THE
PERFECT SACRIFICE.
BY
BENJAMIN WILLS NEWTON.
AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY,
530 ARCH STREET.








PREFACE TO THE       AMERICAN    EDITION.
THn following work was issued by the author in
London, under the unassuming title of "Thoughts
on Parts of the Book of Leviticus."  The original
work consists of an essay on each of the Offerings,
together with notes on the first six chapters of
Leviticus, in which the law of true offering is laid
down.   The present edition consists only of the
essays, into which have been inserted such portions
of the notes as seemed desirable for the more full
presentation of the author's views. Some few foot
notes have also been added by the editor from the
writings of the author and from other sources. There
has been no change of the author's language except
in a few instances where a mere verbal correction
has been made.
The author throughout recognizes, with Archbishop
Magee, that the Sacrifices of the Mosaic economy
" terminate in that grand and comprehensive Offering
which was the primary object and the final consummation of the sacrificial institution." His aim is
simply to place side by side the type and the antitype,
in order that those for whom the great Sacrifice was
offered may behold and rejoice in its perfectness.
Those who peruse the work with care will probably
be led to admire the wisdom of God, as shown in the
types which lh  has been pleased to use for the in3




4                 PREFACE.
struction of his children. It has been well said, "By
them  does God bring within the range of our
capacity definite views of the details of Christ's
work, which, perhaps, but for these pictures, we
should never fully, or at least so fully, apprehend."
In his views of the significance of the Offerings the
author is in essential accord with the most judicious
expounders of the Mosaic ritual. Those who'have
attempted to unfold the meaning of the special offerings while overlooking their distinct reference to the
one perfect sacrifice of Christ, have been always involved in hopeless embarrassments. What Kurtz,
in his "Sacrificial Worship of the Old Testament,"
says of the Sin and Trespass-offerings, may well be
applied to the offerings in general: " There is scarcely
a single question connected with the whole range of
biblical theology on which there has been so much
pure conjecture, and about the settlement of which
theological science was so late in arriving at a correcf
conclusion, although the foundations for it evidently
existed in the biblical text, and were not very difficult
to find." We should not have had so much vain conjecture had interpreters fully understood and faithfully applied the principle of Augustine: " The New
Testament is hidden in the Old; the Old Testament
is unfolded in the New."
The work is now reproduced in the hope that it may
be used by the Holy Spirit to promote the peace and
joy of believers in Christ. It is his blessed officework to cause believers to "know the things that are
freely given to us of God." In doing this he fulfills




PREFACE.                     5
the word of the Lord: "I e shall glorify me; for he
shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you."
Christ is too often regarded by believers as merely
their Sin-offering or their Trespass-offering. These
are important and precious aspects of his work. But
they do not represent fully his Perfect Sacrifice.
Those who have been led by the Holy Spirit to know
him also in the Burnt-offering, the Meat-offering, and
the Peace-offering, will find in the view thus opened
to them fresh occasion for gratitude and love. When
the Lord Jesus Christ is known in all the aspects of
his Perfect Sacrifice, the believer will begin to comprehend more fully the blessedness of those who are' complete in him."




CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY.........................e   7
CHAPTER IT.
THE BURNT-OFFERING.....,.     e...  o..... o  13
CHAPTER III.
THE MEAT-OFFERING...o,....... o.............  43
CHAPTER IV.
THE PEACE-SACRIFICE.......................  7 
CHAPTER V.
THE SIN-OFFERING. o..................... o  99
CHAPTER VI.
THE TRESPASS-OFFERING..    o  o................ o  137
CHAPTER VII.
THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE......... o....... 160
6




THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
THE first anxiety of every soul awakened to
consider its relation to God concerns its own salvation. Its cry is, "What must I do to be
saved?"  That cry God has answered. He has
said, and the words remain written forever,
"BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND
THOU SHALT BE SAVED."     Our faith may be
feeble; our appreciation of sin weak; our knowledge of Christ poor. We may be little able to
say, that we are humbled as we should be
humbled; or that we reverence God as we should
reverence him; or that we value Christ as we
should value him: nevertheless, whosoever with
the feeblest faith casts himself on God thus
7




8          THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
preaching peace through Jesus Christ, "HATH
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but IS PASSED from  death unto life."
John v. 24. His own worthless name is set
aside; it is, as it were, blotted out; and he stands
accepted in the name of Another. He is "justified freely"-" has peace with  God"-"has
received reconciliation."
But whilst the Scripture thus plainly points to
the door by which we enter the everlasting fold,
another of its objects is to instruct those who are
within. We enter the fold not as sheep that have
never wandered, but as sheep that have gone
astray-ignorant, therefore, and weak-still exposed to temptation-still prone to wander; and
as such, needing instruction, guidance, consolation. This the Scripture is intended to supply;
and such peculiarly is the object of the book of
Leviticus.  It explains to those who have
believed, the fullness and completeness of their
redemption. Israel, to whom were given in
types the shadows of those mercies which are
made to us verities in Christ-Israel received
the book of Leviticus, not whilst they were in




INTRODUCTORY.             9
Egypt, not before they received the typical sign
of salvation in the blood of the Passover lamb,
but after they had quitted Egypt-after they had
been saved from its judgment-after they had
been recognized as the redeemed of the Lord.
The midnight cry which suddenly arose from
every Egyptian dwelling, was heard in none of
the families of Israel. Strengthened by the
food on which they had secretly fed in their
houses marked with the blood of the lamb, they
entered the wilderness, not as strangers to God
and to his mercies, but as a people whom God
had chosen for himself, to learn his ways, and to
maintain his testimonies.
One of the chief and most peculiar mercies
granted to them in the wilderness, was the Tabernacle-the place of " appointed meeting" between
themselves and God. There, as soon as it was
reared up, God instituted those sacrifices which
formed the basis of Israel's rest in him, and of
his ability, without derogation from his holiness,
to rest in them. SACRIFICE, therefore, is the
great thought of Leviticus throughout. The altar
with its holy fire seeking that whereon it might




10         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
feed-the claim of the altar duly met by accepted
offering-God satisfied and honored —the worshiper protected, instructed, and blessed-these
are the subjects of which the book of Leviticus
treats. Believers learn in it the riches which are
theirs in Christ Jesus: they learn also to see in
the light of God's holiness, as well as of his
grace, the nature of those short-comings and sins
which need that those riches should be substituted
for their poverty in the presence of God. They
learn, too, how they are consecrated as his
priestly servants to serve him in the midst of
holy, and also in the'midst of unholy things.
The commencing chapters of Leviticus present
to us five different aspects of the sacrificial service of Christ, varied according to the variety of
those needs in us, which the grace of the One
Sacrifice is designed to meet. The want of that
full and unreserved devotedness which is due on
our part to God, and claimed by him, but which
is by us never rendered, is met by that abounding
grace which has appointed Another, perfect in
devotedness and self-renunciation, to be a Burntoffering in our room. The manifold deficiencies




INTRODUCTORY.             1
in our personal characters-the presence in them
of so much that should be absent, and the absence
of so much that should be present, is met by the
presentation of him for us, the perfectness of
whose character is here typified by the excellency
of the Meat-ofering.  The condition of our
nature, which is enmity against God, because
sin, essential sin dwells in it, is met by the efficacy of the Peace-sacrifice, whereby, notwithstanding the enmity of our nature, peace with the
Holy One becomes our portion.  Sin, even when
committed in such intensity of blindness, as that
we understand not the heinousness of that which
we are doing, and perhaps mistake it for goodsuch sin is met by the Sin-offering: or if it be
committed knowingly, not under the blindness of
ignorance, but in the willfulness of a heart that
consciously refuses to be restrained, it is met by
the grace of the Trespass-offering. Such are
the aspects under which the perfectness of the
One Sacrifice is presented to us in the first
chapters of Leviticus. The aspects are various,
but the sacrifice is one; just as the colors of the
rainbow may for instruction-sake be presented to




12         TIE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
us separately, but the rainbow  which they
unitedly constitute is one. After we have learned
in distinctness, we combine in unity. Nor is
there any division of the perfectness of the One
Sacrifice in its application to them that believe.
From the first moment we believe, the perfectness of Christ's sacrifice is in all its totality ours.
We may not, perhaps, either appreciate or
understand all that is typified by these various
offerings, yet the united value of them  all is
reckoned to us by God. As we " grow in grace,
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour,"
we understand more, and appreciate better; but
by such growth in understanding we do not make
the blessing ours-we only apprehend that which
is ours.




CHAPTER II.
TIE BURNT OFFERINGS.
LEVITICUS I.
IT must be self-evident to all who reflect on the
perfections of God, that he as the Governor of
the universe must maintain those perfections
unsullied, and must require that they should be
duly recognized, and duly responded to by his
creatures. The claims of God are never arbitrary. He only requires that which is needful
to the happiness, as well as to the holiness of his
creatures. The happiness of heaven is this, that
God being known and his character appreciated,
he is necessarily, and if I may so say, naturally
loved and honored. It requires no effort in
sinless beings to love and honor One who is essentially worthy of all honor, and all love. In
heaven, as soon as God is known, he is lovedspontaneously loved; and we can easily conceive
how the absence of such love must, in the judgment of heaven, be deemed the evidence of
13




14         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
deepest sin. The power of that first and greatest
commandment, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy might," is well understood in heaven;
and a heart that for one moment fails therein, is
instantly understood to be under the plague of
sin.
But the thoughts of earth are very diverse from
those of heaven. Here we are so accustomed to
fall short of God's glory, and failure in glorifying
him is so much regarded as the necessary law of
our condition, that even believers find it difficult
to look on failure in devotedness as sin-sin that
needs atonement as much as their most dire trans.
gressions. Even after we have owned the blood
of the Paschal Lamb as delivering from the judgment due to our natural condition, and after we
have recognized the necessity of the Holy One
bearing the curse earned by our trangressions,
we nevertheless fail to estimate the want of perfect devotedness as being positive sin; and hence
the appreciation of our own condition, as well as
of the grace that meets it, becomes proportionately
enfeebled.




THE BURNT-OFFERING.          15
In order to correct this error-an error fatal to
all right apprehension of God, and our relation
both to his holiness and to his grace-the first
lesson given to us in the Tabernacle respects the
whole Burnt-offering. We might perhaps have
expected on entering that place of appointed
meeting with God, to hear first respecting our
palpable trangressions or sins. Our minds intuitively turn to the Trespass-offering, or to the
Sin-offering; for conscience without much difficulty recognizes that trangression violates our
relation to a holy God. Yet neither of these
offerings is presented to our regard when God
first speaks from the Tabernacle of Congregation.
His first commandment respected the Holocaust,
or whole Burnt-offering.
The Hebrew word which is rendered in the
Greek version " Holocaust" (whole Burnt-offering), and in our version "Burnt-offering," means
properly "that which ascends." It was called
"the Ascending-offering," either because it was
wholly lifted up or caused to ascend upon the
altar, or because it was wholly burned on the
altar and thence ascended in sweet smelling




16         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
fragrance as a sweet savor of rest before
Jehovah. In other offerings part was sometimes
given to the priest, sometimes to the offerer; but
the Burnt-offering was all (the skin only excepted) rendered to God, and all burnt upon his
altar. In the Burnt-offering, therefore, there was
a distinct recognition of the righteous claim of
God on the unreserved devotedness of his
creatures; but it was also the confession that
that claim was responded to by none. When an
offerer presented a victim to be accepted in his
room, the very act of substitution implied,
that the offerer acknowledged himself to be destitute of the qualifications which were found in his
offering: otherwise, substitution would not be
needed, for the offerer would stand in his own integrity. There was the confession, too, that the
absence of these qualifications involved guiltguilt deserving death; for otherwise the offering
would not have been substantially slain-" killed
before Jehovah;" and lastly, there was the acknowledgment that because no unreserved devotedness had been found in him, he needed an




THE BURNT-OFFERING.          17
offering to be wholly given in his stead as "a
sweet savor of rest before Jehovah."
The Burnt-offering therefore may be regarded
as the type of Christ in respect of that full, unreserved devotedness of service, which caused him
as the Servant of Jehovah, in all things to renounce himself, and to render every energy, and
every feeling, and finally his life itself, as a whole
Burnt-offering unto God. Perfect in understanding, perfect in every mental, as well as moral
power, he nevertheless glorified not himself by
these powers, but unreservedly devoted them to
God. If he meditated, it was for God; if he
spake, or if he acted, it was for him. He knew
him whom he served, and he fully loved him.
He appreciated the character of God —understood
his counsels-knew what was needful to the
maintenance of his glory, and met perfectly all its
claims. Christ only could say, "I have set the
Lord always before me."  "My meat and my
drink is to do my Father's will."  "I came not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me, and to finish his work." And when, at
the close of his course of sorrow, he might have
2




18         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
asked the Father to deliver him from the Cross
and from the wrath thereon endured-when, to
use his own words, he could have prayed to the
Father, and he would presently have given him
more than twelve legions of angels, he refused
so to pray-he asked for no such deliverance,
but meekly said, "Father, glorify thy name."
Here was the unreserved devotedness unto God
which the Burnt-offering typified. "He was
obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross."
The Cross had many other significations, many
other relations; but one thing marked on it was
the unshrinking obedience of him who there suffered-One indeed who had ever said, "Father,
not my will, but thine, be done."
The first act in offering the Holocaust was its
solemn presentation before Jehovah. Before it
was placed upon the altar, and before it was slain,
it was brought in its living perfectness to the door
of the Tabernacle of Congregation, and was there
presented before Jehovah. There the offerer,
standing as in the presence of Jehovah, identified
himself with the offering by firmly leaning his
hand upon its head. It was equivalent to say



THE BURNT-OFFERING.            19
ing, "Let this offering be regarded, as if it were
myself; I lean on it as my support before thee."
The offering thus presented for his acceptance,
was accepted for him to make "atonement for
him," or literally, "to place a covering over
him. "*
The offering was thus presented "for the acceptance" of the offerer-I say for his acceptance,
for such is the right translation of the words,
uriz as they are rightly rendered by the Septuagint (8E;sov) and by the Vulgate (acceptabilis).
Indeed, our own translators have so rendered
* "In this way," says Kurtz, "we understand the
covering of Sin in the Sacrificial worship, as a covering by which the accusating and damnatory power of
sin-its power to excite the anger and wrath of Godis broken; by which, in fact, it is rendered both harmless and impotent. * * * It is so complete, effectual and overpowering a covering that all real and
active force in that which is covered up is thereby
rendered impossible, or slain." Katmis says, "To
expiate, literally to cover up, does not mean to cause
a sin not to have been committed, for that is impossible; nor to represent it as having no existence, for
that would be opposed to the correctness of the law;
nor to pay or compensate it by any performance; but
to cover it before God, i. e., to deprive it of its power
to come between us and God."




20         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
them  in Lev. xxiii. 11, "He shall wave the
sheaf before Jehovah to be accepted for you."
And again, in Exod. xxviii. 38, "And it (that is,
the golden plate) shall always be upon Aaron's
forehead that they may be accepted before the
Lord." When this alteration is made, the concluding words of the following verse are brought
into their proper correspondency: " He shall offer
it for his acceptance before Jehovah..
and it shall be acceptedfor him."
The mis-translation of these words has led
many to imagine that the Burnt-offering was distinctively a voluntary offering: whereas, it is contrasted with voluntary offerings, as in the following
passage, "a Burnt-offering or sacrifice in performing a vow    or in a free-will-oq'ering."
Num. xv. 2. Not only was the Burnt-offering
demanded by the ordinance of God from Israel
unitedly, as in the daily Burnt-offering, and in
the annual ceremonies of the Day of Atonement,
but it was continually required of individual
Israelites. See Lev. xii. and xiv. Indeed, an
Israelite, who walked in the fear of God, would
feel himself under perpetual obligation to bring a




THE BURNT-OFFERING.         21
Burnt-offering, whenever he became conscious of
failing in right devotedness towards God-and
that might be more often than the day. When
seeking through the Burnt-offering atonement,
because of not having loved the Lord his God
with all his strength, he would no more think
that he was bringing " a free-will-offering," than
he would think so, when bringing a sin-offering
or a trespass-offering. If the latter were required when he had done things that were forbidden, the Burnt-offering was equally required
when he had not done that which was commanded.
The same Law that said, "Thou shalt not covet,'
said also, " Thou shalt love."
This presentation of the living victim in its
perfectness (for it was to be a male-the type of
strength and energy; and it was to be without
blemish) is to be distinguished from its death, and
from its being burned upon the altar. It was
presented indeed in order that it might be slain
and burned; and without its being so slain and
burned, there could have been no atonement, no
acceptance for the offerer. Nevertheless, the act
of presentation is to be considered by itself. It




22        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
typifies the believer's recognition of the living
excellency which individually characterized the
Lord Jesus here-that excellency in virtue of
which he was known as the " righteous Servant,"
— "the faithful and the true Witness"-" the
Lover of righteousness," and "the Hater of
iniquity." The Lord Jesus had a personal, individual history of his own; and we can easily
understand how, in the case of those, who, like
John and Peter, knew, loved, and followed him,
the thought of what Jesus personally had been,
formed as real and distinct a subject of meditation
as any of the results which flowed from his
having been given unto death for them. They
knew indeed the value of that death; they
estimated the value of its results, but they
knew  also the value of THE PERSON who
had died. They remembered, and they understood those words once and again uttered from
heaven, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased." Indeed, their apprehension of the
living service of their Master, formed one of the
chief elements in their knowledge of him, and of
God. Understanding the excellency of him in




THE BURNT-OFFERING.          23
whom they trusted, they appreciated the blessed-,
ness of those who, like themselves, had leaned
their sinful hand upon the holy head of the Burntoffering.
After having been thus presented, the victim
was slain. If there should be in our minds a disposition to speak lightly of failure in devotedness,
and to extenuate its evil, as if it were something
easily to be excused in persons circumstanced as
we, we find in the death of the Burnt-offering the
answer which God has given to thoughts so dishonoring to himself, and so destructive of all
right apprehensions of sin. The fact of the
Burnt-offering being slain-slain for atonement,
is an abiding witness, that want of devotedness
to God is a sin that can only be " covered" by
death-expiatory death. There are, indeed, other
aspects in which we may consider sin. We may
see it in the hidden depravity and uncleanness.
of our nature; we may trace it in the facility with
which we fall ignorantly into transgression; or
we may discover it in many a form of deliberate
and willful disobedience; but there is no more
convincing evidence of its power, to those who




24         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
are acquainted with the character of God, than
that want of devotedness to him, whereby ourselves, and not God, become the chief object
of our heart's devotion and love. When the disciples learned at last to know God in and through
Christ, when they began to appreciate the
perfect devotedness that had marked the service
of their Lord, they found in their own want
of likeness to him, evidences of guilt too deep to
be met availingly by any thing else than
atoning death. They needed not to look to
their palpable transgressions for proof that they
required that another should die in their room;
they found it in the fact that they had chiefly
loved themselves.
But before the offering was placed upon the
altar, another ceremony was appointed: it was to
be flayed and divided into its parts. The head,
representing powers of intelligence, observation,
and directive control; the fat, which indicates
healthfulness and vigor in the parts to which it
pertains; the inwards, which typify the inward
activities of thought and feeling; the legs, which
denote the path practically pursued-these various




TIHE BURNT-OFFERING.         25parts were all carefully distinguished from each
other before they were given to the altar. In
this, again, we see the importance attached in
Scripture to a knowledge of what Christ was
whilst living and acting here; for it was here that
he showed how all his powers, inward and outward, were wholly and always dedicated to God.
Even if no results had ever flowed to us therefrom, the living dedication of Christ would not
have lost its excellency. It was excellent in itself apart rom all its results, and, as we learn
from this type, is to be considered not carelessly,
but with minute and accurate discrimination by
all who would appreciate the full value of the
Burnt-offering. It must be observed, however,
that that living value is, at this stage of the offering, regarded as something past: the victim
had been slain-its energies arrested by deathits life taken from the earth. In such knowledge, therefore, apart from the altar, and from the
priestly ministration thereon, there would have
been only sorrow-sorrow like that of the disciples who went to the sepulchre with their spices,
or who journeyed to Emmaus and were sad.




