then nations also, employed very diligent caution that there should be no blemish in their victims. The Greeks, as we learn from Porphyry,* sacrificed no animals that were mutilated, nor such as were distinguished by any remarkable blemish. This is asserted by the Scholiast on Aristophanes :† Ani'mals which have been deprived of their tails are not slain in sacrifice; nor is any thing that is not perfect ever sacrificed to the gods. The existence of a similar custom among other people is evident from the following passage of Virgil. They slay sheep chosen according to custom:'t on which Servius comments: The word chosen is particularly signifi'cant; for it was customary to choose for sacrifices 'sheep that had no defect.' Take another passage from the same poet: Now it will be best to sacrifice seven bullocks from the untamed herd, and the

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same number of sheep, chosen according to custom.' The words chosen according to custom, the same commentator says, refer to an ancient custom, 'which the poet has passed over as universally known, 'that no victim should have a sharp tail, a cloven

tongue, or a black ear.' Hence it appears that some examination of victims was customary among the heathens. It is thus alluded to by Lucian: ||They crown the animal with garlands, and, having first carefully examined whether it is perfect, that they may not immolate, those which are improper, they bring it to the altar, and slay it in the presence of the god.'

IV. Of those animals which were destined for the altar, the also was to be taken into the account.

age

*

The Jews tell us, that they were allowed to sacrifice,-of turtle doves, only such as were full grown, which were the most valuable; of pigeons, only young ones, as being preferable to those that were older; and of young quadrupeds, only such as had reached their eighth day :† for no young cattle were considered as perfect in their kind before that time. This is the representation of Maimonides: God enjoined that no victim should be sacrificed to him, which was not full seven days old: what is under that age, is imperfect in its kind, and is despised as a sort of abortion.' Some suppose this to have been the reason why male children were not to be circumcised and introduced into the holy covenant, till they were eight days old. But though young cattle might lawfully be sacrificed at that age, yet in all the sacrifices, except the firstlings, the passover, and the tithes, it was accounted more laudable, to immolate no quadruped that was less than thirty days old.

V. Not very dissimilar sentiments respecting the age of victims appear to have prevailed among other nations. Pliny says: 'A young swine is pure for 'sacrifice on the fifth day, a sheep on the eighth, a bullock on the thirtieth.'§ Varro gives a different account about young swine; which, he says, 'are *not considered pure, or fit for sacrifice, till they are ' ten days old.'||

VI. Among the Jews, as the sacrifice of any animal just after its production was altogether unlawful, so old cattle were accounted unsuitable for the altar. Hence it was not customary to select vic

• Maimon. in Isure Misbeach, c. 3. and Moreh Nevoch. P. iii. c. 46. Levit, xxii, 27. Abarb. ad Levit. xxii. 7. § Hist, Nat. L. viii, c. 5. De Re Rustica, L. ii. c. 4.

tims from sheep or goats, that had passed their second year, or from bullocks that had passed their third year. It must be understood, however, that cattle of four or five years old were considered, not as absolutely inadmissible, but only as less suitable. Thus the author of the book Siphra: Animals of four or 'five years old may lawfully be used for sacrifices, ' but from motives of honour they offer not those that are old."

VII. In sacrificing birds no selection of sex was enjoined. But the victims chosen from cattle consisted sometimes of males, sometimes of females, and sometimes of both, according to the nature of the sacrifices, and the circumstances of the offerers. The peace offerings of individuals, whether immediately voluntary, or offered in consequence of vows, were both males and females: the victims offered for the whole congregation, to whatever class of sacrifices they belonged; all the burnt offerings whether for the whole congregation, or for particular persons; all trespass offerings, and all sin offerings for a ruler, or high priest, were to be males: but the sin offering of a private individual was required to be a female lamb or kid.t

* Here it may be proper to mention the senses in which the Jews assert the following terms to be used in the scriptures:

איל

a ram two years old, bax a calf one year old,

a lamb one year old,

a bullock two years

a goat more than one year שעיר,a goat two years old שעיר עזים,ald

●ld, and less than two. ・ Maimon. in Maase Korban, c. 1.

+ Levit, iv.

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CHAPTER X.

Enumeration of all the Kinds of Victims appointed in the Law of Moses. Particular Account of the Burnt Offerings.

HAVING shewn what animals were to be used for sacrifice, according to the law of Moses, we proceed to the various kinds of victims appointed in that law. These are distinguished in the scriptures by the following appellations: a burnt offering, a peace offering, a sin offering, and a trespass offering. The class of peace offerings includes three sorts, the votive, voluntary, and eucharistic: to which must also be added, those others which may be referred to the eucharistic, and which are generally so called by the Jews; the festive and rejoicing peace offerings, the ram of the Nazarite, the paschal lamb, the firstlings, and the tithes. Of all these the most ancient were the holocausts or whole burnt offerings. The sacrifices of Abraham and Noah, were certainly of this kind; and there is the highest probability that Abel's were the same. The scriptures mention no other till long after the time of Abraham. But it is not to be doubted that peace offerings were in use before the law was given by Moses. This is evident from his address to Pharaoh: "Thou must give us "also sacrifices and burnt offerings,* that we may "sacrifice unto the Lord our God." To this add what is recorded of Jethro, that he "took a burnt offering and sacrificest for God." The word rendered sacrifices in these passages denotes peace offerings: an interpretation maintained by all the Jews, * abyı pinai Exod. x, 25. † 'nail by Exod. xviii. 12.

and sanctioned by the use of the word itself;-which, especially when mentioned in connection with burnt offerings, is never applied in the scriptures to any other kinds of victims than peace offerings. Whether piacular sacrifices, such as are described by Moses, were ever used before the law was given to the Jews, I would not undertake to decide. It is evident that these and other kinds of victims were prescribed by Moses, with such rites and ceremonies as were chiefly designed and adapted to make the Jewish sacrifices prefigure the sacrifice of Christ.

II. Every kind of sacrifices partook of the nature of divine worship. Burnt offerings were presented to God, as the maker, preserver, and sovereign of the universe, entitled to all worship and honour. Peace offerings were presented to him, as the giver of all blessings; whether already received, or not yet received, but only desired and prayed for, and that either with or without the intervention of a vow: in the first case the offering was eucharistic; in the second, votive; and in the third, voluntary, proceeding from the mere free will of the individual. Though burnt offerings were likewise offered from voluntary choice, and in consequence of vows, yet the original terms which we have rendered eucharistic, votive, and voluntary, are generally applied in the scriptures exclusively to peace offerings. Piacular sacrifices, both sin offerings and trespass offerings, were presented to God, in the character of a judge, offended by sins, and having power to punish or to pardon. Hence it appears that sacrifices were directed to the same end, as prayers and thanksgivings uttered by the lips; only with this difference, that the same intention was expressed by different signs, in the