6. _Magic Arts._ In examining the statutes on this point, we are struck with the number and variety of names which designate these arts. The standard enumeration (Deut. 18: 10, 11) gives at least _eight_; viz.――――(1.) “He that useth divination”――professing to gain knowledge and power more than human and in some sense divine:――――(2.) “An observer of times”――the Hebrew word being related to _cloud_, perhaps in the sense of covering, hiding, as the cloud shuts off the sun’s light; practicing covert arts:――――(3.) “An enchanter”――the original suggesting the serpent, and implying either a hissing, in imitation of the serpent; or the practice of charming serpents, yet always connected with the arts of divination:――――(4.) “A witch”――the Hebrew word signifying one who mutters incantations, its cognate words having the sense of praying, but in Hebrew only in the bad sense of seeking help from others than God:――――(5.) “The charmer”――a word which suggests _binding_ as with the spell of enchantment――“spell-bound”; often used of the charming of serpents:――――(6.) “A consulter with familiar spirits”; (Heb.) one who prays to the bottle-man――the Hebrew word for bottle being applied to the ventriloquist from whose body came forth unearthly sounds as from a second being imprisoned within him. Ventriloquism was one of the arts practiced by the ancient magicians to excite the wonder and to command the belief of the credulous.――――The English phrase――“familiar spirit”――signifies spirits who stand in such a relation to the performer that they _come at his call_, like servants of his _family_, he having the power to evoke them at his will. Of course it is pretended that these spirits are other than human and greater than human spirits can be while yet in the body. The original Hebrew [Ob] comes down to us in the African “Obe-man” who still follows the same profession, by means of similar arts.――――(7.) “The wizard” is one who claims superhuman wisdom――the old English accurately translating the Hebrew: the distinctively _wise one_. Of course the word is restricted in usage to this sort of superior wisdom――that which is gained by the arts of magic.――――(8.) “The necromancer”――precisely the spiritist of modern times――or rather, of all time――who claims to have communion with the spirits of dead men.[41]