Paffover.

* And at the fame Time God claimed the Firft-born of all clean Cattle to be offered to Him, and these were as real Sacrifices as ever were brought to God's Altar, though not of the Levitical Sort. For both thefe Sacrifices were enjoined before the making of the Tabernacle, and the worshipping of the Golden Calf. Whereas the Levitical Law is juftly believed to have been contrived on purpose to put a stop to fuch Idolatry for the future. Nay, in that very + Chapter which contains the Ten moral Commandments, God fpake to them concerning Sacrifices of Sheep and Oxen. And here therefore I may give you a feasonable Caution as to that Text, Jer. vii. 22, 23. namely, that it ought to be rendered thus, I fpake not to your Fathers in the Day when I brought them forth out of Egypt, concerning the Manner of BurntOfferings and Sacrifices: by the Manner, meaning those various Rites and Modes, prescribed in the three laft Books of Mofes. As for Sacrifice itself, it was established long before the Levitical Law, and even from near the Beginning of Adam's Life, as hath been fhewed. And two new Sacrifices were enjoined at the very Time of their going out of Egypt.

II. As to the Materials offered in Sacrifice of old, they were either,

*Exod. xii. 24, 27.

XV. 19, 20.

xiii. 1. Num, xviii. 17. Deut. 1. Living

+ Exod. xx. 24.
B 4

Sect. 5.

Sect. 6.

J. Living Creatures. But three Sorts of four-footed Animals were offered by the Jews, Bullocks, Sheep, and Goats; and of the winged Kind, Turtle-Doves and Pigeons only; though fome add* Sparrows in the cafe of Leprofy. The Heathens offered all Sorts of living Creatures, even those that were esteemed unclean among the Jews. Nay, they facrificed Fish, as the Jews never did.

2. Or elfe they were Things without Life. Cain facrificed of the Fruits of the Earth. God rejected this Sacrifice not on account of the Materials, but for want of Faith, and other good Difpofitions in him that offered it. The moft ufual Sacrifice of this Sort both among the Jews, and the Gentiles was a Cake, or other Compofition of the Flour, or Meal of Wheat, or Barley, with Salt, to which the Jews by the Law of Mofes added Oil. This is called a Meat-Offering in the English Tranf lation of the Old Teftament. I rather choose to call it a Meal-Offering: Because this Word expreffeth the Material of which it chiefly confifted. The Greek Tranflators do rarely call it by any other Name but that of SACRIFICE. And none better knew thefe Things than those Tranflators, who turned the five Books of Mofes from the Hebrew into the Greek Tongue above 250 Years before the Birth of Christ. The Writers of the New Testament do generally follow thefe Tranflators as often as they + Gen. iv. 3.

* Lev. xiv. 4.

cite the Writings of Mofes. Every Sacrifice Shall be falted with Salt, faith * St. Mark. It is evident, that by Sacrifice he meant the Meal-Offering. So St. Luke calls the Offerings of living Creatures by the Name of flain Beafts, but gives to the Meal-Offerings the juft Title of Sacrifices. Yet in the Place of the Old Teftament from which this Text is cited, our English Tranflators call the flain Beafts Sacrifices, and the other barely Offerings: And fo they do indeed throughout the Old Teftament; for which I cannot praise them.

No Man can doubt but that whatever hath Sect. 7. Life is, on that account, more valuable than Fruit, or Corn. And God's Acceptance of the Bloody Sacrifices offered by Abel, Noah, Abraham, and other eminent Men, brought thefe Sacrifices into great Reputation in the early Times. The Sacrifice of Chrift Jefus was not accomplished without the shedding of his Blood: And therefore the Offerings of living Creatures were more fit Types of the GREAT SACRIFICE, than the Offering of a Cake, or of a Loaf.

Yet there is juft Reason to believe that there Sect. 8. were many more unbloody than bloody Sacrifices offered by the Jews. For all bloody Sacrifices had a Meal and Drink-Offering attending them, though the Rabbies except the

*Compare Mark ix. 49. Amos v. 25.

I

Lev. ii. 13. Acts vii. 42.

Offerings

Sect. 9.

*

Offerings for Sin, and Trefpafs; and in all Cafes a Meal-Offering by itself, ferved as well as if a living Creature were joined with it, as one may fee by comparing the Second Chapter of Leviticus with the First and Third. And he who could not fpare a Beaft, or Fowl, or had it not to offer, might have his Sin as effectually atoned by a Meal-Offering, as by a Bloody Sacrifice to t

When a living Creature was offered, and
flain at the Altar, and had a Meal- Offering at→
tending it, a Drink-Offering was always added,
and never was used but with such a Bloody Sa-
crifice, and this was of the best Wine; yet
this is never called a Sacrifice, as the Meal-
Offering very often is: Nay, when all three
were offered together, not the Drink-Offer-
ing, not the living Creature, but the Meal-
Offering was called the Sacrifice: I fay it was
fo called by the Greek Tranflators near thirty
Times one after another in two Chapters,
(viz.) Numb. xxviii. xxix. And thefe Tranfla-
tors lived in the Time when thefe Offerings
and Sacrifices were practifed, and were fome
of the most learned Jews of that Age, and
therefore did better understand the Nature of
thefe Things than any now living. Further
the Meal-Offering, on what occafion foever it
were brought to the Altar, was ftiled § Moft
S
Holy. The Flesh of no Bloody Sacrifice (ex-

* Num. Xv. xxviii. xxix. + Lev. v. 11, 12.
XV. xxviii. xxix. § Lev. ii. 3. x. 12. vii, 1,—7.

Num.

cept it were for Sin and Trefpafs) was diftinguished with fo high a Title. Nay, the MealOffering was in one refpect more honoured than any other Sacrifice; I mean that the High-Prieft offered a Sacrifice of this Sort, not only upon his Confecration, but every Day of his Life. *As this was an Inftitution of God by Mofes; so † Jofephus affures us that this Sacrifice remained in ufe till his Time, who furvived the Destruction of Jerufalem and the Temple. And it is well known that these unbloody Sacrifices were chofen, and practifed by the ancient Greeks and Ro mans, by Pythagoras, and others of the best Heathens, who thought the killing, or eating of Animals unlawful.

I fhall only farther obferve of the Materials Sect. 10. to be offered in Sacrifice, that they were to be the best in their Kind; the living Creatures without Spot or Blemish, the Meal, and other Ingredients, the moft fine, fweet, and perfect. The Greek Interpreters exprefs this excellently well, by faying, that Men fhould offer fuch Things to God, as were moft pleafing and acceptable to themfelves. The Rabbies fay, that the very Wood, with which the Sacrifices were burnt, was to be of the best Sort, not Worm-eaten, or fuch as had formerly been ufed in building Houses. § A Bullock, or

Lev. ii. 3. x. 12. vii. 1,—7.
Jofephus Antiquities, Book 3. Ch.
Edit. 1. 5.
Num. xviii. 29.

xxii. 19,-23.

Lev. vi. 20, 23. + See
10. Sect. 7. Hudfon's
xxvii. 31. § Lev.

Lamb