to eee the Designer in the works of design? (2) The Scriptures reco;!llize this voice- (Ps. ix. 1; xix. 1, etc.; Acts xiv. 17; xvii. 27; Rom. i. 20). 2. But thue are evident f>11ly after the hint of them is given. (1) We have no innate ideas. The Namaquans and other African tribes were found by Moffat, Ridsdale, and other missionaries, without a glimmer of an idea of God or of immortality. (2) The traditions of the Gentiles were originally from a pure source, but became corrupted in transmission. (3) There are no "deists," i.e. natural theologians, where the Bible has not been before them. They do not own the source from whence they derive the hints which l!:Uide them in their reasonings. 3. Sacrificature is not taught in nature. (1) The book of nature was written too soon. 'l'he Creation preceded the Fall. (2) That it is, is not presumed. Sacrificature is excluded from the creed of the deist. (3) This subject belongs to the sanctuary. "And the Lord called Moses and spake out of the tabernacle of the congregation," etc. Even the Garden of Eden, where, we presume, it was first. instituted, was "planted," and planted to be a temple for Divine worship. (4) Yet. without sacrificature there can be no acceptable worship. Cain, the deist, was rejected, because be came before God without blood-shedding (see eh. xvii. 11; Heb. ix. 2::i). Let no man think he acceptably serves God when he neglects the services of the sanctuary under the pretext of" worshipping the God of nature in the fields." Ill. THE SACRIFICES APPROVED ARE " FROM THE HERD AND FROM THE FLOCK." 1. They are selected from the animals that are clean. (1) They have the marks. of cleanness, viz. parting the hoof and chewing the cud (eh. xi. 3). But all clean creatures were not proper for purposes of sacrifice. Those of the "herd" ("1p::i, baker) are distinguished as the bull, heifer, bullock, and calf. Those of the" flock"()"°, tson) as sheep and goats; for this word is used to describe these animals promiscuously (see ver. 10). (2) 'l'his reminds us of the purity of God, who can accept nothing that. is polluted-" who will in no wise clear the guilty "-who requires purity in his worshippers (Ps. xxiv. 3, 4). (3) It points to the purity of the Great One sacrificed for us, covered in whose righteousness we are justified or accounted as just persons, and in whose atoning blood we are washed and made clean. 2. They are gTegarious creatures. (1) This feature is prominently noticed here-" herd," "flock." Man is a social being. He is set in families, tribes, nations, and even internationally united. Solitary confinement is amongst the most horrible of punishments. (2) Hence guilt and depravity become hereditary. And as we have been represented to our ruin by our common progenitor, so by the representation of the second Adam we have salvation. (3) Sin is d.issocializing. Consider its fruits-Hatred-variance-strifcs-murders. (4) Trne religion perfects the social principle, centres all union in God. A universe can meet in him. A universe can hold communion in him. The genius of religion is love. The heaven of heavens is love.-J. A. M.
Vers. 3-9.-The burnt sacrifice of the herd. Having given general instructions concerning the great business of sacrifice, the Most High descends to particulars, and here describes the burnt sacrifice of the herd. These particulars contain specific directions- !. As TO THE QUALITY OF TIIE VICTIM. 1. It must be a male. (1) Females were not only admitted for burnt offerings under the patriarchal dispensation, but upon one memorable occasion even prescribed (see Gen. xv. 9). Tbe ceremonial distinction. between male and female was not then, probably, so strongly clefined as afterwards it became under the Law. Under the gospel it is abolished (Ge.I. iii. 28). (2) The male is the stronger animal; and the horns, in the ox, which a.re symbols of power, are more developed in the male. The male, therefore, would represent the excellence of strength. (3) Thus Christ, as the" Power of God," would be preindicated (1 Cor. i. 24). By his sacrifice of himself he destroyed him that had the power of death, and became the "power of God unto salvation" to every believer (Rom. i. 16; 1 Cor. i. 18). 2. It must be without bltm1,ish. (1) 'l'he rabbins reckon no less than fifty things, any one of which would, in their judgment, render an animal unfit for sacrifice; five in the ear, three in the eyelid, eight in the eye, etc.; but they trifle outrageously. Any obvious defect or redundancy of parts would mar it for sacrifice, and so would any disease by which it might be afflicted. (2) 'l'bis reminds us that Christ, who is accepted of God u our Sacrifice, is without deficiency or redundancy, weakness or malady (1 Pet. i. 19). H THE DOOK OF LEVITICUS. [en, r. 1--17.