HEBREWS vii. 27.

(UNITARIANISM.)

"This he did once for all.”—Belsham's Translation.

τουτο γαρ γαρ εποίησεν-This text has greatly puzzled the commentators; and is, indeed, when rightly understood, a complete refutation of the popular doctrine of the atonement, viz. that Christ died to expiate, or make atonement, or other satisfaction, or appease the wrath of the Father for the sins, the moral offences of mankind. This he did once for all. What? The construction plainly requires that the antecedent should be, he offered sacrifice first for his own sins, and after that for those of the people. So Grotius: Videtur hic et supra dici, c. v. 3. Christus quoque obtulisse non sæpius quidem sed semel pro peccatis non populi tantum sed et suis.' So Crellius: Principaliter hic de oblatione pro ipsius pontificis peccatis agi, ex superioribus, ipsoque rationum contextu manifestum est.'

"The plain interpretation is, that the sins of Christ were merely ceremonial, such as the High Priest was accustomed to expiate on the day of atonement, chap. ix. 7. Our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the priesthood: ver. 14, he was, therefore, to the priesthood in an unconsecrated state; that is, ceremonially, a sinner. And as Aaron was consecrated to his priestly office by the blood of animal sacrifices, so Christ was consecrated to his nobler office by his own blood. In this sense he offered a sacrifice for his own sins. This way of representing the death of Christ, was adapted to conciliate the prejudices of the Hebrew Christians. Also, as the posterity of Aaron were successively removed by death, ver. 23, F f

successive Priests were consecrated by successive sacrifices. But Christ lives for ever a consecrated Priest, and has no successor. Further, Priests under the law were subject to infirmity, and might desecrate themselves by ceremonial pollution and inadvertent acts: ver. 28. It was necessary, therefore, that they should be reconsecrated by daily and by annual sacrifices; but Christ, being incapable of ceremonial desecration, his own sacrifice is sufficient. He is now perfect for ever. And let it be remarked, in the very same sense in which Christ offered a sacrifice for his own sins, in that very sense did he offer sacrifice for the sins of the people. There is no distinction. But the sins of Christ were not moral, but ceremonial. No sacrifices are appointed for moral offences, either under the old dispensation or the new; no atonement, no appeas ing of divine wrath, no satisfaction to offended justice. But as Christ, by his one sacrifice, consecrated himself for ever, transferred himself from a ceremonially unholy, to a ceremonially holy state; so exactly in the same way those who believe the Gospel, are, by the sacrifice of Christ, made ceremonially pure. From sinners they become saints; they are transferred from the community of unbelievers and enemies, to that of believers who are reconciled to God; and from this holy community nothing can exclude them, but wilful apostacy, voluntary transgression; and for these no sacrifice is provided.

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What the writer means is this: that as Aaron and his sons were consecrated to the priestly office by sprinkling of the real blood of the animal victim, Lev. viii. 30.; so converts to the Gospel are consecrated to God by the figurative application of the

blood of Christ; and he gives this view of the purpose of the death of Christ, merely to reconcile the minds of the Hebrews to a fact, to them the most mortifying that could possibly be conceived, the crucifixion of the Messiah,"

Belsham.

HEBREWS viii. 4.

"He would not be a Priest."

That Jesus

"Dr. Sykes argues from this text, 1, never did act as a priest on earth; 2. That he did not offer himself as a sacrifice upon the cross; for if he had, he must have acted as a priest; 3. That the cross is not, nor can it be considered in any sense as an altar; 4. That the oblation of himself upon earth, or the shedding his blood, was no part of his sacerdotal office; for this was all done and over before his priesthood began."

Belsham.

HEBREWS viii. 11.

"And they shall not teach," &c.

Dr. Priestley had a very peculiar idea of the state of things which will take place in the Hebrew nation when these prophecies are fulfilled, "That in this new and future state of things, the forms of the ancient law will be resumed, and continue to the

end of time, is evident from the very particular description of the temple, and the service of it, in the book of Ezekiel. And that there will be no change of the priesthood, is evident from its being there declared, that it will be in the family of Zadoc, while the temporal sovereignty will be in the family of David; so that both the king and the priest will be according to the ancient constitution, and the business of sacrificing will be conducted by them as it had been before."

In the fourth century, the prodigious number of rites and ceremonies which had been invented, called forth that well-known saying of Augustine, that "the yoke under which the Jews formerly groaned, was more tolerable than that imposed upon many Christians in his time."

Augustin. Epist. 119. ad Januarium.

The ceremonies of the Greek Church are numerous and burthensome, and a great part of them continued upon the authority of oral tradition only.

See King's Rites and Ceremonies of the Greek Church.

"divers

The Quakers class baptism among those washings," which were imposed for a time only. (See Notes on Matt. xxviii. 19. iii. 11.)

HEBREWS ix. 14.

(UNITARIANISM.)

"How much more will the blood of Christ, who offered himself with a spotless mind * unto God, cleanse your conscience," &c.

Wakefield's Translation.

"With a spotless mind, Sia TVεvμатos aμwμov, more literally, spotless in his mind, in contradistinction to the mere bodies of sacrifices under the law, spoken of in the former verse.

αιωνιου,

πνεύματος

"The Æthiopic version has no epithet to TVEVμaros; Coptic and Vulgate, read ayov for aviov, which is not amiss offered himself, with a holy mind, a spotless victim unto God."

Wakefield.

"How much more will the blood of Christ, who by the Holy Spirit offered himself spotless to God, purify your conscience from dead works."-Belsham's Translation.