Essay on the Sacred Fire and on the Vestals

seemed to float upon the water, because one could not discover the foundations that supported it; upon this Altar, a Fire burned continually, which was perhaps not regarded as sacred, but which care was taken to keep always lit, and into which incense was incessantly thrown. The devout went every day by swimming to this Altar, where they came to pray and bring offerings.

The People of God The Israelites also had sacred Fires; the Supreme Being, in the Old Testament, always shows himself under this emblem; he offers Fire to the Israelites as an object of terror and respect; he threatens them with devouring flames; it is in the midst of thunder and lightning that he announces his presence on Mount Sinai; he orders that a perpetual Fire be lit upon the Altar in his sanctuary; he commands the Pontiffs High Priests to maintain it by throwing wood upon it evening and morning. The miraculous origin of this Fire added to the veneration the Jews had for it; it was the very hand of the Eternal that ignited it.

Aaron, having become High Priest, presented sacrifices for the first time in this capacity. The Fire came out from before the Eternal and consumed the Burnt Offering Holocaust: a religious animal sacrifice that is completely consumed by fire and the fats upon the Altar. Commentators have been puzzled by these words: it came out from before the Eternal. This embarrassment has given rise to these two explanations: the flame descended from Heaven, or from the glorious cloud that covered the Temple; or else it

simply came out from the very depths of the sanctuary, inaccessible to the eyes of the People, and into which the High Priest entered only once a year.

The Commentators have pushed their research and their curiosity further; they wanted to know at what time this miracle happened: whether it was by day or by night. They agree well enough that it was at the hour of the evening sacrifice, because the account of the sacred historian leads naturally to that moment, and because it seems likely to them that God chose it to manifest his power with more brilliance, and to testify that he was pleased with the homages that had been presented to him during the day. These opinions, after all, contain nothing essential; only the substance is a matter of faith; thus one is permitted to choose; I believe that one can stick to the opinion that has the Fire emerging from the heart of the sanctuary, and which fixes the miracle at the beginning of the night.

Since that time, the perpetual Fire became necessary in the tabernacle; it was before it that the Hebrews prayed. Many people have claimed that it was by their example that other Nations lit sacred Fires; but they have not paid attention to the fact that the Chaldeans had them even before Abraham, that Moses had traveled in that country where he had seen them as well as in Egypt; that there were some in Elam or in Persia, etc. Others have contented themselves with saying that the report of the miracle
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