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Observations on vicarious

ROMANS.

sacrifices among the heathens.

notes on chap. i. 16 and 17. and Dr. Taylor's paraphrase self in the forum, and explained it thus;- What is more and notes.

1. On the subject of vicarious punishment, or rather the case of one becoming an anathema or sacrifice for the public good, in illustration of chap. ix. 3. I shall make no apology for the following extracts, taken from an author whose learning is vast, and whose piety is unblemished.

"When mankind lost sight of a beneficent Creator, the God, of purity, and consecrated altars to the sun, the moon, the stars, to dæmons, and to hero gods, under the names of Moloch, Ashtaroth and Baalim; these objects of their worship led them to the most horrid acts of cruelty, and to every species of obscenity; even their sons and their daughters they burnt in the fire to their gods, more especially in seasons of distress. Such was the conduct of the king of Moab; for when he was besieged in his capital, and expected he should fall into the hands of his enemies, he took his eldest son, who should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall.

With these facts, thus related from the scriptures, all accounts, ancient and modern, exactly correspond. Homer, who, it must be recollected, wrote more than nine hundred years before the Christian æra, although he describes chiefly the common sacrifice of quadrupeds, yet gives one account of human victims. But, in succeeding generations, when it was conceived that one great and most malignant spirit was the proper object of their fear, or that subordinate provincial gods, equally malignant, nesciaque humanis precibus mansuescere corda, disposed of all things in our world; men bound their own species to the altar, and in circumstances of national distress presented such as they. valued most, either their children or themselves. Herodotus informs us, that when the army of Xerxes came to the Strymon, the Magi offered a sacrifice of white horses to that river. On his arrival at the Scamander, the king ascended the citadel of Priam; and having surveyed it, he ordered a thousand oxen to be sacrificed to the Trojan Minerva. But on other occasions he chose human victims; for we are informed that, when, having passed the Strymon, he reached the nine ways, he buried alive nine young men, and as many virgins, natives of the country. In this he followed the example of his wife, for she commanded fourteen Persian children, of illustrious birth, to be offered in that manner to the deity who reigns beneath the earth. Thus in the infancy of Rome, we see Curtius, for the salvation of his country, devoting himself to the infernal gods, when, as it appears, an earthquake had occasioned a deep and extensive chasm in the forum; and the augurs had declared, that the portentous opening would never close, 'till what contributed most to the strength and power of the Romans should be cast into it; but that by such a sacrifice they would obtain immortality for their republic. When all men were at a loss how to understand this oracle, M. Curtius, armed as for battle, presented him

valuable to Rome than her courage and her arms?' So saying, he urged forward his impetuous steed, and buried himself in the abyss. His grateful countrymen admired his fortitude, and attributed the increasing splendour of their state to the sacrifice he made. Animated by this example, Decius, in the war between Rome and Latium, having solemnly offered himself as an expiatory sacrifice, rushed single into the thickest ranks of the astonished Latins, that by his death he might appease the anger of the gods, transfer their indignation to the enemy, and secure the victory to Rome. Conspectus ab utroque acie aliquanto, augustior humano visu, sicut Calo missus piaculum omnis deorum iræ, qui pestem ab suis aversam in hostes ferret.

Here we see distinctly marked the notion of vicarious suffering, and the opinion, that the punishment of guilt may be transferred from the guilty to the innocent. The gods call for sacrifice: the victim bleeds: atonement is made: and the wrath of the infernal powers falls in its full force upon the enemy. Thus while Themistocles at Salamine was offering sacrifice, three captives, the sons of Sandance, and nephews to Xerxes, all distinguished for their beauty, elegantly dressed and decked, as became their birth, with ornaments of gold, being brought on board his galley, the augur Euphrantides observing at the very instant a bright flame ascending from the altar, whilst one was sneezing on the right, which he regarded as a propitious omen, he seized the hand of Themistocles, and commanded that they should all be sacrificed to Bacchus, (ws Aivo-cruel and relentless Bacchus! Homer has the same expression,) predicting, on this condition, safety and conquest to the Greeks. Immediately the multitude with united voices called on the god, and led the captive princes to the altar, and compelled Themistocles to sacrifice them.

