The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 3

81\Crifices were commanded or sanctioned by Divine revelation, as " part of the· religious observances of the Jewish people; yet we find sacrifices of one kind or Bnothcr common to almost al1 ancient nations, and practised long before the Israelites were under Mount Sinai. Leaving out of sight, for the prese11t, the object of the Mosaio· aacrificea, and the possible question whether Jehovah sanctioned and regulated for the· Jewish worship something which was already a part, as it were, of human nature, let us test the question, whether the practice of offering sacrifice can have had any such origin as that suggested by Mr. Conway. First, take the centre.I idea, if I understand Mr. Conway aright, that the principle of forgiveness, mercy, is a purely human attribute, and that it has been winning its way sgainst the principle of vindictiveness by a kind of natural selection, in the struggle of the noble against the ignoble in the moral world. I fail to read this fact ir the history either of the race or of the individual. The principle of retaliation, vindictiveness, we find to-day as robust as when the earliest pages of history were- penned. Purely human, it has its origin in the instinct of self-preservation, and· seems to be an echo in man of what can be traced through the brute creation. But is mercy, as expressed by the forgiveness of the injurious by the injured, of human origin at all? le it anywhere to be traced in man's history apart from the influence of the religion of Jehovah? That there is a germ of mercy in the human constitution, there is no doubt; otherwise we could not understand, appreciate, or practise the principle of forgiveness at all. But where in the history of the human race do we find the principle· contained in the words, "Forgive your enemies," asserting itself, except in what Christians hold to be a Divine revelation? It is undoubtedly true that Koong-foo-tse- taught that men should "do as they would be done by." But we do not know whence he received his philosophy; possibly, in common with Gautama Buddha, from the teaching of pious Jews at the court of Babylon-an influence which may well have had a woPldwide character (see Dan. vi. 25-28). And "Do as you would be- done by" comes very far short of" Love your enemies." Buddhism, again, contains no teaching, so fe.r as I have been able to discover, on the subject of forgiveness. The nearest 8t)proach to it that I have met with, is a story of the queen S!mawa.ti, who, when her enraged husband was about to shoot her with a poisoned arrow, looked at him with a smile of affection, and so paralyzed his arm that he could not draw the bow; an act that was followed by this wise piece of advice," When you desire to pacify anger, look upon the angered person with love." But_ this could only be in the case, like her own, when love pre-existed. And this story is not related by the Buddhists :to enforce forgiveness for its own sake, but to illustrate their doctrine that there is a supernatural power, derived from merit in a former state of existence, which preserves its possessor from danger. Mr. Conway states that " in Buddhism the principle of remiasion supersedes that of sacrifice." I do not know upon what quota- tions from BuJ.dhistic writings he would verify this statement. Certainly sacrifice is impossible in Buddhism, since it forbids the taking of all life. But I have no evidence that that peculiar law of Buddha has any especial reference to the sacrifice of animals as a religious observance. And with respect to the principle of remission, or forgive- ness, I am not aware of a word-though it may be that I have not exhausted the Buddhistic lore-in the teachings of Buddha relating to it, either as a duty of man towards man, or as something to be desired from a higher power. Indeed, Buddhism acknowledges no higher power than man, and seeks not forgiveness, but merit, by which the individual man may be freed from the curse of mortality. That the idea of merit, that underlies all Buddhistnc teaching, may originally have been connected with lhe idea of the remission of sins, is not only possible but probable. But in our prescn_,  AN ESSAY ON SACRIFICE.