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stone." And he would "not send away the mul- distresses of others touched his benevolent heart, titude fasting in the wilderness, lest they should and called forth his miraculous powers. He refaint by the way." And on that night on which stored a daughter from the dead to the arms of he was betrayed, when his disciples, weary with her afflicted mother; and called a brother from watching, had fallen asleep, instead of guarding the grave, to the embraces of his weeping and distheir master in the season of his suffering and his consolate sisters. But it was chiefly for the salvaperil, he merely rebuked them in these gentle tion of the souls of men, that he became on earth terms: "Could ye not watch with me," says he, the "way, and the truth, and the life." This was "one hour,”—a last, a parting hour! then, as if re- the grand end of his mission; for this he lived, gretting the reproof he had just given, he imme- he suffered, he died; for this he ascended triumdiately adds this apology: "The spirit, indeed, is phant from the grave, "leading captivity capwilling, but the flesh is weak." Full of affection tive." With him a new era was to arise. "Truth to his native country, he exclaims, "Oh, Jerusa- was to spring out of the earth, and righteousness len, (anticipating the judgments ere long to befall was to look down from heaven." "The crooked that devoted city,) thou that killest the prophets, places were to be made straight, and the rugged and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how places smooth." "Old things were to be done often would I have gathered thy little ones toge-away, and all things were to be made new.” ther, as a hen doth gather her brood under her savage nature of man was to be humanized; the wings, and ye would not!" "As he beheld from wolf was to lie down with the lamb, and the leoa mountain," says the Evangelist, "the city, hepard was to dwell with the kid. The wilderness wept over it." "Daughters of Jerusalem," says he, at another time, to the sorrowing females who deplored his fate, when he was dragged through the city, bending all the while under the weight of his own cross, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children." What disinterested friendship! What divine composure! What love of his country!

His miracles, too, while proofs of his divine mission, were eternal monuments likewise of his love. They accord with that goodness by which his whole doctrine and life were so peculiarly distinguished; and, as one expresses it, "have a much stronger character of beneficence than of power." Unlike his predecessors, the prophets, he wrought no miracles of the severe kind, and his disciples wrought but few, and such only as were necessary to establish their authority, and to confirm their doctrines. He bade not, like Moses, the earth open to swallow up his enemies, nor, like Elijah, invoked the fire of heaven to consume the votaries of idolatry. In proof of his mission, the sun stood not still to prolong the slaughter of his foes; the sea rolled not back to overwhelm his enemies with its waves; the voice of the thunder accompanied not the promulgation of his laws; nor did darkness, lightnings, and tempests fill the people with terror. On the contrary, "the songs of angels chanted peace at his birth;" a heavenly voice proclaimed, "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him;" and the ocean sunk to a calm when he uttered these words," Peace, be still." His sympathy evaporates not in unavailing expressions of pity; but every miracle he wrought, carried a blessing in its bosom to some distressed fellow-creature. In him were realized the prophecies of old, "That the eyes of the blind were opened, the ears of the deaf unstopt, the lame leapt as the hart, and the tongue of the dumb was heard to sing." He wrought not one miracle for his own advantage, to relieve himself from pain, or to extricate himself from difficulty and misfortune. No, Christians, affliction and sorrow he bore without even a murmur; but the

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and solitary place was to hear his voice, and be glad, and the desert to rejoice, and blossom as the rose. The voice of God was again to be heard in the gardens and in the groves, and incense and a pure offering were to ascend up on high, from the rising to the setting sun. Such are the blessed effects of that divine charity, which so eminently characterized the life and the dispensation of Jesus,

which is the queen of all the virtues,—the bond of perfectness and the fulfilling of the law!« By this shall all men know," says he, "that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another."

Nor was the character of Jesus less distinguished for sincerity and justice! He gives to every man his due, "provides things honest in the sight of men." "He did no sin, neither was guile found in his lips." The son of God pays tribute to Cæsar. In short, he who came to establish a kingdom not of this world, gives tribute to whom tribute is due, honour to whom honour, and shews a respect to human governments and institutions.

