Leviticus 1:3

If his offering be a burnt sacrifice.

The burnt-offering

I. In its contrast to the other offerings.

1. It was “a sweet savour” offering; as such in perfect contrast with the sin-offerings. We are not here, therefore, to consider Christ as the sin-bearer, but as the man in perfectness meeting God in holiness. The thought here is not, “God hath made Him to be sin for us,” but rather, “He loved us, and gave Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet-smelling savour.” Jesus, both in the burnt-offering and sin-offering, stood as our representative. When He obeyed, He obeyed “for us”: when He suffered, He suffered “for us.” But in the burnt-offering He appears for us, not as our sin-bearer, but as man offering to God something which is most precious to Him. We have here what we may in vain search for elsewhere: man giving to God what truly satisfies Him. We too often omit this thought when thinking of the offering of Jesus. We think of His death, but little of His life. We look but little into His ways. Yet it is His ways throughout His pilgrimage, even to the way He laid down His life, which God so delights in. Our views are so selfish and meagre. If we are saved, we seek no further. God, however, puts the burnt-offering first: for this was peculiarly His portion in Jesus. And just in proportion as a believer grows in grace, we shall find him turning intelligently to the Gospels; from them adding to the knowledge he has of the work of Jesus, greater knowledge of His ways and person; with earnest desire to know more of the Lord Himself, and how in all things He was “a sweet savour to Jehovah.”

2. But the burnt-offering was not only “a sweet savour”; it was also an offering “for acceptance”--that is, it was offered to God to secure the acceptance of the offerer. So we read--I give the more correct translation--“he shall offer it for his acceptance.” To understand this, we must recur for a moment to the position Christ occupied as offerer. He stood for man as man under the law, and, as under law, His acceptance depended on His perfectness. God had made man upright; but he had sought out many inventions. One dispensation after another had tried whether, under any circumstances, man could render himself acceptable to God. But age after age passed away: no son of Adam was found who could meet God’s standard. The law was man’s last trial, whether, with a revelation of God’s mind, he could or would obey it. But this trial, like the others, ended in failure: “there was none righteous, no, not one.” How, then, was man to be reconciled to God? How could he be brought to meet God’s requirements? One way yet remained, and the Son of God accepted it. “He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took the seed of Abraham”; and in His person, once and for ever, man was reconciled to God. In effecting this, Jesus, as man’s representative, took man’s place, where He found, man, under law; and there, in obedience to the law, He offered, “for His acceptance.”

3. The third point peculiar to the burnt-offering was, that a life was offered on the altar (Leviticus 1:5), in this particular differing from the meat-offering. Life was that part in creation which from the beginning God claimed as His. As such--as being His claim on His creatures--it stands as an emblem for what we owe Him. What we owe to God is our duty to Him. And this, I doubt not, is the thought here intended. Of course, the offering here, as elsewhere, is the body of Jesus, that body which He took, and then gave for us: but in giving God a life, in contradistinction to offering Him corn or frankincense, the peculiar thought is the fulfilment of the first table of he Decalogue. Thus the life yielded is man’s duty to God, and man here is seen perfectly giving it. Am I asked what man ever thus offered? I answer, None but One--“the man Christ Jesus.” He alone of all the sons of Adam in perfectness accomplished all man’s duty to Godward; He in His own blessed and perfect righteousness met every claim God could make upon Him.

4. The fourth and last feature peculiar to the burnt-offering is, that it was wholly burnt on the altar. In this particular the burnt-offering differed from the meat and peace-offerings, in which a part only was burnt with fire; nor did it differ less from those offerings for sin, which, though wholly burnt, were not burnt upon the altar. The import of this distinction is manifest, and in exact keeping with the character of the offering. Man’s duty to God is not the giving up of one faculty, but the entire surrender of all. So Christ sums up the First Commandment--all the mind, all the soul, all the affections. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” I cannot doubt that the type refers to this in speaking so particularly of the parts of the burnt-offering; for “the head,” “the fat,” “the legs,” “the inwards,” are all distinctly enumerated. “The head” is the well-known emblem of the thoughts; “the legs” the emblem of the walk; and “the inwards” the constant and familiar symbol of the feelings and affections of the heart. The meaning of “the fat” may not be quite so obvious, though here also Scripture helps us to the solution (Psalms 17:10; Psalms 92:14; Psalms 119:70; Deuteronomy 32:15). It represents the energy not of one limb or faculty, but the general health and vigour of the whole. In Jesus these were all surrendered, and all without spot or blemish.

II. Its varieties, that is, the different measures of apprehension with which it may be seen. There were, then, three grades in the burnt-offering. It might be “of the herd,” or “of the flock,” or “of fowls.” These different grades gave rise to several varieties in the offering, the import of which we shall now consider.

1. The first difference is in the animal offered. We have in the first grade, “a bullock”; in the second, “a lamb”; in the third, “a turtledove.” Each of these animals, from their well-known character, presents us with a different thought respecting the offering. The bullock, “strong to labour”--for “great increase is by the strength of the ox”--suggests at once the thought of service, of patient, untiring labour. In the lamb we have another picture presented to us; here the thought is passive submission without a murmur; for the lamb is the figure constantly chosen to represent the submissive, uncomplaining character of Christ’s sufferings. The turtledove is different from either of these, and gives again another view of the offering of Jesus. In this class the thought of labour is lost sight of: the unmurmuring submission, too, of the lamb is wanting: the thought is rather simply one of mourning innocence; as it is written, “We mourn like doves”; and again, “Be harmless as doves.” It may be asked, What do we learn by “the goat,” which was sometimes offered in one of the lower grades of the burnt-offering? If I mistake not, this emblem suggests a thought of the sin-offering, reminding us of Christ’s offering as scape-goat.

2. A second distinction between the different grades of the burnt-offering is, that while in the first grade the parts are discriminated, in the last this peculiarity is omitted: the bird was killed, but not divided. In the case of the bullock and the lamb, it is noticed that the offering is “cut into its pieces.” Here “the legs, the head, the fat, the inwards,” are all distinctly noticed and enumerated. In the last case--that of the turtledove--it is otherwise: “he shall not divide it asunder.” “The legs, the head, the inwards,” as we have already seen, represent the walk, the thoughts, the feelings of Jesus. In the first grade these are all apprehended: they are all lost sight of in the last. These grades represent, as I have said, measures of apprehension. Where the measure of spiritual apprehension is large, a saint will see the offering dissected: his eyes will be turning constantly to see the walk, the mind, the affections of Jesus. He will now observe, what once he regarded not, how Jesus walked, how He thought, what were His feelings. On the other hand, where Jesus is but little apprehended all the details of His walk and feelings will be unseen.