So when Encas was to perform the last kind office for his friend Pallas, he sacrificed, (beside numerous oxen, sheep, and swine,) eight captives to the infernal gods. In this he followed the example of Achilles, who had caused twelve Trojans, of high birth, to bleed by the sacerdotal knife, over the ashes of his friend Patroclus.

A hundred feet in length, a hundred wide,
The glowing structure spreads on every side;
High on the top, the manly corse they lay,
And well-fed sheep, and sable oxen slay;
Achilles covered with their fat the dead,
And the piled victims round the body spread :
Then jars of honey, and of fragrant oil,
Suspends around, low bending o'er the pile.
Four sprightly coursers, with a deadly groan
Pour forth their lives, and on the pyre are thrown.
Of nine large dogs, domestic at his board,
Fell two, selected to attend their lord:
The last of all, and horrible to tell,
Sad sacrifice! twelve Trojan captives fell;

Observations on vicarious

On these the rage of fire victorious preys,
Involves and joins them in one common blaze.
Smeared with the bloody rites, he stands on high,
And calls the spirit with a cheerful cry,
All hail, Patroclus! let thy vengeful ghost
Hear, and exult on Pluto's dreary coast.

CHAP. IX.

POPE's Homer, IL. xxiii. ver. 203.

How much was it to be lamented, that even civilized nations should forget the intention for which sacrifices were originally instituted! The bad effects, however, would not have been either so extensive or so great, had they not wholly lost the knowledge of Jehovah; and taken, as the object of their fear, that evil and apostate spirit, whose name, with the utmost propriety, is called Apollyon, or the destroyer; and whose worship has been universally diffused at different periods among all the nations of the earth.

The practice of shedding human blood, before the altars of their gods, was not peculiar to the Trojans and the Greeks; the Romans followed their example. In the first ages of their republic, they sacrificed children to the goddess Mania; in later periods, numerous gladiators bled at the tombs of the Patricians, to appease the manes of the deceased. And it is particularly noticed of Augustus, that, after the taking of Perusia, he sacrificed, on the ides of March, three hundred senators and knights to the divinity of Julius Cæsar.

The Carthaginians, as Diodorus Siculus informs us, bound themselves, by a solemn vow to Chronus, that they would sacrifice to him children selected from the offspring of their nobles; but in process of time they substituted for these the children of their slaves, which practice they continued, till, being defeated by Agathocles, tyrant of Sicily; and, attributing their disgrace to the anger of the god, they offered two hundred children, taken from the most distinguished families in Carthage; beside which, three hundred citizens presented themselves, that, by their voluntary death, they might render the deity propitious to their country. The mode of sacrificing these children was horrid in the extreme; for they were cast into the arms of a brazen statue, and from thence dropped into a furnace, as was practised amongst the first inhabitants of Latium. It was probably in this manner the Ammonites offered up their children to Moloch. The Pelasgi at one time sacrificed a tenth part of all their children, in obedience to an oracle.

The Egyptians, in Heliopolis, sacrificed three men every day to Juno. The Spartans and Arcadians scourged to death young women; the latter to appease the wrath of Bacchus; the former, to gratify Dana. The Sabian idolaters in Persia offered human victims to Mithras; the Cretans, to Jupiter; the Lacedemonians and Lusitanians, to Mars; the Lesbians, to Bacchus; the Phocians, to Diana; the Thessalians, to Chiron.

sacrifices among the heathens.

