'The Lord of St. Memin presented a request to the king against the father Cordeliers. They presented a request on their sides; the king appointed judges, at the head of whom was Adrian Fumee, master of requests.
'The Procureur-General of the commission required that the said Cordeliers should be burned; but the sentence only condemned them to make the "amende honorable," with a torch in their bosom, and to be banished from the kingdom. This sentence is of February 18th, 1535.
'After such a vision, it is useless to relate any others: they are all a species either of knavery or folly. Visions of the first kind are under the province of justice; those of the second are either visions of diseased fools, or of fools in good health. The first belong to medicine, the second to Bedlam.'
Verse 3. 'Before the lamp of God went out.' I presume this refers to some lamp kept burning in the tabernacle; but it is a strange mode of description.
Verses 4 to 21. 'Now to appreciate this narrative, I do not intend to reason on its leading features: God comes into a chamber, stands before a bed, speaks as a person of flesh and bones. What should I think of a person who would believe such a fable? I shall confine myself to the conduct and character of Samuel. And first, I demand who saw, who heard, all that was said; who related it, who made it public? It could not be Eli; it could be only Samuel, who was actor, witness, and narrator. He alone had an interest to invent and promulgate. Without him who could have specified the minute details of this adventure? It is evident that we have here a scene of phantasmagoria, resembling those which took place among the ancients in the sanctuaries of the temples, and for the responses of the oracles. The young adept was encouraged to it by the physical and moral feebleness of the high-priest Eli; perhaps by the instigation of some person concealed behind the curtain, and having interests and passions which we cannot now ascertain; though it is most probable that Samuel trusted to no one. What remains to be afterwards seen of his dissimulation, seems to fix the balance on this side. Divulging was not so difficult; he might have been satisfied with the confidence of a servant, a devoted friend, an old or a young priestess, that the apparition of God, the oracle of the holy ark might be rumoured, acquiring from mouth to mouth an intensity of certitude and belief.
'"But Samuel increased (says the text) and God was with him, and none of his words fell to the ground: and all Israel knew that he was become a prophet of God; and God continued to appear in Shiloh." As to the word prophet the historian tells us that, at this epoch, the Hebrew term [———] (nebiah) was unknown: that the word [————] (raeh) was used, which signifies seer. Here, then, we have a posthumous writer, who connected at pleasure the memoirs which Samuel, or some other contemporary, had composed. It pleased him to set down, as a positive fact, the belief of all Israel in this fable, while he himself knew nothing of the matter. If we had memoirs of those times from several hands, we should have materials for reasonable judgment. It is said in the text, that for some time the word of the Lord had become scarce, and that there appeared no more visions. Why was this? because there were some incredulous; because there had happened bad examples, false oracles, divulging of sacerdotal knavery, which had awakened the good sense of the higher class among the people. The blind and fanatic credulity remained, as it always happens, among the multitude; it was on them that Samuel calculated, and we shall see on the installation of Saul, that he had always against him a party of unbelievers, powerful enough to compel him to use management, and even to oblige him to abdicate.' (Vide Volney.)
Chapter iv., v. 4. 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts which dwelleth between the cherubims.' The Douay translates the same thus:—'The ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts sitting upon the cherubims.' As to cherubim see page 21. The word translated ark is [———] (aroun). In Parkhurst, under the root [——], I find the following remarks which are worthy of consideration:—
'Thus Tacitus informs us that the inhabitants of the north of Germany, our Saxon ancestors, worshipped Herthum or Hertham, that is, the Mother Earth (Terrain Matrem), and believed her to interpose in the affairs of men, and to visit nations; that to her, within a sacred grove in a certain island of the ocean, a vehicle, covered with a vestment, was consecrated, and allowed to be touched by the priest alone, who perceived when the goddess entered into this her secret place (penetrali), and with profound veneration attended her vehicle, which was drawn by cows. While the goddess was on her progress, days of rejoicing were kept in every place which she vouchsafed to visit. They engaged in no war, they meddled not with arms, they locked up their weapons; peace and quietness only were then known, these only relished, till the same priest reconducted the goddess, satiated with the conversation of mortals, to her temple. Then the vehicle and vestment, and, if you will believe it, the goddess herself was washed in a secret lake.
'Among the Mexicans, Vitziputzli, their supreme god was represented in a human shape sitting on a throne, supported by an azure globe, which they called heaven. Four poles or sticks came out from two sides of this globe, at the ends of which serpents' heads were carved, the whole making a litter, which the priests carried on their shoulders whenever the idol was shewed in public'—Picart's Ceremonies and Religious Customs, vol. 3, p. 146.
'In Lieutenant Cook's voyage round the world, published by Dr. Hawksworth, vol. 2, p. 252, we find that the inhabitants of Huaheine, one of the islands lately discovered in the South Sea, had "a kind of chest or ark, the lid of which was nicely sewed on, and thatched very neatly with palm-nut leaves; it was fixed upon two poles, and supported on little arches of wood, very neatly carved. The use of the poles seemed to be to remove it from place to place, in the manner of our sedan-chairs; in one end of it was a square hole, in the middle of which was a ring touching the sides, and leaving the angles open so as to form a round hole within, a square one without. The first time Mr. Banks saw this coffer, the aperture at the end was stopped with a piece of cloth which, lest he should give offence, he left untouched. Probably there was then something within; but now the cloth was taken away, and upon looking into it it was found empty. The general resemblance between this repository and the ark of the Lord among the Jews is remarkable; but it is still more remarkable, that upon inquiring of the (Indian) boy what it was called, he said Ewharre no Eatua, the House of God; he could, however, give no account of its signification or use." In the neighbouring island of Ulietea "were also four or five Ewharre no Eatua, or Houses of God, like that we had seen at Huaheine."' p. 257.