26         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
They mourned over him who was gone, but they
understood not the purposes of God-they had,
as yet, no view of the altar-no knowledge
of the manner in which the holy fire of that altar
had fed on and been satisfied with the excellency
of him for whom they sorrowed. But the moment
their eyes were opened to understand the work
which God's hand had wrought-the moment
they stood, as it were, by the side of the Burntoffering altar and understood the ministrations
there, their sorrow was turned into joy. There
they could consider all the sinfulness of their deficiencies, and think of God in all the fullness of
his attributes, and yet rejoice in the knowledge,
that all had been met by an offering that had ascended, as a sweet savor of rest, before Jehovah
forever.
We can, indeed, scarcely estimate the change
that took place in the apprehensions of the disciples, when first they began to think of God as
accepting them in the perfectness of the offering
of Christ, or to use typical language, when they
became acquainted with the fire which had fed on
the perfectness of the Burnt-offering. That fire




THz BURNT-OFFERING.          2t
represented the searching holiness of God. Israel
had beheld that holy fire in Egypt when it
burned terribly against the Egyptians. Peter
became conscious of its presence, when, astounded
)y the manifestation of Almighty power in
Jesus, he said, "Depart from me; for I am a
sinful man, 0 Lord." The lesson of the Burntoffering altar he had not yet learned. There,
indeed, the fire was seen unchanged as to its
holiness: its relation to every thing merely
human was taught in the wood given to it to be
consumed: but the wood was not the only thing
that was given-the Burnt-offering, also, was laid
upon the altar; and the fire, as it fed thereon, although still the type of holiness, became the type
of holiness placated. The coal from the altar
could, after this, touch the lips of the unclean,
and it could be said, "Lo, this hath touched thy
lips, and thy iniquity is taken away, and thy sin
purged."
The Burnt-offering was a sweet savor of rest
unto Jehovah. The word "rest,"* omitted in
* "Savor of rest or sweetness," that which delights
or satisfies.-AM. ED.




28         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
our version, is important, as showing how much
it is the object of the whole passage to keep
prominently before us the great doctrine of SATISFACTION in connection with this offering. Two
things were needful in order that God might rest
in his people. In the first place-his violated law
required a satisfaction that could be rendered only
by death-atoning death; but his claim for positive perfectness must be satisfied, too. God
could not rest in those to whom no righteousness
attached, any more than lie could rest in those
whose guilt was unforgiven. Imputation of
righteousness, therefore, was needed, and was
granted in virtue of the same great act that gave
them immunity from wrath. He who bore in
their stead the stroke of judgment, did at the
same moment present for them his own personal
excellency to God. The offerer, as he beheld the
altar breathing forth towards heaven its cloud
of fragrance, saw in that fragrance something
that was attributed to himself. He learned in it
the blessed truth of IMPUTATION.*
* It has been said by some of late that there never
can be any progress in real truth, unless we get rid




TIHE BURNT-OFFERING.          29
I-Iow far believers need such " imputation," it
must be left to their own consciences to decide.
The history of Christianity is no bright picture.
The path even of real Christians has been sorrowfully marked by the want of single-eyed devotedness to God. Eager to reign as kings before the
hour for the supremacy of Truth has come, and
impatient of "the endurance of the kingdom of
Jesus," even real Christians early despised the
Apostle's chiefest honor, and shrunk from being
regarded as " the filth of the earth, and the offscouring of all things," for Christ's sake. Even
the brightest instances of individual faith, when.
narrowly examined, show how little any among
the sons of men can say —"I have set the
of the absurd doctrine of imputation. No doubt it is
a doctrine peculiarly adverse to the schemes of those
who wish to make men happy apart from Christ.
Men say, where is it taught in Scripture? We might
rather ask, where is it not taught? Every page that
alludes to the altar sending up the sweet-smelling
savor of its offerings teaches it. Would the Scripture,
which cannot lie, teach me that that ascends for me
which does not ascend for me; and if it ascends for
me, its excellency is attributed to me; and that is imputation.




30         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
Lord always before me."  We are they of whom
the Lord Jesus prophetically said, that "offences should abound" amongst us, and that because of them, the love, even of the greater
part of us-his people-should wax cold. Yet
the sin even of believers cannot frustrate the
purposes of the grace of God. The Burnt-offering altar remains what it ever was; its offering
retains its efficacy, and in virtue thereof, the
church unitedly, and each believer individually,
~tands before God, not only protected from the
consequences of their failure, but accepted according to the excellency of him who has lived and
who has died for them. They will enter into the
presence of God, not as those who are to be oppressed by the recollection and sense of their
failure; but as those who are to be welcomed and
rejoiced over, because encompassed by the results
of the sacrifice and service of Another. Our title
to this blessing is not affected by the degree of our
faith, nor by the depth of our spiritual experience,
nor by the character of our service. It is given
on the ground of what Christ is, and becomes the
inheritance of the believer solely because of him.




THE BURNT-OFFERING.         31
The thief on the cross, and the jailer at Philippi,
when they believed, could have had little knowledge of their condition-little estimate of sin —
little experimental acquaintance with truth-little
appreciation of Christ and the fullness of his salvation. Yet Paul himself, when able to say,
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished
my course, I have kept the faith," was not more
certainly under the efficacy of this most precious
offering than were they, from the first moment
they believed. The babe that falls asleep in
Jesus has, as regards this, the same title as an
apostle; because that title is, in either case, derived exclusively from Another.
But whilst we have firmly to maintain the
prerogative of grace, in giving according to its
own bountifulness out of its own riches; and have
jealously to guard those blessings which are the
common heritage of believers, we must not on
that account despise such present blessings, as
are by God's own appointment made dependent
on growth in the knowledge of Christ our
Saviour. A knowledge not necessary for acceptance may be necessary for our comfort, and




~32     THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
for the right direction of our service here. When
first our eye is turned believingly towards Christ
our Passover, we are quickened by the Spirit,
and he begins to dwell within us. To quicken
is the work of the Spirit towards us when we are
in the world; to teach us respecting Christ, and
to cause us to appreciate the things freely given
to us of God, is his work towards us when we
are in the church. If then the Scriptures
describe our relation to God after we have
believed, by the type of one standing at the altar
under the full acceptance of the ascending offering, should we not seek to recognize this as our
position, even though it be true that we are safe
without such recognition? If the priests bearing
the holy fire, and laying thereon the wood, be a
type of believers occupied in the service of the
sanctuary, there learning to estimate God's holiness which is as the fire, in contrast with all that
is merely natural which is as the wood, who
would not desire to have an experimental acquaintance with such things? Yet the soul of a
believer may, as regards its experience, linger
in the Land of Egypt, and never know the




THE BURNT-OFFERING.          33
lessons of the Tabernacle. It may tliuk of
Christ as One who delivers from coming- wrath
-it nmay recognize the fire of divine holiness as
burning destructively against Egypt and its
works —it ma even appreciate its own immunity
from that wrath through the blood m-arked on the
door-posts and doors, and yet be a stranger to
the Tabernacle; for to know    the biood so
sprinkled (blessed as such knowledge is) is not
the same thing as beholding it presented at the
altar, and there accepted with the offering of
sweet-smelling savor. The one speaks of deliverance from destruction; the other of heavenly
acceptance alnd joy in God. How different the
place of an Israelite standing in the dark midnight scene of Egypt's judgment, and an Israelite
standing as an accepted worshiper by the side
of the altar in the Tabernacle of God l!  ow
different the aspect of that holy fire which on the
night of Israel's release shone terribly against
their foes. and the aspect of the same holy fire
when seen in the Tabernacle on the Burnt-offering altar! There it could be approachedthere the priests could handle it-could con3




34         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
sider its nature and acquaint themselves with
its character. There they could learn what it
eschewed, and on what it delighted to feedo
If in Egypt they found deliverance, in the
Tabernacle they found him who had delivered.
In thinking of Egypt, we learn what we leave;
in entering the Tabernacle we learn whereunto we have come. New interests, new coinforts, new prospects, new employments open on
us when first we begin to appreciate our place
at the altar. The abiding interests of eternal life
are there.
I have already said that the appreciation of
these things is not necessary to our acceptance;
nevertheless, none that desire to advance in the
knowledge of Christ will despise that typical unfolding of the riches of redemption which the
book of Leviticus supplies. We ought to estimate
Christ as there typified; we ought to apprehend
his various relations to God and to ourselves as
they are there shadowed. We should desire to be
able to say of each particular type, that it had
been verified, more or less, in the apprehensions of
our souls. In this way, Leviticus becomes a most




THE, BURNT-OFFERING.          35
useful test, whereby to prove our spiritual experience. Our experience falls short of that which
it might be, just in proportion as it fails to realize
the manifold relations of the one great Sacrifice
here typically indicated. Such falling short in
our experience does not take from us the gift of
salvation, for that is of grace through faith; yet,
although not less secure, we are less happy-less
able also to serve God. He might be very sure
of having attained maturity in the knowledge of
Christ, who could say that the experience of
his heart accorded with the types of this holy
book; but who amongst us will pretend to this?
Are not our attempts even to sketch what these
types are, mere feebleness? Nor should we
have courage to attempt it, if God made us offenders for a word, or if he despised the day of
small things.
In considering then the Burnt-offering, our
minds are not directed, as in the case of some of
the other offerings, to the effects resulting from
positive trangression. They who can only discern
sin when its consequences are made manifest in
dark iniquity, will little appreciate the Burnt



.' G    THE PERFIECT SACRIFICE.
offering. It will be estimated only by that heart
that has well considered the duty and the joy of
loving and serving GoCd because of what he is,
and the sin and misery of not serving him.
lie who is truly prepared to say, " I have never
loved him as I should havle loved him, and therein is my sin:- " I have never sought his favor
as I should have sought it, although I know
that in his favor is life'-he only who is prepared to make this confession will really appreciate the Burnt-o-ilering. Want of devoted love
is the sin that the Burnt-offering covers; the
favor of the living God is the blessing that its acceptance brings. Through it we can look up and
see, as it were, Heaven opened, and hear the
voice which said, "This is my beloved Son, in
whom   I am   well pleased,"t and appropriate
the blessing of those words even to our own sinful selves, becautse( we can saLy, "accepted in the
beloved." 
To use aright the grace of the Burnt-offering
requires, whilst we remain in the flesh, continued
watchfulness: else we may sit down under the
shadow of its mercies and slumber. When pro



T1IE B U RNT-OCF EIlN G.      a
tection inl the earth was by the especial gift of
God granted to Cain, tle opportunities which that
protection gave \\'were ilstl, y I s ed b him alganst
God. It nlay b!e said, w\hat else could be expected
froml the unregenralte heart of Ca.in?-but it
mlust tbe remeimbered that unregelnerate energies
are still found in the ltesh even of' the regenerate.
"In our flesh no good thing dcwvelleth;" but sin
-essential sin, is there. " The flesh lusteth
against the Spirit."  And although the protection
vouchsafed to Cain was a temporary mercy only;
and although no Bu:rnt-offeringl spread the power
of its acceptance over Iiis guilty head, and therefore in him unregeneracy might be expected to
work and to bring forth its proper fruits, yet what
shall we say of another-him who is first mentioned in Scripture as standing by the side of a
Burnt-offering altar? Joah offered whole burntofferings, and the Lord smelled a sweet savor of
rest and made a covenant of blessing, and under
it, Noah rested: but to what did he devote his
energies? to pllanting a vinley arld for himself and
cherishiiig its fruits, till he drank the wine thereof
and became drunken and dishonored.  Can there




38         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
be any other result, when the church, forgetting
its high and separate calling, finds its chief present
use of the grace of redemption, in trying to
sanctify to itself mere earthly joys? What then
can be expected, but that it will drink of the
wine of the earth, till it becomes naked and
dishonored, and the voice of the mocker cries,
Aha, Aha I
It was otherwise with the Apostle Paul. Who
knew, as he, the value of the Burnt-offering and
the joy of its acceptance? Yet to him, " to live
was Christ;" and he labored on till he could say,
" I have fought the good fight, I have kept the
faith, I have finished my course with joy."  And
why this difference? It was because the Apostle
better understood, that the only true place of
blessing was "the new creation."  His soul followed, as it were, the offering to the place into
which its sweet-savor ascended-even above the
heavens. Heaven, and not earth, he recognized
as the sphere in which the results of its preciousness are alone to be made fully manifest. There
he knew its excellency was being treasured for
him-his hope was in the new creation. He




THE BURNT-OFFERING.          39
sought therefore after no vineyard in the earth;
his treasure was above, and his heart there also.
But there is yet another relation of the altar of
Burnt-offering; it is the place at which we may
ourselves serve. The grace of the Lord Jesus,
which has given us acceptance, has not shut us
out from that which he considered, whilst here,
his peculiar joy-the service of God. Therefore,
he has consecrated an altar for us, and left it as
the place for our service, and for our gifts. The
object indeed for which the Lord Jesus served,
was essentially different from any that can be
proposed to us; for he served in order that he
might redeem. In life, and in death, he acted
and suffered only as the Redeemer; but none of
us can redeem our brother, nor give unto God "a
ransom for him." Moreover his service was in
itself perfect, and was accepted in its own intrinsic excellency; whereas ours, being imperfect,
can only be accepted through him. Nevertheless, we through him draw nigh to serve the same
God. He gave us an' example, that we should
follow his steps. If he found in devotedness to
God the spring of his joys, in a world which was




40         THE PER.IIFCT SACI.I1'ICE.
to him, otherwise, as the valley of thle shadow
of death, a pathl of similar character is, through
his grace, opened to us. We too may render
the powers of our beibg unto God. We too
may spend upon otI-hers, and not upon ourselves.  We too may receive the approbation and
praise of God-his approbation here —-his praise
in the day of the glory of Jesus.  It was but a
small thingl for the Philippians to part with a
little of their worldly goods in order to relieve the
need of an apostle of God, yet how is this their gift
spoken of in the Scripture? It is spoken of as
6' an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable,
well-pleasing to God."  The value of Christ was
reckoned to it: it ascended in the value of the
offering that had been burned on the Burnt-offering altar. WAho then would not desire to serve
such a God-to serve on such terms as these?
This is the true way of learning to deny ourselves.  It is comparatively a light thing to lose
our lives in this world, if we gain these employlments, and these conl)ensating joys in the
Tabe.rnale of God.  Self-denial, as self-denial,
must necessarily be painful; but whren accom



TiIE IU1RNT-OFLIJ''3:ERJNG.   41
panied by the lhappy consciousness of accepted
service, the pain is counterbalanced; or rathel
coml]muted into Joy.'lThe self-devised austerity
of ascetilsm has no elelment in common with this.
It klno-s not-lingl of the a.ltar of Bturnt-offering-,
nothlingr of the hapl:py liberty of the service of
Christ.
When the so',.la even feebly apprehends these
things, it cannot but desire to dwell in this Tabernacle, and to serve aIt tlis altar. "  Blessed are
they that (dIell in tlhy courts  they shall be still
praising thee."  "I had rathell  be a door-keeper
in the house of my God, than to dwell in the,
tents of wickedness." Nevertheless, we must be
prepared to learn in the Tabernacle many an humbling lesson respecting our own incapacities, and
our want of thorough devotedness to God. TIumiliation will be one result of every right attempt
to serve him fully. Yet this will only enhance
our sense of the ex(ceilency of the service of him
who sierved, and wh o d ied at that altar for us. We,lsll the mre gl0 ad 1ly lay our hanids on the lhead
ot tlhat holy victim, and Hless God for that wondrous provision of his 1Tgrace ( that has made its




42         TIlE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
excellency ours. We shall meditate with the
more joy on that coming hour, when the great
manifested proof of our having been accepted in
the value of the Great Offering will be given, by
our receiving in attestation of its preciousness,
change-such change as shall leave in us nothing
that is weak, nothing that is unworthy, but shall
give us new powers of being, to know as we are
known, and to love, and to serve perfectly. Then
only shall we fully understand the results of the
Burnt-offering having been accepted for us.




CHAPTER III.
THE MEAT-OFFERING.
LEVITICUS II.
INSTANCES of devotedness have, through God's
grace, been not altogether wanting in his church.
Some have been enabled to make great personal
sacrifices for the truth, and have even triumphed
because of it over torture and death. Courage
and constancy have thrown a lustre around the
name of many a martyr; and in closely examining
their personal histories, we expect perhaps to find
all as bright as the halo that surrounds their
memories. But who that has made such examination has not felt a measure of keen disappointment at the result? Minute inspection discloses
numberless deficiencies in the character of those
whose path seems most marked with brightness.
Worldliness, impetuosity, and sometimes bitterness and pride, have tinged deeply the words and
the ways of those who have been ready to submit
unhesitatingly to torment or to death. Many
43




44         THE rier,:Ce SAC.lJiChE.
whose devotedness hats been extended through a
lengthened series of vea'rs-i ho h(ave received
much discipline, and been sulccted to countless
sorrows, have nevertheless betrayed again and
again thoughts little brouglt into hatlrmony withL
those of Christ.  Self -wili and independency of
spirit have oftftimes swayed their course. Ignorance, per'haps, of Scripture has led them to
despise truth and justify evil: or else, their
proud minds, refusing to bow to the simplicity of
revealed truth, have, to use the words of the apostle, "replied against God.l"  Every thought has
not been brought into captivity to the mind of
Christ.
There has however been One, whose unreserved
devotedness, perfect as it wa.s in life and in death,
has been equalled by the perfectness of his
character even in its minutest traits.  Indeed, no
peofe'ctlness of devotedness can exist where perfectness of character is wanting.  Acts of devotedness
there nmay be; but even those acts will, if the
character of the agtlent be inl),pl'fect, exhibit sonme
flaw, patent to tihe eye of God, even if hidden
fromD the loserlvation of 1men. Acl.s of devotedness




THE MEAT-OFFERINCG.           45
may owe their origin to constraint of circumstances; as, for example, when there is no alternative between confession of the truth or apostacy:
or they may spring from impulses that are irregular and fitful.  Such devotedness may be sincere: it may have in it principles of faithfulness
which God mav recognize, and, through his grace
in Christ, honor; but how different such deeds
of devotedness from that unreserved devotedness
of heart which is only found where the character
is perfect! There can be nothing irregular,
nothing wrongly Lba!anced,.nothing fitful in the
thoughts and actions of one whose character is
perfect. Perfectness of character can only be
where every inward feeling, as well as every
outward form of action, is in habitual conformity
with God. rThe understanding, the desire, and
the deliberate purpose of the heart, must all be
ordered aright. rThe counsel that is formed
within, the word that is exlpressed, or the deed that
is done, must be perfect in the mode of its development, as well as of its conception.  The will of
God must be made the only test. No appeal
must be made to any thingp short of his perfect



46         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
ness; and, when all things have been measured
by this standard and no deficiency found-when
inward and outward conformity to the mind of
God has been strictly and unvaryingly maintained-then, and then only, can perfectness of
character be claimed. Such was the perfectness
of the character of the Lord Jesus. *
But although there is this close connection
between devotedness and perfectness of character,
so that one in reality involves the other, yet they
may be contemplated separately.  The disciples
when they called to remembrance the personal
history of the Lord Jesus, might at one moment
think of the manner in which he had dedicated
himself and all his powers always to God, and
this would have shown them the devoted One;
at another moment they might consider the
principles and habits he had developed: they
* "In accordance with this close connection between " devotedness" and "character," the Meatoffering may virtually be considered as an appendage
to the Burnt-offering. See Numbers xv. 3, 4. The
words Burnt-offering" and " his or its Meat-offering"
are of continual occurrence. There was also a Burntoffering perpetual, and a Meat-offering perpetual.




