possible our own sabbath oC bodily rest. We should make it a religious duty to pro- tect them from injury and suffering. In so far as we use them for food, an offering of them should not be to the god of sensuality, but to him whose Law requires temperance, self-restraint, and reverence for the lower nature, that it may support the higher. All with thanksgiving. II. PowEn OF LIFE AND DEATH 1s m AND rnou GoD. As entrusted to man, wheth~r over the lower animals or over bis fellows, it is a power to be exercised as in the sight of God and at the door of his house. 1, Shedding of blood a solemn ruponsibility. In common life, lest we be guilty of cruelty and destruction of a true and valuable element in the world's welfare. In execution of law, lest we give to that which repre- sents the Divine will the appearance of injustice and wantonnP.ss. Even in healthy sport, care must be taken lest there be an overbalance of the mind towards shedding of blood or disregard of suffering. In all questions of difficulty, bring the matter to the door of the tabernacle. 2. The sacredness of blood points to atonement, The devoted and slaughtered animal was received back again as a Divine gift for the use of the offerer, thus lifting up death into life. Sacrifice is not God'd delight in death, but his promise of salvation. The sanctity attached to the blood of victims prepared the way to the higher sanctity attached to the blood of Christ. The Old and New Testaments explain one another. Ill. PRESERVATION FROH IDOLATRY AND FALSE WORSHIP m THE POSITIVE REGULA- TIONS OF THE LAW. Mistake of supposing that mere negative religion will purify men from corruption. Against the worship of devils we are never safe except aa we are engaged in the worship of the true God.-R. Vera. 10-16.-Ver. 11, "The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls : for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." I. THE NATURAL BASIS OF ATONEMENT. 1. The preciousness of life. The blood is the seat of life. 2, The exchange of the altar, blood for life, a lower for II higher, requires a supplementary value, which is represented by the altar itself. 3. The law proclaimed at the first against the shedding of blood taken up into the higher law of redemption ; righteousness becoming at the altar of God the refuge of man. II. ATONEMENT FOB THE SOUL PROVIDED BY DIVINE LOVE. "I have given it you to make an atonement." 1. .All atonement must proceed from Divine love, otherwise it will be heathenish as effecting a change in God. Christ is set forth a propitiation. 2. Atone- ment is made, i.e. by being offered, the blood shed at the tabernacle door, offerod upon the altar. Thus the sacrifice is a revelation and consecration of the bond of union in the covenant relation between God and man. 3. The blood, while representing the life, .also represents the obedience active and passive of Christ, which was both a rendering up to God of a perfect humanity, and an exaltation of the Lo.w in the sufferings and 4eatb of Calvary; the old mo.n crucified, the new man glorified. 4. All human merit is excluded: "J have given it you." No amount of sacrifice would be of any avail except it be according to the will of God. We give ho.ck to him of his own. Hence the difference between the J cwish sacrifices and those of pagan nations, and between the morality which is founded on the sacrifice of Christ, and that which proceeds from mere self-will or an unjustifiable and false exaltation of human nature as it is. He that is not clean as God makes him clean shall "bear bis iniquity." Necessity of insisting on this doctrine of atonement in the present dlly. Falsehood as to humanity, in the way of all true progress. Those who boast are not those who make sacrifices to -elevate man. "Survival of the fittest" a cruel remedy for the world's miseries. Christ's doct1ine is elevation of the lowost. Atonement for your souls is the beginning of all true life.-R.
Ver. 11.-The sanctity of the atoning blood. No act was more strongly denounced than that of eating any manner of blood. The man guilty of that deed, whether an Israelite or a stranger sojourning in the land, was threatened with the displeasure or "God and severest penalty. It seemed to partake of the nature of a ceremonial rather than a moral offence, yet it must be remembered that violations of ritual become moral transgressions when they are committed against the known will or the recognized 270 THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. [ea. xvn. 1-16,