The teraphim of Laban which were stolen by Rachel[168] is the earliest example in the Bible of magical instruments. It seems that these objects were a kind of idols in the shape of a human figure; their use was condemned by the prophets, but they were for ages used in popular worship, both domestic and public. Hosea says:[169] “The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and _without_ teraphim.” In this passage the teraphim and ephod are classed with the sacrifice, as though equally essential for worship. Some students think that the teraphim were the Kabeiri gods;[170] whatever they were, they were worshipped or used superstitiously by Micah, by the Danites, and others.[171] They were used magically for the purpose of obtaining oracular answers, and were associated with the practice of divination.[172] The phylacteries of the Jews were charms or amulets in writing. They were believed to avert all evils, but were especially useful in driving away demons. They put faith, also, in precious stones. To this day one may see at the door of every Jewish house the mezûza—a scrap of sacred writing—affixed diagonally on the right doorpost, enclosed in a metal case. The texts contained are inscribed on parchment, and the words are from Deuteronomy vi. 4-9; xi. 13-21. In the Targum on Canticles viii. 3, we learn that the phylactery and mezûza were supposed to keep off hurtful demons. This is merely the corruption of a perfectly innocent idea; it is an example of the way in which harmless things become degraded to superstitious uses. The scapular of little squares of brown cloth worn by Catholics originally meant no more than the investiture, in a secret and unassuming manner, with the habit of the Carmelite order, and allowed pious persons living “in the world” to feel that they were affiliated to a famous and saintly community. When the Catholic wore it, he knew that he assumed the badge of the Blessed Virgin; there was no more in it than that. Amongst the ignorant and superstitious it is now commonly believed that the wearer is protected from death by fire and drowning, and that Our Lady will liberate him from purgatory on the first Saturday after his arrival there. “To the mind of the Israelite,” says Mr. Tylor, “death and pestilence took the personal form of the destroying angel who smote the doomed.”[173]