The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 6

tbo FirstfruHs from the dead (" If Christ be not raised, then is our hope in vain"); to read a lesson to other spheres (" 'l'o the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom or God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord"). In all this he stood in man's place to suffer; the "chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed; n "he redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us,n His merits were so perfect that they outweighed all man's demerits, so that for his sake man can be justified and accepted according t.o the covenant of grace. Nay, this doctrine of the atonement is too wonderful, too mys- teriously great, too deep to be gauged by man ; we have not yet fathomed its depths; nor had even the inspired apostle, who wrote, "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God I how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past :finding out I" But to introduce the spirit of vindictiveness, or retaliation, on the part of the Jehovah of the sacred Scriptures, as thirsting for the blood of the sinner, a.nd demanding the sufferings of Christ from any principle analogous to the human principle of retaliation-as though he would demand the pound of fiesh because he could not obtain the sheltered dove-is one of the greatest insults ever offered to the Christian religion, which declares that the whole motive power towards salvation was love. " God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The fact, however, re10ains, that the Christian religion does centre round a Sacrifice ; and the further fact remains, that not only was the Jewish religion a religion of sacrifices, but that in almost all, if not all, nations sacrifices have been offered from the earliest days of historical man, and in many cases up to !he present moment. What has originally given birth to the idea of sacrifices? It is asked," Are they not substitu- tions, that have suggested themselves to man, by which to propitiate and avert from himself the supposed Divine vindictiveness, which he has euphemized as Divine law and justice?" The answer must be, first, that it seems impossible that man could invent the system of sacrifice. Suppose a man, in the dawn of human reason, who should have no better idea of Divine justice than as interpreted by his own innate vindictiveness. We may even suppose him to have reasoned up to the conclusion, that the deity cannot be just, and yet the justifier of the guilty; that is, that a man cannot be held to be guilt- less unless his complete innocence is manifest. .And to this he adds, from his own nature, that Nemesis must overtake him. But what is there in human nature to suggest to him to make an offering in blood, whether human or animal? He fears, it may be, the vengeance, the vindictiveness, or even the malignity of an unseen deity on himself. But what is there in that to suggest the idea of a propitiatory offering, a commutation, a vicmious satisfaction, in lieu of his own person, in blood? Nay, what is there to suggest any offering of any kind? Human vindictiveness might lead him to hurl a dart at the imagined deity, could he hope to reach him; but of what avail would any kind of offering be? Would he think of bribing the deity not to injure him, ns he might bribe an earthly judge? Should such a thought arise in his mind, it would perish at the first attempt; for what man would try twice to bribe an earthly judge who persistently refused the bribe? .A.nc. what man, in fear of an earthly judge, would think of going to his door with the life-blood of his son, or of the best of his fiock? We will suppose the case of such a primitive man, totally unacquainted, from what- soever cause, with any portion of a Divine revelation. He embodies in his imagination the phenomena of the atmosphere as the attributes of a personal deity, whom we may call Iudra. From Indra he receives the bounties of the sun and rain which mature bis harvests, and also the floods, torrents, tempests, and thunder and lightning, which make  .AN ESSAY ON S.ACRIFlCH.