The Gauls, equally cruel in their worship, sacrificed men, originally, to Eso and Teutate; but latterly to Mercury, Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva. Cæsar informs us, that whenever they thought themselves in danger, whether from sickness, or after any considerable defeat in war, being persuaded that, unless life be given for life, the anger of the gods can never be appeased; they constructed wicker images of enormous bulk, which they filled with men, who were first suffocated with smoke, and then consumed by fire. For this purpose they preferred criminals; but when a sufficient number of these could not be found, they supplied the deficiency from the community at large.

The Germans are said to have differed from the Gauls, in having no Druids, and in being little addicted to the service of the altar. Their only gods were the Sun, Vulcan, and the moon; yet, among the objects of their worship, was Tuisco their progenitor, and Woden the hero of the north. It is true, that neither Cæsar nor Tacitus say any thing of their shedding blood in sacrifice; yet the probability is, that, like the Saxons, and other northern nations, they not only offered blood, but took their choicest victims from the human race.

In Sweden, the altars of Woden smoked incessantly with blood this flowed most abundantly at the solemn festivals celebrated every ninth year at Upsal. Then the king, attended by the senate, and by all the great officers about his court, entered the temple, which glittered on all sides with gold, and conducted to the altar nine slaves, or in time of war nine captives. These met the caresses of the multitude, as being about to avert from them the displeasure of the gods, and then submitted to their fate: but in times of distress, more noble victims bled; and it stands upon record, that when Aune their king was ill, he offered up to Woden his nine sons, to obtain the prolongation of his life.

The Danes had precisely the same abominable customs. Every ninth year, in the month of January, they sacrificed ninety-nine men, with as many horses, dogs, and cocks: and Hacon, king of Norway, offered his own son to obtain from Woden the victory over Harold; with whom he was at

war.

In Russia, the Slavi worshipped a multitude of gods, and erected to them innumerable altars. Of these deities Peroun, that is, the Thunderer, was the supreme; and before his image many of their prisoners bled. Their god of physic, who also presided over the sacred fires, shared with him; and the great rivers, considered as gods, had their portion. of human victims, whom they covered with their inexorable waves. But Suctovid, the god of war, was the god in whom they most delighted to him they presented annually, as a burnt offering, three hundred prisoners, each on his horse; and, when the whole was consumed by fire, the priests and people sat down to eat and drink, till they were drunk. It is worthy of remark, that the residence of Saetovid was supposed to be in the sun.

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To this luminary the Peruvians, before they were restrained by their Incas, sacrificed their children.

Among the sacred books of the Hindoos, the Ramayuna demands particular attention, because of its antiquity, the extent of country through which it is revered, and the view which it exhibits of the religion, doctrine, mythology, customs, and manners of their remote progenitors.

In this we have a golden age of short duration, succeeded by a state of universal wickedness and violence, which continued till the Deity, incarnate, slew the oppressors of the human race, and thus restored the reign of piety and virtue. || This poem contains a description of the Ushwamedha, or most solemn sacrifice of the white horse, instituted by Swuymbhoo, that is, by the Self-existent. At the celebration of this festival, the monarch, as the representative of the whole nation, acknowledged his transgressions; and when the offerings were consumed by the sacrificial fire, he was considered as perfectly absolved from his offences. Then follows a particular account of a human sacrifice, in which the victim, distinguished for filial piety, for resignation to his father's will, and for purity of heart, was bound by the king himself, and delivered to the priest; but, at the very instant when his blood was to have been shed, this illustrious youth was, by miracle, delivered; and the monarch, as the reward of his intended sacrifice, received virtue, prosperity and fame.

It is well known that the Brahmins have, in all ages, had their human victims, and that, even in our days, thousands have voluntarily perished under the wheels of their god Jag- || hernaut." Townsend's Character of Moses, p. 76. ||

Though in the preceding Notes I have endeavoured to make every point as clear and plain as possible; yet it may be necessary, in order to see the scope of the apostle's design, more distinctly, to take a general survey of the whole. No man has written with more judgment ou this Epistle than Dr. Taylor; and, from his notes, I borrow the principal part of the following observations.

