John Trapp on Micah 6:7

Verſe 7. Will the Lord be pleaſed with thouſands of ramms] It was taken for a maxime among all nations, that no man was to come before God empty-handed: nor to ſerve him of free-coſt. And although Lycurgus the Lacedemonian made a law, that no man ſhould be at very great charge for a ſacrifice, leſt he ſhould grow weary of Gods ſervice: yet when the famous carver Phidias, adviſed the Athenians to make the ſtatue of Minerva rather of Marble, then of Ivory. 1. becauſe more durable (this paſſed with allowance.) 2. becauſe leſſe chargeable: at the mention hereof, with infinite indignation they commanded him ſilence. Pliny tells us, of Alexander the Great, that when, as being yet a youth, he caſt great ſtore of frankincenſe upon the altar, and his School-maſter told him, he muſt not bee ſo liberall, till he had ſubdued the frankincenſe-countreys: when once he had conquered Arabia, he ſent his ſchool-maſter a ſhip full of frankincenſe, largely exhorting him to worſhip the gods therewith. Superſition is, for moſt part, not liberall onely, but prodigall; and no wonder, when as good works are by Bellarmine ſaid to be mercatura regni coeleſtis the price and purchaſe of heaven. Hence their Churches are ſo ſtuffed with vowed preſents, and memories, as at Loretto, Spec. Europ. and elſewhere, they are fain to hang their Cloyſters, and Church-yards with them. What would not men give, what will they not ſuffer, that they may be ſaved? I would ſwim thorow a ſea of brimſtone, ſaid One, that I might come to heaven at laſt. But thoſe that would buy heaven, and do offer as theſe here, a bribe for a pardon, ſhall hear, Thy money periſh with thee: And thoſe that ſeek to bee ſaved by their works, Luther fitly cals, the Devils martyrs: They ſuffer much, and take much pains to go to hell, they buy their damnation, as One ſaith the Phariſees did, when they gave Iudas thoſe thirty pieces, for which he ſold his ſalvation.

Shall I give my firſt-born for my tranſgreſſion, &c?] The ſuperſtitious Iews uſed, we know, to offer up their children in ſacrifice to Moloch, or Saturn, 2 King. 17. and 21. and 23. and that, in an apiſh imitation of Abrahams offering his ſonne Iſaac. Euſeb. praep. Evang. lib. 4. Diod. Sic. l. 20. to the ſame Saturn the Phoenicians are ſaid to have ſacrificed the beſt of thei ſonnes. So did the Carthaginians, as Diodorus Siculus teſtifieth. And when as they had for awhile left off ſo to do, and were overcome by Agathocles, they (ſuppoſing that the gods were therefore angry with them, becauſe they had not done as formerly) ſlew 200. at once, at the altar, of their young Nobility, to pacifie the offended deity. Of like ſort were Anammelech, and Adrammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim, unto whom that people burnt their children in the fire, 2. King. 17.13. And little better were our Anceſtours, the old Brittones, who not onely ſacrificed their ſtrangers, but their children too, non ad honorem ſed ad injuriam religionis. Camd. Britan[illegible: 1 letter] Here then the Prophet ſeemeth to ſpeak by way of Conceſſion, that he may ſhew theſe Queſtioniſts, how little it would avail them to ſacrifice their children, if ſuch a thing were lawfull to be done.