Offer your whole souls as an offering unto him / BoM Site

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Offer your whole souls as an offering unto him

Mark 12:33:

And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Romans 12:1:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Hebrews 7:27:

[Regarding Christ] Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

In Omni, Amaleki writes

I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.

This references a concept traceable back to a sermon of William Beveridge (1637–1708) republished posthumously in 1824:

He, therefore, that would so turn unto the Lord, as to find mercy with him, must not turn from one sin to another, or from one sect to another, or from one religion to another only; but he must turn from all his sins, from all his former ways and thoughts, and must “return unto the Lord with all his heart;” that is, our hearts must be wholly inclined to God, and our souls be offered up as a whole burnt-offering unto him, without any mental reservation or hypocritical equivocations with him. We must not halt between two opinions, nor admit of any co-rival with God in our affections: for unless we give him all, we give him none; for how can there be any communion betwixt light and darkness? or what agreement can there be betwixt Christ or Belial, or betwixt God and sin in the same heart? Be not deceived, God will not be mocked. Neither must you think to put him off with fair pretences, and outward shows; or with part, instead of the whole, that is due unto him: neither will he look upon you as returning to him at all, if you leave any part of your hearts behind you, or bring any sin whatsoever along with you. But if you would return to him, you must leave all things else to close with him; you must be as much averse from sin, and inclined to God, as you have formerly been averse from God, and inclined to sin. And this is true conversion indeed; when the whole soul is taken off from all things else, and fixed only upon him that made them; then all the affections, which before were scattered amongst the creatures, meet and centre only in God: and so yours all must do, if you desire to return to him.