TIE MEAT-OFFERING.          47
might ask what he had sanctioned, and what
condemned, whom he had approved, and whom
eschewed; and this would have taught them his
character. Reflection on the manner in which
the great devoted One had dedicated himself to
God, would necessarily be accompanied by meditation on the aspect in which he had morally
presented himself among men. They would see
him holy, harmless, meek, lowly, and gentle;
they would remember how the unction of the
Spirit of holiness had ever characterized his
ways; they would think how all that leavening power of evil that had infused its bitterness into the sentiments and habits of men,
was in him never found-such would be their
thoughts respecting him-thoughts that would
teach them of his character, or, in other words,
would lead them to the knowledge of the MEATOFFERING. *' It has been sometimes asked how we know that
the Meat-offering typifies character. The answer is
this: no one doubts that the frankincense, salt, oil,
etc., indicate certain moral features of good-that
leaven, honey, etc., indicate certain moral features of
evil-and that these features to be discerned must be




48         THlIE PERFECT SAC:ITFICE.
The ealrth into whici Christ cametl  to develop
his character-a chatraccter new as the Person of
him to whom it pertaineld —l  e earth had been
from  the beginning marked throughout all its
history by self-will and arrogant insubjection to
God.   From the moment when the first murdrere
and his children builded land adorned with the arts
of civilization those cities in which violence alnd
rebellion found their first gathering place, on to
the time when "ravening and roaring lions" encompassed the Cross of the Son of God, there had
never been a period in which wilfulness and insubjection had not been the cliief characteristics
of man.  Cedars of Lebanon high and lifted up;
oaks of Bashan sturdy and unbending; fir tr(es
vigorous in the wild strength of nature; beasts
dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedinglysuch are the emblems under which God has tautht
us to estimate the developed character of nran.
"Pride comlpasscth them   about as a chain;
displayed in a living agent. Seeing, then,, that
this chapter typically describes the presence of all
moral qualities of good, and the absence of all moral
qualities of evil-what is this but perfectness of character?




THE IMEAT-OFFERING.         49
violence covereth them as a garment. Their
eyes stand out with fatness; they have more
than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and
speak wickedly concerning oppression; they
speak loftily. They set their mouth against the
heavens; and their tongue walketh through the
earth."  Such was the character of those among
whom the Lord Jesus came; such are they
among whom his truth still travails. Among
such he was sent to display features of character
in all respects opposite to theirs. Where self-will
and arrogancy reigned-where God was hated,
and his laws despised-there he came to manifest
implicit obedience, implicit subjection to the will
of another. "Lo, I come to do thy will,
O God," were the characteristic words with
which he entered the sphere of his suffering service here; and throughout its course he was ever
able to say, "Not my will, but thine be done."
Cheerful subservience to another's will, and that
through a bitterness of suffering which none but
himself ever knew; meek submission to insult
and reproach; gentle kindness and love shown
towards his fiercest enemies-such were the
4




50         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
characteristics of him, who, because of these
qualities, is here typified by one of the strongest
types of meek subduedness that it is possible for
nature to supply —an offering of FINE FLOUR.
How different the thoughts suggested by such,
type, from those which connect themselves with
the fir trees of Lebanon, or the oaks of Bashan 
Yet which of these emblems is suited best to him,
who, though he could say, "I clothe the heavens
with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering," yet " gave his back to the smiters, and his
cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, and hid
not his face from shame and spitting;" whose
ear was " opened morning by morning to hear as
the instructed;" who "did not strive, nor cry,
neither did any hear his voice in the street;" who
" glorified not himself;"7 who said, "Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,.
for I am meek antd lowly in heart."  What type
could better represent him,.as to these qualities,
than thlat of fine flour?
Observe, there is in this no type of subduedness
conferred.  No millstone was seen grinding the
corn into its smoothness; no sifting to free it fiom




TIlE MFEAT-OFFERlING.        51
its husks or roughness.  The flour was brought
already perfected in fineness, and as such became
the type of what Christ was even when first born
as a  babe into the world.'The many afflictions
and sorrows that are needed to bring our hearts
into the possession, even of a measure of meekness-a measure poor at the best-may help
us to understand how wonderfuil must have been
the character of him who nedede no discipline,
nor any sorrow, to soften or subdue his spirit:
for he came into the world perfect in meekness
and lowliness, and every power of su)bnission.
Affliction found in him these things; it did not
lbrinl them. It added to him no new qualities;
it only developed those which were already there.
The meekness which he manifested on the cross
or in the judgment-hall, was not more perfect
than that which marked him as he grew up beneath the care of Joseph and sMary-subject to
them, and sharing their low- estate. The excellencies of his character were intrinsic and essential-unchangeable as the holiness of his own
eternal being.
We must remember, too, in the case of all theso




52         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
types of moral excellency, that the Lord Jesus not
only answered to them perfectly, but that he
answered to them always. If fine flour be the
type of perfect subduedness and meekness, the
Lord Jesus was not only perfectly subdued and
meek, but he was this always. How contrasted
in this with all his servants I Their graces are,
at the best, imperfect; but yet more, they manifest them uncertainly. Moses was the meekest
of men, and yet in meekness Moses failed; speaking unadvisedly with his lips, he was not allowed
to lead Israel into their land. John, the beloved
disciple, who so well appreciated the value of love
-John was he who wished to call down fire from
heaven to consume those whom Jesus came to
save. Paul, who knew well the need of bridling
the tongue, allowed himself to say to one whom
he was bound to honor, " God shall smite thee,
thou whited wall:" but Jesus under all circumstances was the same. The equability of his
character never varied. It was like himself,
unchangeable-the same on earth as it had been
in heaven.
There was nothing perhaps that more distfino




THE MEAT-OFFERING.          53
tively marked the character of the Lord Jesus,
than the manner in which his various excellencies
were developed. Whatever qualities he displayed, the mode, time, degree-in a word, all the
circumstances of their development-were as perfect as the qualities themselves. In us, subduedness of character —if through his grace it
measurably exist-is often accompanied by a
weakness or a want of steadfastness that leads to
compromise or abandonment of truth. We may
acquiesce where we ought to resist, and be silent
where we ought to reprove. Barnabas, no doubt,
was one in whom the graciousness and gentleness
of Christ were peculiarly seen, otherwise his
name would not have been what it was, "son of
consolation;" yet Barnabas, when occasion required that the conduct of Mark should be discountenanced and the dissimulation of Peter
withstood, in both instances failed. Indeed, in
the latter case, himself dissembled also, and
compromised the truth of the gospel. And even
when there is no such marked failure as this, the
characters of those who are most mature in grace
are seldom  duly balanced. Some particular




54          TTUE PERFECT SACRIIFICE.
feature is allowed to predominate; some tfavorite
tendency encouragc ed. VTe alpprove in others
just what we aipprove in ourselves. EIx"lusiveCiess follows. rWe become partial judgl's, and
make o'iu predilectie-ons, rathleer thani the wiill of
God, the stanldard by iwhicih we sanction or condemn. But it w       oas otherwise with the Lord
Jesus.  In himl nothiIg unduly predom4inated 
no feature of' chlaracter beta me excessive. Though
empha,tically the meek and lowly One who could
weep over Jerusalem and pray for his murderers,
yet he could also, when the service of God required, turn on them in anger and say,'" Woe
unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Ye
serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnlation of hell?"  All the actions of
Christ were subordinated to the will of God-all
were according to the Spirit.  It was the recognition of this that was typically indicated by the
offerer, when he poured oil, the emblem    of
heavenly unction, on the fine flour of the Meatoffering.*  Oil was ever present in the character' The oil which imparted its bright and lasting
luminous properties to the burniug wicks of the




'TiE MiEAT-OFFERING.         55
of Christ. That colmmunion in holiness which
subsisted  between the Father, the Son, and
the Spirit, before the world was, was not destroyed by the Son becoming flesh. The mode
and circumstances of its development might be
different, but the perfectness remained the saime.
The exhibitions of the meekness of Christ and of
all his other qualities, were never in the power
of mere human thought and feeling.  Every word
which he spake, every feeling he expressed, was
in the power of that which he essentially was
as heavenly and divine.  " The Word became
flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and
truth."  " Grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee forever."  Hence
we may well understand why oil was poured upon
the flour.
Frankincense was also added.  " Ie shall pour
oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon."
Frankincense was a gum of snowy whiteness,
seven-armed candlestick in the holy place, with the
oil which was mixed with the meat-offerings, according to the laws of symbolism must be regarded as
anointing oil, and consequently as the symbol of the
spirit of God. —-Kurtz, Sacrif; Worshi )of O. T.




56         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
whence in Hebrew its name. It was the emblem
therefore of purity-a purity which, when
searched into by the fire of the altar, was found
perfect in grateful fragrance. Such purity was,
I need scarcely say, one of the distinctive features
in the character of Christ. He was by birth the
Holy One —" that holy thing that shall be born
of thee shall be called the Son of God."'He was
God manifest in the flesh-flesh physically weak,
physically like ours; yet morally so unlike, that
every feeling there was, as to purity, in strict
congeniality with the purity of that Holy One
who had made that flesh his own. His character
therefore was, as his person, pure and holy. No
spot of darkness could be detected there. It was
as the snow-white frankincense. It was the
character of One who had never grieved, never
hindered the Spirit of God, nor fallen short of
his heavenly excellency. The ill-savor of fallen
humanity was not there. Frankincense therefore,
the type of fragrance as well as purity-fragrance
suited to the altar of God-was appointed to crown
the Meat-offering.
But whilst there was thus to be the presence




THE MEAT-OFFERINGo          57
of oil and frankincense, leaven and honey were
excluded. "No Meat-offering, which ye shall
bring unto Jehovah, shall be made with leaven:
for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in
any offering of Jehovah made by fire." There
are some things which even nature itself is wont
to recognize as evil, and of such things leaven is
the type. Leaven is sour and corrupted dough.
No one, unless his senses are vitiated or depraved, can taste it without knowing it to be
bitter; all who use it know that it infuses its own
qualities into every thing in which it is allowed to
work. But there are other things as unfit as
leaven for the altar of God, in which, nevertheless, nature recognizes only sweetness. Of such
things honey is the type-the type of mere
earthly sweetness. It is the sweetest of natural
things, but is a sweetness that has not in it the
characteristics of heaven. Although formed, not
under our tainting hand, but the result of an industry that finds its most suited sphere in distance from  the haunts of man, where flowers
bloom in.unknown solitudes-although apparently; therefore, the purest and sweetest of the




58          THIE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
productions of the earth-it nevertheless soon
shows that its sweetness is not the sweetness of
the new creation, for it ferments, corrupts, and
quickly turns to sourness.   Leaven itself is not
more repugnant to the taste, than the acrid corruption of honey.    That which is capable of
such a change has not the incorruptibility of the
Paradise of God.   It can find no place in the new
creation, for all is unchangeable and incorruptible
there.*
* " In frankincense the full fragrance is not brought
out until the perfume is submitted to the action of
fire. In honeyit is just the reverse; the heat ferments and spoils i.. Tlie bearing of this on the offering of Jesus is too obvlious to require comment. The
fire of God's holinesss tried him, but all was pure
fragrance. Muhet of the precious odor of his offering
was the very resutlt of his fiery trial. How different
is it in believers! IThere is in many a sweetness of
nature-very sweet for a while it may seem to our
taste-which yet will not stand the test of fire; the
first trial is enough to sour it. Who is there that has
been cast into sifting circumstances where God's holiness and our ease or interests have come into collision, without feeling how much there is in us which
could not be a sweet savor upon the altar? And have
we never found, in setting even before saints sonme
plain but neglected command of our Master, tlat much




THE iMEAT-OF'ERiING.         59
The moment we admit that in the flesh no good
thing dwelleth (" flesh" being the name for all
that we bring into this world with us as children
of Adam), it follows that all such mere natural
sweetness of disposition as is found in us, is not
more acceptable to God, than are other features
of character which are cast in a grosser mould of
evil.
The Apostle Paul was well aware how the
earthy, eorruptible, honey-like sweetness of nature
might insidiously infuse itself even into the very
highest developments of Christian grace, such for
example, as love.'' I pray," said he, writing to the
Philippians, "that your love may abound yet m ore
and more in knowledge and in all judgment"e'
(sensitive perception, discrimination), "that ye
may approve things that are excellent," etc.
Such would be the result of love being exercised on
divine instead of natural principles-of having
in it "salt" instead of "honey."  But if, in
of the sweetness in them which we have taken to be
frankincense has at once shown itself to be fermenting
honey? It was not so with the blessed Jesus.-Gulces
on Qff'erings.




60         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
loving others, we exercise no discrimination, and
approve or sanction things that are not excellent,
but evil-if we show no regard to truth or to
character, but smile on those who are hindering
Christ's truth, as much or more than on those
who are sustaining it-if private predilections
determine our preferences, instead of regard to
the great principles of God-then either leaven
or honey will be present; honey, if this wronglyprincipled love be the result of a natural amiability of character that shrinks from giving pain,
and makes quietness and repose the great desiderata in Christian life; leaven, if this exercise
of undiscriminating love result from a disregard
or contempt of truth, or from a desire to secure
influence at any cost, by gratifying the natural
feelings of others and pleasing them apart from
God.
In the character of the Lord Jesus neither honey
nor leaven were found. None of those principles
which, operating age after age, had made human
society what it was when he came into the world
-principles which might properly be called "old
leaven," neither any thing in which that leaven




TIHE MEAT-OFFERING.          61
was working fresh developments of evil-no such
elements of character were found in the Lord
Jesus. Neither was there in his character any
thing like honey. No sweetness that was the
mere sweetness of earth was there. That which
gave a savor to his actions was "salt," not
" honey." Salt being in itself incorruptible,
is repellant of, and preserves from, corruption
Its incorruptibility and power of preserving from
corruption make it also the emblem of perpetuity
or unchangeableness, whence the expression,
"covenant of salt."  See Num. xviii. 19. As
representing such things, it became the fit emblem
of principles divine and heavenly-savoring of
God, not of men, and giving to character those
qualities which were demanded by the altar of
God. "Every oblation of thy Meat-offering shalt
thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer
the salt of the covenant of thy God to be
lacking from thy Meat-offering: with all thine
offerings thou shalt offer salt." It formed therefore an essential element in the character of the
Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus loved the family
at Bethany. God was exercising that family and




62         TTHEI PERFECT SACRIFICE.
teaching it. When the first blow fell on them they
sent to the Lord Jesus, and entreated him to come.
But he went not. Mere nattural kindness would
no doubt have caused him to go; but the Lord
Jesus never loved any, nor helped any, apart from
-od. Hte knew that it was for God's glory and
for their blessing that their request should not instantly be granted: he remained therefore where
he was, and Lazarus died. If he had not
primarily remembered God and God's glory, and
had thought merely of gratifying them, then, whatever his kindness, there would have been " honey"
in the character of Jesus: he would have lacked
the "salt." But this was impossible. Again,
mere natural kindness might have prompted
him to spare his servant that terrible rebuke
when he said to Peter, " Get thee behind me,
Satan."  In Peter, the " honey" had been found.
It was mere natural feeling that caused him to
saiy, in the apparent fervor of deep affection, " Be
it fair from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto
thee."  But Jesus was as the fire on the altar,
quick to detect that which lacked the savor of
God. Salt was in his words when he turned and




THE MEAT-OFFERING.           63
said to Peter, " Get thee behind me, Satan; thou
art an offence unto me; for thou savorest not the
things that be of God, but those that be of men."
These, however, were not the only occasions on
which salt was seen in the character of our Lord
and Saviour. If there was in his love towards
God an incorruptible principle, that gave to it a
perpetuity such as mere human love never
knows, it is not otherwise in his love towards
his people. That, too, is faithful and perpetual
-love stronger than death, love from which
nothing can separate. If the love of the Lord
Jesus had had in it the mere sweetness of earth,
would it not have failed when all his disciples
forsook him, and Peter denied him, at the very
hour when lie miost needed kindness-when
men were raging around him, and when the
terrors of the Cross were before him? Yet it
failed not. It was the very moment at which it
chiefly manifested its perpetuity, and showed
that it was divine.
The perfectness of the character of the Lord
Jesus was never more manifested than whilst he
was dying on the Cross. If he had there




64        TTHE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
silently died-if no word had been uttered by
his lips, we should still have seen in him the
devotedness of One who was rendering himself
unreservedly as a whole Burnt-offering unto
God. We should have known, too, that his
character continued to be what it ever had been,
perfect. But the perfectness of his character
was livingly displayed on the Cross. His care
for his mother; his forgiveness of the repentant
sinner; his resolve to fulfill all that was' written,
when he said, "I thirst;; his prayer for his
murderers; his use of the twenty-second Psalm,
which is a psalm not of supplication merely but
of thanksgiving and strong expression of joyful
confidence as to the future-all these things
showed that there was not one relation towards
God or towards man which he was not sustaining perfectly, in all calm self-possession of spirit,
just as if the unutterable anguish and weight
of divine wrath had not been bearing upon him.
It is then in respect of this excellency of character, perfect alike towards God and towards man,
maintained unvaryingly through all circumstances, and offered in death for our sakes-it is




THE MEAT-O0ERINO.            65
in respect of this that Christ is typified by the
Meat-offering.
If we had merely to consider the character of
the Lord Jesus, and to contrast it with our own,
the only result would be, anguish and despair.
There would be the sense of necessary and everlasting severance, such as must subsist between
purity and corruption. But it is not for this that
we are brought to the altar where the Meat-offering is presented. We are brought there, not
merely to discern its excellency and to judge our
own condition in the light thereof, but to see it
accepted on the altar for us, and burned for us,
as an offering whose excellency is considered
ours. It becomes our wealth-our endowment
before God. Poor as the church is in all that
constitutes heavenliness of character, it will
nevertheless enter heaven in joyful consciousness
that the results of all perfectness of character
pertain inalienably to it, because of what Christ
has been. All that pertained to the offering
was attributed to him who brought it. As we
behold the sweet savor ascending, we see, as
in the case of the Burnt-offering before, the
5




6 6THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
type of IMPUTATION. We are able to say that
all the value of Christ's character is reckoned
to be ours.
And here, we must again remember, that
whilst it was needful for the Israelites to provide
the Meat-offering, and to offer it in the appointed manner-otherwise its value would not
be imputed to him-yet it is not so with us.
God has provided for us the offering; God has
caused it to be offered; and the moment we
believe, all the value of Christ's sacrifice, under
whatsoever type that value may be indicated,
rests upon us. As we acquaint ourselves therewith we may strengthen our faith, but we do not
strengthen the certainty of our blessing.
Nevertheless, nothing is more important to
our comfort and to our spiritual healthfulness,
than that we should consider well the character
of Christ, and our own characters in contrast
therewith. Few things are more to be dreaded
by the believer than a dull or hardened conscience; and the conscience will soon become
hardened if it resolves to merge every thought
in the one great fact of accomplished salvation




THE MEAT-OFFERING.           67
and is careless of all that gives to character deformity or beauty in the sight of God. In such
a case, natural qualities will be mistaken for
grace: honey will not be distinguished from salt:
and leaven will be unrecognized as bitter, not
because it has lost its bitterness, but because the
taste has become vitiated, and is unable to discern. The heart, whilst in this condition, apprehends neither the excellency of the qualities it
lacks, nor the malignity of those it cherishes.
It cannot estimate the character of Christ, nor
appreciate what his grace may have wrought in
others. "Inexperienced in the word of righteousness," and failing in all priestly discrimination-for the heart of the priest should keep
knowledge-it will censure where it ought to
praise, and praise where it ought to condemn.
Its powers of service will decay-it will either
become listless and cold, or else active with misdirected energy; feeding on things other than
the food which God's altar supplies, and finding
its occupations in the house of the stranger
rather than in the Tabernacle of God.
We must seek, therefore, to consider well the




68         TIIE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
character of the Lord Jesus as the Meat-offering.
It is true, indeed, that we must be perfect ourselves before we can rightly estimate perfectness.
Our senses here are, and ever will be, too dull to
recognize fully either the bitterness of the leaven,
the fragrance of the frankincense, or the savor of
the salt. We fail, therefore, even in appreciating
the excellency of a condition in which all evil is
absent, and all good present. Nevertheless, as
we grow in grace, our ability to estimate these
things increases. We find it humbling, yet
happy, to think of our own leavened characters
by the side of that altar where the unleavened
One has been offered for us. We meekly thank
God that he feeds us with this food, and makes
us partakers of his own joy.
Thus, too, we are encouraged to copy the example of him who is our Meat-offering. We must
remember, indeed, that if all the grace of which
we could conceive as capable of being communicated to a creature, were ours, our characters
could never be as this Meat-offering: first, because it was positively and negatively perfect;
secondly, because it was presented and burned on




THE MEAT-OFFERING.          69
the altar for others. Moreover, the character
of Christ was the development of an excellency
that essentially pertained to him  as the Holy
One; whereas our characters, in their best developments have not only flaws unnumbered, but
are always the result of a power implanted in us
by him-a power which is so far from being
naturally ours, that the moment it is implanted it
finds itself resisted and opposed by every energy
that nature gives. For these and various other
reasons, we can never speakof our charactersnot even after "the new man" has been created
in us-being as the Meat-offering. Nevertheless,
if we habitually test our waysL by the character
of Christ, and acquire an aptitude for distinguishing leaven and honey, and salt and frankincenseif we accustom ourselves to say, "How would
Christ, in these circumstances have thought
or acted, or spoken or felt?"-actions based
on such remembrance of Christ will not indeed be
Meat-offerings, but they will be accepted through
him who was the Meat-offering, and so will have
an excellency attributed to them which is not intrinsically their own.




