“the wages of sin is death” (Rom. vi. 23). To this the cuarrrr whole Mosaic law was conformed; for “without shed- ““ ding of blood is no remission” (Heb. ix. 22). The sinner having presented his victim, and laying his hands upon its head, confessed and transferred his sin upon its head ; “it was accepted for him, to make atonement for him” (Ley. iv.); and he executed upon it with his own hands the penalty incurred by the sins he had transferred. “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” (Lev. xvii. 11); that is, the life or soul of the victim atones for the life or soul of the offerer, having been judicially executed as its substitute. Hence the altar of sacrifice, which was in an eminent sense the place where Jehovah met and held intercourse with his guilty children, was called by a name (nat) which ety- mologically signifies “the place of slaughter ;” ‘for the way to fellowship with God for guilty beings could only be found through an avenue of death.”
(3.) The sprinkling of the blood.—All that precedes— the imposition of hands, the confession of sins, and the infliction of the vicarious penalty of death, were com- mon to all the bleeding sacrifices. In the case of sin and trespass offerings, in addition to these there super- vened the sprinkling of the blood upon the altar, and especially upon the horns or more exalted and sacred parts of the altar (Lev. iv. 7, 18, 25, 30, 34). In the case of a sin-offermg in behalf of the high priest and - of the whole congregation, the blood was carried within the Holy Place, and sprinkled before the veil, and | smeared upon the altar of incense (Lev. iv. 5, and fol- lowing). On the great day of atonement, when the most exact representation the ancient worship could afford of the all-perfect atonement of Christ was given, the blood
v
CHAPTER Vill.
. Effect of
these sac- rifices.
128 THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT.
was taken into the Holy of Holies itself; and sprinkled upon the Capporeth. This brought the blood, which had thus vicariously discharged the penalty incurred by the worshipper, into immediate contact with God. It signified that the vicarious satisfaction was accepted, and that in each case the soul-bearing blood of the victim avails to cover from the judicial maht of God the sins attached to the soul of the offerer.
4. The SALE Suites cn stmyrmnni Ue these sacrifices was- uniform explate the guilt of ag STEP eta vee RT the Moral Influence. nor the Governmental, theories of the sacrifices ¢ of Christ find the least support in the analogies of the sacrifice. of the daw. There is not the slightest
indication that the design ‘of any sacrifice was ever to
produce a moral infiaence upon the transgressor, or to.
place him in a position in which the remission of the
penalty was a possibility, or to exhibit God’s determina-_
tion to punish sin. The sin and trespass offermg were always offered with the single and definite design of securing the actual remission of the penalty. The effect is said to be, “to make atonement”’ for sin, ‘‘to recon- cile;” and the promise always attached is, “AND IT SHALL BE FORGIVEN HIM” (Lev. iv. 20, 26, 381; vi. 30; vill. 15; xvi. 10). Forgiveness is the immediate end sought par promised; and this necessarily issued in that ceremonial purification which Bushnell mistakenly describes as ‘‘the grand terminal of all sacrifices.”* But the forgiveness obviously was the condition of the purification, not the purification of the forgiveness. Sin, unexpiated, excluded a man from the society of the covenant people. When expiated and forgiven, the per- son was, ipso facto, cleansed and returned to the full enjoyment of all ecclesiastical privileges. As we have
* Vicarious Sacrifice, p. 469.
ge oi Salaala
SACRIFICES PIACULAR AND TYPICAL. 129