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seek the presence of God . See Outram , lib . i . cap . x . 2 . * How the offering" of things , useful and valuable to man , came to be considered as a method of worship , it cannot , we think , be difficult to conceive . Let us take the simple record of the earliest
sacrifice given in the book of Genesis . " Abel was a keeper of sheep , but Cain was a tiller of the ground . And in process of time it came to pass , that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord . And Abel , he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof . "
What can more naturally express the thanks of these first sons of Adam for the Divine bounty which had blessed their labours with increase than these offerings ? It is true , it was but giving God his own : he could not literally
be served with such gifts : and , therefore , there are those who cannot see the propriety or even the innocence of this way of worship , unless it have some much more abstruse and remote
signification . But , after all , what is there inherent in any acts of worship , however refined , spiritual , and raised above comparison with this primitive model of devotion , to make them serviceable and acceptable to God ? It is to his condescension , and his desire of the improving holiness and final
* Jam omni sacrificiorum generi cultas sacri ratio in era t , Holocaust a Deo immolabantur , ut omnium conditori , ac Domino , omuiumque itidem conservatory oinnique cultu et honore digno ; sacrificia salntaria ut eoruin omnium , quae ad vitam pertinent largitori , sive ea ante impetrata essent , unde ortum est sacrum
euchansticum , sive nondum impetrata , sed expetita ; idque vel voto interposito , unde extitit sacrificwm votivum , vel sine voto nuncupato , unde ortum habuit sacrum voluntarium su& cujusque sponte datum , mer&que liberalitate factum —Jam ver < S
sacra piacularia Deo facta sunt , ut Domino vitiis infenso , poenaeque , ac veniae jus habenti . Quibus ex rebus intelligitur e 6 dem spect&sse sacrificia , qu 5 precea ° re enunciatae , gratiarumque actiones pertinent . Illud tamen interfuisse , quod
ejusdem utique voluntatis alia in precibus enunciatis , atque etfrini in gratiarum actionibus , alia autem in sacrificiis signa cxterna adhibereutur . In ' illis scilicet explicata verba , hi his sacri quidam ritus , quibus tamen eadem desideria , quae verbis cx i > Hcatis ; subject * crant .
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safety of men , thai ; they owe any of their fitness to please him ! They ai ^ doubtless unworthy of him , and % o beings raised to much higher degrees of spiritual understanding and
knowledge , would appear infinitely so , did not their greater comprehension of mind enable them to perceive tTiat their own acts of worship , though ? glorious beyond comparison with oufs > accompanied with
¦ the sound Symphonious of ten thousand harpa that tune Angelic harmonies , are still infinitely removed from giving honour worthy of the great Supreme
to whom they are addressed . It is the part , then , of the Divine wisdom and grace to invite to such expressions of piety as he knows his creatures can comprehend . A wise parent will not check the first germ of grateful
and generous sentiments in the infant mind for a defect or inaccuracy in the manner of expressing them . When the little child selects the rosied apple from the heap to give back to the presenter in return for the sift of the
whole , would any one that had the Iea 3 t feeling of what is lovely refuse the offering , or ridicule its absurdity ? Why , then , consider it as unworthy of God to meet the natural wants and wishes of the men to whom he- had
discovered himself as a Being all-powerful to bless , or to destroy ; and to invite them to express worship by presenting gifts ? And if it be asked , what reason can be given why the gift was to be consumed in the act of being offered , and if it were an animal , to be slain ? The reason is obvious , that
there was no other way of alienating them , and making them no longer the property of him who offered them . If the fruits of the ground had only been offered , and then not disposed of , they would either have withered , which would have been unseemly , or
they would have been employed to common purposes , which would have made a mere mockery of the gift . If the firstlings of the ; flock had not been slain , they would have returned tQ their herd , and would have been as
much as ever the advantageous property of tlie person who had golenanjjp given them away . Besides , the disapr peanutce of the offering by the action
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An Essay on the Nature and Design of Sacrifices under the Mosaic Law * 3 ^ 3
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1823, page 373, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1786/page/5/
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