False Prophet (xpivioTrpopiirijc, a psetido-proph- et}, i. e. one falsely professing to come as a prophet or ambassador from God, a false teacher (Matt, vii, 15; xxiv, 11, 24, etc. ; comp. Test, xii Pair. p. 614; Jose- phus. Ant. viii, 13, 1; x, 7, 3; War, vi, 5, 2). See Prophet. In Eev. xvi, 1.3, tlie term is distinctively used, '■'■the false prophet," with reference to the mytho- logical system of paganism, the second " beast" (q.v.), su])porting the first or secular power of Eome ; allcgor- icalh- interpreted of the impostor Mohammed (Mat- thus, De pseudcpropheiismo Hehrceorum, L. B. 1859, 8vo).
Fama clamosa {general had rejwrt), in the Scot-
FA^ilLIA CHARITATIS
477
FAMILISTS
tisli ecclesiastical law, is a ground of action before a presbytery or synod against a minister or member of the Cliurch, founded on common report, and not a cbari'e by accusation. If the rumor, or f(imu clamosa, be general and hurtful, the court can investigate it •without any accuser, for tlie vindication of the charac- ter of the Church and of the court, and with a view to the preservation of good morals in the community. See Hill, Church Practice, p. 49. Familia Charitatis. See Familists.
Familiars of the Inquisition, officers of that tribunal whose function it is to apprehend accused or suspected persons and convey them to prison. Tliey belong to the family of the incjuisitor, and are there- fore cnWcd f am' liars. The office was formerly held in high honor, and men of noble family often held it, es- pecially in Spain. Innocent III granted large indul- gences to familiars. The same plenarj' indulgence is granted by the pope to each exercise of tliis office as was granted by the Lateran Council to those who suc- cored the Holy Land. " When several persons are to be taken up at the same time, these familiars are com- manded to order matters that they may know nothing of one another's being apprehended ; and it is related that a father and liis three sons and three daughters, who lived together in the same house, were carried prisoners to the Inquisition without knowing anything of one another's being there till seven yeai"s after- wards," when those that were alive were released by an Auto da Fe. See Inquisition.
Familiar Spirit (3iX, oZ», a leathern hottle or wa- ter-skin. Job xxxii, 19; hence, the conjurer, being re- garded as the vessel containing the inspiring dfemon), a necromancer, or sorcerer who professes to call up the dead bj' means of incantations, to answer questions (Deut. xviii, 11 ; 2 Kings xxi, G; 2 Chron. xxxiii, C; Lev. xix, 31 ; xx, 6 ; 1 Sam. xxviii, 3, 9 ; Isa. viii, 19 ; xix, 3). Put also specially for the p'jthon (Acts xvi, 1()) or divining-spirit, by the aid of whicli such jug- glers were supposed to conjure (Lev. xx, 27; 1 Sam. xxviii, 7, 8), and for the shade or departed spirit thus evoked (Isa. xxix, 4). See Divination. The term is rendered by the Septuagint iyyrtorpi/uiSoc, "a ven- triloquist," but is rather a wizard who asked counsel of his familiar, and gave the responses received from him to others — the name being applied in reference to the spirit or diemon that animatad the person, and in- flated the belly so that it protuberated like the side of a bo/tle. Or it was applied to the magician, because he was supposed to be inflated by the spirit (Saifiov- oXtjTTTurf), like the ancient Ei'fWKXLit; (ei'^- c'lWorpiag ycKjTipctg ivSvg, At. Vesp. 1017, malum spiritum per ve- renda naturm excipiehat; Sch'il. in Ar. Pluf.). The ob of the Hebrews was thus precisel}^ the same as the py- tho of the Greeks (Plutarch, De def. Or. 414 ; Cicero, De div. i, 19), and was used not only to designate the performer, but the spirit itself, Trvti'fia ITirywvoc, which possessed him (see Levit. xx, 27; 1 Sam. xxviii, 8; also Acts xvi, 16). A more specific denomination of tills last term was the necromancer (literally seeker of </ie (/e'((?, 2"!X bxb', Deut. xviii, 10; comp. bx 'p",:3-i^ '2"^'?'?'!')i o"G ^^lio, by frequenting tombs, bj' inspect- ing corpses, or, more frequently, by help of the ob, like the witch of Endor, pretended to evoke the dead, and bring secrets from the invisible world (Gen. xli, 8 ; Exod. vii, 11 ; Lev. xix, 20 ; Deut. xviii, 10-12). Com- pare the n'lliN, vhisperers ("charmers"), of Isa. xix, 3. But Shuckford, who denies that the Jews in early ages believed in spirits, makes it mean "consulters of dead idols" {Connect, ii, 395). These ventriloquists "peeped and muttered" (compare rpiZfir, Homer, //. xxiii, 101 ; "squeali and gil)ber," Shaksp. Jul. C(esar) from the cartli to imitate the voice of the revealing "familiar" (Isa. xxix, 4, etc. ; 1 Sam. xxviii, 8 ; Lev. XX, 27 ; compare arepvuiiavrig, Soph. Frag.). Of thia
class was the witch of Endor (Josephus, Ant. vi, 14, 2), in whose case intended imposture may have been over- ruled into genuine necromanc}' (Ecclus. xlvi, 20). On this wide subject, see Chrysostom ad 1 Cor. xii ; Ter- tullian, adv. Marc, iv, 25 ; De Anima, p. 57 ; Augustine, De docir. Christ. § 33 ; Cicero, Tusc. Disp. i, 10, and the commentators on yEn. vi ; Critici Sacri, vi, 331 ; Le Moyne, Var. Sacr. p. 993 sq. ; Selden, De Diis Syr. i, 2; and, above all, Bottcher, De Inferis, p. 101-121, where the research displayed is marvellous. Those ■who sought inspiration, eitlier from the diemons or the spirits of the dead, haunted tombs and caverns (Isa. Ixv, 4), and invited the unclean communications by voluntary fasts (Maimon. De Idol, ix, 15 ; Lightfoot, Hor. Ileb. ad Matt, x, 1). That the supposed xpvxopai'- rtXa was often effected by ventriloquism and illusion is certain ; for a specimen of this even in modern times, see the Life of Benvenulo Cellini. Kitto, s. v. ; Smith, s. V. See Necromancer.