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    Grotius is charged by the Dean of Cork [ LX ] with a strange mis * Conception of the nature of Abel ' s sacrifice . That eminently ingenious and learned roan thought that " the wool and milk were the parts of the animal which alone were offered by Abel , oa the occasion mentioned in Gen . iv . With great respect for his memory and deference to his authority , we cannot accede * in this instance , to his opinion * Still his observations on this passage of the

    sacred history do not strike us as being more chimerical than some of Dr . M ' s . which we have before had occasion to expose , on the self-same topic .

    This author seems fond of recurring to the subject of the sacrifices of Cain and Abel . His sixty-first note is " on the Difference in the Divine Reception * ' of them . We shall repeat that the reason was the difference of moral cha .

    racter . The history clearly connects the fact of the acceptance of the one and the rejection of the other with the nature of the several courses of life and states of mind of these two persons . If ikon dost well , shalt thou not be

    accepted ? Gen . iv . 7 . By faith ( a practical principle ) Abeloff ' ered ante God a more exctllent sacrifice than Cain , and obtained witness that he was righteous . Hebxi . 4 . 1 John iii . 12 .

    We are next favoured with some additional observations on the true meaning of the phrase , rtXsiova , Qv < riKVy attributed to the sacrifice of Abel £ LXI 1 ] . Our readers will recollect that the Dean

    of Cork had cited with praise Wickliffe ' s translation , a much more { in the Vulgate , plurimam ] sacrifice . Now it is hard io deter-

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    mine whether by this vtnion Wkkliffe meant to convey an idea of the sacrifice as to number or as to valuew Hefe Div M . defends the latter sense of jt in opposition to Kennicott , who ima « gined that Cain brought a single and Abel a double oblation . Such is the natural effect of the predo . mi nant love of a theological h y * pothesis ! We wish that Kenni * cott ' s example may be a warning to our Illustrator , who appears to be much in the habit of animadverting on the early productions of celebrated authors . > " The nature and grounds of the faith evidenced by the sacrifice of Abd /> come under his

    consideration [ LXIIIj . Faith is devout confidence and hope : and these were Abel ' s characteristics . More than this scripture does not declare ; and we shall not be so unjust to it as to prefer human theories .

    "On the probable time and occasion of the institution of sa * criirce" [ LXIV } the sacred writings are likewise silent . This Dr . Magee knows : and therefore he is under the necessity of saying , " The event which , 00

    cording to the principle of sacn * fice maintained [ in page 51 , Vol . !•] , gave birth to the establishment of the rite , seems obviously

    to determine the time of its institution . " A principle then it as . sumtd , and , by a process much more convenient than legitimate ,

    a seemingly obvious determination is formed . This , too , is the reasoning of a man who p rofesses to write on the Scriptural Doctrinei of Atonement and Sacrifice ! %

    He will notacquiesce in W received translation and accept ** tion of Gen . iv . f . [ LXV ] , but

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    782 Review . —Dr > Magee ottTdUmmtnt *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1814, page 782, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2447/page/54/