Excerpt from The Christian Idea of Sacrifice: A Discourse Preached at the Dedication of the Church of the Messiah, Montreal, on Sunday, 12th September, 1858

If we can find in the nature of the case an adequate explanation of the origin of sacrifice we are not called on the accepted rules of investigation rather forbid us to seek any other. The custom fell into fearful and most hideous abuse, as when human beings were made victims, and even parents offered their children. The fact that human sacrifices have been almost, if not quite univers ally, prevalent among the various tribes and nations of the earth, stands as a sad commentary on the natural and unguided proclivities of the human race. Deep in the recesses of the forest the Druid slew his victims. High up on the pyramid, and upon a block of jaspar the Aztec priest officiated at his horrid rites. In the rude ritual ofthe ancient Canaanites the cry of burning children was lost to hearing in the savage din of drums and trumpets. In such sacrifices we see the most awful and revolting perversion of the religious sentiment which the history of man affords. An abuse so shocking and unnatural could exist only among people where right ideas of God had faded away, and the prevailing deity had become the reflected image of some of the worst human passions. It must have come from the feeling of alienation. They felt that. Their God stood wrathfully apart from them, and such ieous sacrifices were designed to propitia'e him. This feeling of alienation is natural to man. His con science tells him how far he falls short of - how much he sins against his ideal excellence. His own moral na ture is offended, and surely so likewise must his God be offended. No victim short of the most precious, or that which will fully represent what is most precious, is adequate to express his regret for the separation, and the most precious is offered. The child is given by the pa rent, in some cases the monarch is taken from the throne, for the sacrifice. The captive taken in war is brought to the altar, and through the crifice of that human life, as representing that which is most precious upon earth, the worshipper seeks to placate his God. The sacrifices are offered will the God accept them, and be appeased and conciliated'! In some such way do I satisfy myself con earning the origin of such fearful abuse Lf sacrifice.

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