CHRIST AS A HUMANE TEACHER 67 



on the subject of animal sacrifices ! We cannot 

 find in the Bible a satisfactory reason why it was 

 first practiced. It did not restore fallen man to his 

 former holiness nor effect his salvation. If such 

 had been the case it would not have required the 

 sacrifice of the Son of God. Some theologians tell 

 us it was typical of the coming of Christ, but that 

 part of the Bible written before the coming of 

 Christ and during the time it was practiced does 

 not say so. We deny the right to such interpreta- 

 tion. Human reason cannot point out the fitness 

 or congruity between the slaying of an animal and 

 the reception by man of pardon for the violation of 

 God's law. 



How the world came to practice sacrifices to 

 such an extent remains a profound mystery. Long 

 before the Christian era the Buddhist religion 

 repudiated the rite and prohibited its use in all the 

 Orient over which it had influence. Judaism was 

 the last to give up this sad and cruel ceremony. 



It is certain that the wisest heathen philoso- 

 phers, Pythagoras, Plato, and others, opposed the 

 doctrine of sacrifice and " wondered how an institu- 

 tion so dismal and so big with absurdity could 

 <Muse itself through the world." They ridiculed 