Neither were the sterner virtues of justice, temperance and self-denial combined in him with that ruggedness and austerity of manners, which frequently characterize the founders of new systems of Religion. He was mild, gentle and unassuming, and, though the eternal Son of God, demeaned himself as the humblest of men. Thus, he is compared to a Lamb without spot, to express the gentleness of his nature, as well as the immaculateness of his sacrifice. He affects no peculiar reservedness of temper, but, on the contrary, mixes in all the innocent pleasures of society, and his first miracle was wrought at Cana of Galilee, at the celebration of a marriage feast. He treats man suitably to his nature, as a being formed to live in society, and whose happiness springs from the proper exercise of all the amiable affections of his nature. Not, therefore, forbidding in his manners, he was so easy of access, that the very children, attracted by the mildness and benignity of his nature, flocked unto him, and he took them up in his arms and blessed them, saying, " of such is the kingdom of heaven." We find no harshness,

Nor was his piety less ardent than his beneficence. We find him proof against all the snares of the tempter, and all the wealth and kingdoms of the world will not induce him to deny his God. "It was his meat and his drink to do the will of his father;" and with emotion He exclaims, " to do thy will I take delight, O my God." Apart from men, he frequently conversed with God; in the retired garden of Gethsemane, or in the solitary Mount of Olives, he often spent whole nights in prayer, and the silent stars witnessed the pious aspirations of the Son of Man. Christians, if Jesus so prayed, who had no errors to be corrected, or sins to be forgiven, as we have, then well may we. Well may we pour out our spirits in that prayer which is the revealed channel of divine communication, which wafts the soul to the heavens to which it aspires, and assimilates it to the object which it adores.

no rudeness, no selfishness or affectation in the | but rejoices in suffering, that he may promote character of Jesus. His is that genuine mildness the present and eternal happiness of others. and unaffected kindness of deportment, so differ- How great is Jesus in suffering! here he is nothing ent from that false politeness so common in the less than the God in humanity. Is he not subworld, and which frequently varnishes over the jected to hunger, to poverty, to persecution and basest qualities of the heart. Greatly, therefore, sorrow; oppressed, calumniated, despised? Is not do they mistake the true spirit of his Religion, his breast bare to every blast of affliction? Is he who consider it to consist in mortification, solitude not assailed by every art of malice? Was he not and privations, as was supposed by the monks and almost wholly destitute of those consolatory enanchorites of the early ages, who mistook the dearments of friendship, which alleviate, by tender doctrines of Plato for those of Christ. No, sympathy, the miseries of the unfortunate? Was Christians, we are to let our light shine before he not destitute of all the ease which wealth men, and genuine Christianity consists in that affords, and while the "foxes have their holes, universal goodness and benevolence which breathes and the birds of the air have their nests, the Son nothing but love to God and man. of Man had not where to lay his head." His good deeds, his labours of love, met not even with the animating meed of deserved approbation; and what is frequently unmeritedly bestowed on the statesman and the warrior, is denied to the most benevolent soul that ever appeared upon earth. Around the brow of Jesus no wreath of glory was twined. He was a friendless wanderer in this vale of tears, but the unspotted excellence of his own character bore him up under all the complicated misfortunes and afflictions to which he was exposed. It was this that enabled him in meekness, resignation and patience, to possess his soul. It was this that enabled him to display that exemplary magnanimity, that elevation of character, that trust in Providence, that cheerful resignation to his Father's will, which the heaven-born spirit of his Religion can only inspire. It was this which enabled him to show with what unshrinking fortitude he could carry himself amid all the troubles and persecutions by which he was assailed. In the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest, this led him to support the mildest dignity, the most sweet and amiable forbearance, though surrounded by bigotted priests, by malignant rulers, by a ferocious soldiery, and a low and brutal rabble. "When he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not, but in all things submitted himself to Him who judgeth righteously." It was this that, in the garden of Gethsemane, even in the hour of his bitterest anguish, caused him to exclaim in these memorable words of resignation, "Not my will, O God! but thine be done." Finally, it was this which, at the Cross on Mount Calvary, when his enemies were inflicting upon him all that malice could devise, or cruelty inflict, made him pray with love all divine, for forgiveness to his bloody and implacable murderers! Well might the centurion exclaim, " Truly this was a just man; truly this was the Son of God."

