Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

SERMON CI.

THE LAW OF GOD.THE DECALOGUE.-THE SECOND COMMAND

MENT.

EXODUS XX. 4-6.-Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image, nor any likeness of any thing, that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waler under the earth. Thou shalt not bow thyself down to them, nor serve them; for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

wor

THE Command in the text, differs from that which was considered in the preceding discourse, in this manner: That forbade the acknowledgment of false Gods, universally: this prohibits the wo ship of Idols; or Idolatry, properly so called. All worship rendered to false Gods, is not uncommonly styled Idolatry: but the name, in the strict sense, is applicable to the worship of Idols only; or of those images, pictures, and other symbols, which were considered by the heathen as representations of their Gods.

In the preceding discourse, I observed, that the duty enjoined in the first Command, is of such a nature, that, to a mind governed by the dictates of reason, an express injunction of it would seem in a great measure unnecessary, if not altogether superfluous. Of the Command in the text, it may with equal propriety be observed, that, to such a mind, no precept, given in the Scriptures, could seem more unnecessary, or more superfluous. Nothing to the eye of reason can appear more wonderful, or more improbable, than that beings, endowed with intelligence, should bow themselves before the stock of a tree, or acknowledge an image, molten or carved by themselves, as an object of their worship. Experience has, however, in the most ample manner refuted these very natural, and very obvious, dictates of reason; and has shown, to the everlasting disgrace of the human name, that not only some, but almost all men have, throughout most ages of the world, prostrated themselves before these miserable objects; and in their conversation, their books, their laws, and their religious services, acknowledged them as their Gods. The importance, the absolute necessity, of this Command, therefore, are evinced beyond every reasonable question.

The observations, which I propose to make concerning it, I shall comprise under the following heads:

1. The History of Idol Worship;

II. Its Extent; and,

III. The Manner in which it has been performed.

I. I will recite to you a brief, and very general History of Idol Worship.

We are not informed in the Scriptures of the precise time, in which Idolatry commenced. It is, however, abundantly evident, that it began not long after the deluge. According to the Chronology, commonly received, Abraham was born in the year 1997 before Christ, and in the year of the world 2008: three hundred and fifty-two years after the flood; and two years only after the death of Noah. Early as this date is, the ancestors of Abraham, seem to have been idolaters for several generations. Joshua, in a solemn assembly of the tribes of Israel at Shechem, addressed the principal men of that nation after the following manner: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood, in old time; even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor; and they served other gods. From this passage it appears, that Terah himself was, in the earlier periods of life, a worshipper of false Gods. In the fifth chapter of the book of Judith, the following account is given of this subject, in a speech of Achior, commander of the host of the Ammonites, to Holofernes, general of the Assyrian army. "This people are descended of the Chaldeans; and they sojourned heretofore in Mesopotamia, because they would not follow the Gods of their fathers, which were in the land of Chaldea. For they left the way of their ancestors, and worshipped the God of heaven, whom they knew so they cast them out from the face of their gods; and they fled into Mesopotamia, and sojourned there many days." This story, which was probably traditionary among the Jews, and neighbouring nations, and is not improbably true, informs us, that Terah, and his children with him, worshipped the true God, before they quitted Ur of the Chaldees; and that they were driven out from this, their original residence, by their countrymen, because they had addicted themselves to the worship of Jehovah. It would seem, therefore, that the Chaldeans had already become such bigots to the worship of their Gods, as to persecute Terah and his family for dissenting from what had become their established religion. This event took place, four hundred and twenty-two years only after the deluge. Gentilism, therefore, or the worship of false Gods, must have commenced many years before this date; both because it was the religion of Abraham's ancestors, and because it had become so universal in Chaldea, as to be the foundation of a national persecution of Terah and his family.

:

Sir William Jones has, I think in the most satisfactory manner, proved, that the system of Gentilism among all the ancient nations, who adopted it, was the same. This remarkable fact, if admitted, furnishes unanswerable evidence, that it was derived from a single source. For it is impossible, that different and distant nations should have severally invented so complicated a system; comprising so many gods, having the same names, having the same

.

fabulous history of their origin and character, worshipped with the same numerous and diversified rites, and having the same various and peculiar offices assigned to them. The best account of this extraordinary fact, which I have met with, is contained in Bryant's Analysis of the ancient heathen Mythology. This learned and able writer has, in my view, rendered it highly probable, that this religion was begun by the Cushites, or that mixed multitude, who attached themselves to Nimrod, according to the common chronology, about the year of the world 1750; and formed themselves, seven years after, into a nation, or body politic, under his dominion. These people, in their dispersion, spread over many parts of the earth; and by their enterprise, heroism, arts, and ingenuity, appear to have had the first great and controlling influence over the affairs of men, both secular and religious: an influence, the effects of which wonderfully remain at the present time.

