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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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7 ft Analysis of a > Wbrhby a Jeidisk Author * ^ Mr . Bennett 9 on Sacrifices .
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for the remission of siik They were all voluntary gifts and free donations , as tokens of gratitude and obedience to the Universal Benefactor : but in process of time , when mankind Became more numerous , the practice
deviated from its primitive simplicity ; it became an inheritance to the priests , and the servants of the temple : and in consequence they were varied and multiplied ; they became moreover absolute , and were insisted upon as of indispensable obligation . *
" Profane history informs us that the heathen sacrifices did not only extend to thanksgivings and sin-offerings , but that they were also augurial and soothsaying—employed for inquiries respecting events to come , and
discoveries either of political and public concerns or of private interest . These were regulated according to the fancies of the augurial - priests ; and a most productive system it certainly was to them .
"At the exitfrom Egypt , when the Commonwealth of Israel was formed , this practice of sacrifices was so generally spread that it could not altogether be dispensed with . The divine wisdom , which wrought miracles in the firmament and the
elements of nature , never wrought a miracle on the human character . Any super-natural change in the human mind would militate against the emphatical charge in Deut . xxx . 19 , "I testify unto you this day , I have set before you life and death , a blessing and a curse—Choose life" To change the manners and customs from one
extreme ^ o another would been a violence done to the choice of the mind : therefore the divine Legislator thought proper not tp abolish the general practice of sacrifices , but only to reduce them to a more limited
system . Generally speaking they were reduced to two classes ; the one freewill offerings , thank and peace-offerings ; the other , duty-offerings , for sin and guilt . The sacrifices of both classes were also ordained according
* Dogb not this account of the tricks of Priests in the most , ancient times correspond with what ma ? clear ] y be traced out in the history of the Christian Church , of the revenues , obtained by priests , and the yarions means they gradually brought abQut of obtaining money from the beitevcti ?
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to the fortune of , the donor or the transgressor , and . were either animal or vegetable according to ability : they "were to be offered to the Supreme Power alone , in' Jerusalem only , and by the hands of the tribe of Levi . " We are lead to believe upon reading the history of Moses , that it ; was the
original design of the Lawgiver not to burden the Israelites with many ceremonies ; the first institution was extremely simple , and it would probably have continued so , had not the Jews discovered such an absolute
determination to attach themselves to rites and ceremonies which all the other nations were fond of , that it was found necessary to load them with burdens , in order to keep down their rebellious spirits- —truly does it appear , upon tracing onwards ftheir history , that the prophet spoke truth when tie said , * My people will have it so . '
" £ . When we examine the order of sacrifices as it is described in Leviticug , we find that the shedding of blood was not at all necessary for the remission of sins . Thus Leviticus , 1 st and 2 nd chapters , there is an order for meat-offerings of flour with
oil and incense . But , still more to the purpose , in jxi . xiv . * But if he be not able to bring two turtle doves , then he that sinned shall bring a tenth part of , an ephod of fine flour for , a sin-offering . He shall put no oil
therein . ' Nothing , can he more distinctly intended here , than that the shedding of animal Wood , according to the Mosaic dispensation , was not essential for \ trespasses and sin-offerings at large ; but was purely ceremonial and circumstantial .
" 5 . If we examine , the , prophetical books at large , we shall find that they all confirm what I have advanced—that the whole system of sacrifices , was neither essential to salvation nor of absolute commandment .
Thus in Samuel , ' Hath God as great delight in burnt-offering ; and sacrifice as in obeying the wprd of Godfl Behold to obey is preferable to offering sacrifice , and to hearken is . more ac * ceptable than thefat of lambs / ' King
David said , f Sacrifice an , d offering thou didst not require ; ears hast thoi * opened iu me . ' ( Meaning | Jfo * t men ought to listen to ^ bsohrte rational commandments applicable to- human welfare ) . See also xrfh Psalm at large ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1816, page 72, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2449/page/8/
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