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and without an altar nothing can be offered to God. Altar and sacrifices are, then, as old, as the fall of man. Both worlds began with altars, victims, and priests.

Olympas. Reuben, you are fond of tracing the etymology of words: whence comes the word altar?

Reuben. From altus, high. Hence the veneration for high places for worship-the peaks of mountains, rocks, and hills. Thus Jacob reared a stone pillar, and Gideon offered a sacrifice upon a table-rock.

Olympas. But altus is Latin. Altars are older than the Romans. Whence got the Romans the idea?

Reuben. From the Greeks. Their bomus signifying basis: an elevated basis by which to ascend, was the place of their thusiasterion, or altar; which term indicated slaying, or offering sacrifice.

Olympas. And all these from the Hebrew word mizbeach, from zabach, to slay: the place for slain sacrifices, on which they were presented to God. Learn, then, from all this, that all true religion is founded on sacrifice. The first thing in Adam's family was the altar. It was also the first thing in Noah's, Abraham's, Jacob's, &c. Where, Thomas, did altars usually stand?

Thomas. Always about the entrance of temples and places of worship. The Jews placed theirs in the outer court, near the entrance; from whom other nations derived the custom.

Olympas. Eliza, did you ever read of an altar in heaven?

Eliza. Yes, I read of a golden altar which stands before God in heaven, Rev. ix 13.

Olympas. Relate to us all that you know about this altar in heaven.

Eliza. It stands immediately before the throne of God. It has fire upon it, and a cloud of incense towers above it, an angel ministers at it, ånd the prayers and thanksgiving of the saints are offered on it in a way acceptable to the Lord. Rev. vi. viii. and ix.

Olympas. An altar, then, is essential to acceptable worship in all places and at all times. It was so in the family of Adam; it was so in the family of Noah; it was so in all the families of the Patriarchs and Jews; it is so in heaven. And need I add that it is so in the Christian church. "We," the followers of Christ, “have an altar, at which they have no right to eat who serve in the tabernacle." Jesus Christ is our altar, sacrifice, sin-offering, passover, circumcision, prophet, priest, and king. What, Eliza, were the offerings of Noah?

Eliza. "He took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar."

Olympas. Enumerate the clean beasts and the clean fowls.

Eliza. The lamb, the kid, the calf, or the sheep, the goat, the bullock, among beasts-the turtle dove and the pigeon, among birds, were only those used in sacrifice. Noah took of them all, and made a rich burnt offering to the Lord.

Olympas. Edward, can you explain the meaning of a burnt offering? What saith the law?

Edward. It was wholly consumed by fire. The offerer and the priest shared in other things, but not in this. It was wholly devoted to the Lord.

Olympas. Were the victims put on alive, or after they had been slain?

Edward. Not until their blood was spilt upon the ground.

Olympas. How, James, did the Lord regard this offering of Noah?

James. I do not know.

Olympas. Read again the 21st verse, James. James. "And the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, though the imagination of man's heart be evil from his youth: neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

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Olympas. Observe then, James, that "the Lord smelled a sweet savor" while the burnt offering was consuming on Noah's altar. This phrase means the Lord was delighted with this burnt offering. What, Thomas, do you infer from this?

Thomas. I infer, first, that God had commanded such altars to be built, and such offerings to be made, else he could not have been pleased with it: for he has always rejected the inventions and traditions of men in his worship.

Olympas. And what do you infer, Reuben? Reuben. I infer that this offering was a type of Christ's offering himself a sacrifice to God, because Paul seems to quote these words, Eph. v. 2.

Olympas. Read the passage, Reuben.

Reuben.

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Christ has loved us, and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God -for a sweet smelling savor."

Olympas. Yes, and let me tell you, Reuben, Paul quotes from the Septuagint Greek the very words found in this passage. These significant words are, osmen euoodias-a "sweet smelling savor." Let us, then, sum up the whole:

1. The first building reared on the new earth was an altar.

2. The first blood that was shed was sacrificial. 3. The first smoke that ascended from the turf was that of a burnt offering.

4. It was offered to the Lord, and accepted by him.

5. It superinduced new promises, and secured a new covenant with man.

6. It was certainly a type of Christ's sacrifice for sin, which also was offered to God, and was perfectly acceptable to him, and secured to us a new and better covenant, established on better promises than any before vouchsafed to man. From all of which considerations, and others which may afterwards appear, we learn that, without sacrifice-without bloody sin offerings, there is no access to God by sinful men, nor any communication from God to him. All religion is, therefore, founded on justice; for Paul says, God set forth his Son, a mercy seat, or propitiatory through faith in his blood, to exhibit his justice or moral righteousness in forgiving sin. Learn, then, this great lesson, that sinful man can approach God in religion only by sacrifice express or implied.

No man can approach God but through the slain Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. Do you, William, remember any passage in the visions of heavenly things which corroborates this view?

William. In the Apocalypse, fifth chapter, we read of a Lamb that stood between the throne and the four living creatures, as if it had been slain. To this SLAIN LIVING LAMB the mysterious four and the twenty-four celestial senators fall prostrate, shouting, "Worthy art thou; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood." Το these were added myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, in chorus repeating, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour, and glory, and blessing!"

Olympas. He is, then, a most worshipful personage! Is he not, William?

William. Yes, for the universe in acclamation shout, "To Him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing, and honour, and glory, and strength for ever and ever!

Olympas. He is the Alpha and the Omega, then; he is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world in promise and in type, and he is the slain Lamb in heaven worshipped for ever and ever. Do you not love such a Saviour as this, my dear children? One who is the ALPHA and the OMEGA, the BEGINNING and the ENDING, the FIRST and the LAST-one whom all in heaven worship in equal strains with the Father that sent him. "To Him that sits upon the throne, even to the Lamb, be ALL glory, &c. He is the brightness of his

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