SALT. 335 



lion and corruption, and signified the purity and persevering fideli- 

 ty that were necessary in the worship of God. Every thing was 

 well seasoned with it, to signify the purity and perfection that should 

 be extended through all parts of the divine service, and through the 

 hearts and lives of God's worshippers. It was called the salt of the 

 covenant of God ; because as salt is incorruptible, so was the cove- 

 nant made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the Patriarchs, relative 

 to the redemption of the world by the incarnation and death of Je- 

 sus Christ. Among the heathens, salt was a common ingredient in 

 all their sacrificial offerings, and as it was considered essential to 

 the comfort and preservation of life, and as an emblem of the most 

 perfect corporeal aud mental endowments, so it was supposed to 

 be one of the most acceptable presents they could make to their 

 gods, from whose sacrifices it was never absent. 



Parkhurst particularly notices the phraseology employed in the 

 injunction, Lev. ii. 13; 'salt the purifier of (i. e. appointed by) thy 

 Aleim,' whence he infers that salt, added to all the sacrifices, was a 

 type of the purity or sinlessness of Christ, and of that which puri- 

 fies believers. But that which purifies believers in faith in Christ and 

 his atonement (2 Cor. v. 20, 21), and the consequent hope of seeing 

 God through him. Acts xv. 9; 2 Pet. i. 4 ; 1 John iii. 3 ; 1 Cor. iii. 

 21. Salt was therefore a type of that purifying faith and hope which 

 is the gifr of the Holy Spirit, Romans xv. 13 ; 1 Peter i. 22 ; Eph. ii. 8. 

 In Numb, xviii. 19, and 2 Chron. xiii. 5, we read of 'a covenant 

 of salt,' which most commentators have understood as a reference 

 to the covenant which God had made with his people, which cov- 

 enant had been ratified by a purification offering, or sacrifice, with 

 which, as we have seen, it was essential that salt should be offered. 

 Mr. Taylor, however, has suggested another idea, which deserves 

 attention. He conceives that the ' covenant of salt ' refers to an 

 engagement in which salt was used as a token of confirmation ; and 

 he adduces the following among other instances of such a usage, 

 from Baron du Tott. 



' Moldovanji Pacha was desirous of an acquaintance with me, and 

 seeming to regret that his business would not permit him to stay 

 long, he departed, promising in a short time to return. I had al- 

 ready attended him) half way down the stair-case, when stopping^ 

 and turning briskly to one of my domestics who followed me r 

 * Bring me directly,' said he, ' some bread and salt? I was not less 

 surprised at this fancy than at the haste which was made to obey 

 him. What he requested was brought; when, taking a little salt 

 between his fingers, and putting ii with a mysterious air on a bit of 

 bread, he ate it with a devout gravity, assuring me, that I might now 

 rely on him. 1 soon procured an explanation of this significant cere- 

 mony ; but this same man, when become Visir, was tempted to vio- 

 late this oath, thus taken in my favor. Yet if this solemn contract 

 be not always religiously observed, it serves, at least, to ' moderate 

 the spirit of vengeance so natural to the Turks.' The Baron adda 

 in a note : * The Turks think it the blackest ingratitude to forget 



