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paschal lamb was offered between the two evenings, that is to say, at the time when the sun begins to decline, about the hour that Jesus Christ expired on the cross, which answers to our three in the afternoon.

8. We come now to the other sorts of sacrifices. One alone was not sufficient to represent the adorable sacrifice of Jesus Christ, whose effects are infinite; and therefore it was necessary the old law should have different sorts of them. Some of them were more, and some of them less holy; but they were all either, 1st, Burnt-offerings, or 2dly, Sin-offerings, or 3dly, Trespass-offerings, or 4thly, Peace-offerings. Maimonides reduces all the sacrifices of the Jews to these four sorts; which were either offered up by particular persons, or else by the whole people in general: and we shall say something of each.

1st, The Holocaust, as the word implies, is a sacrifice or victim, which is entirely consumed by fire, together with the intestines and feet, which they took care to wash. before it was offered. But it was not so with other sacrifices; a part only of them was burnt, and the rest divided among the priests and the lay-men, who, offered the sacrifice. The Hebrews call it Hola, which signifies to rise, because the victim ap-. peared to rise up to heaven in a smoke, as an odour of sweet smell before God. It sometimes happened, that fire came down from heaven, and miraculously consumed the victim. The reader. may likewise find an account of the ceremonies that attended the offering up the Burnt-offering in Leviticus, chap. i, 5, 6.

2dly,

2dly, The second sort of sacrifice is called a Sin-offering. And here we may observe, that the words which St. Paul puts into the mouth of Jesus Christ, in the epistle to the Hebrews,* Sacrifice and offering, and burnt-offering, and offerings for sin, thou wouldst not, are not to be understood of God's having refused to accept of the sacrifice which Jesus Christ had offered him for the sins of men, but only that God disliked all the antient sacrifices, the oblations, the burntofferings, and the sin-offerings, which were made to him under the law. This sacrifice was likewise sometimes simply called sin; and therefore when it is said, that Jesus Christ was made sin for us, we are to understand thereby, that he was made a sin-offering for us. The Hebrews understand by the word chatha, (sin) any voluntary crime, or violation of the law, which was committed through inadvertency, and which God always punished, unless it was expiated. And they were persuaded that several diseases and pains, as leprosy, and the pains of childbearing, were punishments for some sin; and therefore the sacrifices that were offered by lepers, or women after they had lain in, are reckoned among the sin-offerings.

3dly, In order to understand what is meant by the third sort of sacrifices, we must first know what the Hebrews meant by the word Ascham, which the Latin interpreter renders Delictum, and signifies, a trespass, error, or doubt. They offered this third sort of sacrifice when they had just reason to doubt whether they had broken † 2 Cor. v. 21.

* Chap. x. 8.

some

When:

some precept of the law of God, or no. they were in this uncertainty, they were obliged to offer sacrifice. What the law commands concerning it is this,* If a person sin through ignorance, and does any of those things which the law forbids, and comes to a knowledge of his fault after he has committed it,† (in the Hebrew it is, the man who shall sin, and commit some crimes against any of the commandments of the Lord, though he be not certainly assured of his sin, yet he shall nevertheless look upon himself as guilty of it) this man, as the Latin interpreter goes on in the Vulgate, shall present unto the priest a ram of his flock, in proportion to the crime he has committed; and the priest shall pray for him, because he hath sinned through ignorance, and it shall be forgiven him.

4thly, The Peace-offering, or sacrifice of gratitude, (for the Hebrew word schelamim signifies both) was offered as a thanksgiving, either for having recovered health, or for having received some signal mercy of God, or for the happy state of their affairs; and therefore it was called eucha ristical.

But some divide sacrifices into those of conse-: eration, which was offered when any one was admitted into the priesthood; those of purification, which was offered for women who had lain in, and lepers; and those of expiation, which were offered for purifying the sanctuary, or temple, or people.

9. Nothing now remains, but to speak of the

*Lev. v. 17. † According to the Vulgate. v. 18.

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manner of partaking of the sacrifices; concerning which, we must observe, that no body partook of the burnt-offerings, because they were entirely consumed by fire: and that in the other sacrifices, the law declares what parts of the victims belonged to the priests, and what parts belonged to those who offered them.* When the sacrifices were of the most holy sort, they were then always obliged to be eaten in the holy place, that is, within the courts of the temple, and nobody was admitted to this repast but Jews, and such only of them, as had contracted no legal impurity. And as to the other sacrifices, which were thought less holy, as the paschal lamb, it was sufficient to eat them within the walls of Jerusalem, but no where else.†

But besides these sacrifices of animals, there were likewise, as has been said, some oblations among the Jews, which were made of bread, wine, oil, and incense. And of these there were three sorts; namely, 1st, such as were ordinary or common; 2dly, such as were free; and,' 3dly, such as were prescribed

1st, The ordinary oblations that were made among them were, 1st, of a certain perfume called thumiama, which was burnt every day upon the altar of incense; and 2dly, of the shew-bread, which was offered new every sabbath-day, and the old taken away, and eaten by the priests.

2dly, The free oblations were either the fruits, 1st, of promises, or 2dly, vows; but the former did not so strictly oblige, as the latter,

Numb. xviii. 8, 20.

+Maimonides de Ratione Sacrificiorum, cap. xi. n. 5.

And

And of vows there were two sorts; 1st, the vote of consecration, when, they devoted any thing, either for a sacrifice, or for the use of the temple, as wine, wood, salt, and the like; and, 2dly, the vow of engagement, when persons engaged themselves to do something which was not in itself unlawful, as not to eat of some particular meat, not to wear some particular habits, not to do such and such innocent things, not to drink wine, nor to cut their hair, not to live longer in any house, and such like. When they made a vow, they made use of these forms; I charge myself with a burnt-offering, or I charge myself with the price of this animal, for a burnt-offering. Besides which, they had likewise other shorter forms; as for example, when they devoted all they had, they only said, All I have shall be Corban, that is, I make a present of it to God. For the word Corban signifies a present-munus quodcunque est ex me tibi proderit; which is the very same thing that St Mark says of it,* Corban, (that is to say, a gift) by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me. The Pharisees taught, that as soon as a man had once said this to his parents, as soon as he had pronounced the word Corban, he thereby consecrated all he had to God, and could not even retain enough to support his father and mother: and therefore Jesus Christ with reason reproaches them, with haying destroyed by their tradition that commandment of the law, which enjoins children to honour their fathers and mothers. The law required an exact performance of these vows, and

* Chap, vii. 11.

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