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Macrobius has justly observed that the word porriciam, is here the proper Sacrificial term. For whenever they of Old laid any Entrails upon their Altars, or what was the proper place to put them on, be it Sea or Land, Water or Earth, That was the Term by which they expreffed that Action: and confequently, Porriciam, not Projiciam, is the true Reading. When therefore Sacrifice was made to the Sea Gods, they caft the Entrails, or the Flesh of the Animal into the Sea; and that was the proper place for offering to the Sea Gods, on which their part of the thing facrificed was consumed. · In fhort there was always to be fuch a Confumption of the thing offered to God, that the Proprietor could never have or enjoy the whole again for his own ufe. Now whatever it is that in this manner is offered immediately to God, and in part or in whole is confumed in a proper manner, is what I call a Sacrifice.

There is certainly much difference, in the ufe of the Latin word, Sacrificium, among old Writers. They often under

Macrobius, Saturn. 1. iii. c. 2.

ftood

Plautus

stood by that word, not the thing offered
to any of their Gods, but the whole re-
ligious ceremonies which were observed;
the iepepyía; their whole religious Rites
which confifted of many parts, whether
any Victim was offered or not.
makes Rem divinam facere, and facrifi-
care, to be the fame. Amphit. A&t. iii.
Sc. 3. Rudens. Act. i. Sc. 2. Ovid has
ufed that word for the Oblation of a Victim
to God.

Bos aret, ignavam Sacrificate Suem.
Faft. iv. lin. 415.

Lactantius has used the Word for * a Victim, and whatever things are burnt upon an Altar.

There are those who think that by the word Sacrifice, among the Jews, is meant, "Whatever will come under the

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general Word, Corban, i. e. a Sacred Gift. And this they divide into Two general Claffes, Bloody Sacrifices, and unbloody ones, or Sacrifices of inanimate things." Thus does the learned

* Sacrificium est Victima, et quæcunque in ara cremanLact. 1. vi. cap. ult.

B 4

L'enfant

L'enfant in his

Preface to the New

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and as he has limited what he is faying, to Sacrifices " properly "fo called", it is not amifs. But the general word, Corban, in their customary Language takes in all Sorts of Gifts to God: And therefore Things that are not Sacrifices, as well as Those which are fo, may be comprehended under that word. It feems therefore to me more accurate to diftinguish between the Gifts, or Offerings made to God, that were not confumed, nor defigned to be fo, and such Gifts as were confumed. The Children of Ifrael made an Offering unto the Lord of Gold, and Silver, and Brass, and Blue, and Purple- and Rams Skins died red, and Badger Skins, and Shittim Wood and Oil, &c. Exod. xxxv. 5—9. Thefe were a Sacred Gift, a proper Gift to God, as they were defigned for his Tabernacle. But yet they do not come under the Notion of Sacrifices, because tho' they were

A l'egard des Sacrifices proprement ainfi nommes, et connus fous le nom general de Corban, c'est a dire, don Sacrè, on les peut partager en deux Claffes generales, en Sacrifices fanglants, et en Sacrifices non fanglants, ou Sacrifices de chofes inanimees. L'enfant Preface General, p. 96.

offered

offered to God, yet they were not any way confumed, nor defigned to be fo. They were, or might have been, what the Greeks called, 'Avaluara, or by at Αναθήματα, more general word Δῶρον, οι Αφαίρεμα; i. e. Prefents, or Gifts, or what a man parted with out of his Subftance, towards. the Building of, or for an Ornament for, or to be repofited in, the Temple or Tabernacle: But they were not Sacrifices, because there was no Confumption of them: Nor were they defigned for the purpose of Sacrifices, tho' they were properly Corbanoth, or facred Gifts."

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They who make, Sacrifice, and Gift to God, the fame, may feem to have the Authority of the Best Writers to justify their Notion. Virgil certainly was a most exact and accurate Obferver of the Jus Pontificium, and he may be thought to have made ufe of the word, Gifts, general as it is, for Sacrifices.

-Huc dona Sacerdos

Cum tulit, et cæfarum ovium, fub nocte

filenti

Pellibus incubuit ftratis

Æn. vii.

But

But this paffage will by no means prove Gifts to God, and Sacrifices, to be the fame; but only that Sacrifices might come under the denomination of Gifts. The most accurate Writers always, I think, confine the word Sacrifice, to fuch Gifts as are conSumed; and if at any time they use another form of Expreffion, the circumstances of what they are speaking about will determine their Meaning. When Virgil here used the general word, Gifts, He tells us of the flain Sheep, and of their Skins on which the Priests lay all night in order to know the Will of God: which evidently fhews what Sorts of Gifts he is speaking of. Accordingly Lactantius in the place before cited juftly diftinguished between Gift, and Sacrifice. By Gift fays he is meant, "Whatever is made "of Gold or Silver, or wove of Purple " and Silk: a Sacrifice fignifies a Vic"tim and whatever is burnt upon an "Altar."

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*Donum eft, quicquid Auro Argentoque fabricatur ; Sacrificium eft victima, et quæcunque in Ara cremantur. Lat. lib vi. e. ult.

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