Page images
PDF
EPUB

"that givethany of his feed unto Molech; he "fhall farely be put to death: the people "of the land fhall stone him with ftones." Deut. xiii. 6. &c. "If thy brother, the "fon of thy mother, or thy fon, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or

66

66

thy friend, which is as thine own foul, "entice thee fecretly, faying, Let us go "and ferve other gods, which thou haft not

66

known, thou, nor thy fathers: namely, "of the gods of the people which are round "about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from "thee, from the one end of the earth, even "uuto the other end of the earth; thou fhalt "not confent unto him, nor hearken unto

[ocr errors]

him, neither fhall thine eye pity him, "neither fhalt thou fpare, neither fhalt thou "conceal him; but thou fhalt furely kill

66

him; thine hand fhall be firft upon him "to put him to death, and afterwards the "hand of all the people. And thou shalt "ftone him with ftones, that he die; be"cause he hath fought to thrust thee away "from the Lord thy God, which brought "thee out of the land of Egypt, from the "houfe of bondage. And all Israel shall

hear,

"hear and fear, and fhall do no more any "fuch wickednefs as this is among you. "If thou shalt hear fay in one of thy cities, "which the Lord thy God hath given thee "to dwell there, faying, certain men, the "children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, faying, Let us go and "ferve other gods (which ye have not

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

known). Then fhalt thou enquire and make

search, and afk diligently: and behold, if "it be truth, and the thing certain, that "fuch abomination is wrought among you: "Thou shalt surely fmite the inhabitants "of that city with the edge of the fword,

deftroying it utterly, and all that is therein, "and the cattle thereof, with the edge of "the sword. And thou shalt gather all the 'spoil of it into the midft of the street

thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, "and all the spoil thereof every whit, for "the Lord they God: and it shall be an

[ocr errors]

heap for ever, it shall not be built again. "And there fhall cleave nought of the "cursed thing to thine hand: that the "Lord may turn from the fierceness of his 66 anger

P 2

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

anger, and fhew thee mercy, and have compaffion upon thee, and multiply thee, "as he hath fworn unto thy fathers; when "thou shalt hearken to the voice of the "Lord thy God, to keep all his command"ments which I command thee this day, "to do that which is right in the eyes of "the Lord thy God."

Thefe were certainly fevere and awful measures, but they are abundantly vindicated by the confideration of the evils which they were intended to prevent. These evils were indeed of the moft alarming nature, defeating the very end of the whole Jewish constitution, which was especially calculated to preferve the knowledge and worship of the one true God amidst a general defection from it, and to put a stop to the progrefs of the most abominable and deftructive vices, which was the neceffary confequence of that defection.

The divine difpleafure at idolatry was likewife expreffed by the utter deftruction of

all the idolatrous nations of antient times,

❝ viz.

viz. the Canaanites, Egyptians, Syrians, Affyrians, Babylonians, and Tyrians; and alfo by the repeated captivities, and other awful judgments, which never failed to be inflicted upon the Ifraelites themselves, whenever they revolted from the one true God.

In the New Teftament thefe awful denunciations of the judgments of God against idolatry, are not repeated with respect to the Jews, because that people had been effectually cured of their proneness to idolatry by the Babylonish captivity; but we fee the fame fentiments kept up, and referred to, upon every proper occafion, and very preffing exhortations and cautions are given to the Gentile churches, refpecting this fubject. Our Lord replies to his tempter, by quoting the books of Mofes, Mat. iv. 10. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, "and him only fhalt thou ferve." The abftaining from meats offered to idols, was one of the neceffary things which all the apoftles enjoined upon the Gentile converts, Acts xv. 29. The apostle Paul moft earnestly and affectionately warns the Corinthian converts on this fubject, 1 Cor. x. 7. "Nei

[blocks in formation]

"ther be ye idolaters as were fome of them:" (that is the Ifraelites) v. 14. Wherefore,

66

V. 19.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry:" "What fay I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in fa"crifice to idols is any thing? But I fay, "that the things which the Gentiles facri

of

fice, they facrifice to demons*, and not to "God: and I would not that ye fhould "have fellowship with demons. Ye cannot "drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup "demons: ye cannot be partakers of the "Lord's table, and of the table of demons.” The apoftle John alfo concludes his General Epifle to the chriftian churches with thefe words, 1 John v. 21. "Little children,

keep yourfelves from idols." Laftly, the eating of meat facrificed to idols was one of the charges which our Lord, after his afcenfion, brought against the churches of Pergamos, and Thyatira, Rev. ii. 14. 20.

Through the whole of the New Teftament, there is not fo much as one example of any invisible being, who is addreffed as

*For fo it ought to have been translated.

the

« PreviousContinue »