The principal thing that requires to be settled in this chapter is, what kind of election and reprobation the apostle is arguing about: whether election, by the absolute decree and purpose of God, to eternal life; and reprobation, by a like absolute decree, to eternal misery; or only election to the present privileges and external advantages of the kingdom of God in this world: and reprobation, or rejection, as it signifies the not being favoured with those privileges and advan- || tages. I think it demonstrably clear that it is the latter election and rejection the apostle is discoursing on, and not the former, as the following considerations appear to me to demonstrate.

I. The subject of the apostle's argument is manifestly such privileges as are enumerated, verses 4, 5. who are Israelites, to whom pertains the adoption, &c. From these privileges,

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mentioned in the preceeding chapter.

he supposes the Jews had fallen, or would full; or, that for a long time, they would be deprived of the benefit of them. For it is with regard to the loss of those privileges that he was so much concerned for his brethren, his kinsmen accord|| ing to the flesh, ver. 2, 3. And it is with reference to their being stripped of these privileges, that he vindicates the word and righteousness of God, ver. 24. Not as though the word of God had taken no effect, or failed, &c. proving that God, according to his purpose of election, was free to confer them upon any branch of Abraham's family. Consequently, those privileges were the singular blessings which, by the purpose of God, according to election, not of works, but of him that calleth, were conferred upon Jacob's posterity. But those privileges were only such as the whole body of the Israelites enjoyed in this world, while they were the church and people of God: and such privileges as they might afterwards lose; or of which they might be deprived. Therefore, the election of Jacob's posterity to those privileges was not an absolute election to eternal life.

II. Agreeably to the purpose of God according to election, it was said unto Rebecca, the elder shall serve the younger, meaning the posterity of the elder and the younger: for Gen. xxv. 23. The Lord said unto her, two NATIONS are in thy womb, and two manner of PEOPLE shall be separated ||from thy bowels, and the one PEOPLE shall be stronger than the other PEOPLE; and the elder shall serve the younger. These are the words which signify the purpose of God according to election. Therefore the election refers to Jacob's posterity, or the whole nation of Israel. But all the nation of Israel were not absolutely elected to eternal life. There. fore, the purpose of God according to election, referred to temporal, and not to eternal blessings; and was a privilege of which they might be deprived.

III. Agreeably to the purpose of God according to elec tion, it was said to Rebecca, the elder shall serve the younger: but to serve, in Scripture, never meant to be eternally damned in the world to come. Consequently the opposite blessing bestowed upon the posterity of the younger, could not be eternal salvation; but certain privileges in this life. Therefore the purpose according to election, refers to those privileges; and the servitude does not imply everlasting per dition.

IV. The election the apostle speaks of, is not of works, ver. 11. but of the mere will of God, who calls and invites ; and refers to no qualifications in the persons thus elected and called: but in no part of the Sacred Writings is final salvation said to be given to any who are not qualified by holiness to receive and enjoy it. Therefore, election to eternal glory cannot be what the apostle speaks of in this Epistle.

V. The election, of which the apostle speaks, took place, first in Abraham and his seed, before his seed was born: and then (secluding Ishmael and all his posterity,) in Isaac and his seed before they were born. And then secluding Esau and all his posterity, in Jacob and his seed before they were

What are the election and reprobation

CHAP. IX.

mentioned in the preceding chapter.

born. But the scripture no where represents eternal life as || repentance; ver. 29. that through our (the believing Genbestowed upon any family or race of men in this manner. tiles') mercy, they shall at length, obtain mercy, ver. 31. All Therefore, this election mentioned by the apostle, cannot be these several things are spoken of that Israel, or the body of an election unto eternal life. people concerning whose rejection the apostle argues in the ninth chapter. And therefore, the rejection which he there argues about, cannot be absolute reprobation to eternal damnation; but to their being, as a nation, stripped of those honours and privileges of God's peculiar church and kingdom in this world, to which, at a certain future period, they shall again be restored.

