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Atonement and Sacrifice * shall be extant , the masters of the dialectic art will be at no loss for an example of the circulating syllogism /' t ^^^ i th& nlrfer w riters , in defence
of the proper sacrifice of Christ , give such a view of the meanness and imperfection of its types under the Mosaic institution , as are but indifferently calculated to increase our respect for that anrient dispensation , or to bestow
a greater dignity upon its ordinances . Thus Dr . Outram : " Id inter antitypum et typum interest , quod quae revera in antitypo vis inest ea nonnisi
specie tenus , aut gradu longe exiliori in typo extiterit . Enimvero quamvis typus nonnunquam rem aliquam cum antitypo suo coramunem habuerit , ea tamen res multo minus in typo , quam in antitypo , semper valet ;
quemadmodum mors earum victimarura , quibus mors Christi adumbrabatur , longe minorem apud Deum hoininesque vim habuit quam quae ad mortem Christi pertinet . Ita ut vis rei adumbrantis virtutis in adumbrate repertae
nihil nisi symbolica qusedam species , aut tarn exilis gradus fuerit , ut pro umbra qu&dam haberi posset . ' * Lib . i . c . 18 , § 2 . And Dr . Magee , speaking- of the Mosaic institutions at large , has the
following remarks : " Since the law itself , with its accompanying sanctions , seems to have been principally temporary ; so the worship it enjoins appears to have been , for the most
part , rather a public and solemn declaration of allegiance to the true God in opposition to the Gentile idolatries , than a pure and spiritual obedience in moral and religious matters , which was reserved for that more perfect system appointed to succeed in due time , when the state of mankind would
permit . " This remark , though wise and philosophical , is not very consistent with the supposition of there being an inherent and universal reference to the most important of Christian doctrines
in the whole system of Mosaic worship . The whole question , then , is brought to this point ; Can a method be discovered of accounting for the application m the New Testament of sacrificial langu age to the case of Christ , supposin g that no real original correspondence wa 8 intended , aad such a
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method as shall leave unimpeached the credit and authority of the Chris * tian Scriptures as the only appointed rule and standard of faith ? We think that such a method may be discovered , provided men are not perversely determined to charge the errors which are the effect of their
own want of caution , and of their precipitate and headlong * prejudices , upon the uncertainty and obscurity of scripture . We have little hope , however , of producing any change of opinion in such as set out with a declaration like the following : If the death of Christ was not an atonement for
sin , " ( i . e . in the popular sense , ) "the law and the prophets , Jesus himself , his forerunner , and his apostles , all spoke a language which is to me wholly unintelligible ; and which could not have more effectually deceived had
it been framed for the express purpose of deception . " ( Wardlaw on the Soeinian Controversy , p . 206 . ) Is not this too much like the obstinacy condemned b y the prophet , where he describes the Jews as " hardening the neck that they might not hear God's word" ?
Suppose the case of men born Jews , and brought up in the pious profession of the Jewish religion ; attending with devout assiduity upon the temple-worship , and ' in all the ordinances of
the law blameless . " Suppose them to have arrived at mature age , with their religious habits , sentiments and expressions fixed in the model of a ritual and ceremonial dispensation ; and at that time let them be introduced to the
knowledge of a more spiritual , purer system of religion ; and let them become inspired apostles and writers in this new dispensation ; let them have occasion to write to separate communities of l > elievers , composed of men brought up like themselves in an attachment to the ancient
institutions of Moses : what will naturally be the style of their religiouswritings ? Surely , without the exercise of an extraordinary , and , as it seems to us a needless miracle , it will
be Jewish ; and where religious expressions already in frequent devout use appear in any degree applicable to new topics , they will be used in preference to others , of which no definitions are at hand , or which must be made on purpose . And it may be
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An Essay on the Nature and Design of Sacrifices under the Mosaic Law . 461
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1823, page 461, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1787/page/29/
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