His Religion is truth itself, and truth is in all his thoughts, his actions, and his words. That sincerity is ever the object of his praise, which gives life and energy to Religion, and lies at the foundation of all the virtues. Thus, the ostentatious hypocrisy of the Pharisees he reproves with more than his usual earnestness, and the prayer which he has left us as a model for our imitation, is the most simple, comprehensive and sublime. How divine is the prayer, that the "will of God may be done on earth, as it is done by the angels in Heaven;" and though he was soon to introduce a new order of things, a better dispensation, of which the former was but the shadow, yet we find him in the synagogues and temples of the Jews, paying a becoming respect to the institutions of Religion, which wise and good men must ever revere, as the cause of order, subordination, and instruction, among the great mass of mankind. Thus, to a mind the most comprehensive and enlightened, we find him uniting the utmost modesty, humility and simplicity.

If suffering be the grand test of the excellence of the Christian, in how sublime and interesting a light must our Saviour appear! It is affirmed by the ancients, that to behold a good man bravely struggling with adversity, and by patience overcoming it, is a spectacle on which even the gods look down with delight. But how much more adinirable must he appear, who not only bears,

In short, Christians, what a character was here! What spotless purity, what unassuming modesty, what ardent, extensive, and unwearied beneficence, what sublime and fervent piety! what fortitude in adversity, what patience in suffering, and what resignation to the divine will! In the period of his humiliation, he evinced all the glory of unshaken magnanimity, and while he suffered the death of a man, he displayed all the fortitude and benignity of a God.

above.-Amen.

SCRIPTURAL RESEARCHES.

No. IV.

CAIN AND ABEL.

BY THE REV. JAMES ESDAILE,
Minister of the East Church, Perth.
"The Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering; but unto
Cain, and to his offering, he had not respect.'

Such, Christians, is a short and imperfect sketch | interests of Christ's kingdom upon earth, and preof that excellence which the Apostles have hand-pare ourselves for the rewards and enjoyments ed down to us. From the obscurest source was to arise that divine stream which was to refresh and beautify the earth. He who was born in a stable, laid in a manger, the heir of indigence and misfortune, despised by the rulers, and held at naught even by the vilest of the people, condemned as a felon, and executed as the basest malefactor, who exhibited in his life an utter contempt for all the honours, riches and pleasures, which are the darling objects of human pursuit, was destined to give birth to a Religion superior to the most perfect delineation of human wisdom, which was to supersede that of the Cæsars, and spread itself to the remotest corners of the earth,-a Religion which was to give hope to the despairing, and consolation to the afflicted, to become the parent of liberty and civilization, to restore to humanity its violated rights, and to raise man to the true dignity of his nature. But it belongs to the divine wisdom to produce from causes apparently the most inade-invention, it follows as a matter of course, that fallen, quate, the most sublime and magnificent effects. The feeble acorn which Jesus planted, has become a mighty tree, whose top reaches to the heavens, whose branches spread over the whole world, so that all nations may repose under its shade. The rock cut out of the mountain without hands, was to smite the image (of superstition,) and fill the whole earth.

