GIFT or 
 j George B^ Allen 
 
"THE LIFE AND LIGHT 
 OF MEN" 
 
*'The Life (the Living One) was the Light of men."— John 5. 4. 
 
 " The true Light, which lighteth every man, ivas covrhig into 
 the world."— John i. 9. 
 
'THE LIFE AND LIGHT 
 OF MEN" 
 
 ^n C!^S0S2 
 
 By JOHN YOUNG, ll.d. (edin :) 
 (I 
 
 *]"-*''** \' ' I '> 
 
 ALEXANDER STRAHAN, PUBLISHER 
 
 LONDON AND NEW YORK 
 
 1866 
 

 GIFI 
 
 
 « t «« 
 
i^foati0n. 
 
 TO 
 
 THE MODERATOE, MINISTERS, AND ELDERS 
 
 OP THE 
 
 UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Fathers and Brethren, — 
 
 Some years ago, you are aware, I retired 
 from the Ministry of Albion Chapel, and at the same 
 time resigned my connexion with the United Presbyterian 
 Church. The first had its meaning chiefly in the second. 
 Had it been possible to have remained in the Church, I 
 should never have relinquished the special charge, for the 
 people to whom I ministered deserved everything at my 
 hands, which was consistent with the obligations of an 
 earlier and holier fidelity. But it was not possible. I 
 had ceased to regard the articles of our faith in the light in 
 
 416512 
 
VI DEDICATION. 
 
 which I once had seen them, and was unable to limit my- 
 self by the Confession and Formularies of the Church. 
 
 The ground of my resignation was not broadly pro- 
 claimed at the time, but was left to be inferred, as it very 
 readily could be, and as, in point of fact, it was by all who 
 knew the circumstances. I have ever since been thankful 
 that I was hindered from prematurely thrusting on wider 
 notice an affair of personal and private life. Had this 
 been done, mischief might have followed, without real 
 benefit in any important direction. At the same time, I 
 have not been ignorant that a reticence, which being tem- 
 porary, was justifiable, and even incumbent, all the cir- 
 cumstances considered, if persisted in, beyond the limits of 
 the necessity, might deserve to be branded as cowardice 
 and disloyalty to truth. I have also felt that something 
 was due to you, and to the sacred relation in which, espe- 
 cially in the years of my pastorate, I stood to you, some- 
 thing to the cordial friendship), to which, now as before, I 
 am admitted by valued ministers and members of the 
 United Presbyterian Church, and something also to myself, 
 to the position which I held, and to my personal truth- 
 fulness and integrity. The three inconsiderable volumes, 
 bearing my name, which have been published in the last 
 few years, were intended, amongst other purposes, to serve 
 as a partial discharge of these obligations, and the work 
 which I now dedicate to you, is a further instalment with 
 the same motive and aim. 
 
DEDICATION. Vll 
 
 Thoroughly at one with the Churches called evangelical^ 
 in all that is really essential, I do not imagine that truth, 
 and nothing but truth is with them, and only with them : 
 that they are all right, and all others all wrong. Can it be 
 deemed presumptuous to suppose that there may be errors 
 in our evangelical teaching, and grave dangers to which 
 these errors are likely to lead? And has there never been 
 cause to condemn, in our public action, as a party, manifest 
 narrowness and bigotry, and still more — what has at least 
 seemed to be disingenuousness and intolerance? But these 
 and such things notwithstanding, the evidence to me is 
 abundant that the divine spirit of Christianity is mightily 
 working in the evangelical churches, and that the warmth 
 and the living energy of true religion, piety towards God, 
 and love towards man, and those holy central impulses 
 which originate and sustain all the highest good that is 
 done on earth, are to be found very largely in them. 
 
 Fathers and brethren ! I was baptized, admitted to the 
 holy communion, trained and educated in that church, of 
 which you are the acknowledged heads. I think I under- 
 stand the evangelical faith as maintained by you, and 
 especially what, in these days, is considered its leading, 
 testing article. I think I understand what is meant by the 
 sacrifice of Christ, the atonement for sin (involving the 
 idea of satisfaction to justice) through his blood. Cer- 
 tainly, I am much to blame, if I do not understand it. 
 I have been most carefully instructed in it, from my earliest 
 
Vm DEDICATION. 
 
 youth upward, in the family, from the pulpit, and from 
 the chair of our Theological Hall. Its ground, its nature, 
 its evidences, and its defences have long been familiar to 
 me, and all my prepossessions, and prejudices, and associa- 
 tions, and circumstances national, educational, hereditary, 
 ecclesiastical, and social, have been in favour of it. So 
 far as an ordinary capacity can justify the claim, I may 
 claim, without presumption, to understand this special 
 tenet. I well know, besides, that by thousands of godly 
 and devoted souls, this is regarded as the very life of their 
 life, the -ground of their well-being, and the one solitary 
 hope of the whole world, a protecting shield also, thrown 
 around the Almighty himself, and a sun which pours its 
 glory on His perfections and His nature. They believe 
 that from this source peace is shed into their hearts, that 
 by this the sacred fire is supplied, which kindles them to 
 purity and love, to heroic daring, and noble endurance, 
 and that all their happiest thoughts of God, all their 
 strongest motives to holy living, all their selectest moments 
 of spiritual communion, and all their clearest visions of the 
 eternal future, are derived from this. Were this to go, they 
 believe that everything valuable and essential would perish 
 with it. 
 
 I could not attempt to disturb, if such a thing were in 
 my power, a faith like this, did I not believe, as I do, that 
 all which is really essential in the common convictions 
 would abide untouched ; that divine peace in the troubled 
 
DEDICATION. IX 
 
 heart of man would be even more secure ; tliat the pure 
 free grace of the Almighty, in the redemption of the 
 world through our Loid Jesus Christ, away from all idea 
 of human merit, would be more firmly established ; that the 
 impression of the mercy of God, and of the dying love of 
 the Kedeemer of men, would be far deeper ; and that all the 
 motives to holy living, and all the purest influences of the 
 cross on Calvary, would be multiplied and intensified. 
 
 At the same time, and on the other hand, the unquali- 
 fied admission is here made most gladly, that the doctrine 
 of satisfaction, as usually taught among us, is often, very 
 often, held in association W-ith the most exalted piety and 
 with the purest virtue. Judging by the limited experience 
 of my life, I have never found, and I never expect to find, 
 nobler examples of the true fear of God, of unbending 
 moral principle and of generous, self-sacrificing devotion to 
 the good of others, than in the evangelical churches. A 
 " creed " so called, is but a small part of the true man, and 
 the worst side of the professed creed, as I humbly presume 
 to judge, is often unconsciously, but habitually kept down, 
 while the best side almost entirely is left to exert its force 
 upon the mind, and to form the character after the purest 
 model of spiritual excellence. Multitudes in the past have 
 found the seed of eternal life, in spite, as I venture to 
 think, of rigorous and false conceptions of Christ's sacri- 
 fice, multitudes at this hour find, and multitudes in the 
 time coming may yet find, through the same medium, the 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 incorruptible germ of renewed being. It is not imagined 
 by them, that living love of Christ and filial self-surrender 
 to the redeeming, reconciling God in him, can ever be 
 separated from such conceptions, and far less is it believed, 
 that only when thus separated they are most pure, most 
 noble, and least open to the possibility of abuse. 
 
 Fathers and brethren ! I have "satisfied my mind that 
 the conclusions put forth in this volume are substantially 
 true, but I am very fi\r from imagining that they are per- 
 fectly and wholly true. There are a few things to us 
 men, sure and stable as the universe, or as the Great God 
 himself. In principles, strictly so called, in all that we 
 see to be eternal, immutable, universal, we can repose with 
 the calm conviction of absolute truth. But wherever the 
 positive element intrudes — and where does it not intrude 1 — 
 the penalty of partial insecurity, and uncertainty, must be 
 borne. In every so-called truth, as conceived and stated 
 by any human being, there must always be the taint either 
 of defect, or of error, or of both ; and conversely, in every 
 so-called error^ as taken up by any human being, there 
 must always be some infusion of truth. The common 
 proverb popularises without degrading, a principle which is 
 of unlimited application, "one man's poison is another 
 man's food," that is, he is able to find in it some alimentary 
 power, some particles which he can convert and assimilate 
 to his own living substance. On the other hand, " one 
 man's food is another man's poison," that is, he finds in it 
 
DEDICATION. XI 
 
 what is so distasteful, that liis physical system rejects it, 
 and would render it destructive to the vital functions. 
 
 Tlie nutritive, alimentary power for the spirit, as for the 
 body, easily distinguished in the generality of cases, is yet 
 subtle and mysterious, and may exist in very varying 
 amount, and in most diverse and unlikely combinations. 
 It does not belong to men, to determine for one another 
 where it may or may not be found sufficient to sustain 
 soul-life, or in how many opposite forms, and in spite of 
 what gross adulterations, it may be sifted out by the 
 spiritual, as by the physical system, so as to support a real, 
 though strange vitality. Truth, pure and simple, perfect 
 on all sides, is only for the One Unerring Mind. Error, 
 unmitigated and unmixed, can be only for the reprobate 
 and refuse of our race. On this earth, constituted as we 
 are, and in a state of confessed imperfection, we may 
 anticipate knowledge, without defect, and without flaw; 
 but it must be beyond and above, not here. 
 
 Fathers and brethren, 
 
 I am, with unfeigned respect and regard, 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 JOHN YOUNG. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 rpHE structure and form of this work are 
 -^ due to necessity, rather than choice. The 
 system of doctrine, the modes of thought, and 
 the conventional phrases and terms, which are 
 common, more or less, to all the evangelical 
 churches, rendered a method of treatment 
 adapted to these peculiarities unavoidable. It 
 seemed imperative, that those whom, first of 
 all, it was sought to influence should be met 
 on their own ground, and through the use of 
 their own selected forms of speech. 
 
 The favourite theological phraseology of an 
 earlier period, and with it the scholastic, syste- 
 matic treatment of religious truth, have grown 
 distasteful, are now often unintelligible, and 
 
XIV PEEPACE. 
 
 certainly are quite unappreciated. Men of 
 free and wide cultivation, and of liberal and 
 generous tendencies, with no disrespect to the 
 existing sectional distributions of Christianity, 
 have learned to generalise, or rather to uni- 
 versalise, the principles and the spirit of the 
 New Testament. Instead of attempting to set 
 its manifold deliverances in exact logical order, 
 and to compact them into a fixed system — a 
 process essentially artificial, and always desti- 
 tute of the smallest authority, save from the 
 wisdom and the organising faculty of indi- 
 vidual men — they have learned to take them 
 just as they lie in the sacred writings, separate, 
 scattered, without order and without method, 
 imperishable seed, but sown broadcast, not in 
 straight lines drilled with mechanical pre- 
 cision. They have sought, not to cut them 
 sharply ofi", but to connect them with all ex- 
 isting and concurrent truth wherever it may 
 be discovered, and to look for their ground, 
 not in the necessities and the niceties of any 
 artificial system, but in the great wants of 
 
PEEFACE. XV 
 
 the world, in the essential truth of things, 
 and in the eternal excellences of the Father of 
 all souls. They have, moreover, sought to find 
 the highest evidences of revealed truth, with- 
 out in the least undervaluing other regions of 
 proof, in the nature of man himself, in the law 
 originally written in his soul, in those mysteri- 
 ous and holy intuitions, not yet erased, which 
 reveal, if anything in the spiritual structure 
 can reveal, the awful presence and voice of 
 the Creator. Having thus emancipated them- 
 selves, as they believe, from human creeds, 
 they stand far apart from those who are not 
 only in chains, as they judge, but who love 
 and exult in the bondage. Incapable of ap- 
 preciating the difficulties which oppress others, 
 they scarcely understand at all how such diffi- 
 culties should be felt, and are uninterested in 
 the reasonings by which they may be removed 
 or relieved. They occupy a totally different 
 region, have no sympathy with what they 
 deem narrow conceptions, and are offended 
 by a phraseology which to them is uncouth. 
 
XVI PKEFACE. 
 
 teclinical, artificial, and nearly unintelligible. 
 But all the while, the so-called system of reli- 
 gious truth, logically arranged and compacted, 
 remains a fact, make of it what we will, and 
 demands to be dealt with on its own ground. 
 
 It is common in these days to speak, not 
 respectfully, of human creeds as such. They 
 have had a long trial, sufiicient, it is thought, 
 to demonstrate what they are good for, and to 
 make it now full time to decide conclusively, 
 whether the amount of good outweighs the 
 necessary attendant evil. Instead of servants 
 ministering to the general convenience, and to 
 the ready, accurate, and economical arrange- 
 ment of knowledge and of thought, the creeds, 
 some allege, have grown into tyrants, wielding 
 a sceptre of iron, sometimes glowing with fur- 
 nace heat. Instead of adapting the creeds at 
 successive periods to an advancing elevation 
 and expansion of thought, it is conceived that 
 the vain effort has been made to adjust the 
 ever-growing mind of the world to their un- 
 changed bulk and shape — just as if, in a library 
 
PREFACE. Xvii 
 
 with its fixed lines of shelves, instead of alter- 
 
 ino; the shelves to the size of the books, we 
 
 should cut down the books to the measure of 
 
 the shelves. 
 
 But the evangelical creed is not a thing to 
 
 be named without deep respect, whether for its 
 
 intrinsic character, or for the purposes it has 
 
 served as a spiritual influence on the nations 
 
 of Europe, and as a large educator of the 
 
 popular mind. It has undoubtedly gained, 
 
 and it has long preserved, a real, a deep, and 
 
 an extended sway. Several of its chief points 
 
 have been effectually drilled into the minds of 
 
 masses of the people, have moulded their 
 
 thinking, and coloured their speech, and in 
 
 part created for them a new vocabulary. It 
 
 is a product on which the intelligence, the 
 
 learning, the acuteness, the organising power, 
 
 and the practical skill of many of the ablest 
 
 and best endowed minds of Europe have been 
 
 successively bestowed. It is unequalled for 
 
 the vastness of its sweep : first of all, reaching 
 
 back, (surely not without hazard of blasphemy,) 
 
 h 
 
XVIU PREFACE, 
 
 to what is styled, " The Council of Eternity/' to 
 the absolute decrees of God issued by that 
 council, and to the concerted plan for their 
 gradual evolution in the course of the ages ; 
 then, tracing the entire history of redemption 
 in all its principles and methods, from the 
 creation and the apostasy of man, on through 
 the antediluvian, patriarchal, and Jewish eras, 
 to the Incarnation and the Cross ; and then, 
 stretching forward from these, beyond all the 
 Christian ages, to the consummation, the last 
 judgment, and the life everlasting. It is a 
 work of profound thought, and of severe ela- 
 boration, it is based on hard strong argument, 
 it is constructed with rare logical ability and 
 ingenuity, and will be found altogether most 
 compact and skilfully arranged and consoli- 
 dated. There may be gaps in the wall of 
 enclosure which protects what is called the 
 system of revealed truth, and these may be 
 left to be filled up by individuals as they best 
 can, but it is impossible not to marvel at the 
 massiveness and the extent of the defences. 
 
PKEFACE. XIX 
 
 and at the amount of labour, of skill, and of 
 intellectual prowess and power which have 
 been expended on them. 
 
 Some of the most holy and honoured men, 
 Augustin and Anselm and Luther and Calvin, 
 and multitudes hardly less distinguished, Ca- 
 tholic doctors, and later Protestant divines, as 
 well as Waldensian, Bohemian, French, British, 
 and other confessors, have had a share, more 
 or less, in this great work. It is not the crea- 
 tion of one age or one party, but a legacy 
 handed down from all the ages, with their 
 endless parties, almost every one having left 
 its mark, more or less distinctly, upon it in its 
 passage onward. Men of the most opposed 
 opinions, some directly and others indirectly, 
 have exercised an influence in its formation, 
 and many who would not have accepted it as 
 a whole, have nevertheless contributed to some 
 of its details. It is properly an agglomerate, 
 unique but most composite, here venerable for 
 Catholic antiquity, there purely Protestant 
 and again comparatively modern, receiving its 
 
XX PREFACE. 
 
 latest modifications tlirougli Puritans, Cove- 
 nanters, Methodists, and the various sections 
 of the existing evangelical school. 
 
 The attempt would be simply absurd, to 
 discuss a complex system within the limits of 
 a small volume. But it may be possible, 
 nevertheless, to discover and to examine care- 
 fully what constitutes, in these modern days, 
 in the judgment of those who have adopted it, 
 its central and vital distinction. Evangelical 
 writers, preachers, and disciples, are in the 
 habit, without exception, of narrowing the 
 issue, and bringing the creed to a single test. 
 That test is the doctrine of sacrifice, the sacri- 
 fice of Christ on the cross, the atonement made 
 to God for human sin, the satisfaction ren- 
 dered to Divine Justice by the shedding of 
 'Christ's blood. It is taught that Christ stood 
 in the room of men, and endured the punish- 
 ment which they deserved, and that God, on 
 this ground, but only on this ground, is now 
 able to set men free, and to receive them back 
 to His favour. In modern evangelical speech, 
 
PEEFACE. XXI 
 
 this is the gospel, the true gospel, the one, only 
 gospel of God to the world; which accepting, a 
 man is safe ; which rejecting, he is eternally 
 lost. That familiar phrase, " the gospel," always 
 in the same fixed sense, is so constantly pro- 
 nounced from the press, from the pulpit, and 
 in private society, that it is hardly possible to 
 misapprehend it. Invariably one thing is meant, 
 one thing chiefly, almost alone — the expiation 
 of human sin by Christ's death, and the divine 
 pardon, purchased by this costly means. 
 
 The following pages are devoted chiefly to a 
 free consideration of this article, in several of 
 its important bearings, and if there be found 
 in them any closer approximation to truth, or 
 any help to truth-seekers, the writer will have 
 gained his best reward. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INCARNATION — IN TWO SECTIONS. 
 
 Section First. — The Idea and the Fact : — Divine Response to the 
 Soul's deepest Want — Its wide Relations — Incarnation and 
 Miracles — Necessity of Anticipative Record — The Light of 
 Secular History, .... Pp. 3-18 
 
 Section Second. — Sacrifice in Incarnation : — God Self-sacrificing — 
 Limitations of Human Medium — "Lamb of God" — Super- 
 naturally Provided — God in Christ Unveiling Himself — In- 
 carnate, Unknown, Rejected — Life Sacrificed — "Accoi'ding 
 to Counsel of God"— A Prey to Rage and Lust of Men — Divine 
 Self-sacrifice for Sin Pp. 19-41 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HUMAN SIN— IN TWO SECTIONS. 
 
 Section First. — What Sin is, and the Sense of Sin : — Essential Dis- 
 tinction-Burden of Universe — Radical Difficulty in Specula- 
 tion — Unrest in all Earnest Souls — Consciousness of Sin — Its 
 Development — Legitimate Result, , . Pp. 45-68 
 
XXIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Section Second. — Eedemption from Sin : — " Way of Salvation " — 
 Adaptations and Subtlety — Ground of Forgiveness — Not 
 Honouring to God — Sin, not Punishment, greatest Evil — 
 Divine Self-sacrifice smites Root of Sin — Gradual and Final 
 Redemption, ..... Pp. 69-73 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SPIRITUAL LAWS. 
 
 Their Sphere — Material Laws — Not Eternal and not Necessary- 
 Ordained by God — Spiritual Laws Immutable — In Harmony 
 with Will of God — Their Ground — Human Laws — Need Vin- 
 dication and Support — Self-sustaining Law — Sin and Death 
 • — Holiness and Life — Divine Sacrifice — Destroys Sin — Saves 
 the Soul, ..... Pp. 77-98 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ETERNAL JUSTICE. 
 
 Opposite Conceptions of Justice — Providence — Inequalities, Real 
 Equality — Mere Justice — Not in God — A Human Notion — 
 God always More and Better than Merely Just — Justice and 
 Mercy— Evil, Not of God — Moral, Physical Evil — Ethical 
 Nature of God and Man — Mercy Loftier, Holier than Justice 
 —Inevitable Doom of Sin— Triumph of Mercy, Pp. 101-120 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION — IN TWO SECTIONS. 
 
 Section First. — Imagined Necessity of Satisfaction : — 1. Law — But 
 Penalty inflicted — 2. Justice — Never Defrauded — No Un- 
 settled Claims — 3. Moral Government — Not Dishonoured or 
 Overthrown — Its Security, Divine Self-sacrifice, Pp. 123-138 
 
CONTENTS. XXV 
 
 Section Second. — Satisfaction for Sin not Possible: — 1. The Fact 
 of Sin; 2. Its Criminality; 3. Its Power for Evil Unchange- 
 able—Sin Destroyed and Forgiven — Divine Anger — How In- 
 appeasable — Anger and Love in Cross — Destruction of Sin in 
 Soul— This, Salvation, . . . .Pp. 139-152 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION — IN TWO SECTIONS. 
 
 Section First. — Meaning of Terms : — Science of Theology and other 
 Sciences— Essentially Different Ground — Theological Terms — 
 Settled by Scripture — Words, "Justify," &c. — Literal Sense — 
 Righten, Set Right — Examples — Non-Natural Sense — Spirit of 
 Man, Wrong — Needs to be Set Right — Proof Passages — Justi- 
 fication— Only Thrice, Used, . » . Pp. 155-175 
 
 Section Second. — Truths, Answering to Terms of Scripture: — 
 Righteousness Rightness — State of Right-en-ed-ness — Righten- 
 ing-ness — The Power, Act, Mode of Rightening — Imputation 
 — Rightness Imputed because Real — Fact Recognised — Thing 
 Reckoned, What it is, never. What it is not— Imputation In- 
 evitable — Instinctive — Figures of Speech — Judicial Imputa- 
 tion Crime, » • . . .Pp. 176-195 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SACRIFICE. 
 
 fs God Essentially Self-sacrificing ? — Lesson to Universe— Sacrifi- 
 cial Rite, Universal — Esthetic Gradation — Contrary to Facts 
 — Animal Sacrifices — Earliest Form of Offering — Taking of 
 Animal Life, Revolting — In Name and by Command of God — 
 1. Provision for Human Sustenance — 2. Merciful Protection 
 to Animal Creation — Sacredness of Life — Worship of Life- 
 
XXVI CONTENTS. 
 
 giver — Surrender back of His own — Virtual Self -surrender — 
 3. Silent Confession of Life Forfeited and of Sin— Early Re- 
 volting Corruptions of Sacrificial Rite, . Pp. 199-217 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MOSAIC ECONOMY — IN TWO SECTIONS. 
 
 Section First. — Its Chief Characteristic : — Religion of Blood — End- 
 less Sacrifices — Rites Simplified and Purified — Appeal through 
 Senses to Soul — Two Ideas — Human Sustenance and Divine 
 Worship — Paschal Lamb, a Supper — Also, Act of Worship — 
 No Idea of Expiation — How Blood, Atonement for Soul — Blood 
 and Fat, God's Portion — Rest for Food — Kaphar, 'IXdaKOfiai, 
 Atonement — Not Expiation — Proof Passages, Pp. 221-242 
 
 Section Second. — Its True Meaning and Interpretation : — Visible 
 Punishments and Rewards in Old Testament — Atonement for 
 Life, not Soul — System of Discipline and of Worship — Not 
 Scheme of Salvation — Training of Israelites — Old Testament, 
 Record of Spiritual Truth — Special Privileges — Salvation 
 always Common to World — Sacrifices never Ground of Pardon 
 — " Purifying of Flesh " — No More — Anticipation of Death 
 of Christ Impossible — " I, even I, am He that Blotteth 
 out," &c., . ... Pp. 243-269 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SACKIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 Voluntary — "I lay down My Life" — Issue Foreseen, Willingly 
 Encountered — Escape without Dishonour, Impossible — Men, 
 Sole Agents in Crucifixion — Determinate Foreknowledge of 
 God — Natural Course of Events — Wholly, a Human Crime — 
 No Sacrifice by Men to God — No Divine, Judicial Arrange- 
 
CONTENTS. XXVU 
 
 ment — Two Gods — Tri-unity Destroyed — Substitution, its 
 Meaning — Figure, not Reality — Human Notions, transferred 
 to Mind of God— Natural Sense of Scripture — Fictions taken 
 for Facts— Perfect Love, in Death of Christ — Human Self-sac- 
 rifice — Noble and Ennobling — Ray from Heaven — Eternal 
 Fountain of Pure Generosity — God's Sacrifice for Men — Con- 
 quers Soul, Pp. 273-302 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT — 
 IN THREE SECTIONS. 
 
 Section First. — The Epistles : — Written by Jews — Addressed, First, 
 to Jews — Jewish Phraseology and Imagery, Inevitable — Expo- 
 sition of Passages — Beautiful, Natural Sense — Christ's Death, 
 and Ancient Sacrifices — Epistle to Hebrews— Typical Language 
 — Use and Abuse — Apostolic Gospel, . . Pp. 305-335 
 
 Section Second. — Acts of the Apostles: — Early History of Christianity 
 — First Christian Sermon — Peter's Gospel — Martyr Stephen — 
 Ethiopian Eunuch — Cornelius — Saul of Tarsus, His Conversion, 
 His Ministry — Antioch, Athens, Miletiis, Philippi — ''Believe 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ, and Thou shalt be Saved, and Thy 
 House," Pp. 336-355 
 
 Section Third. — The Gospels:— Hostile Criticism — Unsound Basis 
 — Sayings and Discourses of Jesus — How Preserved and Trans- 
 mitted — Christ's Soul, their Fountain — Immeasurable Supe- 
 riority — Early Christian Writings — Noblest Heathen Utter- 
 ances — Exposition of Passages — No Expiation or Satisfaction 
 — Must have been, if True — Lord's Prayer — Last Supper — 
 Calvary — After Resurrection — Olivet — Christ's Teaching 
 Opposed to Satisfaction — Pharisee and Publican — Prodigal, 
 
 Pp. 356-398 
 
XXVIU CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION — 
 IN TWO SECTIONS. 
 
 Section First. — From the Apostolic Age to that of Ansehn:— 
 Foundation in Human Nature — Ignorance and Fears — Early 
 Christian Writings — Repeat Language of New Testament — No 
 Independent Statement — Proof Passages — Dr Shedd's Admis- 
 sions — First Idea, Satisfaction to Satan — Irenseus — Origen — 
 Abuse of Figures the Original Root of Error — First Explicit 
 Statement — Athanasius — Augustin — Anselm, Pp. 401-446 
 
 Section Second. — From the Age of Anselm to the Present Time : — 
 Athanasius and Anselm — Second, Deeper Source of Error — 
 Pride of Reason — Intellectual Subtlety — False Philosophy — 
 Misapplication of Logic — Anselm's Tractate, Logical, not 
 Philosophical — Conclusion False — Thomas Acquinas — Luther 
 — Secret of his Power — Success of Evangelical Churches — 
 Calvin, Theologian of Reformation — Evangelical Transcen- 
 dentalism — Essential Relation of Divine to Human — God, 
 Father of Souls — Loving, Redeeming Father, Pp. 447-480 
 
 Conclusion, . . . , . Pp. 481-497 
 
CHAPTER T. 
 
 INCARNATION. 
 
 Section Fikst.— The Idea and the Fact. 
 Section Second.— Sacrifice in Incaenation. 
 
SECTION FIRST. 
 
 The Idea and the Fact — Divine Eesponse to the Soul's deepest Wan\> 
 — Its wide Relations — Incarnation and Miracles — Necessity of 
 Anticipative Record — The Light of Secular History. 
 
 LIFE and light belong to all languages — words of 
 liappy omen, and only of happy omen, to all 
 peoples and times. Their very tone is stirring and 
 sunny, and the things are brighter and more enkind- 
 ling than the words which denote them. They are 
 perhaps the very commonest, but they are also the 
 most inscrutable of all our notions ; the best under- 
 stood, but also the least understood of all human 
 things. A savage leaps with joy in the irrepressible 
 consciousness of vigorous life, and amidst the warmth 
 and beauty of noonday. But the severest student of 
 nature, when he has pushed his researches to the 
 farthest possible limit, is forced to acknowledge that 
 life and light are each, to him, an unfathomable mjs- 
 tery. He has observed, arranged, and recorded the 
 phenomena connected with both ; he has discovered 
 the laws which regulate the phenomena ; he has even 
 measured the inconceivable speed with which light 
 
INCARNATION. 
 
 darts through space ; but what light is, and what life 
 is, he cannot tell. The impenetrable secret abides, 
 and the most gifted of our race, in presence of it, can 
 only gaze in mute astonishment. 
 
 The relations of life and light are as well under- 
 stood, but also as ill understood, as the things them- 
 selves. That they are connected — beautifully, essen- 
 tially connected— is certain, and many of the forms 
 of their connexion are familiar to us ; but how they 
 are connected we know not. The root and ground of 
 their relation, the middle point in which they meet, 
 and from which they act and re-act, the one on the 
 other, are undiscoverable. Life and light, like death 
 and darkness, are associated indissolubly in thought, 
 because they are associated constantly in fact. We 
 cannot separate life from light, nor light from life, 
 without an instant sense of incongruity and wrong. 
 The one seems to be the true complement of the 
 other, a real necessity to the other. In the lowest 
 and in the highest modes of existence alike, both are 
 essential, and the perfection of spiritual being is in 
 the full, beautiful blending and interfusion of the 
 two. 
 
 The wonderful proem to the fourth gospel overawes 
 and startles us with sudden openings into the abys- 
 mal secret of life and light, and into their primal, 
 eternal relations, with quick flashes, into the profound 
 darkness, quenched almost as soon as they are struck 
 
INCARNATION. 
 
 out. " In the beginning was the Logos, and the 
 Logos was with God," essentially related to God, 
 eternally connected and identified with God. " And 
 the Logos was God." " In him (the Logos) was life" 
 — no abstraction, no mere quality of being, but life — 
 living, unoriginated, self-sustaining, self-perpetuative 
 power. " And the life" (this living One) " was the 
 light of men." " The true Light, which lighteth every 
 man, luas coming into the world" — at the fulness of 
 the times, he was actually coming into the world. 
 "He was in the world" — before this, he was, and 
 from the first, he had always been in the world. 
 " And the world was made by him" — the Eternal 
 Logos reigned supreme in the creation and formation 
 of all things. " And the world knew him not. But 
 as many" — in all the ages, all along — " as received 
 him" — recognised and admitted him into their 
 hearts- ihey " became sons of God ; born not of 
 blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 
 man, but of God." At last, in the fulness of the 
 times, " the Logos was made flesh, and dwelt among 
 us, full of grace and truth; and we beheld his 
 glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the 
 Father." 
 
 The divine in man, the true inner life and light of 
 his soul, not a poetical exaggeration, but a sacred 
 reality, is recognised by all theological schools. It is 
 taught that the Great Father of the spirit, in its very 
 
INCARNATION. 
 
 nature and structure, has impressed His own likeness 
 upon it, and left discoverable tokens of a spiritual, 
 superhuman descent. Beyond this, the indwelling of 
 God, at least in some human minds, and His direct 
 action upon them, as a secret, illuminating, purifying, 
 and guiding Spirit, are well understood points of the 
 common faith. Manifestly it must be a question of 
 degree, not of kind, how many or how few the tokens 
 of alliance with the divine in any soul may be, or how 
 far into the human in any case the divine element 
 may penetrate. But the transition is immeasurable, 
 from such connexion between the created and the 
 creating Spirit, to the idea of Incarnation. Once, 
 only once, in all time, it is believed, very God so en- 
 tered into a human soul, so possessed and filled all its 
 capacities, and so united and identified Himself with 
 its being, that it was not, and never was, merely 
 human, but always Divine-human, a true Incarnation, 
 under no conditions, but those necessary ones which 
 must always limit the finite, whether as a receptacle 
 or as a manifestation of the infinite. 
 
 Jesus Christ was a true man, in all essential re- 
 spects, like other men. His soul was a true human 
 soul, endowed with all the ordinary susceptibilities, 
 tendencies, and powers of the common nature. Body 
 and soul, he was man. That is a historical fact, 
 which no fair criticism and no candid reasonings have 
 yet touched. But it is believed that ha was a divine 
 
INCARNATION. 
 
 man, tlie one, sole Incarnation of divinity that ever 
 flighted on this earth. The fact, in all its profound 
 meaning, is necessarily inexplicable, and the most 
 wise and the most pious will be the farthest removed 
 from presumptuous dogmatism on such a subject. 
 The divine in man, in any sense, is mysterious, over- 
 whelming, and, in its full truth, incomprehensible. 
 But God-man, in the sense of Incarnation, is altoge- 
 ther so stupendous, that we can only bow down and 
 worship in presence of a mystery which we are utterly 
 unable to compass in thought. 
 
 At the same time, this at least is patent and indis- 
 putable, that there could be, in the Incarnate, no 
 blending or confusing or interchanging of the divine 
 and the human. The human could never be more 
 than human; the divine could never be less than 
 divine. The two natures must ever have been per- 
 fectly distinct ; but from their incomprehensible union 
 and interpenetration, their action and interaction, there 
 resulted a real life on this earth such as had never 
 otherwise been possible. Hence, in that life, some- 
 times the merely human and sometimes the properly 
 divine is alone visible, and sometimes the manifesta- 
 tion is complex, so that we are unable to distinguish 
 where the human terminates, and where the divine 
 commences. But all in all, this is the sum, if we may 
 dare to put it into words, that the human soul of 
 Jesus Christ was so possessed and inhabited by very 
 
INCARNATION. 
 
 God, SO pervaded, and interpenetrated, and guided, 
 and moved by the divine, that he alone of all in 
 human form could say, and, in a sense, whose full 
 depth of meaning we cannot reach, " He that hath 
 seen me hath seen the Father." 
 
 I venture to suppose that too little is made of this 
 central truth, and that much of its meaning and many 
 of its very vital bearings are not understood, or not 
 appreciated. 
 
