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    igh their GocF is holy . Levit . xix . 22 , 3 d . 4 < r , 44 . r 2 . It would lead them to consider God as the righteous Governor of the m > vh \ , wrK * fI 6 tices the different actfotis oft ^ &e » i- ^ and treats them

    according to thdm * Human beings are very apt to i tin agin e that God takes little or no notice of the nature of their actions , or will ever call them to account for them . See Leland ' s Reason .. of Christ . Vol . II . p . 290 . 293 . 304 . 313 . 367 . 374 , octavo ed . Dr . Priestley ' s Comp . of the Hindoo Laws with the Law of

    Moses , p . 54 . 271 . God himself says , tfeese things hast thou done , and I kept silence ; thou thoughtestthat I was altogether such art one as thyself : but I will reprove thee , and set them in

    order before thine eyes . Ps . K 2 t . J 9 ut the business of sin offerings tended very much to prevent or correct such erroneous notions of the moral government of God . In close connection

    with this , I would observe , 3 . That it would excite them to consider their past ways , and to repqnt of what had been amiss in their behaviour . It should be carefully observed that the victim for the sin offering was provided by the offerer ( Levit . v . 6 , 7 ) , WHich put hi iti to some expencej

    that he brought it to the priest at the dopr of the tabernacle ; that it is cal | ed hissing that solemnly laying his hand upon the head of the victim he confessed his situ aftd ptit it to death himself , dr tfae ' priest for him ; that some ofi the blood was caught in a bason , and' sprtakled upon the side of the atyartL&vit . * . Q ) , that the offerer was

    nor permitted to eat any part of his sitt Offering , though the priest did flUsvit . v x . 3 o , &c ) , that there was no oil of incense used , as that would have expressed joy ; that the annual day of ^ x £ iation wae a day of general humiliation for the people to afflict their souls < Levit . xvi . 17 \ that then the whole of the sin offering was burnt without the camp , ver . 27 , 28 ; that | he person who burnt it was denied by lt , and the vessel broken or cleansed which was used in the service ( Levit .

    xvi . 28 ) , and that all their sins were ° n that day confessed by the high prfest over the head of the scapegoat , * nd the goat then sent away into the wilderness , from whence he was never to feturn ; an 4 that the high priest

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    and the person who led the scapegoat into the wilderness were both denied by this service . It is therefore very obvious that this solemn service would lead them , and

    was designed to lead them to consider " their past ways , and to excite them to repent of their sins and reform their lives . For in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year . Heb . x . 3 . . 4 . It would encourage the penitent to hope and believe that his sins were forgiven . The language of this

    service was , there is forgiveness with God that he may be feared . The law of Moses expressly said , and it shall be forgiven him , Levit . vi . 7 , xvi . 30 * And those persons who lived in the latter periods of the patriarchal ana Mosaic dispensations knew that many persons had actually obtained forgiveness in this wav . See Numb . xvi . 46 .

    4 7- xxv . 11 . l Sam . xxvi . 19 . 2 Sain , xxiv , 21—25 . Ezra x . 9 . 1 Esdras ix . 13—20 . 2 Maccab . iii . 32 , 33 . xiir 39—45 . To conclude ; these things evidently form a part of a religious dispensation ^ not indeed calculated for innocent

    creatures , or for mankind in jjieif , ^ highest possible state of impfpveipej ]^^ but admirably adapted to the charaetejr ; and state of ignorant and sinful beings T who require the plainest and , ^ f ^ Qs ^ striking modes of mora , ! and religiou ^

    instruction ; and , therefore they mar ^ fest the great wisdom and jgpodjjess oji ^ God who appointed theii ) . Ifhe ^ K ^ , : ishness of ( iod rs w iser than pperj ^ ^ and the weakness of Ood is ^ str ^ ng ^ f ^ than men . I Cor . i . * 25 . . 1

    The moral philosophers wh 6 s § jn ett-r / tal feelings are hurt bv such liurnbte modes of instruction , should yecoUecL in what plain and simple way $ thei ^ " parents first instructed them , ^ h ^ ri 1 oolon the Grecian lawgiver was asl&e < Jl J whether he had given the Athenians the best laws ? he answered , the / b ^ est r

    of those that they would haye j « - " ceived . There is no giving a pejfect ^ religion to imperfect creatures / - AM > things must be adapted to the ; rejj ^ ori | v , which they bear to tliose things . p ^ persons for whose use or Deoefiit tkeyj ' ^ are made . To act thu ^ is the , h igfygs ^ . wisdom . . , v / v > lam , yours , ^ mi ___ j 6 seph >^ A ^

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    Mr . Jevans on the Levitical Sacrifices . 7 M

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1816, page 721, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2459/page/29/