detached, consisting of the room and the recess in front. In the latter the occupant usually sits till the day has declined, and there he often prefers to sleep at night. Besides these private apartments, there is usually in the centre of one or more of the sides of the quadrangle a large and lofty hall, where the principal persons may meet for conversation or entertainment. The floors of all these apartments the recesses, rooms, and halls-are raised 2 or 3 feet above the level of the court which they surround, upon a platform or bank of earth faced with masonry. In the centre of the court is a well or cistern, offering to the travellers that most essential of conveniencies in a warm climate-pure water. "Many caravansaries are without stables, the cattle being accommodated in the open area. But the most complete establishments have very excellent stables in covered avenues which extend behind the ranges of apartments-that is, between the back walls of these ranges of building and the external wall of the khan; and the entrance to it is by a covered passage at one of the corners of the quadrangle. The stable is on a level with the court, and consequently below the level of the buildings by the height of the platform on which they stand. Nevertheless, this platform is allowed to project behind into the stable, so as to form a bench, to which the horses' heads are turned, and on which they can, if they like, rest the nose-bag, of haircloth, from which they eat, to enable them to reach the bottom when its contents get low. It also often happens that not only this bench exists in the stable, but there are also recesses corresponding to those in front of the apartments, and formed by the side walls which divide the rooms being allowed to project behind into the stable, just as the projection of the same walls into the great area forms the recesses in front. These recesses in the stable, or the bench, if there are no recesses, furnish accommodation to the servants or others who have charge of the beasts: and when persons find on their arrival that the apartments usually appropriated to travellers are already occupied, they are glad to find accommodation in the stable, particularly when the nights are cold or the season inclement." The ancient or the existing usages of the East supply no greater probability than that the Saviour of the world was born in such a stable as this. INSPIRATION (2 Tim. iii. 16) is a supernatural divine influence exerted upon the human mind, by means of which the individual is made to know certainly, and to speak truly, what could not have been so known in the ordinary exercise of the faculties and without any such influence. When this influence is so exerted as absolutely to exclude uncertainty and all mixture of error in a declaration of doctrines or facts, it is called a plenary or full inspiration; and the book written under such an influence, though it may contain many things which the author might have known and recorded by the use of his natural faculties, is properly said to be an inspired book. Nor is it necessary that the particular style and method of the writer should be abandoned. God may have wise purposes to answer in preserving this, while he secures through its agency an infallible declaration of his will. So that style, manner, &c., may be of the author's own choice, provided the facts stated and the doctrines taught as of divine authority, are stated and taught under an immediate divine influence, without the possibility of error. And even if it should appear that the copies of such a book now in the world have suffered from the injuries of time and the carelessness of transcribers and printers, so that inaccuracies and discrepancies of unessential importance might be detected, still, if the substance of the book-if the grand system of truth or duty revealedis evidently, as a whole, the result of such divine inspiration, it is to be received, and may be entirely credited, as an inspired book. The process by which God has given us the knowledge of his will is usually called inspiration, and it is expressed by various figures in Scripture. By revelation a prophet received knowledge from God, and by inspiration he imparted it to men. Now, if any of his own thoughts were allowed to mingle with the oracle he delivered, it was soiled in its purity and robbed of its authority. How, in such a case, could we distinguish between what is his own and what is God's? and if we could not make such a distinction, then our faith and submission must be weakened, if not destroyed. The message must come to us as wholly God's, without any human admixture. It is human in its vehicle, but all divine in its nature and substance. Then, again, as the prophet or apostle must communicate to men divine truth as fully and as clearly as he received it from God, as he must give it out to us as correctly as it was given in to him, inspiration must be verbal; or, the inspired man must be infallibly guided in his selection of words,-not, however, by any mechanical dictation. Were he left to choose his