and eternal fire and sacrifices were, at the same time, both marks of repentance, and pledges of reconciliation.

a

2. There were but five sorts of animals, which could be offered up in sacrifice, and these were oxen, sheep, goats, turtle doves, and pigeons; which are indeed the most innocent, the most common, and the most proper animals in the world, for the nourishment of men. And among these, great care was taken in the choice of such as were designed for victims; for the least. defect that could be discovered in them, made them unworthy of God. If the beast be blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the Lord, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar anto the Lord. Maimonides, in his treatise on this subject, gives us a long enumeration of all the defects which pollute an animal; he reckons up.fifly which are common to beasts and men, and three and twenty, which are peculiar to beasts only, and gives a sort of anatomical account of the parts in which they are found. And what then is this great purity which God required in the choice of his victims, but another proof, that they were only designed to be the figures of Jesus Christ, whose innocence was to be perfect, and the holiness of his sacrifice infinite.

3. He, who offered sacrifice, led up the vie tim before the altar; laid both his hands, according to Maimonides, but only one, according

* Lev. xxii. 22. De Ratione Sacrif. Ibid, c. iii. n. 13.,

to

to other Rabbins, upon the head of it,* upon which he leaned with all his strength; and while the sacrifice was offering up, said some particular prayers. If several offered the same victim, they put their hands upon his head one after another. Which imposition of hands upon the animal, which they were just going to sacrifice, was to shew, that they loaded him with their iniquities, and that they had deserved the death which he was going to suffer. And hereby the victims of the Old Testament were again the types of Jesus Christ, who was to be laden with all the sins of men; and were likewise the symbols of repentance. For which reason, Maimonides adds,† concerning the sin-offering, that if he who offered it did not repent, and make a public confession of his sins, he was not cleansed by it.

4. The manner of killing the animal was this: They cut through the throat and windpipe at one stroke; and they catched the blood in a bason, which they kept perpetually stirring about, lest it should coagulate before it had been sprinkled upon the vail, or the altar, or other things, according to the nature of the sacrifice. What blood remained after these sprinklings, was poured out at the foot of the altar, either all at once, or at different times, according to the kind of the sacrifice that was offered. There was round the altar, as has been observed, a sort of trench, into which the blood fell, and from whence it was conveyed, by subterraneous chan

*Lev. i. 14. + Ibid.

Lev. iv. 5-7.

Hh2

nels,

nels, into the brook Cedron; and this altar, which was raised very high, was a representation of the cross, to which Jesus Christ was fixed, and which he washed with his precious blood. After these aspersions, they skinned the victim, and cut it in pieces, and carried up the parts of it to the altar in great pomp, by the little hill or ascent to it, of which we have spoken. The priests, as they went up, lifted up that part of the victim which they carried towards the four parts of the world. Either the whole victim, or some parts of it only, (according to the different sorts of sacrifices, were burned upon the altar, where the priests maintained a fire always burning, by taking care to be perpetually laying fresh wood upon it.

*

As they went up to the altar, they salted the victim; for the law forbad the presenting any there which was not salted: and the sacrifices were always attended with libations, which were a mixture of wine and flour. Sometimes they had cakes made of the finest flour, and oil, and incense, which were baked in a pan, or upon a gridiron; and at other times, they had such as were only made of parched wheat. One half of these cakes was burnt, and the other half belonged to the priests. And all these which I have mentioned, the victim, the wine, the oil, and the cake, are all expressed in the single word Corbanoth, that is, Gifts offered to God, and were all either to be consumed, killed, burned, or poured out, with the ceremonies which the

* See De Tabern. 1. 7. c. 7. § 1. Maimon. de Ratione Sacrificii, c. 6. n. 18.

law

law prescribes, or else to be reserved for sacred banquets. Nevertheless, the victims and cakes have different names among the Hebrews; the former of which they called Zebachim, that is, Sacrifices, and the latter Mincha, that is, Offerings. And the cakes which were made of the flour of wheat or barley, and wine, were called Cakes of Libation. All those that were offered at the altar, must first have had some oil poured upon them; and incense must likewise have first been put to them, as is expressly commanded in Leviticus.* Salt was likewise put in all these cakes; and this is what Virgil calls Salsas fruges, for the Heathen had all these ceremonies. The cakes were burned upon the altar, and the wine poured out at the foot of it; but it was not lawful to put upon the altar either honey or leaven.

5. As to the ministration of the sacrifice, any one might kill the victims, and skin them, and cut them in pieces; but the other ceremonies, as those of catching the blood, and sprinkling it, belonged only to the priests. And in this the law is very express, that he who offers the sacrifice, shall kill it on the side of the altar, and shall cut it in pieces, but that the Priests the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the blood round about the altar. And it may be remarked with Origen, that when Annas, Caiaphas, and the other priests, condemned Jesus Christ to death in the Sanhedrim, which was in the temple, they then, in that place where the altar was, poured out † Lev. i. 11, 12.

* Chap. ii. 1.

the

the precious blood of that innocent Victim, to whom all the sacrifices of the law referred.

6. Before the building of the temple, the sacrifices were offered up at the entrance into the tabernacle; but after that was built, it was not lawful to offer them up any where but there, as is commanded by God himself in Deuteronomy:* and this law took away from the Jews the liberty of sacrificing in any other place. They might slay their victims in any part of the priests' court that they liked, but not out of it; and they were even obliged to sacrifice the paschal lamb here. And to this prohibition of sacrificing any where but in the temple built at Jerusalem, Jesus Christ alludes, when he says in St. Luke, that it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem :† for by this means, not so much as the types of the death of the Prophet could be represented any where but in that city. Those victims that were most holy, could only be offered up on the north side of the altar.

7. As to the time of offering sacrifice, it could only be done by day, and the blood of the animal was always sprinkled the same day that it was killed; for the blood became polluted as soon as the sun was down. But if the sprinkling had been made in the day-time, the members and entrails of the victim might be burnt all night long.

The morning sacrifice was offered as soon as the day began to break, before the sun was above the horizon; and the evening one, as soon as darkness began to overspread the earth. The

* xii. 14. + xiii. 33.

paschal