more, but be equal to the angels, as being children "of God, and heirs of the resurrection; that the

righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the king"dom of their Father; that they shall be like God, "and see him as he is, and behold his face in righteousness, and be satisfied with his likeness; "that they shall not walk by faith but by vision, " and shall know even as they are known; and that, "in a word, glory, and honour, and immortality, "shall be to every man that worketh good, to the "Jew first, and also to the Gentile*;"-we may justly admit the force and fulness of such annunciations, and be satisfied with the assurances thus communicated, of the certainty of a future state, and of the high, and progressive, and enduring, felicity, which is reserved in heaven for the recompence of the elect.

Such are the views of a future state which are unfolded to the disciples of the New Covenant, for his comfort and his edification. When we consider them in their nature and tendency, we readily admit that they are admirably calculated to awaken in the heart the deepest and most salutary motives of fear and hope, and to sustain, in the warfare of this world, the triumphant perseverance of piety and of virtue. When we compare them with the annunciations of other religions on the same subject, we may be permitted to affirm that life and immortality have been indeed brought to light by the gospel alone, and that the communications which the holy

* Hebr. xii. 23; 1 Corinth. xiii. 9, 10, 11; Luke xx. 34, 35, 36; Matt. xiii. 4, 3; Hebr. xii. 22, 23, 24; 1 John iii. 2; 1 Cor.

sages of Greece, of Rome, of Arabia, and of the East, were utterly unable to afford to their revering and credulous disciples, have issued, with as much grandeur and sublimity, as simplicity and precision, from the despised, uneducated, and persecuted Christ, and from his equally scorned and illiterate disciples.

CHAPTER XI.

EXPIATION—ATONEMENT.

SECT. I.

The great object of all religions to supply the means of expiation to sin-Expiations and atonements of the Greeks and RomansSacrifices and oblations-Human victims-Offerings of meat and salt-Lustrations by water, by sulphur, by fire, by air—Desecrated victims-Consequences on the moral and religious principles of

mankind.

THRO

'HROUGH all the ages of antiquity, and equally in civilized and barbarous nations, the moral and religious responsibility of man was every where acknowledged, and every where some ceremony or rite was framed and sanctioned, by which the sinner was to avert the penalty, and purify himself from the stains, of sin.

The universality of the practice may demonstrate its traditionary origin, and from the sacrifices prescribed to Adam and his family may be derived the expiatory offerings of later periods. But, whatever may be the source to which the custom is traced, there is, it would be thought, an instinctive persuasion in the heart, which, connecting punishment with guilt, implies the necessity of an atoning ransom. A friend slays his friend, in the blind rage of a sudden quarrel; a husband sacrifices his wife in the madness of jealousy; a corrupt judge condemns the innocent man to death. Sinners, like

sages of Greece, of Rome, of Arabia, and of the East, were utterly unable to afford to their revering and credulous disciples, have issued, with as much grandeur and sublimity, as simplicity and precision, from the despised, uneducated, and persecuted Christ, and from his equally scorned and illiterate disciples.

CHAPTER XI.

EXPIATION -ATONEMENT.

SECT. I.

The great object of all religions to supply the means of expiation to sin-Expiations and atonements of the Greeks and Romans Sacrifices and oblations-Human victims-Offerings of meat and salt-Lustrations by water, by sulphur, by fire, by air-Desecrated victims-Consequences on the moral and religious principles of

mankind.

THROUGH all the ages of antiquity, and equally

in civilized and barbarous nations, the moral and religious responsibility of man was every where acknowledged, and every where some ceremony or rite was framed and sanctioned, by which the sinner was to avert the penalty, and purify himself from the stains, of sin.

The universality of the practice may demonstrate its traditionary origin, and from the sacrifices prescribed to Adam and his family may be derived the expiatory offerings of later periods. But, whatever may be the source to which the custom is traced, there is, it would be thought, an instinctive persuasion in the heart, which, connecting punishment with guilt, implies the necessity of an atoning ranA friend slays his friend, in the blind rage of a sudden quarrel; a husband sacrifices his wife in the madness of jealousy; a corrupt judge condemns the innocent man to death. Sinners, like

som.