THE offering of these two brothers is the first act of worship recorded in the history of Religion; and having its origin in the very cradle, as it were, of the buman race, we need not be surprised at its early and universal prevalence among mankind. We are not told whether they offered from the suggestion of their own feelings, or in consequence of a positive appointment by God; hence much controversy has prevailed on this subject, into which I decline to enter; and shall merely state in one sentence, the argument which appears decisive, in my mind, in favour of the divine appointment of sacrifices. It is this, that if sacrifices are of human

apostate man could devise an acceptable method of approaching God: but the apostle tells us, that it was by Cain;" that is, he offered in the faith of some promised

faith that "Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than

blessing connected with sacrifice; and whatever is of faith is not from the invention of men, but by the revelation of God.

I hold, then, that both the brothers offered in consequence of a divine command, or in dependence on a divine promise. What was it then, that made the difLet this, then, be the great model of our imitaference? It is needless to agitate this question after the tion, let this be the pillar of light to conduct explicit declaration already quoted from the words of the the pilgrim through the perilous wilderness,-let apostle, who tells us, that the excellence of Abel's it be the star to guide the mariner through the sacrifice consisted in the faith of the offerer. But we tempestuous ocean of life. Consider those as may probably discover, in the nature of their respective your greatest enemies, who would persuade you offerings, some features of the mind and feelings of the offerers. "Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an that Christianity emancipates you from the ties of moral obligation. For what end did Christ teach under the law, and acceptable to God when offered in offering unto the Lord." This was an authorised offering us such holy precepts, if we were not bound to a proper spirit; but it was an offering of thanksgiving obey them? or set before us such exalted vir- rather than of supplication; and we may infer that it tues, if we are not bound to imitate them ? Can was offered by Cain as an expression of gratitude for we call Jesus Master and Lord, and yet neglect temporal mercies, and that he looked to no higher blessthe duties which he has commanded? Can ings; in short, Cain's offering was one that might have been presented in the state of innocence as a symbol of we contemplate such disinterested beneficence, thankfulness to the Giver of all good. But Abel's ofwithout feeling our bosoms glow with kindred fering was an expiatory sacrifice, which could not, by love, such dignified purity, without preserving possibility, have been comprehended in the state of ourselves from sensual and degrading indulgences, innocence. Abel by faith looked forward to that sacri--such integrity and justice, without respecting the fice which was to take away the sin of the world; and the very circumstance of his offering such a sacrifice, rights of our brethren, and the claims of our and of God's accepting it in honour of his faith, is a country, finally, such sublime and fervent piety, decided proof that infinitely more was revealed to our without elevating our desires and our affections to first parents after the fall, than is recorded by the sacred the source of all excellence and perfection? If historian. This is not a defect in his writings, but a we contemplate him in all the beauty of his char-proof of the divine wisdom by which they were dictated, acter, it must be the object at once of our admiration and love; we shall be attracted by its excellence, and imperceptibly be led to imitate what we love and admire.

Weak and imperfect as we are, we must ever come short of the faintest image of his excellence. Yet our souls will be ennobled by the object of our contemplation, animated by the virtues which we admire, and inspired with that love by which we are redeemed. By this alone shall we prove ourselves worthy of the Christian's name, advance the

which guarded the great mystery of godliness against premature disclosure, but scattered marks and tokens on every hand, that after ages might see that it was the prominent feature in all God's dispensations since the beginning of the world.

In consequence of the rejection of Cain's offering, we are told that he "was very wroth, and his countenance fell." From this, it is evident that he had experienced a grievous disappointment. What, then, can we suppose to have been his expectations, or why was his wrath directed against his brother? It was not that he envied his spiritual privileges; the man who really prizes these blessings cannot hate him who pos

sesses them. Cain's feelings were earthly and selfish: it is evident, that he was afraid of an invasion of his birthright; and his jealousy on this subject was not allayed even on the assurance of God, who said to him, "unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.'

