When Abraham's servant asked for Rebekah for his master, he refused to eat and drink u~til he had i:nade his agreement (Gen. xxiv. ?3); ~ut after it was completed, "they did eat and dnnk, he and the men that were with him" (Gen. xxiv. 64). Jacob held a solemn feast after he and I:aban had made a covenaut together (Gen. xxxi. 64). ?'h~ feast upon the peace offe;1ngs, whether offered by the whole congregation or by md1nduals, served as a memonal of the covenant made between God and their fathers (see Exod. xxiv. 5, where the name peace offering is first used) and it made them rejoice in being God's peculiar people in union and communion with him. II. IT LOOKED FORWARD AS WELL AS BACKWARDS. Like the Passover it at once commemorated an historica~ event and prefigured a blessing to come. 'l~he Passover looked backwards to the deliverance from Egypt, and forward to "Christ our passover sacrificeli for us;" and in like manner the peace offering feast commemorated the making of the covenant, and prefigured the blessed state of communion to be brouaht about by the sacrifice of the cross. Communion is typified and proved in the N"ew Testament as well as the Old by eating and drinking together (Luke xiv. 15; Acts x. 41; Rev. xix. 9). III. SACRIFICE IN RELATION TO CHIIISTIANS. We have no sin offering to offer. The full, perfect, and sufficient Sacrifice for sins was made once for all upon the cross; we have only to approi,riate the merits of th~t one offering by faith. Nor have we a burnt offering to 0ffer. The full surrender of himself by a perfect Man was once for all made in the Garden of Gethsemane and on Calvary; we can but follow the great Example. But we may still offer the meat offering, in a spiritual sense, by giving the service which declares us to be faithful subjects of God; and we may spiritually offer the peace offering, whenever with grateful hearts we offer praise and thanksgiving to God for having brought us into union and communion with himself. IV. THE HoLY CoMMUNIO:?S' IS THE SPECIAL MEANS OF OUB EXIlIBITmo TBE JOYOUS SENSE OF BEING THE CHILDREN OF GoD. It is not a sin offering, being neither a repeti- tion nor a continuation, but a commemoration, of the great Sin Offering of the cross; it is not, therefore, propitiatory. Neither is it a burnt offering, for Christ's seif-surrender cannot be reiterated or renewed, but only commemorated. But it answers to the meat offerina, inasmuch as in it we offer our alms and "the creatures of bread and wine" as tokens°of our loyalty, and receive back in requital" the strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the Body and Blood of Christ." And it is a peace offering, for therein we feast at God's board, exhibiting our joyful thankfulness for having been admitted into covenant with him, offering" our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving," and rejoicing in the assurance thus given us "that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of" Christ onr Lord. V. THE BLESBEDNEBS OF A BENSE OF PEACE WITH GoD. First, we must feel the need of reconciliation, and a desire to rid ourselves of the obstacles in the way of it. Thon we must go to Christ to have our sins nailed to bis cross; and thns, "being justified by faith, we have peace with God through ou~ Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. v. 1), "and the peace of God which passeth all understandmg, shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus I, (Phil. iv. 7), "and the God of peace shall be with us" (Phil. iv. 9).
HOMILIES DY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Fellowship with God and man aR illuslrated in the peace offering. Ch. iii.; also viL 11-21, 28-34; xix. 6-8; xxii. 29, 30; cf. 1 John i. 6, 7; John vi. 33. We have found in the burnt offering the principle of entire personal consecration, and in the meat offering that of consecrated life-worle. We have seen how these have their perfect fulfilment only in the case of Jesus Christ, while in other cases they are pre- ceded by an acknowledgment of sin and shortcoming, and of acceptance as coming through another. In the peace offering we have n further stage of religious experience. Part of the sacrifice, whatever it may be, is burned on the altar, part is assigned to the priests, and part is returned to the offerer, to constitute the staple of a social feast. Moreover, the portion laid upon the altar is expressly called "the bread of God" (~~ nrl! c~), vcr. 11. Hence the idea of the offering is that God and his mediating CH. ill. 1-17.] THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 43