v^i*ii'S>".-,>-,-,>.;xxs,'y2K-: ^i. 5.__,,iC-'\_-<_^'X^'^/t,- >S$^.SSSSSSS$SS$ I ■I I ffiE ATONEMENT AND MODERN LIBERALISM. BY THE ■I REV. STEPHEN CARD, Protestant Chaplain Reformatory for Boys^ Penetanguishene. ''C^S,,. y TORONTO: WILLIAM BRIGGS, __WESLEY BUILUrnGS. Montreal : C. W. CoATES. Halifax : S. F. Huestis. 1892. % THE ATONEMENT / AND MODERN LIBERALISM. BY THE REV. STEPHEN CARD, Protestant Chaplain Reformatory for Boys^ Penetanguishene. TORONTO : WILLIAM BRIGGS, WESLEY BUILDINGS. Montreal : C. W. Coaxes. Halifax ; S, F, Huestis, 1892. PREFACE. This work, on the vicarious nature of Christ's Atone- ment, has at least one merit — it is short. I trust, however, the reader will find that the argument is not weakened by its brevity. I have been induced to publish it because I believe that a plain, concise state- ment of this important doctrine, together with the Scriptural basis upon which it rests, is needed. The author believes that the argument contained in the following pages is conclusive. My earnest prayer is that the publication of this modest booklet may do good ; that it may bring glory and honor and praise to Him, whose precious blood constitutes the only basis of a penitent sinner's faith, or of a 'believer's hope. S. C. CONTENTS. Preliminary Considerations - - - - 7 The Nature of Christ's Atonement - - - S What did Christ Jesus Come to this World For ? 1 1 A Few Errors Considered - - - - 14 The Vicarious Nature of the Atonement - - 20 THE ATONEMENT, AND MODERN LIBERALISM. Preliminary Considerations. There are certain doctrines of Scripture that are considered fundamental by the principal denomina- tions of Christendom. That these denominations, without previous understanding, and without com- promise, should all reach the same conclusions, and should all find the same great truths taught in the Bible ; that all these years of research, of Biblical criti- cism, of Biblical revision, have not eliminated or re- vised a single one of these essential truths, establishes conclusively two great facts. First, it proves that the doctrines thus held are Scriptural ; and secondly, it proves that the Bible is a reliable basis for our religious belief ; that as a book of instruction, as a revelation from God to mankind, it fully and triumphantly meets the case. To the scholar, and to the unsophisticated, the Bible reveals the same great truths, and teaches the same great doctrines. In regard to truths of minor importance, there should be, as there is, liberty. But in essentials there must be, in each denomination, unity. If some ministers, how- ever unquestionable their sincerity or their piety, were allowed vigorously to oppose what other ministers of the same body as vigorously preached as truth, the Church would soon be plunged into a condition of uncertainty, confusion and strife, that would seriously imperil, if not ultimately destroy it. There must be a standard of doctrine to appeal to ; there must be authority to deal with this so-called " Liberal Preach- ing," or the Church permitting such irregularities would soon become but a rope of sand. Every man certainly has a right to whatever opin- ions he may choose to hold in regard to Scripture, so long as in the practical working out of his opinions he does not interfere with the rights of others. But if these opinions are out of harmony with the well-known views held by his denomination — and if a minister, out of harmony with the views he himself once held, and that in his ordination vows he promised to preach and to defend — then honor demands, not that he should renounce his opinions, but that he should step out of the Church, with whose doctrinal standards he no longer agrees, and go where he may hold his opinions to his heart's content. One fundamental doctrine that Liberalism has most vigorously assailed is that of Christ's Vicarious Atone- ment. I— The Nature of Christ's Atonement. Two theories embrace substantially the theological formations of the centuries, in regard to the nature of the Atonement, viz., the theory of Liberalism, and the Vicarious theory. 9 As nearly as we are able to learn, the follow- ing is the theory of Liberalism : God wao never offended at men for their sins ; He never intended to punish the sinner with eternal death ; Christ did not die for the sins of the world ; the principle of substitu- tion is erroneous ; Christ came to bring comfort to the race, and by example and precept, to build up a purer manhood. He came to teach men, and to show them that God loves them ; no man will go to hell forever ; those who go there will be liberated in good time through the infinite mercy of God. The vicarious theory of the Atonement. Man has violated the divine law and is an offender ; God in His judicial character is offended ; God's law says, sin must be punished ; sin cut men off from God, and left the race without hope ; Jesus Christ, moved by infinite love, comes forward