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Untitled Article
rated" to that office by institutioriary and annual sacrifices : that they might be holy in the eyes of the Israelites , but polluted and abominable in the " eyes of all other people , so that they might never become the instruments of an abominable or foreign worship .
Secondly , since the commonwealth of Israel had that peculiar form of government called a Theocracy , religious ceremonies became almost identical with civil forms ; and had a political as well as a moral meaning" . Viewed in this light , the Tabernacle
was a royal pavilion , the priests were ministers of state , and sacrifices were appointed ceremonies by which the people had admission to the k * ngly presence . Hence all the stated daily and weekly sacrifices were part of the
state and pomp of civil government ; and , again , the laws of purification prescribed in various cases were to hinder the appearance of any thing in so august a presence , that would be indecent or disrespectful .
Moreover , there are a few cases of moral transgression ( of such a kind as are capable of coming before a court of law ) in which , after ordinary legal damages are paid , it is required that a trespass-offering shall be made . It will not , perhaps , be thought trifling to describe this as a fine to the crown . For the further illustration
of this view of the subject , see an excellent essay , " On the Meaning of the Atonement , " &e . signed Eusebius , Theol . Repos . III . 385 . Thirdly , sacrifices under the Jewish law served for the support of the priests who had families , but were too
much taken up with attendance upon the niceties of the ritual service , to have time for providing other means of support . This use of sacrifices , then , depends itpon the expediency of havirtg a distinct orcjer of men to attend on these things , which will scarcely be disputed .
Lastly , sacrifices were in some cases appointed with the intention of securing the general health and safety . The priests Avfere likewise the physicians of Israel : and those who had been
attacked by infectiotis disorders , were to be subjfeot to their examination , and . by t ^ efti be pronounced clean , and tUeri sjibioqttt to certain ceremonies aud purification ^ far sev ^ n day s , atidfiaaHy to bfc presented kt the " dbor of the
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tabernacle , and there make certain ^ acrifi ^ es , aectompanleA with rites indicative of cleansing / These prescribed rites were costly , and even the poor man , ( though in sin-offerings allowed
to substitute a small offering of flour , ) was not here excused from offering a lamb- ; a tenth deal of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering , and a log of oil and two turtle doves , or two young pigeons , such as he is able to get . Levit . xiv . 21 , 22 .
The tendency of this was to make the people extremely careful to practise such rules of cleanliness and temperance as should save them from such troublesome and expensive forms . Observe also , that the profit accruingto the priests from the performance of such ceremonies , would make them
extremely vigilant and sharp-sighted in detecting the presence of those dangerous complaints , of which the symptoms are given with so much exactness in the 14 th and 15 th chapters of Leviticus .
The atonements and offerings required in purification of various oth § r unclean states of body , ( though in part they were probably designed to represent the necessity of moral purity , and the sinfulness of indulging wrong desires , ) were principally devised With a view to considerations of health .
The following observation is made by Grotius upon Levit . xv . 2 : " Sciendum in Syriae locis et vicinis non minus , t ^ v yovoppoitxv , quam t < x c / x ^ vcc habere aliquid contagione nocens -
unde ista , Jegibus qilse a leprae iegibus non longi abeunt constriguntur . To this observation from Grotius , Dr . Outrain subjoins the following sentence , " Sed et its . forte significatum rrtortalia et immunda hominiim
corpora non nisi saerificio aliquo ( id quod autem est sacriiiciuin Christi cujus haec omrria figurae erant ) ad immortalitatem sacratum ivi . " And iii a similar manner Dr . Magee argues , ( No . 38 , p . 337 , Vol . I . ) -It deserves to be considered , ** * he says , whether the pains of cbiid-beaiiag , and all other diseases of the human body , ( of which leprosy in the eastern comatries was deemed thfe tnost grievtms , ) being * the i $ ignti \ eohsequencfes of thfct apostacy which * had entailed tii ^ se calamities on the children of Adatn , it tnightubt , " &e . fit is the prevafctiee of these gttftuS-
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An Essay on the Nature and Design of Sacri / fees underthe Mbsdic I jaw . 3 ^ 6
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1823, page 375, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1786/page/7/
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