O0          THE PERFECT SACRlPICE.
Reflection, too, on the hinderances which at
present obstruct, both in ourselves and others,
those developments of character which our consciences approve and our spirits perhaps desire,
will quicken our apprehensions of the blessedness
of that hour when, being changed into the likeness of him who is risen for us, we shall find
even our characters perfect because like unto
his.  "I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy
likeness."  This thought, though not properly
the subject of this chapter, is nevertheless introduced into it by a verse, evidently parenthetic
but intended to remind us that earth is not the
only scene in which living character is displayed.
It teaches us that there is another sphere, eternal in the heavens, into which Christ, as our
first-fruits and forerunner, hath already entered,
and there liveth unto God. The parenthetic
verse is this: "As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them  unto Jehovah, but
they shall not be burned upon the altar for a
sweet savor." The oblation of first-fruits here
referred to is described in Lev. xxiii. 10, 11, and
is said by Paul to typify Christ raised from the




THE MEAT-OFFERING.          71
dead and made the first-fruits, of them that sleep.
1 Cor. xv. 20. First-fruits, as thus applied to
Christ, is a word of exceeding blessing, for it
implies the sequence of ourselves into a condition similar to that into which he-our firstfruits-has been already brought. When Christ
was here, his service was to satisfy for us at the
altar.  Then he became as the Meat-offering
burned for a sweet savor. But he will never
morw be this. " Christ being now raised from
the dead dieth no more, death has no more
dominion over him." Accordingly the "firstfruits" which represent him in resurrection were
not burned on the altar; they were only presented to the Lord and waved before him-the
typieal pledge of that blessing which he afterwards expressed in words such as these, "Because I live ye shall live, also i" or again, "The
glory which thou hast given me, I have given
them, that they may be one as we are." This, as
I have already said, is not the subject of the
Meat-offering chapter; but it is one so clearly
connected therewith, there is so manifest a connection in thought between Christ accepted for




72         TI-E PERFECT SACRIFICE.
us here at the altar, and Christ accepted above,
as "the first-truits," that we might expect that
our minds should be led on from the scene,
where we have yet to consider ourselves and our
characters in painful contrast with the Holy One
offered for us, to that coming hour when this
sorrowful contrast shall cease to be-when sin
and mortality shall be alike swallowed up of life,
and no leaven nor any honey, nor any thing
short of the perfectness of Christ shall any longer
be found in the characters of the risen saints of
God. We shall no longer then use, as now, this
chapter; but it will not be forgotten. All that
we then shall know and feel and exhibit-all the
living powers of our new and excellent being,
will be recognized as part of the results of HIS
having been accepted for us who is our MEAT-OFFERING.




CHAPTER IY.
THE PEACE-SACRIFICE.
LEVITICUS III.
No awakened heart can solemnly consider the
claim that God has on the service of his
creatures, without being sensible that its failure
in devotedness must have sunk it into destruction
forever, if God had not, in the exceeding riches
of his goodness, provided for it the grace of the
BURNT-OFFERING. Nor will a faithful examination of our characters in their more minute
features, lessen the sense of our deficiencies. It
will only deepen the apprehension of our guilt
and would leave us in hopeless despair forever,
if the perfectness of Another's character had not
been provided on our behalf, to be accepted for
us as the MEAT-OFFERING. It is not, however, in
the lack of devotedness, nor in the multiplied
imperfections of our characters, that we find the
root of our misery. The great secret of our
moral disease lies, not in the developments
73




74         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
of our nature, but in the fact of what our nature
in itself is, as fallen and depraved-that nature
from which all development springs. In God
and in his nature, we find light, purity, holiness.
"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of hosts."
" He is Light, and in him is no darkness at all."
The emblems which he has chosen to denote the
excellency of his own heavenly dwelling-placesuch emblems as "crystal mingled with fire," or'pure gold like to transparent glass," or "a
firmament of terrible crystal"-are but the expressions of what his nature essentially is. But
when we turn to the condition of our naturethat nature which we bring into the world with
us-what do we there find? Before any apprehension of good or evil has dawned upon our
hearts, before any notion respecting God has been
formed in our souls, before we have uttered a
word or conceived a thought, sin-essential SIN
is found to dwell within us. I-Ie who " searcheth
the reins and the heart" finds it there. From the
first moment of our existence it is the tenant of
our frame. Bound up with our being, it enters
into every sensation, lives in every thought,




THE PEACE-SACRImFICE.        75
sways every faculty. If the senses, by means of
which we communicate with the external world,
had never acted-if our eye had never seen, and
our ear had never heard-if our throat had never
proved itself to be an open sepulchre breathing
forth corruption-if our tongue had never shown
itself to be "set on fire of hell," still Sin would
have been the mistress of that secret world of
thought and feeling that is found within us; and
every hidden impulse there would still have been
enmity against God.   God alone understands
what SIN is; he alone has the title to speak
authoritatively respecting it; and such he declares to be its relation to the nature of fallen
man. " Flesh" is the moral name given by the
Scripture to all that we naturally are, in body, in
soul, and in spirit; and it is "flesh" of which the
Apostle saith that in it no good thing dwelleth:
and again, "the mind of the flesh* is enmity
* As our translators have very properly translated
To phronema tou pneumatos, in Rom. viii. 27, "the
mind of the Spirit," it seems strange that they should
not have rendered To phronelma tes sarkos, " the mind
of theflesh," in the sixth and seventh verses. Thus
the ambiguity of the expression "carnal mind"




'76         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
against God; it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be."   "The flesh lusteth
against the Spirit."  "Flesh," when thus used
morally, is the distinctive name of fallen humanity.
"So soon as Adam"-I quote the words of
one of our English Reformers —"was defiled
with that spot of sin, out of the root and stock
corrupted there sprung forth corrupted branches,
that conveyed also their corruption into the other
twigs springing out of them. Thence came the
horrible blindness of our minds and perverseness
of our hearts.  Thence came that crookedness
and corruptness of all our affections and desires.
Thence came that seed-plot, as it were, a sink of
all sins, with the fault whereof mankind is
affected and tormented." *
would have been avoided-an expression which has
caused some to suppose that the mind spoken of
may be sometimes not carnal; and that, it is only
when carnal that it is declared to be enmity against
God; whereas the object of the passage is to show
that the mind of the flesh (and we have nothing else
naturally) is essentially and always "enmity against
God."
* Nowell's Catechism




THE PEACE-SACRIFICE.         77
The relation of man's ruined nature, first to
the law of God, and afterwards to the Spirit of
God, is largely dwelt on in the Scripture. If
God meets it with his law, which is " holy, just,
and good," instead of that law being welcomed
and obeyed, as soon as any of its commandments
are apprehended, they instantly awaken within
us a desire after the very things which God commands us not to desire. In vain the law reiterates, " Thou shalt not desire;" SIN within us does
desire. "' Sin taking occasion by the commandment," excites to disobedience, and "works all
manner of concupiscence." Rom. vii. 8. Dwelling in us like an unclean demon habitually and
essentially opposed to God, it hates every thing
that God loves, and loves every thing that God
hates.  Even after "the new man" has been
created in us, and after the Spirit of God dwells
within us, the enmity of Sin in our flesh remains
unchanged-it still struggles against the Spirit.
"The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the
Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary
the one to the other." Gal. v. 17. Such is naturally the condition of those whom  nevertheless




78         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
God has loved, pitied, and met with the grace
of the PEACE-SACRIFICE.
The parts of the Peace-sacrifice that were
burned on the altar sufficiently indicate the specific object for which they were presented. " The
fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that
is upon the inwards, and the two kidneys, and
the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks,
and the caul over the liver, with the kidneys, it
shall he take off, and Aaron's sons shall burn it,"
etc.  No types could be chosen more strongly
expressive of inward being. Those parts were
selected, that form the seat of the innermost and
most deeply seated of the animal feelings and
affections often mentioned in Scripture under the
general expression "reins and heart"-known
only to him, who, because he searcheth all things,
searcheth them also, and finds in their condition
the evidence of what the nature of those to
whom they pertain, morally is. In the Burntoffering, where devotedness proved  by outwardly-developed action was in question, we find
none of the parts specfied, to which exclusive
prominence is here given. Even where "the




THE PEACE-SACRIFICE.         t 
fat" is mentioned, which denotes the vigor and
healthfulness of the parts with which it is connected, there is a contrast. In the Burnt-offering
it is the fat which is connected with the limbs
and external parts; whereas, here it is* the
inward fat or suet which covers the vitals. The
parts selected to be burned in the Peace-sacrifice
were those which determine the condition of the
inward being. Their presentation on the altar
marked the condition of that being, as pure, undefiled, and acceptable before God.
The inward parts of a "clean" animal could
not be taken to represent the condition of our
nature. If our type be sought among the living
things of creation, it must be sought among
things defiled and evil, such as dogs, or swine,
or vultures; or creeping things tortuous and
slimy, like the viper, or the unclean creatures
that move at the bottom of the great deep. The
vital parts of such might well be used to represent
our nature; but they never could be brought to
* The words employed in the origiM.l point out this
distinction.




80         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
the altar of God. They never could be burned
there for a sweet-savor.
But it was otherwise with our Substitute. His
nature as a man was not less perfect than his
nature as God. In both he was equally pure,
equally holy. His devotedness, the perfectness
of his character, all that he manifested in word
and deed, was but the result of his being what
he essentially was-the Holy One-One inwardly
as well as outwardly perfect-One who could say
from his youth up, "I delight to do thy will, O
my God; yea, thy law is within my heart." And
when he in whom this inward perfectness was,
submitted to die; when that perfectness was presented for us on the cross; when reconciliation
and peace became the declared result of that
offering-such reconciliation that God bids us
rejoice in Christ, and grants us communion with
his own joy in him-we find in these things the
antitype of the Peace-sacrifice.
Few things are more important to the soul
that desires to be established in grace, than
acquaintance with the truths taught by the Peacesacrifice. If our inward condition were marked




THE PEACE-SACRIFICE.         81
merely by a distaste for holiness, and a desire to
avoid the presence of a purity for which we
know ourselves to be unsuited, even that would
be a state of sufficient misery. But when, in
addition to this, we detect within ourselves an
habitual hatred of Him from whose purity we
shrink; when we discover that the whole framework of our inward being is marked by living
enmity against him, and yet find ourselves brought
nigh to God by an act of his sovereign grace with
our nature in all the depths of its depravity
judicially set aside, and instead thereof the inward purity of Christ presented and accepted for
us, we may well marvel and say that "God's
ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as
our thoughts."  Such is the lesson taught by the
inward parts of an unblemished victim being
burned on the altar.  The essential sin that
dwells within us is not remembered, save as
being covered by the mightier efficacy of a holiness that has given itself for us-so covered that
God is able to meet us in the fullness of peace
and to grant us for our food a part of that
6




82          THriE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
offering that has fed the holy fire of his own
altar.*
The provision of a table for the offerer-a table
furnished by part of the same sacrifice that had
been presented on the altar, is one of the distin* I scarcely need refer to the many declarations
which the Scriptures contain respecting the depravity
of all that naturally characterizes our inward being:
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Jer. xvii. 9. " Every
imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only
evil continually." Gen. vi. 5. "In me, that is, in my
flesh, dwelleth no good thing." Rom. vii. 18. The
more there is of inward vigor in us naturally, the
more there is found of strength of enmity against
God.
In Christ, on the contrary, even after he became
flesh, all was perfect, pure, and holy. He was not
more truly Light when he was with the Father before
all worlds, than he was after he became man and
tabernacled amongst us here. The perfectness of his
devotedness, and of all his developed character, was
but the result of a perfectness that was found within.
The purity that pertained to him  as man was as the
purity that pertained to him as God. Hence, we can
easily understand the joy of that soul that discerns
how this purity has been substituted for its own depravity, and presented for it on the altar for a sweetsmelling savor,




THE PEACE-SACRIFICE.         83
guishing characteristics of the Peace-sacrifice.
After the inward parts of the victim had been
burned on the altar for a sweet savor, the offerer
was allowed to spread a table, to be supplied
from the sacrifice which had been presented at
the altar, but had not been burned thereon. On
this the offerer and others associated with him
were allowed to feed in fellowship together. Yet
this, their fellowship with each other, was not the
chief thought connected with their feeding on the
Peace-sacrifice.  To feed at the table of the
Peace-sacrifice was the token of fellowship with
God; for they fed on that on which his altar had
fed; and to feed on the same thing is the token
of fellowship and peace. Thus, whilst the Peacesacrifice in being slain and having its inward parts
burned for a sweet-savor affords the type of
that which has supplied its own excellency in the
room of the depravity and defilement that inwardly characterizes our nature, the type terminates not with this. It typifies further a ministration from God towards those thus atoned for
and accepted; and represents him as ministering
to them from his own altar, and from his own




.84        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
joys. The other offerings, especially the Burntoffering, direct our minds to that which has satisfled God; but in the Peace-sacrifice we think also
of that which God, after having been satisfied,
ministers to us. It may be necessary for God,
when all the principles of his government have
been outraged, to vindicate his holiness before
angels and men and Satan, by requiring satisfaction. This may be and is necessary; but it is a
necessity arising from sin; whereas impartation
and bestowment; of blessing pertains to him, as
his own proper characteristic in his own sphere
of heavenly blessedness-even as he who was
manifest in the flesh once said, "It is more
blessed to give than to receive."
In considering the relations into which redemption brings, our attention may be so fixed on that
from which we have been delivered, as greatly
to hinder our acquaintance with the new blessings
whereunto we have been brought. On our first
conversion our thoughts are often unduly retrospective. Israel, when brought out of Egypt,
felt themselves far better able to appreciate the
condition from which they had been rescued,




THE PEACE-SACRIFICE.        85
than to understand the new circumstances into
which they had come. And after we have advanced in our Christian course, if, as believers,
we hlave tampered with evil, and then been,
through God's grace, recovered, however thankful we may be for the deliverance-however truly
we may recognize many of those relations of
blessings which the ceremonies of the Peace-sacrifice typify, yet we shall commonly find, in such
cases, that our apprehension of the blessings into
which we have been brought is far less lively
than our appreciation of the mercy that has delivered us from danger. The perils he had known
in Sodom would be likely to occupy the soul of
Lot, whilst Abraham would be employed with
the blessings he had found with God. They who
have walked most closely with God will find
themselves best able to appreciate the blessings
to which grace has gathered them. In such a
condition of heart we shall find ourselves able to
enter most into the grace of the Peace-sacrifice;
for the peculiarity of its joy is grounded not so
much on the attainment of pardon, or of acceptance, as on the results of that acceptance received




86         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
in communion with God, and ministration of
blessing from his hand.
Nothing can be more important for the right
comfort of our hearts, than to meditate well on
this relation of God thus ministering to us.
" Having been justified by faith," says the Apostle, "let us have peace with God" *-in other
words, being at peace with God, let us enjoy the
peace which God has provided-let us feed on
the Peace-sacrifice. The table spread therewith
is an evidence that every claim of God and of
his holy altar has been fully satisfied, and that
the results are now before us-results of peaceful fellowship with God forever. The offerer
seated at the table thus spread by the gift of
God is a type of the condition which attaches
to every believer in Jesus, however feeble he
may be-however slow in apprehending the
blessings that are his. He is reconciled to God,
and the subject of his everlasting ministration in
grace and love; and whenever the great day of
eternity breaks, he will be recognized as one who
* Such, according to some manuscripts, is the right
reading in this passage.




