December 3

Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.— Psalms 4:5.

THE heathen philosophers objected to the primitive Christians, that they did not sacrifice; to which some of the early apologists reply thus: "The Former and Parent of the whole universe has no need of incense and of blood. The greatest sacrifice we can present to him, is to know who has stretched out the heavens, who has laid the foundations of the earth, who has gathered the waters in the hollow of the sea, and divided the light from the darkness, who has formed the whole animal world and the human species, and who governs them all by his nod; and acknowledging him such an immense and omnipotent being, to lift up pure and holy hands to him." And the truth of this sentiment has generally prevailed throughout all ages: even in the Jewish Church, while the obligation to sacrifice did yet continue, with all the laborious institutions of external worship, holiness, and righteousness, and integrity of heart and life, were acknowledged to be the most essential parts of religion; though, alas! while all confessed it in words, there were very few who set themselves seriously to per- form it. Hence arose the necessity of inculcating this lesson so frequently, Psalm i., Isaiah i., xxix., &c. And what is there taught at large, is here hinted in this short clause.

Offer the sacrifices of righteousness. It is no improbable con- jecture of some commentators, that David here refers to the confidence and boast of some of Saul's courtiers in those sacri- fices and that solemn worship from which their envy had perhaps banished him. It is certainly much easier to sacrifice a ram or a bullock, than to slay anger or ambition; easier, indeed, to heap up whole hecatombs of animals, than to resign one brutal affec- tion or concupiscence; yea, easier to present all our goods, than ourselves as living sacrifices, though that is undoubtedly our reasonable service. The Mosaic sacrifices, though instituted by God, borrowed all their value from that Evening Victim which was to be slain in the end of the world, who was himself the sacrifice and the altar, and the one only High Priest, after the order of Melchizedec; who yet instituted a perpetual succession of those who should be a royal priesthood, the whole series of which priests, in their succeeding generations, are daily offering to God, the Father of spirits, the pure and spiritual sacrifice of righteousness, most acceptable to him, as passing through the hand of that great High Priest, who incessantly ministers in that high and holy sanctuary. As Bernard excellently speaks, "Nothing, Lord, that is thine can suffice me without thyself, nor can any thing that is mine without myself, be pleasing to thee." And St. Augustine, "Let thy fire entirely consume me, so that nothing of me, may remain to myself. And this one holocaust comprehends all the sacrifices of righteousness; the understanding, the love, all the affections and faculties of the soul, and organs of our bodies: all our words, actions, and thoughts, prayers and vows, hymns and thanksgivings, piety, modesty, charity, and the whole choir of virtues, exercised in a diligent and harmonious observance of all his precepts. These are victims and perfumes of incense worthy so pure a Deity, who eats not the flesh of bulls, nor drinks the blood of goats; who, if he were hungry, would not ask us, since all the beasts of the forest are his, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High. For he that offereth praise glorifieth him, and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, will he show the salvation of God.

Even the heathen philosophers and poets saw and taught, that these sacrifices of a pious mind were most fit for a rational worshipper, and must be most fit for God, to whom they are addressed. "Strange indeed would it be," says Socrates, "if the gods should look to the gift and sacrifice, and not the soul." And passages of Horace and Persius to this purpose are so well known, that they need not be repeated. The language of the son of Sirach is also agreeable to it, Eccles. xxxv. 1-3: "He that keepeth the law, bringeth offerings enough; he that taketh heed to the commandment, offereth a peace offering. He that requiteth a good turn, offereth fine flour; and he that gives alms, sacrificeth praise. To depart from wickedness is a pleasing thing to the Lord, and to forsake unrighteousness is a propitiation."

And put your trust in the Lord. This very trust with which the mind reposes itself upon God, is both the great consolation of a good man, and the great sacrifice of piety and righteousness. The faith of Abraham was a sacrifice much dearer to God, not only than the man which he actually offered, but even than his dearest son whom he had brought to the altar. He was strong in faith, says the apostle, and so he gave glory to God. And again, only they who offer the sacrifice of righteousness can rely upon him with a true and solid confidence. Not that these sacrifices, though the choicest and best of all, can pretend to any merit, but because they are the most genuine signs and most certain seals of a soul in covenant with God. So there is indeed a mutual signing; God offering the dearest pledges of his favor to us, and we, in like manner, as is most fit, rendering all that we have, and all that we are, to him, with the most humble and grateful heart. And certainly this union, and perpetual, undivided friendship, is the true cheerful temperature of the soul, which alone can give it solid tranquillity and felicity.