But the
ancient interpreters treat it as designed and providential, in
this surely not erring: and their conjecture is that it
represents the sacrifice of the whole world of sense, and
especially of the OldDispensation, which, being outward and
visible, might be called the dispensation of the senses, to the
FATHER of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, to be a pledge and means of
communion with Him according to the terms of the new or
evangelical law.
They arrived at this idea by considering the number five, the
number of the senses, as the mystical opponent of the visible and
sensible universe-- ta aistheta, as distinguished from ta noita.
Origen lays down the rule in express terms. '"The number five,"'
he says, '"frequently, nay almost always, is taken for the five
senses."' In another passage, Keble deals with an even more
recondite question. He quotes the teaching of St. Barnabas that
'Abraham, who first gave men circumcision, did thereby perform a
spiritual and typical action, looking forward to the Son'. St.
Barnabas's argument is as follows: Abraham circumcised of his
house men to the number Of 318. Why 318? Observe first the 18,
then the300. Of the two letters which stand for 18, 10 is
represented by 1, 8 by H. 'Thou hast here,' says St. Barnabas,
'the word of Jesus.' As for the 300, 'the Cross is represented by
Tau, and the letter Tau represents that number'.
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