THE PEACE-SACRIFICE.        87
is in fellowship with God at the table of Peacesacrifice.
We cannot wonder, therefore, that a specially
eucharistic character should attach to this sacrifice. It was offered "for vows or thanksgiving
or voluntary offering," Lev. vii., and consequently
was always connected with seasons of triumph
or festive joy in Israel. To such occasions the
Peace-sacrifice peculiarly belongs. Thus, when
the temple was dedicated with joy and gladness,
the king and all Israel with him sacrificed sacrifice before the Lord. And Solomon sacrificed
peace-sacrifices, which he sacrificed unto the
Lord, two and twenty thousand oxen and one
hundred and twenty thousand sheep...  On
the eighth day he sent the people away; and
they blessed the king, and went unto their tents
joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that
the Lord hath done for David his servant and for
Israel his people."  Nevertheless, although so
peculiarly a sacrifice of joy, and although the
feeding thereon was so distinctly the sign of
peace ratified by God; yet it was a peace made
with those who had been enemies-persons in




88.        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
whose flesh sin still dwelt-a peace reached only
through the shedding of blood. The feeding on
the sacrifice was a scene of peace and joy only;
but with the presentation at the altar was connected confession, self-judgment, and recognition
of the claim of the divine holiness-a claim that
could be satisfied only by vicarious death. Lest,
therefore, any should virtually dissever the table
from the altar, and should seek to enjoy the peace
without remembering how that peace was purchased, and how undeservedly it came, it was
strictly commanded that the Peace-sacrifice should
only be eaten two days at the longest after its
presentation at the altar. If any should desire
to have the joy of the table continued, they must
recur to the altar again. Nor is the application
of this to ourselves difficult. Some who recognize the cross as the basis of their hopes, have
attempted so to occupy themselves with the
ulterior results of redemption as to leave, as they
have said, the cross behind them-wishing to
enjoy the blessings without the continued humbling remembrance of the condition of those to
whom they are given. In heaven, indeed, it will




THE PEACE-SACRIFICE.         89
not be necessary, as now, to place ourselves as
sinners before the cross, and painfully to contrast
our nature with the nature of him who dwelleth
in the light, and so to judge ourselves; but
whilst we remain in the flesh such self-judgment
is necessary for the right healthfulness of our
souls. If we attempt to have communion only
with the joy and peace of redemption, without
the recognition of those truths which pertain to
our practical condition whilst yet in the flesh, with
sin in us and sin around us, the result will be an
arrogant and presumptuous use of the mercies of
God, that will turn our blessings into a snare. We
can easily understand, therefore, why it should be
said, that if the flesh of the Peace-sacrifices were
eaten at too great a distance from the time of presentation on the altar, "it shall not be accepted,
neither shall it be imputed to him that offereth it;
it shall be an abomination, and the soul that
eateth it shall bear his iniquity." Lev. vii. 18.
If we examine the nature of the ceremonies
appointed when the Peace-sacrifice was presented,
we shall see additional reason for guarding against
a neglect of the altar. Not only was there the




90         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
confession of the offerer's own depravity implied
by the presentation of a substituted victim-not
only was the cleanness of its nature brought into
contrast with the impurity of his own, but a
Meat-offering also was presented-a memorial
of the character of Christ-" Ite shall offer with
the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes
mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed
with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour,
fried." Ler. vii. Here was a very full memorial
of the character of Christ; but, besides this
Meat-offering, leavened bread also was commanded
to be brought. It was brought as the memorial
of our characters-brought as the contrast between our characters and the character of Christ,
that we might consider them together, and compare them as in the presence of the holiness of
God. The "leavened bread" was neither burned
on the altar, nor fed on by the priest-it was
merely offered with the Peace-offering and with
the Meat-offering, as something protected by their
excellency. Such is the type of our condition.
It teaches us a lesson full of grace, yet humbling.
To be required to judge ourselves-to own the




THE PEACE-SACRIFICE.            91
leaven that lurks in our character and ways-to
contrast this leaven with the perfectness of
Christ and the requirements of God-to be called
on to watch against, and to restrain the developments of that which is thus detected-all this
cannot be otherwise than painful; it is an employment of earth, not of heaven; yet it is
necessary. Will there be poverty of spirit otherwise? and is there any thing to be dreaded more
than that we should feed on the Peace-sacrifice,
and seek to rest in its grace, with self-complacent
and unhumbled hearts?*
* The second day from the time of presentation at
the altar was the longest period allowed for retaining
the flesh of the Peace-sacrifice. On' the third day it
was not to be eaten at all. Three is frequently used
in Scripture to indicate continuous repetition; just as two
signifies simple repetition. It was only, however, in
the case of " vows, or voluntary offerings," that eating
on the second day was allowed. If offered for thanksgiving, it could only be eaten on the same day on
which it was offered: "' The flesh of the sacrifice of
his Peace-offering for thanksgiving shall be eaten the
same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of
it until the morning.  But if the sacrifice of his
offering be a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be
eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice, and




92          THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
None but "clean"' persons were allowed to
eat of the flesh of the Peace-sacrifice. If any
one, "having his uncleanness upon him," or if
any one, being clean, had defiled himself by
touching any unclean thing, if any such ate "of
the flesh of the sacrifice of Peace-offerings, which
pertain unto the Lord, even that soul shall be cut
off from  his people."  Professing Christendom
teems with examples of persons unsanctified by
faith in Jesus, and therefore "having their uncleanness upon them," attempting to feed at the
table of Peace-sacrifice.  To such these solemn
on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten."
Lev. vii. Faith is always regarded as being most
vigorous in the case of voluntary service or worship,
and then the soul can be longer confided in for not misusing its mercies. "Thanksgiving," it willbe observed,
is not here regarded as a voluntary service. Whenever the call of duty is so imperative that the refusal
to recognize the claim would be a sin, then, of course,
there is not the same opportunity for voluntariness,
as in cases where there is no such claim. For this
reason thanksgiving, which becomes a positive duty
when special mercies are received, is not classed with
voluntary services, and the soul that renders it merely,
is not regarded as being beyond the ordinary condition
of faith.




THE PEACE-SACRIFICE.        93
words in their full force apply-" That soul shall
be cut off from his people."  And if any who
have believed, and are therefore "clean," John
xv. 3, tamper with evil, and yet seek to comfort
their hearts, whilst unrepentant, by the peace of
this sacrifice, against them, too, judgment is
written. Of such the apostle spoke, when he
said to the Corinthians, " for this cause many are
weak and sickly among you, and many sleep;
for if we would judge ourselves we should not be
judged." 1 Cor. xi. 30. It is true, indeed, that
such, seeing that they are under grace, and not
under law, shall never come under that judgment
of condemnation which shall fall upon the world
of the ungodly and end in the second death. The
judgment of chastisement here, however severe,
is not to be confounded with judgment unto
damnation. The one is from a Father towards
his children, and is in love; the other is from an
unreconciled God towards rebels, and is in the
power of everlasting wrath. Nevertheless, the
apostle spoke of chastisement from the Lord
being a solemn thing, even though grace enabled
him to add, "but when we are judged we are




94         THE PERFECT SACRTFICE.
chastened of the Lord, that we should not be
condemned with the world."  The knowledge of
this mercy must not prevent our saying, " Judge
therefore yourselves, brethren, that ye be not
judged of the Lord."
It will be seen from what has been already said,
how needful it is to distinguish between the altar
on which the sacrifice was offered to God, and
the table on which the remaining part of the
sacrifice was fed on by the offerer. Nothing
could be more contrasted than the altar and the
table. The altar was the place at which the
blood was shed for expiation, and where satisfaclion was made unto God. All the ministration
there was toward God. It was the recognition
of the claim of his holiness, and unless that were
satisfied, rejection and wrath, not acceptance and
peace, must have been the portion of all who
drew nigh. But when the services at the altar
were finished, then God could act toward the
worshiper as reconciled; and the table became
the place, not of the offerer's ministration to God,
but of God's ministration to him. There was no
atonement at the table-no propitiatory sacrifice




THE PEACE-SACRIFICE.         95
was offered there; all this had been completed
before; and the flesh of the Peace-sacrifice, fed
on at the table, was only a memorial of the sacrifice already finished at the altar.
I scarcely need observe that there is a marked
resemblance between the relation of the table of
Peace-sacrifice to the altar, and that of the Lord's
table to the cross. This analogy is distinctly
referred to in the New Testament; and if remembered, would sufficiently preserve us from
the destructive error of confounding between an
altar where expiatory sacrifice is offered, and a
table which only exists on the ground of expiation having been complete. The table is indeed
connected with an altar, but that very connection
shows that it is not itself an altar. Nor could
this obvious truth have been forgotten, if professing Christianity had not lost the apprehension
of what the cross is, as the place where the true
Peace-sacrifice has been once and forever offered.
Otherwise, the table of the Lord could never
have been spread; the very fact of its continuous existence implies that the sacrifice on which
it has been founded is finished and accepted
forever. This however, was soon forgotten in




96         THE PERFECT SACRTFICE.
the professing church. The doctrine of completed
atonement was lost almost as soon as the apostles
died. The thought expressed in " SATISFACTION"
-that word which embodies the keystone truth
of the gospel-was banished from the writings
of the early centuries, until at last the table of
the Lord was avowedly changed into an altar,
and blasphemously surrounded by sacrificing
priests, in daring defiance of every truth that the
ninth and tenth chapters of the Hebrews contain.
No peace can dwell in a heart that, even indirectly, gives itself over to such things.
We are able, through God's abounding grace,
to say that our Peace-sacrifice has been slain,
offered, accepted forever; and: that the feeblest
believer is regarded by God as being under its
power and having fed thereon. He is regarded
as a guest at the table of God (for the Peacesacrifices were the Lord's. Lev. vii. 20), and
the fact of his being a guest there is a proof
that, as to acceptance, he is perfected forever-so
perfected that there remaineth no more offering
for sin. -He never, therefore, seeks to offer for
sin again. He may recur to the remembrance of
the sacrifice once offered, and to every thought




TIE PEACE-SACRIFICE.         97
connected with the altar; yet he never seeks to
make atonement at that altar again. The cross
of the Holy One cannot be erected afresh. To
speak in any sense of the repetition of atonement
is to dishonor the work which Christ has wrought
-it nullifies that by which God has declared that
he perfects forever all who believe, and is a rejection of the one only propitiation.
It is, then, the sin of our nature-that which
of all things is most depressing-most terrifying
to an awakened heart-it is this that is met by
the grace of the Peace-sacrifice. Wherever we
go, whatever we do, by night or by day, in public
or in private, in the church or in the world, we
carry sin within us. It besets us always, and is
often chiefly felt when we seek to worship or to
serve God. Watchfulness and experience may
enable us to restrain its violence, and to gain victories over its outbreaks, and he who is best able
to bridle his evil is pronounced by the Scripture
to be most practically perfect; but such perfectness is not the perfectness of heaven, neither is
it a perfectness on which we can rest as the
ground of acceptance before God. The knowledge of our inward defilement must have made
1E 




98         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
us shrink from  God forever, and would have
hopelessly shut us out from his presence, unless
he had provided for us this offering. But there
we see the inward perfectness of the Holy One
presented on our behalf; and ourselves not only
accepted but ministered to by God. Thus sorrow is turned into joy, and the cry of hopeless
despair exchanged for the voice of thanksgiving.
We are enabled to say, "The Lord hath done
great things for us, whereof we are glad"-that
" He hath given us the garment of praise instead
of the spirit of heaviness."  The more we examine ourselves, and probe the source of our
woe, the more do we find reason to bless him for
that grace which has found in the exceeding
depth of our sin the occasion for the display of
its own more abounding fullness. The soul willingly consents to be honest in self-.examination
then. It need not hide from itself the condition
of its nature, when it finds in that condition the
very thing that has drawn forth the grace of the
Peace-sacrifice-grace that causes us to recognize the essential evil that dwells within us, only
when it makes known to us essential good as oli
everlasting portion.




CHAPTER V.
THE SIN-OFFERING.
LEVITICUS IV.
THE former chapter has directed our thoughts
to the manner in which grace has met the deep
intrinsic evil of our nature-that nature which,
even if its energies had never been aroused into
development, would still have remained "enmity
against God," and therefore have justly merited
everlasting wrath. Wrhat can merit wrath more
than that which is inherently opposed to essential
perfectness? What can be more surely the heir
of woe than that which is so evil as necessarily
to be miserable in the presence of good? Such
a condition is in itself misery, apart from the
superadded inflictions which fall on it from the
righteous judgment of Good: and such is the
condition of our nature-truly, in every sense,
the rightful heir of anguish and of indignation.
Yet, in order that we might not inherit these
things-in order that we might know blessing
99




100        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
instead of curse, joy instead of anguish, peaceful
communion instead of the alienation of eternal
enmity-the Peace-sacrifice is given. So, standing as in the presence of God's own holiness, we
are able to consider our nature in all the depth
of its corruption, and yet to say that instead of
having it and its judgment as our portion, we
have reckoned to us, the perfectness of One,
whose excellencies are the exact converse of our
abominations.  Such is the result of Jesus being
the Peace-sacrifice. In virtue thereof, peaceful
communion, as if at the same table and over the
same sacrifice, becomes the abiding relation into
which the whole family of faith are brought with
God.
But our knowledge of evil is not limited to
that which lies hidden within us. Our nature
does not slumber; it acts. "Dead," as regards
all power of living to God, it is full of untired
energy in living according to the prince of this
world-" the spirit who worketh in all the children of disobedience."  Cain and his children
were " dead" towards God-no principle of purity
or holiness, or light or love, acted in them to



THE SIN-OFFERING.          101
wards him; but out of his presence they were
full of enterprise and activity-they builded cities
and invented arts, living to Satan and to themselves. What they were, that naturally we are.
rWe are commiters of sin-doers of iniquity.
No remedy, therefore, commensurate with our
need, could be found in any thing that failed to
meet the consequences of committed sin. Accordingly, for this the Sin-offering and the Trespass-offering were appointed.
Committed sin may be distributed into two
principal divisions: first, sins committed in ignorance; secondly, sins committed consciously. It
is of the first of these classes that the fourth
chapter of Leviticus treats.
There is a prevailing disposition in the hearts
of many to think of the sins of ignorance as if
they were no sins; or if they are to be called
sins-if it be allowed that they need mercy, such
mercy is regarded rather as a right than as the
free and unmerited gift of grace. Ignorance in
the minds of such persons becomes synonymous
with guiltlessness; to act conscientiously, however dark or dead the conscience, is to act blame



102        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
lessly. The thought of the responsibilities that
attach to knowledge, becomes secretly a reason
why knowledge is eschewed.   In a word, darkness is loved rather than light, because darkness
brings quiet; but light has awakening and convicting power.
I scarcely need remark how all that we have
been considering in relation to the Sin-offering,
and sins committed in ignorance, destroys that
evil and infidel thought, of every man being to
himself a sufficient rule for his own actions. If
culpability only attaches where conscientious conviction is transgressed, he who has the most
darkened or hardened conscience would have least
of guilt, for he would sin conscientiously. We
are sufficiently disposed to avoid light without
this additional incentive to love darkness. What
is conscience in a fallen being, without rectification according to the word, and by the Spirit of
God?*
* " Neither our conscience,nor our measure of light,
nor our ability, but the truth of God is the standard
by which both sin and trespasses are to be measured.'Though he wist it not, yet is he guilty,' Leviticus v. 17s




THE SIN-OFFERING.           103
A sufficient answer to all such thoughts is this
-that the especial reason for the appointment of
the Sin-offering was, that it might meet sins
committed in ignorance. No one who reverences
the word of God, will speak lightly of sins of
ignorance, after he has once read such words as
these: "If a soul shall sin through ignorance
If man's conscience or man's light were the standard,
each man might have a different rule. And, at this
rate, right or wrong, good or evil, would depend, not
upon God's truth, but on the creature's apprehension
of it. At this rate the filthiest of unclean beasts
could not be convicted of uncleanness, while it
could plead that it had no apprehension of that which
was pure and seemly. But we do not thus judge in
the things of this world; neither does God judge so
in the things of heaven. Who argues that because
swine are filthy, therefore the standard of cleanliness
is to be set by their perceptions or ability; or that
because they seem unconscious of their state, therefore the distinction between what is clean and unclean
must be relinquished? No; we judge not by their
perceptions, but our own; with our light and knowledge, not their ignorance, as our standard. God, in
like manner, though in grace he finds means for pardoning it, still judges evil as evil whenever he finds
it. Our blindness does not alter his judgment; for it
is our sin and that alone which has caused the blindness." —Gukes on the Offerings.




104        THiE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
against any of the commandments of the Lord,
concerning things which ought not to be done,
and shall do against any of them,... then let
him bring for the sin that he hath sinned," etc.
The heinousness of such sins of ignorance depends, not so much on the character of the deed
done, as on that condition of heart, which is
capable of committing sin without knowing that
it is sin; and commits it, perhaps exultingly,
triumphing in it as good. What must angels in
heaven think of the state of that soul which is
so thoroughly blinded-so utterly astray from
God as to violate his commandments, and resist
his will in total unconsciousness that it is doing
wrong I It was thus that multitudes in Israel
hated and persecuted the Lord Jesus-it was
thus that Paul shed the blood of Stephen, resisting the full testimony of the Holy Ghost from
one, whose face shone as he spake, with heavenly
brightness. All this was ignorance. Paul verily
thought that he was doing God service; yet that
very thought argued such thorough blindness of
soul-such entire alienation of heart from God,
6




THE SIN-OFFERING.         105
that it was alone sufficient to make him "the
chief of sinners."7
Nature, if left to its own native blindness,
would always sin, and sin in ignorance-such sin
being the embodiment in action of those dark
principles of enmity against God which lie embosomed in the human heart. In order, however, that the character of sin might be fully
manifested, and that want of light might never
be pleaded in palliation of transgression, God has
never left himself without witness. Throughout
the heathen world, the eternal power and dodhead of God are borne witness to by the works
which his hand has made. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament
showeth his handy-work." Ps. xix. " He left not
himself without witness, in that he gave them
rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their
hearts with food and gladness." "The invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse."  om. i. 20.
The Jews, in addition to this testimony of crea



106        TIHE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
tion, had also the written word. "To them
were committed the oracles of God." They had
also many a prophet, many a teacher, line upon
line and precept upon precept. The consciences
both of Jews and Gentiles were often made to
feel the appeals of God. As Paul spake Felix
trembled.  Nevertheless, they rejected these
appeals. Satan and their own evil quenched or
obscured the light. As they turned from it, their
conscience became more hardened; and as it
hardened, sins of ignorance were multiplied, and
committed with a higher and more reckless hand.
Shall we speak lightly of sins of ignorance like
these? One evidence of their character will be
found in this, that such sins chiefly abound where
the conscience is most hardened, either by long
continued evil, or by the judicial infliction of
God. What can be more terrible than a conscience so hardened?
Nothing has a greater tendency to bring the
conscience into this state, and to lead to the
daring commission of sins of ignorance, than
religious truth perverted.  Revealed truth had
been received by Israel, but received to be be



THE SIN-OFFERING.          107
trayed. Their influential systems-the systems
which they worshiped, were based on perverted
truth. From their childhood they drank of a cup
of error ministered to them in the name of God.
In vain the Scriptures spake of Jesus; in vain
John, his forerunner, testified; in vain the Lord
himself proved by his words, his character, his
miracles, that he was indeed the Son of the living God. The light of holiness and of grace
shone fruitlessly upon hearts, whose natural
darkness was deepened by the systematic influence of a religious corruption, that had sanctified
error by holy titles, and had blessed wickedness
in the name of God.
Nor has it been otherwise in Christendom.
The past and present history of the church of
God supplies countless instances of souls, so nurtured from childhood in the atmosphere of error,
as to be deadened in every power of right discernment and apprehension. If a lamp that man
or Satan have kindled from beneath be early put
into our hands; if we are taught to regard it as
a light kindled in the sanctuary of God; if our
ear welcomes the deceiving tale, and we refuse




108        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
to test it by the true light of God's written word,
what wonder if we are deceived? What wonder, under such circumstances, seeing that our
hearts naturally love darkness, that sins of ignorance should abound?   Shall we say that there
is no heinousness in sins of ignorance like these?
It would be happy, indeed, if we could assert,
even of real Christians, that they are free from
these fearful sins of ignorance. But whenever
they give themselves up to the guidance of any
individual, or of any system whose influence is
not strictly according to the revealed truth of
God, they will surely act against Christ and
his commandments ignorantly.   The practices
that he favors, they will discountenance; the
doctrines he teaches, they will reject; the persons whom   he commissions, they will resist;
they will substitute error for truth; and ignorantly throw the weight of their character and
their gifts into the scale of falsehood. There is
nothing, perhaps, at this present moment, that is
operating more terribly against the progress of
truth, than the misdirected energies of real Chris



THIE SIN-OFFERING.         109
tians, ignorantly sustaining error, ignorantly resisting light.*
Paul was keenly alive to the danger of these
sins of ignorance.  He knew how easily the
souls, even of believers, can be bewitched. " 0
foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?" He
knew how easily Satan can transform himself
into an angel of light; and how hard it is, while
in the midst of " man's day," to judge of persons
and things in the light of the day of God. Even,
therefore, when he was walking most blamelessly,
in much maturity of grace and knowledge, he
refused to pronounce any certain judgment on his
own character; for there might be blemishes in
it which he was unable to discern, and decision
respecting this pertained to the Lord, not to him.
* Of course I do not mean to imply that all the sins
either of Christendom or Judaism are sins of ignorance. But in a period of religious declension or
apostasy, when the early pattern given by God to the
churches has been long departed from, it must be that
ignorance will abound. And as the dispensation draws
nigh to its close, and the conscience becomes more
obdurate, and judicial blindness increases, sins of
ignorance will necessarily multiply.




