stage of thought, and the Deity withdrew before him to the
celestial heights, filling him with awe and fear; then rose a class of men
who claimed the privilege to approach the Deity and influence Him by
certain secret practices. Henceforth these acted as mediators between the
mass of the people and the Deity. In the first place, these were the
magicians, medicine-men, and similar persons, who were credited with the
power to conjure up the hidden forces of nature, considered either divine
or demoniac. After these arose the priests, distinguished from the people
by special dress and diet, who established in the various tribes temples,
altars, and cults, under their own control. Then there were the saints,
pious penitents or Nazarites, who led an ascetic life secluded from the
masses, hoping thus to obtain higher powers over the will of the Deity.
All these entertained more or less clearly the notion that they stood in
closer relation to the Deity than the common people, whom they then
excluded from the sanctuary and all access to the Deity.

The Mosaic cult, in the so-called Priestly Code, was founded upon this
stage of religious life, forming a hierarchical institution like those of
other ancient nations. It differed from them, however, in one essential
point. The prime element in the cult of other nations was magic,
consisting of oracle, incantation and divination, but this was entirely
contrary to the principles of the Jewish faith. On the other hand, all the
rites and ceremonies handed down from remote antiquity were placed in the
service of Israel's holy God, in order to train His people into the
highest moral purity. The patriarchs and prophets, who are depicted in
Scripture as approaching God in prayer and hearing His voice in reply,
come under the category of saints or elect ones, above the mass of the
people.

4. Foreign as the entire idea of sacrifice is to our mode of religious
thought, to antiquity it appeared as the only means of intercourse with
the Deity. "In every place offerings are presented unto My name, even pure
oblations,"(832) says the prophet Malachi in the name of Israel's God.
Even from a higher point of view the underlying idea seems to be of a
simple offering laid upon the altar. Such were the meal-offering
(_minha_);(833) the burnt offering (_olah_), which sends its pillar of
smoke up toward heaven, symbolizing the idea of self-sacrifice; while the
various sin-offerings (_hattath_ or _asham_)