8. Church father Lactantius (born 250-60, died 4th century) satirically
attacks animal sacrifices as absurd and ludicrous. In Book VI: "On True
Worship," in The Divine Institutes, he states,

    "What of heavenly goodness can the spilled blood of beasts with which they stain altars have in itself?  Perhaps they believe that the gods feed on that which men spurn to touch.  And whoever bestows this gorey feast upon them, though he be a thief, an adulterer, a poisoner, a parricide, he will be blessed and happy.  Rightly, therefore, does Persius deride in his own manner superstitions of this kind. `With which boon,' he says `do you buy the ears of the gods?  With a lung and milky ointments?'

   "....He realized, of course, that there is no need of flesh meat for
placating celestial majesty, but of a holy mind and just soul and heart, as he himself says, `which is noble with natural uprightness.'  This is heavenly religion, which does not consist of corrupt things, but in the virtues of the soul which originates in heaven.  This is true worship in which the mind of the one paying worship offers itself an immaculate victim to God."  pp. 394-5. "The Fathers of the Church:" Lactantius, The Divine Institutes, Books I-VII. Translated by Sister Mary Francis McDonald, O.P. The Catholic University of America Press, Washington. 1964.

     "For God does not desire a victim neither of a dumb animal nor of blood and death, but that of a man and his life....And so upon the altar of God which is truly very great, and which, placed in the heart of man, cannot be stained with blood, there is placed justice, patience, faith, innocence, chastity, and abstinence."  P. 466. Ibid.

   "But since men, through the neglect of justice, have become defiled with all manner of wickedness and crime, they think themselves religious if they have stained temples and altars with the blood of sacrificial victims..."  P. 391, Ibid.