3

By which he means Offerings that were torn and lame, and fick, v. 13, Offerings highly improper to be put upon the Lord's Table. vid. Lev. xxii. 24, 25. God himfelf likewise speaks in the fame MannerCommand the Children of Ifrael, and fay unto them, My Offering, My Bread for my Sacrifices made by Fire for a Sweet Savour unto me fhall ye obferve to offer unto me in their due Seafox, Numb. xxviii. 2. All Eatables are called in Scripture Bread; and as all Sacrifices made by Fire are deem'd the Bread, or the Food of God, What was confumed upon the Altar was conceived to be God's Share or Portion ; and the Reft was the Prieft's or the Owner's Share: And thus they all did Eat at the fame Table.

Eating then of a Sacrifice implied a State of Friendship betwixt the Offerer and God; and agreeably to the fame manner, or cuftom, the Temple or Tabernacle was God's House, the Palace of the Great King: the Priests that miniftred to him, were his Servants, who went between Him and his People. The Altar is called the Table of the Lord, Mal. i. 12. And the Offerings

Offerings are called, The Bread of God. To eat therefore of the Sacrifices offered to God, was to eat at his Table, and of his Bread. Now the Owners of all Peace Offerings having a certain Share for themfelves to eat, at the fame time that other parts were confumed upon God's Table as it were by Him,-Hence those who offered these Sacrifices were looked upon as in a State of Friendship with God, and as partaking of the known Symbols of Friendship, and thus in Peace with him. The Nature and Reason of the other Sorts of Sacrifices will be explained hereafter.

But it will be proper to enter into a more particular confideration of this Affair. And here

Firft, Nothing was offered unto God, but what was deem'd Clean: and by Clean was meant what was ufually eaten by Men, and what by Experience they had found to be not difagreeable to their Stomachs or Palates. These might vary much in different Countries; nor can perhaps a good reafon be affigned, why That which was deemed a Dainty by one People, should be the Averfion of Another.

Why are

Frogs

Frogs fo much valued and eaten in France; whilft in England, they are never touched, much less reckoned a Dainty? Whatever then was deem'd in the East in any Nation proper for Food, That was reckoned Clean, whilft all other Animals were treated as Unclean. Mankind in general feem agreed that carnivorous Animals are unfit for Food; and where Politeness and more refined Manners have prevailed, there even fome Species of creatures that live on the Herbs and Fruits of the Earth have been ever look'd upon, as coarfe, improper, diet. Experience foon had taught Mankind the difference betwixt Animals that divided, or did not divide the Hoof; thofe that did, or did not chew the Cud; And thefe were Signs, in general, to them, by which they diftinguish'd one Species of Creatures from another, as what were fitter for Food, or were better to eat than

*

** Signa illa-Ruminationis Cibi, et fiffionis Ungularum in Beftiis, Pinnarumque et Squammarum in Pifcibus-non effe caufas propter quas fint licitæ et permiffe; Sicuti nec defectus illorum, Cauffas cur prohibeantur; Sed Signa tantum, unde nobilis et infignis aliqua Species, ab alia minus. præftantiore et noxia poteft difcerni. Maimon. More Nevoch. 1. iii. c. 48,

Others were: And they offered in Sacrifice not only fuch as were clean, but the Best of fuch as they conceiv'd to be fit for Food; and because all were concern'd to Sacrifice, what was common to be had by all, was appointed for all. And therefore one cannot but remark, that under the Mofaic Law, not Every thing that was eaten by the People was burnt upon the Altar, but only three Species of clean Animals, viz. Bullocks, Sheep, and Goats; And Two Species of Birds, viz. Turtle Doves and young Pidgeons, were allowed to be offered as Sacrifices.

*

When the Sacrifice was thus prepared, of a clean Species, it was a ruled case all over the world, that the Sacrificer was to have pure Hands, pure Garments, pure Veffels, a pure Victim, and pure Wine. Of all which Briffonius has produced Variety of Inftances. And these were defigned as Rites fignificant of the Moral Difpofition of the Mind.

+ In facris puras Manus,-puras Veftes, et pura Vafa, et puram Hoftiam, et purum Vinum defiderabant. Brissonius de Formulis, P 9.

Secondly,

Secondly, Salt was the known Symbol of Friendship; and becaufe it was fomething fixed made out of a fluid, and that it preferved Meat from Corruption, it came to be particularly applied to all fuch things as were defigned to be durable. For this reafon, when it was declared in the Law, that fuch and fuch things were to be given to the Sons of Aaron and to his Daughters by a Statute for ever, Numb. xviii. 19, it is thus expreffed in the Original*, It is a Covenant of Salt for ever, before the Lord to thee, and to thy Seed with thee. And so again, Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Ifrael gave the Kingdom of Ifrael to David for ever, even to him, and to his Sons by a Covenant of Salt? 2 Chron. xiii. 5. i. e. by a Covenant that should surely laft, or by a very durable Covenant. And it is more than barely probable that the Pillar of Salt, Gen. xix. 26, ought to be understood in the fame manner; Not, that

*This is rendered in the LXX, Aidané va xý rois vioïs σε, καὶ ταῖς θυγατράσι σε μετά σου, νόμιμον αιώνιον. Διαθήκη ἀλὸς αιωνία ἔσιν ἐναλὶ Κυρία, σοὶ καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου μετά o's. It is a Covenant of everlasting Salt before the Lord, to thee, and to thy Seed after thee, Numb. xviii. 19.

G 2

Lot's