obliged to bring the Sacrifice, and in his` Father's name to lay on hands, and to do what his Father had promised. Or if he had a mind to change one Beaft for another, (e. g. Suppofing he did not conceive the promised Beast good enough, and had a mind to give another for the purpose intended,) Both were then confidered as confecrated, and Both were to be offered, as if the Father himfelf had changed. So Bartenora. In this cafe the Heir reprefented another, and transfer'd the property which the Other had defigned, to the fame Ufes and for the fame purposes which had been intended, had not Death intervened.

Thus the matter ftood in relation to the Burnt Offerings of all, Private as well as Public And all agree that if any one brought a Sin Offering, if he did not repent and confess his Sins, he was not forgiven by God, nor was any Expiation made, more than if he had not brought his Sacrifice to the Altar.

There was ftill another fort of Sacrifices, befides thofe I have already mentioned, and which ufually accompanied.

Holo

Holocaufts, which were called Peace Of

ferings.

These were fo called, because They were offered either in Acknowledgment of good things already received, or when Men prayed and hoped to receive fuch things from God. The Former were properly Euchariftic, or Thanksgiving Offerings; The Latter were call'd Free Will offerings or Vows. Burnt Offerings were fometimes Free Will Offerings But the Ceremony of Impofition of hands on Them has been already confidered, I am now fpeaking of Peace Offerings as diftinct from Burnt Offerings; and in thefe too, if made by Private Perfons, Impofition of Hands was neceffary. The Law is, Levit. ii. 2, 8, 13. He fhall lay his hand upon the Head of his Offering. By this Rite, in these cafes, was meant the fame as in the Burnt Offerings, Trefpafs, and Sin Offerings; but then these were always attended with Prayer or Thanksgiving or Praife: The Offerer expreffing himself, when his Hands were on the head of the Beast, in such a manner as manifefted what his particular intention was.

Dif

Different Ceremonies might be occa fionally used to exprefs the fame thing. There is in the Mishnab a Rule laid "down* "The Peace Offerings of a "Private Perfon require Impofition of "Hands whilft the Animal is alive; "The Peace Offerings of the Congrega"tion are to be waved, both when they are alive, and after they are flain; but "there is no Impofition of hands upon " them." The Waving answered the fame End. The way of Waving an Of fering, when dead, was, after it was cut in pieces, the Priest took the right Shoulder, and the Breaft, and the Inwards, and put them into the Owner's hands: Then the Priest put his own hands under the hands of him that brought the Sacrifice, and waved or moved them upwards and downwards, in acknowledgment of the prefence of God, who is not only in Heaven above, but in Earth beneath. And this will fufficiently explain the manner and reafon of Waving the Sacrifice

Sacrificia pacifica Privati requirunt Impofitionem manuum dum vivunt-Pacifica cœtus agitari debent viva et mactata; at in iis non obtinet manuum Impofitio. Mihn. Vol. V. p 81,

1

whilft it was alive. The Peace Offerings then of the Congregation, being the Oblation for many join'd together, was waved, tho' it had not Impofition of hands; A Ceremony which fignified the general fenfe of the Offerers Being in the presence of God, and in Confequence of their defire to be acceptable to him.

The Moral Difpofition of men being intended to be fhewn by the Significant Ceremonies made ufe of in Sacrificing, it is very natural to obferve, that*" if

a man were wicked and unjust, his Sa"crifices were of no more confequence or avail, than if he had offered none; "his Holy Services were unhallowed; "and his Prayers and Vows returned not only not answered, but brought all "kind of Ruin and Deftruction on him "that offered them. They were fo far "from procuring an Abolition of Sin in "the fight of God, that on the contrary

* Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἀγνώμων καὶ ἄδικος, ἄθυτοι θυσίαι, καὶ ἀνίεροι Βερεργίας, καὶ ευχαι παλίμφημοι παντελῆ φθορὰν ἐνδεχόμεναι. Καὶ γὰρ ὁπότε γίνεθαι δοκὅσιν, ε λύσιν ἀμαρτημάτων, ἀλλ ̓ ὑπόμνησιν ἐργάζονται. Εἰ δ ̓ ὅσιος καὶ δίκαιος, μένει βέβαιος ἢ θυσία, καν τα κρέα δαπανηθῆ μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἐς τὸ παράπαν pender #porάyoso ¡eptov. Philo. Vit. Mofis. p. 669.

E

66

they

"

they caused a Remembrance of it "But if the Perfon was Holy and Just, "and what he ought to be, his Obla"tion continued in Being and remained "ratified, tho' the flesh of it was con"fumed and gone; or ftill further, his "requeft would have been granted, even "tho' he had brought no Victim at all.”

It appears, I think, fufficiently, what Notion the Jews had of laying on of hands. They understood the Ceremonies ufed to be expreffive of a Mind rightly difpofed. Repentance, Prayer, or Praise, and a due fenfe of the Prefence of that Great Being who governs all things, always accompanied their Laying of Hands on the Head of the Victim, and their waving it. It may not be improper to confider a little what Notions prevailed in the Heathen world on the like Occafions.

The Romans had their Religious Rites from the Greeks, and Sacrificed fo much in the fame manner that in the Account of one, one gives in effect an Account of the other. The Rites they made use of were expreffive of a right Difpofition of mind, and were attended with Prayers, or