ed you, say, we are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." Luke xvii. 10

We have seen that the law is holy-does rule the heart and the life-demands perfect obedience-and will punish the sinner: that no sinner is able to fulfil the law, nor is any one able to atone for his sins, and that God condemns every man as a transgressor of his law. What then shall the sinner do? Shall he sit down in despair, and perish for ever? By no means. A Saviour is exhibited in the gospel, "who did himself bear our sins in his own body on the tree." To a man aware of his ruined and helpless condition, this Saviour's name will be as "ointment poured forth." One who would, and who could bear his iniquities, be made sin for him, and redeem him from the curse of the law, will be all his salvation, and all his desire. Yes, he will flee to this Saviour, as his only refuge from the wrath to come, and consider himself safe in God's pavilion, and immoveable as standing on the foundation laid in Zion, the Rock of ages. In the next chapter we will endeavour to ascertain in what light the heathens viewed this important subject.

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CHAPTER III.

Remarks on the Sacrifices offered by the Heathen Nations.

1

IF, on the fall of our first parents, a sacrifice for sin was considered as necessary, it is rational to suppose this information would be communicated to them; and if they knew this, their descendants would be informed of it; and we may expect to find some notice taken of a requirement so important, among the different nations who sprung from the same origin. In the latter ages, when the Jewish nation acquired establishment and influence, the nations around Judea borrowed many rites and ceremonies from them. But the notion of offering propitiatory sacrifices to God, was much more ancient than the Jewish nation. Almost as soon as our first parents revolted from God, we have notices of animals being offered on the altar to God. Adam and his wife were clothed with the skins of slain beasts. These creatures were not likely to have been slain for food, as we do not read of any permission to eat animal food till after the deluge.

Gen. ix. 1-4.* The use of clean animals before this period may seem to have been chiefly for milk, for clothing, and for sacrifice. Immediately after

the flood, Noah offered a large oblation to the Lord. Gen. viii. 20. "He took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar." No doubt the same services were performed by his posterity, though in a very short time, they, who had descended from a progenitor so holy, lost sight of the God of their father. Mizraim, the grandson of Noah, founded the empire of Egypt, from whom the Egyptians obtained their first name.

* "Though we have no express revelation in Scripture, that sacrifices were now instituted, yet there is abundant reason to believe it: for, 1. Abel offered bloody sacrifices. Now, we can hardly suppose, that Adam or Abel would ever invent such a strange ceremony, to please God with it: nor could reason ever dictate to them, that God, their Creator, would be pleased with such a bloody practice, as cutting his living creatures to pieces, and then burning them with fire. Nor would God, who is jealous of his prerogative in matters of worship, ever have shewn his acceptance of these rites, if he himself had not appointed them. 2. Though we do not read that Adam offered sacrifice, yet it is plain he was not permitted to eat flesh; and, therefore, it is more probable, that when he killed beasts, it was for sacrifices; and God taught him to make clothing for himself out of their skins. This was immediately after the fall."-Dr. Watts's Works, 8vo. Vol. I. page 487. Note.

He carried with him the history of Ham, his father; or, not improbably, his father accompanied him, and died in that country. His posterity soon learned to add the name Jehovah to the name of Ham, and offered sacrifices to Jupiter-Hammon. The very same remarks would apply to the Hercules of the Heathen, who in all probability was Joshua or Samson; and to their other gods, whom here it is not necessary to specify.

Nor is it improbable, that in building their temples, in their washings and annual festivals, they were the imitators of the Jews, or, at least, received the first notices of those things from them. If the design of sacrifices were to teach men the evil of sin, and the awful nature of apostacy from God, as well as to deprecate his dipleasure, they would be very likely to retain these things in remembrance. Deeds were daily done, which, to a mind not entirely hardened against all moral feeling, nor lost to all sense of right and wrong, would be extremely revolting. A God was acknowledged by all nations; and various oblations were presented to him to appease his wrath, and to remove from the conscience the guilt of transgressions. Founders of tribes and nations, and often generals distinguished in battle, were, after death, raised to the rank of demons or demi-gods, by the superstitions of the people. To these, sacrifices were presented, to se

cure their guardian care, and their interest with the Supreme Being.

Nothing could be more gross than the darkness of the human mind, where divine revelation was unknown. Still, conscience had so much light as to keep up a sense of the evil of sin, an alarm from the conviction of guilt, and a strong desire to enjoy the friendship of their deities. Some imagined, that sin would be atoned for by a series of sufferings, endured for a given time in the invisible world, and figured to themselves the punishment of Tantalus, Sisyphus, and a multitude more, who were broken upon the wheel, on whose vitals vultures were continually gnawing, or who were dying of thirst, but were forbidden to taste of the cup which even touched their parched lips. After enduring tortures like these for ages, sin was atoned, and the soul passed onward to Elysium; and finally ascended to this world, again to inhabit a body prepared for its reception. Yet, all nations wished to avoid the punishment of the damned; and with this object in view, as well as to avert present and threatening calamities, offered propitiatory sacrifices to their deities. In process of time, these sacrifices became cruel in the extreme, and awfully abominable; but this only manifested the sense of importance which was attached to them. Many of the quotations which will be adduced, refer to the offering of human victims,