which were procured by their sacrifices, he tells them, that this was by no means the case ; yea, that, on the contrary, they were partakers of a better altar, to which the adherents to Judaism had no access ; and that the very ordinances, in which the Jews trusted, pointed out this truth in a clear and convincing manner; for not even the high-priest himself was permitted to eat of the sacrifices whose blood he had carried within the vail ; whereas every true Christian was permitted to eat of that sacrifice which alone could atone for sin ; and therefore, so far from there being any necessity for them to revert to Judaism in order to partake of the Jewish sacri- fices, the Jews themselves must be converted to Christianity in order to obtain the full benefit even of those sacrifices which they themselves had offered ^
To illustrate this more fully, we shall point out,
I. The correspondence between the death of Christ, and the ordinances whereby it was prefigured —
The most minute particulars of the death of Christ were typified under the law : but we shall fix our attention at present on that only which is specified in the text. s
The sacrifices on the great day of annual expiation were to be burnt without the camp —
[The sacrifices on the great day of atonement were distin- guished far above all others, and accompanied with circum- stances of peculiar solemnity. Their blood was carried within tlie vail, and sprinkled upon the mercy-seat, as the means of propitiating the incensed Deity, and of obtaining pardon for the sins committed by the whole nation through the preceding year. A part of most other sacrifices belonged to the priest who offered them : but of this not the smallest portion was to be preserved for the use of man : ail, except the fat which was consumed upon the altar, was carried without the camp (in later ages, without the city of Jerusalem) to be destroyed by fire^ Probably this was intended to exhibit God's indignation against sin, and to shew how utterly they must be consumed
a This seems to be the true scope of the passage as connected with the context.
b Lev. vi. 30. and xvi. 27.