late to difpute any Orders they pretended to bring from them; and therefore, their Kings as well as private Perfons, Diod, Sic. 1.3. well-knowing that the Commands of the Immortal Gods p. 102. B, & d. were not to be difputed by Mortals, most religiously executed themselves as foon as the Pleasure of the Gods was fignify'd to them by those facred Meffengers of their Will; and this blind Devotion might have continu'd till now, had not an Infidel Prince, bred up in the profane Philofophy of the Greeks, put a Stop to it by surprising, and deftroying at once all those holy Impoftors. We learn from Bernier and Others, that it has been an immemorial Custom in Indoftan, for the Women (fo great a Power has Superftition even over that fearful Sex) to burn themselves with their dead Husbands, adorn'd with all the incombustible Riches they cou'd procure on their own Account; or that the Folly of Others wou'd fend by them to their dead Friends: These their Priefts fecure to themselves, by telling the credulous People that the Ashes of the dead, and all burnt with them, are too facred to be touch'd by any but themselves. B. THO' human Sacrifices obtain'd among the Heathen, yet fure the Levitical Law did not approve, or countenance any fuch Practices. A. AUTHORS are divided, and they who maintain the affirmative fay, that the Levitical Law distinguishes between ordinary Vows, and thofe Vows where any Thing is devoted to the Lord; and this they pretend is plain from Levit. 27. where after many furprising Things about common Vows, by which the Things themselves, or Money in lieu of them, were to be given to the Priests; at Ver. 28. it comes to Things devoted, and fays, Notwithstanding, no devoted Thing that a Man fhall devote unto the Lord, of all that be be bath, both of Men and Beasts, and of the Field of his Poffeffion, fhall be fold or redeem'd; every Thing devoted is most boly unto the Lord. And what is meant by being most holy unto the Lord, is explain'd in the next Verfe, None devoted, which shall be devoted of Man fhall be redeem'd; but shall furely be put to Death. And they fay it was before declar'd, that whatever was the Lord's, as the First-born of Man and Beaft, was to be flain; if God did not order its Redemption. The First-born of Man was to be redeem'd; Exod. 30. 12, and that of an Afs, if not redeem'd by a Lamb, was to have 20. its Neck broke; and the Captives taken in War, which fell to the Lord's Share, there being no Order for redeeming, were, as is own'd by ali, to be flain. THE Prophet Micah reckons the putting every devoted Thing to Death among the Jewish Inftitutions, in faying, Wherewith fhall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before him with Burnt-Offerings, with Calves of a Year old? Will the Lord be pleased with Thousands of Rams, or with ten Thousand of Rivers of Oil? Shall I give my First-born for my Transgreffion; the Fruit of my Body for the Sin of my Soul? He bath fhewed thee, O Man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee; but to do justly, and to love Mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? HERE the facrificing of a Man's own Children is mention'd equally with the facrificing of Beafts, which is allow'd to be a Jewish Inftitution; how abfurdly must the Prophet be fuppos'd to have argu'd, after he hath preferr❜d Justice and Mercy to a Thing commanded by God, if he fhou'd go on to prefer it before a Thing abhorr'd by God! 13 & 34.19, Mic. 6. 6;to 8. IF If there cou'd be any Doubt in this Matter, Jeptha's Vow wou'd clear it up; for this Jewish Hero made the Vow when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and after making it he wrought a great Deliverance for Ifrael: The Words of the Vow are, Whatsoever (or rather Whofoever) cometh forth of the Doors of my House to meet me, when I return in Peace from the Children of Ammon, fhall furely be the Lord's; and I will offer it up to him for a Burnt-Offering. A Vow made by such an extraordinary Perfon, and upon fuch an extraordinary Occafion, looks as tho' fomething extraordinarily pleasing to God, was defign'd by that Vow; which, tho' domef tick Animals might have been facrific'd, must relate to Perfons capable of acting with Design; viz. of coming out of his House to meet him after the Victory; which to his great