I Begin with their _deified Men_, that is, _dead Men_, who being canonized, past for _reputed Gods_. Note here, some are of opinion, that the word _God_, among the Heathen, did not mean the uncreated eternal Being, but some _most excellent superior Nature_; and accordingly, they gave the Appellation of _Gods_ to _all Beings_ of a Rank higher, and more perfect than Man. The _principal Gods_ among the antient Heathens were _Jupiter_, _Mars_, _Mercury_, _Neptune_, _Apollo_, _Juno_, _Vesta_, _Minerva_, _&c._ The _next sort of Gods_ were called _Demy-Gods_, or _Gods adopted_; and these were Men canonized and deify’d. Now, as the _greater Gods_ had possession of Heaven in their _own Right_, so these _lesser Gods_ had it by _Donation_, being translated into Heaven, because they were Men renowned for their Virtues, and had lived as Gods upon Earth; and these at first were called _Teraphim_. The first certain Account of these we have in _Genesis_, where ’tis said, _Rachel_ had _stoln her Father’s Images_. Chap. xxxi. 19. the _Teraphim_ of her Father in the _Hebrew_, which _Laban_, (ii. 30.) calls his _Gods_, Hebr. _Eloha_. The word _Teraphim_ is _Hebrew_, others say _Egyptian_: Be that as it will, we find it about thirteen times in our Bible, and is commonly interpreted _Idols_, _Images_, _sacred_, _superstitious Figures_. _Spencer_ maintains the word to be _Chaldee_, and that those Images were borrowed from the _Amorites_, _Chaldeans_, or _Syrians_, and that the _Egyptian Serapis_ is the same thing with _Teraphim_ of the _Chaldeans_. A Learned _Jew_ says the _Teraphim_ were in human Shape, and that when raised upright, they spoke at certain Hours, and under certain Constellations, by the Influence of the celestial Bodies. _R. David de Pomis ... Cyclopædia._ This _Rabbinical Fable_ seems to be grounded on _Zech._ x. 2. _The Idols_ (Hebr. _Teraphim_) _have spoken Vanity...._ Some of the learned _Jews_ will have it to denote the Knowledge of Futurity, and for this Signification they quote _Ezek._ xxi. 21. _The King of Babylon stood ... at the Head of the two Ways ... he consulted with Images_; with _Teraphim_, says the _Hebrew_. The same _Rabbi_ adds, that to make the _Teraphim_ they kill’d a first-born Child, clove his Head, season’d it with Salt and Oil; that they wrote on a Plate of Gold the Name of some impure Spirit, laid it under the Tongue of the Dead, placed the Head against the Wall, lighted Lamps before it, prayed to it, and it talk’d with them. Others hold, that the _Teraphim_ were brazen Instruments which pointed out the Hours of future Events, as directed by the Stars.—Some think that the _Teraphim_ were Figures or Images of a Star engraven on a sympathetic Stone, or Metal corresponding to the Star, in order to receive its Influences: To these Figures, under certain Aspects of the Stars, they ascribe extraordinary Effects.