3. A third distinction between the different grades of the burnt-offering is, that while in the first grade the offerer is seen to lay his hand on the offering, in the other grades this act is not observed. Not a few see Christ as offering for us without fully realising that His offering was Himself. They see that He gave up this thing or that; that He gave much for us, and that what He gave was most precious. But they do not really see that “He gave Himself,” that His own blessed person was what He offered. This is clearly seen in the first grade of the burnt-offering. It is lost sight of, or unobserved, in the other grades.

4. A fourth distinction, closely allied with the one just considered, is, that in the first class the offerer is seen to kill the victim--in the last the priest kills it. In fact, in the last class, the priest does nearly everything, the offerer is scarcely seen at all; whereas in the first class it is just the reverse, there are many particulars noted of theofferer. The import of this is at once obvious, when we see the distinction between the priest and offerer. The offerer, as I have already observed, sets Christ before us in His person. The priest represents Him in His official character, as the appointed Mediator between God and man. Where the identity between the offerer and offering is apprehended, the offerer is seen to kill the offering; that is, Christ is seen in His person, of His own will laying down His life; as it is written--“No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of Myself.” On the contrary, where the identity of the offering and offerer is unseen or disregarded, the priest is seen to kill the victim, that is, Christ’s death is seen as the work of the Mediator; and is connected with His official character as Priest, rather than with His person as the willing offerer. So with believers, where there is only a limited measure of apprehension, little is known of Christ save His office as Mediator: He Himself, His blessed person, is overlooked or but little seen. Such are the chief varieties of the burnt-offering: how full are they of instruction to the believer; how clearly do they mark the different apprehensions among saints respecting the work and person of our Lord! Some, however--I speak of believers--are content to know nothing of this; and they would rather not be told their ignorance. They can see but one truth--the Paschal lamb--and anything further they neither care nor wish for. (A. Jukes.)

The burnt-offering

I. Characteristics.

1. Perfect.

2. Voluntary.

3. Vicarious.

4. Slain by offerer himself.

5. Blood sprinkled.

6. Wholly consumed.

II. Features which distinguish it from the sin-offering.

1. Nothing is said of the voluntary character of the sin-offering. Does not this throw light on the agony and prayer of Christ in Gethsemane?

2. Only parts of the sin-offering were to be burnt on the altar of burnt-offering (Hebrews 4:11; Hebrews 13:11; 2 Corinthians 5:21). This explains the suffering of Christ and His cry on the cross--“Eloi,” &c.

III. To observe these distinctions important, as bearing upon their typical signification.

1. The Epistle to the Hebrews proves that Christ and His work are typified in the whole Mosaic ritual.

2. The one represents our Lord in His consecration to His Father’s will; the other, as its name indicates, represents Him as the sin-bearer.

(1) His consecration has in it the elements of voluntariness and completeness, and that it was of sweet savour unto Jehovah.

(2) As sin.bearer He is represented as not being permitted to suffer even within the camp. Lessons:

1. As a burnt-offering our Lord is to us an example in our consecration to God, which should be--

(1) Perfect in its sincerity.

(2) Cheerful in its spirit.

(3) Unreserved in its degree.

2. As a sin-offering our Lord teaches us how hateful sin was to Him; yet He endured its imputation, “being made sin for us,” that we might be made God’s righteousness in Him. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)

Significance of the burnt-offering

To be offered--

1. Orderly.

2. Openly.

3. Devoutly.

4. Cheerfully. (F. W. Brown.)

The burnt-offering

I. Consider the sort of victim required for this sacrifice: a bullock, or a sheep, or, in case of great poverty, a young pigeon or dove--the very purest, cleanest, and best of creatures--nothing else would answer. And even these had to be the finest and most desirable specimens. Pure and perfect as the bright world from which He came, Christ, our sacrifice, “was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners”--“a Lamb without spot”--the first, the purest, the gentlest, and the best in all the domain of the great God. He was the very Prince of creation, who knew no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.

II. Consider next what was done with the victim selected. If a bullock, the Divine command was, “Kill it before the Lord, and flay it, and cut it into his pieces.” If from the flock, the word was “Kill it on the side of the altar northward, and cut it into his pieces.” Who was to do this is not clearly specified. Any one, good or bad, priest or private, the worst or best, may become the executioner of the Divine sentence. When Jesus was made an offering for us, earth and hell joined in the infliction of the sacrificial stroke. If a bird, the word of the Lord was, “Wring off his head, and pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cleave it with the wings.” Fit picture this of the end which awaits the unforgiven, and of what actually befell the blessed Saviour who “was once offered to bear the sins of many.” The plucking and tearing off of the skin was to show how naked the sinner is, and how completely he is exposed to the fires of Divine wrath, and how unprotected Jesus was when He submitted to bear our sins in His own body on the tree. But in addition to this terrible mutilation, the victim was yet to be put upon the altar and burned. The command was, “The priest shall burn all on the altar.” And a particular method was also to be observed in this burning. First, the head and the loose fat were to be placed upon the fire; the head from without, and the fat from within. After that the legs and the entrails were to be given to the flames; the outward and the inward together. Man has a double nature; and in all Divine services, and under all Divine inflictions, both departments fare alike. We cannot give our bodies to God and reserve our hearts, nor serve Him in the spirit without bringing that service out into controlling influence over the flesh also. The whole man must go or nothing. Nor is the ultimate doom of sin a mere bodily suffering, or the mere consuming of the exterior members; nor yet mere mental woe and spiritual grief. As the Saviour says, it is the destruction of “both body and soul in hell.” Christ as our sacrifice, suffered not only in the outer man, but in His whole inner and outer nature conjoined.

III. Consider further what was to be effected by the presentation of this particular kind of sacrifice. If the man who brought it would lay his hand upon its head, and so acknowledge it as that by which he hoped and prayed and trusted to be forgiven, the Lord said “it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.” That is, the devoting of such a victim to death and fire was to answer as a substitute for the death and burning of the sinner himself. What a beautiful illustration of our reconciliation to God through the death of His Son!

