xxvii.

altar to the LORD God of Ifrael in mount Ebal, as Mofes had commanded; and they Deut. offered thereon burnt-offerings unto the LORD, 4, 5. and peace-offerings. And when the two Tribes and half, whofe Poffeffion was on the other Side Jordan, had built an Altar, and were called to account for it by the Princes of Ifrael, they deny that they did it with Intention of offering Sacrifices thereon, faying, God forbid that we Jofh. Should build an altar for burnt-offerings, for xxii. 29. meat-offerings, or for facrifices, befides the altar of the LORD our God, that is before his tabernacle.

So, when an Angel of the LORD ap- Judg. vi. pear'd to Gideon, he prepar'd a spiritual 19, &c. Sacrifice, where perhaps he only intended a corporal Refreshment; and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an * Epbab of flour, and brought it out, with the broth in which it had been boil'd. And the angel of God faid unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did fo. Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in *Above feven Wine-Gallons and a half.

N 4

bis

1 Sam.

vii. 9.

bis hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes: And there rofe up fire out of the rock, and confumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes.

And we read that Samuel took a fucking lamb and offered it for a burnt-offering wholly unto the LORD: And Samuel cried unto the LORD for Ifrael, and the LORD ib. x. 8. beard him. Again, he tells Saul, Thou fhall go down before me to Gilgal, and behold I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt-offerings, and to facrifice facrifices of peace-offerings. At which Time, we find that Saul, impatient of tarrying any longer for Samuel, refolves to facrifice without him, and fays, Bring bither a burntoffering to me, and peace-offerings. For b. xiii. 9. which he afterwards endeavours to excufe himself to Samuel, by faying, Because thou cameft not within the days appointed, therefore, faid I, the Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made fupplication unto the LORD; I forced my felf therefore, and offered a burnt-offering.

---II, 12.

And when David was ordering the Ark to be brought to Mount Sion, from Vi. 13,17. the Houfe of Obed-Edom, when they that

Sam.

bare

bare the ark of the LORD, had gone fix paces, be facrificed oxen and fatlings. And, as foon as he bad placed it in the tabernacle that he had pitched for it, he offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the LORD. Alfo, in the Threfhing-floor of Ornan the Jebufite, he built an altar, and 1 Chron. offer'd burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. ib. xxix. And, at his refigning the Crown to Solo- 21. mon, we read of his making a most pompous Offering.

I

xxi. 26.

iii. 15.

Solomon, after God's gracious Promises to him, offer'd up burnt-offerings and peace- 1 Kings offerings. And, after he had built the ib. ix. 25. Temple, it is faid, Three times in a 'year did Solomon offer burnt-offerings and peaceofferings upon the altar which he had built unto the LORD.

And when Abaz, one of the Kings of Judah, had caus'd a new Altar to be built after the Fashion of one he had feen at Damafcus, we are told, he offered thereon; And be burnt his burnt-offering, and his meat-offering, and poured his drink-offering, and fprinkled the blood of his peace-offerings upon the altar. And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the Prieft, faying, upon the great

altar

2

Kings

xvi. 13.

altar burn the morning burnt-offering, and the evening meat-offering, and the king's burnt-facrifice and his meat offering, with the burntoffering of all the people of the land, and their meat-offering, and their drink-offerings, and Sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt-offering, and all the blood of the facrifice.

And Hezekiah, after he had fanctified 2 Chron, the House of the LORD, gathered the ruxxix. 21. lers of the city, and commanded the Priests to offer feven bullocks, and feven rams, and feven lambs, and feven he-goats, for a finoffering for the kingdom, and for the fanctuary, and for Judah; and they Sprinkled the blood upon the altar. And they brought forth the he-goats for the fin-offering, before the king and the congregation, and they laid their hands upon them. And the Priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Ifrael. And, at the Dedication of the fecond Temple, we read that they offer'd an hundred bullocks, two Ezra vi. hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for fin-offering for all Ifrael, twelve he-goats.

17.

There are more of thefe Sacrifices mention'd in the hiftorical Books of the Scripture,

Scripture, as likewife in the Pfalms and
the Prophets; too many to be transferr'd
into this Treatife. What we have pro-
duc'd may fuffice to fhew how much of
the Jewish Religion confifted in them;
and how pompously they were folem-
niz'd
upon extraordinary Occafions. That
the Obfervance of them was prescrib'd to
them by God himself; and was what they
always thought themselves bound to as long
as they had Liberty and Power of so doing.

SE C T. XIV.

Sacrifices, only a Toleration.

But, after all, by the Light of the Gospel fince reveal'd to us, we are well affur'd that these carnal Ordinances were not fo properly an Establishment, as a Toleration. The Times, in which they were conniv'd at, Acts xiv. were Times of grofs Ignorance; and the 16. xv. People, to whom they were indulg’d, hard- 30. hearted, ftiffnecked, and perverfe to a high Degree. Yet, as they were the Pofterity of Abraham, and feveral other worthy Patriarchs of old, who in the main, had led their Lives in fuch a manner as to please