"And

facrifices, we read 1 Kings xviii. 27. "it came to pafs at noon, that Elijah mock"ed them, and faid, Cry aloud: for he is

a god, either he is talking, or he is

pur

fuing, or he is in a journey, or perad"venture he fleepeth, and must be awaked. "And they cried aloud, and cut themfelves "after their manner with knives and lan

cets, till the blood gushed out upon them; "but there was neither voice, nor any to "anfwer, nor any that regarded." At the conclufion of this affair, the people, who were exceedingly prone to idolatry, and therefore ftrongly prejudiced in favour of the priests of Baal, cried out, "The Lord, "he is the God, the Lord, he is the God."

We find in the book of Daniel, that both Nebuchadnezzar and Darius, though ftrongly attached to their idol worship, were compelled to make the fame confeffion. Sce `. Dan. ii. xvii. iii. 29. When Daniel was delivered from the lions, we are informed, Dan. vi. 25. that then Darius wrote "unto "all people, nations, and languages, that "dwell in all the earth, Peace be multi

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plied unto you. I make a decree, that "in every dominion of my kingdom, men "tremble and fear before the God of Da"niel: for he is the living God, and fted"fast for ever, and his kingdom is that "which fhall not be deftroyed, and his do"minion fhall be even unto the end."

Confidering the abominable flagitious cuftoms, and the cruel and horrid rites of the idolatrous inhabitants of Canaan, and other neighbouring nations, and the fhocking depravity of the hearts, as well as of the lives of men, which was the neceffary confe→ quence of an addictedness to those monstrous kinds of idolatry, it is no wonder that all poffible provifion was made to prevent the Ifraelites from giving into it, and to perpetuate in that one nation the worship of the only living and true God, amidst the univerfal defection from his worship among all

other nations.

Abraham is fuppofed to have been called from his country, where idolatry is generally thought to have been first introduced, about

the

the time when it began to revolt from the worfhip of the true God; and it is not improbable that this was the cafe, as not long after we find idols among the gods of Laban, who lived in the fame country, that his daughter Rachel carried fome of them away with her, and that afterwards Jacob was obliged to fearch all his family, and commanded them to put away all their false gods. See Gen. xxxv. 2.

The prohibitions of idolatry by Mofes are frequent, and exceedingly emphatical. Befides the firft and fecond commandments, quoted before, we read, Ex. xxiii. 13. "And in all things that I have faid unto you, "be circumfpect; and make no mention of "the name of other Gods, neither let it be "heard out of thy mouth."

The orders which the Jews received concerning the extirpation of the inhabitants of Canaan refpected this cafe, and nothing else. The fettlement of the Ifraelites in that country, is exprefsly faid to have been de-layed "because the iniquity of the Amorites

' was

was not full," Gen. xv. 16. We read

in Deut. xii. 29. &c. "When the Lord

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thy God fhall cut off the nations from "before thee, whither thou goest to poffefs "them, and thou fucceedeft them, and "dwelleft in their land: take heed to thy"felf that thou be not fnared by following

them, after that they be deftroyed from "before thee, and that thou enquire not "after their gods, faying, How did thefe "nations ferve their gods? even fo will I do

likewife. Thou shalt not do fo unto the "Lord thy God; for every abomination to "the Lord which he hateth, have they done "unto their gods: for even their fons and "their daughters they have burnt in the fire "to their gods:" Deut. xii. 2. &c. “ Ye shall utterly deftroy all the places wherein the "nations which ye fhall poffefs ferved their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon "the hills, and under every green tree. And

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you fhall overthrow their altars, and break "their pillars, and burn their groves with fire, and you fhall hew down the graven

images of their gods, and deftroy the "names of them out of that place."

That

That their motive for this was not the luft of plunder, is evident from the orders which they received, and with which they complied, not to take the filver and the gold belonging to their idols, but to destroy it utterly, Deut. vii. 25." The graven images "of their gods fhall ye burn with fire: "thou shalt not defire the filver or gold "that is on them, nor take it unto thee, "left thou be fnared therein: for it is an "abomination to the Lord thy God. "Neither fhalt thou bring an abomination "into thy houfe, left thou be a curfed

thing like it but thou shalt utterly de“test it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it, for "it is a cursed thing."

Nor were they the inhabitants of Canaan only who were to be extirpated on account of their idolatry; for the Ifraelites themselves were to have as little mercy fhewn them on the fame account, Lev. xx. 1. "And the "Lord fpake unto Mofes, faying, Again "thou shalt fay to the children of Ifrael, "Whofcever he be of the children of Ifrael, "or of the ftrangers that fojourn in Ifrael, Vol. II. "that

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