all things are by the law purged with bloode." Now thus far it does appear, that the heavier sins were to be atoned for by the lighter sacrifices: and this is the source of all the difficulty that expositors find in the subject. But there were three things required in this offering, which had no place in the sin-offering, namely, confession of the crime, restitution of the property, and compensation for the injury. Suppose a person had " robbed God" by keeping back a part of his tithes, (whether inten- tionally or not,) as soon as it was discovered, he must present his offering, confess his fault f, restore what he had unjustly taken, and add one-fifth more of its value g, as a compensation for the injury he had done. The same process was to take place if by fraud or violence he had injured a manh. This gives a decided preponderance to the trespass-offering : and shews, that the means used for the expiation of different offences bore a just proportion to the quality of those offences.]
We shall now proceed to state, II. What they were both designed to teach us —
The spiritual instruction to be derived from the sacrifices themselves, and the particular rites that accompanied them, we pass over, for the reasons before assigned. But there are some lessons of an appropriate nature which we may dwell upon to great advantage : —
1. Sin, however venial it may appear to us, is no light evil —
[There are many branches of moral duty which are regarded as of but little importance. Truth, though approved and ap- plauded as a virtue, is almost universally violated in the way of trade, and that too without any shame or remorse. Who that has ever bought or sold a commodity of any kind, has not seen that character realized, " It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer ; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth " of the good purchase he hath made1? He must know little of the world, or of himself, who does not know, that "as a nail sticketh between the joints of the stones, so does lying between buying and sellingV Nor is honesty deemed at all more sacred than truth. Persons who would not rob or steal, will yet run in debt, when they know that they have not the means of satisfying their creditors. They will also defraud the revenue
e Heb. ix. 22. f ver. 5. s Lev. vi. 5.
h If the person injured could not be found, restitution was to be made to the priest, as God's representative. Numb. v. (5 — 8. 1 Prov. xx. 14. k Ecclus. xxvii. 2.