own words, he might fail to tell us precisely the truths which God had told to him. But "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The Bible does not consist only of God's ideas, but also of God's words. Can we suppose that God would allow his own thoughts to be injured in beauty or power by unsuitable language? "His word," says the dying psalmist, was in my tongue." "Thus shalt thou speak unto the children of Israel," was the charge to Moses. "Thus saith the Lord," is a common affirmation. "It is written," is another mode of declaring that language as well as ideas have been God's special gift to men in the oracles of truth. Words and thoughts are so closely associated that we cannot think but in words. To give us thoughts is also to give us certain words; for in words they are conveyed. Thus "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God." Theological writers speak of the inspiration of elevation by which the natural faculties are endued with supernatural power, and rise to those sublime conceptions of divine things which their natural force could not attain; and also of the inspiration of suggestion, by which the truth is suggested directly to the mind by the Spirit of God, and also the language in which it is to be declared to others. Such was the revelation to John in the Isle of Patmos. All these various degrees or kinds of inspiration are supposed to occur in our Scriptures, and sometimes they are combined. But there is really no need of resorting to such distinctions. They are not scriptural, neither do they throw much light on the subject to which they are applied. (See PROPHECY, REVELATION, SCRIPTURE.) INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC. (See MUSIC.) INTERCESSION, INTERCESSOR (Isa. liii. 12; lix. 16). To intercede for another is to appear for him or interpose in his behalf, and to plead for him (1 Tim. ii. 1). It usually implies guilt or obligation; and the object of the intercessor is to reconcile or satisfy the offended party, and procure the release and pardon of the offender. It sometimes denotes the reverse of this (Rom. xi. 2), in which place it is used of Elijah's solemn enumeration of the sins and provocations of ancient Israel. 66 were The Spirit is said to make intercession for us" (Rom. viii. 26). This is to be understood as referring to that peculiar influence of the Spirit upon the heart, by which it is taught, and guided, and enabled to cherish and breathe forth holy desires, which God will graciously accept through the complete and effectual mediation of Him who ever liveth to make intercession for us. As to the fact of Christ's intercession, see Rom. viii. 34; 1 Tim. ii. 5; 1 John ii. 1; and the manner of it is illustrated, Heb. vii.-x., in which chapters the continued intercession of Christ, and the sacrifice of himself as the ground of his intercession, are presented to the mind as a most affecting evidence of the nature and effect of sin. Christ's intercession precludes that of any other, whether saint or seraph. (See ADVOCATE, MEDIATOR.) INTERPRETATION (2 Pet. i. 20). Dreams were interpreted-that is, their meaning was made apparent. "Unknown tongues interpreted-the sense of the foreign language was expounded in a dialect familiar to the hearers. Every reader of the Bible who understands it, so far is an interpreter. No duty is more incumbent on man than to interpret aright the revealed will of God. We have now many auxiliaries in the interpretation of Scripture. It gathers assistance from every quarter. Philology lends us aid in analyzing the language of Isaiah or Paul; archæology casts new light on customs of long-past years, and of countries very different in habits from our own. The traveller who exclaims in ecstasy, "At length our feet stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem!"-who familiarizes us with the scenery of the land flowing with milk and honey; with whom we climb its mountains or sail on its lakes, and join in its song of vintage --he who conveys us to the ruins of Babylon or the sepulchres of Petra, the shores of the Red Sea or the valley and wonders of Egypt, or sets us down amidst the thunder-splitten peaks of Horeb gives us a new vision in reading Scripture, affords us a striking confirmation of its truth, and discovers to us a sublimity and emphasis unknown before, both in its historic sketches and prophetic allusions. The researches of physical philosophy excite us in studying the inspired annals of creation to feel yet more intensely that "the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork.' The explorers of classic learning, who bring us spoils from the heathen, and illustrate with apt quotations many clauses of Scripture, are not without their use, and are instrumental not only in preparing fuel for the altar and oil for the lamps, but in proving, by the contrast, the superior glory of the divine volume. The mind that has been well trained to the task of translation from the odes and strophes of the most intricate poets of Greece and Rome will feel itself the better furnished by this