himself a spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God through Christ. (1 Pet. ii. 5. Rev. i. 6.)

Next to the Levites, priests, and high priests, the OFFICERS OF THE SYNAGOGUE may be mentioned here, as being in some degree sacred persons; since to them was confided the superintendence of those places which were set apart for prayer and instruction. Their functions and powers have been stated in p. 300. suprà.

The NAZARITES or NAZARENES (as the Hebrew word Nazir implies) were persons separated from the use of certain things, and sequestered or consecrated to Jehovah. They are commonly regarded as sacred persons: a notice of their institute will be found infrà, in page 327.

The RECHABITES are by many writers considered as a class of holy persons, who, like the Nazarites, separated themselves from the rest of the Jews, in order that they might lead a more pious life. But this is evidently a mistake; for they were not Israelites or Jews, but Kenites or Midianites, who used to live in tents, and traverse the country in quest of pasture for their cattle, as the Nabathæan Arabs antiently did, and as the modern Arabians and Crim-Tartars still do. Their manner of living was not the result of a religious institute, but a mere civil ordinance grounded upon a national custom. They derived their name from Jonadab the son of Rechab, a man of eminent zeal for the pure worship of God against idolatry; who assisted king Jehu in destroying the house of Ahab and the worshippers of Baal. (2 Kings x. 15, 16. 23. The Rechabites flourished as a community about one hundred and eighty years; but were dispersed after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Some of their descendants are said to have been lately discovered in Arabia.

The PROPHETS were eminently distinguished among the persons accounted holy by the Jews: they were

raised up by God in an extraordinary manner for the performance of the most sacred functions. Originally they were called Seers: they discovered things yet future, declared the will of God, and announced their divine messages, both to kings and people, with a confidence and freedom that could only be produced by the conviction that they were indeed authorised messengers of Jehovah. The gift of prophecy was not always annexed to the priesthood: there were prophets of all the tribes, and sometimes even among the Gentiles. The office of a prophet was not confined to the prediction of future events; it was their province to instruct the people, and they interpreted the law of God: hence the words prophet and prophecy are, in many passages of the Scriptures, synonymous with interpreter or teacher, and interpretation or teaching. They also had seminaries, termed Schools of the Prophets, where religious truths or the divine laws were particularly taught. It is unanimously agreed both by Jews and Christians that Malachi was the last of the prophets under the Old Testament dispensation: and it is a remarkable fact, that so long as there were prophets among the Jews, they were not divided by sects or heresies, although they often fell into idolatry. This circumstance may thus be accounted for. As the prophets received their communications of the divine will immediately from God himself, there was no alternative for the Jews: either the people must obey the prophets, and receive their interpretation of the law, or no longer acknowledge that God who inspired them. When, however, the law of God came to be explained by weak and fallible men, who seldom agreed in their opinions, sects and parties were the unavoidable result of such conflicting sentiments.

CHAPTER III.

SACRED THINGS. ON THE SACRIFICES AND OTHER OFFERINGS OF THE

JEWS.

THE offerings prescribed to the Israelites have been divided into four classes; viz. Bloody Offerings, Unbloody Offerings, Drink Offerings, and Oblations of different kinds.

I. BLOODY OFFERINGS were sacrifices properly and strictly so called; by which we may understand the infliction of death on a living creature, generally by the effusion of its blood in a way of religious worship, and the presenting of this act to God as a supplication for the pardon of sin, and as a supposed mean of compensation for the insult and injury offered by sin to his majesty and government. In all sacrifices of this class, it was required that the victims should be clean, that is, such as might be eaten. Of the bird tribe, the dove was the most common offering; of quadrupeds, oxen, sheep, and goats were the only kinds destined for the altar. Further, the victim was to be without blemish (Levit. xxii. 22.), and one which had never borne the yoke. Being found immaculate, it was led to the altar by the person offering the sacrifice, who laid his hands upon his head; by which act he acknowledged the sacrifice to be his own, and that he offered it as an atonement for his own sins, by which he had forfeited his life to the violated law of God. The animal being inmolated, the blood was caught in a vessel, and partly sprinkled round about upon the altar; by which the atonement was made. (Levit. i. 5—7.) The remainder of the blood was poured out at the foot of the altar: previously to laying the sacrifice thereon, it was salted for the fire. (Levit. ii. 13. Mark ix. 46.) At first, sacrifices were offered at the door of the tabernacle; but

