Disputation V: On Sacrifice

WHEN God heaps us with his benefits, as a sign of our indigence, which before was not, he brings us into being. But while we acknowledge his gifts to us, because he has no need of our goods, whatever we offer in sacrifice must be brought to non-being, so that we may entreat him as the supreme lord of life and death, as well as the Alpha and the Omega, that is, the Beginning and the End, from whom all things proceed and in whom they likewise end: This is the one purpose of sacrifice. Hence the reason natural to itself, conscious of its duty, proclaimed from the beginning of the world that God was to be worshipped with victims; and Abel offered from the firstborn of his flock, upon which God looked with favor, as it is said: Genesis 4. For if the inhabitants of any kingdom are accustomed to offer their king some illustrious gift, that they may acknowledge that they and their goods are carried favorably by the king's protection, even though one person in the name of all presents it; how much more is the whole people bound to have a sacrifice, and a Priest, who may render to the Divine Majesty that signification of the soul pleasing to him, all deprecating God with one mouth; hence the sacrificing Nehemiah said: Receive, O Lord, the sacrifice for your whole people, for it is the public and chief act of Religion, as the Holy Doctor notes, 3. dist. 9. dub. 3.