The objects, and the rites, of worship, adopted by these people, seem almost all to have been found in the history of the deluge, of Noah, and of his family. At first, they probably in tended only to commemorate, in a solemn manner, this awful and disastrous event, and the wonderful preservation of this family. That a man of so excellent and extraordinary a character; a man, singled out by the voice of God from a world, on account of his piety; a man, who was the only pious head of a family, amidst all the millions of the human race; a man, who had survived the ruins of one world, and begun the settlement and population of another; a man, who had been miraculously preserved from an universal deluge; a man, to whom the postdiluvians owed all their religion, their knowledge, their arts, and even their existence; should be commemorated with singular feelings, particularly with singular veneration, was a thing of course. Equally natural, and necessary, was it, that the most solemn remembrance should be retained, and expressed, of such an amazing event, as the destruction of a world. High veneration for any being, easily slides, in such minds as ours, into religious reverence: especially when it is publicly, and solemnly, expressed by ceremonies of an affecting and awful nature. When Noah particularly, and his sons generally, had been often, and for a series of years, commemorated in this manner; the history of man has amply taught us, that it was no strange thing to find them ultimately raised to the rank and character of deities. This event would naturally take place the sooner, on account of the astonishing facts, included in their singular history. The imagination, wrought up to enthusiasm and terror, while realizing the astonishing scenes, through which they had passed, could hardly fail to lend its powerful aid towards this act of Canonization; and would, without much reluctance, attribute to them a divine character. If we remember how much more willingly mankind have ever worshipped false gods, than the true One; we shall, I think without much hesitation, admit the proba

bility of the account, which has here been given concerning this subject.

The proofs, that the authors of Gentilism had a primary reference to Noah, his family, and their history, appear to me to be complete in the different symbols, ceremonies, objects of commemoration, and names of persons and things, together with the whole mythological history of this subject. Multitudes of allusions are found in all these things to Noah himself; his three sons; the number of his family; their singular history; the deluge; the ark; the dove; the olive-branch; and various other particulars. Many of these are too explicit to be mistaken; and many others, less explicit, yet taken together, and in connexion with these, corroborate, with no small force, the account which has here been given.

When this scheme was once begun; it was a thing of course, that it should be rapidly progressive. When mankind had departed from the true God; it was natural for a restless imagination to multiply the objects of its dependence, and worship. Among the objects, which would easily engross the religious attention of these people, and of all who were inclined to their system, the sun, moon, and stars, would undoubtedly be some of the first. The exaltation, splendour, immutability, and beneficial influence, of these glorious luminaries, are so affecting to the human mind, as to distinguished place in its contemplations. Nothing visible is more fitted to tacite suvions or to awaken cu riosity and astonishment; nor, when God was once forgotten, to inspire religious reverence. Accordingly we find, that before the days of Job the worship of the heavenly bodies had become extensive. This divine Writer* says, chap. xxxi. 26-28, If I beheld the sun, when it shined, or the moon, walking in brightness; and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand; this also were an iniquity, to be punished by the judge: for 1 should have denied the God that is above. Job probably lived between 1600 and 1700 years before Christ; or about three hundred and fifty years after the birth of Abraham; according to the common chronology. With this account of the early worship of these celestial objects, profane history entirely accords.

But the mind was unsatisfied even with these deities. The business of multiplying them was carried on with astonishing rapidity. The worship of deceased men had already been rendered to Noah and his family. This was soon extended to others; and then to others still; in such a manner, that the number soon became enormous. Hesiod informs us, that the damoves, or demons, who appear to have been no other than departed men, and who were supposed to inhabit the middle regions between earth and heaven, amounted to more than thirty thousand. In opposition to these

VOL. III.

I consider Job as the author of this book.

23

deceased beings, God is especially called in the Sacred Volume the living God.* From deceased men the transition was easy to animals; to vegetables; to inanimate objects; and to the visionary beings of imagination. Gods were soon found every where; in mountains, rivers, springs, the ocean, the earth, the winds, light, darkness, groves; and generally in every thing, which was particu larly interesting to the fancy.

Among the reasons, which influenced the mind to this restless and endless creation of deities, the first place is due, perhaps, to the apprehension, that this conduct was an evidence of peculiar piety; and therefore a direct mode of obtaining blessings from some, or other, of the objects worshipped. Another reason was, the complaisance of one nation to another, which led them to adopt their respective deities. The objects of worship were, to a great extent, the same, in different nations: yet, being called by different names, and worshipped with ceremonies, differing, in some degree at least, according to the diversity of manners in different, nations, they came, at length, to be considered as different Gods. The Athenians, under the influence of both these causes, appear to have adopted most of the deities, of whom they had any knowledge.

[ocr errors]

Another reason for this conduct judiciously assigned by Dr. Blair, is, the tendency of the human imagination to lend animation, thought, and agency, to the several inanimate objects, with which it is conversant, and by which it is strongly affected national which are solemn, awful, ransition from the personification of these objects to the belief, that they are really animated by an indwelling, conscious principle, and to a consequent religious reverence for them, is neither unnatural, nor difficult, after the mind has once become devoted to Idolatry. In the early stages of society, the Imagination is eminently strong, active, and susceptible. Always ready to admire, to be astonished, to be transported, it easily acquires an ascendency over the Reason, then always weak; and, together with the passions, directs almost the whole conduct of man.

It is scarcely credible, that the human mind originally wor shipped inanimate objects directly. The absurdity of believing, that that, which had no life in itself, and therefore no agency, nor consciousness, could hear prayers, or answer them; could be gratified with praises, or sacrifices; could inflict judgments, or confer benefits; is so palpable, that even a savage can hardly be supposed to have admitted it. Much less can those people have admitted it, who appear to have been the originators of idolatry. So far were the Cushites from being savages, that they appear to have been the most enlightened, and enterprising, of the human race, at the time when Gentilism commenced. It is highly probable, that all these objects were at first regarded as peculiar manifestations of

•Farmar on Miracles.

« AnteriorContinua »