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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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God , by any satisfaclive efficacy mercy and pardon t \ yr penitent creatures . Thr proper theatre to form our Lord ' s character and exercise his duties , without requiring the immediate death and actual ascension of the agent , most evidently lay
on this earth , or in the present world , the only situation in which they couid obtain their most direct , benevolent and important completion . On the passages selected from the Epistle to the Hebrews , the
next thing that demands our notice is the sacrifice , offering or oblation of himself , which Jesus Christ is said to have made or presented to God . And relative to this matter * Je ^ us is said 4 t to
have appeared once ; to have entered once into the holy place , ' and Ci to have offered hinibdf once as a sacrifice : ' the question then which is now before us is , What are we to understand by this term ouve ? - —Can- we suppose that Chrst ' s appearance and entrance
and offering were mere momentary acts ? or that he just made his lippearanee in a certain place , and thei > departed and went of } instantaneously ? - —Is it not more probable that this word oitce imports some duration , ov extended
portion o ( time , commensurate ; perhaps with either the whole period of-Christ ' s life , or , in a more restricted sense , with the particular season anc , l continuance of his personal and public ministry on earth ? Christ , it is said in Hebrews ix « 26 , Ci hath appeared once , ia the end of the world / ' &c , that is , he appeared and dwelt for a few years on earth , in the latter
age of the world . A similar mode ef exposition mttsf'be adopted and
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applied to the sacrifice and offer ., ing of-Christ : 6 i He offered one sacrifice , " and ii by one offeringhe perfected / ' &c . By the word une are we to infer , that the sacrifice or offering of Christ consisted merely in a single act ? Or , with many professing Christians , that it
comprised ( chiefly and in particular ) our Lord ' s last sufferings , or his crucifixion and death ? I { , like rnany of our fellow-christians , we extend the term , sacrifice or offering or oblation , to any thing more than a single act , why may
we not , for the same reason , extend it so far as to comprize the whole life and character of Jesus Christ ? or in other words , to de . note all the discourses he deliver , ed and all the actions he perform .
ed as well as all the sufferings he endured during his abode on earth ; or more especially during the period of his personal ami public ministry , while he most conspicuously held and executed the sacred office of Mediator be tween God and men ? On the 1
whole , 1 infer , ( 1 . ) taking the si .-critice ^ offering or oblation of Jesus Christ -in the wide and comprehensive sense , which is heir . suggested , will , it is presumed , serve at once to stamp importance and dignity on every thing that
our Lord said and did , and to correct many gross and wide-spread errors , which have been long entertained and still continue to prevail in the world , concerning h ^ true character and doctrine , and the terms of man ' s final ac « eptance with his Creator and Judge , in order to obtain and enjoy ' - tornal Jife and happiness : above all , a true and just representation
of our Lord Christ ' s sacrifice , oi his mediatorial acts and deed *
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434 On Passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1811, page 484, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2419/page/36/
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