110        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
" I am not," said he, " conscious to myself of any
thing;"* that is, I am not conscious of any
allowed transgression; "nevertheless am I not
hereby justified; but he that judgeth me is the
Lord." If, then, there may be sins of ignorance,
even where there is most diligence and watchfulness, how much more where there is negligence
or slumber, or acquiescence in the prevailing evil
of the age? There has been only One on earth
free from sins of ignorance, even he who said,
"I have set the Lord always before me;" and he
came to be our Sin-offering-to bear the wrath
due to these very sins of ignorance: otherwise,
they alone would have sunk us into perdition forever.
The chapter before us, as being addressed to
those who were ostensibly the separate people of
God, teaches us especially respecting sins of
ignorance committed by believers. The greater
our privileges, the nearer we are brought to God;
the more intimately we are connected with'his
* "I know not that I am guilty of unfaithfulness."
1 Cor. iv. 4. Coneybeare and Howson's Translation.




THE SIN-OFFERING.          11
service, the more terrible must be the consequences of transgression. The sin of an Israelite had a greater heinousness in it than the sin
of an uninstructed Gentile-the name of God
was more dishonored thereby. Again, the sin
of a priest or of the whole congregation of
Israel, seeing that with such should have been
found understanding, and the fear of the Lord,
was greater than the sin of an individual among
the people. To the sin of an anointed priest
and to that of the congregation equal heinousness attached. In each of these cases, the full
consequences of the sin of ignorance were developed: and therefore, in meeting these consequences, the full efficacy of the Sin-offering was
displayed.
The priests were anointed that they might
minister in the near presence of God.  Their
employment was in holy things —their place the
sanctuary. As instructed in the ways of the
Lord of Hosts, as acquainted with the manner of
his house, their lips were to keep knowledge;
and others, through them, were to learn the ways
of the Lord. Sins of ignorance, therefore, were




1.12       THE PERIFECT SACRIFICE.
the very sins that should have been absent from
the priest. But if they were found in him-" if
the priest that is anointed do sin.... through
ignorance against any of the commandments of
the Lord, concerning things which ought not to
be done, and shall do against any of them," then
his sin was to be estimated by the holiness of
the things and places in which he ministered, and
by the disastrous consequences to others, as well
as to himself, that flowed from its commission.
His sin had penetrated, as it were, the holy place;
it had entered before the vail; it had tainted the
place of his ministration; it had defiled the altar;
it had involved others in its consequences; and
the stain must be effaced, either by vengeance
consuming him, or it must be expiated by the
blood of a substituted victim.
It was for this that God, in the unsearchable
riches of his grace, appointed the Sin-offering.
The offending priest brought the victim to the
door of the Tabernacle before Jehovah, and there
"leaned" his hand upon its head, and slew it.
The blood was then borne into the holy place,
and there sprinkled seven times before the Lord,




THE SIN-OFFERING.         113
thus specially recognizing him as the person
against whom the sin was committed.' Against
thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this
evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest, and be clear when thou
judgest." The ground on which he was accustomed to stand when he ministered was thus
sprinkled, and also the golden altar of incense,
at which he served. Thus the taint was covered
over; himself purchased back from destruction 
the places of his honorable service preserved
unforfeited. The remainder of the blood was
then poured at the bottom of the altar of Burntoffering, as a memorial that the just requisition
of holiness had been met-met by death. The
blood was not, as in the Burnt-offering and
Peace-sacrifice, scattered on the altar, in token
of its acceptableness there; for now it was regarded as the result and token of vengeance
deservedly falling upon sin. The reality of the
death by which the sin was expiated, and the
certainty of that expiation being recognized in
the very sanctuary whose holiness had been violated, was proved by the blood being poured,
8




114        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
and allowed to remain, at the bottom of the alta,r.
There it could be seen as the token of accomplished and accepted atoning death. It was
blood shed.*
But whilst these ceremonies within the holy
place and at the brazen altar thus supplied the
memorial of reconciliation as the result of wrath
appeased, there were other ordinances without
the Tabernacle, which teach us respecting that
wrath whilst in process of being inflicted. The
principal parts of the victim, viz.: "the skin of
the bullock and all his flesh, with his head, and
with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung,
* There is, probably, nothing that the consciences
of believers feel more acutely, than the extent of the
dishonor done to God, when they have sinned in
positions of high and honored service. They know
that the dishonor done to God is commensurate with
the dignity and holiness of their position. They
know, too, that Satan, and holy angels, and men in
their measure, understand this. The sense of such
guilt would be overwhelming, if there had not been
provided in the Sin-offering, grace adequate to meet
the depth even of this need. Happy are they who,
in such circumstances, fly to the true refuge, instead
of having recourse to idle extenuations, which have
in them the guilt of hypocrisy.




THE SIN-OFFERING.          115
even the whole bullock, shall he carry forth without the camp, unto a clean place where the ashes
are poured out, and burn him-literally, burn
up or consume-on the wood with fire; where
the ashes are poured out shall he be burned up."
It should be observed how remarkably this
passage respecting this first class of Sin-offering
ends with the word "burn up."  This is very
unusual. We commonly find at the conclusion
some words that intimate forgiveness attained,
or which speak of the offering as a sweet savor.
But here no such results are mentioned; the
object being to bring out in strong relief the
great truth that sin deserves and receives consuming wrath. This thought may be and should
be conjoined with other thoughts; but other
thoughts should not be commingled with it, for
so none will have their own proper completeness. This, however, is seldom the case in our
experience; we continually neutralize one truth
by another. It is right to combine, but combination is not confusion. In the rainbow, colors
are combined, but they are not neutralized nor
oonfused.




116        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
The mind is evidently intended to rest on the
solemn truth taught by the word with which
these directions conclude-BURNT UJP. He who
has considered the heinousness of sin as estimated in the sanctuary in relation to the holy
vessels and services there, will best apprehend the reason of the devouring wrath which
this word expresses.  In the Passover our
minds are chiefly directed to the deliverance; in
the Peace-sacrifice to the peace into which we
are delivered; in the Sin-offering to the satisfaction rendered to WRATH. The manifested infliction of destroying wrath, though deserved by
indwelling sin, is delayed in the governmental
order of God, uutil sin has been committed.
This is a sufficient reason for the great type of
wrath inflicted being found in this chapter.
A very different type this, from that in which
the whole offering was lifted up on the altar of
God as an offering of sweet savor; or from that
in which, as in the Peace-sacrifice, these parts,
or the greater number of them, were fed on by
the offerer. Here fire kindled, not on the altar,
not within the Tabernacle, not even within the




THE SIN-OFFERING.           117
camp, but kindled "without the gate"-the
place of dishonor and reproach-devoured, like
the fire of Gehenna, that which was counted as
if it were an accursed thing. In the case of the
altar, the fire that was thereon kindled, fed gratefully on that which satisfied it by its excellency;
but here, a fire, kindled without the camp, burnt
up, as in fury, that which was given it to be consumed.   Such was the type of him, whom,
though he knew no sin, God made sin for us. 2
Cor. v. 21. In other types, we have seen him,
as the One who " gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling
savor;" but in this burning without the camp,
we see him stricken-" bruised"-made a curse
for us-made sin for us.*  It was then that he
* It is not easy to recognize vengeance and wrath,
either as due to our sins, or as endured by our Substitute for us. Often, after we have apprehended that
the Holy One has been stricken for us, and that he
has become for us a sacrifice of sweet-smelling savor,
we form but a feeble estimate of the wrath he sustained for us, or of the reasons why that wrath was
due. It is well for us that our safety depends not on
the clearness or comprehensiveness of our faith, but




118        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
uttered that bitter cry, "My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me, why art thou so far from
helping me, and from the words of my roaring?"
Thus, too, we can understand the words of the
apostle, " God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, judged-damnatorily judged-sin in the flesh." The flesh of
the Lord Jesus was holy: in him was no sin;
but the sin of our nature, here called "sin in the
flesh," was reckoned to him as our Substitute,
and when he died upon the cross was there
damnatorily judged.   There it received   its
award. This is the lesson that faith learns, as
it stands by the fire without the camp, and gazes
on it, whilst the devoted parts of the Sin-offering
are consumed. There it beholds the memorial
of what Christ became on account of his people.
There it sees not only their sins but their sin
judicially ended. We may stand, as it were, by
the side of that burning pile. We may see the
flame fiercely raging in the full intensity of its
simply on the fact that our souls have indeed said,
"Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words
of eternal life."




THE SIN-OFFERING.         119
devouring power; at length we behold it lessen;
at last, flicker and decay, till it smoulders among
the embers. We may watch the last expiring
spark that glimmers there, and when that endswhen nothing but the cold ashes remain-we see
an emblem of the relation which the fire of holy
wrath bears to all the believing people of God.
Its power is expended; it hath burnt itself out;
ashes only remain.
Yet at the same moment when the real power
of wrath bore on the Holy One-our Substitute
-even whilst he was being stricken as if he had
been sin, there was, nevertheless, found in him
all that perfectness of heavenly excellency, which
was inseparable from him, even whilst being
made a curse for us. God still beheld in him his
only beloved Son in whom he was well pleased;
whose obedience and devotedness and perfectness
in life and in death, remaining unchanged even
whilst wrath thus preyed on him, ascended still
as the " odor of a sweet-smelling savor." This
truth is carefully preserved, not only in the types
of the Burnt-offering, and Meat-offering, and
Peace-sacrifice, but also in the ordinances of the




120        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
Sin-offering itself. Whilst the body of the Sinoffering was carried without the camp to be consumed, the internal parts, that is to say, the internal fat, kidneys, etc., were placed on the altar,
and there burned. These, it will be observed,
were the same parts that were burned in the
Peace-sacrifice; here, too, intended to typify
those excellencies of nature in Christ, which
shone in him always, and manifested his nature
as man, to be the exact opposite to ours, as inhabited by, and subjected to sin. Sin committed
in ignorance is so connected with the condition
of our nature, inwardly; it is so impossible to
meditate on the one without tracing it to the
other, that we can easily understand why this
part of the ceremonies of the Sin-offering
should direct our thoughts to the condition of
our nature, and to the satisfaction made on its
account.  Conscience, whenever it truthfully
meditates on sin committed, goes back to the
root from which it springs, and finds that root
within us. And when that is once seen, how
could there be any rest, unless God had provided
for us One, whose excellencies are here also sub



THE SIN-OFFERING.         121
stituted for our vileness? In atonement, divine
holiness requires in the Surety, not only that he
should bear every penalty, but that he should
also present a substitutional perfectness for us.
If we compare the fourth and the sixth chapters of Leviticus, it is very evident that the first
broad distinction between them is, that the former
treats of sins committed ignorantly; the latter,
of sins committed knowingly. In the one, it is
said, "if a soul sin, through ignorance, against
any of the commandments of the Lord." Lev.
iv. 1. In the other, "if a soul sin, and commit
a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his
neighbor in that which was delivered to him to
keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away
by violence, or hath deceived his neighbor, or
have found that which was lost and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely," etc. Lev. vi. 2.
In such cases it is very evident that the action is
willful.
The division, however, into sins ignorantly,
and sins knowingly committed, is not alone sufficient. Sins committed ignorantly greatly vary,
not only in the degree, but also in the kind of




.122        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
ignorance; and for such ignorance, we may be
in different degrees responsible. In order, therefore, to mark that such differences are appreciated
by God, and that he desires that we, too, should
appreciate them, various classifications of sins
of ignorance are given in the fifth chapter; in
some of which, there is so much of self-caused
ignorance, that they very nearly approach, in the
character of their guilt, to sins knowingly committed. Nevertheless, whatsoever the character
of sin, we have ever to remember that the one
sacrifice once offered " covereth over" forever all
sin, for all who believe. If believers analyze the
character of their sins, it is not that they might
be more secure, but more wise, more able
humbly to serve and to thank him, who teaches
them the character of their sin after he has
brought them, through the blood of the sacrifice,
into everlasting reconciliation.
Sins of ignorance greatly differ in kind as well
as in degree. He who transgresses because he
is ignorant that any commandment exists forbidding him to do what he does, commits a sin
very different in character from that of one who.




THE SIN-OFFERING.          123
knowing that certain things are forbidden, nevertheless disobeys, either unawares, or because he
deceives himself into the belief, that the particular case in question may be made an exception to
the general rule, on the ground of necessity, or
pardonable expediency; so that with a good conscience (as men say), in other words, with a
perverted conscience, he ignorantly does evil.
Ignorance of this kind, that is, ignorance which
respects the particulars of action, is often selfinduced, in a sense in which general ignorance,
that is ignorance which affects the general principles of action, is not self-induced.  To be ignorant of some general principle whereby a whole.
class of things is universally proved to be evil,
differs greatly from  an ignorance which only
affects the question whether such and such a
particular case falls, or does not fall, under that
class. Thousands, for example, like Luther in
his earlier days, render religious allegiance to
bodies falsely claiming authority from  God,
because, from being educationally, or otherwise
blinded, they discern not the principle whereby,
in the word of God, all such bodies are con



124        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE,
demned; whilst others, well knowing that any
recognition of such bodies is forbidden, do, nevertheless, give themselves to practices whereby,
unconsciously or carelessly, or for expediency's
sake, they recognize them. The first are ignorant as to the principle of their action; the latter
of its circumstantial particulars. The first kind
of ignorance is chiefly marked by the extent and
depth of the darkness by which it is accompanied;
the second derives its criminality, chiefly, from
the carelessness or willingness to be deceived, by
which it is almost always characterized. The
sins of the fifth chapter belong to this latter
class. They are, indeed, done in ignorance; but
so much of voluntariness mingles with the ignorance, that they verge towards the willful sins of
the sixth chapter, and so stand contrasted with
sins of ignorance properly so called, of which the
fourth chapter treats.  Such sins, therefore,
have a mediate character. They are committed
in too much ignorance to be classed with the
willful sins of the sixth chapter; whilst, on the
other hand, there is too much of voluntariness in
that ignorance, to admit of their being classed




THE SIN-OFFERING.           125
with such sins of ignorance as are treated of in
the fourth chapter. Accordingly, whilst the sins
of the fourth chapter, that is, sins done in ignorance, and arising mainly from ignorance, are
met by the Sin-offering; and whilst the sins of
the sixth chapter, that is, willful transgressions,
are met by the Trespass-offering; the sins of the
fifth chapter-from verse 1 to 13 inclusive-are
met by a Trespass-offering of a peculiar character, viz., a Sin-offering* offered for a Trespassoffering; whereby the mediate character of such
sins is plainly signified.
The sins treated of in the fourth chapter-met
by the Sin-offering properly so called-derive
their predominant feature from the circumstance
of ignorance being their root. They so manifestly
spring from ignorance-ignorance is so distinctly
their parent, that they stand morally contrasted
with other sins, which, even if committed ignorantly, cannot, in the same sense, be said to
spring from ignorance. The ignorance which once
* And sometimes by a Sin-offering and Burnt-offering offeredfor a Trespass-offering; sometimes by a Meatoffering offered for a Trespass-offering.




126        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
caused St. Paul to venerate Judaism; and
caused Luther, for a time, to bow before the
false pretensions of iRomanism, is very different
in character from that ignorance which tampers
with something that is unclean or evil, because
it is too careless, or too inexertive to rouse itself
to inquiry; or because it fears what it may discover, if it should probe too deeply.  In the
first case, there is no dread of inquiry or deliberation, because the mind is so thoroughly blinded,
that it suspects not its condition; but in the
second case, carelessness or disinclination to
know the truth prevents examination.   Ignorance, in fact, is consciously cherished; so that
every one who honestly examines an action so
performed, feels that, however much it may be
committed ignorantly, yet that its root is not
ignorance, but a certain disposition of heart that
entails on itself an ignorance which it knows that
it might readily escape.
There are few chapters worthy of more solemn
consideration than the fourth of Leviticus. It
teaches us the deep responsibility of all positions
of ostensible service-especially such as are in



THE SIN-OFFERING.         127
fluential over the minds and habits of others.
Any influence we may possess, any ability of instructing, comforting, or in any way helping
others. by word or by example, is a talent which
we cannot escape the responsibility of using. We
dare not hide it in a napkin. The priests of God,
and all believers are priests, must act, and that,
too, openly. But how needful that they should
well consider the responsibility of their position;
the danger in which they are of acting ignorantly, and the disastrous effects of such ignorance,
in dishonoring God, and injuring others, who may
be involved in the consequences of their sin 
Honest-hearted reception of the word of God can
alone preserve us from such ignorance. But is
there acquaintance with the Scripture now; or
is its light hidden, and other lights substituted
instead? Think of the general delusion that has
pervaded Christendom, as to this present time
being one of holy progress, whereas, the Scripture over and over again declares, that it is one
of declension, disobedience, and dark iniquity
-iniquity that will bring on a visitation of judgment, the like to which has never yet been.




