tive way of expiating crimes; the other an expression of the worship and homage due from creatures to their Creator. And it was by sacrifices of the former kind, that men had access to God for acceptance of the lat ter.(m) In allusion to the legal sacrifices in this latter sense, all acts of divine worship are stiled sacrifices. Thus David saith, "the sacrifices of God are a bro"ken spirit."(n) And Paul beseeches christians, by the mercies of God, to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.(0) But the import of sacrifices in this regard, doth not particularly concern our present inquiry. As it was the bloody sacrifices for sin that typified the sacrifice of Christ, what it especially concerns us to understand, is the proper and true import of sacrifices as they were used, by divine appointment, for making atonement for sin, or as a mean of reconciliation.

In regard of these sacrifices, we find that it was es tablished as an invariable and universal rule, that whatever was taken from the herd, or from the flock, should be brought to the door of the tabernacle; and there the offender was to lay his hand on the head of the beast which was to be sacrificed, and kill it before the Lord; and the priests were to take of the blood of the beast, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar. Thus, as soon as the tabernacle was erected in the wilderness, we are told that " The LORD called unto "Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of "the congregation, saying, speak unto the children of "Israel and say unto them, if any man of you bring "an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offer"ing of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. "And if his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, "let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer

(m) See more particularly, Hebrews x. 1, 2. (n) Psalm li. 17. (0) Romans xii. 1.

"ment.

"it of his own voluntary will, at the door of the tab"ernacle of the congregation before the Lord. And "he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offer"ing: and it shall be accepted for him to make atoneAnd he shall kill the bullock before the “Lord: And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring "the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon "the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the "congregation."(p) The law respecting a peace-offering, whether it be of the herd, or of the flock, is the same; and the same form and ceremonies are to be observed concerning it. (4) An atonement for sins of ignorance, whether committed by the Priest, by a Ruler, or by a private person, is to be made in the same way; and all the same ceremonies punctually to be observed in the offering: And if it be by the whole congregation, the Elders of the congregation are to lay their hands on the head of the bullock before the Lord.(r) And on the great day of yearly sacrifice, when an atonement was to be made for the whole congregation, by the offering of two goats, one for a sin-offering and the other for a scape-goat; the priest was to lay both his hands on the head of the scape-goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, in all their sins.(s) These were statutes and ordinances to be observed by the children of Israel forever, in all their generations.

THESE institutions were expressive and significant; and the language and import of them not hard to be understood. For it is to be noted,

I. THAT the reason why the blood was so essential a part of the sacrifice, was that it eminently signifies the life. Accordingly, when Cain had slain his broth

(p) Leviticus i. 1--5. (g) See chap. iii. 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13. (7) Leviticus iv. throughout." (s) Leviticus xvi. 21.

er, God charges the murder upon him in these words, "What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's "blood crieth unto me from the ground."() The first express law we have in the holy scriptures against murder, is also conceived in these terms, "Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed."(u) This seems to have been the reason why blood was excepted out of that grant which was first made to men, of the brutal creation for food. "Every moving thing that liveth," said the donor, “shall "be meat for you; even as the green herb have I "given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, "which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat."(w) The reason why blood, which is the life, might not be eaten, is given where God saith, "I will even set my "face against the soul that eateth blood, and will cut "him off from among my people. For the life of the "flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the BLOOD that maketh an atonement for "the soul."(x) Therefore sprinkling the blood of the sacrifice round about upon the altar, figuratively imported the offering up of the life to the Lord upon his altar, to be consumed by fire.

II. LAYING the hand on the head of the beast that was to be sacrificed, implied confession of sin and guilt in the sight of God. On the great day of yearly atonemert for sin, the high Priest was expressly required to "lay both his hands on the head of the scape-goat and "confess over him all the iniquities of the children of "Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, "putting them upon the head of the goat." So, when any private person brought his offering for sin; and laying his hand on the head of the beast, delivered it

(t) Genes. iv. 10. (u) Genes. ix. 6. (w) Genes. ix. 34. (x) Le、 vit. xvii. 11.

up for a burnt-offering to be made upon the altar; the several ceremonies which were to be observed in the case, clearly implied confession of sin, and desert of evil at the hand of God. And as the life of the transgressor is forfeited by sin, God's acceptance of the life of the beast under these circumstances, plainly contains the idea that the beast is substituted in the room of him who offers it; and that it dies and is consumed by fire on the altar of the Lord, instead of the transgressor. When it is expressly asserted that it is the blood, or the life that makes the atonement, and the sinner, whose life is forfeited, is pardoned and accepted upon his offering the life of the beast, over which he has confessed his own sins, on the Lord's altar, it will be exceed. ingly natural to suppose that the beast which is sacri ficed is, by divine appointment, substituted to die and be consumed in the room of the sinner. The killing and sacrificing the beast which was brought as an offering for sin, to make atonement, together with the several ceremonies to be observed relative to it, very significantly expressed both the sinner's conviction that he himself deserved death; and his faith in the merciful acceptance of God of a substitute instead of the person of the transgressor.

III. THE fire that consumed the sacrifices which were offered upon the altar, was significant of divine anger. That this was the case, appears from the following considerations, viz.

Ac

1. Nothing gives a more acute and pungent sensation of pain than fire. We have no ideas of greater bodily torment than may be produced by fire. cordingly it is a metaphor abundantly made use of, in the holy scriptures, to express the awful nature and greatness of divine anger; and the intolerable distress it will bring on those upon whom it finally falls. term is more frequently made use of in the word of

No

Thus the

God, to express divine anger than fire. supreme Being calls upon his people, by the prophet, "circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away "the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my fury come forth "like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because "of the evil of your doings."(y) Again; "O house "of David, thus saith the Lord, execute judgment in "the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of "the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like "fire, and burn that none can quench it."(z) And thus the same prophet laments the evils which God, in his righteous anger had brought on his people Israel: "He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of "Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from be"fore the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a "flaming fire which devoureth round about."(a) God exhibits his anger under the same metaphor by another of the prophets, when he says to the people, "I will "pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow "against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee "into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy. "Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire."(b) Thus also the heathen are threatened, "Surely in the fire of my "jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the "heathen," (c) &c. Therefore the prophet Amos exhorts, "Seek the Lord and ye shall live, lest he break "out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it."(d) In a variety of other places is the same metaphor made use of, in the Old Testament to cxpress divine anger.

THE same term is abundantly used in the New Testament, both by Christ himself, and by the Aposties, to denote divine anger, and the awful effects of it

(3) Jeremiah iv. 4. (2) Jeremiah xxi. 12. (a) Lamentations ii. 3. (6) Ezekiel xxi. 31, 32. (c) Ezekiel xxxvi. 5. (d) Amos

v. 6.