Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-12-04
&eadiua fpr the Sabbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
(OrigInal.i
SACRIFICES.

SACRIFICES.
Every Bible reader knows that one way in
which God was worshipped, before the COM
ing of Christ, was by Offering up sacrifices.
A good authority defines sacrifice to be san
Offering made to God upon his altar by the
hand of lawful minister" During the Old
Testament dispensation, there were three.
kinds of offerings. The first consisted of an
imals of various kinds, and were called
bloody sacrifices. The second consisted in
offerings made from the products of the field.
The third was called drink offerings, or liba-
tions. The frst,. strictly speaking, embraced
all the sacrifices; the second consisted of OBJ
lations or gifts; and the third was a kind of
accompaniment to the sacrifices and oblations.
The animals used in sacrifice, were re.
quired to be clean beasts; that is, such as
the children of Israel were allowed to eat,
and without any defect or blemish. Oxen,
sheep and goats, among the quadrupeds, were
proper sacrifices and of fowls, the dove was,
more frequently than any other, offered. The
children of Israel were allowed to eat fish,
but they were not allowed to offer fish in sac
ri6ce to God
There are two things connected with this
subject which are of very great Importance.
The first is the origin of sacrifices, and the
second is what was the design of sacrifices.
With propriety, it may be asked: "At what
period in the worlds history, did men begin
to offer up sacrifices, and who was the origin
ator of this mode of worshiping God?" 1t
is manifest that men began to offer up sacri
fees to God soon after the sin of Adam. We
are informed that Cain and Abel brought
their offerings unto the Lord. Gains offer
ings consisted of the fruit of the ground, while
that of Abel was of the frstlings of his
flock. 1t is thought that Adam began to Of
fer up sacrifices to God Immediately after he
was driven out of Paradise, or, most proba-
bly,, before he was driven out. From the
Scriptures it would seem that so soon as
Adam transgressed, God appeared and pro-
nounced the sentence of condemnation and
made an announcement of the plan of re-
demption. This done, we are told that God
clothed Adam and Eve with skins. They, a
moment before, had sewed up fig leaves; but
God made them coats of skins. 1t is very
probable that these skins with which God
clothed Adam and Eve, were the skins of an
imals that Adam, by Gods direction, had just
offered in sacrifice to God. This is reasona-
BILE. First, because it is not likely that any
animals had died. We know not how long
Adam kept his first estate, but suppose it was
but for very short time. He spent but one
Sabbath in the Garden of Eden, consequent
ly, there were no old animals in the world
when heI sinned. Again, these skins were
not the skins of animals which Adam had
slaughtered for food, because animal food was
not in use by the human family until after
the food. Since the skins with which God
made coats for Adam and Eve were not the
skins of animals which had died natural
death, neither were they skins of animals
which had been slaughtered for food, we may
we'll suppose that they were the skins of ami
mails that Adam had offered in sacrifice to
God. This conclusion is strengthened by the
language used with regard to the sacrifices of
Cain and Abel. 1t is said (Gen. 4:3) Gin
process of time it came to pass" Now the
words translated "in process of time" would
be literally rendered thus, cat the end of
days." The meaning is that at the end of a
fixed number of days, Cain and Abel brought
their offerings to the Lord.
This was not the first time they appeared
before the Lord as worshipers. This was
not the first time that they brought sacrifices
to the altar of the Most High. 1t was prob
ably the first time that Cain brought "of the
fruits of the ground as an offering unto the
Lord" When all the facts and circumstances
are collated, we think it highly probable that
Adam offered up bloody sacrifice to God
before God drove him from Paradise.
Abel, Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all
the patriarchs, offered up sacrifices. Up to
the time of the departure of the Children of
Israel out of Egypt, there were no priests-no
class of persons whose exclusive privilege it
was to ofiiciate at the altar. Each individual
discharged the functions of priest for himself.
Under the Jewish theocracy, the priests were
of the tribe of Levi and house of Aaron.
The next questions which meet us are Who
originated sacrifices? By whose command
were they introduced? Clearly, either by
God or by man himself. That sacrifices are
not the device of man, we think is easily
proven. What, it may be asked, could in
duce any man to slay an OK and burn its flesh
upon an altar? What could he expect to
gain by such ceremony? 1t was attended
with great labor, much expense, and viewed
from human stand point, was very unpleas-
ant. 1t is idle to tell US that sacrifices were
nothing but priest craft. 1t is absurd to tell
US that class of persons inflicted these bur-
dens upon the superstitious and ignorant mul
titude that they themselves might live in lux
ury and ease It is true that God provided
for the tribe of Levi, but what has this to do
with the question? Abraham was his own
priest. He built his own altars, furnished his
own victims, and offered them up in sacrifice
himself. If Adam offered up sacrifices, as
most probably he did, what priest took advan-
tage of his ignorance and superstition? Who
took advantage of Abel and induced him to
slay his sheep and goats, at stated periods, and
| nila their dead bodies upon a heap of wood