Grief his only Child did. Had there been any Way of difpenfing with this folemn Vow, he, fince he had two Month's Time to confider, wou'd, no doubt, have found it out; but he says, I have opened my Mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back; and he did with her according to his Vow. And his Daughter, worthy of a better Fate, was willing her Father fhou'd execute his cruel Vow, only regretting that she dy'd without being a Mother in Ifrael; for that Reason fhe was yearly mourn'd by the Daughters of Ifrael. Ep. to Julian, ST. Jerome, as well as the Author of the Questions to 455. C. BISHOP Smalridge, in his Sermon about Jeptha's Vow, fays, "That all the Fathers, as well as our own Homilies, "own that he facrific'd his Daughter. THE THE Jews cou'd not think it abfolutely unlawful for a Father to facrifice an innocent Child; fince Abraham was highly extoll'd for being ready to facrifice his only Son, and that too without the leaft Expoftulation; tho' he was importunate with God to fave an inhofpitable, idolatrous, and incestuous City. No Wonder that a fingle Perfon in the Power of another might be devoted to God, fince free, and independent Nations were fo devoted; and it was by virtue of fuch a Vow, which Ifrael vowed unto the Lord, that the Canaamites, who had never done Ifrael the least Injury, Men, Wo-Numb. 21. men, and Children were to be utterly deftroy'd. 2, 3. HAD the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who rec- Chap. 11. 32. kons Jeptha among the Jewish Heroes, thought the Jews abhorr'd all human Sacrifices, he wou'd not, at least, without fome Apology for the Lawfulness of human Sacrifices' have declar'd one fuch Sacrifice, where the fame Perfon was both Sacrificer and Sacrifice, to have been of infinite Value, in saying, that Chrift offer'd up himself; and that He Heb. 7. 27. put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself; and endeavours to fhew the Hebrews, that the Blood of the Beasts that were facrific'd, was of no Value in Comparison of the Blood of ver. 13, Christ, who, thro' the eternal Spirit, offer'd up himself with- ver. 14. out Spot to God. B. ADMITTING the Jewish Law allow'd human Sacrifices, yet the Chriftian Religion, fure, forbids (fince Christ, according to the Apostle, facrific'd himself) all human Sacrifices. A. Ir putting innocent, and confcientious Men to Death on Account of Religion, may be call'd facrificing them, there have been more human Sacrifices than ever were before in the World, and those too not offer'd up to God, but 9.26. to the Devil, by burning their Bodies, and fentencing their Souls to Hell; and even at this Day the Papifts to perfuade the Spectators, that those they condemn to the Flames immediately go to Hell, drefs them up in a San Benito, or a Coat painted all over with Flames and Devils; and then take their Leave of each Sufferer with this charitable Expreffion, Jam animam tuam tradimus Diabolo. B. I must own, this Bigotry, which has had fuch terrible Effects among Chriftians, was little felt, or known in the Pagan World. A. Is not this curfed Bigotry owing to the most unworthy Notions Bigots have entertain'd of the divine Perfections, imagining they do Service to the Creator, by hurting, and destroying his Creatures? The fiery Zeal of fuch Wretches is capable of any Mischief: Moft other Men, tho' ever fo wicked, have fome Remains of Pity and Humanity, some Checks of Confcience, and tho' ever fo much provok'd, Time will affwage their Anger; but the Bigot feels not the least Remorse, nor can Time abate his Fury; and he is fo far from having any Pity, that he glories in the cruellest Actions, and thinks the more hellish Facts he commits, the more he merits Heaven; and very often gets the Reputation of a Saint for acting the Part of a Devil. So that his Notions of God and Religion, serve only to make him infinitely a worse Man, than if he had been without any Belief; for then he cou'd have no Motives from the next World for doing Mischief; nor wou'd his Disbelief ftrip him of his Humanity, or hinder him, if he judg'd rightly of his own Intereft, from acting fo by his Fellow-Creatures, as, taking in the whole of his Life, was beft for him to do. B. You reprefent Bigotry more odious than it is, in in making it worse than Atheism itself. A. As |