and offers Himself as a Substitute for all men, as a sacrifice for sin ; not to pay a debt, but to vindicate a principle ; not to satisfy an angry passion in Deity — as some imagine — but to maintain the majesty, the supremacy, the authority of God's law throughout the universe, so that God can he just wherF He pardons the sinner. We cannot do better than to present an extract from the " Prayer of Consecration," as contained in the ritual of the Methodist Church in the service for the celebra- tion of the Lord's Supper. It is precisely after the form for the same service in the Church of England : " Almighty God our heavenly Father, who of Thy tender mercy didst give Thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for oyr redemption ; 10 who made there by His oblation of Himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world." Here the nature, purpose and extent of the atone- ment of Christ, is expressed with unparalleled clearness and accuracy. In the Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church is the following : No. 21. — "The offering of Christ once made, is that perfect redemption, propitiation and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual ; and *here is none other satisfaction for sin but that (doner God's love to the race is not the fruit of the Atone- ment ; the Atonement is the fruit of His love that ante- dated it. By this universal atonement every human being of the race is placed upon savable ground. No man will ever be damned for rejecting an atonement that was not made for him ; or for refusing a salvation that was never within his reach. Life is an opportunity to accept Christ and be saved. In Him there is a salva,- tion needed by all, a salvation provided for all, and a salvation offered to all. Men who reject Christ enter at death into a state of endless punishment. Those who die in Christ enter at once into a state of endless happiness. There is grand inspiration and soul in- vigoration in the character, and ministry, and miracles of Christ ; but salvation, salvation from sin, comes alone through faith in the precious blood of Jesus. His atonement is the life-boat, plunging through the 11 roaring breakers and the angry storm, to rescue the poor souls that are clinging to >on sinking wreck. Heaven pity the man that would try to scuttle that life-boat II. — What did Christ Jesus Come to this World for ? The living vital question is, For what purpose did Jesus Christ come to this world ? There are serious and insuperable objections that lie against the theory of Liberalism. The most serious objection is, that it is in direct conflict with the plain and oft-repeated declarations of Scripture. As St. Augustine remarks, " It avails not what I say, what you say, what he says, but what saith the Lord ?" Paul in his Epistle to the Romans says : " God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." The very thing that Liberalism denies is here affirmed to be the highest proof of God's love to us. The fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians furnishes us with a most clear and decisive statement of this subject as Paul understood it. Let me quote : " More- over, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand. " By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For i delivered unto yoUy first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. " And that He was buried, and that He rose again ♦.he third day according to the Scriptures." Now there are several things affirmed here, and a few other things taught. He says that there were two important doctrines that he preached to the Corinthians ; that the Corinthians received these doctrines ; that they were saved by believing them ; that they were en- abled to stand by the support these doctrines fur- nished ; that the first of these doctrines was the more important ; yet as two chosen out of many they were both exceedingly important doctrines. The direct effect of the belief of these doctrines upon the religious life and character and comfort of these Corintnians was of the highest importance to them, and its con- sideration is certainly of the highest importance to us. Now, what were these two doctrines ? " First of all how that Christ died for our sins" and the second was, His burial and His resurrection. This, Paul says, is THE Gospel. The first, and the greater, of these two doc- trines. Liberalism and Socinians generally, for three hundred years, have denied. This gospel that he preached to the Corinthians, that saved the Corinthians, he preached also to the Galatians, so he informs us. In his Epistle to them he writes : " Grace to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil w rid, according to the will of God our Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen !" Furthermore : " And I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." We thank God, Paul, for your grand testimony that