VI. Vessels of mercy, ver. 23. are manifestly opposed to vessels of wrath, ver. 22. The vessels of mercy are the whole body of the Jews and Gentiles, who were called or invited into the kingdom of God, under the gospel, ver. 24. consequently the vessels of wrath, are the whole body of the unbelieving Jews. So in ver. 30, 31. the whole body of believing Gentiles, who, according to God's purpose of election, had attained justification, are opposed to the whole body of the Israelites, who came short of it. But men shall not be received into eternal life, or subjected to eternal damnation, at the last day, in collective bodies; but according as particular persons, in those bodies, have acted well or ill. Therefore, this election is not of these particular bodies unto eternal life, &c. VII. Whoever carefully peruses the ixth, xth and xith chapters, will find, that those who have not believed, chap. xi. 31. are the present rejected Jews; or that Israel to whom blindness hath happened in part, ver. 25. the same who fell, and on whom God hath shewn severity; ver. 22. the same with the natural branches whom God spared not; ver. 21. who were broken off from the olive tree; verses 20. 19. and 17. who were cast away; ver. 15. who were diminished and fallen; ver. 12. who had stumbled; ver. 11. who were a disobedient and gainsaying people; chap. x. 21. who being ignorant of God's righteousness, went about to establish their own; ver. 3. because they sought righteousness not by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law; chap. ix. 32. and therefore, had not attained to the law of righteousness; ver. 31. the same people spoken of in all these places, are the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction; ver. 22. and the same, for whom Paul had great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart; ver. 2, 3. in short, they are the unbelieving nation, or people of Israel; and it is with regard to the reprobation or rejection of this people that he is arguing, and vindicating the truth, justice and wisdom of God in this ninth chapter.

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VIII. Once more: whoever carefully peruses those three chapters will find, that the people who in times past believed not God, but have Now obtained mercy through the unbelief of the Jews, chap. xi. 30. are the whole body of the believing Gentiles: the same who were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature; and were graffed, contrary to nature, into the good olive tree, ver. 24. 17. the same to whom God hath shewn goodness, ver. 22. the WORLD that was reconciled, ver. 15. the GENTILES who were enriched, by the diminishing of the Jews, ver. 12. to whom salvation came through their fall, ver. 11. the Gentiles who had attained to righteousness, (justification,) chap. ix. 30. who had not been God's people, nor believed; but now were his people, beloved, and children of the living God, ver. 25, 26. even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, ver. 24. who are the vessels of mercy, on whom God has made known the riches of his glory, ver. 23. the vessels made unto honour, ver. 21. He speaks of the same body of men in all these places; namely, of the believing Gentiles principally, but not excluding the small remnant of the believing Jews, who were incorporated with them. And, it is this body of men, whose calling and election he is proving, in whose case the purpose of God according to election stands good, chap. ix. 11. And, who are the children of the promise that are counted for the seed, ver. 8. these are the election, or the elect.

Now, concerning this called or elect body of people, or any particular person belonging to this body, the apostle writes thus, chap. xi. 20-22. well, because of unbelief, they (the Jews) were broken off, (reprobated, rejected,) and thou standest, (in the church among God's called and elect,) by faith; be not high-minded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural branches, (the Jews,) take heed lest he also spare not thee, (the Gentiles.) Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them (the Jews) which fell, severity;

Now, if we turn back and review those three chapters, we shall find that the apostle, chap. xi. 1. heartily desired and prayed that those same reprobated and rejected people of Israel might be saved; he affirms that they had not stumbled so as to fall finally and irrecoverably; chap. xi. 11. that they should have again a fulness; ver. 12. that they should be received again into the church; ver. 15. that a holiness | but towards thee (believing Gentiles) goodness; if thou constill belonged to them; ver. 16. that if they did not still abide❘ in unbelief, they should be grafed into their own olive tree again; ver. 23, 24. that blindness had happened unto them only for a time, till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; ver. 25. and then he proves, from scripture, that all Israel, all those nations at present under blindness, shall be saved; ver. 26, 27. that as touching the (original) election, they were still beloved for the fathers', the patriarchs' sake; ver. 28. that, in their case, the gifts and calling of God were without

tinue in his goodness; otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off, rejected, reprobated. This proves, that the calling and election, for which the apostle is arguing in the ixth chapter, is not absolute election unto eternal life, but to the present privileges of the church; the honours and advantages of God's peculiar people; which election, through unbelief and misimprovement, may be rendered void, and come to nothing. See Dr. Taylor, p. 330, &c.