previous discipline for engaging in the most responsible of all human enterprises-for INT IRO giving to some ignorant and degraded people a | the meaning of the phraseology He has emversion of the holy oracles in their native ployed, must be superadded. dialect, so that they may be able to read in of the Lord is with them that fear him.' their own tongue the wonderful works of God. Moral qualities are as indispensable as mental "The secret The man who travels in the East and notes its endowments. Not that the Bible is absolutely herbs and flowers, its jewels and minerals, its unintelligible to the unconverted: a wicked quadrupeds and birds-who relates its customs, man must know its language before he can its dresses and ceremonies, its festivities at be moved by its warnings or convinced by its births and marriages, its funeral dirges and invitations. But the mind must be allured to religious rites yields us the means of accurate any study ere it can enjoy it. The mind that statement and interesting verification. laborious critics who spend their life in some Homer or Milton; neither will the intellect The possesses no poetic susceptibility cannot relish province of the ars diplomatica, in determining that has no taste for exact science, for the the age of MSS. from the texture on which relations of bodies and numbers, receive any they are written, the form of the letters, or the fascination from Euclid or Laplace. Not that colour and quality of the ink, guide us in we are to expect the Holy Spirit to impart ascertaining what reading is the best, what is any new truths, as such revelations would the probable phraseology of the sacred penmen. libel the perfection of his previous oracles. All science pays homage to revelation. The Those peculiar means of access which the inspired book receives illustration from every divine Spirit may have to the spirit of man, province of human study. The promotion of to enlighten and impress it, are beyond the biblical science is accelerated by contributions range of human investigation. The Spirit of from the vast encyclopædia of recorded human truth guides into all truth the heart which attainment. ful endeavours to understand the meaning of places itself under his guidance, in its prayerthose revelations given by "holy men of God, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.' (See SCRIPTURE.) ness, found in a region bordering on the Euxine Sea, and of course north of Judea. 66 tion, that by the expression, We do not intend to lay down any minute or special rules for the interpretation of the Bible. It is plain, however, that we must familiarize our minds with the East, and be able to form, as a groundwork, some general idea of eastern scenes, climate, and costumes: this well-known and most valuable metal were IRON (Prov. xxvii. 17). Some of the uses of to imagine its vast deserts, trodden only by probably known at a very early period (Gen. the camel's foot, and producing but the camel's iv. 22). We find it mentioned as the material food; to imagine the deep-blue canopy of for tools (Deut. xxvii. 5; 2 Ki. vi. 6), weapons heaven shining forth with the glorious lights of war (1 Sam. xvii. 7), furniture (Deut. iii. that gave their earliest worship to the simple 11), implements of husbandry (2 Sam. xii. 31; shepherds watching their flocks by night in Jer. xxviii. 14), and chariots of war, (Josh. the vast plains of Chaldea; to imagine the xvii. 16, &c., &c.) By "northern iron" (Jer. burning heats of day, all nature stilled in xv. 12), probably, is intended a species of iron languid rest; the evening hour, with its re-ore or manufacture, remarkable for its hardfreshing breeze, its purple shadowings; the flat-roofed houses, crowded by a turbaned population; the kine returning to the city; the maidens filling their vessels at the wells; the luxuriant foliage of a tropic clime; the simple life of the peasant tribes, with their little tent of goat's hair, their loins girded, their staff in their hand. And, in fine, all labour and investigation to find the meaning of the Word of God must be employed in dependence on the divine Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God must be implored. Not only must a man be an expert philologist and logician; not only must he be versant in the general characters and special idioms of the sacred tongues; not only must he have that quality of mind which the Grecian critics termed To apeλés (freedom from prepossession), and joined with it the native tact which the same critics termed evpuia (that instinctive sagacity which seizes at once on peculiar shades of thought and meaning); not only must he have a psychological oneness with the author with whom for the time he identifies himself, in order to elicit the train of his reasoning, or exhibit the current of his emotions; not only must these elements of preparation be enjoyed, but the teaching of the Spirit of God, of the Author of revelation, of Him who best knows Working in Metal. import occurs in the description of the lot of in Scripture. It is the symbol of strength |