IV. There yet remains one other particular to be noticed with regard to this atoning offering; and that is the perfect freedom with which any and every one might avail himself of its benefits. It was confined to no special time, and demanded no specific juncture of affairs. It was as free at one season as at another, and could be resorted to whenever any one felt himself moved in that way. If the worshipper could not bring a bullock, a sheep would answer. And if too poor to furnish either, a dove or pigeon was just as acceptable. There was no reason why any one should not come and share the benefits of a full expiation through the burnt-offering of atonement. All that a man wanted was the consent and determination of his own heart--the motion of “his own voluntary will.” Now this was not accidental. It was meant to set forth a great gospel truth. It tells of the perfect freeness with which one and all may be saved, if only there is the proper effort made. It was the lifting up of the voice of mercy even in that remote antiquity, crying, “Come; whosoever will, let him come.” (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)

The burnt-offering; or, the Father glorified

I. THE BURNT-OFFERING is placed first in order, when the Lord spake unto Moses “out of the Tabernacle,” teaching that the primary and grand object of Christ’s death was “the glory of God.” The burnt-offering may be said to answer to St. John’s Gospel, where this object is very prominent (see John 12:27; John 17:1).

1. Atonement, as expiation of guilt, is not the prominent thought in burnt-offering, yet it is seen there, verifying Hebrews 9:22; and the sprinkling of the blood testifies to the righteousness of God in accepting the worshipper whose worship--like all else--needs the atoning blood, being in itself not only worthless, but tainted with sin; and worship is one prominent feature of burnt-offering as regards man. Now look at details.

2. Male without blemish. That is, highest order of offering, whether of herd or flock (Leviticus 1:3; Leviticus 1:10). Nothing with slightest taint or blemish must be used to represent Christ.

II. Acceptance was another prominent characteristic of burnt-offering. It was presented that the offerer might be “accepted” (Leviticus 1:3). “Lo! I come. .. to do Thy will, O God” (Hebrews 10:7; Psalms 40:7), were the words of Jesus. He presented Himself for acceptance; He was “obedient unto death” (Philippians 2:8). His sacrifice was that of devotion and service, as typified in this offering. Thus was the Father glorified in the death of His beloved Son I See, too, how Father’s love drawn forth because He laid down His life for sheep (John 10:11; John 10:17), in obedience to Father’s will (John 6:38). Thus the Father’s glory seen to be bound up in the salvation of “sheep”; and His acceptance of Jesus ensures theirs (Leviticus 1:4; Ephesians 1:6).

III. Hand upon head of burnt-offering further shows identification of offerer and offering. The word rendered “put” (verse 4) signifies to lean with whole weight, which implies full reliance, trust, and transfer, so to speak, of whole being to Him, who both amply met God’s claim to entire devotedness to Him and made atonement for His people, that is, “covered” their failures with His atoning merits and sacrifice. Believers are “in Him” (1 John 5:20), and thus God sees and accepts them.

IV. Kill, flay cut into his pieces (verses 5, 6). Significant actions. Not only death, but all laid bare to be exposed to searching fire of God’s holiness, and testify to the perfections of His Christ, whether in part or whole. Believers should look into Christ, and study His perfections in every detail. There is also a “rightly dividing the Word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15), which testifies of Jesus the living Word. Again, His pieces, typifying members of His body, are laid bare before God; all within revealed, i.e., “naked and opened. .. ” (Hebrews 4:13), to the Searcher ex hearts (Psalms 7:9; Luke 16:15); and He requires holiness within (1 Peter 1:15).

V. “the priests, Aaron’s sons” (verses 5-8) represent “the Church of God,” “the children” (Hebrews 2:13), an holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5): here seen as worshipping saints, offering to God what most “acceptable” to Him.

1. They “sprinkle the blood,” showing ground of acceptable worship (1 Peter 1:2).

2. They “put fire,” and lay all “in order upon the altar.” Christ, the Head, in His entirety, with His rich excellency (fat), offering Him self (voluntary act), through the eternal Spirit (fire), without spot to God (Hebrews 9:14). “Many waters cannot quench love” (Song of Solomon 8:7), such as His, glowing With the fire of the Spirit, shown in zeal and devotion to the Father s will. And no work for God, no offering acceptable, except through the fire of the Spirit (Romans 8:4; Romans 8:8; Romans 8:14), sent from above to dwell in believers, and kindle in them flame of love and zeal, which again ascends to heaven.

VI. The washing of inwards and legs (verse 9) rendered the offering typically what Christ is inherently and intrinsically. Perfectly clean and pure, not only in outward walk, but inwardly also; in exact accordance with the requirements of a holy God. Truth, wisdom found in Him who was both (Psalms 51:6; Psalms 15:2; John 14:6; Proverbs 8:11; Proverbs 8:30; 1 Corinthians 1:24).

VII. The priest shall burn all (verse 13). The whole of the burnt-offering was to be consumed upon the altar, because exclusively for God. God requires whole-heartedness in His service; want of devotedness to God is sin; we offend if we keep back part for ourselves, or for the world, instead of presenting all to Him; and these failures, sins, shortcomings, are all met by the precious One in the burnt-offering.

VIII. The ashes carried forth from beside the altar testify to the completeness of the work “finished” on Calvary, and to God’s complete acceptance of the perfect Sacrifice, His own “unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15) to man. The “clean place” “without the camp” (chaps. 1:16, 6:10, 11) points to the “new tomb” (Matthew 27:58), where the body of Jesus was laid; and He--the risen One--then entered” into heaven itself, now to appear. .. ” (Hebrews 9:24).

IX. “a sweet savour unto the lord” (verses 9, 13, 17). As such the “continual” burnt-offering ascended (Numbers 28:3); and so the fragrant merits of Christ’s one all-sufficient sacrifice. For “Christ also hath. .. given Himself for.., a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour” (Ephesians 5:2). Yes, Jesus, who is feasting the Father’s eyes and heart, is the one in whom He smells “a sweet savour” or “savour of rest” (Genesis 8:21). (Lady Beau-jolois Dent.)