 Amidst the blundering legends, and myths, and 
 fables, and allegories, and designed fictions, with 
 which all lands and all ages have abounded, and which 
 have been largely accepted by an indiscriminating 
 and a greedy credulity, there has been one, but there 
 has been only one, true Incarnation. The miserable 
 caricatures of the sacred reality, if they have done 
 nothing else, have shown this at least, the hunger 
 gnawing at the heart of the world, the irrepressible 
 longing for the divine, and even the felt, mysterious 
 affinity with the divine, which has so strangely craved 
 and struggled for a nearer approximation, for some- 
 thing of an actual, literal fellowship and union. The 
 veiled shrine of Egypt, the sacred fire of Persia, the 
 Avatars, and Grand Llamas, and Absorptions, and 
 Nirvanas of Brahminism and Bhuddism, the Pyth- 
 onic possessions, the Sibylline inspirations, and all 
 the sacred mysteries of Greece and Kome, Popish 
 transubstantiation and Mariolatry, the wild visions of 
 
INCARNATION. 
 
 Cliristian mystics, millennial vagaries, and all the ridi- 
 culous absurdities of modern spiritualism, utter one 
 unmistakable voice. The want of the human soul in 
 its deepest depths, through all ages, has been God, the 
 living God. Unintelligently, wildly, grossly, madly 
 the want may have been proclaimed, but at least its 
 existence and its depth have been proved beyond all 
 doubt. The sense of some unnatural estrangement 
 and isolation, it knows not what, but as if its higher 
 self had been cut off from it, has for ever burdened 
 the spirit of man. In ten thousand various forms and 
 ways, universal humanity has laboured to have some 
 unknown severed link reattached, some secret, long 
 closed communication opened up again. It has ever 
 longed to come nearer to the divine, and to bring the 
 divine nearer to it, to touch, as with its very hand, 
 the Father above, and to be touched by Him, to look 
 upon the very face of God, to hear the divine voice, 
 and to commimicate nearly and directly with the un- 
 seen. 
 
 Once for all, most mercifully and wondrously, a 
 response from above was given to the wild, vague, 
 ill-understood, almost unconscious cravings of the 
 human heart. " The Eternal Logos " took posses- 
 sion of a human soul in a human body, and made 
 it the medium 1 through which influence from Above 
 should flow down on the world. 
 
 ^ See note, p. 27. 
 
10 INCARNATION. 
 
 It is almost impossible to exaggerate the wide re- 
 lations of this divine mystery. More or less it must 
 touch everything which belongs to the sphere of revela- 
 tion. Perhaps it is the real, though not the ostensible 
 issue, even in some of the religious questions which are 
 troubling the present age. He, for example, who has 
 been constrained, by the overwhelming force of the 
 evidence, to accept the Incarnation, is already recon- 
 ciled to the idea of the direct intervention of God in 
 the affairs of men. JSTo so-called miracle can ever 
 transcend this mystery of mysteries. He may not, 
 must not, hesitate to bring the severest criticism to 
 bear on whatever claims to be a departure from the 
 ordinary course of nature. He may be convinced, 
 besides, of the high probability, that the very fact of 
 true miracles might lead to the invention and multi- 
 plication of fictitious counterfeits. But in presence 
 of the one stupendous contravention of the order of 
 nature, which he thoroughly believes, he will hold 
 himself prepared, on good evidence, as the meetest 
 and most reasonable thing, to admit the reality of 
 supernatural phenomena, immediately owing to Al- 
 mighty agency. 
 
 In like manner, he who has truly recognised the 
 God-man can never regard this as an isolated, dis- 
 jointed phenomenon, having no dependence on, and 
 no connexion with, previous history. He must feel, 
 on the contrary, that this can only have been the 
 
INCARNATION. 11 
 
 culmination and the climax of a foregoing series of 
 divine operations and agencies, even as lie believes 
 it to be the root and the nucleus of all the new and 
 grand developments which make up the history of 
 Christianity. He is compelled, by the very nature 
 of the case, to connect it with the past. Had there 
 been nothing to guide and help him in this direc- 
 tion, he must, even then, have looked back to dis- 
 cover, if it were possible, how this extraordinary 
 divine intervention linked itself with the early his- 
 tory of man. He could not but be convinced, even 
 in the absence of actual confirmation, that there 
 must have been anticipations, premonitions, prepara- 
 tions, preparations worthy of God, for an event so 
 great and fraught with such consequences to hu- 
 manity. The Old Testament, in this view, becomes 
 to him a necessity. Apart from this, and on quite 
 other grounds, he finds God in that holy record, the 
 very word and voice of God, even as he finds them 
 in the New Testament. He is brought face to face, 
 in the one as in the other, with truth — eternal, uni- 
 versal truth — truth belonging alike to all peoples 
 and to all times. There, also, he comes upon facts 
 and experiences of human nature, which are as wide 
 as the race, and as enduring and unchanging as the 
 highest verities and uses of religion. But, had there 
 been none of all this, the Old Testament offers to 
 him the very thing which, with the Incarnation be- 
 
12 INCARNATION. 
 
 fore him, he most needed and desired, for it professes 
 to be the record of the movements of the Most High, 
 introductory and preparatory to the final unveiling 
 of Himself. 
 
 All the while, he can freely admit a distinction 
 between the Old Testament and the New Testament 
 writings. He may see no cause to deny that the 
 former were never, like the latter, given by God 
 Himself to the whole world, and that what was ex- 
 pressly communicated to a single, select people, may 
 have a meaning for them, and be of authority with 
 them, in a way which does not apply beyond them. 
 Moreover, he is not ignorant that three thousand 
 years or more have elapsed since the earlier portions 
 of the Old Testament were written down, and that, 
 in this interval, they must have passed through 
 mjnriads of hands, and been transcribed myriads of 
 times, and must inevitably have undergone changes 
 — minute, perhaps important; changes accidental, 
 perhaps designed ; owing to good, perhaps bad in- 
 tention. And, finally, he may not be able to deny 
 the existence of apparent inaccuracies in the Old 
 Testament, or even of what seem to be contradic- 
 tions — things, at all events, which have not yet been 
 satisfactorily explained. But with all this, he can 
 calmly rest in the divine inspiration of the ancient 
 Scriptures, and find in them themselves their own 
 highest evidence. Whoever may lightly esteem 
 
INCARNATION. 13 
 
 these holy records, to him they are unspeakably 
 precious on the highest of all grounds, and because, 
 independently of this, they marvellously fill up to 
 him a blank in sacred history which, unfilled, had 
 disturbed his very faith in God. 
 
 The mystery of Incarnation had been a thousand 
 times more bewildering than it is, if it had started 
 forth suddenly, sharply, unaccountably, out of utter 
 darkness and silence, and if no token, no hint, had 
 been given of it to the world. It had been stagger- 
 ing, even revolting to reason, if God, having a pur- 
 pose so grand to carry out, and bearing so mightily 
 on the destiny of man, had kept it a dark secret 
 till the very moment of its disclosure. The world 
 needed to be prepared for it. It is simply in har- 
 mony with all which might have been presupposed 
 that the Great Being should have given early in- 
 timations of His wondrous design, and that a track 
 of light, indicating the divine pathway from the 
 previous ages on to the advent of Christ, should 
 have been at least partially visible. The selection 
 of a peculiar race, and of a particular family, the 
 series of preliminary arrangements, of special, typi- 
 cal institutions, and of repeated predictive anticipa- 
 tions — all do not contradict, but beautifully fall in 
 with what might have been looked for. The earliest 
 of the Old Testament writings are precious, as the 
 religious literature of a period and of races, of which 
 
14 INCAENATION. 
 
 no other monument is extant. But they are yet 
 more precious still, because they expose the nascent 
 unfolding and the successive growth of a grand 
 divine idea, bearing on the highest destiny of man. 
 With their aid, we can go back along the line of 
 preliminary preparations, and are able to follow it 
 up, till it terminates in the fulness of the times, and 
 in the coming of the promised Messiah ! 
 
 The Incarnation is the great, central sun of reve- 
 lation ; but it is, also, the beating heart, the inner 
 soul of secular, human history. Light and life 
 stream from this source, through the dreary and 
 darkened annals of the world. A purpose of uncreated 
 wisdom and of infinite love is uttered forth in the 
 majestic eloquence of this fact. Like a bright, soli- 
 tary star, gleaming in the midnight sky, it tells that 
 there is light above, if all below and around be dark. 
 Since man is so near to his God, and so dear, as the 
 Incarnation proves him to be, his course can be no 
 aimless pageant, and he can be no poor player, 
 strutting, for a brief hour, on a mimic stage, and 
 then vanishing for ever, originating in no sublime 
 intention, and answering no god-like end. The 
 heart often asks, in deep perplexity — is compelled 
 by the agony of darkness to ask — " What of all the 
 peoples that have figured so largely, in the ages gone 
 by, with their wars, their commerce, and their civili- 
 sation, their arts and their sciences, their learning. 
 
INCARNATION. 15 
 
 tlieir literature, tlieir philosophy, and their reli- 
 gion ? '" Have they not perished utterly, as if they 
 had never existed? Have they not been remorse- 
 lessly ingulfed in the fathomless immensity, leav- 
 ing no trace, or next to none, of any purpose of 
 their being, or of any end they have served ? As for 
 the existing populations of this teeming world, are 
 not they also changing, and passing and dropping 
 into o])livion ? And shall not the races, who may 
 yet cover the globe, and their achievements, and 
 their history, ere long be as those who preceded 
 them, ingulfed and forgotten, as if they had never 
 been ? "0 Grod ! wherefore hast thou made all men 
 in vain ? " 
 
 The mystery of Incarnation invests the human 
 races, and their movements, and their annals, with 
 a profound interest, and with an infinite significance. 
 It streams with light out of the darkness on all 
 which preceded and on all which has followed it. 
 If man l)e near and dear to his invisible Father, 
 that Father must ever have, and must ever have 
 had, l)eneficent designs to accomplish in his behalf 
 — however limited our insight into them may be. 
 The scene, on which the Incarnate appeared, can 
 be meant only for revealing, on a grand scale, the 
 highest purposes of power and of love. If man, on 
 his side, and in his blundering, perverse, wicked 
 way, has, through all the. ages, and not wholly in 
 
16 INCARNATION. 
 
 vain, been struggling up towards God, it is far 
 more true, on the other side, that God, with divine 
 serenity and with loving persistencj^, has been ever 
 moving down towards man, nearer and nearer, as 
 the ages revolved, until at last, in the fulness of 
 the times, in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, He literally 
 and really dwelt with men ujion the earth. 
 
 The course of this world from the beginning, and 
 in all its parts, though we may not in the least be 
 able to discern either the steps or the results — the 
 course of this world, with all its countless races, and 
 their manifold evolutions and histories, must have 
 been a divine discipline and a progress ; a discipline 
 arranged with infinite wisdom, and administered in 
 infinite love; a progress, however opposed and ob- 
 structed, real and grand — though it have seemed not 
 so to us — towards a mighty and blessed issue. The 
 Incarnation was both an utterance and a prophetic 
 sign ; a mighty utterance in itself, bu-t a sign of im- 
 measurably more than it uttered, betokening in a 
 way not to be gainsaid that there was nothing, abso- 
 lutely nothing, within the range of possibility, con- 
 sistency, and rectitude which the Almighty would 
 not do for man. With profound awe we meditate 
 the marvellous intervention of Heaven, and thought 
 deepens into an assured though reverent and awe- 
 struck faith, that the Incarnation was not a sudden 
 extravagance of divine compassion, having no na- 
 
INCARNATIONS. 17 
 
 tural antecedents, and no necessary consequents, — not 
 an unaccountable caprice, and not a solitary act of 
 mere arbitrary wilfulness, on which no dependence 
 could be placed, and the like of which might never 
 occur again. It must have been, it was, a deliberate, 
 a majestic, an awful unveiling of the essential, eternal 
 nature of the Great Being, announcing to the uni- 
 verse, and to all time, that that nature was love, 
 illimitable, self-sacrificing, pure love, and laying a 
 foundation for such trust in the Divine Father as 
 had otherwise been impossible. It is carried home 
 to the depths of the soul with irresistible force that, 
 in spite of all seeming, the very best and the very 
 utmost possible must ever have been done, must 
 now be doing, and must continue to be done by the 
 Almighty for the race of man, in consistency with 
 all the interests and claims of the universe. The 
 short, the instinctive logic of the conscience and the 
 heart leads us to the conclusion, that if the Great 
 God, in very truth, incarnated Himself in the nature 
 of man, that nature must be very dear to Him — 
 unless, indeed, we could persuade ourselves that the 
 whole was a mere pretence, or, at best, only the tem- 
 porary outburst of a vehement but transient im- 
 pulse. But it was, it could be no pretence, and no 
 impetuous, momentary effervescence: it sprang, it 
 must have sprung, from a profound, eternal affection 
 of the uncreated soul, which though manifested tran- 
 
IS INCARNATION. 
 
 ecendently in one act, had ever commanded, and is 
 ever cc.nnmanding, all the resources of illimital)le 
 wisdom and power. We may not have made too 
 much of the cross ; hut there is ground to think that 
 we have made too little of the earlier fact, wldch in- 
 vests the cross with all its mysterious significance, 
 and encircles it with all its terrihle glory. We are 
 in danger of losing sight of God in the medium i 
 through which lie uttered Himself — in danger of 
 forgetting that it was really God, no less, who made 
 the sacrifice which was needed for our redemption, 
 and that he, on whom the pain and the shame of 
 the cross descended, was veiily the God man, a true, 
 a stupendous Incarnation of the divine. 
 ^ See note, p. 27. 
 
SECTION SECOND. 
 
 Sacrifice in Incarnation — God Self-sacrificing — Limitations of 
 Human Medium — " Larnb of God" — Supernaturally Provided 
 — God in Christ Unveiling Himself — Incarnate, Unknown, Ke- 
 jected — Life Sacrificed — " According to Counsel of God " — A 
 Prey to the Rage and Lust of Men — Divine Self-sacrifice for Sin. 
 
 THE root of the idea of the divine sacrifice, as it 
 presents itself in the New Testament, lies in In- 
 carnation. Throughout, quite habitually, the impres- 
 sion is conveyed to every candid reader that God was 
 giving up something very dear to Him, was making a 
 sacrifice, an immense sacrifice for the world. " God 
 so loved the world that he gave his only begotten 
 Son.'' " God commendeth his love towards us, in 
 that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." 
 " Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he 
 loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for 
 our sins." It is God's love and God's sacrifice that 
 are ever put before us. It is the strength of God's 
 love that is measured by what it prompted Him to 
 sacrifice. It is He who is represented as giving up, 
 
20 INCARNATION. 
 
 sui rendering, sacrificing so much, that it is argued, 
 " herein is k)ve," the love of God. 
 
 In the propliecies of the Old Testament the seer, 
 projecting his mind far into the ages, hears the 
 Messiah expound his own mission, " Sacrifice and 
 offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou pre- 
 pared me." In the room of the old sacrifices some- 
 thing was to be transacted, not by men, but by God. 
 There was to be the preparation of a human body, 
 the assumption of a human form — an Incarnation. 
 " In burnt-offering and sacrifices for sin thou hast 
 had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come to do thy 
 will, my God." The rites of the law of Moses 
 were to be abolished, and in their place a totally new 
 order was to arise. A Messiah, veiling divinity in 
 the form of man, was to come forth, to serve, not to 
 command, and to live a life of obedience and sub- 
 mission. 
 
 There is something almost blasphemous in the 
 language we have been employing. Strictly speak- 
 ing, it is self-contradictory, and involves a clear im- 
 possibility. It must be wholly figurative, and must 
 demand for its just interpretation the utmost rever- 
 ence and modesty. God is essentially immutable — 
 can lose nothing and suffer nothing. From ever- 
 lasting to everlasting, He is the same, — " The 
 Father of lights, without variableness or shadow of 
 turning." Nothing can be added to Him, and 
 
INCARNATION-. 21 
 
 nothing can be taken from Him. We are wont to 
 speak of God descending to this earth, in order to 
 take on Himself our nature, and again ascending 
 up where He was before. But we are not ignorant, 
 all the while, that change of place is impossible to 
 a Being who is, essentially, everywhere, at every 
 moment. We speak of God stooping down, laying 
 aside His glory, divesting and again investing Him- 
 self. But we know that, literally, it is all impos- 
 sible. It is figure, not reality ; but there is an idea, 
 nevertheless, underneath the figure, and an idea 
 which is both true and grand. We are obliged to 
 employ language which is literally untrue , we can 
 employ none other, but we have a true meaning to 
 convey by the use of the language. God is essen- 
 tially for ever the same, but divine manifestations 
 are endless and various. Unchangeable in Himself, 
 God is specially manifested here, but not there ; 
 in one form here, in another there ; in certain 
 aspects of His nature here, in certain other aspects 
 there. The flower, the star, the mountain, the 
 ocean, the living animal, the soul of man, are so 
 many distinct manifestations of God. All utter 
 truth concerning Him who created them, but each 
 a different shade of truth ^ whilst Himself is ever 
 the same, unchanged amidst all these varieties of 
 utterance, and unchangable. 
 
 The Incarnation of God in Christ Jesus tran- 
 
INCARNATION. 
 
 scends all possible analogies and illustrations. It is 
 alone. There can be no likeness of it, except a 
 repetition of itself. We cannot explain it, cannot 
 comprehend it, but we believe it, and have ample 
 ground for believing that it must be true. And 
 more than this, there is even light for our poor 
 vision to guide, so far, into the darkness which 
 surrounds this profound mystery. We are able to 
 assert, for example, and, in some available degree, 
 to understand when we assert, that in the Incarna- 
 tion, itself alone, in the mere fact separated from 
 all its accessories, the Great God did the nearest 
 thing possible to making a personal sacrifice, for 
 behoof of His creatures. He identified Himself 
 with an inferior nature, and made it His, in a 
 sense, true only that once and never approached 
 in a single instance besides. All the old sacrifices 
 had been made by men to God ; but this, whatever 
 of the nature of sacrifice there was in it, was made 
 by God for men. The only thing coming under 
 the name of sacrifice, which was possible to Him, 
 the Great God did. He took into union with 
 Himself a nature which was capable of suffering, 
 and change, and loss ; He dwelt mysteriously, in- 
 comprehensibly in that nature, and He possessed 
 and pervaded it as His own. To our conceptions, 
 when God entered' into the soul of Jesus, when 
 He united Himself with it, when He spoke through 
 
INCARNATION. 23 
 
 it and acted from it, forth upon the world of men, 
 He thus far, literally and truly, sacrificed Himself ; 
 that is to say, in this regard, and for the time, 
 He actually submitted to conditions, to certain 
 inevitable conditions. As God in man, though only 
 in this relation and aspect. He limited Himself, 
 necessarily limited Himself, to the kind and the 
 degree of manifestation which were possible through 
 a human medium, God's sacrifice for the world 
 was not a fiction but a reality. 
 
 The supernatural birth of Jesus exhibits, in a 
 manner altogether extraordinary, both the reality 
 and the solitary grandeur of the divine sacrifice. 
 Had the Messiah appeared in the common line of 
 succession, among human births, like any other 
 unit of the race, his life had then been, as all 
 others were and are, a natural necessity, irrespec- 
 tive of any purpose which might be served by it, 
 however exalted. That life had then been due to 
 the race from which he sprang, due to the laws of 
 nature, in obedience to which it had and must 
 have originated, and due to the order of provi- 
 dence, which must have included it in the sum of 
 the liuman population, and which could not be 
 contravened. The fact was wondrously and beauti- 
 fully, quite otherwise. The life of Jesus was not 
 owing to any law of natural succession or to any 
 fixed series of antecedents and consequents. There 
 
24 INCARNATION. 
 
 was no necessity in nature or in common provi- 
 dence, no obligation from without, of any kind, 
 whicli made it imperative, that he should appear 
 among men at all. There was absolutely no reason 
 whatever, for his human existence, except that 
 God had a special purpose to serve by it, and 
 therefore, but only therefore, originated it. That 
 existence was wholly out of the natural line of 
 events, wholly supplemental and additional, not a 
 link in a chain, but a new, a solitary, an un- 
 paralleled insertion into the sum of earthly being, 
 standing wholly by itself, without antecedent and 
 without consequent. Had there been no special 
 divine purpose, Jesus not only might never have 
 lived, but most certainly never could have lived. 
 He was introduced among men for the very pur- 
 pose of being, from first to last, a sacrifice for the 
 w^orld, and nothing else. He existed for this sole 
 end, that he might give himself up, and might 
 be given up by God for men, and exce^Dt for this 
 he had never existed at all. 
 
 In simple literal truth, God made the sacrifice 
 which was needed for the world — though, all the 
 while, in perfect accordance with the human will 
 of Jesus. In His wise love, God added this true 
 man, body and soul, to the sum of the earth's 
 natural population. God so entered into, as to 
 identify Himself with this spotless Being ; entered 
 
INCARNATION. 25 
 
 SO far, necessarily, only so far as it was possible 
 for a human medium i to contain and to reveal 
 His nature. But so really and so thoroughly did 
 God identify Himself with the man of Nazareth, 
 that Jesus was always from the first in immediate, 
 though incomprehensible union with Him, — the 
 God-man. A stupendous act of pure self-abase- 
 ment and self-sacrifice on the part of the Great 
 God, was done in the sight of all nations and 
 ages ; a true Incarnation, a descent of the divine 
 into the human, stood revealed in the person of 
 the Redeemer of men. 
 
 The purpose of majestic benignity was so manifest 
 in the act, that the wonder is it could be misappre- 
 hended. Men were to understand, as they never 
 otherwise could have understood, what their invisible 
 Father really was, and how infinitely He loved them, 
 even in their sins. They were to learn, in a way in- 
 expressibly subduing, that there was nothing which 
 He was not prepared to do, in order that they might 
 be reconciled and redeemed. They were to behold, 
 in a human impersonation, an image of divine 
 majesty, purity, wisdom, and love, and be drawn to 
 it in spite of themselves. They had forsaken God, 
 but God shall stoop to go after them. Separation 
 from Him was perdition. His restored ]3i'^sence 
 alone, freely recognised and welcomed once more by 
 
 ^ See note, page 27. 
 
26 INCARNATION. 
 
 them, could bring back life to their deserted and 
 dying natures. Hence, and only hence, the Great 
 God meekly put Himself before men, and in a hum- 
 ble form, came near to their homes and to their souls, 
 as near as it was possible for Him to come. In 
 one like themselves He came near, in one who went 
 in and out among them, one who had human 
 thoughts and human ways, human sympathies and 
 feelings, human experiences like theirs. He came. 
 Only life can kindle life. The Life, the one source 
 of all life in the universe, the eternally living Being, 
 came near to a dead world, to touch it, to breathe 
 upon it, to infuse Himself into it, and to quicken it 
 for ever. It was the divine in Jesus that was power 
 over the souls of men while He lived on earth. It 
 is the divine in Jesus, that now is, and that shall 
 continue to be power over the souls of men. Our 
 deepest need is God, our ruin, our perdition is 
 disseverance from God, our redemption is the re- 
 indwelling of God in our nature. Therefore it was 
 that our Father humbled Himself, sacrificed Him- 
 self, to come near to us in Christ, to let us see, 
 as with our very bodily eyes, and to make us feel 
 the love of His heart. Therefore it was, that He 
 so subduingly appealed to us, and was prepared to 
 respond to the faintest, lingering sense of the divine 
 that might lie dormant within, to recreate it where 
 it had seemed utterly perished, and to satisfy it 
 
INCARNATION. 
 
 with Himself. Very God incarnated Himself in 
 Christ, the Christ who lived and died on this earth. 
 It was God who looked forth on men through the 
 eyes of Christ, God who spoke to men through the 
 voice of Christ, God who beamed on men from 
 the face of Christ. It was God, His majesty and 
 power, His pmity and wisdom. His abhorrence of 
 evil and infinite pity for evil-doers. His gentleness 
 and patience, His meekness and His boundless 
 mercy which were unveiled throughout the whole 
 life and in the whole spirit of Christ. The very 
 heart of God, in its deepest fountains, was laid open 
 and was seen to gush forth in the tears and in the 
 life-blood of Christ. Christ was full of God ; up to 
 the highest limit of the capacity of a pure human 
 soul, Christ was full of God, breathing out, stream- 
 ing forth, brimming over with the divine, that the 
 divine, through his medium i (mediation) might 
 re-enter men's souls and might subdue and quicken 
 and restore them. And it did ; as a simple matter 
 of fact, it did. 
 
 Jesus while he lived on earth sought and gained 
 an entrance — an entrance for God — into human souls. 
 Silently, even more than openly, he deposited in the 
 world a hidden leaven, which ever since has been 
 
 ^ I look on this, as supplying the key to some of the eccentric 
 intricacies of scholastic theology, and revealing the entire meaning 
 of the doctrine of mediation. 
 
28 INCARNATION. 
 
 diffusing itself tlirongh the mass of humanity and 
 shall continue to diffuse itself, until the whole be 
 leavened. Often unobserved, but with a free hand, 
 he scattered on all sides the incorruptible seed of 
 the kingdom. Many a harvest from that first sow- 
 ing has since been reaped, but the full produce 
 shall be known only at the last great ingathering 
 day, when the world's harvest-home shall be cele- 
 brated. During the earthly life of Christ many 
 were touched and probed as they never had been 
 before. New and strange thoughts were widely 
 awakened — thoughts concerning the existing state 
 of things, religion, worship, and personal virtue, 
 concerning sin and its desert, concerning the future 
 life and its double aspect, concerning God, His 
 character. His providence, and His relation to men, 
 and not least, concerning the marvellous Person, 
 who stood before them and spoke and acted in 
 God's name, with such authority and with such 
 meekness. We can imagine, what indeed was the lite- 
 ral historical fact, a state of profound wonder created 
 in many parts of Judea, a startled tremulous feeling 
 awakened, as if something were about to happen, they 
 knew not what, a sense of the divine, as if they felt 
 that somehow God was very near. It is certain that 
 by his blessed earthly life, by his acts of power and 
 love, by his words of wisdom and grace, by the stain- 
 less purity, the beauty and all the winning attractions 
 
INCARNATION. 29 
 
 of liis character, by the lioly, loving spirit wliicli 
 flowed out from liis entire life, and encircled liim 
 like a robe and diffused a divine breath all around 
 him, by the ignominies and the agonies and the 
 unquenchable love of his death, by God in him, by 
 the God who found in him, and most wondrously of 
 all, in his cross, a new mcdmm^- through which to 
 come down on men, in a way never before possible, 
 Jesus while he lived and when he died, acted on the 
 world with a secret, holy power. He has never since 
 ceased, nor shall he ever cease, to wield this spiritual 
 power over the minds and hearts of men. " I, if I be 
 lifted up, will draw all men unto me." What was once 
 only prediction is now history. It is as if in calm, far- 
 seeing faith, our humbled Lord had said, " In spite of 
 the anguish and the shame of the cross, by means of 
 the anguish and the shame of the cross, as no remote 
 cause, I shall yet conquer the world and gain all hearts, 
 and reign in them as their chosen Saviour and King." 
 During the earthly life of our Lord, not one even 
 of his chosen disciples seems to have ascended to the 
 idea of Incarnation. He was " the teacher sent from 
 God," " a prophet in the power and spirit of Elijali," 
 "the Christ," "the Son of the living God ;" but by 
 all such language, they meant no more, than that he 
 was the Messiah, the Anointed, the most honoured 
 messenger of Heaven. Perhaps on reflection it may 
 
 ■^ See note, page 27. 
 
30 INCAKNATION. 
 
 be found, that the real wonder is, not that the dis- 
 ciples did not at once discover the whole truth 
 concerning their Master, but that they recognised 
 so much as they did, and that even whilst he stood 
 amongst them, in his youth, his poverty, his 
 obscurity, and all the perplexing circumstances 
 which environed him, their reverence for him 
 was so profound and their devotion to him so in- 
 tense. They thought the very highest and worthiest 
 possible of their Lord, but in the nature of the 
 case he was too near, too constant an object of 
 sight, and too closely encircled with seeming in- 
 compatibilities for the idea of essential divinity, to 
 take assured hold of their minds. Incarnation, 
 profoundly true, was a truth of reflection, not of 
 perception, a truth for the meditative, contem- 
 plative states of the soul, when it is most set free 
 from the outward senses and from the prejudices 
 of education and of habit. 
 
 Jesus must be withdrawn in order to be truly 
 known. The disciples must be left to think, to 
 ponder in quiet all which they had seen and heard, 
 away from those outward environments which neces- 
 sarily encumbered and swayed their judgments. 
 Then, but not till then, the whole truth flashed 
 upon them, and they were simply amazed at their 
 previous blindness. But they could not have been 
 amazed at the last, unless they had been before- 
 
INCARNATION. 31 
 
 hand ripening and were at length ripe for the con- 
 clusion at which they arrived. They now saw, 
 but not before, that the divine had so often come 
 forth in the words and the life and the very face 
 of Jesus, that unless their eyes had been sealed, 
 they must have been overpowered by the evidence. 
 The Incarnate was apprehended more clearly and 
 understood better, after his departure, than during 
 his stay among men. The disciples could then, 
 and only then, look back on his course as a whole, 
 weigh all the circumstances, compare, contrast, and 
 connect together, what they had witnessed only in 
 detached portions, and thus form a juster concep- 
 tion than had been possible before. The clear con- 
 viction took hold of them, and rooted itself in their 
 souls, that Jesus was divine. It was an over- 
 whelming truth, but it was a truth, and they 
 never ceased to proclaim it, as the highest theme 
 of their mission, that very God had loved the 
 world, had stooped down in Christ Jesus, that He 
 might lift up His creatures, and in order to conquer 
 man had Himself become man. 
 
 While he lived on earth, the veiled brightness 
 of the Father's glory was truly unknown ; in the 
 patient, wise love of God, he was suffered to be 
 unknown. Divinity might have flashed forth in 
 rays of overwhelming splendour, and ignorance and 
 unbelief had been impossible, but all the high 
 
32 INCARNATION. 
 
 moral ends of the marvellous intervention must 
 have been lost in such a case. Jesus willingly sub- 
 mitted to be unknown, meekly gave himself up 
 to be set at nought and scorned. *' He was de- 
 spised, and we esteemed him not ; he was despised 
 and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and ac- 
 quainted with grief." Through life till death he 
 bore the contradiction of sinners against himself. 
 He was obscure, and poor, and hungry, and 
 thirsty, and faint. Full of gentle pity, weeping 
 with human sorrow, tenderly caring for the af- 
 flicted, for the children of penury and toil, for the 
 tempted and even for the fallen, his life from its 
 beginning to its close was one of constant humilia- 
 tion, privation, and suffering. Doing only good 
 in countless forms of loving-kindness and of power, 
 and uttering words of heavenly wisdom and grace, 
 which are living and mighty at this hour, men 
 could not endure him. Either he must cease to 
 be what he was, or he must cease to live. The 
 first was impossible ; the last became a terrible 
 reality. They falsely charged him with crime, 
 they condemned him to death, they crucified him 
 between two thieves, and he bowed his head and 
 gave up the ghost and died. 
 
 It is no question, but a historical fact, that 
 Jesus fell a sacrifice to the cruelty and hatred of 
 men. It is no question, but a historical fact, that 
 
INCARNATION. 33 
 
 he deliberately and voluntarily sacrificed his own 
 life, and we are assured that this fact was no less 
 "according to the determinate counsel and fore- 
 knowledge of God." All that he endured, he 
 endured of his own free choice and purpose; but 
 he did so, at the same time, in loving submission 
 to the Supreme disposal. Not a jot did he seek 
 to bate. At all hazards and at whatever cost, 
 he calmly persevered to the last. Men, with 
 wicked hands, might seek to stop his course — 
 without supernatural intervention, they could not 
 have been restrained from the attempt — but that 
 course must not be abandoned by him. And it 
 was not. Calmly, meekly prepared for the worst, 
 he would not and did not quail before the ex- 
 tremest perils of his divine mission. God in him, 
 and through him, was willing to do anything and 
 everything for the redemption of the world. At 
 last the Father, instead of shielding and saving, 
 gave uj) to human malice and rage, that beloved 
 Son in whom He was ever well pleased. . 
 
 Behold " the Lamb of God ! " God's sacrifice, 
 not man's, although it was for man — wholly for 
 man. Behold the surrender which God was will- 
 ing to make, and did make, for the world ! If ever 
 that word, sacrifice, was fitly applied, it is here ; 
 for Jesus was literally offered up a sacrifice to the 
 
 rage and lust of men. And if ever a sacrifice 
 
 c 
 
34 INCARNATION. 
 
 could justly be called God's, — could be said to be 
 made by God, it was this; for God had provided 
 the Lamb for a burnt-olFering, in a way altogether 
 unexampled. And it was God, ever in beautiful 
 and entire harmony with the human will of Jesus, 
 who, from the first, yielded up this victim for the 
 world, and at last suffered it to fall a sacrifice to 
 the clamours of a maddened populace.^ But, 
 withal, if that holy Being, born of the Virgin 
 Mary, was never mere man, but ever a divine man, 
 if very God was in mysterious union with this 
 humanity, inhabiting, possessing, and filling it, in 
 a way we cannot comprehend, what shall, what can 
 be said, without blasphemy, of the cross? The 
 overwhelming truth seems to stand out distinctly 
 and awfully, that in giving up Christ — himself 
 ever a willing victim — to a life of toil, and sor- 
 row, and thankless neglect, and to a death of shame 
 and pain, the Great God was making not only a 
 true surrender, but in some real sort a personal 
 surrender. The Incarnation itself alone — the bare 
 
 ^ It abides for ever not less true, that our Lord freely sacri- 
 ficed his life in the cause of God and of man. "He loved us," 
 says an apostle, "and gave himself for us, an offering and a 
 sacrifice to God, of a sweet smelling savour." No sacrifice ever 
 was so pleasing to God, as that which Christ offered in his own 
 body on the tree ; and none had ever so rich and sweet a fragrance 
 as when Christ bowed his head and died — died because he loved 
 man, and the God to whom man was, by this wondrous means, to 
 be restored and reconciled. 
 
