' That is, their acts or ceremonies of cleansing or purifying themselves from guilt by sacrifice, oi* otherwise; the latter word more particularly means the operation of cleansiilg by water. — Te.
2 Hieroglyphics are emblems or pictures that were used in the first method of writing; but after characters were introduced, they became generally unintelligible, and contributed much to promote idolatry. They ■were used by the Egyj^tian priests to conceal the mysteries of their religion from the vulgar, and were thence called hiei'O- glyjihics ; that is, sacred engravings or caivings. They wei'e originally engi avcn or carved on walls and obelisks. — T'r. [It is hardly needful to advert to modern di.scoveiies, fi-om Champollion to Wilkinson, according to which it appears that, instead of being subservient merely to the purpose of concealment, these mystic characters, now that the key to them has been discovered, contain a rich treasury of information in regard both to the history and customs of ancient Egypt. — Ed.]
3 A dynasty in history means a succession of kings in the same line. — Tn.
510 A DISSERTATION ON DIVINE JUSTICE. [tART I.
three years. This is the sum of the years according to that writer, as Scaliger collects it, to which Vossius has added two years. But other Egyptians have been by no means satisfied with this period of time; for " from Osiris and Isis, to the reign of Alexander, who built a city of his own name in Egypt, they reckon more than ten thou- sand 3'-ears, and, as some write, little less than twenty-three thousand years," says Diodorus : during which period of time they say that the sun had four times changed his course, for that he had twice risen in the west and set in the east; which things, though they may seem the dreams of madmen, strictly and properly understood, yet some very learned men entertain a hope, by means of the distinction of the years which the Egyptians used, and the description of their festivals, of reconciling them with the truth of the holy Scrij^tures.
But passing over these things, it can hardly be doubted that Jupiter-ammon, among the Egyptians, was no other than Ham, the son of Noah, and Bacchus Noah himself; and that Vidcan, among other nations, was Tubal-cain : to all whom, anJ to others, sacrifices were offered before the birth of Moses. What, too, do they say to this, that Job, among the Gentiles, offered burnt-offerings before the institution of the Mosaic ceremonies? See chap. i. 5, xlii. 8. And Jethro, the priest of Midian, offered a burnt-offering and sacrifices to God even in the very camp of the Israelites in the wilderness, Exod. xviii. 12. Either, then, the sacrifice of Cain and Abel, or that of Adam himself and Eve, consisting of those beasts of whose skins coats were made to them by God,^ and by whose blood the covenant was ratified, which could not have been made with them after their fall without shedding of blood, gave the first occasion to mankind of discharging that persuasion concerning the necessity of appeasing the offended Deity, which hath arisen from the light of nature, through this channel of sacrificing. Yea, it is evident that this in- nate notion concerning vindicatory justice, and the observation of its exercise and egress, have given rise to all divine worship. Hence that expression, " Primus in orbe deos fecit timer," " Fear first created gods." And hence these verses in Virgil, spoken by king Evandcr : —
" Non ha3C solcnnia nobis," etc. — JEn. viii. 185.
" These rites, these altars, and this feast, 0 king!
From no vain fears or superstition spring.
Or blind devotion, or from blinder chance,
Or heady zeal, or brutal ignorance ;
But saved from danger, with a grateful sense,
The labours of a god we recompense."
But T do not mention these things as if it were my opinion that sacrifices are prescribed by the law of nature. The most of the Romish clergy maintain this opinion, that so they may pave the
1 Gen. iii. 21, " T^nto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them." — Tii.
ARGUMENTS FOR VINDICATORY JUSTICE — PROVIDENCE. 541
way for establishing the blasphemous sacrifice of the mass. Thus Lessius on "Justice and Right," book ii. Suarez, however, is of a dif- ferent opinion ; " for," says he, " there is no natural precept from which it can be sufficiently gathered that a determination to that particular mode of worship is at all necessary to good morals," in p. 8 of his Theol. on quest. 8, distinct. 71, sect. 8. But from the agreement of mankind in the ceremony of sacrificing, I maintain that they have possessed a constant sense of sin and vindicatory justice, discovering to them more and more of this rite, from its first commencement, by means of tradition.
But to return from this digression : it appears that such a pre- sumption of corrective justice is implanted in all by nature, that it cannot by any means be eradicated. But since these universal con- ceptions by no means relate to what may belong or not belong to God at his free pleasure, it follows that sin-avenging justice is natural to God ; the point that was to be proved.