of
idolaters: since it is written (Deut. 12:31): "Thou shalt not do in
like manner to the Lord thy God: for they have done to their gods all
the abominations which the Lord abhorreth." Now worshippers of idols
used to knive themselves to the shedding of blood: for it is related
(3 Kings 18:28) that they "cut themselves after their manner with
knives and lancets, till they were all covered with blood." For this
reason the Lord commanded (Deut. 14:1): "You shall not cut yourselves
nor make any baldness for the dead." Therefore it was unfitting for
circumcision to be prescribed by the Law (Lev. 12:3).

Obj. 2: Further, those things which are done for the worship of God
should be marked with decorum and gravity; according to Ps. 34:18: "I
will praise Thee in a grave [Douay: 'strong'] people." But it seems
to savor of levity for a man to eat with haste. Therefore it was
unfittingly commanded (Ex. 12:11) that they should eat the Paschal
lamb "in haste." Other things too relative to the eating of the lamb
were prescribed, which seem altogether unreasonable.

Obj. 3: Further, the sacraments of the Old Law were figures of the
sacraments of the New Law. Now the Paschal lamb signified the
sacrament of the Eucharist, according to 1 Cor. 5:7: "Christ our
Pasch is sacrificed." Therefore there should also have been some
sacraments of the Old Law to foreshadow the other sacraments of the
New Law, such as Confirmation, Extreme Unction, and Matrimony, and so
forth.

Obj. 4: Further, purification can scarcely be done except by removing
something impure. But as far as God is concerned, no bodily thing is
reputed impure, because all bodies are God's creatures; and "every
creature of God is good, and nothing to be rejected that is received
with thanksgiving" (1 Tim. 4:4). It was therefore unfitting for them
to be purified after contact with a corpse, or any similar corporeal
infection.

Obj. 5: Further, it is written (Ecclus. 34:4): "What can be made
clean by the unclean?" But the ashes of the red heifer [*Cf. Heb.
9:13] which was burnt, were unclean, since they made a man unclean:
for it is stated (Num. 19:7, seqq.) that the priest who immolated her
was rendered unclean "until the evening"; likewise he that burnt her;
and he that gathered up her ashes. Therefore it was unfittingly
prescribed there that the unclean should be purified by being
sprinkled with those cinders.

Obj. 6: Further, sins are not something corporeal that can be