What was the cause of this jealousy? We can only conjecture; yet, I think, there are tolerable grounds for forming an opinion. Great, beyond conception, must have been the misery and disappointment of Adam and Eve, when they witnessed and felt the terrible consequences of their transgression; which they must have felt with a degree of acuteness which never can be experienced by any of their descendants. We cannot know the miseries of sin as they did, for it is inherent in our nature from the commencement of our existence, and its power is increased and strengthened chiefly by its insidiousness in concealing its malignity. But our first parents had known the happiness which results from perfect innocence, when there was neither sin, nor sorrow, nor pain; and they had enjoyed uninterrupted communion with God, which we can taste only for short periods and at distant intervals. these advantages they lost by the fall; but they could not lose the recollection of them; and this recollection would tend to embitter their misery. One promise, however, was given them to support them under the miseries of the fall; and that promise was, that "the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent." We may naturally suppose that they would consider their first son as the promised seed; and this supposition is confirmed by the name which Eve gave to her first-born, whom she called Cain, (which means gain, or acquisition,) saying, "I have gained a man from the Lord."

All

This child of their hopes, and expected conqueror of the serpent, would be made acquainted with their expectations, and would grow up in the confidence of effecting their emancipation from the misery which sin had brought into the world. In process of time, therefore, when the two brothers had attained to such an age as authorised them to worship God by sacrifice, Cain took the lead, by the prerogative of birth, to present an offering unto God. Abel followed his example,--but with a different spirit, and with a very different result to his services, for they were accepted, whilst Cain's were rejected. How dreadful must have been the disappointment of the latter! The cherished hopes, the fond anticipations, the ambitious aspirings instilled by his parents' instructions, and eagerly embraced by his own mind, were laid prostrate in the dust, and he stood as a rejected suppliant, in the presence of a brother, his interior by birthright, but now a formidable and favoured rival.

I dwell not on the tragical consequences which followed these transactions, my object being merely to direct attention to these first recorded acts of religious worship. I do not, however, suppose that they were the first sacrifices that ever were offered. There is strong presumptive evidence that Adam sacrificed before the birth of Cain and Abel; and that his offering was of the same kind with that of the latter, viz., a propitiatory sacrifice made by blood. This may be inferred from the following circumstances :-Immediately on their fall, our first parents "knew that they were naked, and were afraid." To hide their shame, they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.' iii. 7. This was a simple and an elegant contrivance; and after their example, all their descendants have so covered their defects by decorations, as to make their very infirmities the foundation and ground-work of vanity. But God taught them a different lesson. Immediately after pronouncing the sentence against them, it is said, " Unto Adam also, and his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them;"

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that is, he directed them to employ this species of clothing. Now, whence had they those skins? The permission to eat animal food had not then been granted to man; and we cannot suppose that the animals were killed, merely for the purpose of furnishing clothing to the first human pair, that is a refinement of comparatively modern times, when the innocent animals are persecuted into the remotest wildernesses and fastnesses of the earth, merely for their skins, to furnish trappings of vanity to the luxurious and the wealthy.

But Adam and Eve were clothed in the skins of animals which had been offered in sacrifice; that, in the death of the victim they might see the heinousness of sin, and, in the shelter and comfort which they derived from wearing their spoils, might learn, that, instead of being clothed with sin, as with a garment, they could derive security and hope from the blood of atonement.

No ordinance can be conceived so effectual for preparing the world for the doctrine of atonement through the blood of Christ, as the institution of sacrifices. Had such a practice been unknown, the doctrine of atonement, through Christ, would have appeared strange and startling, and it would have been said, "how comes it that nothing similar to this has been heard of since the foundation of the world?" But when we find the doctrine of atonement by blood forming a fundamental article in all Religions, whilst human reason could give no adequate explanation of the practice, and then perceive the extraordinary nature of the Christian sacrifice, both in regard to its evidence and its efficacy, we have no difficulty in recognising sacrifices as symbolical prophecies, published and read among all nations, to prepare them for trusting in that great sacrifice, which alone can take away the sins of the world.

