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Whoever composed the Book of Job , it is , I supjxose , allowed to contain facts that relate to the patriarchal age , a&d that the writer has expressed himself in the language of that age * Now , we read in Job , chapter the
first , as follows : " And his sons went ami feasted in their houses every one his day : aad-sent and called for their three sisters , to eat and to drink with them . And it was so , when the days of their feasting were gone about , that Job sent and sanctified them
and rose up early in the morning , and offered burat-oflferiirgs ( according ) to the number of all ; for Job said , ' it inay be that my sons have cursed God in their hearts . * Thus did Job continually . ' Job i . 4 , 5 . And again , chapter xliL ver . 7—9-€ t
And it was so , that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job , the Ixxrd said to Elipliaz the Temanite , 4 wrath is kindled against thee , and against thy two friends : for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right , as nay servant Job hath . Therefore take unto you now seven
bullocks and seven rams , and go to my servant Job * and offer up for- yourselves a burnt-offering ; and my servant Job shall pray for you ; for him will I accept , lest I deal with you after y ^ ur folly , in that ye have not ftpokea of me the thing which is right , like my servant Job / So
Eliphaz the . Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went , and did according as the Lord commanded them : the Lord also accepted Job . * Here are offerings made in relation to sin , and to gain
the favour of the Divine Being , that is , sin-offering ? , and yet they are called burnt-offerings . Therefore some of the burnt-offering ** of the patriarchal age were sin-offerings . See ako Job . xxxiii . 22 *—24 .
Mr . Turner observes , " I shall take the liberty to mention here the case of Job ' s three friends , which , though it comes not under the law , nor belongs to the dispensation of Moses , yet shews that the possibility of a vertfog-Mie expressions of . divine wrath
by sacrifices and prayers , offered up for offenders Jby a gpod man , was not unkuowB among the Arabian tiabe * , « tfMl probably was derived to them from the earliest ages . Job xlii * 7 t * - # t This we ** making a proper ataoein < mt for * them ae ^ ordiug to ike mosaic seme of the word . SejHthe
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Theological Repository , Vol . HI n 411 , 413 . * p 5 th . This further appears from the general prevalence of sin-ofierings in the heathen world .
Noah and bis sobs offered sacrifice to God ; and they and their descendants , being the founders of all the ancient nations of the earth , would of course communicate the knowled ge and practice of worshiping God by sacrifices to them . And it is a
certain fact that the gentile world , in general , did in ancient times first offer up sin-offerings to the true God , and afterwards to idols ; and some of their descendants make the same offerings to their idols to this day * This appears from the sacred scriptures , and
the works of heathen poets and historians . SeeExod . xviii . 12 , Numb , xxiii . 1—16 , heviU xviii . 21—27 . Homer ' s Iliad , B . i . Menu ' s Laws ; the Lawgiver of India , By Sir William Jones , p . S 4 S ; Ramaquan , an
Indian Poem , Vol . i . p , 58 . Rollin ' s Ancient Hist . Vol . ii . p . 219 . 8 vo . ed . Edinburgh Review for Feb . 1815 , p . 419 . Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works , Vol . v . p . 32 % . These references contain some striking instances of sin-offerings that were offered up
in very ancient tinier in very different parts of the world . Dr . Buchanan , who resided so long at Calcutta , and traveled so much in India , says , "to this day , in Hindostan , the people
bring the goat or kid to the temple , and tl » e priest « heds the Wood of the innocent victim . Nor is this peculiar to Hindostan ; through the whole East tlie doctrine of a sacrifice for sin seems to exist in one form or other . "
Dr > Buchanan ' s Star in the East , p . 13 , or his Researches in Asia . p . 252 . 3 d ed . But liow can this very early and ge ^ rieral idea of sin-offerings be so naturally accounted for , as by supposing that all mankind received the knowledge of it from the Patriarchs ? That is to say , sin-ofierings were offered up to God in the patriarchal age .
And if , Sir , it is rational to otwr sacrifices to God by wsy of adoration and thanksgiving , why i ^ ot by ^» y of penitence and prayer * to obtain the forgiveness of fiiu ? Is » ot tjiis ^*
natural , rational , su » d instructive ^ either of the former , stljat is , ^^ ^\ ofl ^ riMgs ar tbank ^ oflertiigii- A ^ would wot the iu ^ itirtio » of && ** & < have veemod inifw ^ c ^ Mrigj ^ >!^
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048 Sacrifices offered % r the Patriarchs .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1815, page 648, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1765/page/48/
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