INCAENATION. 35 
 
 mysterious fact — was, to our conceptions, a descent, 
 a stooping down, a self-abasement on the part of 
 Grod. But tlie humbled, afflicted life of the In- 
 carnate, closing in an ignominious and cruel death, 
 was yet more significantly a sacrifice, a sacrifice 
 baptized in blood, and crowned with thorns, and 
 crushed beneath a cross; it was a prolonged act of 
 virtual self-sacrifice on the part of the invisible God, 
 for our Lord could say, though the words be strictly 
 inexplicable and unfathomable by us, "I and my 
 Father are one." 
 
 The ground of sacrifice can only be evil, not good. 
 In a perfect state, with only wise and pure beings, 
 sacrifice would be impossible, for amidst the con- 
 ditions of such a state, no cause of sufiering or 
 loss could exist. Things must have gone wrong, 
 disaster and mischief must have arisen, before the 
 necessity could be created for encountering, either 
 personally or through loving intervention, a lesser 
 evil, in order to prevent or retrieve a greater. If 
 the Father sacrificed His beloved Son, and if we 
 may dare to say that God in Christ submitted to 
 a real, literal self-sacrifice, it can only have been 
 on account of sin, for sin, certainly not for holi- 
 ness, i The spotless Lamb of God was ofiered 
 
 ^ All such expressions in the New Testament, as " He died for 
 our sins," &c., that is, on account of sin, because of sin, express the 
 simple, literal fact ; unquestionably the notion of expiation is, at all 
 events, not necessarily or even naturally involved. 
 
36 INCARNATION. 
 
 up, for no otlier assignable or possible reason, 
 than because of the sin and ruin of men. Hence, 
 with literal beautiful truth, the words are applied 
 to him, " He bare our sins in his own body on 
 the tree." So also, " He hath borne our griefs 
 and carried our sorrows." As a matter of per- 
 sonal desert, he could have had neither sorrows, 
 nor griefs, nor sins ; but in undertaking our cause 
 he made, as far as that was possible, our sorrows, 
 our griefs, and our sins, his own. The necessary 
 effects of evil in this evil world came upon him, 
 as if he had been an evil-doer. "We did esteem 
 him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." 
 But it was a mistake, he was not smitten of 
 God, as the prophet had said. No, by no means, 
 *' He was wounded for our transgressions," not on 
 any personal account at all ; " He was bruised for 
 our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was 
 upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." 
 
 Jesus lived and died wholly and solely for man, 
 and because of man's sins. He sacrificed himself, 
 his life, his soul, and was sacrificed by God, for 
 the world, and on account of the world's sins. 
 As the second Adam, the new head of humanity, 
 he came to take the very position, and to enter 
 into the very circumstances, and into the entire 
 earthly condition of man. In this sense, he was 
 really substituted for man, in order that he might 
 
INCAKNATION. 37 
 
 do what man ought to have done for himself, but 
 never could have done. In this view, all that he 
 said, all that he did, and all that he endured, 
 was truly vicarious and substitutionary, was on no 
 personal account, and for no personal ends what- 
 ever, but for the sake and on account of the 
 world, and nothing else. Our Lord Jesus Christ 
 had no personal interests to serve, apart from 
 man. and no purely personal obligations of any 
 kind to meet. He had not even a personal exist- 
 ence at all, except in relation to man. True, he 
 was acting for God. He was the being specially 
 introduced into the race, and literally produced 
 by God, to deal with men, and through whose 
 wondrous medium i (mediation,) God purposed to 
 reconcile them to Himself. He had, therefore, 
 the highest divine interests to care for and to 
 conduct. But emphatically he was acting foi 
 man, and originating spiritual influences which 
 should bear with almighty force upon the nature 
 of man. The highest human interests were com- 
 mitted to his hands, and lay on his heart. The 
 whole purpose of his being, the absorbing passion 
 of his soul, is expressed in a single word, recon- 
 ciliation — atonement — the reconciliation of man to 
 God. He came, he lived, he died, he lives for 
 evermore, to reconcile, to atone men to their 
 
 ^ See note, page 27. 
 
38 INCARNATION. 
 
 Father. Personally, during his life in this world, 
 this was the purpose at which he aimed, and 
 which he accomplished, in measure. But he 
 accomplished it, because he was unconsciously felt, 
 even where he was not fully known, to be God's 
 sacrifice — ^the outcome and the utterance of God's 
 reconciling, atoning love. The cross triumphed, 
 in the hands of the apostles, because it was the 
 cross of incarnate love, for this was not onb 
 never disguised, but everywhere proclaimed aloud, — 
 God-in-Christ, not God, not The Absolute God, 
 but " God-in-Christ is reconciling (gaining back) 
 the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses 
 unto them.'' This was the holy, lofty theme of 
 apostolic preaching ! — Infinite love, making a 
 stupendous surrender, uttering itself in a myste- 
 rious act of self-sacrifice, for man and on account 
 of man's sin. " Herein is love, not that we loved 
 God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to 
 be the propitiation for our sins." 
 
 The cross, as a symbol of the divine, has be- 
 come the sublimest and most sacred object in the 
 universe ! It is a power all but resistless, to touch 
 and to subdue the soul of man ; and the source 
 of its power goes down to the earlier, deeper 
 mystery of Incarnation. The bare idea of God 
 loving the world at all, being what it was, of 
 God so loving the world as to become incarnate — 
 
INCAENATION. 39 
 
 and it is only the remotest fringe and verge of 
 the thought which it is possible for us to reach ; — 
 the bare idea of Incarnation, and of the meek, en- 
 during patience of the Incarnate, is overwhelming, 
 and the heart realising it, even for an instant, is 
 scarcely able to bear the conception. 
 
 That the Great Grod, the Father of all souls, 
 should pity and love them in their sins, should so 
 love them as to come near to them, to come 
 down among them ; that He should preter- 
 naturally introduce and add to the race a true 
 human being, bone of our bone, and flesh of our 
 flesh, and His own only-begotten and beloved 
 Son; that very God, the one awful, incomprehen- 
 sible Jehovah, should enter into and unite Him- 
 self with the human soul of Jesus Christ, and 
 should, in this regard, limit Himself by the con- 
 ditions of humanity; that this God-man, in mere 
 pure love to a darkened, fallen, and sinful world, 
 should live on the earth and walk among men as 
 one of them ; that he should suffer liimself to 
 be unknown in his true character, and to be 
 known only as an obscure and poor young man, a 
 working mechanic ; that he, perfectly spotless, un- 
 defiled and separate from sinners, going about 
 doing good, preaching, and teaching, and working 
 miracles of mercy, should submit to be persecuted, 
 despised, and hated, and should meekly bear all 
 
40 INCARNATION. 
 
 the contradictions of sinners without a murmur to 
 the last ; that he being what he was, should 
 preserve his obscurity and keep the veil drawn 
 close around him, in steadfast fidelity to his own 
 and his Father's purpose, and in simple consis- 
 tency with the position he had assumed, when a 
 word or an unuttered wish would have been suffi- 
 cient to reveal his glory ; that in intense, pure 
 regard for such beings as those who at last 
 murdered him, he should meekly go through all 
 the scenes of the last Supper, the garden of Geth- 
 semane, the hall of Caiaphas, the judgment-hall of 
 Pilate, and of Mount Calvary, and the cross ! 
 
 This is the unscrutable mystery of incarnate 
 love! the hidden spring of that moral power over 
 the human heart, which, in myriads of instances, 
 has proved irresistible. On the one hand, God 
 in Christ — in Christ in his life, in Christ on the 
 cross — is reconciling men to Himself, and employ- 
 ing His mightiest instrument for recovering, gain- 
 ing back, redeeming the world. On the other 
 hand, Christ — Christ in his. life, Christ on the 
 cross, is God impersonated, so far as a human 
 medium and method of impersonation could reach. 
 Christ is the nature of God, brought near and un- 
 veiled to human eyes. Christ is the heart of God 
 laid open, that men might almost hear the beat 
 of its unutterable throbbings, might almost feel 
 
INCARNATION. 41 
 
 the rush of its mighty pulsations. The Incarnate 
 in his life, and in his death, in his words and 
 in his deeds, in his whole character, and spirit, 
 and work on earth, was ever unveiling the Father, 
 and making a path for the Father, into the human 
 soul. But on the cross, Christ presses into the 
 very centre of the world's heart, takes possession 
 of it, and there in that centre preaches, as no- 
 where else was possible, the gospel of God's love I 
 '' Be ye reconciled to God,'' he cries, " Come back 
 to your Father I He hath sent me to call you 
 back ! Inflexibly righteous as He is. He pities. 
 He loves you, and only waits to forgive and wel- 
 come you I" 
 
 Beautiful and simple is the primitive New Testa- 
 ment gospel. It was this which, with plentiful 
 effusion of the Holy Ghost, was proclaimed through 
 the wide earth, with triumphant effect, by apostles. 
 It is this, which has ever since been and shall con- 
 tinue to be mighty through God, until every knee 
 shall bow to him, who lived and died for men, and 
 until every tongue shall confess that he is Lord, 
 to the glory of God the Father? 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 HUMAN SIN. 
 
 Section First.— What Sin is, and the Sense of Siir. 
 Section Second.— Redemption from Sin. 
 
SECTION FIRSTr 
 
 What Sin is and the Sense of Sin — Essential Distinction — Burden 
 of Universe — Radical Difficulty in Speculation — Unrest in all 
 Earnest Souls — Consciousness of Sin — Its Development — 
 Legitimate Result. 
 
 DAEKNESS is a simple negative — the absence 
 of light, no more. In the moral region, that 
 which answers to physical darkness is a dire posi- 
 tive, no mere negative, but reality, as monstrous 
 as it is real. The radical difficulty in all specula- 
 tion which ventures within the highest sphere of 
 thought, is sin, — not weakness, not original imper- 
 fection, not misfortune, not accident, owing to some 
 untoward, fortuitous combination of influences, but 
 distinctly sin, — real essential evil, conscious, volun- 
 tary evil, resistance to what is known to be right, 
 and choice of what is known to be wrong. 
 
 Incarnation supposes human sin as its necessary 
 ground. Except for this deadly, self -originated 
 curse in the nature of man, no sacrifice, and above 
 all, no such sacrifice, had been needed from the 
 
46 HUMAN SIN. 
 
 loving Father. There is one, only one, foul blot 
 on God's universe, and this the Almighty has been 
 at infinite pains to wipe out. Whatever creatures 
 think of it, to their Creator sin must be reality, 
 a dread reality. It means the disorganisation, the 
 pollution, the ruin of created minds, the one foun- 
 tain of misery and crime. 
 
 " Everything in Christianity," says Miiller, " re- 
 lates to the great contrast between sin and re- 
 demption, and it is impossible to understand the 
 doctrine of redemption, which is the very essence 
 of Christianity, until we have a thorough know- 
 ledge of sin. Christian theology here, if anywhere, 
 wages war, ^ro avis et focis, with Deistical extenua- 
 tions, and Pantheistical attenuations of this doc- 
 trine.'' "^ With much that is profoundly true, in 
 
 ^ " Die Christliclie Lehre, von der Siinde." Julius Miiller, Breslau, 
 1858. Vorvvort, s. 3, 4. The English sentences quoted are taken 
 from a very faithful translation by the Eev. W. Pulsford, now of 
 Glasgow. Miiller's treatise is one of the most remarkable theolo- 
 gical efforts of which Germany can boast. It is a vindication of 
 evangelical doctrine, but in the language, and after the mode of 
 another school of thought. The voice is the voice of Jacob, but 
 the hands are Esau's, and the outward dress and figure belong to 
 the disinherited son. The work is orthodox as the phrase goes, 
 though with some not inconsiderable exceptions, but the method 
 and the structure are conspicuously philosophic, even rationalistic. 
 For extensive learning, searching criticism, exhaustive discussion, 
 accurate, subtle, and clear logic, the utmost painstaking and the 
 severest elaboration, it would be difficult, in any language, on any 
 subject, to match this masterly production. Modern philosophy in 
 
HUMAN SIN. 47 
 
 these statements, there mingles, as we judge, a 
 dangerous fallacy. A thorough, meaning as Miiller 
 certainly intends, a scientific knowledge and inter- 
 pretation of sin, we must hold to be impossible. 
 We know sufficiently well what sin is in ourselves, 
 and we see clearly enough its manifestations in 
 others, but we cannot account for it. It defies 
 interpretation. There is an inscrutable mystery in 
 human sin, which removes it beyond the reach of 
 logic, and far out of the range of scientific treat- 
 ment. It is impossible to place it on a purely 
 scientific basis, and to reduce it to recognised laws. 
 Sin is not, in any sense, a law of matter or of mind, 
 it obeys no law, and is altogether outside the sphere 
 of law. It is not an intelligible principle, but the 
 
 the hands of Kant, Schelling, and Hegel, patristic and scholastic 
 theology are each laid under contribution. The nature of sin, its 
 ground-principle, the various theories respecting it, as simple or 
 dualistic, as privation, deformity, metaphysical imperfection, neces- 
 sity or antagonism between the senses and the soul ; the causa- 
 tion of sin, the fact and the universality of sin, the corruption ' of 
 human nature ; all are laboriously investigated and discussed. The 
 whole field is examined with most minute and patient care, and not 
 a single corner, not a spot of it is overlooked. At the same time, 
 this very excellence is also a fault. The distinctions and reason- 
 ings are too subtle, too minute, and the impression is produced of 
 logical wire-drawing and hair-splitting. And then, owing to the 
 author's manifest desire to leave nothing untouched, the side dis- 
 cussions are so numerous, without being important, that it amounts 
 to waste labour, and worse, for the labour wearies the spirit of the 
 reader. The work is one of extraordinary merit, but it can interest 
 deeply only a select class of readers. 
 
48 HUMAN SIN. 
 
 overthrow of all principles. Essentially considered, 
 it is the violation of all order and of all law, wholly 
 an abnormal, anomalous outgrowth of human nature. 
 But inscrutable as the mystery is, its real existence 
 is proclaimed by the universal consciousness. Ke- 
 search, criticism, discussion are invaluable, here as 
 everywhere, in their own place, but with all their aid, 
 we reach our deepest satisfaction, only in the clear 
 testimony of the inward witness, and so much the 
 more, because we find this to be a distinct echo 
 of the voice of God in His holy Word. Each 
 human being knows within himself, that he sins 
 when he sins, and what sin really is. 
 
 There is no merit in admitting that in some 
 quarters, there has been too sweeping a denuncia- 
 tion of human nature, as if it were only and 
 wholly bad, and as if it retained no trace of God, 
 or of goodness of any kind. We have unhealthily 
 stimulated certain minds, peculiarly constituted, 
 have tempted them to brood over the fact, the 
 nature and the desert of moral evil, produced in 
 them a state of diseased sensibility, and have thus 
 led the way to fanaticism and superstition. The 
 habit of spiritual self-dissection, of analysing and 
 testing the inward states, has been unwisely fos- 
 tered, and has often been cruelly severe, and has 
 as often resulted in most dishonouring thoughts of 
 
HUMAN SIN. 49 
 
 God, His severity, His justice, His vengeance, and 
 His pitiless infliction of punishment. 
 
 But it cannot be denied, on the other hand, 
 that there are many who, owing to their educa- 
 tion and associations, their keen enjoyment of 
 earthly life, and their eager interest in it, their 
 ambition, their self-reliance, and their buoyancy of 
 soul, do in effect make a mock of sin, and treat 
 it as a morbid fiction. That which underlies the 
 whole Bible, as among its deepest foundations ; 
 that, without which all God's inspirations and all 
 the agencies of moral providence are either mockery 
 or folly ; that to which the laws of all nations and 
 the history of all times bear emphatic witness ; that 
 which the consciousness of every thoughtful man 
 attests as strongly as it attests his existence, is put 
 aside, as worthy of no consideration. An atrocious 
 violator of human and divine laws, it is thought, 
 may reasonably be a prey to terror, and naturally 
 enough may cry to Heaven for mercy, since he can 
 expect none from earth. But it is strongly main- 
 tained, that with regard to men in general, with 
 regard to persons of average character and stand- 
 ing, a feeling of alarm on account of what is called 
 sin, must prove either imbecility or disease, or 
 both, and can argue nothing but the weakness of 
 ignorance, or a morbid fanaticism, unjust to man, 
 
 D 
 
50 HUMAN SIN. 
 
 and betraying most false conceptions of the Al- 
 mighty. The very word " sin " is interdicted as an 
 offence, save in the sphere of theology. Though 
 all experience proves sin to be an invariable and 
 universal quality of human nature, it must not be 
 named, except under certain stringent conditions. 
 The vices and the crimes of nations and of times 
 are pronounceable, but their sins, not by any 
 means, except from the sacred desk and by the 
 professional teacher of religion. 
 
 Sin means something other than is conveyed by the 
 word " vice," or " crime," or any similar term. The 
 idea of God is called up, and is meant to be called 
 up. It is something with which He has to do, 
 which He sees and marks, and which amounts to 
 a real wrong done to Him. A man's sin touches 
 his character before his Maker, and declares him 
 amenable to the eye and to the law of the Great 
 Judge. But herein lies the very ground of offence. 
 Men are not, it is said, and must not constitute 
 themselves, each other's judges. The secrets of the 
 gonscience belong sacredly to the individual, and 
 no man, unless in a presumptuous and Pharisaic 
 spirit, is entitled to step forth from his compeers, 
 as if he were holier than they, and to speak of 
 their sins, and to rank them as sinners, intruding 
 into the very sacredest of all their relations — that 
 in which they stand to the Almighty. Sins come 
 
HUMAN SIN. 51 
 
 only within the province of God. It belongs to 
 Him, and only to Him, to judge His creatures, 
 and to punish or forgive; and' before Him the 
 best and the worst of men, it is thought, may be 
 very much on a level. Perhaps the Infinitely Holy 
 does not at all regard sins as we, in our morbid 
 religiousness, are tempted to do. Perhaps all sins 
 will be dealt with mercifully by Him at the last. 
 
 The difference in these two modes of estimat- 
 ing moral evil is fundamental, and radical ; and 
 with pain it must be noted, that even the ancient 
 heathendom will be found to utter a lesson on this 
 subject, not unneeded in these later days. That 
 darkened, perplexed, troubled, mood of soul, at 
 the root of which lies the hidden consciousness of 
 evil, (imbecile as it may appear to modern heroism,) 
 was not strange to the earnest and gifted sages of 
 the old world. They did not use the conventional 
 words of modern creeds, and were not accustomed to 
 speak as we do of the anxious sense of personal sin. 
 But they were profoundly anxious and in earnest, 
 nevertheless, and what burdened and disquieted them 
 amidst their researches, and what lay underneath 
 all the perplexity and unrest which they felt, 
 was in very deed the old and ever new question, 
 which no true soul can escape, " How shall man 
 be right with God." The longer they pondered 
 the dark questions^ of the universe, and the farther 
 
52 HUMAN SIN. 
 
 they seemed to pierce into the darkness, ever the 
 more forcibly were they thrown back on them- 
 selves, and made to feel vaguely and troubledly 
 that there was a mystery within, having its dark 
 type without, which they could not solve, which, 
 they ever dreaded to attempt to solve. 
 
 The ancient philosophies are all oppressed, con- 
 founded, and baffled, by the problem of God ! What 
 is He ? Where ? How ? Is there an eternal unity ? 
 And if there be, by what method can we ascend to 
 it. The real cause of this perplexity does not appear 
 on the surface ; it is hidden, covered over, involved 
 and tangled, but it is not hard to discover never- 
 theless. That which rendered the problem of God 
 80 overwhelming was a darker question still, which 
 ancient sages durst not face, a question lying far 
 more within than in the outer universe, the ques- 
 tion of evil, real, essential, voluntary evil, sin. 
 The great early thinkers tried hard to pierce back 
 into the eternal darkness, to descry if but a single 
 spark-point of primeval light. They searched for 
 unity, causality, absolute being. But the search 
 was for ever distracting. A voice from within, 
 answering to a voice from without, seemed to mock 
 their efforts. "First solve your own nature," it 
 demanded; *'all things are out of course," it pro- 
 claimed, "harmony is a dream, mystery impene- 
 trable is above, below, around" The few tones, 
 
HUMAN SIN. 53 
 
 solemn and grand and deep, still sounding in the 
 world's ear, which were moaned out long ago, by 
 the old sages of Elea, Xenophanes, and Parmenides, 
 have an almost infinite sorrow in them. It is even 
 true of the Socratic and Platonic philosophy, with 
 on the one side its keen humour, its common sense, 
 and its deep profundity, and on the other side, 
 its all but divine beauty, its mystic imagery, its 
 discriminating, and far reaching insight. There is 
 throughout an undertone of sadness, of unrest, 
 and of doubt, which to miss, is to lose half the 
 power of the impression which it makes. It is 
 the same, if we look on, to the age of Proclus 
 and Plotinus, the Alexandrian followers of the 
 Athenian sage. Very emphatically it is the same, 
 if stepping across the intervening centuries, we 
 pass downward to Spinoza, and Schelling, and 
 Hegel, and Fichte, and from them, to the leaders 
 of the higher speculation in these modern days. 
 All true souls, in their hours of profoundest con- 
 templation, have been oppressed with deep sadness, 
 but it has ever been owing, far more to a cause 
 within their nature, than either to the profundity 
 or the vastness of the subject of their thoughts. 
 
 Philosophical methods have often broken up in a 
 wail of disappointment. The universe has defied 
 interpretation. Kesearch, long successful, has come 
 to an abrupt close, and the philosophical inquirer 
 
04 HUMAN SIN. 
 
 lias found that without intending it, or for a long 
 time being even conscious of it, he has landed in 
 speculation on his own being, as if either the 
 deepest or the most vexing secret lay within and 
 not without. At the same time, it is also true 
 and equally true, that the individual soul is a fair 
 type of the outer frame of things. Both alike are 
 confused, ravelled, and disorganised. Impenetrable 
 darkness hangs over them, immovable perplexity 
 wraps them round, a sore burden is crushing them 
 with its intolerable weight. Ever and again, the 
 thought darts across the soul, that somehow the 
 perplexity, the darkness, and the burden are centred 
 in man. The radical curse of the world is moral, 
 not physical. Man is at fault out of harmony with 
 his Maker, and forsaking and opposing what is 
 supremely right and good. The dark mystery of 
 the outer creation is but the shadow cast by the 
 darker mystery within man's nature. Often alto- 
 gether unconsciously, but sometimes with a dim 
 half-consciousness, the ages have been struggling 
 towards light, but a dense opacity in the inner- 
 most region of the soul has intercepted and quenched 
 the descending rays. The sense of unrest and of 
 fear, at the bottom of the world's heart, has found 
 a voice, through many different modes, in mul- 
 titudes of separate souls. It is essentially the 
 same in all, and virtually it may be translated 
 
HUMAN SIN. 55 
 
 into the ancient cry, " How shall man be right 
 with God." And this, again, Christianised and 
 more deliberately articulated and defined, assumes 
 the form familiar to us, "What shall I do to be 
 saved?" 
 
 Sin, the resistance of the human will to what 
 is known to be true, and right, and good — sin 
 is a dire reality. The Great God has pronounced 
 His judgment respecting it in the Incarnation, and 
 more profoundly or more solemnly He could not 
 have spoken. The sense of sin in the human 
 spirit is not less real than the existence of sin. 
 It is a genuine human experience, which will not 
 be ignored. To call it either weakness or disease, 
 is simply false and in the face of superabundant 
 evidence. There can be no impartiality or wisdom, 
 not even simple justice to a great question which 
 we profess to entertain, in shutting our eyes 
 against a distinct fact of human nature. Men, 
 neither imbecile nor fanatical, nor nervously dis- 
 eased, but intelligent, gifted, and sober-minded; 
 men, too, of at least as blameless lives as others, 
 have been oppressed by the consciousness of inward 
 evil against God, and have been filled with appre- 
 hension, when they calmly reflected, to what that 
 evil must lead, and ought in justice to lead. 
 And such men, when the light at length shone 
 within them, have invariably been confounded at 
 
5G HUMAN SIN. 
 
 their previous indifference. It has then seemed 
 to them clear as day, that if they had had but 
 eyes to see, they must long before have seen all 
 which has at last become so vivid and so porten- 
 tous. 
 
 Can it be irrational or unnatural, for the created 
 spirit to think of the Infinite, All-creating Spirit ; 
 unnatural to try to conceive the relation in which 
 it stands to the great Father of aU souls ; unna- 
 tural to anticipate, in thought, the moment when 
 it shall be disembodied, before His presence? It 
 shall be disembodied, in no long course of years. 
 That is perfectly certain. Can it be unworthy of 
 the intellect, to recognise and to ponder deeply 
 this certainty ? On the contrary, must it not be- 
 come every enlightened man, is it not in the 
 highest degree imperative upon him, as a plain 
 dictate of reason and as the most sacred duty, to 
 forecast that unknown and inconceivable condition 
 of being, into which the disembodied spirit shall 
 be ushered ? He shall certainly then be near, 
 in a sense he has never before been, to that In- 
 finite Power, on whom, from the first moment of 
 existence, he has been wholly and ceaselessly de- 
 pendent. And is this an idea, were there nothing 
 more, unlikely to pierce to the depths of his 
 nature? Or, in the light of this guiding idea, is 
 it unnatural for him to reflect that, during his 
 
HUMAN SIN. 57 
 
 earthly life, he has seldom deliberately thought of 
 this Being, to whom he may soon be so near, and 
 who is so great, so pure, and so good? But he 
 has been consciously disinclined to think of God. 
 That is the simple fact. He has put aside the 
 thought when it presented itself, and has felt it to 
 be unwelcome. The inner current of his mind, 
 his thinkings, his inclinations, his tastes, and the 
 outer eminent of his life, have been in frequent 
 opposition to the law and to the will of his God. 
 He has often been consciously and voluntarily out 
 of harmony with truth and right, and love and 
 God. There may be no exaggerated, fanatical, 
 superstitious self -accusations and condemnations. 
 He may feel that he has lived — much as others 
 have done — on the whole, innocently and virtu- 
 ously. There may be no flagrant violations of 
 morality with which he can charge himself. But 
 this is clear to him, he has not thought or cared 
 to think of his God. He has not loved and not 
 served, or even deliberately purposed to serve, the 
 Being to whom he owes everything — the Father of 
 his soul. The sense of God has not been the 
 uppermost force within him — the central inner 
 spring of his whole life. It has seldom touched 
 that hfe, or entered into it at all. Without any 
 violent hysterical alarms, but with deep solicitude, 
 his mind is distinctly conscious of wrong done to 
 
58 HUMAN SIN. 
 
 God, as well as to the highest part of his own 
 nature, grievous and persistent wrong. Can it be 
 degrading in these circumstances, must it not be 
 rational and altogether inevitable, for an instructed, 
 reflective man to fall back on such questions as 
 these, — "How shall I meet my Maker? — how can 
 I lift up my face before Him now, and what can 
 I answer Him hereafter? — ^how shall I escape 
 righteous retribution?" If the Scriptures declare, 
 as they do, that " the soul that sinneth shall die," 
 and that " the wages of sin is death," he, on his 
 part, is unable to withhold a full amen, unable to 
 deny that the sentence is just, simply just and 
 true, absolutely true. 
 
 This is the sense of sin, conscious, voluntary 
 evil against God, which is a genuine human ex- 
 perience, verified in myriads of instances, and re- 
 sulting simply from earnest and calm thought on 
 the highest and truest of all certainties. Where 
 it is profound as well as sincere, the experience 
 forces from the heart a cry to the living God for 
 escape. The man in whom it is begotten would 
 eagerly undo what he has done if he could, but it is 
 impossible. His instant necessity is escape — escape 
 from a danger which he sees to be immediate, and 
 dreads as inevitable, — " What must I do to be saved," 
 
SECTION SECOND. 
 
 Redemption from Sin — " Way of Salvation " — Adaptations and 
 Subtlety — Ground of Forgiveness — Not Honouring to God — 
 Sin, not Punishment, greatest Evil — Divine Self-sacrifice smites 
 Root of Sin — Gradual and Final Redemption. 
 
 AMONG- many varying methods of answering the 
 vital question of the soul, there is one which I 
 am sincerely desirous of presenting in its best and 
 truest form, because it is held by multitudes to be 
 the reply, and the one only reply, found in holy 
 Scripture. It is to this effect, i Sin is a debt to the 
 Almighty, which can never be cancelled by man, and 
 which, after ages of punishment, instead of being les- 
 sened, will be for ever and ever increasing. But 
 Christ, by his death on the cross in the room of man, 
 has paid the debt to the uttermost farthing, — at all 
 events, has done what is perfectly equivalent, and 
 answers the same purpose, in the moral government 
 of the world. Sin is a burden on the soul, which 
 
 ^ Tlie subject, only cursorily touched here, is fully discussed in 
 its various bearings in the succeeding chapters. 
 
60 HUMAN SIN. 
 
 must for ever weigh it down to perdition. But Christ 
 has taken that burden on himself ; at all events, has 
 done what is perfectly equivalent, and answers the 
 same purpose. Sin deserves, and must bring down, 
 the penalty of eternal death, eternal exclusion from 
 God and from all good. The violated law, the 
 outraged justice of Grod, and the security of moral 
 government, alike demand it. But Christ has vindi- 
 cated the moral government of God, magnified the 
 broken law, satisfied divine justice, and endured the 
 full penalty of sin ; at all events, has done what is 
 perfectly equivalent, and answers the same purpose. 
 And now God, the holy, the just, and the true, in 
 entire consistency with His own attributes, with all 
 the interests of the universe, and with the security of 
 His own government, not only can freely pardon, but 
 is perfectly willing to pardon, and only waits to wel- 
 come penitent souls. 
 
 The great fact of divine forgiveness is unmistak- 
 ably proclaimed here ; but it is proclaimed, as some 
 venture to judge, in a singular form. It seems as 
 if wrought into an elaborate mosaic, most carefully 
 designed, compacted, and finished in all its details. 
 The thought, too, may not unnaturally suggest itself, 
 that this peculiar method of representing a purely 
 spiritual transaction is singularly adapted to persons 
 of methodical habits and tastes, to business men ac- 
 customed to the calculations and the order of com- 
 
HUMAN SIN. 61 
 
 mercial life, and, in general, to the judicial, legal 
 type of soul. There is yet another consideration: 
 those to whom the announcements are addressed are 
 supposed, at the moment, to be possessed with fear, 
 well-grounded fear. They dread the righteous anger 
 of Grod, they can plead no excuse for their violations 
 of His law, and can do nothing for their own escape 
 from the hands of justice. But here is a plan, laid 
 out and completed, which perfectly meets everything 
 which can be urged against them. 
 
 This peculiarity is exceedingly marked. A general 
 assurance of pardon from the lips of God vrould re- 
 quire, on the part of man, mere trust, simple faith. 
 But it is not so here. On every side, not only expla- 
 nation, but most full, minute, and exact explanation 
 is given. God's procedure is not only vindicated, it 
 is demonstrated to be correct, politically, judicially, 
 even commercially correct, in every point, to the very 
 letter. Hence amazement, almost indignation, is ex- 
 pressed, when a thing so perfect and so plain is called 
 in question. " What more can you desire ? it is 
 asked. Your debt is cancelled; you owe nothing. 
 Your burden is laid on the shoulders of another ; you 
 are free. Your punishment has been endured ; you 
 have nothing to fear. God has provided for every- 
 thing, and you have only to accept His free grace." It 
 seems the perfection of intelligibiUty and simplicity. 
 It fits in at every point to all the exigencies of the 
 
62 HUMAN SIN, 
 
 case, like a wax impression to tlie seal by which it is 
 made. It is so critically balanced and adapted and 
 dovetailed, that you can discover no redundance and 
 no defect, no chink and no flaw. Two and two are 
 four is not more conclusive, more sure. It is all, and 
 more than aU, that the most scrupulous or the most 
 exacting could desire, so easily understood, yet so 
 perfect, meeting all that God can demand, and 
 answering to the utmost wants and wishes of the 
 world. 
 