We must not imagine that the heathen nations derived their practice of sacrificing from the Jews; no people on earth had less influence than they in disseminating the doctrine and practice of sacrifice over the world. The sacrificial regulations were given to them when they sojourned in the wilderness, and when they were expressly forbidden to hold intercourse with the surrounding nations, with which they were in a state of constant hostility. But this was not the commencement of the practice among them, it was merely an authoritative republication of an ordinance which had existed throughout the world, ever since the fall of man, that the Jews might recognise its divine origin, as coming to them through the hands of their great leader and legislator, who was guided, in all his proceedings, by the dictation of heaven; and we shall find that the sacrifices under the law, were the same as those which were in use before the law was given, with the exception of a few, such as the Passover, which had an immediate reference to the history of the Jews. Cain and Abel, for instance, offered the fruits of the earth, and the firstlings of the flocks, and these were recognised offerings, not only under the law of Moses, but among all the heathen nations. The next sacrifice, of which we have any account, was offered by Noah, when he was rescued from the waters of the flood; he "builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burntofferings on the altar.' Gen. viii. 20. These were considered as acceptable sacrifices among all nations.

Abraham is the next person, renowned for piety, who is recorded as worshipping God by sacrifice; for he built an altar at Bethel, "and called upon the name of the Lord" this place became sacred to him and his descendants; they delighted to repair to it to offer sacrifices unto God; and well might they do so, when God honoured it so far as to call himself "The God of Bethel!" Abraham, by the direction of God, offered the very same sacrifices which were afterwards enjoined by the law of Moses. He took a heifer, and a she-goat, and

a ram, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon; the animals he cut into pieces, but he left the birds entire. Gen. xv. 9, 10. Compare this with the legal rule of sacrifice given by Moses, and it will be found that the practice here described, is ordained as the regular law of sacrifice.-Lev. i. 10-17. From this it will appear, that the same victims, and the same rules of sacrifice, were prescribed to Abraham, which were afterwards enjoined to Moses, at the distance of four hundred and twenty-three years.

But it may, perhaps, appear a little remarkable, that nations decidedly hostile to the Israelitish people, should, nevertheless, offer the same victims, and observe the same rites of sacrifice. Balaam, and Job, and David, though living in different countries, and in different ages, and under different dispensations, nevertheless, offer the very same sacrifices unto God. When David went to bring the ark from the house of ObedEdom, the event was celebrated with the greatest solemnity and the king, and the Levites, offered seven bullocks and seven rams unto the Lord.-1 Chron. xv. 25, 26. The same sacrifice was offered by Job, in behalf of his friends: "Take unto you now seven bullocks, and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering."-Job xlii. 8. This offering by the man of Uz was, perhaps, prior even to the giving of the law to Moses; for the book of Job has all the marks of the very highest antiquity. He lived at a period when the paternal and the priestly characters were combined; and he offered up regular burnt-offerings in behalf of his children. This proves that he either lived before the law was given, or, at least, that he had no connexion with the commonwealth of Israel.* If it is alleged that he was a good man, and that God imparted his will to him, the fact is admitted; but then, I infer from this that neither sacrifice, nor the rule of sacrificing, ever were invented by man; and that, wherever the practice and the rites existed, they were both dictated by God. Hence the general uniformity which prevailed on these points among all nations; and hence Balaam, a wicked man, who was reluctantly withheld from cursing Israel, did not venture to deviate from the prescribed rule, except by attempting to make his conformity more conspicuous by a sevenfold number of altars and victims; conceiving, as the ignorant and superstitious have always done, that there is merit in excess where the end and object are considered to be good. On this principle, he said to the king of Moab, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. Num. xxiii. 1.