The burnt-offering

Concerning this offering we note--

I. The principle that acceptable worship must be in accordance with divine direction. Not now the blood of bulls and of goats, but the blood of Christ is the sacrifice by which we come to God (Hebrews 10:9). The was is as distinctly and definitely described under the new dispensation as under the old (John 14:6). True religion is a revealed way of approach to God.

II. Its special significance. Its Hebrew name means, “an ascending.” The first symbol by which men sought communion with God expressed a voluntary and entire dedication of themselves to Him. They declared, by it, their aspiration after Him; their desire to do His will; their self-surrender to Him. It was this devotion of soul that made the offering a sweet savour unto Him.

III. The relation of the burnt-offering to christian worship.

1. This offering suggests the holiness of God.

2. The spirit of acceptable Christian worship: Pure.

3. The character of the acceptable Christian worshipper: Constant self-devotion to God. (A. E. Dunning.)

The burnt-offering

The burnt-offering was one of what might be called the common law offerings of mankind. There were two of these at least--the slain and the burnt-offering. It is not always possible to distinguish these in the early history of sacrifices. The former was one in which slain beasts were laid upon the altar in token of man’s fellowship with God; the latter was one where the animals were burned with fire as incense to Jehovah, expressive of man’s dependence, obedience, and need of forgiveness. The burnt-offering was the most significant of all these earlier sacrifices, and probably included at times all the others. It is fitting for this reason, as well as for its superior importance, that it occupy the first place in the directions of the sacrificial code for Israel. The law of burnt-offerings was one which now became invested with the new sovereignty of a statute. It was not superseded in its significance or any of its associations, but some of these were emphasised. Branches grew out of the stalk which had its roots in the first sinner’s heart and the earliest race history.

I. The idea of self-surrender underlay the gift of the burnt-offering. Save on great occasions, like that of a dedication of the Tabernacle or Temple, this was a voluntary offering. As men were urged onward into clearly marked modes of worship they were not deprived of their upward look. Before there is expiation or justification there must be a relation of fellowship between man and his Maker. The burnt-offering was the best symbol of this confidential self-surrender because it was the sacrifice of a living thing. The blood was regarded as the vehicle of the life. When the Hebrew came of his own choice thus before the Lord he made an offering of himself.

II. The idea of expiation underlay the offering of the burnt sacrifice. The Israelite who came before the altar to make a burnt-offering laid his hand upon the victim in token of his desire to have it accepted as a sacrifice for sin. The great breaches of the moral law were not atoned for by any ceremonial under the Hebrew code. The most flagrant sins which were atoned for or covered by sacrifice were those of carelessness, and had reference to a breach of ceremonial law. Therefore we are justified in emphasising in the burnt-offering the idea of self-surrender. The expiation of the murderer’s sin must come from a sacrifice God should make in His own Son. The sinner took refuge with God in the hope of the holier offering and Mediator God should provide.

III. The acceptable sacrifice of the burnt-offering requires the mediatorial office. The worshipper has accepted the offices of God’s mediator. God has received man’s trust, his surrender, his obedience. The spirit of Abraham with raised hand above his only son is that which must fill the heart of every true worshipper under the Mosaic dispensation. He accepts God’s offering as a sacrifice, whether made before the foundation of the world, at the Tabernacle altar, or on Calvary. Obedience is the best element man furnishes in the atonement. Obedience to the unseen God is the arrow of which faith is the bow-string. (W. R. Campbell.)

The gospel of the burnt-offering

I. The offerer was to bring it to the door of the tabernacle.

1. A voluntary act.

(1) Christ died willingly.

(2) So should we in all our services be a willing people.

2. This points every way to Christ as the cause of our acceptance with God. He is both Door and Tabernacle, Altar and Priest.

3. We are to see God in all oar services, in and by Jesus Christ.

4. We are to worship God in His Church.

II. The sinner that brought the sacrifice was to lay his hand upon the head of it. This ceremony relates to the confession of sin, and the translation of the guilt of it upon the sacrifice (Isaiah 53:4; 1 John 1:7; 1 John 1:9).

III. The sacrifice must be killed and slain, and that upon the north side of the altar.

1. The death of Christ (Daniel 9:26; Isaiah 53:10).

2. Christ was killed in Jerusalem and Mount Sion, which was on the sides of the north.

IV. The blood was pourer forth at the foot of the altar, and sprinkled upon it round about.

1. Christ’s blood was shed (Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 26:28).

2. Sprinkled (Hebrews 12:24; 1 Peter 1:2).

V. The priest is to flay it, and cut it into its pieces.

1. This related in general to the sufferings of Christ (Micah 3:2; Psalms 22:15).

2. As the sacrifice, being dead and slain, did leave a skin for clothing to the priest by whose hand he died, so Christ, our true sacrifice, who was led as a lamb to the slaughter, leaves a garment of righteousness to clothe believers with (Romans 13:14).

3. Whereas the sacrifice in this action was laid open, and the inward parts of it discovered to open view: so is Christ fully and openly discovered in the preaching of the gospel (Galatians 3:1).

4. The skin of the sacrifice went to the priest. It was part of his maintenance (see Corinthians 9:13, 14).

VI. The pieces were to be salted (Leviticus 2:13; Mark 9:49).

1. This signifies the perpetuity of the covenant of grace.

2. Its wholesomeness.

VII. The legs and inwards must be washed. So the bodies of believers are said to be washed with pure water, and their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.

VIII. The several parts of the offering must be laid upon the altar, and burnt with fire, till consumed. This is the fire of the justice and wrath of God from heaven, which seized upon Christ; and every part of Him was burnt: His head crowned with thorns, His side pierced with the spear, His hands and feet with nails, His whole body did sweat drops of blood, His soul was heavy unto death, yea, burnt to ashes, as it were, brought to the utmost extremity of misery. His saints also endure the fiery trial (1 Peter 4:12).

IX. The ashes must be carried out of the camp into a clean place (Leviticus 6:10; see Hebrews 13:11). Christ’s crucified body was not buried within the city, but placed in a new sepulchre where never any man lay before (John 19:41). So the dead bodies of all His saints, when they are spent and consumed to ashes, are regarded and preserved in the dust by God as sacred relics, and He will raise them up again unto eternal life. Lessons:

1. See here the difference between God’s ceremonies and men’s. Divine ceremonies are full of light and spirit; human ceremonies are full of darkness and vanity.

2. See the fierceness of the wrath of God against sin. It is nothing but death and blood and slaughter that will appease offended justice.