From thus carefully considering the apostle's discourse, and

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The Apostle expresses his earnest desire for the salvation of the Jews, 1. Having a zeal for God, but not accord ing to knowledge, they sought salvation by works, and not by faith in Christ, 2-4. The righteousness which is of the law, described, 5. That which is by faith described also, 6—10. He that believes and calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, 11-13. What is necessary to salvation,-believing, hearing, preaching, a divine mission, the gospel, and obedience to its precepts, 14–16. Faith comes by hearing, 17. The universal spread of the gospel predicted by the Prophets, 18-20. The ingratitude and disobedience of the Israelites, 21. RETHREN, my heart's de-ousness, and going about to establish sire and prayer to God for their own righteousness, have not A.U.C.cir.811. Israel is, that they might be saved. submitted themselves unto the righte- A.U.C.cir.811. 2 For I bear them record that they have a ousness of God. zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness to every one that believeth.

A. M.cir. 4062.
A. D. cir. 58.
An. Olymp.
cir. CCIX. 2.

B'

d

A.M.cir. 4062.

A. D. cir. 58. An. Olymp. cir. CCIX. 2.

4 For, Christ is the end of the law for righte

a Acts 21. 20. & 22.3. Gal. 1. 14. & 4. 17. See ch. 9. 31.

Ch. 1. 17. & 9. 30.- - Phil. 3. 9. d Matt. 5. 17. Gal. 3. 24.

NOTES ON CHAP. X.

Verse 1. My heart's desire, &c.] Though the apostle knew that the Jews were now in a state of rejection, yet he knew also, that they were in this state through their own obstinacy; and that God was still waiting to be gracious; and consequently, that they might still repent and turn to him. Of his concern for their salvation, he had already given ample proof, when he was willing to become a sacrifice for their welfare, see chap. ix. 3.

Verse 2. They have a zeal of God] They believe their law to have come immediately from God himself; and are jealous of its glory and excellence; they conscientiously observe its rites and ceremonies; but they do not consider the object and end of those rites. They sin, more through ignorance than malice; and this pleads in their excuse. By this fine apology for them, the apostle prepares them for the

harsher truths which he was about to deliver.

Verse 3. For-being ignorant of God's righteousness] Not knowing God's method of saving sinners, which is the only proper and efficient method: and going about to establish their own righteousness; seeking to procure their salvation by means of their own contriving: they have not submitted;

they have not bowed to the determinations of the Most High, relative to his mode of saving mankind, viz. through faith in Jesus Christ, as the only available sacrifice for sin; the end to which the law pointed.

Verse 4. For, Christ is the end of the law] Where the law ends, Christ begins. The law ends with representative sacrifices; Christ begins with the real offering. The law is our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ; it cannot save, but it leaves us at his door, where alone salvation is to be found. Christ as an atoning sacrifice for sin, was the grand object of the whole sacrificial code of Moses; his passion and death were the fulfilment of its great object and design. Separate this sacrificial death of Christ from the law, and the law has no meaning; for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins: wherefore the Messiah is represented as saying, Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; burnt-offering and sin-offering thou hast not required; then said I, lo I come to do thy will; a body hast thou prepared me, Psal. xl. 6, 7. Heb. x. 4-10. which proves, that God never designed that the sacrifices of the law should be considered the atonement for sin; but a type or representa tive of that atonement; and that THE atonement was the sa

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