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man at that early period of time , nothing seems more probable than that be would give him directions how he would be worshiped . The silence of gcripture on this subject is by no means a certain proof that he did not 5
as , 1 suppose , many of the learned believe that some things were revealed to the Patriarchs , which Moses has not informed us of . 2 nd . We are not able to direct ourselves in matters of religion .
This both reason and many serious facts , ancient and modern , in the Heathen , Jewish and Christian world , evidently shew . " The world by wisdom knew not God . " How then
could it tell how he must be worshiped ? The express command of God , and not the fancies of men , is the true ground of religious worship . Our blessed Lord , speaking in the person of his heavenly Father , says ,
" But in vain do they worship me , teaching for doctrines the commandments of men . Matt , xv , 9 , Isa . xxix . IS . The light of nature ( if light , in this case , it may be called ) is much too faint to direct us in so difficult
and intricate a path . Many of us having been flavoured with the aid of revelation from our childhood , have been imperceptibly led to think much too highly of our rational powers ; inch thoughts have been productive of a deal of mischief in the Christian
world , and especially among Deists . Therefore , as the offering of various kinds of sacrifices was pleasing to God , and made a capital part of the Mosaic dispensation , it was doubtleas originally of divine appointment . S . It is also a fact that God did command sacrifices to be offered to
him in that very early period of the world ; which makes it next to certain that he did so from the beginning of sacrifices . Gen . xv . 7—10 . Also Gen . xxii . U " And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt ( ottry ) Abraham , and said unto him , &C , take now thy son , &c , and get thee inta the land of Moriah , and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I
will tell thee of . " Verse 7 , " And mac spake unto Abraham his Father , jod said , * &c . but where is the lamb w a burnt-offering ? " And we learn worn verae 13 th / that God provided ***«* , and Abraham offered it to ^ od for a burnt-offering , In like ¦ tetiUfr it » pp « arg that God cow [* nap 4 ~
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ed Jacob to go Bethel and buikJ an altar there unto God . And it is said * in Gen xlvi . 1 , " And Israel took his journey , &c . and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac . " X
III . Though all these animal sacrifices were called burnt-offerings , it U probable that some of them were sinofferings . For , 1 st . Though some of these sacrifices arej I suppose , allowed to have been offered by way of adoration , and
Others as expressions of gratitude to God for particular favours , yet they are both called burnt-offerings , because the whole , or a part of them , was burnt to ashes on the altar of God . Therefore they might also call the sin-offering by the same name , for this also was burnt .
2 . Mr . Richie observes * " in the age before the law of Moses , all piacular sacrifices were offered either by the offenders themselves , or by the heads of those families to which they
belonged . This made it expedient and necessary that all the piacular oblations which were then offered , should be wholly reduced to ashes by fire . " Richie on the Pecul . Doet . of
Christianity . Vol . I . p . 296 . It was not permitted under the law of Moses that any person should eat of his own sin-offering , whether ho was a priest or lay-person . And
therefore it was sometimes necessary that such sacrifices should be entirely burnt , to ashes . See Levit . xvi . 27 , Therefore though all the sacrifices of the Patriarchs are called
burnt-offerings , some of them might be sin-offerings , for sin-offerings were almost necessarily then , and sometimes under the law of Moses , expressly appointed to be burnt to ashes . For it would have been very incongruous for a , person to have feasted on his own sin-offering ; and not very seemly for his family to have done it .
3 rd . livery thing was at that early period of the world in its infancy . Language was barren—mankind had but few ideas on any subject , aud those very simple . They neither ' felt the necessity nor probably had the power to coin new terms to express every shade of difference that existed in their different religious rites and
. 4 th . It id certain that sin-oflferings were sometimes called burnt-offerings
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Satrifiees offered by the Patriarch * . G 47
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1815, page 647, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1765/page/47/
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