doctrine of Old Testament theology, of its doctrine of sin and of salvation, of Its doctrine of God and of man. But after all, it is the practical aspect of this Old Testament faith which most calls for admiring regard. Its theological Implications are of interest to the theologian, its practical implications are of human Interest. And practically r,'garded, these Levitical sacrifices are noteworthy, first, as a means of religious education, and next as a means of religious satisfaction. They evolved religious senti- ment, and they app_eased it. However superficially this sacrificial cultus be regarded, it a.ssuredly proclaimed such truths as these: the sinfulness of man (extending too beyond the bounds of volition, and affecting the mce), the Divine alienation conse- quent thereupon, the need of atonement, its possibility, its method, the acceptability of th~ service of the ~econciled. . ~11 these truths-which, to judge from Christianity, constitute the essentials of a religion adapted to man-were taught by arresting sym- bolism and an imposing ceremonial. They were equally capable of educating up to a high degree of religiousness and of ministering to the religious needs so matured. They affected too the whole range of life, training the Church, sanctifying the State, pene- trating the home, and affecting the individual. They interwove the essentials ofrelicrion with all the relationships, duties, sorrows, and pleasures of life. According to its ~wn ideal, the Jewish nation was a theocracy where reconciled rebels gave their every allegiance to the King of kings acceptably. Thus, historically regarded, and without trespassing upon or forestalling the later revelations made by Christ and his apostles, the Levitical sacrifices are seen to be a profound recognition of the wants of man, and a response to his deepest needs. The Levitical sacrifices declared unmistakably, Crom the hour of their first promulgation, the necessity there was for atonement, and the Divine provision for that necessity. Indeed, it is simple trnth to say that there is not a feature of the Levitical sacrifices which does not accentuate in some way, either the fact of estrangement from God with its large disabilities, or the fact of reconciliation to God with its large privileges. To how enormous an extent their teaching relied for confirmation and potency upon Christianity, we shall presently see; just now the point upon which it is necessary to insist is the value of Judaism as a religious system apart from Christianity. The system was, alas I ideal The Jew seldom realized and never exhausted its magnificent possibilities. Nevertheless, how immense was its practical value, let the hundred and nineteenth psalm testify, with its hundred and seventy-six verses in praise of this very Levitical system, which the Psalmist is glad to recall, and which he feels it no exaggeration to describe-mass of commandments, laws, testimonies, statutes, though it be-as a fitting guide of youth, an object of great delight, a mine of wonders ; as the rule of the free and the song of the exile ; as sweeter than honey and more valuable than riches; as life, light, and health; a pleasant subject of meditation in this world and also in the eternity of Jehovah.
D. RELATION OF THE LEVJTIOAL SAOBJFICEB TO TDB SAOBIFIOES OF TBB PATBIABCBAL A.GE.
Contrasting this detailed and expressive system of Levitical sacrifice with the brief records of the pre-Mosaic age, it would appear that the later cultus differed from the earlier in authority, in C<Jmplea:ity, in centralization, in doctrine, and in praclicaJ value. Ae regards the auJ,hority ol tlie Levitical sacrifices, they are expressly ascribed to a Divine origin. "And Jehovah aaid unto Moses" is the almost invariable formula with which the several legal sections begin. ID this there ia a marked distinction from THE LEVl'fICAL SACRIFICES LITERALLY CONSIDEP.ED. ni,c