after the erection of the temple, it was not lawful to

offer them elsewhere. The Jewish Sacrifices were of three kinds; viz.

1. The BURNT-OFFERINGS, or Holocausts, were freewill offerings wholly devoted to God, according to the primitive patriarchal usage. The man himself was to bring them before the Lord, and they were offered in the manner just described. The victim to be offered was, according to the person's ability, a bullock without blemish, or a male of the sheep or goats, or a turtle-dove or pigeon. (Levit. i. 3. 10. 14.) If, however, he was too poor to bring either of these, he was to offer a mincha or meat-offering, of which an account is given in page 313. It was a very expressive type of the sacrifice of Christ, as nothing less than his complete and full sacrifice could make atonement for the sins of the world.

2. The PEACE-OFFERINGS (Levit. iii. 1.) were also freewill offerings, in token of peace and reconciliation between God and man: they were either eucharistical, that is, offered as thanksgivings for blessings received, or were offered for the impetration of mercies. These

offerings consisted either of animals, or of bread or dough; if the former, part of them was burnt upon the altar, especially all the fat, as an offering to the Lord; and the remainder was to be eaten by the priest and by the party offering. To this sacrifice of praise or thanksgiving Saint Paul alludes in Heb. xiii. 15, 16. In this kind of sacrifices the victims might be either male or female, provided they were without blemish. The same apostle has a fine allusion to them in Eph. ii. 14-19.

3. SIN-OFFERINGS were offered for sins committed either through ignorance or wilfully against knowledge, and which were always punished unless they were expiated. In general they consisted of a sin-offering to God, and a burnt-offering accompanied with restitution of damage. (Levit. v. 2-19. vi. 1-7.)

4. The TRESPASS-OFFERINGS were made, where the

party offering had just reason to doubt whether he had violated the law of God or not. (Levit. v. 17, 18.) They do not appear to have differed materially from sin-offerings. In both these kinds of sacrifices, the person who offered them placed his hands on the victim's head (if a sin-offering), and confessed his sin over it, and his trespass over the trespass-offering; the animal was then considered as vicariously bearing the sins of the person who brought it.

All these sacrifices were occasional, and had reference to individuals; but there were others which were national and regular, daily, weekly, monthly, and annual.

The perpetual or Daily Sacrifice was a burnt-offering, consisting of two lambs, which were offered every day, morning and evening, at the third and ninth hours. (Exod. xxix. 38-40. Levit. vi. 9-18. Numb. xxviii. 1-8.) They were burnt as holocausts, but by a small fire, that they might continue burning the longer. With each of these victims was offered a bread-offering and a drink-offering of strong wine. The morning sacrifice, according to the Jews, made atonement for the sins committed in the night, and the evening sacrifice expiated those committed during the day.

The Weekly Sacrifice on every Sabbath day was equal to the daily sacrifice, and was offered in addition to it. (Numb. xxviii. 9, 10.)

The Monthly Sacrifice, on every new moon, or at the beginning of each month, consisted of two young bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old, together with a kid for a sin-offering, and a suitable bread and drink-offering. (Numb. xxviii. 11—14.)

The Yearly Sacrifices were thus offered on the great annual festivals, which are noticed in the following chapter; viz. 1. The paschal lamb at the passover, which was celebrated at the commencement of the Jewish sacred year: 2. On the day of Pentecost, or day of first-fruits; 3. On the New Moon, or first day of the