[Sermones de eucharistiae sacramento]

and regarding the guilt of the soul. Galatians 2: "By the works of the law a man shall not be justified, except through the faith of Jesus Christ." Hebrews 11: "By faith, Abel offered to God a sacrifice more excellent," that is, more acceptable and more valuable to Him, "than Cain; he understood and believed in him in the lamb which he offered to God as a better sacrifice," that is, the Savior, which Cain and the other unworthy [ones] did not. Genesis 4: "The Lord looked to Abel," etc. Thirdly, the cause of the institution of legal sacrifices must be assigned. Since they were instituted by God, who does nothing without cause, and yet, as was proved above in the first sermon, they were to be changed, one can ask the cause of their institution. To this, it must be said briefly that, although they did not avail by themselves for the remission of guilt, yet they were very useful for the doctrine of wisdom. They were indeed given to the servants for a time as signs of better things and as if to little children like the letters of books, in whose properties and modes they were offered, so that they might be perfected in the discipline of true faith; so that once true knowledge was attained, they might profess the elements, and the truth having been brought in, the shadows and signs would cease. Deuteronomy 11: "Put my words in your hearts and hang them for a sign in your hands, and write them on the doorposts and gates," namely the sacrifices, such as sheep, oxen, and things of this kind, like the letters of little children, in which many good things are to be learned; and they are especially three, namely: the faith of the Savior, the form of morals, and hope regarding heavenly things. The first they could learn in the sacrifices of sheep; the second in the sacrifices of bulls; the third in the sacrifices of animals burned outside the camp. Regarding the first: Isaiah 53:

"As a sheep he shall be led to the slaughter, and by his bruises we are healed."

Therefore, when the sheep was offered, they could learn of true faith, namely, the innocence of the Savior in his passion, his meekness, and the redemption of the human race through the death of Christ. Regarding the second: Daniel 3:

"In a spirit of humility and in a contrite heart may we be accepted, as in the burnt offering of rams and bulls."

Therefore, when horned animals were offered for a burnt offering, that is, to be reduced to ash through the heat of fire, they could learn three things about good morals: namely, that they should resist vices with virtue, that they should burn with the love of God and neighbor, and that they should preserve the humility of heart and body in all things. Regarding the third: Leviticus 4, Hebrews 13:

"Those animals whose blood is brought into the holy of holies by the high priest, their bodies are burned outside the camp."

The blood of animals signifies the souls of the just. When these things were done, they could learn three things about the hope of obtaining heavenly glory, which are: the penance of those living, the office of the Savior, and the suffrage of the blessed. We learn the first in that those bodies were burned outside the camp, because the burning of bodies there is that the faithful should perform penance outside the delights and pleasures of the world. We learn the second in that their blood was brought in by the high priest into the holy of holies, because the souls of the just are assumed into heaven through this life by the benefit of Christ. We learn the third in that the blood [is brought in] by the high...