128        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
Think of the manner in which ceremonial ritesmany of them mere inventions of man-ministered, too, by unholy hands, have supplanted the
true and saving ministration of the gospel of the
grace of God. Think of the multitudes, yet in
their sins, because unsanctified by faith in Jesus,
who are taught, even whilst they are yet strenuously serving the god of this world, falsely to say
to the great Shepherd of Israel, "We are thy
people, and the sheep of thy pasture." Think
how many, uncommissioned of God, unacquainted
with his truth, and untaught by his Spirit, have
usurped the place of ministers of Christ, and are
so owned and honored. Think of the manner in
which Judaical position and Judaical principles
have been assumed by those who have forgotten
that Christ, and not Moses, is their master; so
that they whose feet should have been shod only
with the preparation of the gospel of peace, have
rushed into the battle-field, crying, " The sword
of the Lord and of Gideon;" whilst others, who
should have remembered that the place of discipleship now is to follow Jesus of Nazareth, and to
become, it may be, as the off-scouring of all things




TIE SIN-OFFERING.         129
for his sake, have eschewed this place of lowliness,
and have sought to reign as kings, building for
their worship gorgeous temples, and for themselves pleasant palaces; as if Solomon on the
throne of his glory, instead of Jesus in rejection
and reproach, were the pattern of Christian condition now. Think, too, of the blindness that
prevails, as to the prospects of Israel, of the
nations, and of the church, as to the nature of
the last great Apostasy, and the coming and
reign of the Lord Jesus; and then say, whether
there was ever an hour when sins of ignorance
more abounded-an ignorance, the depth of
which, and the sinfulness of which, One only
can appreciate.
There is a natural tendency in the heart of
man-and it operates abundantly even in real
Christians-to bow to the influence of perverted
and falsely assumed authority. "The prophets
prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by
their means, and my people love to have it so."
That honored place of authority and influence,
once held by the unfallen church, whilst it yet
stood as " the pillar and ground of the truth,"
9




130        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
has been seldom claimed by any, without the
claim-however false and presumptuous-being
willingly owned, and sometimes welcomed, even
by many who are really Christ's. But all such
authority, seeing that it is neither based on nor
guided by truth, can only lead into the darkness
to which itself belongs. What wonder, therefore, that ignorance should settle in upon that
soul that has made itself the slave of such
authority; what wonder if, unconsciously, it
should welcome falsehood, and fight against
Truth; and congratulate itself most when furthest distant from the principles of Christ. Individuals, too, as well as collective bodies, may
claim an authority which God has never given;
and not unfrequently fear, or affection, or selfinterest, or a disposition to lean upon others,
causes it to be gladly recognized.  But such
authority, seeing that it is not in the power of
Truth, that it directs not to the Scriptures alone,
that it will not bear the test of the "law and of
the testimony," can only, as in the former case,
lead towards, if not into, darkness. Nothing but
close adherence to the Scripture can preserve us




TIHE SIN-OFFERING.        131
from such results in a day like the present. Is
tlhat which we hear false or true? Is it or is it
not the word of God?    Such are the great
questions we have to ask ourselves now. The
faithful use of the Scriptures will no doubt expose many an error, detect many a sin of ignorance, and show us much that we have no sufficient grace to attain. Thus, after years of dark
declension in Israel, when at last the faithful
energy of a few led them  back again to the
neglected Scripture, the first result of their
return to it was this —that all the people "wept;"
for they discovered how they had offended, and in
what they had long and ignorantly sinned. Yet
their tears were not allowed long to flow. The
voice of compassion said to them, "Weep not;
let joy in Jehovah be your strength."  God can
ever comfort truthfulness and confession.
The amount of responsibility that may attach
to individuals on account of these sins of ignorance, there is One, and One only, that can determine. An all-seeing eye that traceth the end
from the beginning, is alone able to detect how,
and when, and where the various streams of




132        TIE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
error first emanated; and who they are who have
since most labored to swell them, or to prepare
channels for their diffusion. Some diffuse error
because they love it; others, because they are
deceived into believing it a duty.  Some, through
indifference, or timidity, or dislike of truth, refuse to avail themselves of instruction, even when
it is brought to their very doors; others, again,
seem deprived almost of the opportunity to
learn, entombed in a darkness which light seeks
in vain to penetrate. The determination of the
various proportions of guilt must be left to the
great final day.  All that we can at present say
is, that the value of the Sin-offering can never
fail; and that all who are under it, that is, the
whole family of faith-all who have not rejected
the record which God bath given of his Son-are
surely protected from condemnation by its everlasting efficacy. But although the believer in
Jesus shall never be plucked from the hand of
the Almighty Shepherd, yet the effect which
sins committed by us in ignorance may produce
upon others, who, through our example, may
continue in darkness, and perhaps perish with a




THE SIN-OFFERING.         133
lie in their right hand; the effect which such
sins must produce in darkening our powers of
spiritual apprehension, and destroying the proper
comfort of our hearts; the effect, too, upon our
service in hindering fruitfulness, and causing
"wood, hay, and stubble" to be the result of our
labors;-these, and other such consequences,
who can appreciate? They will be understood
only in the day which revealeth all things;
when " we, too, shall know even as also we are
known."
Instruction, exhortation, discipline, chastisement, are employed by the grace of the great
Head of the church towards his people, to free
them from sins of ignorance, and their disastrous
consequences. But Satan and the sin that dwells
within us put forth their energies to resist.
They struggle to increase darkness and to confirm error; and we cannot be surprised that their
plans should prosper during a period marked by
our Lord himself as one in which "iniquity shall
abound."
Yet, the greater the darkness, the more precious is any light that is available in its midst




134        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
Amid all the dark and shifting scenes through
which the fierce passions of men under Satan are
hurrying, alike, the church and the world, the
word of God remains unchanged and unchangeable, as the one steady light appointed to shine
on in the darkness, until the day dawn. Happy
are they who stand most apart from the tumultuous scene, and cleave most closely to the
Scripture, and most meditate therein. If, as the
history of Christianity peculiarly shows, the perpetual effort of Satan be to hide, or to veil, or to
distort the light of Scripture, let our effort be to
unveil it, and to give steady direction to its
beams. Even if weak ourselves, we may be able
very effectually to aid others. He will not have
lived in vain, who shall have caused one ray of
light from the word of God to rest steadily on a
heart that was dark to it before.
But how could we have any courage to use, or
to approach a light that will surely manifest ignorance and sins of ignorance, both in ourselves
and others, if there were no SIN-OFFERING?'What hope could we have unless we were able
to say that the whole family of faith are pro



THE SIN-OFFERING.         135
tected forever under its efficacy? We have not
again to offer it: it HAS BEEN offered, once and
forever offered-every ceremony fulfilled-every
ordinance obeyed. We find in it a work that has
been finished-a grace that has been perfected.
May we use it, not to nurture ignorance, and
listlessness, and slumber, but to encourage ourselves to cleave to, and maintain that light of
revealed truth, which, however beset by evil,
however much it may be for a time shrouded,
shall never have its essential brightness marred
by the admixture of one element of darkness, on
to the hour when it mingles with the light of the
eternal day.
There, none will pretend that there are many
standards of right and wrong; or that a fallen
creature may find a safe and sufficient guide in
the convictions of his own dark bosom. As soon
as the redeemed are personally sinless, they will
fully recognize the blessedness of owning and
bowing to one sovereign will. Sins of ignorance
will be fitly appreciated then; and habits of
extenuating and excusing evil will no longer
hinder the apprehension of the fullness of the




136        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
grace, which, refusing to palliate iniquity, or to
call darkness light, has itself bowed beneath the
curse due to evil, and there proved itself to be
almighty-almighty in vindicating holinessalmighty, also, in delivering the sinner who
despises not the Sin-offering.




CHAPTER VI.
THE TRESPASS-OFFERING,
LEVITICUS VI.
IF we read the commencing verses of the sixth
chapter of Leviticus, it is evident that the sins
they describe are sins that must have been committed knowingly. "If a soul sin, and commit
a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his
neighbor in that which was delivered him to
keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away
by violence, or hath deceived his neighbor; or
have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely," etc. In the
cases here supposed, there is evidently no ignorance-the deed is knowingly and deliberately
done.
Our first impulse, in thinking of sins thus
committed, is, to attach to them a far higher
degree of heinousness than to sins committed in
ignorance; and in many cases this impression is
just. I say, in many cases, because sins igno137




138        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
rantly committed may imply a condition of
more obdurate evil than is indicated by some
sins that are knowingly committed. Violence
of temptation, terror, or the desire of escaping
some threatened danger, may sometimes overpower a heart whose disposition, radically, still
remains true to God. It is thus that martyrs
have sometimes foregone their previous confessions, and disavowed, momentarily, the truth
which their souls still loved. It was thus surprise and terror caused Peter to deny his Lord;
whilst nevertheless his faith in him  and his
mission failed not. Satan never so far prevailed
as to banish from the heart of Peter the conviction that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Son
of the living God-worthy of all reverence, all
reliance, all love. That conviction was never
driven from Peter's soul. Ilf it had been, he
must have been separated from his Lord forever.
Ignorance, like the ignorance which was resting
on the people of God's wrath around him, would,
in that case, have rested on him also. But it
was impossible. Though he was sifted as wheat,
yet Jesus prayed for him, that his faith should




THE TRESPASS-OFFERING.       139
not fail; and it failed not. His heart was never
driven back into utter darkness: he still confided in and loved him whom he was denyingotherwise, when Jesus looked on him, would that
look have pierced? Would he have gone out
and wept bitterly?
How different the state of Peter, even whilst
knowingly committing that sin, and the condition
of another, who, even at that very moment, was
preparing-ignorantly, indeed, but deliberatelyto enter on his course of resolute and blasphemous
defiance of Christ. Paul was in Jerusalem,
learning at the feet of Gamaliel, during the time
that the Lord himself was ministering in the
midst of Israel. He had the opportunity therefore of hearing and owning that Holy One-him
of whom God had said, "Behold my servant,
whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul
delighteth." It was open to Paul to have owned
him and comforted him; for though he was the
One "who clotheth the heavens with blackness,
and maketh sackcloth their covering," yet he had
humbled himself, so as to need sympathy and
find refreshment in the love, even of the creatures




140        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
whom his own hand had made. But Paul rene
dered to him no sympathy, nor any love: on the
contrary, he despised him, hated him, and virtually, if not actually, joined in the cry of those
who said, "Crucify him! crucify him 1" And
afterward, when the Holy Ghost was sent down
from heaven, and many, even of the murderers
of Jesus, quailed before its testimony and resisted
no longer, the heart of Paul still refused to bow.
He heard the words of Stephen, full of the
Holy Ghost and of power-saw his face shine as
the face of an angel, and yet joined in slaying
him. All this, indeed, was done in ignorance;
but it made Paul the greatest of pardoned
sinners. The greatest, therefore, of pardoned
sins recorded in Scripture, was a sin committed
in ignorance.
If Paul had not done these things in ignorance
-if he had blasphemed, as he did, the testimony
of Stephen, whilst secretly in his conscience recognizing it as being from God-he would, in
that case, have passed the limits of forgiveness,
and would have committed the sin that never
can be forgiven, either "in this world or in the




THE TRESPASS-OFFERING.       141
world to come." It may seem difficult, perhaps, to
conceive of wickedness so intense as for the soul
deliberately to blaspheme as evil that which it
knows to come from the almighty Source of all
good; yet so it may be.   Light may dispel
darkness, but light has in itself no power to
change the nature of man's perverted will. It is
a fearful thought, that when the soul has long
loved darkness and avoided light, and cherished
its delusions, and hardened itself in willfulness,
even if God should be pleased, by a sudden exercise of almighty power, to sweep in a moment
every cloud from the soul, and to scatter
every web that dissimulation or hypocrisy have
woven, the unregenerate heart would nevertheless still remain as full of willfulness as ever, and
would only use the light given to assist it in
committing the unpardonable sin. It would still
blaspheme, and blaspheme knowingly. Such will
be the character of that closing hour, when men,
well conscious of what they are doing, will say
both of Jehovah and his Christ, " Let us break
their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords
from us —when "they shall make war against




142       THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
him that sitteth upon the horse, and against his
army." Rev. xix. Thus, whilst the greatest sin
recorded as pardoned is committed ignorantly,
the greatest of sins is committed knowingly.
It is not, therefore, from the mere fact of a
sin having been knowingly committed, that we
can infer the greatest insubjection of the will.
Abraham sinned knowingly when he wandered
from Canaan into Egypt, and endeavored to protect himself by falsehood and the abandonment
of his wife. Gen. xii. Moses sinned knowingly
when he smote the rock in anger, and forgot to
honor God in the sight of Israel. Peter and
Barnabas transgressed knowingly when they dissembled at Antioch and compromised the truth
of the gospel. Paul disobeyed knowingly when,
being warned through the Spirit not to go up
to Jerusalem, he went. Acts xxi. 4. Martyrs
have sinned knowingly when, overpowered by
terror or seduced by flattery, they have sometimes fallen for a season, and abjured the truth
for which they have been suffering. Yet how
many a sin committed in ignorance indicates to
the eye of God a degree of willfulness not found




TIE TRESPASS-OFFERING.       143
in these his servants, even though they knowingly turned from  the straightforward path!
When we willfully cause, or willfully deepen our
own ignorance, or avoid the light whereby it
would be dispelled, or cleave to our ignorance
because we love both it and its results, we are in
a worse condition of heart than many, who,
under the force of circumstances, may commit
conscious and deliberate transgressions. Accordingly, though the transgressions mentioned in
the sixth chapter of Leviticus are distinctly such
as must have been knowingly committed, yet not
a word is said that implies that they are more
heinous than the sins of ignorance mentioned in
the preceding chapter. They may be, or they
may not be. The degree of heinousness that
attaches to any transgression depends really on
the inward condition of the will; and that, who,
excepting God, can judge?*  Yet, though sins
may thus differ in their character and in the
degree of their heinousness, we must remember
* The transgressions which we are accustomed to
judge most severely are such as are deliberate and




144         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
that every sin is a breach of God's holy law-a
law whose holiness adjudges wrath to all transgression.  Every sin, therefore, of whatsoever
kind it be, needs to be met by the same grace,
exercised through the same everlasting sacrifice.
The cases of trespass mentioned in this chapter
willful; yet it may happen that one, who sills in ignorance, may have a will more stubborn, rebellious,
and wicked, than one who may commit knowingly a
very great trangression. A willful transgression does
not always prove the greatest willfulness of soul; nor
does the committal of the very same sin prove, necessarily, the same alienation of heart from God. Adam,
though he committed the same sin as Eve, was not in
the same depth of transgression; for he was not deceived as she. He did not believe the lie of Satan, that
Satan could make him happier than God had made
him. The apprehension of God and of his goodness
were not blotted out of his remembrance in the same
manner as in Eve. "Adam was not deceived, but the
woman being deceived was in the trangression." 1
Tim. ii. 13. We must not, therefore, judge by the
outward appearance merely-there may be distinctions that we cannot discern. The direst form of sin
is when willful transgressions are the direct result
of habitual willfulness of soul; and this is often the
result of long perseverance in sins of ignorance.




THE TRESPASS-OFFERING.      145
are all of them trespasses against a neighbor.
Nevertheless such trespasses are also trespasses
against the Lord. "If a soul sin, and commit a
trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbor," etc.  Wherever government is perfect,
wrong done to a subject is regarded as wrong
done to the sovereign; and so it is here. If a
man injure his neighbor, wrong is considered to
be done to God as the Legislator and Governor
of his people; and wrong is of course done to the
neighbor-wrong, too, of double character: first,
in that he is deprived of that which is his own;
secondly, in that he is deprived of it by fraud or
deceit or violence, so as thereby also to be injured
and dishonored. Accordingly, compensation becomes a predominant and distinctive feature in
the Trespass-offering. The stern eye of Moses,
who, as the minister of law, could abate nothing
from the full claim of perfectness, examined the
victim and estimated it by shekels of silver; and
if it fell short of the appointed value, it was rejected. "And he shall bring his trespass-offering unto the Lord, a ram without blemish out of
the flock, with thy (that is Moses') estimation;"
10




146        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
the victim must be of a value that would adequately compensate for the wrong done to the
government of God. Moreover, all that was
taken from the neighbor was to be restored.
There was to be the compensation of restitution
-" He shall restore that which he took violently
away," etc. And lastly, in order that the injured
person might be compensated for the manner in
which he had been defrauded, a fifth part of the
value was to be added to that which was restored.
" He shall even restore the principal, and shall
add the fifth part more thereunto, and give it to
him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his
trespass-offering."  Unless all this were done,
and the victim duly offered, the sin was not
atoned for, and wrath remained as the portion of
the guilty.
Such were the severe but just ordinances of the
law respecting trespass. And here again we
have to observe the contrast between the requirements of Sinai and the grace of the New Covenant-the Covenant of Zion. What if such compensation were exacted from us? Could we
provide any offering that would meet the estima



TIIE TRESPASS-OFFERING.     147
tion of the sanctuary of God? Could we make
restitution, and not restitution merely, but full
compensation to all whom we may have injured
by thought or word or deed, and then rest our
claim for immunity from wrath on the completeness of the satisfaction thus rendered to God and
to man? If such things were required of us,
wrath must have remained as our irreversible
portion forever. We should not have been able
suitably to compensate man, much less to satisfy
God. But we have not thus to provide. God
has not forgotten that he is Jehovah-jireh  True
to that covenant name, he has himself piovided
for us a sacrifice, by whose perfectness every
claim is satisfied: so that nothing as regards the
putting away of guilt remains to be effected
either towards God or towards man. "By one
offering" Christ " hath perfected forever" all who
come unto God by him. The remission is so
complete, says the Apostle, that'" there remains
no more offering for sin." This is salvation.
If compensation to those whom we have injured were, under the gospel, made necessary to
the attainment of forgiveness, then we should,




148        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
in part, become the authors of our own salvation.*
Not but that it is just and meet, whenever it be
possible, to make restitution to any whom we
have wronged. The fitness of such restitution,
nature itself teaches.  The first thought of Zaccheus, after the Lord had entered his house
bringing salvation, was, " Behold, Lord, the half
of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have
defrauded any man by false accusation, I restore
him four-fold."  A right and fitting thought, if
such devotedness be made a thank-offering for
salvation; but pregnant with destruction if made
the prerequisite or procuring cause.t  Yet how
often on this and kindred subjects does error
* The author means here to draw a distinction between the offering of compensation, as a work in order
to obtain the forgiveness of God, and the making of
restitution as a result of the forgiveness and cleansing
freely granted through the sacrifice of Christ. The
latter is the exercise of one saved by grace and
taught by the Spirit to exercise himself, "to have
always a conscience void of offence toward God and
toward men." —AM. ED.
f It should be observed that, in our Lord's reply, he
makes no reference to the intentions that Zaccheus
had expressed. He simply said, "this day hath SALVATION come to this house." The emphasis is on




THE TRESPASS-OFFERING.        149
feign the accents of truth I Naked falsehood is
not the only instrument whereby Satan deceives.
He deceives chiefly by perverting truth or deranging its proper order; and therefore one of
the employments of the Great Head of the church
-the Bishop of the souls of his people-is to give
them, through the Spirit, rightly ordered apprehensions of his truth. None who have the
Spirit of Christ can fail to recognize that restitution and compensation are principles holy, just,
and true-they are principles which all who
honor Christ will seek practically to embody in
their ways whenever occasion may require: but
how different this from making them the prerequisites of salvation I To that we say, God forbid. If salvation be of grace, then it is no more
of works. We desire not to be " teachers of law,
salvation. That was the word intended to arrest the
attention of Zaccheus and all who were observing
these things. The fact that full and free salvation
had suddenly come to a most undeserving dwelling
was not to be obscured by Zaccheus' proposals for the
future-however sincere such proposals-however
right as a result of salvation.




150        TILE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
understanding neither of what we speak nor
whereof we affirm."
But it may be asked, are we, by this type,
authorized to expect compensation from those by
whom we may have been injured? If we were
under law and were claiming " an eye for an eye,
tooth for tooth," we should, of course, whenever
injured, expect reparation.  But we are not
under law: we are sinners saved by grace, and
as such, deserve nothing, and claim no compensation.*  Compensation, in this sense, is a word
banished from  the lips and from  the heart of
every one who knows what grace is.  Could the
redeemed, in the day when grace shall be fully
apprehended and its results known, desire-even
* If the Old and New Testaments mean any thing by
what they teach on this point, the trespasser is the wrong
man to contend for rights. Because we are converted
trespassers, and trespassers who make our boast in
grace, we are called, as the very witnesses of that
grace and of our need of it, to deal in what we call
grace to others. * * But how far is this acted on
by many who profess to be one with Christ? Provided
we have been just, who asks have I been gracious, in
my dealings to my fellow-men.-Gukes.