 If there be a fault here at all, it must be on the 
 side of perfection, not of deficiency. Dare we ask, 
 is it not too perfect, too secure, too. exact, and may 
 it not be on this very account more human than 
 divine? Is the suspicion quite inadmissible, that 
 it may owe more than we sometimes imagine, to 
 human ideas of construction, and to human modes 
 of making out and filling up a system? When 
 the mind is allowed to throw itself fearlessly and 
 freely over it, as a whole, some possibilities, even 
 probabilities, amounting to all but certainties, per- 
 force, suggest themselves. That reigning thought 
 of compensation, and that judicial, almost busi- 
 ness-method of dealing with spiritual evil, which 
 are so prominent, were of all things likely to be 
 welcomed by a Judaism, itself corrupt and pre- 
 pared to yield to the infection of surrounding Pa- 
 ganism. Still further, they could not be distasteful 
 
HUMAN SIN. 63 
 
 in the ages which witnessed not only the germs, 
 but the early blossomings of the futm^e dogmas, 
 of indulgence, and penance, and satisfaction, when 
 sins were weighed and measured, and had their 
 fixed price, in suffering or in money, or in both. 
 Besides, they met the strong, distinctive taste of the 
 times of Ambrose and Jerome, the era of holy places, 
 relics, pilgrimages, of monachism, fastings, scourg- 
 ings, and all voluntary self -inflictions. They were 
 in harmony with the entire spirit and genius and 
 usages of the Papacy, with its greed of outward 
 material guarantees and symbols, on the one hand, 
 and its ritual and dogmatic punctiliousness, on the 
 other hand. They distinctly suited the character- 
 istic tendencies of individual celebrities in all the 
 ages, — say, of such a man as Augustin, whether we 
 look to the peculiar cast of his mind, or to his 
 early personal history ; or of such a man as An- 
 selm, the head of fully-developed scholasticism ; or 
 even of the early reformers, several of whom were 
 worshippers of Aristotle and masters of logic. Last 
 of all, in times of deep and wide-spread barbarism, 
 among the masses of the European people, when 
 kings, and nobles, and soldiers were utterly un- 
 taught, but chivalrously honourable and valiant, 
 according to the code then accepted, it is not hard 
 to see, that an artificial and very formally perfect 
 scJieme of salvation, simply as such, but still more 
 
64 HUMAN SIN. 
 
 as based on the material idea of compensation and 
 satisfaction, on the exact adjustment of divine and 
 human claims, on the maintenance of the untar- 
 nished honour of the Most High, on the satisfac- 
 tion of stern justice, and on the palpable ground 
 of judicial, even commercial proceedings, must have 
 commended itself with extraordinary force. It did, 
 and all the earlier, as well as later protesters against 
 Kome, carried with them much of this distinguish- 
 ing element of Koman doctrine. Is it unreasonable 
 to conceive, that it may be owing to kindred influ- 
 ences that the idea has been so long, and is still most 
 devoutly retained by good and wise men ? 
 
 "A God all mercy were a God unjust." The 
 Almighty is infinitely righteous, and infinitely 
 faithful to His character, to His law, and to the 
 interests of His moral government. But suppose 
 an individual to be thoroughly satisfied of these 
 positions, and convinced, besides, that God can 
 never forgive sin, except in perfect consistency with 
 His character. His government, and His law, and 
 yet, at the same time, to be able, on the authority 
 of Scripture, to trust simply in divine pardon, quite 
 unaided by any details of explanation. Wherein lies 
 the difi'erence between him and his fellow-Chris- 
 tians? Is it not in this mainly — indeed, in this 
 entirely and only ? that he has not found, as they 
 profess to have found in the New Testament, an 
 
HUMAN SIN. 65 
 
 explanation, and that he does not even think it 
 becoming or wise to seek an explanation of the 
 way in which forgiveness is supposed to be proved 
 consistent with equity and with law — the way in 
 which, it is alleged, sin is expiated, justice satis- 
 fied, and the honour of God upheld. He has not 
 the shadow of a doubt that forgiveness is perfectly 
 consistent with divine rectitude and divine law, 
 but he does not see or appreciate the way in which, 
 it is said, this consistency is exhibited, and he is 
 convinced that others are mistaken in imagining 
 that they see this way. The great underlying 
 truths, divine forgiveness and divine righteousness, 
 are precisely the same to both. The sole difference 
 is this, that the one professes to understand the de- 
 tails of the plan of Heaven, the other does not ; the 
 one thinks he has discovered the grounds of God's 
 procedure, the other is ignorant, and content to be 
 ignorant, of them. 
 
 Apart from any knowledge of what is commonly 
 styled " the way of salvation," it may be humbly but 
 firmly believed, on the testimony of the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures, that the infinitely holy and just and wise is 
 also the forgiving and loving God. By the one true 
 sacrifice made by God for men, when He incarnated 
 Himself in His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, by 
 the unutterable love unveiled in that Incarnation, 
 and in the whole life, and in the cross of the Incar- 
 
66 HUMAN SIN. 
 
 nate, by the words and the acts and the meek 
 endurances and the outbreathing spirit of Jesus, 
 and by the secret, inward working of the Holy 
 Spirit in his heart, a man shall come to place a 
 simple trust in divine forgiveness, as profound as his 
 nature is capable of putting forth. He shall see that 
 the great Father of the soul only seeks its return to 
 Himself, and only waits to respond to the first look 
 it casts back, the first relenting thought, the first 
 stirring of desire towards the home and the heart 
 above. He asks, he wants no more than this. Any- 
 thing beyond, which some have professed to discover, 
 only complicates to him, and confuses, a divine sim- 
 plicity, darkens his notions of truth and of God, and 
 throws his mind into the deepest perplexity. The 
 supposed revelation of a plan, such as has been 
 imagined, associates itself in his mind invincibly 
 with what is not only not worthy of God, but is very 
 dishonouring. 
 
 Grace, which is purchased and paid for, must 
 lose not only its special beauty, but even its 
 essential worth. There may be exceeding loving- 
 kindness in the effort to secure the purchase, but 
 when the price has been duly paid down, and when 
 what remains is a simple act of justice, we look in 
 vain for the subduing element of pure love. A cre- 
 ditor may be at the utmost pains to find a substitute 
 who shall advance payment of a debt; but if the 
 
HUMAN SIN. 67 
 
 debt be fully cancelled, the debtor is free, not by 
 grace, but by justice. An injured person may in- 
 terest himself exceedingly in the wrong-doer, and 
 may labour to find some third party who shall be 
 willing to bear his punishment ; but if ample com- 
 pensation for the injury has been made, and if the 
 fullest satisfaction has been rendered to all the de- 
 mands of justice and of law, it can be no grace to set 
 the wrong-doer free, — he is free by right. Is it not 
 more beautiful, more noble, more honouring to God, 
 to be conquered by His unveiled love in the Incar- 
 nation and the cross ; to rely upon it, without a 
 question, and to trust in pure, mere spontaneous 
 grace, rather than in grace purchased, explained, 
 vindicated, and demonstrated to be all consistent. 
 
 It is imagined that the forgiveness of sin is a thing 
 of transcendent difficulty, a difficulty so great that 
 it almost baffled even God to surmount it. I ven- 
 ture to assert that there is not a sohtary text which 
 conveys, or even favours, this idea. If there be 
 meaning in the New Testament, it is, of all things, 
 clear and sure that God is infinitely willing to for- 
 give the wickedest human being that lives. Wher- 
 ever difficulty may lie, at least it does not lie here. 
 Thinking so much, as many do, of mere pardon and 
 its difficulties, they forget that pardon is not salva- 
 tion : not at all. There is a far sterner obstruction 
 in the way of the real deliverance of the human 
 
GS HUMAN SIN. 
 
 spirit, an obstruction which only God can remove 
 in His holy love, but which must be removed, if 
 the soul is to be saved. Were mere pardon of sin 
 secured, the whole of what constitutes inner salvation 
 would still remain to be achieved. If all the past 
 were blotted out from God's remembrance, the man 
 would be as unredeemed as ever. It is his nature, 
 and not the facts of his history, that require to be, or 
 that can be, changed. There is a deadly evil work- 
 ing within, and it is from this he must be saved, if 
 he is to be saved at all. A true salvation is not 
 escape from the consequences of sin present or re- 
 mote; it is not this at all; it is only and whoUy 
 deliverance from sin itself, from that deep, internal 
 cause which entails such consequences, be they what 
 they may. The root of perdition in the soul must be 
 struck at and destroyed ; and only in so far as this is 
 struck, and no farther, is real safety achieved. The 
 self-will in resistance to the divine will, the false 
 bias of the spiritual nature, the conscious, voluntary 
 want of harmony with truth and right and love and 
 God, this is a true death, if there were none else in 
 the future. This is eternal death begun. To have 
 life planted, where this death has reigned, is true 
 salvation, — nothing else is. 
 
 Mere selfish protection is not the chief want of 
 a genuine soul. The very lowest, the weakest and 
 the least noble thing we can do, is to beg for escape 
 
HUMAN SIN. G9 
 
 from the proper desert of evil. This may not be 
 vice, but it is still less virtue, and has nothing 
 great, nothing exalting, nothing purifying in it. 
 Selfish fear is a contemptible, degrading, and en- 
 feebling emotion, and by making so much of this 
 principle, by encouraging and pampering and almost 
 honouring it, the danger is that we emasculate 
 religion in its very birth. To an enlightened, 
 awakened, and thoroughly earnest man, the great 
 and stern reality is this, that he has deeply wronged 
 his God, and as deeply wronged his own being. 
 God endowed him with a spiritual nature, gave it 
 sacredly into his charge, and he is conscious that 
 he has neglected and injured it, perhaps irrepar- 
 ably, injured it by separating it from the one 
 source of purity and life and joy. He is away from 
 his God, in thought and in affection, and this wilful 
 severance, he has come to know, is death to his 
 higher self. He is all wrong, utterly wrong, wrong 
 in relation to God and wrong in relation to himself. 
 What he most needs, is not to be pardoned; that 
 may be his first, but it ought to be his least con- 
 cern, respecting which there is no reasonable ground 
 for fear or doubt ; what he most needs is, not to be 
 pardoned merely, but to be changed in himself, to 
 be set really right, his face and his heart turned 
 towards God, converted to God. 
 
 The germ of new divine life in any human mind 
 
70 HUMAN SIN. 
 
 is trust, a penitent turning of the heart to God, a 
 simple, humble faith in God's forgiveness. This is 
 the early promise and the cause of a profound 
 change within. This is saving faith; not because 
 it secures a formal legal acquittal from the Great 
 Judge, about which we know and can know nothing, 
 but on a far more intelligible and true ground, be- 
 cause it really saves our nature, turns it right away 
 from the death which it was confronting and right 
 towards God, who is our only life. In the New 
 Testament faith is called the justifying, that is, 
 the rectifying, the rightening principle, because it 
 literally and thoroughly rightens, sets right the 
 soul, which before was utterly wrong. The humbled, 
 penitent nature is drawn back, and of itself turns 
 back, converts — ^to use the very word of inspiration 
 and in the very sense which inspiration gives it — 
 to God. "For what law could not do in that it 
 was weak through the flesh, God" — has done — 
 " sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful 
 flesh, and for sin has condemned" — doomed, killed 
 — "sin in the flesh." The flesh, the carnal will 
 was proof against mere law, mere authority, and 
 trampled it under foot. The voice of command, 
 even though it were God's, was powerless, and the 
 flesh proudly triumphed over it. But the voice of 
 love is omnipotent. Incarnate, crucified love over- 
 masters sin in the flesh, condemns it, dooms it to 
 
HUMAN SIN. 71 
 
 death, kills it outright. The first stroke of this 
 divine weapon is mortal, and the final victory, 
 though won by slow degrees, is infallibly cer- 
 tain. 
 
 The mightiest antagonist of human sin, and its 
 surest conqueror, is that divine power, a purely 
 spiritual power, which concentrates itself in the In- 
 carnation and the cross, that divine influence which 
 descends, through these, on the hearts of men. In 
 the ISTew Testament, this power is represented in 
 manifold forms, but ever with the same essential 
 meaning. It is light, it is life, it is peace, it is a 
 guiding star of hope, it is a healing balm ; and in 
 one exquisitely beautiful and simple passage, it is 
 described as a cleansing virtue. "If we walk in the 
 light, as He is in the light, then have we fellowship 
 one with another " — God with us, and we with God 
 — " and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son clean- 
 seth " — is ever cleansing — " us from all sin." " If we 
 say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves ; " ever and 
 again we are drawn down into darkness, we fall into 
 sin, and fellowship with the luminous and the holy 
 is for the time impossible. But there is a power, 
 streaming from the cross into the soul, which is 
 ever washing it afresh ; bidding away the darkness ; 
 cleansing out the evil ; renewing the holy fellowship ; 
 and restoring us to God. In a world full of pollu- 
 tion, and, for human hearts, ever prone to evil, and 
 
HUMAN- SIN. 
 
 often actually darkened and defiled, there is one 
 mysterious and mighty institute of purification. It 
 is symbolised in the cross. Love, the love of God, 
 is the spiritual antidote to human sin, but not love 
 alone, and not even God's love, simply as such, but 
 self-sacrificing love, incarnate, crucified love, — love 
 which has wept over men, which has groaned, and 
 bled, and died for men — love streaming out in the 
 life-blood of the Loving One. It is a fact, not a 
 dogma, the fact of profoundest, mental experience, 
 which lies in these inspired words — " The blood of 
 Jesus Christ, God's Son, is cleansing us from all 
 sin." It is, it ever is, cleansing us — a present, in- 
 vincible virtue goes forth from it to beget in us a 
 wonderful abhorrence of evil, and a wonderful long- 
 ing for purity, and to renew the defiled soul to 
 humble, loving obedience. It was this which first 
 overmastered the stubborn will, and drew it to the 
 feet of God; and it is this which, ever and ever, 
 unveils to spiritual vision the dark atrocity of all sin, 
 and the nobility and beauty of all goodness. There 
 is here no nominal, formal acquittal from charges 
 which, nevertheless, abide just ; there is no imagin- 
 ary, judicial whitening of a surface which, under- 
 neath, is as foul as ever. But there is a real, a 
 thorough, and a deep washing out of sin itself, and 
 making the heart literally clean and pure. In the 
 light of this fact of earthly experience, we may 
 
HUMAN SIN. 73 
 
 better understand the destined course of the heavenly- 
 life to come. A divine beauty and an infinite mean- 
 ing gleam forth to us from the words of the anthem 
 of eternity — " Unto Him that loved us, and ivaslied 
 us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made 
 us kings and priests unto God, even His Father — 
 unto Him be glory and dominion, for ever and ever. 
 Amenl" 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 SPIRITUAL LAWS. 
 
 Their Sphere — Material Laws — Not Eternal and not Necessary — 
 Ordained by God — Spiritual Laws Immutable — In Harmony 
 with Will of God — Their Ground — Human Laws — Need Vin- 
 dication and Support — Self-sustaining Law — Sin and Death 
 — Holiness and Life — Divine Sacrifice — Destroys Sin — Saves 
 the SouL 
 
LAW is the expression of will, and has its ground 
 in authority. Authority, supposing adequate 
 power, ultimately rests on rectitude and wisdom. 
 Intelligence demands, and, in union with power, 
 secures order, not chance ; fixed order, not irregu- 
 larity and uncertainty ; righteous and wise methods 
 directed to righteous and wise results. The universe 
 of matter and of mind is stable, in the reign of 
 divine laws. Life and light, beautiful and glorious 
 in themselves, are resplendent in the laws which go to 
 their production and govern all their phenomena. In 
 the physical region, no resistance is possible, and law 
 reigns serenely andr supremely. But in the spiritual 
 sphere, the created will has run counter to the divine 
 will, and darkness and death have supplanted light 
 and life. The spiritual universe has witnessed de- 
 fiance of law, on the one side, and an intervention 
 above law, on the other side. 
 
 There are two great facts, in all time, Incarnation 
 and human sin, which, on opposite grounds, stand 
 out from the sphere of established order. The first 
 transcends all laws, material and spiritual. It vio- 
 
SPIRITUAL LAWS. 
 
 lates none, it crosses the path of none, for it is alone, 
 in a region of its own, beyond the range of so-called 
 law. It is a solitary, independent act of the Great 
 Lawgiver, with which no power or will but His 
 has a right to intermeddle. Human sin, on the 
 other hand, has erected itseK within the kingdom, 
 which is subject to the laws of spirit and of matter. 
 But it is an anomaly in that kingdom, a foreign and 
 hostile intrusion ; and, so far as it extends, it aims 
 to defy established authority, and to disown and cast 
 off all subjection, and is outside the sphere within 
 which law reigns. Nothing can ever explain or 
 account for sin. It is disorganisation, rebellion, 
 disease. Its radical idea is that it is inexplicable, 
 because a violation of all rational order and of all 
 right principles. Incarnation is supernatural ; hu- 
 man sin is unnatural, or anti-natural. The one 
 transcends, the other overthrows, law; the one 
 comes down from above, in the majesty of light 
 and love, the other comes up out of the nether 
 darkness, like a fetid vapour, a pestilential breath 
 from the bottomless pit. But a profound relation 
 enwraps these two antagonistic powers in its em- 
 brace, — the transcendental is the subverter, the 
 divinely-selected subverter of the infernal mystery. 
 
 The one fact on which our thoughts are now 
 to be concentrated is this — that, in spite of what 
 transcends their range, on the one side, and of what 
 
SPIRITUAL LAWS. 79 
 
 seems, but only seems, to trample them down on the 
 other side, spiritual laws are mighty, are almighty. 
 They cannot be violated, cannot even be resisted, 
 that is, with impunity, and without exacting an 
 incipient and immediate satisfaction. The reign of 
 law, in all the departments of the material creation, 
 is proclaimed with extraordinary confidence, by 
 those who have devoted themselves to the study of 
 physics. " The order of nature " is the chosen 
 phrase to denote a fixity which is imagined to be 
 unlimited in extent and absolutely immovable. 
 But equal confidence is not felt in the universality 
 and supremacy of spiritual laws. Very far other- 
 wise. And yet, if there be a ground of hesitation 
 at all, it will not be hard to make out, that it 
 is, at least, stronger on the material, than on the 
 spiritual side. 
 
 The course of nature in the past is ascertainable 
 within certain limits. So far as observation can reach, 
 in all the various departments, we are able to discover 
 invariable sequence ; and it is perfectly reasonable to 
 presume that what has thus been, will indefinitely con- 
 tinue to be. That is the presumption, a most legiti- 
 mate presumption; that is the probability, a high 
 and strong probability. But to maintain that what 
 has been must be and cannot but be ; in other words, 
 to convert a presumption, a probability into a 
 necessity, the contrary of which would be impossi- 
 
80 SPIRITUAL LAWS. 
 
 ble, is a gross error. Manifestly, the premises do 
 not sustain tlie conclusion, the reasoning is false at 
 the root. What has been is certain, but it is no 
 whit less clear, that what shall be, cannot, to us, be 
 absolutely certain. No amount of experience in the 
 past can render a divergence from the hitherto ob- 
 served order, however improbable, either contradic- 
 tory or impossible — impossible, that is to say, in the 
 nature of things. That which is neither contradic- 
 tory nor impossible may take place, and however 
 strong the presumption against it be, we can never 
 be rationally certain that a fact directly opposed to 
 our past experience shall not arise to confound 
 anticipation, and to overturn, in that instance, the 
 idea of the inviolable uniformity of nature. Who- 
 ever beheves, I say, not in an Incarnation, but in a 
 Creation, has in this realised the vastest departure 
 possible from antecedent uniformity. Admitting the 
 greater, it would be in the face of all reason to deny 
 the possibility, or sufficient evidence being produced, 
 the reality of the less. Credulity, ignorant, in dis- 
 criminating reception of what contradicts ordinary 
 experience, is a culpable weakness, but illogical, 
 arrogant, almost fanatical devotion to the idea of 
 necessity in the order of nature is more criminal 
 still, if not more weak. 
 
 The laws of the material universe are infinitely 
 wise and good, but they are not in themselves 
 
SPIRITUAL LAWS. 81 
 
 necessary and immutable, even as they are not 
 eternal. The consistent Theist, who holds them to 
 be the very wisest and best possible, is satisfied, at 
 the same time, that there are ten thousand con- 
 ceivable arrangements, which might, without any 
 contradiction, have taken the place of those now 
 existing. The number, the magnitudes, the dis- 
 tances of the stars, the size of our globe, its place in 
 the solar system, the substances of which it is com- 
 posed, chemical proportions, affinities and combina- 
 tions and their results, the mineral, vegetable, 
 irrational, and rational kingdoms, all might have 
 been other than they are, without any contradiction, 
 had it so pleased the Creator. 
 
 It is far otherwise, it is diametrically the reverse, 
 with the great laws of the spiritual universe. They 
 are what they are, of themselves, of necessity. Moral 
 good and moral evil are immutable, and never were 
 and never can be other than they are, in the slightest 
 degree. Veracity, fidelity, rectitude, purity, loving- 
 ness, are for ever good, and their opposites are for 
 ever bad. To all rightly constituted moral beings, 
 everywhere and always, they are unchangeably the 
 same. Altogether apart from any choice or judg- 
 ment external to them, these qualities are for ever 
 good, and their opposites are for ever bad. It lies 
 in the essential, eternal nature of things that they 
 are what they are, and could never have been, and 
 
PIRITUAL LAWS. 
 
 never can be different. The distinction is as wide 
 as it is possible to conceive. The laws of nature 
 are owing solely to the will and the fiat of the 
 Creator. He ordained them, and had such been 
 His pleasure they might have been altered in ten 
 thousand ways. But the laws of the spiritual 
 universe do not depend even on the highest will. 
 The Great God did not make them, they are eternal 
 as He is. The Great God could not repeal them, 
 they are immutable as He is. In perfect harmony 
 with the divine will, they are nevertheless indepen- 
 dent even of it, and as they were not created, so 
 they cannot be annulled or altered, even by the 
 Almighty. 
 
 Truthfulness is admitted to be a virtue, a spiritual 
 excellence, a beautiful, exalting, noble characteristic 
 of a responsible being. Untruthfulness is admitted 
 to be a vice, a corrupting, degrading, mean quality 
 in a soul. But let us understand the force of the 
 admission. Are these things so, because God has 
 enjoined the virtue and forbidden the vice? By 
 any opposite utterance, from Creator or creature, 
 might truthfulness have become vice, and untruth- 
 fulness virtue? It is impossible to believe that, 
 to any rightly constituted rational and moral being, 
 these qualities can be other than they are in them- 
 selves. Simple, perfect truthfulness is necessarily, 
 eternally virtue ; untruthfulness is necessarily, 
 
SPIRITUAL LAWS. S3 
 
 eternally vice. These qualities are owing to no 
 arrangement, no command, no will of any creature. 
 Even the divine w^ill is not their ground. They 
 rest immovably upon their own foundation, inde- 
 pendently of all authority or judgment besides. 
 And this conclusion bears with equal force on all 
 spiritual excellences whatever and their opposite 
 vices. Eectitude, purity, lovingness, piety towards 
 God, reverence, submission, self-surrender, love, are 
 beautiful and good in themselves; they are beauti- 
 ful and good, unchangeably, eternally; they have 
 their ground in the essential constitution of moral 
 being, and are thus separated by an impassable line 
 from all material properties and laws, for these are 
 not in themselves unalterable, not eternal, not neces- 
 sary, and the God who in wisdom ordained them 
 might, had it so pleased Him, have instituted a 
 different code of regulative principles. 
 
 Spiritual laws, widely distinguished from material 
 laws, are separated by a still vaster difference, from 
 merely human ordinances and arrangements. The 
 laws of men are different, at different times and in 
 different countries, are often altered, often repealed. 
 It is a necessity of their origin, that they must be 
 more or less unwise and unjust. As the work of 
 imperfect beings, they must at the best be imper- 
 fect, and must need to be constantly reviewed and 
 improved. There is indeed a majesty, a sanctity, 
 
84 SPIRITUAL LAWS. 
 
 even in human law, as the collective wisdom and 
 conscience of a nation and an age. With all its 
 imperfections, this is among the highest and 
 sacred(*st of human tilings, and the bulwark of 
 society against injustice and universal anarchy. 
 For the sake of the interests of all, it is indispen-' 
 sable that human laws be respected, and when 
 broken, be vindicated and avenged. A law set at 
 nought with impunity, or so inconstantly and feebly 
 enforced, that the chances of escape or punishment 
 are nearly equally balanced, becomes a dead letter, 
 affording no protection to the virtuous, and inspir- 
 ing the vicious with no salutary terror. 
 
 There is another consideration still ; with the 
 wisest and most righteous of human ordinances, 
 it will happen that the innocent are punished, and 
 that the guilty, by one means or another, escape 
 detection or conviction. At the best, there is an 
 inevitable uncertainty in them, a doubtfulness and 
 a degree of untrustworthiness, which tend to shake 
 confidence and materially to weaken the founda- 
 tions of authority. On this account, the laws of 
 men, in all that is manifestly right, need the utmost 
 possible support. Wherever guilt is clearly estab- 
 lished human justice must take its course, unless 
 the dearest interests of society are to be wantonly 
 sacrificed. 
 
 But on no such grounds as these, nor on any 
 
SPIRITUAL LAWS. So 
 
 other grounds whatever, do spiritual ordinances 
 need or admit of either vindication, or protection, 
 or support from human or divine hands. Defender 
 or avenger they have none, and they need none. 
 Without aid from any quarter they avenge them- 
 selves, and exact, and continue without fail to exact 
 so long as the evil remains, the amount of penalty 
 — visible and invisible — to the veriest jot and tittle, 
 which the deed of violation deserves. Essentially 
 and perfectly wise and right, they are irresistible, 
 in the case of the obedient and the rebellious 
 alike. There is no formal trial of the criminal, 
 there is no need for investigating the question and 
 determining the amount of guilt or of innocence. 
 Without inquiry and without effort each case dis- 
 covers and exposes itself. No judicial verdict is 
 pronounced, and no officer of justice is appointed 
 to carry out the sentence, but at once, punishment 
 or reward, visible or invisible, or both, dispenses 
 itself, and in the amount in which either is 
 merited. Spiritual laws are self-acting ; with all 
 their penalties and sanctions they are immediately 
 self-acting, and without the remotest possibility of 
 failure or mistake. 
 
 Sin is death — holiness is life ; these brief sen- 
 tences, taken out of inspired Scripture, are a con- 
 densation of the code of the spiritual universe. 
 They constitute the basis of the reigning principles 
 
86 SPIRITUAL LAWS. 
 
 of the divine moral administration, tliey are with- 
 out limit, without exception, and are absolutely 
 irresistible. But it must be noted, that they are 
 not so much sanctions ordained by God, as simple 
 statements of fact, the statement of an eternal fact, 
 embodying the literal history of all the past, and 
 a predictive announcement of all the future, for 
 ever and ever. Sin is death — holiness is life; the 
 fact is so, and the law of moral being is promul- 
 gated in the fact. The forces of the spiritual 
 universe, like the attributes of the Eternal mind, 
 are absolutely independent and seK-sufficient. The 
 Great Being did not elect that this and that per- 
 fection should enrich His nature ; they did enrich 
 it from eternity and are coeval with Himself. God 
 did not elect and ordain that sin should be death, 
 and that holiness should be life, when, but for this 
 ordination, they might have been something else. 
 In itself, sin is death ; in itself, holiness is life — 
 must be so, cannot be anything else, and must be 
 this. It is a necessary, eternal fact, independent 
 of all beings and all things. But in a case of 
 unutterable importance, where ignorance or mistake 
 would have been everlastingly fatal, God has been 
 at pains to set the fact before His rational creatures, 
 and to invest it with the solemnity of a direct and 
 repeated message from His throne, and with all 
 the authority of His express sanction. First of 
 
SPIRITUAL LAWS. 87 
 
 all, it is written witliin every soul of man, for the 
 voice is divine which we hear, in the depths of 
 our spiritual nature, and it is a divine witness 
 who makes His appeal to us, in the conscious 
 effects of evil in ourselves, and its visible con- 
 sequences on others around and in the general 
 world. And then, it is a divine authority which 
 utters itself emphatically and clearly in the holy 
 volume. The great laws of the moral universe 
 are there announced in a thousand passages and in 
 varying Forms, as the substance and the sum, the 
 meaning and the spirit of all revelation. 
 
 Truthfulness, rectitude, purity, lovingness, and 
 all the virtues, reverence of God, submission, self- 
 surrender, and love to Him and all godly principles 
 and affections, constitute the true life of a respon- 
 sible soul. They not only belong to it, but they 
 are the essential constituents of its vitality; they 
 are the life-blood of a created spirit, and to touch 
 any of them is to affect the very seat and spring 
 of vitality. The slightest admission of evil — con- 
 scious, voluntary evil — is a direct assault on soul- 
 life. It is like impurity, taint in the blood; it 
 is soul-death begun — a commencing process of dis- 
 order, pollution, disease, whose only issue, unless 
 it be stopped, is death. We are accustomed to 
 think of crime perpetrated, and then, perhaps long 
 after, of punishment adjudicated and inflicted. But 
 
88 SPIllITUAL LAWS- 
 
 moral evil and death, and, equally so, holiness and 
 life, are perfectly simultaneous. Not that the 
 punishment of sin is the work of a moment. 
 There is an entail of moral, it may be even of phy- 
 sical punishment, which is prolonged so long as 
 its cause abides, and which can be cut off, not 
 always even by the extirjDation of the cause. But 
 in the very act, in the very moment of evil, the real 
 penalty descends irresistibly, and in the very amount, 
 which is deserved. The sin ensures, because it is, its 
 own punishment. The taint enters in it, and, along 
 with it, into the spirit. The poison is shed the 
 instant the sting penetrates. The process of disease 
 and death is begun. The smallest conscious, volun- 
 tary evil in the human will, the smallest sin is in its 
 nature, death — moral death. Without doubt, the 
 assault on soul-life is greater or less, in proportion to 
 the amount and the kind of evil admitted ; but the 
 smallest sin is moral death begun, and moral perdi- 
 tion must be the issue, unless the sin be cast forth. 
 
 Death, even in the body, but much more in the 
 soul, is a process, as well as an event consum- 
 mated ; rather, so far as concerns the spirit of man, 
 it is only a process, and never an event consum- 
 mated. We are led astray by the supposed ana- 
 logy between animal and spiritual death — an analogy 
 clear and just within certain limits, but thoroughly 
 false if extended beyond them. The animal life is 
 
SPIRITUAL LAWS. 89 
 
 completely extinguished by deatli, the animal sys- 
 tem is completely dissolved, the animal economy is 
 for ever broken up and ended. That power which, 
 at a precise moment, puts an end to animal life, we 
 call death. The fact, single and alone, that animal 
 life is quenched, we call death. And hence, not un- 
 naturally, but quite untruly, the death of the soul 
 suggests a thing completed and done with, even as 
 the death of the body is a fact accomplished — a thing 
 of the past, to which nothing remains except to be- 
 come matter of history. But it is far otherwise ; even 
 in the case of the animal life, though its final extinc- 
 tion be a fact, the fact of a moment, there is first 
 of all, a process leading to this last result. Dying 
 may be a long previous process, continued for 
 months or years. It is even believed that in the 
 first moment of life, the seed of ultimate death 
 is planted, and that through our whole animal 
 existence, by the side of the process of life, there 
 is an antagonistic process of death, which in one 
 form ' or another, and through one aid or another, 
 at length gains the mastery, and extinguishes 
 its rival. However this be, death in a human 
 spirit, that is, moral death, is unquestionably a 
 process; and, so far as we can judge, only a 
 process, and never, an event consummated — a pro- 
 cess going forward, year after year in this life, 
 which only Almighty mercy can terminate. In 
 
90 SPIRITUAL LAWS. 
 
 the case of the finally reprobate, in whom the 
 direst form of this penalty is realised, it is believed 
 that spiritual becomes eternal death, that is, an 
 unending process of dying, to which no termina- 
 tion or consummation is possible. 
 
 It is easy to see that when the process of moral 
 death is begun in the soul that sinneth — and it 
 always is inevitably begun — and when that process 
 is continued — and it always is inevitably continued, 
 (working out also during its continuance, as it does 
 and must, varied physical evil,) so long as sin 
 remains, and to the extent in which it remains — 
 the spiritual laws of the universe have their full 
 effect, their proper penalty is borne to the letter, 
 and each claim which they prefer is met and 
 honoured as it falls due. They seek and need no 
 supplementary support from any quarter whatever, 
 but are perfectly able to sustain themselves at 
 every moment. All they demand is this, that 
 wherever and so long as and in the degree in 
 which sin exists, there also shall be death, tnoral 
 death, and this is the simple, universal fact. 
 
 The favourite human expedient of commutation 
 can have no place in the spiritual government of 
 the universe. Even on earth, and in the adminis- 
 tration of human laws, this is always, essentiall}'-, 
 an impei'fection and a dishonour. The sentence 
 of death shall be changed into banishment for life, 
 
SPIRITUAL LAWS. 91 
 
 or the banishment shall be only for a limited term, 
 or a shorter shall be substituted for a longer period, 
 or banishment shall be changed into imprisonment, 
 or this again shall be commuted into a fine in 
 money. But always the reason is simply this, 
 that the sentence of the law is judged, on one 
 ground or other, to be too severe, and that its faith- 
 ful execution would amount to practical injustice. 
 That Avhich is strictly legal is not always perfectly 
 equitable. Alleviating circumstances arise which, 
 though unrecognised by the law, are clearly vaHd 
 to a certain extent. A discretionary power, there- 
 fore, within certain limits is wisely allowed. The 
 undue rigour of human laws is tempered, special 
 cases are met, and unforeseen circumstances of great 
 weight are duly recognised. Among men, and 
 considering what human things are, the expedient 
 of commutation is, on many accounts, very desir- 
 able, and even necessary. But the very grounds 
 which make it becoming in human administration, 
 render it impossible to the course of spiritual law. 
 God cannot change His mind, as man does and 
 ought. God cannot, like man, be now disposed 
 to severity, and again relent to a more patient 
 and tender mood. God cannot mistake in the first 
 instance, as man does ; and cannot, like man, need 
 to review and correct His sentence. No unforeseen 
 circumstance can ever arise to justify or require a 
 
92 SPIRITUAL LAWS. 
 
 modification of spiritual law; it is based on infin- 
 ite prevision, and on eternal rectitude and truth; 
 it contemplates all possible cases, and cannot, with- 
 out dishonour, admit of the smallest exception. 
 