3. Direction under the guilt of sin what to do, and what course to take, to make atonement and reconciliation between God and thee. Go and bring your sacrifice to the Priest, and by Him unto God.

4. Unspeakable consolation unto them that have taken this course. (S. Mather.)

The burnt-offering

An offerer comes. Mark what he brings. If his offering be from the herd, it must be an unblemished male (Leviticus 1:3). It must be the choicest produce from his pastures--the primest flower from his fields. There must be strength in fullest vigour, and beauty without one alloy. Such are the properties required. The purport is distinct. Jesus is here. The victim chosen before worlds were framed is thus portrayed. Strength and perfection are main colours in His portrait. We next approach the chambers of the offerer’s heart. We read, “He shall offer it of his own free will” (Leviticus 1:3). There is no compulsion. There is no reluctance. His step is willingness. This is a picture of faith’s happy actings. Its chariot-wheels move swiftly. It feels sin’s miserable need. It knows the value of redeeming blood. So it flies, with rapid wing, to plead it at the mercy-seat. The eager offerer puts his hand upon the victim’s head (Leviticus 1:4). Do any ask the meaning of this rite? It graphically shows a transfer. Some load oppresses, which is thus cast off. Some burden passes to another’s person. Here is again the happy work of faith. It brings all guilt, and heaps it on the Saviour’s head. One sin retained is misery now and hell at last. All must be pardoned by being brought to Christ. And He is waiting to receive. The victim, to which sins thus typically pass, must die (Leviticus 1:5). Can Jesus, who in reality receives our guilt, not lay down life? It cannot be. The holy Word stands sure: “In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17). The sinner’s surety, then, cannot be spared. He gives His life to pay the debt--to satisfy the wrath--to bear the curse--to expiate the guilt. O my soul, “Christ died” is all your hope--your plea--your remedy--your life. “Christ died” opens your path to God. The victim’s blood is sprinkled “round about upon the altar” (Leviticus 1:5). The blood is evidence that life is paid. This token then is profusely scattered. The victim is next flayed (Leviticus 1:6). The skin is torn away. The sacrificing priest received this as his portion. Here is a picture of that heaven-pure robe, in which Christ decks each child of faith. His blood, indeed, removes all curse. But it is obedience, which merits all glory. Because He died, we live. Because He lived, we reign. The piercing knife divides the limbs. Members are torn from members, and all the parts, without, within, to which defilement usually adheres, are diligently washed (Leviticus 1:9). The type of Jesus must be clean. No shadow of impurity may darken it. The parts thus severed, and thus washed, are placed upon the altar. Consuming fire is brought. It preys on every limb. The raging flame devours, until this fuel is reduced to ashes (Leviticus 1:9). Let us now seek the truth, which echoes from this blazing pile. The Garden and the Cross unfold it. There Jesus presents Himself, laden with all the sins of all His chosen race. (Dean Law.)

The burnt-offering

“If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male, without blemish.” The essential glory and dignity of Christ’s Person form the basis of Christianity. He imparts that dignity and glory to everything He does, and to every office He sustains. We shall see, when we come to examine the other offerings, that “a female” was, in some cases, permitted; but that was only expressive of the imperfection which attached to the worshipper’s apprehension, and in nowise of any defect in the offering, inasmuch as it was “unblemished” in the one case, as well as in the other. Here, however, it was an offering of the very highest order, because it was Christ offering Himself to God. “He shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord.” The use of the word “voluntary,” here, brings out, with great clearness, the grand idea in the burnt-offering. It leads us to contemplate the Cross in an aspect which is not sufficiently apprehended. We are too apt to look upon the Cross merely as the place where the great question of sin was gone into and settled, between eternal Justice and the spotless Victim--as the place where our guilt was atoned for, and where Satan was gloriously vanquished. Eternal and universal praise to redeeming love the Cross was all this. But it was more than this. It was the place where Christ’s love to the Father was told out in language which only the Father could hear and understand. It is in the latter aspect that we have it typified, in the burnt-offering; and therefore it is that the word “voluntary” occurs. The guilty sinner, no doubt, finds in the Cross a Divine answer to the deepest and most earnest cravings of heart and conscience. The true believer finds in the Cross that which captivates every affection of his heart, and transfixes his whole moral being. The angels find in the Cross a theme for ceaseless admiration. All this is true; but there is that, in the Cross, which passes far beyond the loftiest conceptions of saints or angels; namely, the deep-toned devotion of the heart of the Son presented to, and appreciated by, the heart of the Father. This is the elevated aspect of the Cross, which is so strikingly shadowed forth in the burnt-offering. “And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering; and it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him.” The act of laying on of hands was expressive of full identification. By that significant act the offerer and the offering became one; and this oneness, in the case of the burnt-offering, secured for the offerer all the acceptableness of his offering. The application of this to Christ and the believer sets forth a truth of the most precious nature, and one largely developed in the New Testament; namely, the believer’s everlasting identification with, and acceptance in, Christ. “As He is, so are we, in this world.” “We are in Him that is true” (1 John 4:17; 1 John 5:20). Nothing, in any measure, short of this could avail. “And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation.” It is most needful, in studying the doctrine of the burnt-offering, to bear in mind that the grand point set forth therein is not the meeting of the sinner’s need, but the presentation to God of that which was infinitely acceptable to Him. Christ, as foreshadowed by the burnt-offering, is not for the sinner’s conscience, but for the heart of God. Further, the Cross, in the burnt-offering, is not the exhibition of the exceeding hatefulness of sin, but of Christ’s unshaken and unshakable devotedness to the Father. Neither is it the scene of God’s outpoured wrath on Christ the Sin-bearer; but of the Father’s unmingled complacency in Christ, the voluntary and most fragrant sacrifice. Finally, “atonement,” as seen in the burnt-offering, is not merely commensurate with the claims of man’s conscience, but with the intense desire of the heart of Christ, to carry out the will and establish the counsels of God--a desire which stopped not short of surrendering up His spotless, precious life, as “a voluntary offering” of “sweet savour” to God. “The priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation.” Here we have a type of the Church, bringing the memorial of an accomplished sacrifice, and presenting it in the place of individual approach to God. But, we must remember, it is the blood of the burnt-offering, and not of the sin-offering. It is the Church, in the power of the Holy Ghost, entering into the stupendous thought of Christ’s accomplished devotedness to God, and not a convicted sinner, entering into the value of the blood of the Sin-bearer. “And he shall flay the burnt-offering, and cut it into his pieces.” The ceremonial act of “flaying” was peculiarly expressive. It was simply the removing of the outward covering, in order that what was within might be fully revealed. It was not sufficient that the offering should be, outwardly, “without blemish,” “the hidden parts” should be all disclosed, in order that every sinew and every joint might be seen. It was only in the case of the burnt-offering that this action was specially named. This is quite in character, and tends to set forth the depth of Christ’s devotedness to the Father. It was no mere surface-work with Him. The more the secrets of His inner life were disclosed, the more the depths of His being were explored, the more clearly was it made manifest that pure devotion to the will of His Father, and earnest desire for His glory, were the springs of action in the great Antitype of the burnt-offering. He was, most assuredly, a whole burnt-offering. “And cut it into his pieces.” This action presents a somewhat similar truth to that taught in the “sweet incense beaten small” (chap. 16.). The Holy Ghost delights to dwell upon the sweetness and fragrance of the sacrifice of Christ, not only as a whole, but also in all its minute details. Look at the burnt-offering, as a whole, and you see it without blemish. Look at it in all its parts, and you see it to be the same. Such was Christ; and as such He is shadowed forth in this important type. “And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire. And the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts,” &c. This was a high position--high communion--a high order of priestly service--a striking type of the Church having fellowship with God, in reference to the perfect accomplishment of His will in the death of Christ. As convicted sinners we gaze on the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and behold therein that which meets all our need. The Cross, in this aspect of it, gives perfect peace to the conscience. But, then, as priests, as purged worshippers, as members of the priestly family, we can look at the Cross in another light, even as the grand consummation of Christ’s holy purpose to carry out, even unto death, the will of the Father. “But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.” This action rendered the sacrifice, typically, what Christ was essentially, pure, both inwardly and outwardly pure. The members of His body perfectly obeyed and carried out the counsels of His devoted heart--that heart which only beat for God, and for His glory, in the salvation of men. Well, therefore, might the priest “burn all on the altar.” It was all typically pure, and all designed only as food for the altar of God. (C. H. Mackintosh.)

