the apostle alludes to the Jewish sacrifices of bulls and of goats, as being the types of that great sacrifice which Christ was to make of himself once for all.The sacrifice of the scape-goat, once in the year, on the day of solemn expiation for the sins of the whole people, is generally considered a striking type of the sacrifice of Christ, which it was intended to prefigure. Two goats were brought to the door of the tabernacle for a sin-offering, and the high priest cast lots upon them, which should be sacrificed to the Lord and which should be set at liberty. One of them was then put to death for a sin-offering for all the people, his blood was sprinkled upon, the altar, and his body was burnt without the camp. The other goat was the scape-goat, on which the high priest laid his hands, confessing his sins and the sins of all the people; he then sent him into the wilderness, to a place not inhabited, to be there set at liberty, and to bear the iniquities of the people. The first of these goats is supposed to have been intended to prefigure the death of Christ, and the second, which was saved alive, to typify his resurrection.

Father. We are not informed in any part of the Scriptures, that these goats were intended as types of Jesus Christ, and I can see no reason for such a conclusion. There are, however, several reasons which have convinced me that they had no such meaning. In the first place, the goat was never made use of as an emblem of purity or holiness; but, on the contrary, always as an emblem of sin; for our Saviour himself, spoke of it in this way, when he said he would place the sheep on his right hand, and the goats, (that is the wicked,) on his left. 2. The Messiah is spoken of under the figure of a lamb, and it is not possible that he could be typified by two natures so entirely opposite as the lamb and the goat. 3. It appears to me that these sacrifices were figures of spiritual things, and that the holy men of old understood them in that

light; for we find that the more enlightened they became, the less reliance they placed upon these outward ceremonies.

The prophet Samuel said to Saul, "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." 1 Sam. xv. 22. The prophet Isaiah told the people that the Lord had no pleasure in their sacrifices, because their "hands were full of blood," and he exhorts them, in the name of the Most High, to put away the evil of their doings,-"Cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." But the language of Jeremiah is still more decided against placing any dependance upon outward sacrifices. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices: but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God and ye shall be my people; and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you." yii. 21.

King David, when he had committed a great sin, exclaimed in the depth of his contrition, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit." "Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it; thou delightest not in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a

contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Ps. li. 10, 16.

It appears that whenever an animal was sacrificed, according to the Mosaic law, the blood was sprinkled upon the altar, "for the life of the flesh is in the blood," and "I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore, I said unto the children of Israel; no soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood." Lev. xvii. 11. Now, "It is not possible," says the apostle Paul, that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." Heb. x. 4. Therefore, the hearts of the people were not purified by those offerings, unless they came to experience in themselves, that "sacrifice of God, a broken and a contrite spirit," which these outward offerings were intended to represent. For as the blood of beasts, which is the life thereof, was to be sacrificed to God; so the carnal nature in man, or the life of the flesh, must be sacrificed by being broken and contrited before the Lord, through the power of his spirit. "They that are Christ's," says the apostle Paul, "have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts." Gal. v. 24. "Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Rom. vi. 6. This "old man," or carnal nature in man, has always been produced in every individual when he has placed his affections upon earthly things, and become subject to the "lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life, which are not of the Father, but of the world." If, then, we would be redeemed from these things, we must be willing to submit to the death of the cross; that is, to have all our animal appetites, and all our selfish desires, subjected to the power of God, which is revealed within. For the cross of Christ is the power of God; and it is by this power that we must be "crucified to the world, and the world unto

us." This "death unto sin," takes place in all who come to know Christ "the resurrection and the life." "I protest by your rejoicing," says the apostle, "which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.' 1 Cor. xv. 21. "I am crucified with Christ, yet nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Gal. ii. 20. "Know ye not, that as many as are baptized into Christ, are baptized into his death." Rom. vi. 3. This death is not the death of the outward body, for he says of Christ, " In that he died, he died unto sin once, and in that he liveth, he liveth unto God." Rom. vi. 10. How did he die unto sin? Was it not by suppressing or subduing the first motions or propensities to sin, as they rose in his heart? "For we have not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Heb. iv. 15. And how are we tempted? The apostle James tells us, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lusts, (or desires,) and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin; and sin when finished, bringeth forth death.' These desires and propensities of our nature do not become sinful until they are perverted from their original purpose, and in Jesus Christ they never did become so, for he kept them all in subjection to the will of God. They are all good when kept under the Divine government; for they are then calculated to subserve those purposes for which they were created. Like the animals in paradise, they are all at peace with man, and in obedience to him. And the reign of Christ is intended to bring us back to that state in which "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them." Is. xi. 6. While man remained in paradise, in a state of inno

cence, he offered no animals in sacrifice to God; for these were only added or introduced because of transgression, and when Jesus Christ appeared to promulgate and exemplify the new covenant dispensation, he took away the hand-writing of ordinances, and showed that the whole intention of the old law was fulfilled in loying God supremely, and our neighbour as ourselves: for "on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets," Matt. xxii. 40.

The old covenant, being an outward law, the vessels used in the service of the temple, and the priests with their garments, were purified by sprinkling with outward blood, "which is the life of the flesh;" but the new covenant, being an inward law, "placed in the mind, and written in the heart," (Heb. viii. 9,) it was necessary that the soul itself should be purified with better offerings than these, even with "the blood of the Lamb," which is the life or spirit of Christ revealed within us.

James. As the mind of man is spiritual, it appears very plain to me, that it cannot be washed or purified by any thing of an external nature. If "nothing that goeth into the mouth defileth the man," it is equally plain that nothing that is taken into the mouth, or applied to the body, can purify the man from sin. And it is equally impossible that any outward sacrifice could produce a change in the Divine mind; for we have abundant evidence, that he is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," and that he is always waiting to be gracious to the repenting sinner. His dealings with man are beautifully exemplified in the parable of the prodigal son, who had wandered far from his father's house, and spent his substance in riotous living. When he came to himself, and determined to go back to his father, confessing his sins, and offered to become as one of the hired servants, his father did not stand off and order him to be punished, neither did he lay his, punish