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has counted the blood of * the covenant , wherewith he was sanctified , an unholy thing : " ver . 29 . " JesuS also , that he mig ht sanctify the people with his own blood , suffered without the gate . " Heb . xiii . 12 . This language is so similar to that used in the Old
Testament , in relation to sin offerings , that if the blood of bulls and of goats ever cleansed from wilful offences , it must , on this ground of argument , be supposed that our Lord ' s did so too : yes , if it could be proved that the blood of bulls and of goats did not cleanse the offerer from moral guilt , the blood of Christ must be admitted to do it ,
because this writer says , purge your conscience from dead works f and because the same thing is asserted so many times in a little different language , both in the Old and New Testament . Dr . Whitby says on Heb . ii . 1 t , " Who sanctifieth" ( " i . e . by his oblation purgeth us from sin" ) . And on chap . x . 10 , he suggests , that to
be sanctified doth not here signify to be freed from the power and dominion of sin , but from the guilt of it . And in chap . ix . 13 he observes , from Dr . Hammond , that to sanctify to the purifying of the flesh , is to make legally clean , i . e . so as that they might come into the congregation again , it being the sanctifying of the unclean ; " but still in a metaphorical
signification , as cleansing signifies expiation , and obtaining pardon of sin ; and when this is done by a sacrifice , ayiot ^ eiv signifies to expiate and cleanse from guilt by virtue of it , in which sense it is used throughout this Epistle , and that agreeable to the import of it when it relates to sacrifices in the Old
Testament / ' So the learned Dr . John Taylor having quoted Heb . x . 10 , and 26—^ 29 , says , "Note ; sanctified in those texts doth imply or suppose the remission of sin . " Taylor on
Atonement , p . 116 , and in p . 117 , ** Note ; purging , cleansing , washing , " &c , ** do imply pardon . " It is evident from what precedes this remark , that he is speaking of the effects wrought bv the blood of Christ . And in his
Key to the Romans , p . 127 , he observes , * ' that professiag Christians should take it for granted that they are the called , the justified , " &c ., " for these are benefits freely given us of God on our faith in Christ . " Also , I . ' ' To be sanctified in Christ Je-
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sus , " ( 1 Cor . i . 2 , ) and to be baptised into Christ , are ane sudd ¦ the same thing . So the Christian Fathers be-, lieved . See Wall on Baptism , I . 115 , and Grot , on 1 Cor . i . 1 .
2 . But those persons who are baptized receive at their baptism the forgiveness of their past sins . Ananias said unto Saul , - 4 € Arise , and be baptized , and wash away thy sins . " Acts
xxii . 16 ; ii . 38 . Therefore , 3 . Those persons who are sanctified in Christ Jesus , or by the blood of Christ , are not merely permitted to onjoy the privileges of the Christian
Church , but have also their past sins forgiven them . " A covenant state implies favour , " &c , " and a clear account ; such as forgives , and imputes no past trespasses . " Rev . George Stanhope on the Gospels and Epistles ,
I . 359 . As then the word sanctified appears sometimes to contain in it the forgiveness of sin as really as admission into the church of God , why should we hesitate to ascribe this sense to it as
well as the other ? Perhaps to some persons it may seem like a repetition to observe , V . That if it could be proved that the word sanctified was not directly designed to express the forgiveness of sins , nevertheless , it would be
necessarily found to be included in it , or must follow from it . The blessed God ' s being the God of Abraham , &c , was not , perhaps , designed directly to teach the doctrine of the
resurrection of the dead ; but it necessarily followed from it . It was hidden in it . So that our worthy deceased friend and others grant what they meant to deny : for tffcey admit that the blood or death of Christ has an
efficacy to restore sinful and disobedient creatures to a sanctified state ; that is , to their becoming members o £ the church of God ; consequently in covenant with him , and , therefore , enjoying all the religious privileges of enjoying all the religious privileges of
that highly honoured and happy society . But does not this aecesearily include in it the forgiveness of their past offences ? Can you suppose it possible that a person should enjoy the one without the other ? Are they
not two essential parts of one and the same subject ? f ) aes not the blessed Go < J , in the gmpel , say to Heathen idolaters , and to all unbelievers , leave
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296 On the dbmish Sacrifice * .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1823, page 296, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1784/page/40/
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