Jesus Christ died for our sins. We are fully satisfied that Christ revealed this glorious doctrine to you ; but who revealed to these doubters and ob- jectors that Christ did not die for our sins ? He certainly never has. Isaiah tells us, that the Lord hath laid on Him tke iniquity of us all. This is too serious a matter, and the eternal interests of humanity are of too much im- portance, to justify the employment of such language as the inspired prophet here uses, and repeats else- where, if the doctrine of vicarious atonement is not true. This burden, " the iniquity of us all," Jesus was bearing when John met Him, for he said, " Behold the Lamb of Gody which taketh away the sin of the worlds He bore this heavy burden to Calvary, for Paul says that by the grace of God He tasted death for every man. These are sufficient for our present purpose. No- thing can be plainer than that Christ Jesus, in addition to the benefits conferred upon men by His matchless character. His luminous teaching, and His marvellous miracles — actually died for their sins. It is not a matter of inference, it is a matter of record. The gospel that saves men has for its first and greatest truth that " Christ died for our sins." Paul says the Corin- thians believed this, and it saved them. If it is not 14 ■* true, if it is erroneous, then the Corinthians were saved by believing a falsehood, and Paul by his testimony confirms the fraud, thereby becoming an accessory after the act III.— A Few Errors Considered. After the system of exclusion in the diagnosis of disease, and following somewhat also the rules of a debate, we shall briefly introduce in the midst of our discussion of this subject the consideration of some errors rather than leave them to be considered at the close. Such an examination of some mistaken views is necessary to a clear understanding of the great doc- trine of the Atonement. ERROR NUMBER ONE. That there was a literal and in some way a decisive atonement made for some that assures them eternal life, while for the rest of the world there was an ineffectual atonement or no atonement at all made, is a view that antagonizes the plainest statements of Scripture, and, therefore, cannot be true. An ineffectual atonement, an atonement only in name and not in reality, is equivalent to no atonement at all. John said, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!' This testimony of John is packed with meaning. Here is the Old Testament doctrine of sacrifice, of substitution. But this time the offering is not an animal, the offering is " the Lamb of God!' Furthermore, the offering of this Lamb is not merely for the Jews. All distinctions 16 of condition, nation, clime or color vanish. " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the worlds " God so loved the world that He gave His only be- [,otten Son, that whosoever believGth. on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." That God LOVED the world, the whole world, a world of sinners, no reasonable person will question : and just as many as He loved He sent His Son to die for. If His love included the world, then the atonement of His Son included the world. The prophet comes to our assistance, and says Why, " the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us ALL." The fact is, there has been but one atonement made for sin, and that was for all; "that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." There was just as good an atonement made for one man as another. Men will not be lost be- cause no atonement was made for them, but because they reject the one that was made. A salvation needed by all, a salvation provided for all, a salvation offered to all, and a salvation adapted to all, is the sal- vation of the gospel. ERROR NUMBER TWO. That the atonement of Christ in some mysterious manner renders repentance unnecessary, and emascu- lates justifying faith, until nothing is left but the name, is a damnable heresy. No matter what the Bible teaches about the atonement, there are two things, among others, that God demands in His Word and that 16 He has never ceased to demand. In the most explicit language He has attached a finality to these two demands. In words plain enough for all to under- stand, He has said : " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Again, " But now commandeth ALL MEN EVERYWHERE TO REPENT." To the penitent jailer, Paul said : " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved ; " " He that believeth not shall be damned." He did believe, and he was saved that very night. The apostles everywhere preached, " Re- pentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ." Repentance may be defined (See Watson) as " a godly sorrow wrought in the heart of a sinful person by the Word and Spirit of God, whereby from a sense of sin as offensive to God, and endangering to his own soul, and from a sense of the mercy of God in Christ, he with a true sorrow turns from his sins to God as his only Saviour." Justifying faith, to quote the same author, may be stated to be, " Assent, with reliance ; belief, with trust" This is not to merit sal- vation, but to meet God's demands, and to comply with His requirements by repenting of our sins and by the exercise of faith, which is the condition of salvation. These are the two things that God demands, and He will give us the new heart. To teach men tha^ they have no conditions to meet in order to be saved, that Christ has done it all, is to present a view of the atonement utterly unwarranted by Scripture and that imperils the interests of immortal souls. 