 Among the distinctive imperfections of human 
 administration, there is another, which, by contrast, 
 illuminates the righteous government of God. Codes 
 of law of necessity specify particular offences, and 
 profess to give an exhaustive enumeration of the cri- 
 minal acts to which they refer, to ordain the respective 
 punishments with which these acts shall be visited, 
 and to determine the duration of such punishments. 
 When, in any instance, the decreed punishment has 
 been borne, and when the decreed time has expired, 
 the ofiender is perfectly free in the eye of the law. 
 But, in this respect, between divine and human ad- 
 ministration, there is, instead of analogy, the widest 
 distinction. No catalogue of ofi'ences is given here, 
 and no specific penalties for difi'erent kinds of crime 
 are decreed. The law of God deals not with sins so 
 much as with sin, not even with acts, so much as with 
 the one inner spring of action, the one root of all sin 
 — the evil will, the corrupt, false bias of the nature. 
 Instead of multiplied and various punishments for 
 different crimes — arbitrary punishments, inasmuch as 
 they are fixed by the judgment and the will of human 
 lawgivers — in the divine law, one unchangeable, 
 universal penalty, equally applicable to all possible 
 
SPIRITUAL LAWS. 93 
 
 crimes, is decreed. Sin is death ! No matter wlio 
 the culprit be, or what the kind of crime or where 
 committed, or what the circumstances, if it be sin, 
 and so far as it is sin, it is death. Any sin, all sin, 
 according to its degree, and so long as it continues, is 
 death, moral death — but not unattended with varied 
 physical penalties in this life. "No term of punish- 
 ment is fixed, none can be fixed. One thing, and one 
 thing only, determines the duration of the punish- 
 ment, and that is the continuance of evil in the soul. 
 The evil continuing its attendant penalty is a neces- 
 sity, which even God could not conquer. Sin is 
 punishment, and punishment lies in the nature of sin. 
 Led astray by the analogies of human administration, 
 we imagine that a long and dark array of conscious 
 or forgotten sins, as yet unpunished, is loudly wit- 
 nessing against us, and calling for righteous retribu- 
 tion. And it is true, strictly true, that so long as sin 
 is within us, it must continue not only to call for 
 retribution, but to bring down its penalty, as at the 
 first. But it is equally true, that no sin is, or ever 
 can be, unpunished a moment, because it ever and 
 instantly punishes itself. Human law fails to disco- 
 ver the evil-doer, and wearied with vain searching, it 
 goes to sleep, and is robbed of its due for years, or for 
 ever. But spiritual law never slumbers, and is never 
 defrauded for a moment. That which God calls sin 
 is never undiscovered, and never for an instant fails to 
 
94 SPIRITUAL LAWS. 
 
 meet its desert. The moment of sin is the moment 
 of death in the soul. God has no unsettled accounts, 
 no outstanding claims. The process of perdition begins 
 without fail, and deepens with the duration and the 
 amount of sin. A terrific future is in reserve, because 
 now we see only the germ ; hereafter the 'last dread 
 perfection of development. But the present exacts 
 all its rights. Spiritual law carries out its sentence 
 at once and to the letter, and allows no claim for an 
 instant to be dishonoured. 
 
 We are entitled to come to this distinct conclusion, 
 that the great governing principles of the divine ad- 
 ministration need no support beyond themselves, and 
 no vindication. They are for ever equal to their own 
 maintenance. The idea of exculpating or justifying 
 the laws of the spiritual universe— above all, of up- 
 holding their inviolable authority — would be to add 
 insult to injury, as if they were incapable of defend- 
 ing and avenging themselves. They do not need 
 help, they do not admit of it ; the thing is an impos- 
 sibility. So thoroughly do they insure the infliction 
 of merited punishment, that any attempt of that na- 
 ture would be as useless as it would be presumptuous. 
 It would impute weakness to that which is divinely 
 strong, and it would suppose and create the suspicion 
 of a need of help which did not exist. It would im- 
 peach God himself. All divine laws, material and 
 spiritual alike, are sufficient for themselves. Only 
 
SPIRITUAL LAWS. 95 
 
 human laws need vindication and support. Among 
 men, where the administration of justice is ever im- 
 perfect, and where criminals, by one means or other, 
 contrive to evade and escape from justice, there is the 
 most urgent necessity for upholding the majesty of 
 the law, and for vindicating it by impressive exam- 
 ples, perhaps even by extraordinary expedients. But 
 there is no evading the dire sanction of spiritual laws, 
 no possible escape from their retributive awards, and 
 therefore there is no need in their case of vindication 
 or defence. Even the laws of the material universe 
 know nothing of the remotest possibility of resistance 
 or evasion or escape within their several range. We 
 are said to resist them, but it is by implicitly yielding 
 to them. We are said to force them to our will, to 
 convert them to our purposes, and to render them ser- 
 viceable to our interests and our aims, instead of being, 
 as they otherwise would be, hostile and destructive. 
 But the simple fact is, that all the while a more ex- 
 tensive familiarity with them only strengthens the 
 conviction that they must be obeyed to the letter. To 
 resist them really is impossible, without paying the 
 full penalty of infraction. Without fail they avenge 
 themselves, and need no help from us or from any 
 quarter whatever. What a burlesque it would be, 
 what insanity to profess to vindicate and uphold the 
 laws of nature ! And can it be less than an insult to 
 the great Being to imagine, that what would be folly 
 
96 SPIKITUAL LAWS. 
 
 in regard to them is a matter of fact in regard to the 
 higher laws of spirit, as if they somehow were in 
 danger, and needed to be vindicated, sustained, and 
 defended ? Can it be less than an insult to the Great 
 Being to imagine, that a dishonour and a weakness 
 which inhere nowhere, except in the imperfect con- 
 stitutions of human society, must attach to the eter- 
 nal principles of His universe. 
 
 There is ground for very reverent caution, lest in 
 thinking to honour God we should do Him deep dis- 
 honour and injustice, — lest in the idea that His laws 
 are insufficient for themselves, and therefore need 
 extraneous support and defence, we should strike a 
 damaging blow at their authority, and undermine 
 the sacred foundation on which they rest. The ver- 
 dict of Heaven is this, as unambiguous and deter- 
 minate as words can express it, " The soul that sin- 
 neth shall die." It is true ; it must be true. God 
 cannot speak with a double meaning. What He 
 declares He must intend, — simply intend, and in the 
 sense which the words plainly convey. His verdict 
 against sin, the penalty which He announces it shall 
 incur, is and must be a literal truth. " The soul 
 that sinneth shall die," He has declared, and as a 
 simple matter of fact, the soul that sinneth does die. 
 To the extent and in the degree in which it sins, it 
 does die ; to this extent and degree the seat of inner 
 life is assailed. In sinning, and by sinning, it dies 
 
SPIKITUAL LAWS. 97 
 
 inevitably. With sin the seed of death is planted ; 
 and from that moment, in its noblest part, it is no 
 more a living, but a dying, soul, unless and until an 
 antagonist process of recovery be commenced within 
 it. The veracity of God is unimpeachable, and the 
 law of the spiritual universe is vindicated, verified, 
 honoured, to the fullest possible extent, by itself. It 
 is sufficient for itself, needs no avenger, and stands 
 erect in its own inviolable majesty. God himself 
 could not annul the sequence, sin and death ; could 
 not dissolve this dire connexion, could not shield 
 from the penalty, except by removing its cause. 
 
 There is one, but there is only one, way in which 
 the tremendous doom of the sinful soul can be 
 escaped, in consistency with the great laws of the 
 spiritual universe. If sin were cast out, the death 
 which issues solely from sin would be effectually pre- 
 vented. If the internal seat and seed of evil were 
 crushed and killed, the outgrowth from it would 
 certainly perish. If the fatal disease itself were 
 checked and cured, then, but only then, a restorative, 
 healing process might take the place of an ever- 
 deepening perdition, for the same law which an- 
 nounces that sin is death, proclaims also that holi- 
 ness is life. If sin w^ere extirpated and expelled, 
 and if love of God and of good were planted in its 
 stead, then the true redemption of the human spirit 
 would be secure. There is one salvation for man, 
 
 G 
 
98 SPIRITUAL LAWS. 
 
 only one ; a salvation not from hell, but from sin ; 
 not from consequences here or hereafter, but from 
 the deep cause itself which is secreted within the 
 nature. The work of God is not so much to pardon 
 the past as to kill outright an evil which is pre- 
 sent. The divinest work of God on this earth is 
 the destroying of evil. By the one true sacrifice of 
 Christ, an act of divine self-sacrifice, by incarnate, 
 crucified love, He aims a blow at the root of evil 
 within man's heart. The subsequent process is end- 
 lessly diverse, and is tedious and slow, but the issue 
 is certain, — the death of sin. God touches the deadly 
 disease at its foul source and heals it. He breaks 
 the hard heart by the overwhelming pressure of 
 pure, almighty mercy in our Lord Jesus Christ. He 
 kindles a new divine life, which is holiness ; the reso- 
 lute, free, glad choice of truth and of good. Spiritual 
 law triumphs in the new life, as in the previous 
 death. God slays the sin, and thus saves the soul. 
 He destroys death by implanting life. 
 
CHAPTER lY. 
 
 ETERNAL JUSTICE. 
 
 Opposite Conceptions of Justice — Providence — Inequalities, Real 
 Equality — Mere Justice — Not in God — A Human Notion — 
 God always More and Better than Merely Just— Justice and 
 Mercy — Evil, Not of God — Moral, Physical Evil — Ethical 
 Nature of God and Man — Mercy Loftier, Holier than Justice 
 — Inevitable Doom of Sin — Triumph of Mercy. 
 
]]1E0M law to justice, from spiritual laws to 
 justice in God, the transition is direct and 
 short. Spiritual laws are grounded in the eternal 
 rectitude and wisdom, and the ejffect of their opera- 
 tion is the necessary reign of perfect equity in the 
 universe. Amidst all the evils that spring out 
 of human sin, God's ways are ever equal, only 
 man's ways are unequal. But the most opposite 
 impressions are awakened in different minds by 
 the notion of such an attribute as justice in God, 
 on the one side only repulsive, and on the other 
 as strongly attractive. The difference is so great 
 that it has been pronounced original and organic. 
 Altogether, in the sphere of theology, the confident 
 position is laid down, that men do not of them- 
 selves become, but are really born either Calvinists 
 or Pelagians — using these names loosely and sim- 
 ply to mark two quite opposite poles of thought. 
 
 In a wider yet kindred sense, it is maintained, 
 that men are born either Aristotelians or Platonists. 
 Not of choice, but in consequence of a real neces- 
 sity, occasioned by their individual structure, they 
 
102 ETERNAL JUSTICE. 
 
 are materialistic or spiritualistic, logical or philo- 
 sophical, argumentative or intuitional ; the one and 
 the other alike being the simple effect of original, 
 mental conformation. The distinction, diver o:in2: 
 more or less from its source, can readily be drawn 
 out, to almost any extent of minuteness. Men 
 are calculating and sceptical, or they are sympa- 
 thetic and receptive ; rigid and narrow, or com- 
 prehensive, catholic, and free ; they are found to 
 admire the harder, sterner virtues, or they are won 
 by the nobler, gentler, finer qualities of the soul ; 
 they limit themselves to the senses and to the 
 range of the understanding, and to what can be 
 submitted to its processes and decisions, or they 
 love to ascend to the region of the supersensual, 
 and covet intensely the higher revelations of a dis- 
 ciplined faith. The two orders are ever ranged on 
 opposite sides, in theology, in philosophy, and in 
 real life. Kespecting the origin of the universe, 
 the question of a First Cause, the Being and charac- 
 ter of God, the introduction of evil into the uni- 
 verse, the nature of volition, the final destiny of 
 man, as either the outcome of an unconditional 
 decree, or simply a result of the use or abuse of 
 moral liberty, they are always essentially divided, 
 and in all, are rightly distinguished as positivists 
 or spiritualists. Explain it how we may, the 
 distinction is undoubted, and in few directions is 
 
ETERNAL JUSTICE. 103 
 
 it more striking than in the opposite manner in 
 which divine justice is regarded, and in the opposite 
 sentiments it awakens in different minds. 
 
 The etymology and relations of the word "justice," 
 entitle us to say that a straight line, an even balance, 
 may be taken as the exact material symbol of this 
 spiritual attribute. The slightest deflection from 
 perfect straightness destroys the line. Justice is per- 
 fectly rectilineal, and means the rendering to every 
 one his full desert without stint, but also without 
 excess, not an iota more or less than his desert. 
 It must be admitted on all hands that were even 
 this, however poor and low, as a highest ideal, 
 realised over the wide earth, were mere exact justice 
 established as the universal rule of this world, 
 the result would be a veritable millennium, com- 
 pared with the existing condition of things. The 
 deeds of atrocious injustice which are perpetrated 
 everywhere, in Christian as well as in other lands ; 
 the horrible wrongs done by men, to the feelings, 
 the character, the reputation, the property, the 
 liberty, the persons, the lives, the bodies, and the 
 souls of their fellow-men, defy computation. But 
 these and untold enormous evils besides would be 
 swept clean away, if only mere justice, no more, 
 rectilineal justice, were to reign supreme. There 
 would be an eternal end to war, from which gigantic 
 injustice on one side or other, or both, is inseparable. 
 
104 ETERNAL JUSTICE. 
 
 an eternal end to slavery, to rapine, to murder, to 
 tlieft, and to all the darker crimes which now 
 desolate and afflict mankind. Justice, mere justice, 
 is entitled to stand high among the virtues, in the. 
 convictions of men, though it be dishonoured and 
 prostrate in fact, as the w^orld goes. 
 
 So far as the Great God is concerned, justice is 
 administered even now on earth, — at the least, jus- 
 tice, never less than justice, though, often, usually, 
 much more. Ketribution, in the sense of evil, but 
 far more, in the sense of good, is not wholly reserved 
 for a future state of being. The present, it seems 
 to be thought, is the scene only of preliminary pro- 
 bation, during which, as a matter of necessity, 
 endless inequalities and injustices are permitted. 
 The future, on the other hand, is a state of compen- 
 sation, in which all that has been incomplete and 
 defective here shall be filled up, and all that has 
 seemed irregular or even wrong, shall be remedied 
 and rectified, and in which the condition of every 
 being shall righteously answer to his individual 
 character and desert. But admitting a wide difi'er- 
 ence between the present and the future, it must not 
 be imagined that there is not even now a God who 
 judgeth in the earth. To punish notorious offenders, 
 to put down evil, to confound oppression and craft 
 and to shield, and save, and honour the good, the 
 Most High comes forth, not seldom, out of His place 
 
ETEKNAL JUSTICE. 105 
 
 and makes bare His holy arm. There is ground to 
 believe, that in a wider sense still, and on ordinary 
 occasions, and in the general, common movements of 
 earthly providence, there is a very real, though not 
 palpable adjustment of condition to desert, of actual 
 life-experience to individual character. 
 
 It is not here meant, with manifold, plain facts 
 before us, the idea is inadmissible that visible, out- 
 ward, exact retribution is measured out to every 
 individual, in this life. But it is meant, that with 
 many seeming exceptions, it is yet marvellously true 
 that men, even here on earth, get what they work for 
 and aim at, what they really deserve, both in the 
 way of punishment and in the way of reward. One 
 of the memorable sentences of holy Scripture runs 
 thus, "Be sure, your sin will find you out;'' and 
 your virtue also, we may add, whatsoever in you has 
 been genuinely good, will not lose its reward. Few 
 intelligent and observant persons can have failed to 
 mark with wonder, to what an extent in later life, 
 both the good and the evil of other days have re- 
 turned upon them, most manifestly. The special 
 early facts had been long past and forgotten, but 
 they came to life again in an undeniable resurrection, 
 the book of fate was opened, the long outstanding 
 account was at last made up, and a mystic finger 
 pointed to the past date, the page, the very line. 
 Justice does reign in the movements of providence 
 
106 ETERNAL JUSTICE. 
 
 here below — at all events never less than justice, but 
 also, as we shall have to show, never mere rec- 
 tilineal justice, neither less nor more. 
 
 In the eyes of some good men this virtue in its 
 exact, even rigorous form, is a noble and right royal 
 attribute. Nothing so befits and dignifies a gover- 
 nor, a judge, a king. It is the quality, which of all 
 others, imparts consistency and firmness to character, 
 and renders it reliable. There is no danger of con- 
 tempt or insult to a ruler thus endowed ; he is sure 
 to be respected and trusted, and his administration 
 will be a terror to evil-doers and a praise to the good. 
 There are persons who, with such sentiments, deliber- 
 ately elect to govern their lives mainly by considera- 
 tions of exact justice. They admire it in others, and 
 sedulously cultivate it in themselves. Generosity, 
 properly so called, anything strictly spontaneous and 
 impulsive, they rather discourage than cherish. Not 
 strangers to generous sentiments, and not incapable, 
 besides, of deeds of daring, of patient endurance and 
 even of true self-sacrifice, what they appreciate far 
 more highly in themselves and in others, is the reign 
 of law, exact obedience, stern justice, neither less nor 
 more. On a far lower platform, and in ordinary life, 
 multitudes without the lofty sentiments of the others, 
 are strenuous for the letter of the law, acting, per- 
 haps, up to what is outwardly required, but certainly 
 , not ambitious of a virtue, exceeding the limits of the 
 
ETEKNAL JUSTICE, 107 
 
 precept. They are clamorous, in all cases, for law 
 having its course, and loud in their praise of justice, 
 inflexible justice, with an evident delight in the idea 
 of inflexibility, as if to them there were a tone of 
 majesty and grandeur in the very word. They are 
 fond of asseverating, that if laws are to be reverenced 
 and obeyed, they must be inflexibly executed. There 
 must be no swerving, no flinching from the strict, 
 stern rule of right, no unrighteous leniency, no 
 wicked pity, which sets aside the holy claims of law, 
 and in miserable regard for one, or for a few, cruelly 
 places before thousands a powerful temptation to 
 crime. In relation to their very standing before 
 their Maker, these persons would admit nothing — 
 they could not even respect God himself, were they 
 called upon to admit anything, which did not har- 
 monise with stern, inflexible justice. In the matter 
 of their own future well-being, they must first see 
 that the Almighty has, according to their ideas, 
 sufficiently guarded the authority and the honour of 
 His law, and has sufficiently met all the demands of 
 His justice, before they can feel entitled to trust 
 themselves to divine, redeeming love. 
 
 There must be a profound and very serious mis- 
 apprehension here. Directly, in the face of this 
 state of mind, it can readily be shown that recti- 
 lineal justice, in the sense of apportioning exact 
 desert, neither less nor more, is not an attribute 
 
108 ETEKNAL JUSTICE. 
 
 of God at all, and cannot be. So far as the present 
 world is concerned, there is not a single being who, 
 at any moment, receives from God his exact desert, 
 neither less nor more. The Great God is never un- 
 just — that is impossible. He is never less than 
 just ; but He is. He always is, more than just. 
 The Almighty never treats even the wickedest of 
 His creatures on earth according to exact desert. 
 Injustice, in the least imaginable taint, under any 
 pretext, is infinitely far removed from Him; but 
 mere justice, which limits itself to exact desert, is 
 not only no attribute of the Most High, but it is 
 wholly a human notion, — it belongs to men solely, 
 — and it belongs to them solely because of their 
 imperfection and their actual wickedness. A human 
 judge must be influenced neither by clemency nor 
 by revenge, and must act, in his judicial capacity, 
 as if he were devoid of human impulses and senti- 
 ments, devoid even of volitions. He must be guided 
 by no will of his own, and by no leaning to one side 
 or another. The ideal is, that he is the mere pas- 
 sive executor of a law which he did not make, 
 but must absolutely enforce. It is essential to the 
 stability and the order of society, that the law be 
 carried out without favour or fear. On the one 
 hand, such are the mass of mankind, so ready to 
 take advantage of vacillation or of sympathy ; and, 
 on the other hand, so weak and evil are even the 
 
ETERNAL JUSTICE. 109 
 
 best of men, so constantly in danger of erring on 
 the side of mercy, and no less so on the side of 
 unjust anger and vindictive severity, that they must 
 not be trusted. The public safety demands tliat 
 they be either the compulsory victims, or the pas- 
 sive administrators of inflexible law. 
 
 The Great God is under none of these, nor any 
 other necessities whatsoever. He has no cause to 
 fear, or to guard against either the wickedness or the 
 weakness of His creatures. He has no misgivings 
 as to the immovable authority and the perfect vin- 
 dication of His law, or as to the absolute stability 
 of His government. He does not need to be, and 
 He is not, just, in the human, rectilineal sense at 
 all. He deals neither with the good nor with the 
 bad, exactly according to their deserving. " The 
 Lord is good unto all," — be their character what it 
 may, — to the vilest wretch, who pollutes the earth 
 with his tread, and to the holiest saint, whose daily 
 life is like a breath from heaven. " The Lord is" 
 — not just, not merely and strictly just, but — " good 
 unto all; and His tender mercies are over all His 
 works." "He maketh His sun to rise" — not on 
 the good only, but — " on the evil and upon the 
 good, and sendeth rain upon the just and upon the 
 
 unjust." " Bless the Lord, my soul who 
 
 satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy 
 youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord exe- 
 
110 ETERNAL JUSTICE. 
 
 cuteth righteousness and judgment for all that are 
 oppressed." "The Lord is" — not simply and 
 merely just, but far more and better than just, He 
 is — " merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and 
 plenteous in mercy." " He visitcth the earth "— 
 though it be laden with sin, and ever meriting 
 chastisement and rebuke — " and water eth it. He 
 greatly enricheth it with the river of God, which 
 is full of water — He prepareth them corn, when 
 He hath so provided for it — He watereth the ridges 
 thereof aljundantly — He settleth the furrows thereof 
 — He maketh it soft with showers — He blesseth the 
 springing thereof — He crowneth the year with His 
 goodness, and His paths drop fatness. They drop 
 upon the pastures of the wilderness, and the little 
 hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed 
 with flocks ; the valleys are covered over with corn : 
 they shout for joy — they also sing." Is this descrip- 
 tive of One, who is merely just, who carefully acts 
 up to what law and justice demand, and exactly 
 measures out to His creatures their desert, but no 
 more ? It certainly is not. " Love ye your ene- 
 mies," said our blessed Lord, " and your reward 
 shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the 
 Highest, for He is"— not simply just, but — " kind," 
 and to whom ? " unto the unthankful and the evil." 
 "Be ye, therefore" — not simply just, but — "merci- 
 ful, as your Father also is merciful." Justice, in 
 
ETERNAL JUSTICE. Ill 
 
 the human, rectilineal sense, is no attribute of the 
 God of the Bible. He is always merciful ; and 
 because He is merciful, He cannot be, and never is, 
 simply, merely just. Always He is more and better 
 than merely just, and acts on the ground of pure 
 mercy. The whole course of the world, from the 
 creation till now, and the manifest system of divine 
 providence towards the good and towards the bad, 
 are right in the face of the idea of rectilineal justice. 
 There is no such attribute in God. 
 
 But the inevitable punishment of moral evil, 
 always and everywhere, is certain nevertheless. 
 The justice of the universe, in this sense, is a tre- 
 mendous fact, an eternal and necessary fact, which 
 even God could not set aside. There is an irre- 
 sistible, a real force, springing out of the essential 
 constitution of things, whereby sin punishes itself. 
 This is the fixed law of the moral universe, a law 
 in perfect harmony with the eternal will, and which 
 never is, and never can be broken. God's mercy 
 in our Lord Jesus Christ, does not in the slightest 
 degree set aside this justice ; what it does is, to 
 remove and -render non-existent the only ground 
 on which the claim of justice stands. Instead of 
 arbitrarily withdrawing the criminal from punish- 
 ment, it destroys in his soul that evil, which is 
 the only cause and reason of punishment, and 
 which being removed, punishment ceases of itself. 
 
112 ETERNAL JUSTICE. 
 
 The redeemed whom we picture in a future state, 
 are they, not who have baffled and defeated and 
 evaded justice, or who by some indirect, side 
 method have succeeded in quieting its demands, 
 but they in whom that sin, which justice does 
 and must punish, has been pierced through and 
 ultimately destroyed, and cast forth by incarnate 
 love ; they, in whom the moral disease which was 
 preying upon their life has been stayed, and in 
 whom a restorative healing process was begun and 
 has been consummated. 
 
 As for the darker side of future being, it be- 
 comes us to speak with most reverent reserve. If 
 the unredeemed shall be, as they shall and must be, 
 separated from the redeemed, it can only be in 
 consequence of an evil which no spiritual influences 
 could conquer. 1 Even the Great God cannot avert 
 the penalty, except by destroying the sin. While 
 sin continues to be the choice of the created will, 
 punishment is inevitable. Divine mercy, having 
 done its uttermost, to reconcile and subdue and 
 
 ^ With great deference, I would suggest to the wise and good 
 men who recoil from the thought that sin is to some extent (to 
 what extent we know not) irremediable even by God, that there is 
 an earHer and darker mystery still, namely, that the entrance of 
 sin was inpreventible. I for one could never believe that the holy 
 God might have prevented its entrance, but did not. But if it was 
 inpreventible, it is not hard to conclude that in some of its forms 
 it may also be irremediable even by infinite love. 
 
ETEKNAL JUSTICE. 113 
 
 save, is thenceforth powerless. The doom of the 
 lost, be it whatever it may, is simply and wholly 
 their own work. God has had and has no part in 
 it whatever. It is all from first to last not only 
 their doing, but their doing in despite of God. 
 No deprivation and no evil which they suffer can 
 be traced to Him. All is the simple effect, which 
 no power in the universe could prevent, of that sin 
 which they have determinedly made their own. 
 They might have had life. God mercifully and 
 long strove with them, in order that they might 
 be constrained to choose life, and all the influences 
 of His providence .and of His Spirit were directed 
 to this end. " But they would not." That is the 
 sole and the full interpretation of their doom. 
 
 There is an eternal justice in harmony with the 
 highest will, though not dependent upon it. The 
 law of the universe is truly God's law, but, like Him- 
 self, the law is eternal and immutable. Wherever 
 sin is, and so long as it continues, punishment is 
 inevitable. Nothing can hinder it. When divine 
 mercy triumphs, as in myriads of instances it has 
 done and shall do, it is never by trenching on jus- 
 tice, but only and always by destroying sin. With 
 profound reverence let it be uttered, that even God 
 exercises no power of punishing or not, according 
 to His pleasure, and in what degree it seems good 
 to Him. Save with a limitation, presently to be 
 
114 ETERNAL JUSTICE. 
 
 stated, the God of purity and love has no part in 
 the punishment of sin — no part in moral, or even in 
 physical, evil. Both are simply His foes and the 
 foes of creation. To moral evil,i in its origin, its 
 nature, its course, and all its aspects. His sole rela- 
 tion is that of irreconcilable resistance and hatred. 
 Even physical evil can be only abhorrent to His 
 nature. Essentially considered and in one form or 
 other, physical evil is the inevitable effect of moral 
 evil. God has nothing to do with the production 
 of this effect, but He reigns supremely, and has 
 chosen to reign, over all its distributions, its times, 
 and its modes. Mercifully He . reigns over these, 
 and directs and shapes that suffering, which, inde- 
 pendently of Him, was in one form or other 
 inevitable, so as to act powerfully on the moral 
 nature of men, and to retrieve, as far as that is 
 possible, the deeper curse in which all physical 
 evil originates. But eternal justice, meaning the 
 inevitable punishment of sin, takes its course re- 
 sistlessly. God, for merciful and holy ends, deter- 
 mines the special physical mode in wliich the penalty 
 shall come forth here on earth. But its real, inner, 
 necessary infliction is inpreventible. It must come 
 down. It lies in the essential nature of things that 
 it must come down. Ever and ever, justice inflicts 
 
 1 See " Evil and God," &c., pp. 180-230. 
 
ETEENAL JUSTICE. 115 
 
 an inevitable penalty, and exacts the completest 
 satisfaction. 
 
 But without seeking to qualify these statements 
 in the least degree, it must not be overlooked for a 
 moment that justice, in the awful sense explained, 
 is not the only fact in the universe, and not the 
 divinest, by any means. There may be nothing 
 more indispensable in its place than justice, but 
 there are very many things which are morally far 
 higher and nobler. Even the simple, familiar terms, 
 "right" and "righteous," convey to the spiritual sense 
 a grander idea than is conveyed by the word "just/' 
 The just is always right, but the right may be far 
 more than is simply just. It is just to give the 
 exact reward which was contracted for, but it might 
 be perfectly right and righteous, and the very oppo- 
 site of unjust, to give much more. It is just to de- 
 mand full compensation for wrong done, but there 
 are cases where it might be perfectly right and very 
 noble to be satisfied with less ; noblest of all, freely 
 to forgive the wrong, without any compensation. 
 Less reward and more punishment than is deserved 
 would be injustice; more reward and less punish- 
 ment would not be justice, but it might be perfectly 
 righteous, and most wise and nobly generous. The 
 Great God is always right and righteous in His 
 dealings with His creatures, but we have found 
 
116 ETEKNAL JUSTICE. 
 
 that He is not just — that is, not merely just. Un- 
 just He cannot be, but He is always more and better 
 than just, because He is merciful. 
 
 Much stress has been laid^ on what is called 
 the essentially ethical nature of man and of man's 
 Maker. It is argued, that unless God would stand 
 condemned by His own creatures and by the consti- 
 tution with which He has endowed them. He must, 
 in His dealings with them, be governed by the rule 
 of exact justice. The present chapter has been a 
 virtual, though not formal, reply to such reasoning. 
 It is not doubted for a moment tliat there is found 
 in human nature a demand for justice ; we could not 
 live, society could not be lield together without it. 
 Its violation, in any case, inflicts a deep injury on 
 the common weal, and the common nature protests 
 against it, and demands reparation. Unquestion- 
 
 1 "The Atonement: a Satisfaction for the Ethical Nature both 
 of God and Man," by Prof. Shedd of Andover. Amer. Bib. llepo- 
 sitory, October 1859. The constant employment in this essay of 
 the term "ethical" for "moral" — e.g., ethical nature, ethical claims, 
 ethical feelings, ethical emotions, &c., &c., is unhappy. The 
 commoner term has precisely the same significance, and to English 
 readers has greater directness and simplicity. Except that the 
 one is of Greek and the other of Latin derivation, there is no 
 difference between them. The essay is ingenious, forcible, and 
 lucid. For me, it is enough to say, that the sternest justice 
 is perfectly satisfied in the case of every transgressor, because the 
 ordained penalty is always inflicted on sin. Moreover, this quality 
 so much extolled, justice, however ethical, is not the noblest and 
 not the loftiest principle in the nature of either God or mau. 
 
ETERNAL JUSTICE. 117 
 
 ably, tliis is one side of our humanity, but it forms 
 only half of the truth respecting it ; and, taken for the 
 whole truth, it becomes a pestilent falsehood. We 
 demand justice, at the least justice, but wherever 
 it is possible and consistent, the true soul cries out 
 vehemently for more than justice, necessary though 
 it be, and desires with irrepressible intensity the 
 exercise of mercy, pure, undeserved mercy. We 
 wrong ourselves grievously, if we forget that there 
 is not only another, but a far nobler, a diviner 
 side of our nature than justice, and that man bows 
 down instinctively, and is formed by his Maker to 
 bow down with loving reverence, not to what is 
 merely just, but to what is generous and forgiving, 
 and disinterested, and self-sacrificing. Mere justice 
 and no more, rectilineal justice, is neither an exalted 
 nor an exalting quality in any rational being. 
 Only to do what mere justice demands, when any- 
 thing less, or anything else, would be wrong, can 
 never command more than complacent approval. 
 We do approve justice, we see it to be good, to be 
 indispensable, we commend it, our nature demands 
 it. But there is here no towering majesty of 
 virtue, no Alpine grandeur of moral stature, no 
 nobility and sublimity of goodness, nothing to 
 kindle enthusiasm, to inspire lofty admiration, to 
 touch and swell the soul with wonder and with 
 love, and to stir its deepest longings after the 
 
118 ETERNAL JUSTICE. 
 
 divine. We do commend and seek justice, it is 
 essential, but it is very far from being the highest 
 even among human virtues. Love of truth, un- 
 swerving devotion to principle, the spirit of sub- 
 mission and self-sacrifice, lovingness, disinterested 
 regard for others, above all, mercy to the ill-deserv- 
 ing and to those who have injured us without 
 cause — not a mere impulse, not an inconsiderate 
 and sudden rush of pity, but wise, deliberate, 
 principled mercy — these, far above mere rectilineal 
 justice, are among the Grod-like excellences of men ; 
 these form the best and purest side of our nature ; 
 these are the qualities which we are formed to 
 admire, almost to worship ; these are the mountain 
 heights of human virtue ; justice is only one of the 
 lower stages, from which we look up to these 
 grandeurs above ; these are the very divinest things 
 belonging to us ; and it is here, accordingly, in this 
 most sacred region of all, that our Maker has 
 divinely appealed to us. 
 
 The instinct of justice in human nature is un- 
 questionable ; but the instinct of mercy is deeper, 
 and is never wanting in noble human souls. It 
 is God-like to forgive, to forgive freely. Man 
 never rises so near to the divine, as when out 
 of a pure, free, self-forgetting, irrepressible love, he 
 forgives causeless wrong done to him. No precept 
 of Christ has more indubitably the stamp of heaven 
 
ETERNAL JUSTICE. 119 
 
 upon it than that gem of all gems, which enriches 
 the New Testament, and which can be found nowhere 
 else, " Love ye your enemies." Never did the Saviour 
 of men breathe out upon the world more of the 
 deepest spirit of God, than when on the cross he 
 prayed, " Father, forgive them, they know not what 
 they do." It is divine, it is the divinest of all 
 divine things to forgive. We feel it, we are sure 
 of it, there is no arguing against it, it is an inde- 
 structible intuition of reason and conscience. God 
 would not be God to His human creatures, the 
 object of deepest veneration, and admiration, and 
 love, if He could not and did not forgive, forgive 
 freely and for ever. 
 