The burnt-offering

In the burnt-offering the atoning element of sacrifice fell into the background, though not wholly absent; there is no special manipulation of the blood, as in the sin-offering; all centres on the entire consumption of the sacrifice upon the altar, which was especially the altar of burnt-offering. The burnt-offering was, then, peculiarly the offering of worship. And the offerer was set forth as being “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.” The principal burnt-offering under the law was the daily, or continual, burnt-offering (Exodus 29:38; cf. Numbers 28:3, Leviticus 6:9). Nothing was ever allowed to interfere with this “continual burnt-offering.” The great national offering of Israel,” says Archdeacon Freeman, “the morning and evening lamb, was simply the ancient burnt-offering, or the Mosaic offering of private persons, lifted into a new sphere of power and activity. The directions given in the two eases are, as far as they go (cf. Numbers 28:1, with Leviticus 1:1)

, perfectly coincident; even to the quantity of flour, wine, and oil. Insomuch that the lofty powers wielded by the continual sacrifice might well seem at first sight unaccountable. But they are fully accounted for when we call to mind the august circumstances with which this particular offering was surrounded. These, joined to the direct command and promise of God in respect of it, render an abundant account of the transcendent powers which are ascribed to it. And though we might on some accounts rather have expected to find the ox or the ram selected, for their physical superiority and greater value, as the national and all-containing sacrifice, we easily perceive, from the standing-ground of the gospel, the superior fitness for this purpose of the feeblest, meekest, and most unresisting of creatures. At the same time, even as the Divine “strength was made perfect in the weakness” of Christ, so this outwardly simple and single sacrifice was seen, on occasion, to carry within it all that was noble and powerful in the sacrificial sphere. On each Sabbath it expanded into two lambs, offered morning and evening; at the new moons, and other feasts, it became seven lambs, two young bullocks, a ram, and a goat; on each day, during the Feast of Tabernacles, fourteen lambs, from eight to thirteen bullocks, two rams, and a goat, became, in a word, “fat burnt sacrifices, with incense of rams, bullocks, and goats.” By all these was manifested forth the might that was veiled under the meekness of the lamb. .. It is of the utmost importance thus to have pointed out the function and capacities of the ancient burnt-offering, because the sacrificial work of Christ is to so great a degree interpreted to us by it, and specially by that loftily empowered instance of it, the Mosaic continual sacrifice. To this is to be referred whatever is said in the New Testament, and in the Liturgies, of His giving Himself, as a most unspeakably acceptable gift to God; as discriminated either from His “giving” or delivering Himself over for suffering and death, to wicked men and powers of evil, which is more especially set forth by the sin-offering; or again, as distinguished from His giving Himself to man as the life of his soul, which was represented by the “peace-offering.” The continual burnt-offering represents also our Lord’s perpetual presentation of His sacrifice in heaven, that sacrifice which St. Athanasius calls “a faithful sacrifice, one which remains and does not pass away.” (E. F. Willis, M. A.)

The burnt-offering

The leading feature of the burnt-offering consisted in its being wholly consumed upon the altar. “What have we here but a type of the preciousness of Jesus, as exhibited in His wholehearted devotedness, His entire consecration to the will and service of His Father? Is not His language in the fortieth Psalm, “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God. Yea, Thy law is within My heart”--precisely the language of the “Burnt-Offering”? Again, in John, “I seek not My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” Who but Jesus could say, “I do always those things that please Him”? Isolated acts of devotedness we may and do see exhibited by many of His followers. But in the Man Christ Jesus we see one who through life, and in death could say, “My meat and My drink is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work”--One who loved and served “the Lord His God with all His heart, His soul, His strength”--One, therefore, who met in every respect the requirements of the type before us. Before the victim for the burnt-offering was placed upon the altar, it was flayed and cut into pieces, and the parts thereof, “the head and feet,” laid “in order upon the wood.” This was a testing process, and served to try the animal’s fitness for the sacrifice. Jesus was tried. Tried by man. Tried by Satan. Tried by God. His thoughts, the feelings of His heart, His words, His every act--all were laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom He had to do. Yet all bore the test. The minutest examination of His inner as well as His outer life failed to disclose aught but consisted with the purest and most perfect devotion to His Father’s will. He Himself could say, “Thou hast proved Mine heart, Thou hast visited Me in the night, Thou hast tried Me and shalt find nothing.” Whilst His Father from the excellent glory declared, “Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” In other words, “I rest in Thee and am satisfied. My holiness rests in Thee and is satisfied. My justice, My truth, all the essential attributes which I possess as Jehovah, all are satisfied.” All My most righteous claims are met to the full. Thou art unto Me a perfect burnt-offering. “A sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour.” But not only was the burnt-offering one of a “sweet-smelling savour” to God, it was rich also in results towards the offerer. It stood in his stead. All its perfectness was regarded as if it had been his. In its acceptance he was accepted. So with Christ’s sacrifice (see Ephesians 5:2; Romans 5:19). (F. H. White.)