THE TRESPASS-OFFERING.      151
if it were possible-to exact any thing from their
then perfected brethren? Did Joseph wish it,
when his brethren stood around him and he comforted them? Even here, grace' frankly forgives" whenever any are brought to the recognition and confession of the wrong. Not indeed
that the saints will lack recompense; but the recompense of grace through Christ is not to be
confounded with the exacted compensation of
law. The redeemed in that day will be recompensed, and more than recompensed, for every
past suffering and for every woe. However
they may have been persecuted, or maligned, or
injured-however they may have been hated or
outcast even by their brethren-however they
may have found treachery where they expected
faithfulness-all will judge themselves to be.more than recompensed, when they find themselves surrounded in glory by all the results of
the righteousness and excellency of the Son of
the Father. It is true, indeed, that he who
putteth every tear into his bottle, and noteth all
their sorrows in his book, may in the abounding
riches of his grace meet every past grief by some




152        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
corresponding joy, and make every injurious
word or violent deed that they have meekly met
for his name's sake, an added jewel in the crown
of their glory. " Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all
manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your
reward in heaven." I do not limit the superabounding bountifulness of grace towards those
whom God has been pleased to love in Christ
Jesus. But I say, that no superadded recognition or reward of this kind will be needed, in
order to make every heart feel that its recompense is not merely complete, but infinite, the
moment it stands in glory numbered among
the saved. Every heart will spontaneously and
joyfully acknowledge then, that whatever claim
brother may have had against brother, all has
been answered to infinitude by Him who, as the
kinsman and representative of all his brethren,
will have given to each, more than could ever
have been taken away from any one among
them, even if all the combined energies of evil,
that have ever worked in the church and in the




THE TRESPASS-OFFERING.       153
world, had been concentrated on one individual
head. Thus grace, without acting on the Sinaiprinciples of retribution, is able to appropriate
every principle that is holy, just, and true, and
to apply it in its own new manner, in the power
of blessing.
In the preceding observations, I have chiefly
dwelt on the trespasses described in the sixth
chapter, because they, being knowingly committed, seem to stand in most palpable contrast
with the sins of ignorance described in the fourth
chapter. I have, however, already remarked
that a Trespass-offering was not only required
in cases in which the deed was knowingly
done, but on every occasion in which the attention is primarily directed to the nature of the
act, rather than to the moral condition of the
agent.
Indeed it is on this, and not on the circumstance of the sin being ignorantly or knowingly
committed, that the true distinction between the
Sin-offering and the Trespass-offering must be
made to rest. We well know that there are occasions on which the general moral condition of




154        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
the person who has sinned is regarded far more
than the particular act of transgression he may
have committed. On the other hand, there are
cases in which the deed done and its consequences
are made the primary object of regard. In the
first case the Sin-offering, in the latter the Trespass-offering, would be required.
Nothing can more clearly show that the distinction between the Sin-offering and Trespassoffering is not founded on the sin being knowingly or otherwise committed, than the fact that
the first instance in which the Trespass-offering
proper is commanded to be brought, is one in
which the wrong is done ignorantly.  See the
fourteenth verse of the fifth chapter, where the
words, "And the Lord spake unto Moses,"
marking a fresh division, are again found.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, If a
soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance in the holy things of the Lord," etc. The
trespass referred to in this passage is done in ignorance and is committed against the Lord only.
In this case, as in the case of a trespass against
a neighbor (see chap. vi.), the victim brought for




THE TRESPASS-OFFERING.       155
a Trespass-offering was to be of a fixed, estimated value; and secondly, in addition to
the victim, compensation was to be made, not
merely by returning an equivalent, but by
adding a fifth part or double tithe thereunto.
Whenever, therefore, in the relation we hold
to God, as his people and servants, we defraud him even ignorantly of that which is his
rightful due, a trespass is committed, by which
we should have been forever ruined, if there
had not been found in Christ a value fully
compensatory in all the three aspects here
referred to.
It is worthy of remark that, although the
ignorance in cases of trespass against the Lord
in holy things must be considered as especially voluntary-inasmuch as we cannot suppose that the declarations of God respecting
his rights are unintelligible or obscure-yet
that the only trespasses here mentioned as ignorantly committed, are trespasses against the
Lord in holy things; whereas the instances
of trespass knowingly committed are confined
to those committed against men. We can easily




156        TIE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
understand this. We often defraud God of that
which is his due, carelessly and without giving
it a thought; whereas in trespasses against
a neighbor, we are for the most part far too
cautious to trespass unwittingly; the fear of
man being often more operative than the fear
of God. Israel went on for ages defrauding
God of that which was his due; for they
were commanded several times in the year
to appear before him and celebrate his feasts;
yet ages passed and they never celebrated
them  at all.  And when at last, as in the
times of Ezra and Nehemiah, they gathered
together and opened up his word and read
thereinthehey found their omissions so many
and so grievous that they all lifted up their
voice and wept. In Malachi, too, we find
them again described as habitually defrauding
the Lord of his due; and yet saying, "In
what have we sinned so much against thee?"
And if we consider the present condition of the
church of God-are they rendering to God that
which he claims of them in his word? Is
their doctrine, their order, their worship, such




THE TRESPASS-OFFERING.       157
as his word demands? Or is there daily a continuance in practices which take from him that
which his word declares to be his due? Are
there not many real Christians, exact, even to
the most minute tittle, in rendering to men their
due, who nevertheless-for reasons that will not
bear examination- selfish reasons-refuse to
search fully into truth; so that they continue
voluntarily ignorant of its claims, and never give
to it its right pre-eminence nor the proper allegiance of their souls; and so render the practical unity of the children of God impossible?
Yet this is often done and persevered in unconsciously.
The seventeenth and following verses of the
fifth chapter are worthy of especial attention;
because they pronounce all ignorance that has
caused aberration from the commandments of the
Lord to be in itself trespass.  "If a soul sin,
and commit any of those things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the
Lord; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty,
and shall bear his iniquity. And he shall bring
a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy




158         THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
estimation, for a Trespass-offering, unto the
priest; and the priest shall make an atonement
for him concerning his ignorance wherein he
erred and wist it not; and it shall be forgiven
him. It is a Trespass-offering."  Lev. v. 17, etc.
We have before seen ignorance marked as sinwe here see it marked as transgression.  How
different man's estimate, and even the churches
estimate of ignorance, and sins of ignorance, from
that which is presented to us in these chapters!
However trivial the offence committed, the ignorance in which it is committed is marked as
being itself trespass.
It is interesting to observe how the fifty-third
chapter of Isaiah-that blessed chapter of salvation-describes the punishment due both to the
sin and to the trespasses of God's people as
having alike rested on the head of the great Substitute. "It pleased Jehovah to bruise him; he
hath put him to grief; when thou shalt have
made his soul an offering for sin (trespass), he
shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days,
and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his
hand."  Again in the 12th verse, he is described




TIE TRESPASS-OFFERING.       159
as the Sin-offering: " He was numbered with the
transgressors, and he bare the SIN of many."
Thus Jesus is alike the Trespass-offering and
the Sin-offering for his people-even all who
believe,




CHAPTER VII.
THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE.
SUCH, then, is the outline-an imperfect outline,
of the five different aspects under which it has
pleased God to teach us respecting the one great
sacrifice.  In separating us from  Egypt and
leading us into a wilderness-for in following
him we find ourselves separated from many an
association, and interest, and occupation, which
naturally we loved-when thus led into the
wilderness, we find not a wilderness merely, but
a Tabernacle, within whose holy enclosure we
are taught lessons of grace. When, not as in
the presence of the fires of Sinai, but with the
light which the gospel has supplied, we enter
that typical dwelling-place of God, we find every
thing there testifying of grace, because every
thing speaks of Christ. As we stand by the side
of the altar, and think of the guilt of our trespasses, or of our sins of ignorance, or of the sin
160




THE OFFERINGS As A WHOLE.      161
of our nature, or of our blemished characters, or
of our failure in devotedness to God, we find an
offering which has not only canceled this guilt,
but left the perfectness of its own excellency in
its room. It is not only blackness covered over:
it is blackness of darkness swallowed up of light
-light pure, holy, and perfect as that which is
known in the presence of God in heaven. God
had so appointed it-it is his gift —we have
only to bow the head and worship, and give
thanks to him forever.
But while this superabounding of grace is the
great lesson of the Tabernacle, the side of the
Burnt-offering altar is also a place where instruiction of deepest practical moment is received.
The apostle speaks of it as an altar, at which we
may not only feed-feed on the provisions of its
grace-but at which we may also serve. " Tp'do
good and communicate forget not, for with such
SACRIFICES God is well pleased."  There is a
sense, therefore, in which, through Jesus, even
we may bring our gifts and sacrifices to the altar.
It is the knowledge of this that sheds a radiance
upon the otherwise dark circumstances of life,
11




162        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
and gilds many a gloomy scene in the wilderness
with the light of heavenly blessing. When the
soul discerns how sin and death have entered into
all things here, and sees that all is tainted-when
it apprehends the truth of that sorrowful cry,
"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity"-how it rejoices to find a new sphere in which things that
would otherwise " perish with the using" may
be employed for God. Even the mammon of unrighteousness may be used for him. "Make to
yourselves friends," said the Lord Jesus, " of the
mammon of unrighteousness;" that is, so use it
that its use may bear witness for you and not
against you in the final day. We may, if we
please, spend our time, our energies, our talents
on ourselves, and sow to the flesh, and of the flesh
reap corruption; or we may bring these things
to God, and to his altar, and so sow to the Spirit,
and of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Nature
uses for itself; Faith for God. Faith has a transforming touch, whereby things which otherwise
are worthless as dross, become transmuted into
the preciousness of gold.  lie who most fully
knows the ruin that sin has wrought in every




THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE.       163
thing beneath the skies, and who best appreciates
the character of him who is " a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him," will bring, like Abel,
"'the more abundant sacrifice," and find in the
service of the Burnt-offering altar one of the
chief consolations of the hours of his pilgrimage.
And if a regard to the various aspects supplied by
these several offerings be needful in forming a
right estimate of the One Sacrifice, it is scarcely
less needful in preserving us from a certain
narrow exclusiveness of feeling, into which we
not unfrequently fall in our attempts practically
to follow Christ. Ardent and imaginative hearts,
young in the faith and ignorant of themselves,
struck with the blessedness of being wholly devoted to God, are often wont to make that the
one absorbing thought, whereby every desire
respecting themselves and every judgment respecting others is moulded. It would be difficult,
indeed, to over-estimate the value of true devotedness; ftr it imparts an energy and vigor to
Christian life such as nothing else can give; but
unless the desire for its attainment be tempered
by the knowledge which other relations of Christ




164        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
supply, nature governs it, and evil fruits-fruits
of bitterness, selfishness, and pride, are found in
result. Many who have made devotedness the
exclusive object of their thoughts, have shown
little ability, or else little disposition, to regard
either excellencies or blemishes in character.
They misjudge both others and themselves.' What," say they, "are a few blemishes in one
who has made personal sacrifices and dared hardships and dangers from which others have shrunk
back dismayed-what the value of a few quiet,
minute, and almost hidden graces, compared with
deeds of self-denial that might adorn even an
apostle?"  Self-denial and suffering become, in
the eyes of such, the only bright jewels in the
crown of service.  Suffering is extolled; but
whether truth be the object suffered for is a,
question unasked and unheeded. It is thus that
the toils and sufferings of Xavier have, to many
minds, thrown a halo around the wickedness of
Jesuitisni itself. It is thus that the workings of
falsehood and evil, even in real Christians, have
been overlooked, and virtually sanctified. It is
true, indeed, that that which blinds the world




THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE.      165
may only dazzle the eye of a Christian; but a
dazzled eye is unfit for right practical discrimination.  It can neither extend its view to that
which is afar off, nor examine that which is nigh.
It is not to be wondered at, that such, though
they may speak great things respecting the
Burnt-offering, should virtually pass over the
Meat-offering unheeded, and fail to distinguish
salt from honey; frankincense from leaven.
And again, if any, more experienced than
themselves in the evil of the human heart, has
found a rest greater than they have ever realized,
in the knowledge of the Peace-sacrifice, the desire
to speak of that peace and to dwell in that peace,
even when combined with true devotedness of
heart, is often despised by those whose thoughts
respecting devotedness are more like highlywrought pictures than realities learned in the
school of well-disciplined experience. Ripened
knowledge and maturity of grace are, by such
persons, little appreciated.  The undisciplined
fervor of youthful energy is valued far more than
the wisdom of the hoary head, even when that
head has grown hoary in the path of faithful



166        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
ness and truth. And if such succeed in influencing or guiding the sheep of Christ, they are
far more ready to be ever hurrying them, and
that by harassing paths over stony places, than
to give them, from time to time, their proper
rest by still waters and green pastures.  They
forget that the Good Shepherd " maketh his flock
to rest at noon," and " carrieth the lambs in his
bosom," and "feedeth that which standeth still."
Yet there may be error on the other side also.
Some, attaching exclusive importance to certain
displays of character, have undervalued devotedness. If certain features of character are possessed-especially such as belong chiefly to the
circle of natural duties-the desirable point of
Christian progress is supposed to be attained;
although the interests of truth, and the sorrows
of those who suffer with it, and the path which
is marked with the characteristics of Nazareth,
are unthought of, or else eschewed. Or again,
the enjoyment of the peace of redemption is
sometimes made the one exclusive object of desire.
If that be maintained-if the soul, as gathered
under the shelter of the Peace-sacrifice, be able




THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE.      167
to say, " My beloved is mine, and 1 am his," it is
satisfied; whilst all energy of service, and every
stimulating principle that is supposed to disturb
or to interfere with this rest, is suspected. The
true rest of faith is never interfered with by
energy, nor by earnest inquiry after truth, nor by
going without the gate bearing the reproach of
Christ. We read in the Canticles of one who had
been brought into the city and was slumbering
in its palaces, "' her hands dropping with myrrh,
and her fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh,"
whilst her Lord was without, "his head filled
with dew, and his locks with the drops of the
night."  What a contrast of condition  How
diverse the circumstances of the bride of Christ,
and those of her Lord! Her conscience recognized the dissimilarity; she tried to comfort herself in the thought that her heart was awake,
even though she had laid down to sleep. Vain
comfort I for why should there be this opposedness between the practical position and the inward condition of the heart? Yet how often
is this diversity found I How prone our hearts
to lay aside their soldiership and to sink into




168        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
listlessness or slumber, forgetting that the true
rest of faith is most found when the realities of
the conflict of this "evil day" are most realized.
"We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places."  We stand
as in the midst of a land which teems with the
strongholds of an active and skillful foe. What
secular system, what ecclesiastical system is there,
influential over the hearts of unregenerate men,
in which faith does not recognize the presence
and power not of human evil merely, but of
Satan? What need, then, of the armor of God!
What need of activity and vigor! It is true,
indeed, that the great Captain of our salvation is
able to grant, and does grant to his people, rest.
Israel, from time to time, rested in the wilderness; but they rested in places which God chose;
and when he chooses them, the places of rest are
always found in the onward path of victory and
triumph, where the foe may be successfully resisted, if not overcllome. TWhilst waiiting' on the
guidtance of his hhand, wei: Whall not misuse our




THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE.       169
seasons of repose; we shall not so rest at the
Peace-sacrifice table, as to forget the service of
the Burnt-offering altar.
Thoughts like these-for these observations
are merely intended as suggestive-may be much
enlarged by those who desire to pursue such
mneditations. Yet however important the practical instructions that are connected with every
lesson of the Tabernacle, we must never forget
that the great primary subject of instruction
there, is grace-that "grace in which we stand."
Well may it be said that they "stand in
grace," who are brought within the holy enclosure of the Tabernacle, there to abide under
the protection and under the value of all that the
One Great Offerer has supplied to the now satisfied altar.
And if it )be asked what the instrument is employed by God to bring us into connection with
all these wondrous and enduring blessings, the
answer is, Testimony-the testimony that he himself gives in his word and by his ministers respecting Jesus. How wonderful the condescend
sion and goodness of God, in that he himself




170        THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
consents to become the declarer of that mercy
which his grace has provided on the Cross! The
gospel is called " the gospel of God," not only
because God provided the sacrifice, but because
he "preaches" or announces it. God "preaches
peace by Jesus Christ." Acts x. 36. Hence
God thus testifying concerning Jesus presents
himself as the object of saving faith; and therefore believers are described as those, "who,
through him-i. e. Jesus-do believe on God,
who raised him up from the dead, and gave him
glory; that your faith and hope might be in God."
1 Peter i. 21. And again, "It was not written
for his (Abraham's) sake alone that it (righteousness) was imputed to him, but for our sakes also
to whom it shall be imputed, that is to say to us
who believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead," etc. Roin. iv. The testimony thus spoken of may be written in the Scripture, or it may be orally given by the lips of
God's servants: in either case it is alike to be
regarded as testimony given by God. Of the
written testimony it is said, "These things are
WRITTEN that ye might believe that Jesus is the




THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE.      11
Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye
might have life through his name." Of the
preached testimony it is said, "The word is nigh
thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart; that
is, the word of faith that we PREACH; that if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
Rom. x. 8.   And again: "After that in the
wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not
God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." 1 Cor. i. Accordingly we read of the Apostle standing before
a mingled multitude and saying: "Men and
brethren, through this man (i. e. Jesus) is
preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and
through him all who believe are justified from
all things." Acts xiii. What words can be
more simple? What more explicit? It is a testimony sent from God. It directs not to ritual
observances; nor to observances of any kind;
but simply presents God as ready to become the
justifier of any who cast themselves on him,
through the finished work of Jesus thus declared.




172        THE PERFECI SACRIFICE
Some receive the message; and them God receives through the name of Jesus, and imputes
to them righteousness without works, and makes
Christ to them " righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption."  Others, either careless as to
having any rest for their souls, or else resting in
some other hope, refuse the rest prepared of God
in Jesus, and they continue aliens-unsprinkled
by the blood of the Lamb. It is possible,
indeed, that such may have " a zeal of God" that
men may magnify and admire. So had Israel.
"I bear them record," says the Apostle, "that
they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge." It was not guided by truth-revealed truth. " Going about to establish their
own righteousness, they refused to submit themselves to the righteousness of God"-the righteousness, that is, which he had provided in
another; and therefore wrath abided on them,
and they died in their sins.
Nor is the forgiveness of the gospel the forgiveness of past sin only. Such is the character of
forgiveness among men-it respects the past
only: but he who through faith is brought under




THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE.       7 3
the grace of the gospel is not forgiven merely.
His forgiveness is accompanied by acceptance
and endowment with grace in another'. He is
t accepted in the Beloved."  God is pleased to
enter into covenant with every believer, and to
engage never more, as regards acceptance, to
behold him in his own separate individuality;
but always to view him under the value of the
service and sacrifice and name of Christ. In
other words, the believer obtains a new relation
to God in a Representative; and that relation
must be measured both as to its value and as to
its perpetuity, by the value and continuance of
that Holy One by whom     he is represented.
Hence, though God retains his title to chasten
and to correct, yet the believer, from the moment
he believes, is judicially pronounced in the courts
of God free from the wrath due to his sins,
whether past, present, or to come. His standing
as recognized in the courts of heaven is in
Another. Another is his "Forerunner," Heb.
vi.; his " First-fruits," 1 Cor. xv.; his " Priest,"
Heb. viii.; his "Advocate," 1 John ii.; his
" Life," Col. iii. In his Representative, he is




174        THE PERFECT SACRTFICE.
already "seated in heavenly places," and brought
into the new creation of God: in which sense,
also, it is already said of believers, " old things
are passed away; behold, all things are become
new."
Let none, therefore, who have received the
message of reconciliation in the blood of Jesus,
and cast themselves on God thereby, fear to appropriate to themselves these mercies, and to
take their stand boldly, as those who belong to
the Tabernacle of God. The deepening darkness
of these latter days requires steadfastness-it
demands that we should gird on our armor, and
witness a good confession, and contend earnestly
for the faith once delivered to the saints. We
may be weak; but the faithfulness of God will
not fail his people. He has loved them with a
love stronger than death, that many waters
shall not quench. He has brought them from
Egypt, and divided for them  the waters of
destruction, and guided them by his strength
unto his holy habitation, in a sense that Israel's
deliverance merely typified. Theirs was a typical separation in the power of fleshly ordi



THE OFFERINGSS A  A WHOLE.        175
nances; ours a real and effectual separation in
the power of " an endless life" as seen above the
heavens in Christ risen.  The one was made dependent on the creature, and it failed: the other
rests on him who is " God over all, blessed forever"-the Redeemer as well as the Creator of
his heritage, and therefore it is effectual, and
abides for evermore.
THE END.