17 ERROR NUMBER THREE. That the atonement is so effectual in the case of be lievers as to render it impossible for them to fall away and miss their heavenly reward will not bear the test of Scripture. We have already shown, what is now generally believed, that the atonement is universal. If all men have been redeemed, then all men are free moral agents. " He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." He will not be likely to exclude any for whom He has made an atonement. If men are lost, they are lost because they reject salvation. They are free to choose it, or refuse it ; are therefore responsible, are therefore free. Now, one question : Does a change of heart destroy human freedom? "No!" you say. "No," all will say. Then are believers, while living, exposed to the possibility of falling, and missing heaven, and there- fore is there the utmost need that they " watch and pray, lest they enter into temptation." " The right- eousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression"; " neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth." " When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live: if he. trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered ; but for his iniquity that he hath com- mitted he shall die." So says Ezekiel. This Scripture plainly proves that religion does not destroy man's freedom, and 18 ff maintains the position taken above. By the grace of God, however, the weakest believer may triumph over all his enemies, and win the crown of life. ** For Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees." ERROR NUMBER FOUR. That Christ died for all men, and that, therefore, all men will be saved, is the last error we shall examine. This is a very easy and expeditious method of dispos- ing of the question of human destiny — " the why, and the whither." Without repentance, without justifying faith, without the new birth, into the kingdom of God, all men are going to heaven. If this is true, then some of us have gone to a great deal of unnecessary trouble. A few roughs and scoundrels r^re to be de- tained in a place where the climate is admitted to be uncomfortably warm. They will be held on a sort of indeterminate sentence, but will soon merit promotion, and will get there all right. If it were not for the Bible, this theory might be popular ; but unfortunately for it, the Scriptures have a very short and decisive way of dealing with these imaginary schemes. The Bible says, " Repent, or perish ! Believe, or be damned ! Be converted, or you shall not see the kingdom of God." For a long time there was a dispute over the words " everlasting " and " eternal," in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. But the new version comes along and ends the dispute by making both heaven and hell, in that twenty-sixth verse, " eternal " ; which harmonizes it with the testimony of the rest of the Scriptures. 19 Of course every intelligent student of the Bible knew, before the revised version was thought of, that the words " everlasting " and " eternal " in that twenty- sixth verse were from the same word in the original. There is as much said in the . ible about eternal punishment as there is about eternal happiness ; and if God's threatenings are not reliable, His promises cannot be. There is no reasoning under the heavens that can destroy the one doctrine without destroying the other. All this rubbish about what " an earthly father would not do to his child," is supremely absurd. That poor child must be tired. Why, Jesus is the embodiment of kindness. His very name is a synonym of all that is tender, and humane, and loving. And yet His lips supply us with the strong- est proofs, the most thrilling descriptions, of eternal punishment. He furnishes the information that be- tween heaven and hell " there is a great gulf fixed," so deep and wide and terrible that no soul can ever get to heaven that is sent to hell. It is He that consigns the wicked to a punishment that is endless. The torrent of denunciation that He poured upon that gang of hypocritical Pharisees was the ^ost terrific that ever fell upon mortal ears. It was full of the most fiery suggestions that eternal damnation was not very far off from them. As we heard Bishop Bowman once say, " The question is «