 But eternal justice abides nevertheless, and 
 wherever sin is, justice brings down its inevitable 
 doom, in terms of the universal law, " Sin is 
 death.'' This brief, dark sentence might have 
 summed up the entire history of man and of earth. 
 On the ground of mere justice alone, nothing else 
 . could have transpired. But there is such an 
 attribute as divine mercy, pure, free, unprompted 
 mercy. From the beginning, and through many 
 agencies and influences, mercy has wondrously 
 interposed, not to defraud justice, but to destroy 
 sin — to destroy sin, which is death, and to create 
 holiness, which is life. At last, by one amazing 
 intervention, God's uttermost was put forth to 
 
120 ETERNAL JUSTICE. 
 
 secure the double effect. By love, whose breadth 
 and length, and depth and height, no mind can 
 compass, sin in the soul is slain, and the inde- 
 structible life-germ of holiness is implanted. Justice 
 receives all its own, for with the death of sin its 
 claim is at an end, while pure mercy takes forth the 
 ransomed, to beautify and bless them for ever, in 
 the world of light, and life, and love. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 Section First. — Imagined Necessity op Satisfaction. 
 Section Second.— Satisfaction foe Sin Impossible. 
 
SECTION FIRST. 
 
 Imagined Necessity of Satisfaction — 1. Law — But Penalty inflicted 
 — 2. Justice — Never Defrauded — No Unsettled Claims— 3. 
 Moral Government— Not Dishonoured or Overthrown — Its 
 Security, Divine Self-sacrifice. 
 
 THE relation of human sin to spiritual law and 
 to eternal justice is the great question which 
 has long divided and still divides honest, able, and 
 pious men. Calm reflection on the dark mystery 
 of moral evil, its origin, its aspect towards the Great 
 Being, its action on the spirit of man, and its effects 
 in the universe, ought at least to restrain us from 
 irreverent dogmatism, whether on the one side or 
 the other. It is not likely that any solution, be it 
 what it may, shall contain all the truth and nothing 
 but the truth. On such a subject, it is much more 
 probable, that the varying tendencies and conditions 
 of different minds shall sway them, both by strong 
 prepossessions and by as strong prejudices, and that 
 it shall be far easier to point out, in conflicting 
 interpretations, what is distinctly wrong, than to 
 
124 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 furnisli what shall commend itself as a true and 
 final solution. 
 
 These two words, "atonement" and "satisfaction," 
 are believed to express the method whereby the 
 forgiveness of human sin can be reconciled with the 
 rectitude of the universe, and with the authority 
 of the supreme Lawgiver. And it is conceded most 
 readily, that very profound conceptions of the awful 
 nature of moral evil, of the infinite purity of God, 
 and of the necessity of holiness, have had not a 
 little to do with the origination and with the con- 
 tinued prevalence of this belief ; and the moral value 
 of such conceptions can scarcely be exaggerated, 
 however we may be obliged to refuse the issue to 
 which they conduct. 
 
 Without entering far at present, as we shall be 
 compelled to do hereafter, on verbal criticism, one or 
 two brief statements of a verbal kind seem needful in 
 this place. The English word " atonement " is of 
 frequent occurrence in the translation of the Hebrew 
 Scriptures ; but its use in them can be investigated 
 with greater advantage when we come to examine 
 the doctrine of sacrifice in the economy of Moses, 
 with which that of atonement is essentially connected. 
 In the New Testament, the word is only once met 
 with, " By whom we have received the atonement"- 
 With perfect justice it might have been rendered 
 
 1 Eom. V. 11. 
 
ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 125 
 
 " reconciliation," and with greater propriety, because 
 elsewhere throughout the New Testament, the trans- 
 lation is "reconcile," not " atone." Three Greek words, 
 having the same root, are used by the New Testament 
 writers, AicCKKacTGw, KaTcOCkdaao), and ^ AiroKaraX- 
 Xdaaco. If there be a difference in their meaning it 
 amounts simply to this: KaraWdaacOjis, " I reconcile;" 
 BiaWdaaco, conveys that the reconciliation is mutual ; 
 and, aTTOKaraWdcraco, is an intensive and emphatic 
 form of the simpler word. But none of the three can 
 admit, by any possibility, the scholastic idea of atone- 
 ment, — that is, expiation. In eleven passages of the 
 New Testament, besides that quoted above, one or 
 other of these verbs, or a derivative noun or adjec- 
 tive, is found, and is always translated " reconcile " 
 or " reconciliation." " First be reconciled to thy 
 brother;"! "Much more, being reconciled ;"^ "If 
 the casting away of them be the reconciling of the 
 world ; " 3 <' Qod hath reconciled us to himself, . . . 
 and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;"^ 
 " God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto him- 
 self, . . . committed unto us the word of reconcilia- 
 tion;"^ "Might reconcile both (Jews and Gentiles) 
 in one body .by the cross ;"6 The wife . . . "be 
 reconciled to her husband ;"7 "By him to reconcile 
 
 1 Matt. V. 24. 2 Rom, ^, iq. ^ Rom. xi. 15. 
 
 4 2 Cor. V. 18. 5 2 Cor. v. 19. « Eph. ii. 16. 
 
 7 1 Cor. vii. 11. 
 
126 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 all things (in earth and heaven) unto himself;"! 
 *' Yet now both he reconciled.'"^ 
 
 In one other passage of the New Testament, the 
 English noun "reconciliation" occurs, " To make re- 
 conciliation for the sins of the people. "^ But the 
 original is not one or other of the three words above- 
 named, but, eh TO IXdcTKeaOao ; and it is not a httle 
 remarkable that, with only seven exceptions, out of 
 about sixty or seventy passages in the Old Testament, 
 where the Hebrew original is translated by atone or 
 atonement, the Septuagint employs some part or 
 derivative of this verb, tkdcrKOfiai, or of its compound, 
 i^lXao-Ko/jLat. It is perhaps more noticeable still, 
 that in the only passages of the Old Testament, eight 
 in number, where our translation introduces the word 
 "reconcile," the Septuagint has invariably, IXda-Ko/juaL, 
 or its compound. There may be more in this than 
 meets the casual eye. Perhaps we shall find by and by 
 a closer approximation in meaning, between the word 
 " reconcile" and the word " atone," in its true sense. 
 
 Satisfaction — satisfaction for sin, satisfaction to 
 law or to justice, satisfaction to God on account 
 of sin — is purely a term of artificial theology. It 
 does not occur at all, either in the Old or in the 
 New Testament, in this or in any kindred sense. 
 To satisfy, we understand, is to content a person 
 aggrieved. In relation to God, as Dr Watts,^ in 
 
 1 Col. i. 20. 2 Col. L 21. 8 Heb. ii. 17. * Works, iii. 742. 
 
ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 127 
 
 his temperate, gentle way, says, it is to do some- 
 thing which shall recompense Him for the affront 
 which has been put on His authority — others add, 
 for the injury caused by resistance and rebellion — 
 something which shall content and appease the 
 offended majesty of Heaven. " To atone" and '' to 
 satisfy," in artificial theology, are virtually the same, 
 with only this difference, that while "to atone" means 
 to make reparation or amends for wrong done, " to 
 satisfy " conveys the additional idea that the repara- 
 tion or amends have been sufficient, and have con- 
 tented the injured party. The presupposition lies 
 Underneath both alike, that something in the way 
 of acknowledgment to God, or expiation, or com- 
 pensation, something adequate and satisfactory, must 
 be done before human sin can be pardoned. 
 
 There are three principal grounds on which this 
 necessity of satisfaction is based, and they shall now 
 be examined in their order, but with great brevity, 
 because the means of setting them aside have 
 substantially and at full length been supplied in 
 the earlier chapters. 
 
 I. The law of God, it is alleged, has been dis- 
 honoured by disobedience, and its authority, trampled 
 under foot of men, has been fatally damaged. The 
 dishonour must be wiped out, and the damaged 
 authority must be reasserted and re-established. 
 
 Were the supposed dishonour and damage real, 
 
128 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 the necessity argued for would be imperative. But 
 are they real ? Is authority really weakened simply 
 by being resisted, and when it is perfectly able to 
 overcome and put down the resistance? Is a law 
 really dishonoured by the simple fact of its being 
 violated, when it is perfectly able to avenge itself ? 
 Most persons would be ready to think that the entire 
 dishonour, in such a case, would fall, along with the 
 punishment, on the violator, and that the law would 
 stand uninjured and erect. A law, any law, human 
 or divine, is honoured up to the highest limit of pos- 
 sibility, simply when it is maintained in all its force, 
 in spite of all resistance; when its provisions, in 
 themselves wise and right and good, are found to be 
 comprehensive and complete ; and when its penal 
 sanctions, perfectly adequate and perfectly just, are 
 carried out invariably, without partiality and without 
 prejudice. It would be real dishonour to law if there 
 were any indirect evasion of its terms, or any sup- 
 plementing or subsidising of its provisions. It would 
 be real dishonour to law if, for example, a case 
 should arise, clearly within the range which it was 
 intended to embrace, which its fixed provisions were 
 inadequate to meet, a case therefore which necessi- 
 tated a new enactment, enforced by a new penalty. 
 This would reveal defect in the original statute, and 
 want of comprehension and foresight in the lawgiver. 
 But is there any such inherent imperfection in the 
 
ATOI^EMENT AND SATISFACTION. 129 
 
 spiritual laws of the universe, or in the divine Law- 
 giver ? As a matter of necessity, spiritual laws con- 
 templated disobedience. Every law does, and must. 
 When then, in the government of God, disobedience 
 occurred, was the law found unequal to the occasion, 
 and were its penalties proved to be insufficient, al- 
 though the Only Wise and Holy One had ordained 
 them ? It has already been shown that the divine 
 penalty, perfect!}'' righteous and perfectly adequate in 
 the judgment of Grod, is inflicted without exception 
 and without fail. It has already been shown that 
 sin, in the human soul, is moral death ; always, 
 everywhere, without exception, it is moral death, 
 that is, eternal death begun. Where is dishonour? 
 On the contrary, the very highest honour possible is 
 herein done to the divine law and to the divine Law- 
 giver. Tlie idea of acknowledgment, expiation, re- 
 paration, compensation from without, would su])pose 
 defect within, and would be an affront and a disgrace. 
 Such reparation is not only not needed, but is strictly 
 incongruous and impossible. The ordained penalty 
 having been impartially inflicted, the law is verified 
 and made honourable by itself — unless, indeed, wo 
 can imagine that God has been at fault and has 
 adjudged a punishment which is found insufficient 
 for the offence. 
 
 With any subsequent, foreign proceeding, the 
 law has nothing to do, and neither suggests nor 
 
130 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 ignores such a thing. The rescuing of the trans- 
 gressor, on whom punishment has descended and 
 in whom it is working out its dread effect, law 
 does not provide for, but as little does it forbid. 
 And it argues no defect and no error, that it re- 
 cognises and can recognise nothing of this nature, 
 because it lies wholly outside its province. Beyond 
 prohibitions and commands, penalties and their 
 impartial infliction, law has no voice, whether to 
 encourage or to deter. But no possible dishonour 
 is done ; on the contrary, a new glory is reflected 
 back upon it, when, without trenching in the least 
 on its sacred province, and in quite another region, 
 over which it has no control, a work of pure mercy 
 is achieved, in harmony with infinite holiness and 
 infinite wisdom. " Sing, ye heavens, for the Lord 
 hath done it : shout, ye lower parts of the earth ; 
 break forth into singing, yo mountains, forest, 
 and every tree therein : for the Lord hath redeemed 
 Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel." 
 
 II. Justice demands and must receive satisfaction. 
 It is argued that were the transgressors of God's law 
 to escape, claims the most righteous would be set 
 aside and justice would be publicly dishonoured. 
 But we have found that the transgressors of God's 
 law never do and never can escape, that no righteous 
 claim is or ever can be set aside, and that justice, 
 instead of being dishonoured, is inflexible and in- 
 
ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 131 
 
 exorable within its proper sphere. It would be a 
 calamity, the most fatal to the universe of being, 
 that a shadow of doubt should for a moment rest 
 on the perfect rectitude of the Great Kuler. But 
 no such doubt can ever cast its shadow in this 
 sacred direction. And it has been our work in 
 the earlier chapters to make good these confi- 
 dent assertions, which in this place are simply re- 
 iterated. 
 
 Keference has already been made to Professor 
 Shedd's Essay on the Doctrine of Atonement. i As 
 the most recent, perhaps among the most ingenious 
 of the modes of representing this article of faith, it 
 may be of importance to condense its purport, and 
 as nearly as possible in its own words. Moral 
 reason and conscience in man, the Professor argues, 
 form the highest part of the moral image of his 
 Maker. This has the closest affinity with the nature 
 of God, and is a faithful index of what that nature 
 must be. This is the relic of primitive kindred- 
 ness with the First Perfect, and furnishes a clue to 
 the character and the procedure of the Most High. 
 Justice is the very substratum of the divine essence, 
 and any method ot pardon must first give plenary 
 satisfaction to this attribute. God cannot and must 
 not disturb His own ethical tranquillity, His own 
 eternal sense of righteousness. In this view, the 
 
 ^ American Biblical Repository, Oct. 1859. 
 
132 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 doctrine of expiation contains a metaphysique, and 
 is defensible at the bar of philosophic reason. 
 " God, by and through a judicial inflection of His 
 own providing, and His own enduring in the 
 person of His Son — Himself the Judge, Himself 
 the Priest, Himself the sacrifice — conciliates His 
 own holy justice towards the guilty." ' We need 
 primarily to be saved from the judicial displeasure 
 of that immaculate Spirit, in whose character and 
 ethical feeling towards sin the human conscience 
 itself has its eternal ground and authority." The 
 atoning sacrifice of the God -man renders pro- 
 pitious towards the transgressor that particular 
 side of the divine nature, and that one specific 
 emotion of the living God, which otherwise and 
 without it, would be displacent. " God's holy justice 
 is conciliated to guilty man." 
 
 These statements, I venture to think and have 
 attempted in the foregoing pages to prove, pro- 
 ceed on a total misapprehension. It is not merely, 
 that justice in the sense already explained is far 
 from being, as it is here supposed to be, the highest 
 attribute in the ethical nature either of God or 
 of man, but the simple fact is, that be the rank 
 of this divine attribute what it may, we shdUld 
 err egregiously in imagining that its rightful claims 
 ever are, or ever can be, set aside. They cannot 
 be set aside for a moment, and precisely for this 
 
ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 133 
 
 reason, they never require and never can admit of 
 a supplementary satisfaction from any quarter 
 whatever. The righteous verdict of Heaven against 
 all moral evil is, in every instance, carried out 
 inexorably. As surely as a soul sins, in that 
 moment it dies morally, that is, it begins to die, 
 and in the degree in which it sins it begins to die. 
 Even where a new divine life has afterwards been 
 enkindled within it, and has proved itself the 
 stronger power, so long as sin remains and to the 
 extent in which it remains, death, moral death, 
 never ceases to mingle its poison with the breath 
 of a higher life. There is no possibility of de- 
 frauding and dishonouring eternal justice, no pos- 
 sibility of setting aside its unalterable sentence. 
 
 As for any method of putting an end to sin, and 
 thus to the penalty which sin insures, justice has 
 not a word to utter, either against it or for it. But, 
 since the claim of justice is founded solely on the 
 presence of sin in the soul, if sin were expelled, and, 
 so far as it was expelled, the claim would cease, and 
 the process of perdition would thus far terminate. 
 In redeeming and saving men, the Great God 
 touches not by a hair's-breadth the course of per- 
 fect rectitude. It is in quite another region, that 
 of pure grace, without disregarding a single right- 
 eous claim — it is through the medium of His Al- 
 mighty love — that God puts sin in the human soul 
 
134 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 to death, or rather, that He originates a process 
 which issues at last in the destruction of sin. In 
 the end, mercy triumphs over sin ; but justice, all 
 the while, is not undermined, but maintained and 
 glorified. There is no compromise, no ingenious 
 expedient for meeting an unforeseen emergency, and 
 for helping out what had proved to be inadequate. 
 There is no tampering with the letter or the spirit 
 of a precept, for the sake of indirectly gaining a 
 purpose, however benignant ; there is no arbitrary 
 substitution of one kind of punishment for another ; 
 and no carrying out of a judicial verdict in form, 
 but evading it in fact. All is clear, real, simple, 
 direct, founded in rectitude and truth. Eternal 
 justice, which insures penalty wherever there is sin, 
 offers and can offer no obstruction to the putting 
 away of sin, if that be possible. On the contrary, 
 it distinctly favours this issue, for its deliverance 
 on the one side, " holiness is life," is as sacred and 
 as sure as its deliverance on the other side, " sin is 
 death." Almighty mercy wings its course towards 
 a result, all-worthy of God, without a murmur, from 
 the sternest justice, or from the holiest statutes of 
 Heaven. 
 
 III. The moral government of the universe would 
 be endangered, if sin were simply pardoned, in the 
 absence of an atonement — an adequate atonement 
 — such as was made by the sacrifice of Christ on 
 
ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 135 
 
 tlie cross. It is argued, with great truth and force, 
 that if, in pardoning human sin, God acted on the 
 mere impulse of mercy, this would have the effect 
 of a cruel temptation, placed before all intelligent 
 creatures — a temptation to sin — since they might 
 sin with such safety. They might then reason, with 
 perfect accuracy, that evil could not be the atrocious 
 thing which it is declared to be, and that God's 
 infinite abhorrence of it must be a fiction. A mere 
 impulse, however nobly generous, is not a safe ground, 
 not honourable, and not consistent, on which to 
 place the remission of sin and of merited punishment. 
 It is admitted, unqualifiedly, that it would be 
 fatal to imagine human sin pardoned, in the weak- 
 ness and fervour of a mere emotion. All must con- 
 sent that such a thing is impossible to the Supreme 
 Mind. And hence we have already proved that, in 
 the divine redemption, sin is not forgiven merely, 
 but is literally, though gradually, killed in the soul. 
 It would be strictly true to say that it is always first 
 struck at, in order that it may be thoroughly de- 
 stroyed, and that only in so far as it is killed and 
 cast out of the nature is it ever really done with 
 and passed by. God's only dealing with sin. His 
 first and His entire action upon it to the last, evinces 
 nothing but eternal and unutterable abhorrence. 
 Instead of mere, soft obliviousness, as if it were a 
 thing unimportant and easily overlooked, God be- 
 
136 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 gins by aiming a deadly blow at the heart in which 
 it lies, or rather, at that in the heart which He 
 hates, and will not, cannot endure. And the means 
 whereby this blow is aimed, and the weapon which 
 the Almighty hand wields, are fitted and intended 
 to produce unmingled awe throughout the universe. 
 
 The stupendous mystery of Incarnation looms 
 solemnly on the farthest verge of the horizon of 
 human thought. It is verily a symbol of love, 
 but the love is so unfathomable that we tremble 
 to gaze down into it. And love is associated with 
 a wisdom so unsearchable and so vast, and with a 
 holiness so transcendent and so pure, that the 
 conception, when it is even distantly approached, is 
 overwhelming. Did the Great Being who filleth 
 eternity and immensity vail Himself in the form 
 of man? Astonishment deepens as we ask. Did 
 He so pity His earthly children, that to make 
 them hate the evil which was separating them 
 from Him, He came down among them as one 
 of themselves? And did The Incarnate live on 
 this earth, only to be despised and rejected ? Had 
 he to bear the contradiction and scorn of the 
 world, and to suffer on a cross? It was so, in 
 very truth. Talk of public justice and of the 
 administration of the universe ! Talk of salutary 
 terror and of the atrocity of moral evil ! Is it 
 possible to conceive of any method, any jmnish- 
 
ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 137 
 
 ment of actual transgressors, so omnipotent in its 
 moral influence, as this blended revelation of love 
 and power, of holiness and wisdom ? Never was 
 God in such earnest to guard the foundations of 
 His moral government, to awaken in His creatures 
 the profoundest sentiments of fear on the one hand 
 and of love on the other, to exhibit the enormity 
 of moral evil, and to prove His irreconcilal)le repug- 
 nance to it. Never was God in such earnest, to 
 speak intelHgibly and impressively, to the whole 
 rational creation, to reach down to the deepest 
 spring of created intelligence and emotion, to touch 
 humanity at its innermost centre, to draw back 
 Ilis erring creatures irresistibly from evil, and to 
 attach them by a loving allegiance to His govern- 
 ment and His throne. 
 
 God's self-sacrifice in Christ, God's self-sacrifice 
 for human transgression ! That is the holy region, 
 around which the Great Being seeks to gather His 
 lost children ; that is the honourable, the consistent, 
 the safe ground, on which He forgives, by destroying 
 human sin. And it is thus, that our Lord Christ not 
 only has made, but really is, a true atonement — not 
 in the sense of scholastic theology, the sense of offer- 
 ing expiation, compensation, reparation to God for 
 sin, but in the New Testament meaning of the word, 
 reconciliation. Christ has both effected the recon- 
 ciliation of men to God, and he is himself the 
 
138 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 point and the source of reconciliation. That 
 English word " atone" may have one or other of two 
 distinct derivations, but it must have the one or 
 the other. It may be to at-one, to bring to one, 
 to reconcile two conflicting parties. Or it may 
 be to a-tone, to bring to one tone, to attune, to 
 harmonise. In either case it is clear that, ety- 
 mologically, the English " atone " is precisely equi- 
 valent to reconcile ; and this naturally enough 
 accounts for the fact already noticed, that the trans- 
 lators of the New Testament have rendered the 
 same Greek term, in one instance* " atone," and in 
 the other instances " reconcile." 
 
SECTION SECOND. 
 
 Satisfaction for Sin not Possible— 1. The Fact of Sin ; 2. Its Cri- 
 minality ; 3. Its Power for Evil Unchangeable — Sin Destroyed 
 and Forgiven — Divine Anger — How Inappeasable — Anger and 
 Love in Cross — Destruction of Sin in Soul — This, Salvation. 
 
 IF, as Las been shown, spiritual laws need no 
 satisfaction, and are perfectly satisfied; if 
 eternal justice needs no satisfaction, and is per- 
 fectly satisfied; if the moral government of God 
 needs no satisfaction ; if it has not been damaged, 
 and is not capable of being damaged; if the bare 
 suspicion of such a thing be most dishonouring 
 to the Great Kuler, — we may venture to ask, how 
 can any atonement, in the scholastic sense, act 
 upon human sin, or be related to it in any way? 
 How can it touch human sin at all ? There are at 
 least three points at which contact or influence is 
 impossible. 
 
 1. The fact of sin is immovable. That it has 
 been perpetrated, abides true for ever. Be its 
 time, or its place, or its kind, or its amount, what 
 
140 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION, 
 
 they may, it can never be blotted out. True once, 
 it is true always. The fact must remain as sure 
 as at the first moment. At any point in the future, 
 it shall be true, that thousands or myriads of ages 
 before, in such and such circumstances, I perpetrated 
 a wicked deed, or formed a wicked purpose, that 
 conscious evil was in my soul, and that my will 
 resisted the will of God and chose what I knew to 
 be wrong. That fact is immortal as my being. 
 No atonement can ever alter it. Nothing, absolutely 
 nothing, can touch it in the slightest conceivable 
 degree. 
 
 2. The criminality of sin is unalterable ; what- 
 ever enormity belonged to it at the moment of its 
 commission, belongs to it for ever. A thousand 
 substitutes, bearing a thousand punishments, each 
 a thousand times heavier than was at the first 
 merited, could not remove one iota from the cri- 
 minality of the original transgression. A certain 
 character and degree of wickedness attached to it 
 at the time ; it attaches to it through all eternit}^ 
 When myriads of ages have passed away, it shall 
 remain as true as ever, that such and such, and no 
 other, was the exact amount of moral turpitude in 
 the offence. 
 
 3. The power for evil, which inheres in sin, 
 never dies, except with itself. Sin is essentially 
 self-perpetuative and self-propagative. Evil in a 
 
ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 141 
 
 soul goes forth, like a diseased breath, into another 
 soul, acts on it insidiously, and begets new sin in 
 it. The second breathes infection into a third, 
 and the third into a fourth. In ever-increasing 
 ratio, the numbers multiply and the evil spreads 
 indefinitely — eternally. No atonement, (in the 
 scholastic sense,) no expiation of sin, can touch, 
 in the slightest degree, this polluting, corrupting 
 energy, which lies in the essential nature of moral 
 evil. Wherever sin exists, even God could not 
 separate this energy from it. Sin and power for 
 evil are connected unalterably, as cause and effect. 
 The effect must follow, if the cause be present. 
 But the cause itself may perish, and herein lies the 
 only hope of sinful humanity. So long as sin lives 
 in the soul, the poisonous exhalation, the corrupt- 
 ing energy, must go forth from it. But sin may 
 die — may be wounded and finally killed, and cast 
 forth, and then its power for evil necessarily dies 
 with it. The fact that it was perpetrated is im- 
 mortal, the exact amount of criminality which 
 inhered in it can never be lessened, but the prin- 
 ciple, the root out of which it grew and in whicli 
 it lives, the sin itself, may be wounded to death. 
 And so, in like manner, may the sin which it 
 begat in another soul, and the sin which that again 
 begat, and all the sins which issued from one dark 
 centre: they may all be made to perish and die. 
 
142 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 The germ of evil in the heart may be struck at, a 
 blow divinely aimed shall be effective, and sin, 
 pierced through by redeeming love, shall begin to 
 die, and all its fatal power shall die with it. In- 
 stead of love of evil, there shall be an ever-deepening 
 love of good and of truth ; instead of separation, 
 there shall be nearness of heart to God in Christ ; 
 and instead of chosen rebelliousness and resistance, 
 there shall be a new, and reverent, and loving 
 kindredness with Heaven, and, through all, a new 
 power within, for good, not evil, shall be created. 
 
 Nothing can be done with sin, with conscious, vo- 
 luntary evil in the heart, except killing it outright. 
 The process may be gradual, but it must be mortal 
 from the first. What sin has been, it has been ; what 
 it has done, it has done, — that is the last that can be 
 said. No expiation, or compensation, or reparation, 
 or amends, can touch these standing facts. There 
 they are, for ever and ever unalterable. The only 
 thing possible, the only thing which can in the least 
 avail, is to strike the root itself, out of which evil 
 springs ; to strike a mortal blow, the sure, though 
 gradual, effect of which shall be the destruction and 
 extirpation of sin. And this is what Grod does. Sin 
 in the soul can be killed ; it has been killed ; the re- 
 deeming, reconciling God in Christ Jesus is killing 
 the sin of the world. This is His noblest work 
 among men, — killing sin and enkindling love, a 
 
ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 143 
 
 godly, manly, holy love, the seed-spark of eternal 
 life. 
 
 But if sin be really inexpiable in the sense already 
 explained, what place is left for the atonement of 
 scholastic theology ? What can it do ? Whom can 
 it affect ? Shall we suppose — and this is the last and 
 the only other thing that can be supposed — that there 
 is something in the mind of God, some irritation and 
 provocation which needs to be soothed and quieted, 
 some sense of injury, some feeling of wounded and 
 offended dignity which demands satisfaction ? This 
 is, in literal truth, supposed, and sanctions itself by 
 the language of the Scriptures. 
 
 In the New Testament, we meet, though seldom, 
 with such expressions as these : " The wrath to 
 come," " The day of wrath," " Being saved from 
 wrath," " The cup of the wrath of God." In the Old 
 Testament, this kind of phraseology is more frequent, 
 much stronger, and more vehement : " The fierce 
 anger of the Lord," " The fierceness of His wrath," 
 " The fire," even " the fury of His anger." Such lan- 
 guage, applicable to one aspect of the divine nature, 
 does not stand alone, but is only in keeping with the 
 whole of the representations given in the Old Testa- 
 ment of the person, the attributes, and the doings of 
 the Most High. They are often intensely figurative, 
 do not admit of a literal rendering, but demand a 
 spiritual and very modified interpretation. " The 
 
144 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 eyes of the Lord," " the hand," " the arm," '' the 
 feet," " the face," " the mouth of the Lord," are fami- 
 liar to readers of the Bible, create no difficulty, and 
 are intelligible and impressive, although literally they 
 must be altogether untrue. And farther, we have to 
 bear in mind, that not only anger and wrath and fury, 
 but other even distinctly weak and bad jmssions are 
 ascribed to God, — such, for example, as revenge and 
 jealousy and remorse, at least, repentant regret and 
 cruel irony and mockery " It repented the Lord 
 that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved 
 Him at His heart." i We can have no difficulty in 
 understanding from such a passage, the reality and 
 the strength of divine sympathy in human affairs. It 
 is clear that the Jehovah of the Bible, even in its 
 earliest revelations, is no " Jupiter Maximus," ada- 
 mantine and impassive. The fate of the world 
 touches the divine heart, and awakens in it the most 
 tender and profound emotions, affects it to such a 
 degree, that, had it been a human being who was so 
 moved, he must have given way to regret, remorse, 
 and griei Such affections in God are impossible, but 
 we are taught that divine pity is as real and as deep, 
 as if God were capable of repentance and of grief. 
 A second and stronger passage will be found in Prov. 
 i. 24: "Because I have called, and ye refused; I 
 have stretched out my hands, and no man regarded , 
 
 1 Gen. vi. 6. 
 
ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 145 
 
 but ye have set at nought all mj counsel, and would 
 none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your cala- 
 mity ; I will mock when your fear cometh." The 
 truth conveyed, through this appalling medhim, we 
 can scarcely fail to perceive , it is the utter hopeless- 
 ness of those who have often and long, but in vain, 
 been reproved and warned and complained of and 
 remonstrated with. Their doom is as inevitable as if 
 God really rejoiced in what was so richly deserved, as 
 if He could even make it subject of bitter mockery 
 and scorn. There is not a passage in the whole 
 Bible where the literal sense is so tremendously blas- 
 phemous. The very tone is fearful, but the underly- 
 ing idea is obvious, and the impression conveyed by 
 the words, rightly interpreted, is only wholesome and 
 just. 
 
 We are surely justified in adopting a similar 
 method of interpretation, in the case of all those 
 passages, whether in the Old or in the New Tes- 
 tament, which in various forms ascribe fierce 
 wrath and fury to the Almighty. The literal 
 sense cannot be entertained for a moment, and so 
 far as I am aware, no school of theologians or inter- 
 preters worthy of consideration holds it possible to 
 accept it. But in rejecting the literal sense, we only 
 act in accordance with those general principles which 
 govern all languages, and especially with the known 
 laws of Eastern writing. When God is represented 
 
 K 
 
146 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 as wounded by the sins of men, goaded by the desire 
 of retaliation, provoked to vehement indignation, and 
 inflamed with burning wrath, and with an ungovern- 
 able fury of resentment, the fundamental idea, the 
 one only idea, must be divine abhorrence of sin. It 
 is as if sin were a personal assault and affront to 
 God; it is as if, in His deep abhorrence and His 
 unslumbering vigilance, God made it His own 
 proper work to detect and to punish sin ; it is as 
 if He came into direct and direful collision with 
 transgressors, and as if all the greater and the 
 lesser evils which come forth in the evolution of 
 the vast system of providence were inflicted, and 
 inflicted with supreme satisfaction, immediately and 
 directly, by His hand. Nor may it be overlooked, 
 that the visitations which come down on wicked 
 men are often such as, if inflicted by a human 
 being, would evince fierce anger and implacable 
 revenge. But there is no revenge in God. No 
 sane man could endure the thought for a moment. 
 There is, there can be no perturbation in the 
 Supreme nature, no violence, nothing to which 
 the name of passion could be given. It is impos- 
 sible. The idea is fearfully dishonouring to God ; 
 is wholly and only impious. But it abides so- 
 lemnly true, nevertheless, that there is anger, lite- 
 rally and really anger, in God against sin. Let us, 
 
ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 147 
 
 with great reverence and carefulness, try to discrimi- 
 nate what precisely this statement involves. 
 
 That human emotion, to which we give the 
 name " anger/' contains two, and only two elements ; 
 a strong feeling of displeasure at wrong done, and 
 a desire as strong to put down the wrong. This 
 affection, with perfect truth, is attributed to the 
 Great Being, but with a necessary and obvious 
 difference — namely, that the desire leading to effort 
 to put down sin is rendered needless by the or- 
 dained course of the universe, for spiritual law 
 itself necessitates the instant punishment {>f sin. 
 Anger, therefore, in the divine mind is simply and 
 only deep, settled displeasure — no more; without 
 perturbation or passion, without resentment or re- 
 venge. God's anger against sin is a profound, calm, 
 pure feeling of unmixed abhorrence, the intensity 
 and the unalterableness of which it is not possible 
 to exaggerate. It is this and no more. The Holy 
 One alone comprehends sin, its entire moral tur- 
 pitude, the enmity, the defiance to Himself, the 
 disregard of law, and the despite to conscience and 
 reason in which it originates and which it involves. 
 The Holy One alone comprehends the entire course 
 of sin, through time, into the eternal ages, the 
 subtle process whereby all good is gradually effaced, 
 and passion and evil desire and utter self-will be- 
 
148 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 come rampant and tyrannic, the thick darkness in 
 which the spirit may be wrapped, and the unmiti- 
 gated vileness which is possible to it, and how that 
 nature which He formed to be like Himself, may be 
 damned in misery and infamy. The Holy One 
 alone comprehends how sin, once introduced, spreads 
 like a plague, and creates disorder and rebellion 
 throughout tlie universe, and becomes a fountain 
 of pollution and of darkness — of crime and of suf- 
 fering. 
 