The burnt-offerings aptly commence the sacrificial laws

First, they were probably the oldest form of sacrifice. In the next place, they had the very widest application, and could be presented by any person without distinction, a point which is the more significant as the offerer, sharing the sacred functions with the priests, had to perform several important parts of the ceremony himself. And lastly, though originally designed to convey merely the worshipper’s awe and his unconditional surrender to the Divine supremacy, they were, in the Levitical code, invested with the character of atonement (Leviticus 1:4), and were not only commanded on specified occasions, but left to the spontaneous impulse of the heart that yearns for peace and for the expiation of sins known to the transgressor alone. They were therefore meant to serve the highest ends of an inward religion. Thus modified, they marked a decided progress in the path of spiritual faith; they were, in fact, the forerunners of the expiatory offerings which form the very crowning point of the sacrificial system, and beyond which, even at the very next step, the mind leaves the fetters of the ceremonial law and enters the purer regions of freedom and elevation. Hence the Levitical holocausts lead us to a time when the deeprooted tendencies towards pagan idolatry had been conquered, and the intellectual efforts of the more thoughtful and more gifted among the Hebrews had been rewarded by the establishment of a religious creed, which, however far removed from absolute truth, and however repugnant to the true attributes of the Deity and the requirements of philosophy and reason, at least permitted the exercise of noble and exalted humanity, and even facilitated, more than any of the preceding and most of the later systems of theology, an insight into the moral government of the world, and the higher aims of human existence. Thus the very beginning of the Book reveals unmistakably the time and purposes of its composition, and forms the first link in that great chain of evidence which leads to the most pregnant and most interesting historical results. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)

The burnt-offering

Here we are so accustomed to fall short of God’s glory, and failure in glorifying Him is so much regarded as the necessary law of our condition, that even believers find it difficult to look on failure in devotedness as sin--sin that needs atonement as much as their most dire transgressions. Even after we have owned the blood of the Paschal Lamb as delivering from the judgment due to our natural condition, and after we have recognised the necessity of the Holy One bearing the curse earned by our transgressions, we nevertheless fail to estimate the want of perfect devotedness as being positive sin; and hence the appreciation of our own condition, as well as of the grace that meets it, becomes proportionately enfeebled. In order to correct this error--an error fatal to all right apprehension of God, and our relation both to His holiness and to His grace--the first lesson given to us in the Tabernacle respects the whole burnt-offering. In other offerings part was sometimes given to the priest, sometimes to the offerer; but the burnt-offering was all (the skin only excepted) rendered to God, and all burnt upon His altar. In the burnt-offering, therefore, there was a distinct recognition of the righteous claim of God on the unreserved devotedness of His creatures; but it was also the confession that that claim was responded to by none. When an offerer presented a victim to be accepted in his room, the very act of substitution implied that the offerer acknowledged himself to be destitute of the qualifications which were found in his offering; otherwise substitution would not be needed, for the offerer would stand in his own integrity. There was the confession, too, that the absence of these qualifications involved guilt--guilt deserving death; for otherwise the offering would not have been substitutionally slain--“killed before Jehovah”; and lastly, there was the acknowledgment that because no unreserved devotedness had been found in him, he needed an offering to be wholly given in his stead as “a sweet savour of rest before Jehovah.” The burnt-offering therefore may be regarded as the type of Christ in respect of that full, unreserved devotedness of service which caused Him, as the servant of Jehovah, in all things to renounce Himself, and to render every energy, and every feeling, and finally His life itself, as a whole burnt-offering unto God. (B. W. Newton.)

Right use of the grace of the burnt-offering

To use aright the grace of the burnt-offering requires, whilst we remain in the flesh, continued watchfulness: else we may sit down under the shadow of its mercies and slumber. When protection in the earth was by the especial gift of God granted to Cain, the opportunities which that protection gave were instantly used by him against God. It may be said, what else could be expected from the unregenerate heart of Cain? But it must be remembered that unregenerate energies are still found in the flesh even of the regenerate. “In our flesh no good thing dwelleth,” but sin--essential sin--is there. “The flesh lusteth against the spirit.” And although the protection vouchsafed to Cain was a temporary mercy only, and although no burnt-offering spread the power of its acceptance over his guilty head, and therefore in him unregeneracy might be expected to work and to bring forth its proper fruits, yet what shall we say of another--him who is first mentioned in Scripture as standing by the side of a burnt-offering altar? Noah offered whole burnt-offerings, and the Lord smelled a sweet savour of rest and made a covenant of blessing, and under it Noah rested: but to what did he devote his energies? To planting a vineyard for himself and cherishing its fruits, till he drank the wine thereof and became drunken and dishonoured. Can there be any other result, when the Church, forgetting its high and separate calling, finds its chief present use of the grace of redemption, in trying to sanctify to itself mere earthly joys? It was otherwise with the Apostle Paul. Who knew, as he, the value of the burnt-offering and the joy of its acceptance? Yet to him, “to live was Christ”; and he laboured on till he could say, “I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished my course with joy.” And why this difference? It was because the apostle better understood that the only true place of blessing was “the new creation.” His soul followed, as it were, the offering to the place into which its sweet savour ascended--even above the heavens. (B. W. Newton.)

