of them; of this we have feveral Inftan

ces in the Sacrifices of Jacob in his Return from Laban with his Wives and Children.

As to the feveral Sorts of Sacrifices which were to be offered, we do not find any exprefs mention of any other than thefe following: The Expiatory Sacrifice; this was that which Abel was fuppofed to offer; and it is generally held by all the best Writers, that the Fathers of every Family offered this Sacrifice, as Job did for his Children (a), daily. 2. They had Precatory Sacrifices, which were Burntofferings of feveral Creatures, in order to obtain from God fome particular Favours; of this Sort was the Sacrifice of Noah after the Flood: Noah builded an Altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean Beaft, and of every clean Fowl, and offered Burnt-offerings upon the Altar. And the Lord fmelled a fweet Savour, and faid, I will not again curfe the Ground, neither will I fmite every thing living any moreAnd God bleffed Noah, and faid (b). This Sacrifice of Noah's, fays Jofephus (c), was offered, in order to obtain from God a Promise, that the ancient and natural Course of things fhould be continued, without being interrupted by any farther Calamities. If we attend to the Circum

(a) Jobi. 5. (b) Gen. viii. 20. (c) Antiquitat. 1. 1. c. 3.

ftances

ftances belonging to this Sacrifice, we find (Chap. viii.) that God promised this Favour, and enjoined them the Obfervance of fome Laws, and covenanted, that they fhould affuredly have the Mercies which he had prayed for. In much the fame manner God covenanted with Abram, upon his offering one of thefe Precatory Sacrifices, to give him the Land of Canaan (a). Abram faid unto God, Whereby fhall I know that I fhall inherit it? And God faid unto him, Take me an Heifer of three Years old, and a She-Goat of three Years old, and a Ram of three Years old, and a Turtle-dove, and a young Pigeon; and he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midft, and laid each Piece one against another, but the Birds divided be not. This was the Method and Order in which he laid them upon the Altar for a Sacrifice; and he fat down to watch them, that the Fowls of the Air might not seize upon them; and about the going down of the Sun Abram fell asleep, and in a Dream God revealed to him how, and in what manner he defigned to give his Defcendents the Land of Canaan. And after Sun-fet, Behold a smoking (b) Fur

nace

(a) Gen. xv. 8-18.

in our Hebrew Bibles;

(b) Here is evidently a Miftake to pafs, and, to kindle, or

burn, are Words of exactly the fame Letters; and thro' the Miftake of fome Tranfcriber, Nabar is in this Place instead of

Banar,

nace and a burning Lamp passed between thefe Pieces, i. e. a Fire from Heaven confumed the Sacrifice, and in that fame Day, i. e. then, or at that time, the Lord made a Covenant with Abram, saying, &c. And thus I have fet down all the Particulars of this Sacrifice, it being the fulleft Defcription we meet with of this fort of Sacrifice. These Precatory Sacrifices might also be called Federal; the Pfalmift alludes to them, where he speaks of those that had made a Covenant with God by Sacrifice (a).

3. A third fort of Sacrifice in use in thefe Times, was a Burnt-offering of fome Parts of a Creature, with a Feast upon the remaining Parts, in order to ratify and confirm fome Agreement or League between Man and Man: Of this we have a particular Inftance in the Sacrifice and Feaft of Jacob in the Mount with Laban and his Brethren. 4. They offered by way of Gratitude, Oblations of the Fruits and Product of their Tillage, Cain brought of the Fruit of the Ground an Offering unto the Lord. 5. They made an Offer ing of Oil or Wine, when they made a

Banar, which would make the Senfe much more clear; the Meaning of the Place is, that the Parts of the Sacrifice Smoked firft, and afterwards fell on Fire; and the Words rightly taken, do very well express this: Behold a fmoking Furnace and a burning Lamb (not paffed but] kindled amongst the Pieces. (a) Píalm 1. 5.

Vow, or laid themfelves under a folemn Promise to perform fome Duty, if it fhould please God to favour them with fome defired Bleffing. Thus Jacob when he went towards Haran (a) vowed a Vow, faying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this Way that I go, and will give me Bread to eat, and Raiment to put on, fo that I come again to my Father's Houfe in Peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and I will give the Tenth, &c. And in order to bind himself to this Vow, he took the Stone and fet it up for a Pillar, and poured Oil upon the Top of it. In the fame manner in another Place (b), Jacob fet up a Pillar in the Place where God talked with him, even a Pillar of Stone, and he poured a Drink-offering thereon, and he poured Oil thereon. These are, I think, all the feveral Sorts of Offerings and Sacrifices, which we can prove to have been in use in thefe early Times; if they used any other, they have left us no Hints of them.

Let us now inquire what Creatures were offered in Sacrifice, and what not? to which I answer, all clean Beasts whatfoever, and no other; and all clean Fowls, and no other. What the Number of the clean Beasts and Fowls were, and when or how that Diftinction began, are Points

(a) Gen. xxviii. 18-22. (b) Chap. xxxv. Ver. 14.

which

which the Learned have not given a full and fatisfactory Account of. It seems most probable, from the first Chapter of Leviticus, compared with the Sacrifice of Noah after the Flood, and with that of Abram, Gen. xv. that the clean Beafts ufed for Sacrifice were of the Cow-kind, or of the Sheep, or of the Goats, and that the clean Fowls were only Turtle-doves and young Pigeons. Thefe were all the Creatures which God appointed the Jews for Burnt-offerings; and thefe were the Creatures which Abram offered in his folemn Sacrifice, in order to obtain the Affurance of the Land of Canaan, and in this fort of Sacrifice it was ufual to offer of every fort of Creature ufed for Sacrifice, for fo Noah's Sacrifice, which was of this Sort, is defcribed, He took of every clean Beast, and every clean Fowl, and offered Burnt-offerings upon the Altar. Noah took, fays R. Eleazar, of all forts of clean Beafts, namely, the Bullock, the Lamb, and the Goat; and from among the Birds, the Pigeon and Turtle-dove, and facrificed them.

Our last Inquiry was, What Ceremonies were used at this time in Religion? And here we can have but little to offer, because we have few Particulars handed down to us. If we look into the Journeyings of Abram, we find, that wherever he made any Stop, he conftantly built an Al

tar;