 Sin is the only thing within the limits of im- 
 mensity which God hates, infinitely, eternally hates, 
 hates because of its own hideous and foul nature, 
 hates because it is the degradation, the curse and 
 the ruin of the souls He hath made and loves. But 
 let it be well and deeply pondered, that this holy 
 divine anger can admit of no atonement. God's 
 displeasure against sin can never be appeased, never 
 changed in the slightest degree. Instead of any 
 possible atonement, sin, in this regard, is neces- 
 sarily and for ever inexpiable. Divine antipathy to 
 sin is not a judicial, official emotion, but a genuine, 
 profound, unalterable abhorrence, springing out of 
 the essential nature of God, and out of the essential 
 nature of moral evil. Were moral evil utterly put 
 away, extirpated and expelled, were the sin which 
 lies in the soul put to death, the only cause of 
 divine anger would be removed ; but so long as sin 
 
ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 149 
 
 remains, in . any amount or degree, nothing can 
 alter the feeling in relation to it, with which the 
 divine mind is possessed. Ten thousand sacrifices, 
 each priceless in itself, could not change or modify 
 in the least, God's infinite hatred of sin. In this 
 regard, the Holy One can never be placated, never 
 pacified, never conciliated ; that is to say, sin, exist 
 where it may, there, where it exists, can never be 
 anything but God's eternal abhorrence. Nothing can 
 ever in the slightest degree touch the fact, that sin is 
 exactly as God sees it to be, and that God sees it to 
 be exactly what it is and where it is. By no device 
 can it ever be made to appear to Him other than 
 it is, or otherwhere than it is. Sin existing, by 
 no device can God's relation or sentiment towards 
 it be changed, one iota, for one moment. The 
 divine thought of sin, the divine feeling, and pre- 
 cisely on the same grounds, the divine judgment 
 concerning sin are unchangeable. For ever and 
 ever, God declares of sin wherever it exists, and 
 60 far as it exists, "it is the abominable thing 
 which I hate." For ever and ever God ordains 
 without exception and without fail, "the soul that 
 sinneth shall die." This is the simple announce- 
 ment of an eternal fact. 
 
 We have touched one of the deep roots of human 
 redemption. It is because God hates sin, that He 
 has determined it shall be and must be put down. 
 
loO ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 But this is only one side of the divine nature. 
 Love of man is as profound in it, as hatred of 
 sin, and has as much to do or more, with the 
 purpose of salvation. The life and the death of 
 the Incarnate, Nazareth and Jerusalem, Calvary 
 and the cross, were the token of God's abhorrence 
 of sin, but they were yet more significantly the 
 symbol of love to man. There was nothing, 
 absolutely nothing, consistent and legitimate, wliich 
 God was not willing to do in order to destroy sin, 
 but it was, if possible, still more true and more 
 impressively evinced to be true, that there was 
 nothing, absolutely nothing, which God was not 
 willing to do in order to save man. The Father 
 of souls, in spite of all the provocation of human 
 sin, was not transformed into a mere judge, still 
 less into a merciless avenger. Instead of erecting 
 His throne the higher, and clothing Himself with 
 terrors, in order to crush a pitiful rebellion, He 
 humbled Himself to a depth unfathomable, entered 
 into a new and closer relationship with His sinful 
 creatures, and came into His own world as a 
 sorrowing, suffering, and loving man. Instead of 
 needing to be propitiated, and appeased, and paci- 
 fied, and conciliated, before He could deal with 
 men, we behold God acting in pure, unsought, 
 and unbought grace. " God so loved the world," 
 — of Himself, first of all, — *' God so loved the 
 
ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 151 
 
 world, that He gave His only-begotten Son/' In- 
 stead of being first moved, or prevailed upon, or 
 somehow enabled to love the world, by the Incarna- 
 tion and the death of Christ, the New Testament 
 teaches us that it was His pure love which origin- 
 ated that Incarnation and that death. But it was 
 not love alone. Divine love of man was combined 
 with divine abhorrence of sin. God was resolved 
 on saving man, but He must also put an end to 
 sin. Only through the destruction of sin could 
 salvation be achieved, and the double end was 
 gained by one stupendous means. Sin is killed 
 by love, it could be killed by nothing else. Man 
 is saved by love, he could be saved by nothing 
 else. The destruction of sin is the salvation of 
 man; the two are one, with only a difference in 
 the mode of statement. It was proclaimed from 
 heaven in a way more subduing than by words, 
 that our Father pitied and loved us, though He 
 abhorred our sins, that He had no pleasure in the 
 death of His children, but entreated them to come 
 back to His feet and His heart. " Turn ye, turn 
 ye, why will ye die." Men would not seek after 
 God, but lo I God sought after men. Yery God 
 humbled Himself inconceivably, put Himself before 
 the world, His purity. His rectitude. His wisdom, 
 His love. Yery God pleaded in words of tender- 
 ness and pity for a place in man's heart, expressed 
 
If52 ATONEMENT AND SATISFACTION. 
 
 His boundless compassion in human tears, and 
 blood, and death ; did anything, everything, if only 
 men might be reconciled to Him. And they 
 were and they are. The cross, symbol of dis- 
 honour and weakness, is the mightiest power in 
 the universe. The hardened, careless, godless 
 heart is touched and won by this ! The corrupt 
 nature feels the rush of a holy, divine force, 
 issuing from this, and the rebellious spirit, the 
 deep proud self-will spurning the will of God, is 
 conquered and broken by this ! Through all, the 
 Eedeeming One finds a satisfaction, worthy of His 
 nature, a pure divine contentment, not in sacri- 
 ficial blood and smoking altars and expiring victims, 
 but in endless good created, in human spirits saved 
 and made pure, and blessed for ever. There is 
 one soHtary passage of Scripture, in wliich the 
 peculiar term of scholastic theology, " satisfaction," 
 is in any manner connected with the redemption 
 of man, and that passage shows beyond all doubt, 
 that its meaning is not only not the same, but the 
 very opposite of that, which long usage has un- 
 happily sanctioned, " He shall see of the travail 
 of His soul, and shall be satisfied^' — supremely 
 contented with its glorious results. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 Section First. — Meaning op Terms. 
 
 Section Second.—Thuths answering to the Terms. 
 
SECTION FIRST. 
 
 Meaning of Terms : — Science of Theology and other Sciences — 
 Essentially Different Ground — Theological Terms — Settled by 
 Scripture — Words "Justify," &c. — Literal Sense — Righten, Set 
 Right— Examples— Non-Natural Sense — Spirit of Man, Wrong 
 — Needs to be Set Right — Proof Passages— Justification — Only 
 Thrice, Used. 
 
 SYSTEMATIC theology, to wliich alone the de- 
 rO fined terms, justification and imputation, be- 
 long, has been attended with some evils which 
 largely counterbalance any amount of good it has 
 ever efi'ected, or is ever likely to effect. Spiritual 
 truth, bearing as it does chiefly on the conscience 
 and the moral nature of man, is among the last 
 things, on which the terms and the laws of formal 
 logic can be tried with safety. Even the idea 
 of constructing a system or science of spiritual 
 truth is very questionable. A science is not simply 
 a body of ascertained knowledge, it is knowledge 
 arranged, accurately classified, and above all, in- 
 terpreted by its underlying laws. Astronomy, phy- 
 siology, chemistry, botany, each professes to include 
 
156 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 all the known phenomena which belong to its sphere, 
 to distribute these into their proper classes, and to 
 educe the fundamental laws, which account for, 
 and interpret them. No one of the sciences is 
 absolutely complete. In each, new facts, and new 
 orders of facts, and new governing laws, await dis- 
 covery, in the progress of time. But each, at the 
 present stage of observation, is exhaustive, and leaves 
 behind, in its course, no hopeless exceptions,' still 
 less contradictions ; and having advanced step by 
 step with entire success, up to the present limit 
 of discovery, it undertakes, by patient research, to 
 explain whatever shall yet arise, within the sphere 
 which it has assumed. 
 
 The sphere of theology from its very nature is 
 incapable of being exhaustively explored, and hence 
 every theological system leaves, perhaps at its very 
 centre, many unfilled blanks and gaps, and is forced 
 to acknowledge phenomena which baffle all human 
 methods of interpretation, which are, in fact, to 
 human thought, irreconcilable, although not really 
 contradictory. The rivalry among the systems has 
 ever been only this, which should show the largest 
 area of established truth, with the fewest un- 
 explained difficulties and contradictions. Theology 
 starts from primitive truths, which are not the 
 result of scientific observation, and are not capable, 
 except in a limited degree, of scientific treatment, 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 157 
 
 truths which are strictly transcendental, having their 
 ground in pure intuition, or in revelation, or in 
 both. And these truths, instead of occupying a 
 region apart by themselves, touch at a thousand vital 
 points, the whole range of spiritual thought, and 
 are interfused and blended with every question 
 within that range. It is quite certain that there 
 must be a real, underlying harmony of spiritual 
 truth, as there undoubtedly is of scientific truth, 
 but the ground of this harmony in the spiritual 
 region has never yet been discovered. Something 
 like a philosophy of theology, an approximative and 
 tentative philosophy may be possible, and we may 
 be able to lay hold of some leading principles which 
 point in the direction of the ultimate harmony, and 
 in which we can rest with entire confidence. But a 
 science or system of theology must be for ever 
 impossible in this twilight of our being; certainly 
 all the efforts to construct such a science, heretofore, 
 have proved on many sides discouraging and disas- 
 trous. 
 
 There is another important distinction. The 
 exact sciences have each a terminology of its own. 
 They could not be constructed, and could not serve 
 the ends of their construction, in the absence of this 
 indispensable auxiliary. Technical terms in science 
 answer the purpose of the ordinal numbers in arith- 
 metic, or of the arbitrary signs in algebraic notation. 
 
158 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 The aritlimetician and the algebraist affix a precise 
 value to each figure or sign, and are able to conduct 
 their calculations with perfect accuracy and facility. 
 In like manner, and with equal authority, the man 
 of science defines, for his own purposes, the terms he 
 employs, and arranges under each the facts, or the 
 classes of facts, which properly belong to it. And 
 this is not simply a convenience, it is a necessity, for 
 holding securely what he has gained, and for all 
 valid progress in his department of the great field of 
 inquiry. lie has a right to define his terms. The 
 less arbitrary they are, and the more naturally they 
 suggest their meaning, the better ; but he has a 
 right to define his terms, to fix the precise sense in 
 which he employs them, and to determine the exact 
 area which they are to cover. Each term shall stand 
 for a certain range of facts, and shall include them 
 all, without exception, but no others. As new facts 
 come to light, either they can be ranged under one 
 or other of the existing terms, or a new term is 
 found which shall denote them and all of their order. 
 It is easy to see that, quite legitimately, the scientific 
 sense of a word shall be perfectly different from its 
 popular general sense, and on the same ground that 
 the meaning of a word in one science shall be per- 
 fectly different from itg meaning in another science. 
 All this s understood and admitted, as a necessity 
 and a manifest benefit. 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 159 
 
 It is imagined that theology ought not to be 
 denied an amount of licence, which in the case of 
 science is found to be not only harmless, but useful, 
 and even indispensable. Theology must need its 
 technical terms as much as science, and on what 
 ground, it is asked, can it be judged less entitled to 
 create and employ them ! But this question over- 
 looks a very essential fact which distinguishes theo- 
 logy, and separates it toto coelo from every human 
 science. Theologians are expressly saved the neces- 
 sity, and peremptorily prohibited the power or the 
 right, of creating terms, or of affixing to any term 
 a technical, special meaning of their own. An 
 authority higher than theirs, a divine authority, as 
 they fully admit, has beforehand put forth in human 
 language, — in language meant to be clear to the 
 ordinary apprehension of common men, — every lead- 
 ing idea within the sphere of theology. What sense 
 of a particular word, or form of words, shall best fit 
 in with a certain system, or shall best stand the tear 
 and wear of logical controversy, is not the question 
 at all, although too manifestly this has often been 
 uppermost with conflicting schools and creeds. But 
 the real and sole question in every instance is simply 
 this. What is the natural proper meaning of such 
 word or foim of words, as employed in the Holy 
 Scriptures ? The point which we have to discuss in 
 the present chapter is one which belongs wholly to 
 
160 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 biblical interpretation. In regard to the terms, 
 "justify" and "justification," as with reference to any 
 other of the technical words which have been adopted 
 by artificial theology, we have simply to ask, what 
 saith the Scripture ? Theologians not only have no 
 right to impose a meaning of their own, but they 
 are guilty of a grave offence if they attempt either 
 to extend or to contract the natural sense. Acting 
 on this conviction, we shall quote all the passages, 
 without exception, of the Old and ^ew Testa- 
 ments, in which the words "justify" or "justifica- 
 tion " occur, and in which (it is important to bear in 
 mind) these English terms are employed to translate 
 some part or derivative of the Hebrew TsdddJc, or 
 some part or derivative of the Greek AcKaioay. 
 
 The word used by our translators, "justify," has 
 a very unambiguous sense. According to ordinary, 
 or rather universal, usage, it means to vindicate, to 
 clear, to right, or righten, or set right a person or a 
 transaction ; to vindicate, and nothing else, with only 
 such modifications as are readily and naturally in- 
 cluded in this term.i You justify or vindicate an 
 
 * I have no right to identify the author of the valuable treatise 
 on Christian Faith with any of the conclusions in this volume. But 
 in a point of criticism, and in the mode of interpreting the words 
 "justify," &c., a mode by which, for many years past, I had been 
 helped in understanding the New Testament, it was to me a singular 
 gratification to be confirmed by so well known and sound a scholar. 
 —See " Christian Faith," by Prof. Godwin, p. 156. London : 1862. 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 161 
 
 action when you set it right, when you show that its 
 grounds were good, when you put it in its true light, 
 clear of the wrong interpretations which had been 
 given of it. You justify or vindicate an accused 
 person, a man who is charged with wrong done, or 
 with duty neglected, when you show that he is blamed 
 falsely, when you right or righten him, when you set 
 him right with his fellow-men and before the law of 
 his country. There is nothing hereby reached as to 
 his general character, nothing, save in the particular 
 instance. He may be thoroughly wrong in other re- 
 spects, but, in this one respect, you are able to right 
 him, to justify, vindicate, clear liim. For the man 
 who has been really wrong, who has acted wrongfully 
 by his neighbour, and harboured wrong feelings 
 against him, there can be no vindication, except in 
 an entire change of mind and of conduct. You jus- 
 tify him, only when you set him really right, when 
 you induce him to abandon and condemn the wrong, 
 and to choose and cleave to the right. 
 
 It deserves to be specially remarked, that the dis- 
 puted term is employed by our divine Lord only fom: 
 times, but not once in the scholastic sense. The 
 apostle James thrice introduces it, but only in its 
 ordinary meaning. The apostle Paul makes frequent 
 use of this word, and it is on his use of it, that theo- 
 logians found the peculiar sense which they have 
 attached to it. 
 
162 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 In the following passages of the Old and New 
 Testaments, the common English sense of the verb, 
 to justify, either must be adopted, or may most 
 naturally, and without any difficulty or straining, be 
 shown to give tlie true meaning, viz. : — 
 
 "The innocent and the righteous slay thou not: 
 for I will not justify the wicked," i — that is, vindicate, 
 clear, right them. 
 
 " The judges shall justify the righteous, and 
 condemn the wicked," 2 — that is, vindicate, clear, 
 right them. 
 
 " Condemning the wicked, and justifying the 
 righteous," 2 — vindicating, clearing, showing him to 
 be right, righting him. 
 
 " Mine own mouth would condemn me, if I justify 
 myself,"^ — that is, vindicate, clear, hold myself to be 
 right when I am not. 
 
 " Should a man full of talk be justified ?"^ — that 
 is, vindicated, cleared, held to be right, righted. 
 
 " I know that I shall be justified," ^ — vindicated, 
 •cleared, righted at last. 
 
 " How then can man be justified with God, or be 
 clean? "7 — that is, vindicated, cleared of blame, held 
 to be right, righted. 
 
 " God forbid that I should justify you," 8 — 
 
 1 Exod. xxiii. 7. ^ Deut. xxv. 1. ^ 1 Kings viii. 32. 
 
 -* Job ix. 20. '^ Job xi. 2. « Job xiii. 18. 
 
 ^ Job xxv. 4. ^ Job xxvii. 5. 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 163 
 
 that is, vindicate, clear, right you, when you are 
 wrong. 
 
 " Because he justified himself rather than God,''l 
 — that is, vindicated, cleared, held himself to be right, 
 rather than God. 
 
 " Speak, for I desire to justify thee,"2 — that is, 
 vindicate, clear, right thee, if thou art really right. 
 
 " In thy sight shall no man living be justified," 3 — 
 that is, vindicated, cleared of blame, held to be right, 
 righted. 
 
 " He that justifieth the wicked . . . (is) an abo- 
 mination to the Lord," 4 — that is, vindicates, clears, 
 rights them when they are wrong. 
 
 " Who justify the wicked for reward,"^ — ^that is, 
 vindicate, clear, make them out to be right, though 
 they know them to be wrong. 
 
 " Bring forth their witnesses, that they may be jus- 
 tified,''^ — that is, vindicated, cleared, righted. 
 
 " Declare thou that thou mayest be justified," 7 — 
 that is, vindicated, cleared, righted, have justice done 
 thee. 
 
 " In (or by) the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be 
 justified, and shall glory," 8 — that is, justified in put- 
 ting their trust in Him, vindicated, righted, seen to 
 be right, and to have real cause for glorying. 
 
 1 Job xxxii. 2. 2 Job xxxiii. 32. ^ Ps. cxliii. 2. 
 
 '* Prov. xvii. 15. ^ jg^ y 23. « Isa. xliii. 9. 
 
 ^ Isa. xliii. 26. 8 j^^^ ^Iv. 25. 
 
164 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 " He is near that justifieth me ; who will contend 
 with me?"i — that is, righteth me, and will see jus- 
 tice done. 
 
 " By his knowledge shall my righteous servant 
 justify many ; for he shall bear their iniquities," ^ — 
 that is, vindicate, clear, right them, and set them right. 
 
 " Backsliding Israel hath justified herself,"^ — that 
 is, vindicated, cleared, made herself out right, v^^ 
 she was wrong. 
 
 " Thou hast justified thy sisters, by all thine 
 abominations,"^ — that is, vindicated them in all their 
 abominations, by thine, as if they were right. 
 
 " Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,''^ (Hebrew, 
 justified,) — that is, purged from the wrong done 
 it, be righted and made clean. 
 
 These are the whole of the passages of the Old 
 Testament, in which the word "justify'' occurs. 
 They are not selected, but taken exactly as they 
 lie in the sacred books. With the exception of 
 not more than one solitary instance, their natural, 
 obvious signification does not admit of a ques- 
 tion. The following passages are selected from the 
 New Testament, and they are selected from others 
 which shall be produced in due time, because in 
 them the common meaning of the word " to justify" 
 is the most apposite, as it is the most natural. 
 
 1 Isa. 1. 8. 2 isa. Hii. n. 3 j^j.^ ^^ n^ 
 
 * Ezek. xvi. 51. ^ Dan. viii. 14. 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 165 
 
 " Wisdom is justified in her cliildren/i — that 
 is, vindicated, seen to be what she is, righted in 
 the eyes of men. 
 
 " By thy words thou shalt be justified,''2 — that 
 is, thy words are a sign of what is in thee, 
 and will vindicate, clear, right thee, if thou art 
 right. 
 
 " The publicans justified God,"^ — that is, vindi- 
 cated God in what was done, did Him justice in 
 their thoughts, cleared, righted Him. 
 
 " He willing to justify himself ,"4 — that is, to 
 vindicate, clear, right himself. 
 
 "Ye justify yourselves before men,"^ — that is, 
 vindicate, clear yourselves, make yom'selves out to 
 be right. 
 
 " This man went down to his house, justified 
 rather than the other ,"6 — that is, vindicated in what 
 he had done, cleared, righted, as an honest, sincere, 
 penitent man before God. 
 
 " Not the hearers of the law .... but the doers 
 of the law are justified, "7 — that is, vindicated, cleared, 
 righted, seen to be sincere and true. 
 
 " That thou might est be justified in thy say- 
 ings,"^ — that is, vindicated, cleared, righted in the 
 eyes of men, as uttering only truth. 
 
 i Matt. xi. 19. 2 jyiatt. xii. 37. 3 Luke vii. 29. 
 
 * Luke X. 29. ^ Luke xvi. 15. ^ Luke xviii. 14. 
 
 ^ Kom. ii. 13. ^ Eom. iii. 4. 
 
1G6 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 " I know nothing by mj^self, yet am I not here- 
 by justified /'i — that is, vindicated, cleared, righted, 
 proved to be right. 
 
 " God manifest in the flesh, justified in (or by) 
 the Spirit ,''2_ that is, vindicated, cleared, righted, 
 proved to be divine. . 
 
 " Was not Abraham justified by works, when he 
 offered Isaac, his son, on the altar ?"3 — that is, vindi- 
 cated, cleared, righted ; his professed obedience 
 was proved to be real. 
 
 " By works a man is justified, and not by faith 
 only,''4 — that is, vindicated, cleared, righted, by the 
 substantial proof of sincerity. 
 
 " Was not Kahab the harlot justified by works ?''^ 
 — that is, vindicated, cleared, righted, seen to be 
 true to her promise. 
 
 Throughout these passages of the New Testament, 
 as in the previous quotations from the Old Testa- 
 ment, the idea is that of vindicating, or more 
 generally of righting, or rightening. You justify 
 or vindicate, when you show the rights of a case, 
 when you set it right or righten it. But there 
 is another, a scholastic and conventional, meaning 
 of the word, which demands a careful examination. 
 
 Theological justification is thus defined by the 
 Westminster Assembly of Divines, in their Shorter 
 
 1 1 Cor. iv. 4. 2 1 Tim. iii. 16. » j^g. ii. 21. 
 
 * Jas. ii. 24. ^ Jas. ii. 25. 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 167 
 
 Catechism — " An act of God's free grace, wherein 
 He pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us, as 
 righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness 
 of Christ, imputed to us and received by faith 
 alone." We are taught to think of a court of 
 justice, God presiding as the judge, man arraigned 
 as a criminal, and deserving to suffer the penalty 
 jof the broken law, namely death, eternal death. 
 Man has no defence to offer, no plea of any kind to 
 put forward. But Christ Jesus, the incarnate 
 Saviour interposes, as a Mediator between God 
 and man, declares that he has siiffered in the 
 room and stead of man, and therefore claims that 
 man should be acquitted ; declares besides, that in 
 his life and by his death, he has wrought out, 
 in man's name, a perfect obedience, a perfect right- 
 eousness, which he needed not on his own account, 
 and therefore claims that this may be imputed to 
 man, even as man's sin was imputed to him, and 
 that man should on this ground not only stand 
 acquitted and pardoned, but should be accepted as 
 perfectly and spotlessly righteous. When a human 
 being, by true faith accepts Christ as the Mediator, 
 trusts in his death for pardon, and in his right- 
 eousness for acceptance, then the Great Judge pro- 
 nounces a sentence of acquittal and of irreversible 
 approval. 
 
 It must be obvious at a glance, how perfectly dif- 
 
168 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 ferent all this is, from tlie simple meaning of the 
 word ''justify" in the Holy Scriptures, so far as we 
 have yet examined. It can scarcely fail to strike 
 impartial observers, that this includes so much more 
 than the word is ordinarily understood to contain, 
 and is altogether so widely different, that a common 
 Enghsh reader of the Bible, however well instructed 
 on general subjects, could never of himself form a 
 conception of it. Those who have been trained 
 from infancy in the theological system, not only may 
 easily read the New Testament in accordance with 
 it, but may find it nearly impossible, without long 
 and hard effort, to accept any other interpretation. 
 This is the too frequent effect of those arbitrary, 
 technical definitions of Scripture terms which have 
 been so largely introduced into a region where, of 
 all others, it is vitally important that the mind 
 should be preserved perfectly unbiassed. But on 
 the other hand, as a matter of fact, multitudes of 
 educated persons, not trained in the theological 
 system, are perfectly unable to understand the 
 words "justify" and "justification," as used by theo- 
 logians, and for the sole, sufficient reason, that the 
 conventional is entirely different from the natural 
 meaning. If it be asked by what authority these 
 distinct ideas — forgiveness of sins and acceptance 
 before God as righteous, and that on the ground of 
 a mysterious imputation of sin to the holy, and of 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 169 
 
 holiness to the sinful — have been imported into 
 what we have shown to be the ordinary meaning 
 of a Hebrew, Greek, and English word ; if it be 
 asked by what authority a common term has been 
 weighted with such important additions, — I know of 
 none which does not rest ultimately for its support 
 on the exigencies of the theological system. The 
 system needs forensic imagery and language — needs 
 judicial forms of procedure, in order to its exact- 
 ness and logical completeness. But it seems par- 
 donable to question, whether this can be adopted 
 as a legitimate and safe canon of biblical interpre- 
 tation. 
 
 Eeturning to more general considerations, it de- 
 serves to be noted, that the root of that class of 
 English words with which the verb "justify" stands 
 connected, is right. We have the adjective and the 
 noun, right ; the adjective, righteous ; and the noun, 
 righteousness, which, in its more general form, 
 rightness, would be an exacter translation. Eight, 
 righteous, righteousness, or rightness, — but strangely 
 the verb is "justify," as if it were derived from 
 another root. This departure in form from the 
 allied terms is, at least, not happy, and is almost 
 certain to create a misapprehension in the mind of 
 the mere English reader. At all events, it hides 
 from him a fact which might afford some help in 
 making out the meaning of the sacred text. No 
 
170 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 violence is done, but, on the contrary, a truer ap- 
 preciation of the original is likely to be created, 
 if for "justify" we substitute a term cognate to the 
 words derived from the same root. Thus, — right, 
 righteous, righteousness, or rightness ; and to righten, 
 or rectify, or set right. 
 
 It will be easy to show how this slight change 
 of terms bears with beautiful simplicity and force 
 on the actual, spiritual condition of the world. 
 At the root of the whole Bible, underneath all 
 the teachings of the New Testament, there lies 
 this fundamental idea, that the spirit of man in 
 relation to God is altogether wrong. It has fallen 
 from God, has turned away and moves in a direc- 
 tion quite away from Him, and through all has 
 done, and is doing itself, as well as God, cruel 
 wrong. What it most of all and first of all needs 
 is to be righted or rectified, to be turned back 
 towards Him from whom it has wickedly revolted. 
 Instead of indifference, forgetfulness, resistance, and 
 enmity, what it needs is an earnest, humble, yearn- 
 ing after God, the waking up within it of lowly, 
 childlike trust. " I will arise and go to my Father." 
 Nor let it be forgotten that it is on this issue, on 
 the production of this inward change, that all the 
 influences of God's Providence, God's Spirit, and 
 God's Word, are brought to bear. All the divine 
 manifestations in Jesus Christ our Lord, manifesta- 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 171 
 
 tions of divine purity and wisdom, divine tender- 
 ness, and patience, and beauty, and sweetness, and 
 grace, all the mysteries of Incarnation, all the 
 forces of God's self-sacrificing mercy, incarnate, 
 crucified mercy, are directed to one grand end, 
 namely this, that man's soul be rectified, righted, 
 turned back from its wrong position, and that 
 humbled and penitent it may seek God, and with 
 timid trembling faith may begin to trust Him. 
 This first step — or look — Godward, this incipient 
 but genuine movement of the child-spirit, is justi- 
 fication, rectification, the righting, Tightening, set- 
 ting right of the soul, which before was wholly 
 wrong. Verily the first is not the last step ; a 
 hard struggle with evil and with self is before the 
 lightened spirit, an anxious process of inward 
 purification, a life-long work of sanctification — to 
 use the conventional phrase. But this righting 
 or rectifying is first, before anything real can be 
 effected. In order to be sanctified, we must first 
 be justified, righted by faith, turned towards God 
 in penitence and in trust. "It is God that justi- 
 fieth," an apostle declares, that righteth, righteneth, 
 setteth right the spirit of man, that turneth it 
 back towards Himself. And His method of right- 
 ing or justifying is by faith, by the sweet awaken- 
 ing in the soul of simple trust, trust in the revealed 
 mercy of God in Christ. This gentle, humbled, 
 
172 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 penitent, childlike spirit, at once rightens the 
 erring soul, and changes its relation to its Father, 
 sets it towards Him, turns it right round, and 
 brings it into the attitude of a son, a humble, 
 subdued, confiding son. 
 
 Whether this sense of righting or setting right, 
 which we have shown belongs strictly to the literal 
 signification of the disputed word, and is found 
 fitting in all other cases, be applicable in the pas- 
 sages now to be quoted, must be left, to individual 
 judgment to decide. 
 
 ** All that believe are justified " — cleared, set right 
 — " from all things, from which ye could not be jus- 
 tified " — cleared, set right — " by the law of Moses." i 
 
 " Being justified " — righted, set right — " freely 
 by His grace. "2 
 
 " We conclude that a man is justified " — righted 
 —"by faith," &c. 3 
 
 *' It is one God who shall justify " — righten — 
 " the circumcision by faith," &c.4 
 
 *' If Abraham were justified " — righted — "by 
 works, he hath whereof to boast."^ 
 
 " To him that believeth on Him that justifieth'' 
 — ^righteneth — "the ungodly." ^ 
 
 " Being justified " — Tightened — "by faith, we 
 have peace with God." 7 
 
 ^ Acts xiii. 39. ^ Rom. iii. 24. ^ Rom^ ^[i 28. •* Rom. iiL 30, 
 * Rom. iv. 2. ^ Rom. iv. 5, ^ Rom. v. 1. 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 173 
 
 " Much more, being justified " — lightened — " by 
 his blood," &c. 1 
 
 "Whom He justified" — lightened — "them He 
 also glorified/' 2 
 
 " Ye are justified " — righted — " in the name of 
 the Lord Jesus." ^ 
 
 "A man is not justified" — righted — "by the 
 works of the law . . . even we have believed in 
 Jesus Christ, that we might be justified '' — righted 
 — " by the faith of Christ and not by the works 
 of the law." 4 
 
 " The Scripture foreseeing that God would 
 justify '' — righten — " the heathen by faith." ^ 
 
 " No man is justified " — righted — "by the 
 law." 6 
 
 " That we might be justified " — righted — " by 
 faith in Christ." ^ 
 
 " Whosoever of you is justified " — righted — " by 
 the law ; ye are fallen from grace." 8 
 
 These, with one addition to be introduced here- 
 after, are the whole of the instances, furnished by 
 the Old and New Testaments, without a single 
 exception, so far as I know, in which the English 
 word "justify," as the translation of the Hebrew 
 Tsadak, or of the Greek JcKaloco, is found in the 
 
 1 Rom. V. 9. 2 ijojQ^ yiii^ 3Q_ 3 i Cor. vi. 11. 
 
 * Gal. ii. 16. 5 Qai. jii. g. 6 Qal. iu. 11. 
 
 7 Gal. iii. 24. 8 Gal. v. 4. 
 
174 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 Sacred Scriptures. The conclusion to which they 
 conduct seems indubitable. 
 
 The noun "justification" does not require so ex- 
 tended a criticism as its cognate verb. There are 
 only three passages in the whole Bible, and these 
 in the single Epistle to the Komans, a single verse 
 of one chapter, and two verses of the following 
 chapter, in which this favourite term of scholastic 
 theology occurs ; and in these it would demand no 
 common ingenuity to discover a foundation for the 
 extensive structure which has been reared upon 
 them. Two distinct words are used by the apostle 
 Paul, both translated in our version " justification." 
 These are ^t/ca/wo-t? and AiKatco/jLa. The analogy 
 of the language might have led us to judge that 
 AiKai(0(TL<i meant the act, the mode, or the power 
 of rightening, and AiKalcoixa the thing righted, or 
 a sentence, or ordinance, righting something. But 
 the apostle employs the two words, apparently 
 without distinction, as if they were quite inter- 
 changeable. 
 
 " He was delivered for our offences, raised again, 
 ha rrjv hKamcnv rjfjbcov, for the sake of, on account of, 
 in order to, our justification — our being set rigJit." l 
 
 " The free gift, 'xapiaiJLa, is of many offences, eU 
 BLKalco/jia, unto, in order to, justification, m order to 
 our being set right" 2 
 
 1 Rom. iv. 25. * Rom. v. 16. 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 175 
 
 " Even so, Be evb<; BLKaLQ)jiiaTo<;, by the righteous- 
 ness of one/'i — a translation which is flagrantly 
 inaccurate, the words admitting of no rendering 
 but some such as this: By one justification, or by 
 one rectifying ordinance, the grace came upon all 
 men, et? htKalwaiv fw%, in order to justification oi 
 life, in order to a vital riglitening, or a Tightening 
 of life. 
 
 1 Rom. V. 18. 
 
SECTIOIT SECOND. 
 
 Truths Answering to Terms of Scripture : — Righteousness Right- 
 ness — State of Right-en-ed-ness — Rightening-ness — The Power, 
 Act, Mode of Rightening — Imputation — Rightness Imputed 
 because Real — Fact Recognised — Thing Reckoned, What it is, 
 Never, what it is not — Imputation Inevitable — Instinctive — 
 Figures of Speech — Judicial Imputation, a Crime. 
 
 IN close, indeed, essential connexion with tlie 
 point we have been discussing, there is an- 
 other term constantly occurring in the Scriptures, 
 the exact meaning of which it is of the highest 
 importance to ascertain — ^the term "righteousness," 
 AiKaiocrvvTj, The more general word " rightness '' is 
 unquestionably as literal a translation as right- 
 eousness, and it is more comprehensive, and covers 
 a wide area, which cannot be included in the 
 latter term. Kighteousness, according to ordinary 
 usage, is equivalent to holiness, piety, virtue, 
 moral and spiritual goodness. Very frequently in 
 Scripture this is the proper and entire sense of 
 the word. Holiness is rightness, rightness in the 
 highest sense of all, moral rightness, true right- 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 177 
 
 ness of soul. But a thing may be perfectly 
 right without being holy at all. A thing is 
 right, which is fitting in the circumstances and 
 altogether worthy of them, which is proper to be 
 done, which is consistent and wise. That which 
 is holy is always right, but that which is right 
 may have nothing in it, of which the quality holy 
 can be predicated. Kightness is the more accurate 
 translation of ScKaioawrj, because it includes every 
 meaning of which the word is susceptible, which 
 righteousness does not. The narrower, special sense 
 of righteousness, as ordinarily understood, is quite 
 taken in by the more general word, but the more 
 general sense is excluded by the narrower translation. 
 1 The inward state of those who have been 
 tightened, set right, by faith, is fitly denoted by 
 the word hoKaiocrvvrj , it is a state of rightness in 
 relation to God. Perhaps with greater precision, 
 ^nd in harmony with the forms of the English 
 tongue, it might be called rightenedness, a state 
 of rightenedness. 
 