From the facts that have been stated, we see the antiquity, and the universality, and the general uniformity of sacrificing which prevailed among the early branches of the human family; whilst it is impossible to say which (or whether any of them) borrowed from the others. It was, in fact, a primeval rite, appointed by God, to keep open an intercourse between man and his Maker, and to typify that great sacrifice offered by Him"who is the way, and the truth, and the life," through whom alone we can come unto God. The distinction of animals into clean and unclean, which prevailed before the flood, must have been made en

There is every probability that Job lived even before the time of Abraham, and, therefore, could not have borrowed the practice and rule of sacrificing from him. We may judge of the period when he lived, by the longevity which he attained. There was a gradual curtailment of the extent of human life after the flood, till it sunk down to its present standard. Abraham reached the age of 175 years, and we know of none who came after him who exceeded that age, except Isaac, who lived to 180. But we have reason to think, that Job must have been considerably older: we know not what his age was when he was in the height of his prosperity, the richest man in the East, with seven sons and three daughters; but we are informed, that after all his misfortunes, when a family and possessions were again given to him, he lived in the enjoyment of these blessings for 140 years.-Job. xlii. 16. The Septuagint makes Jub to have lived 240 years. We may infer from these facts, and the data mentioned above, that he both lived longer and earlier than Abrahain.

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tirely with a reference to sacrifice; for it was only after the flood that permission was given to Noah and his descendants to eat the flesh even of clean animals; and all those which were used in sacrifice, were also used for human food, to intimate, that both soul and body should be pure; or, as it is expressed in Scripture, that we should cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit; and perfect holi ness in the fear of the Lord." And, moreover, the offering of clean animals to God was intended to teach us that we must serve God with our substance, that we must be ready to part with a portion of that which he has allotted for our food, as a token of gratitude, and a confession that all that we have is his, and that it is only of his own that we are giving unto him. We may, therefore, recognise in the universal practice of sacrifice the intimation of a universal law, binding on all mankind, to surrender a part of their substance for the service of the altar, and the worship of God; and another reason for offering only clean animals was this, that the offerers themselves partook of the sacrifices, as a token of their communion with the Deity, to whom the offering was presented; and hence, they were not permitted to offer on the altar what could not be used by themselves as food.

The distinction of animals into clean and unclean is not purely arbitrary; it is founded in nature, and has a meaning and a moral. That it is founded in nature is apparent from this, that the animals themselves recognise distinction by their habits and instincts; and it is rare that a beast of prey will choose to feed on an animal of its own class or kind: the clean graminivorous and frugivorous beasts and birds are almost universally selected as food by the rapacious tribes, whilst they shun those of their own kind and character. Since, then, the animals used in sacrifice from the beginning of the world, and generally among all nations, are only the meek, gentle, and useful, we are entitled to infer, that mildness, gentleness and benevolence are the qualities which God requires in his worshippers: and as the rapacious and blood-thirsty animals are rejected in sacrifices, so the man of violence, cruelty and blood, is an abomination in the sight of God.

Even the rites and ceremonies, then, of the sacrificial law, read us an important moral and religious lesson; and as Moses was enjoined to form the visible tabernacle according to the pattern which he had seen on the Mount, so we may be certain that every part of the altar service was intended to convey an important lesson to mankind. Hence, in reference to the sacrificial animals, we are enjoined to imitate the meekness of the lamb, and the gentleness of the dove; whilst the murderous strength of the roaring lion, and the savage cruelty of the ravening wolf, are employed as figures, to represent the qualities in human nature most abhorrent to God. We see, then, the moral congruity of offering to God the animals which his word authorises us to consider as emblematical of the mild, peaceable, Christian virtues; and of rejecting those whose habits are characteristic of violence, impurity, or guile. The sow was rejected as the utmost abomination, on account of its filthy habits, to show that indecency is an odious deformity in a being bearing the image of Christ; and that want of decency is more than want of sense, as it is the sure sign of moral turpitude, and of a grovelling earthly mind.

CHRISTIAN TREASURY.

The Prevalence of Idolatry.This is the grand sin of nature. Every unregenerate man ascribes to the creature divine prerogatives, and allows it the highest room in his soul; or, if he is convinced of misery, be flies to it as his Saviour. Indeed, God and his Christ shall be called Lord and Saviour, but the real expecta

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