THE RELIGIOUS IDFJL. 699 



The forms of worship show us like parallelisms. Not 

 dwelling on the intended or actual human sacrifices (though 

 by grouping the sacrifice of a son with sacrifices of rams 

 and calves, as methods of propitiation to be repudiated, 

 Micah implies in cli. vi, 6-9 that the two had been associ 

 ated in the Hebrew mind), it suffices to point out that 

 the prescribed ceremonies in temples, had the characters 

 usual everywhere. Called in sundry places the &quot; bread of 

 God,&quot; the offerings, like those to Egyptian gods and 

 mummies, included bread, meat, fat, oil, blood, drink, fruits, 

 etc. ; and there was maintained, as by other peoples, a con 

 stant fire, as well as burnings of incense : twice daily by the 

 Hebrews, and four times daily by the Mexicans. Jahveh 

 was supposed to enjoy the &quot; sweet savour &quot; of the burnt 

 offerings, like the idol-inhabiting gods of the negroes ( 161). 

 Associated with the belief that &quot; the blood is the life,&quot; this, 

 either poured on the ground or on the altar, according to 

 circumstances, was reserved for Jahveh ; as with the ancient 

 Mexican and Central American gods, to whom was con 

 tinually offered up the blood alike of sacrificed men and 

 animals : now the image of the god being anointed with it, 

 and now the cornice of the doorway of the temple. As the 

 Egyptians and as the Greeks, so did the Hebrews offer 

 hecatombs of oxen and sheep to their god ; sometimes 

 numbering many thousands (1 Kings viii, 62-64). To the 

 Hebrews, it was a command that unblemished animals only 

 should be used for sacrifices; and so among the Greeks a 

 &quot; law provided that the best of the cattle should be offered to 

 the Gods,&quot; and among the Peruvians it was imperative that 

 &quot; all should be without spot or blemish.&quot; A still more 

 remarkable likeness exists. Those orders made in Leviticus, 

 under which certain parts of animals are to be given to 

 Jahveh while other parts are left to the priests, remind us 

 of those endowment-deeds, by which Egyptian landowners 

 provided that for their ghosts should be reserved certain 

 joints of the sacrificed animals, while the remaining parts 