Inferior offerings permitted

One offerer might bring a bullock--another an offering from the flock--another only an offering of fowls. There was evidently much mercy in this provision; for if poverty, or even disinclination, prevented an Israelite from bringing the highest offering, he was permitted to bring a lesser, in order that he might not be deprived entirely of the blessings connected with the burnt-offering. Antitypically, there ought to be in believers sufficient enlargement of faith to form a proper conception of Christ as the burnt-offering; bat if this be wanting, there may be a more feeble power of faith, not without its value, which is able to apprehend partially. Such a character of faith is likely to be prevalent at an hour of general weakness like the present. The superior worth of the bullock, as contrasted with the lesser offerings, is doubtless the point chiefly to be rested on. But there seems a peculiar suitability in such a type as the bullock, when our minds are directed to Christ as the Servant of Jehovah. If we are to consider the strength, the patience, the submissiveness, which characterised His service, or the value of that service in result, the bullock is evidently a far fitter type than either the sheep or the dove. When the offering was from the flock, and yet more, when it was taken from the fowls, we find, as might be expected, the ceremonies indicating far less distinct and discriminative apprehension of the value of the burnt-offering than in the former case. A distinct recognition of Him and His perfections, to whom the offering was rendered, was most material. Accordingly, in offering the bullock the offerer presented it “at the door of the Tabernacle of congregation before Jehovah,” and killed it “before Jehovah.” Great prominency is thus given to “Jehovah”; but in this second case there is no such presentation before Jehovah, no laying the hand on the head of the victim, no mention of its being presented for acceptance or for atonement. It was killed also in a different place, not simply “before Jehovah,” but “on the side of the altar northward before Jehovah.” In the former case the offerer advanced to the door of the Tabernacle of congregation before Jehovah; as if recognising Him, and all His attributes in their totality; but in this second case he slew the victim, not in front of the altar, or at the altar, but on the side of the altar northward--indicating, apparently, that his attention was directed, not to the manner in which all the attributes of God were recognised by the altar, as it looked eastward and westward, northward and southward; but that it was fixed peculiarly on its relation to Jehovah in some of His attributes. To speak generally the deficiency in this second class of offerings may be described thus: An insufficient apprehension of Him to whom the offering is brought. Insufficient appreciation of the value of the offering itself, both in its life and in its death. Thoughts not sufficiently discriminative as regards the altar, and the qualities that attach to the offering as there burned. Seeing, then, it is the great object of these ceremonies to expand truth, and to give distinctness of apprehension, that object fails of being attained, just in proportion as there is deficiency of apprehension or confusion of thoughts that should be distinguished. This is still more manifest in the offering from the fowls. (B. W. Newton.)

“Kill it on the side of the altar northward”

One obvious reason seems to be this--there was a necessity, for the sake of order, that there should be a separate place for killing the oxen and the sheep. No quarter of the heavens was sacred; and since, at other times, the sacrifice was presented on the east side, a variety like this answered the purpose of proclaiming that Jesus is offered to any soul in any nation, east or north, i.e., from east to west, north to south; His death is presented to the view of all, to be behoved “by men as, soon as they see it.” Look unto Me and be ye saved, all ends of the earth. (A. A. Bonar.)

The complete offering of self required by God

Give to God ourselves or nothing; and to give ourselves to Him is not His advantage bat ours. The philosopher said to his poor scholar, who told him he had nothing but himself to give: “It is well,” said he; “and I will endeavour to give thee back to thyself better than I received thee.” Thus doth God with us, and a Christian makes himself his daily sacrifice; he renews this gift of himself every day to God, and, receiving it every day bettered again, still he hath the more delight to give it, as being fitter for God the more it is sanctified by former sacrificing. Now that whereby we offer all other spiritual sacrifices, and even ourselves, is love. That is the holy fire that burns up all, sends up our prayers and our hearts and our whole selves, a whole burnt-offering to God. (Archbp. Leighton.)

Worthy offerings

There are some of the heathens that worship the sun for a god, and they would offer to the sun somewhat suitable; and therefore because they did so much admire at the swiftness of the motion of the sun, they would not offer a snail but a flying horse, a horse with wings. Now a horse is one of the swiftest creatures, and one of the strongest to continue in motion for a long time together; then, having added wings to the horse, they conceived he was suitable to be a sacrifice for the sun. So when we come to God to worship Him, to sanctify Him, to call upon His name, we must not bring the bare calves of our lips, but the fervency of our hearts; we must behave ourselves so as to give Him the glory that is fit for such a God to have. (J. Spencer.)

The best to be sacrificed

The Persian metal-workers will use little or no alloy with their gold, professing to despise, as base and beneath the name of gold, the metal alloyed with silver or copper employed by European and American jewellers, even though it be eighteen carats fine. Christ deserves the best of our best. (Sharpened Arrows.)

Hearty offerings

It is said of the Lacedaemonians, who were a poor and homely people, that they offered lean sacrifices to their gods; and that the Athenians who were a wise and wealthy people, offered fat and costly sacrifices; and yet in their wars the former always had the mastery over the latter. Whereupon they went to the oracle to know the reason why those should speed worst who gave most. The oracle returned this answer to them: “That the Lacedaemonians were a people who gave their hearts to their gods, but that the Athenians only gave their gifts to their gods.” Thus the heart without a gift is better than a gift without a heart. But both are desirable. (T. Secker.)

The motive in offering

There may be many things that move, and yet their motion is not an argument of life: a windmill, when the wind serveth, moveth, and moveth very nimbly too, yet this cannot be said to be a living creature; no, it moveth only by an external cause, by an artificial contrivance; it is so framed that when the wind sitteth in such or such a corner it will move, and so, having but an external motor and cause to move, and no inward principle--no soul within it to move it--it is an argument that it is no living creature. So it is also, if a man see another man move, and move very fast in those things which of themselves are the ways of God, you shall see him move as fast to hear a sermon as his neighbour doth, as forward and as hasty to thrust himself and bid himself a guest to the Lord’s table (when God hath not bid him) as any. Now the question is, What principle sets him at work? If it be an inward principle of life, out of a sincere affection and love to God and His ordinances that carrieth him to this, it argueth that man hath some life of grace; but if it be some wind that bloweth on him, the wind of state, the wind of law, the wind of danger, of penalty, the wind of fashion or custom, to do as his neighbours do: if these, or the like, be the things that draw him thither, this is no argument of life at all; it is a cheap thing, it is a counterfeit and dead piece of service. (J. Spencer.)