Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 2.djvu/231

 Him; and thus it is that the tithe is ordained, and that the first-born has to be redeemed.

The expiation for sins accordingly takes place in a peculiar way, namely, by bringing in the idea that the punishment which has been merited, the merited manifestation of the nullity of him who has lifted himself up in sinfulness, can be transferred to what is offered in sacrifice. This is sacrifice. The individual makes it plain that his standing before God has no worth. It is thus that the idea arises that the due manifestation of the sinner’s nothingness is transferred to what is offered, since God acknowledges the sacrifice, and in this way gives the self a positive standing, or, in other words, a standing in itself.

The externality which thus attaches to the sacrifice arises from the fact that the expiation is thought of as being punishment, and not as purification as such; rather it is looked on as being an injury done to the evil will in this sense that the will is supposed to suffer damage. Closely connected with this idea is the fact that it is the blood specially which is offered up by being sprinkled on the altar. For if it is life which is to be yielded up as representing the highest of all earthly possessions, it follows that something must be surrendered to God which is really living, and the blood, in which the life of the animal is supposed to be, is given back to the Lord. We saw that amongst the Hindus the whole animal world was held in honour. Here again it is deprived of this honour, but the blood is still regarded as something inviolable and divine; it is held in respect, and must not be eaten by men. Man does not yet possess the feeling of his concrete freedom which leads him to regard life simply as life, as something inferior and subordinate to what is higher.