 2. As this inward state is that which God seeks 
 to originate in men, and does originate in fact, it 
 is fitly distinguished as God's rightness or right- 
 enedness, not man's, His kind of rightenedness, what 
 He regards and produces as real rightenedness. 
 
 3. God's power and His method of rightening 
 men are also denoted by the term " rightness," 
 
 M 
 
178 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 hiKaioavvrj rod Oeov. With greater precision to 
 English ears, and more in accordance with English 
 idioms, it might be translated, Grod's rightening- 
 ness, including both His power and His way of 
 rightening or setting right. At the same time, 
 while the distinctions thus announced are far from 
 being unimportant, and deserve to be carried along 
 with us, the wide term, " Tightness," adapts itself 
 without much difficulty to these different shades 
 of meaning, and it might be perplexing to introduce 
 other terms. 
 
 The Tightness of God — either that inward state in 
 relation to Himself, which He originates in men, or 
 His power or His method of rightening them through 
 faith, is in the New Testament constantly contrasted 
 with law — Tightness, or man's own Tightness, man's 
 kind of Tightness, and his way of righting himself. 
 The prevailing Jewish idea was fulfilled in cere- 
 monial obedience. Instead of the conviction that 
 their spiritual relation to God was wrong, and re- 
 quired first of all to be set right, their highest aspi- 
 ration was ritual faultlessness, the offering up of all 
 the appointed sacrifices and gifts, submission to all 
 the ordained penalties, and constant homage to the 
 letter of the Mosaic institute. They thus thought to 
 work out a Tightness or rightenedness by law, by 
 obedience to law, their own kind of rightenedness, 
 not God's. The Jewish is only a special and con- 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 179 
 
 tracted form of the prevailing human idea. Nothing 
 is more common, and in one sense more natural, than 
 the avowal that all which can be expected of human 
 beings is, that they strive to do what is right, and to 
 live holily and justly, as far as they can, — a perfectly 
 good and noble aim in itself, and one with wliich 
 every Christian soul does and must sympathise. But 
 there is a first thing, prior to all such striving and 
 efforts which our Father seeks at our hands, it is the 
 return of our hearts to Him, in penitence and in 
 trust. Everything must be at fault, because spring- 
 ing out of a wrong centre, till this first step be taken. 
 No efforts of ours to do right can avail, till some- 
 thing of the true child-spirit, which also is the true 
 divine Spirit, born of the Holy Ghost, be awakened 
 within us. This is the only spring of genuine 
 obedience. Hence we read in Komans iii. 20, '' By 
 the deeds of the law " — by deeds of law, of any kind, 
 by acts of obedience — " there shall no flesh be justi- 
 fied" — that is rightened — "in His sight." God's 
 rightness, God's kind of Tightness, and God's method 
 of rightening, stand in direct contrast to man's kind 
 of rightness ; the rightness of law, man's idea of 
 rightening himself by obedience. 
 
 In the passages now to be introduced, we deem it 
 obvious that SiKacoa-vvrj is employed in the general 
 sense of rightness, and not in the special sense of 
 righteousness. 
 
ISO JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 " They being ignorant of God's Tightness " ^ — 
 God's kind and way of rightening ; it cannot mean 
 holiness, for this would be obviously inapt and 
 useless for the writer's present aim — " and going 
 about to establish their own (kind of) Tightness, 
 have not submitted themselves to the righteningness 
 of God," Gods icay of setting them right. 
 
 " Christ is the end of the law for (in order to) 
 Tightness "2 — in order to rightenedness — "to every one, 
 that believeth." In every one that believeth, Christ 
 through this simple faith, accomplishes the great end 
 of all law — the making and keeping men right. Law 
 failed to accompKsh this end. Hence it is declared, 
 " What law could not do, in that it was weak through 
 the flesh, God (has done), sending His own Son in 
 the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin (He) has 
 condemned sin (sentenced it, doomed it to death) in 
 the flesh." (See Kom. viii. 3.) 
 
 " If Tightness come by law, then Christ is dead 
 in vain." 3 Eighteousness meaning holiness does 
 come by the law, by obedience to the law. The 
 highest end even of the death of Christ, is to cause 
 righteousness, in the sense of holiness, to come by 
 the law- The statement of the verse is false, un- 
 less we adopt the translation, " rightness," and then 
 it is as true as it is obvious. If Tightness, if the 
 rightening of the soul in its relation to God, can 
 
 1 Rom. X. 3. 2 RoQi^ X. 4. » q^I. ii. 21. 
 
 I 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 181 
 
 be effected simply by law, by command, even God's 
 command, then Christ has died to no purpose. 
 
 " By faith, Noah being warned of God of things 
 not as yet seen, moved with fear, prepared an ark 
 for the saving of his house ; by the which he con- 
 demned the world, and became heir of the right- 
 eousness" — that kind of rightness in relation to 
 God — " which is by faith. "i That principle of faith, 
 simple trust in God, which rightened his soul, is 
 the same which rightens every believing soul, and 
 is the only medium of true rightness in relation to 
 the Father. 
 
 " The rightness of God " — God's kind of right- 
 ness and His way of rightening men — " is revealed 
 from faith to faith." 2 This sentence, as it stands, 
 is nearly unintelligible. A slight change, which the 
 original perfectly admits of, will render the mean- 
 ing more plain : " The rightness of God by " — not 
 from — " faith" — that kind of rightness which comes 
 only by believing — "is revealed to faith, revealed 
 in order to be believed." The clause immediately 
 following must be noted in its bearing on the point 
 under discussion. As it is written, " The just shall 
 live by faith." Equally true to the original, whether 
 in the Greek or in the Hebrew, from which the 
 sentence is first of all taken, and more significant 
 and apposite is the translation, " The just by faith 
 1 Heb. xi. 7. ^ -^^^^ 1 17^ 
 
182 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 shall live." The just, the right, the righted by 
 faith, shall live. They are the persons who shall 
 really live, and be secure and blessed. The same 
 quotation is introduced in the Epistle to the 
 Galatians. 
 
 " That no man is right ened by the law is evident, 
 for the just [the righted] by faith shall live." " And 
 the law is not of faith, but" — its announcement is 
 this — "the man that doeth them shall live by 
 them."l It knows nothing of faith; what it de- 
 mands is service. 
 
 " The Tightness of God, without law, is mani- 
 fested, being witnessed by the law and the pro- 
 phets.'' ^ This cannot be the holiness of God or 
 of Christ. It is that Tightening of the soul, 
 through faith, without works of law which God 
 originates. This divine kind of Tightness, the 
 apostle declares, *'is now manifested, being wit- 
 nessed by the law and the prophets," "even the 
 lightness of God, which through faith in Jesus 
 Christ is unto all and upon all that beHeve." 
 
 " That I may be found in Him, not having mine 
 own Tightness, which is by the law " — ^by the effort 
 to obey — " but that which is through faith in Christ, 
 the Tightness which is of God (which God effects 
 and effects) through faith." 3 
 
 "If Christ be in you the body is dead because 
 
 1 Gal. iii. 11. " Rom. iii. 21. ^ -pi.^ ^ 9, 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 183 
 
 of sin, but the spirit is life, "because of Tightness,"'^ 
 — hy being rightened. 
 
 The Old Testament furnishes some remarkable 
 illustrations of what we here seek to verify. 
 
 *' Jehovah our Tightness " 2 — our righteningness — 
 Jehovah who rightens us. 
 
 " The Lord is well pleased for (on account of) 
 His rightness-sake," — His righteningness, His work 
 and way of Tightening ; " He will magnify the law, 
 and make it honourable," ^ though He does not save 
 by works of law, but by simple faith. For He hereby 
 originates a living source, a true spirit of obedience. 
 
 *' I bring near my Tightness," — my kind of Tight- 
 ness, my way of righting the soul ; " it shall not 
 be far off and my salvation shall not tarry."* 
 God's salvation is not rescuing from hell, but de- 
 livering from evil within, really setting the soul 
 right and free. 
 
 " My salvation is near to come and my Tightness 
 to be revealed. "5 God's salvation is His way of 
 Tightening men, turning them to Himself. 
 
 There is a cluster of passages in which, to the 
 word " righteousness " or " Tightness," there is added 
 another of the select terms of scholastic theology, the 
 term *' impute," that is, reckon, or count. Several 
 of these passages are connected with a memorable 
 
 1 Eom. viii. 10. ^ Jer. xxiii. 6. ^ Isa. xlii. 21. 
 
 4 Isa. xlvi. 13. '^ Isa. Ivi. 1. 
 
184 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 incident in the life of the patriarch Abraham, 
 while he was yet childless. As he gazed up to 
 the crowding, sparkling stars of a clear Eastern 
 sky, G-od promised him, " So shall thy seed be." 
 
 " And he believed in the Lord, and he counted 
 [imputed] it to him for (in order to) riglitness : " 1 
 in order to his being set right. Abraham's faith was 
 counted, reckoned to be what it was, genuine, and 
 this state of mind, faith, essentially changed and 
 Tightened his relation to God, made it a relation 
 of filial confidence, submission, and obedience. 
 
 "Abraham believed God, and it was counted 
 [imputed] to him " — it was reckoned to be what 
 it was — " for rightness," 2 — {^ order to his heing set 
 right. 
 
 " To him that worketh not, but belie veth in him 
 that righteneth the ungodly, his faith is counted 
 to him for Tightness," ^ — in order to his heing set 
 right. Faith does for him what no works, no acts 
 of obedience could do. It sets his soul right to- 
 wards God. 
 
 " Even as David describeth the blessedness of the 
 man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness" — 
 whom God counteth right in relation to Himself— 
 " without works/' ^ God counteth a man right who 
 is right, though not righteous — whose spirit is right 
 
 1 Gen. XV. 6. ^ Rom. iv. 3. 
 
 ^ Rom. iv. 5. * Rom. iv. 6. 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 185 
 
 and rightened in relation to Himself. Out of this 
 right and rightened spirit will spring — the highest 
 form of rightness — righteousness, true obedience. 
 
 " Abraham received the sign of circumcision, a 
 seal of the rightnefcs which he had, yet being un- 
 circumcised," — for his soul was rightened, so soon 
 as he gave it up, in simple faith to God, and cir- 
 cumcision was only an outer and later sign of an 
 inward and earlier state — a state which was real, 
 independently of this sign, and before it was given, 
 — " that he might be the Father of all that believe," 
 — not of the circumcision only, but of all that 
 believe, — " though they be not circumcised ; that 
 rightness might be imputed [counted] to them 
 also : " 1 even as it was to him, when he was un- 
 circumcised. That which alone ever rightened and 
 ever rightens the soul is faith — simple trust towards 
 God. The circumcised, if they have not faith, are 
 not rightened in relation to God, and cannot be 
 reckoned right. The uncircumcised, if they have 
 faith, are right as Abraham was, and are reckoned 
 right. 
 
 " Abraham believed God, and it was counted 
 to him for rightness,"^ — in order to his being 
 set right; he was accounted right, and he was 
 right. 
 
 " Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to 
 
 1 Kom. iv. 11. 2 QaL iii. 6. 
 
186 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 him for [in order to] rightness ; and he was called 
 the Friend of God." i 
 
 These passages must impress every mind with 
 the exceeding graciousness and the transparent 
 equity and uprightness of the Most High — His 
 righteous, truthful, open dealing with His sinful 
 children. He imputes faith to those who have 
 faith, and rightness to those who are righted and 
 right. He counts faith to be genuine ; and right- 
 ness of soul in relation to Himself to be real, simply 
 because they are so, and for no other reason what- 
 ever. Among the surest of all verities is this, that 
 God never can count a thing to be what it is not, 
 but ever must only and simply count a thing to 
 bo what it is, and no more. As surely as God 
 knows and sees everything and every being exactly 
 as they are, so surely can He never consider, never 
 think them to be other than they are. And if He 
 can never think them to be what they are not, far 
 less can He give out, or in any way create, the im- 
 pression that He does so think. 
 
 Among men, imputation, both as an idea and 
 as a fact, is very distinctly recognised. Imputed 
 righteousness and imputed sin, in a certain modi- 
 fied sense, are not at all foreign to the thought 
 or to the living experience of the world. A man 
 shall inherit a dishonoured name, and shall succeed 
 
 1 Jas. ii. 23. 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 187 
 
 to a life of infamy, and penury, and pain, not 
 through any fault of his own, but wholly through 
 the sin of others, with whom he stands connected, 
 will he or will he not. He suffers by a sort of 
 imputation. The son of a criminal is first of all 
 distrusted, and without the slightest fault known 
 against him personally, the judgment and the feel- 
 ings of his fellow-creatures towards him are deeply 
 prejudiced, in consequence merely of his descent. 
 In effect, it is, as if we imputed to him sins which 
 are not really his, not his at all, and in spite of 
 himself he is compelled, to some extent, to bear 
 the punishment of those sins. The general course 
 of the world seems to look in the same direction. 
 The Judge of all the earth has the most perfect 
 knowledge of each of His intelligent creatures. 
 There can be no iniquity with Him. On the whole 
 and in the end, not a human being shall be able to 
 find, in the treatment he has received, the slightest 
 violation of equity. But the present is confessedly 
 not a final but a temporary state, a probationary, 
 imperfect, and mixed condition, in which no legiti- 
 mate, comparative conclusion as to individual char- 
 acter and desert, can be drawn from what is merely 
 visible and outward. " Suppose ye that those 
 Galileans (whose blood Pilate mingled with their 
 sacrifices) were sinners above all the Galileans, 
 because they suffered such things? I tell you, 
 
188 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 Nay ; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise 
 perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower 
 of Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they 
 were sinners above all the men w^ho dwelt in Jerusa- 
 lem? I tell you, Nay; but except ye repent, ye 
 shall all likewise perish." Amidst the inevitable 
 complications and confusions of the present state 
 of being, one event often befalls the good and the 
 bad indiscriminately. Natural evils, public and 
 special calamities overtake men, wholly irrespective 
 of their individual character. Slavery and war, 
 robbery and murder, wicked legislation, and de- 
 moralising principles and habits, entail endless evils 
 on innocent multitudes and on generations unborn. 
 The sins and faults of men, by a species of imputa- 
 tion, come down on those who had no share whatever 
 in originally perpetrating them. 
 
 On the other hand, the character which a good 
 and great man has gained by his personal virtues, 
 is bequeathed to his children. The world is pre- 
 pared beforehand to respect and trust the son, for 
 the father's sake, and to put to his account ex- 
 cellences not really his at all. Certain races and 
 lines of descent possess a kind of imputed worth 
 altogether apart from their individual qualities. A 
 nation shall be exalted in the reputation which 
 belongs only to a single man in it. Because that 
 man was born, and lived, and died in the land, 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 189 
 
 the whole people of it shall have a glory reflected on 
 them, to which, on personal grounds, they have no 
 claim whatever. 
 
 There is strong reason in all this. It is a patent 
 fact, make of it what we may, but it is a fact 
 very sufficiently based in truth and justice. It is 
 only right to cherish and to express respect for 
 genuine excellence, wherever it is found. It is 
 only right to keep alive in ourselves and others 
 the memory of such excellence ; and when the good 
 man has passed away, it would be a crime not to 
 guard his name with tender jealousy, and not to 
 deal lovingly, for his sake, with those whom he 
 leaves behind. On the other hand, it is only 
 right to visit crime with reprobation, to maintain 
 a salutary dread of coming into contact with it, 
 and to avoid those who may be conc^eived to have 
 inherited its taint. But all the while, it is never 
 to be forgotten, as an unassailable principle, that 
 real moral worth and real moral demerit are not, 
 and cannot be in any sense or in any degree, 
 transferable or imputable. No rightly constituted 
 mind imagines for a moment that they are ; the 
 idea is not only false, but impossible and absurd. 
 If there be, as we have seen there is, an inevitable 
 imputation, whereby men are often involved indis- 
 criminately in the same external good or evil ; and 
 if there be, besides, an instinctive imputation of 
 
190 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 good and of evil from father to son, which on 
 some grounds is honourable to our nature and is 
 also not without its uses in fostering virtue, and 
 in punishing vice ; in both cases alike, it is only 
 by a figure of speech, that the word " imputation" is 
 employed at all. It is not supposed to be a reality. 
 We do not reckon or count, no one reckons a man 
 to be either good or bad, because his father was 
 the one or the other. He is really good or bad 
 in himself, and on no other account whatever, and 
 is neither better personally, nor worse personally, 
 from the mere fact that his father was an eminent 
 saint, or a notorious criminal. 
 
 In a case of law, when one man pays the debt 
 of another, and thus saves him from punishment, 
 it is never reckoned or counted, never by any 
 species of legal fiction considered, that the first 
 owed the debt. The debt is not imputed to him. 
 It is thoroughly understood that he is not the 
 debtor. The second is the debtor, and cannot, 
 without falsehood, be reckoned or counted to be not 
 the debtor. In the highest imaginable case, if a 
 friend were to suffer imprisonment or death, in 
 order to save a criminal who had been convicted 
 and sentenced, it could never be thought by any 
 sane man, could never be reckoned or judged, that 
 the crime was transferred to the friend, or could 
 possibly be transferred, and that the criminal in 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 191 
 
 consequence of this transference or imputation was 
 innocent. But in simple fact, it is more than 
 questionable whether such a case as is supposed 
 has ever been historically verified. If it have, it 
 must unhesitatingly be pronounced not an honour 
 but a disgrace, and a crime in human law. It 
 may often be wise and right to forgive an evil-doer, 
 or to modify his punishment, but to take away life 
 which has not been forfeited, or even liberty, is an 
 atrocious offence against the plainest obligations of 
 equity. However willing a man may be to sacrifice 
 himself for another, at least human law can never 
 sanction, cannot even tolerate such enormity, without 
 stepping altogether out of its sphere, and incurring 
 unmitigated reprobation. 
 
 The reference of divine procedure to the analogies 
 of human law has been misleading and disastrous. 
 It is most true that God is the supreme judge of 
 His creatures, and is very often so distinguished 
 in the Holy Scriptures. He judges every rational 
 being, good or bad — unerringly, righteously, merci- 
 fully. He judges. At every instant, the judgment 
 of the Holy One, in reference to every human soul, 
 is fixed, because at every instant, the Holy One sees 
 every human soul exactly as it is. It is most right 
 and wise to keep firm hold of this grand truth, and 
 it may be lawful besides to allow the imagination to 
 body it forth, by the aid of whatever analogies and 
 
192 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 accessories it can create. It may be quite lawful 
 to picture a court of justice, a judgment seat, God 
 enthroned as judge, and man arraigned before Him. 
 It may be quite lawful to picture a suit conducted 
 with all the usual forms of law, the charge made on 
 the one side, and admitted or denied on the other 
 side, and the prisoner at the bar asked to show 
 cause why sentence against him should not go forth. 
 Such a picture, besides, it is quite possible might be 
 so drawn, as to produce a deep impression on certain 
 minds, and to lead to very salutary results. The 
 obvious cause is this, that underneath the selected 
 imagery, there is a real and great spiritual truth, of 
 which the mind may take" hold and into which it 
 may gain a profounder insight — the truth of God's 
 perfect, certain, and instant knowledge of our actual 
 state and desert. But we deal falsely with men 
 and with sacred things, unless we make known that 
 this is all which is meant to be conveyed, and that 
 the picture containing this truth is a picture and 
 nothing more — our creation, not God's. T« treat 
 the picture as a reality, and to found religious 
 doctrine on its separate details, details which mere 
 human fancy has wrought into shape, is surely 
 wrong, and must be very dangerous. The under- 
 lying truth that God sees at every moment the very 
 state of every human soul, is of all others most 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 193 
 
 momentous and most sure. But all beyond this is 
 wholly unreal, is mere pure imagination. 
 
 It is highly probable that the idea of this de- 
 ceptive, spiritual scene-painting has been taken 
 from the doctrine of a judgment-day, at the final 
 consummation, when ages beyond reckoning shall 
 have passed away. But the two differ in the most 
 essential respects. The supposed picture is of a 
 present experience, during the earthly life, and it is 
 in every point the mere baseless fabric of a dream. 
 There is no court of justice, no judgment-seat, no 
 trial, no process of charge and defence, no verdict 
 and no condemnation. The simple fact is, that 
 human sin is discovered, is perfectly seen, and is 
 judged, condemned, and punished in the instant 
 it is committed. All its consequences, especially all 
 its physical consequences, are not at once realised, 
 but essentially, inwardly, its penal effect is immediate. 
 When it is committed, no opportunity of explaining 
 it is offered, no defence, no palliation is asked for, 
 would be listened to, or is possible, just because the 
 exact amount of demerit which belongs to it is 
 seen at once without the possibility of mistake. 
 In regard to the spiritual government of God, and 
 to the spiritual laws of the universe, sin and punish- 
 ment are inseparable and simultaneous. Without 
 trial, or judge, or judgment, sin instantaneously 
 
 N 
 
194 JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 
 
 punishes itself in the soul. It may, indeed, and 
 does prepare for itself, in the evolutions of earthly 
 providence, palpable, material penalties, which are 
 not yet endured, but the reallest punishment de- 
 scends on the instant, and comes out of the very 
 nature of sin itself. No possibility, legal, judicial, 
 or otherwise, of escape exists, save by the expulsion 
 and destruction of the dire root of evil. Hence 
 justification is not a process of law at all, nor the 
 mere formal act of a judge ; it is a real, inward, 
 entire change. The man is really rightened, not 
 legally acquitted ; that which was wrong in him in 
 relation to God is set right — is begun to be set 
 right. He is turned to God, instead of being turned 
 away from Him. Beholding God in Christ, he no 
 longer resists the divine appeal, but yields at last 
 with his whole heart to a loving, forgiving, much 
 enduring, self-sacrificing Father. 
 
 The simplicity, the beauty, and the power of 
 Christ's own gospel, are irresistible. No uncouth, 
 hard terms meet us here, no nice, legal definitions, 
 no endless, fretting distinctions, and no guarded, 
 inflexible forms, barring the way on this hand and 
 on that — nothing but pure love, immaculate, infinite, 
 self-sacrificing, holy love. The simple short tale 
 has often been rehearsed, but it is overpowering, 
 and warm, and fresh still. The Great God loves 
 the soul He hath made, and would save it. But 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND IMPUTATION. 195 
 
 even He cannot save it, except by setting it right. 
 Away from Him, it is away from life. The life 
 must come near, must come down, must come into 
 man, and must find a way to the sacred depths of his 
 spiritual nature. God must make man's heart His 
 own, must draw and turn it to Himself, by the pure 
 omnipotence of love. And He does. " The Life," 
 the Living One "was manifested," was embodied, 
 was incarnated. Through Christ, through the living 
 Christ, highest of all through the dying Christ, as 
 the chosen medium,i (Mediator,) very God comes 
 near to man, and man turns to draw near to God. 
 The divine Spirit touches the human spirit, and 
 the touch is almighty. Divine life breathes on 
 human death ; divine light dawns on human dark- 
 ness. "The Life," "The Living One" is the 
 Light of men. And "the True Light is the Life 
 of men." 
 
 ^ See note, p. 27. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 SACRIFICE. 
 
 Is God Essentially Self-sacrificing ? — Lesson to Universe — Sacrificial 
 Rite, Universal — Esthetic Gradation — Contrary to Facts — 
 Animal Sacrifice — Earliest Form of Offering — Taking of 
 Animal Life, Revolting — In Name and by Command of God 
 — 1. Provision for Human Sustenance — 2. Merciful Protection 
 to Animal Creation — Sacredness of Life — Worship of Life- 
 giver — Surrender back of His own — Virtual Self-surrender — 
 3. Silent Confession of Life Forfeited and of Sin— Early 
 Revolting Corruptions of Sacrificial Rite, 
 
IT is an old idea, that the Creation is grounded in 
 sacrifice, divine self-sacrifice, and that the uni- 
 versal fabric of nature is based and built up on this 
 mysterious fact. Creation began, it is thought, in 
 an act of self abandonment ; after it had fallen into 
 evil, it was redeemed through the humiliation and 
 suffering of the Incarnate, and it shall be perpetuated 
 for ever in blessedness and purity by the holy spirit 
 of self-surrender and love. It was a sacrifice on the 
 part of God to create at all, for in the very act 
 of creating, He brought Himself into relation with 
 inferior being, — conditioned, limited, sacrificed Him- 
 self. And, in human conception, the world, as it 
 now is, peopled by creatures endowed with will, and 
 capable of resisting their Maker, and of introducing, 
 as they have in fact introduced, immense evil, can be 
 only a burden, if not a grief. 
 
 The universe at its birth was a joy to its Creator, 
 and it may yet become, in an immeasurably higher 
 sense, an eternal, divine joy ; but, like other births, 
 this also, it is conceived, was accomplished through 
 humiliation and sacrifice. The literal cross of the 
 
200 SACRIFICK 
 
 divine man of Nazareth was the late outward sym- 
 bol of an earlier, an unseen cross, which had been 
 serenely borne by the Infinite Father, ever since the 
 beginning of the ages. Not on Calvary, for the first 
 time, did God sacrifice Himself for the sake of His 
 creatures. He only proclaimed there, in an impres- 
 sive and awful form, what, since the first moment of 
 time, had been a universal, underlying, all-embrac- 
 ing truth. 
 
 It might be unwise either wholly to accept, or 
 wholly to reject, these peculiar speculations. That 
 they have at least some foundation of reality it is 
 impossible to deny, and they may have a bearing, 
 more important than is at first discerned, on the 
 spiritual discipline and on the ultimate destiny of 
 the intelligent universe. Beyond question, for all 
 time and all temporal beings, sacrifice lies at the 
 root of real good. True nobility, true greatness, and 
 all highest spiritual excellence, grow only out of this 
 strong subsoil. Universally, at least for men, a 
 cross is the way to a crown. The hard-won victory 
 over self and sin, which issues in the free, entire, 
 and eternal yielding up of our will to the good will 
 of God, can only be the fruit of sore conflict and of 
 stern self-sacrifice. 
 
 But a truth so vital as this, and one which is, 
 besides, on many accounts, so repellant, both de- 
 served and needed to be impressed on the universe 
 
SACRIFICE. 201 
 
 by extraordinary methods. Hence it is conceived 
 that the Loving Father, from the first, stooped to 
 teach His creatures by His own example, and ex- 
 hibited Himself, as the grand instance and pattern 
 of self-sacrifice. The lesson, early taught, was there- 
 after wrought into the very texture of the entire web 
 of finite existence, comes up, ever and again, in 
 broad and strong outlines, on the lengthening woof 
 of time, and at last was enstamped in colours that 
 shall never fade, whose hue is caught from the 
 mingled shades of Bethlehem and Nazareth, Geth- 
 semane and Jerusalem. Far ofi*, in the distant 
 past, where the awful line divides time from eter- 
 nity, in the moment and the act of creation, as on 
 a lofty summit, to be seen by all the ages and the 
 races following, the Great Being imprinted and 
 lifted up a divine cross. Ever onward through 
 the generations He drew the world's eye to the 
 awful symbol ; and at last, by the anguish and 
 the shame of Calvary, He appealed, and continues 
 to appeal, to the heart of the universe, that it may 
 open wide to the lesson of suffering and of sacrifice. 
 
 The universality of the sacrificial rite among all 
 nations, as well in modern as in ancient times, is not 
 unrelated to this train of thought — is perhaps best 
 interpreted by it. And closely connected with the 
 universality of the rite is the question of its origin, 
 whether divine or human. The early Christian 
 
202 SACRIFICE. 
 
 fathers, with few exceptions, and along with them 
 many ancient and eminent Jewish Kabbis, main- 
 tained the purely human origin of sacrifice. It was 
 recognised and expressly sanctioned by God, but it 
 was first of all the thought and the act of man. 
 Were it possible to ascertain with certainty what 
 the earliest form of sacred offering was, whether 
 strictly sacrificial or consisting only of the fruits 
 of the earth, this would, in a great degree, deter- 
 mine the question of their divine or human origin. 
 But the point is one of great difficulty, and is the 
 subject of a very wide diversity of opinion. Besides, 
 the field of inquiry is by no means perfectly open. 
 One is not at liberty, in such a region, to indulge 
 freely in speculation and in fancy, and to form out, 
 as it shall strike his imagination, an artistic and 
 aesthetic theory of the origin and the early form of 
 religious worship. Were it otherwise, there would 
 be no difficulty in picturing, as many have actually 
 done, a state of comparative innocence and inex- 
 ;perience, the juvenile, almost infantile, state of the 
 human race, in which very childish and rude notions 
 of God prevailed. In such a state, we could imagine 
 that natural taste, and the sense of propriety, and 
 of common gratitude, might suggest the presentation 
 to God of some visible token of reverence and of 
 homage. First of all, the most simple and beautiful 
 objects in nature would be selected; wild flowers 
 
SACKIFICE. 203 
 
 would be laid upon the altar, as an acknowledgment 
 of the All-beautiful and the All-good. In the pro- 
 gress of the religious idea, fruits, as more valuable, 
 would be added to flowers. Thereafter, as more 
 valuable still, the produce of the fields — corn, and 
 oil, and wine — would express the thankfulness of 
 the creature to the Creator. Last of all, and still 
 increasing in material value, and therefore more 
 expressive of the respect and submission of the 
 worshipper, the firstlings of the flock and of the 
 herd would be presented to God, and be either 
 wholly offered up in His honour, or so partially 
 surrendered as to make the whole, in a high sense, 
 sacred. 
 
 Such in fact, it has been conceived, is the natural 
 history and the gradual development of the rite of 
 sacrifice — in the first instance a merely human idea, 
 extending itseh, by degrees, with the progress of 
 knowledge and of material cultivation, and perhaps, 
 also, with the deepening consciousness of evil. But 
 it is legitimate to ask, in all simplicity, is not this 
 pure fancy, a dream, a beautiful dream indeed, but 
 nothing more than a mere dream of the imagina- 
 tion ? Where is the evidence of this fancied, natu- 
 ral gradation, in sacred ofierings, from flowers to 
 animal sacrifice ? It exists not. Where are those 
 innocent forefathers of our race who, in their juve- 
 nile, grateful, unsuspicious sentiments towards God, 
 
204 SACRIFICE. 
 
 laid flowers on His altar, in token of their beautiful, 
 simple faith? They are not to be found. The 
 solitary thing favouring this idea at all has not long 
 ago been put forward by some students of Hindoo 
 mythology. From the most ancient of the sacred 
 books of Asia, they are disposed to infer that the 
 produce of the garden and the field must have been 
 presented to the gods before animal life was sacri- 
 ficed. But in this region, investigation is yet com- 
 paratively immature, and the inference, which is 
 but an inference, is one which it is far from unlikely 
 more thorough research may set aside. In all other 
 regions, the evidence is distinctly to this effect, that 
 flowers and fruits, instead of preceding sacrifices, 
 were added to them as a matter of taste, and for 
 the sake of embellishment. As we search back into 
 the remote past, under the guidance of authentic 
 history, or even of popular tradition, we find not 
 simple, but very gross and dishonouring, conceptions 
 of the divine nature, and not beautiful, but very 
 barbarous and revolting, modes of religious worship. 
 The civilisations of the early world were truly mar- 
 vellous, but they were wholly material, not spiritual 
 at all. Majestic temples were reared, and gorgeous 
 ceremonies were observed, but we look in vain for 
 an influence descending from them to exalt and 
 ennoble the objects of worship, or to simplify and 
 purify the forms of sacred service. 
 
SACRIFICE. 205 
 
 The ancient Phoenicians, Assyrians, Egyptians, 
 Persians, Indians, Grreeks, and Komans, supply no 
 evidence of a supposed progressive development from 
 simple to bloody rites, and no illustration of the com- 
 parative innocence and childlike spirit of early faith. 
 The very reverse of this is the solemn, sad truth. 
 Animal sacrifices, numerous and revolting, are among 
 the earliest things which meet us in the history of 
 ancient nations. Among the Greeks and Komans, 
 whose annals are best known, animal sacrifice, from 
 the very earliest period, was identified with divine 
 worship. It is almost decisive of the whole question ; 
 that in that holy volume i — whose introductory por- 
 tions, in spite of German and British critics, can be 
 proved, as we ventm-e to judge, not on presumptive or 
 conjectural ground, but on what competent scholars 
 regard as strong historical evidence, to be the earliest 
 authentic writings in the world — and in the first no- 
 tice given of divine worship there,2 animal sacrifice, 
 
 ^ I do not for a moment presume to determine for others such a 
 question as the date of the Mosaic writings. But it is no presump- 
 tion to form a judgment for one's-self respecting conflicting evidences 
 which are put forward. By all means, let the question be left open 
 to discussion and criticism on all sides. But it is not conducive to 
 a wise, final determination to assume, as is too often done by one 
 class of writers, and not very modestly, that the matter is settled for 
 all time, and that those who attach weight to the very strong evi- 
 dence on the other side, and believe in the early date of the Penta- 
 teuch, must be either ignorant or prejudiced. This is not the mode 
 in which the spirit of truth reveals or vindicates itself. 
 
 2 Gen. iv. 3, 4. 
 
206 SACKIFICE. 
 
 as well as the fruit of tlie ground, is specially men- 
 tioned. The only other instances afterwards named 
 in Holy Scripture, up to the time of Moses, those of 
 Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are precisely to 
 the same effect. And in the Mosaic economy, its 
 prominent, distinguishing feature, from its com- 
 mencement to its close, may be left to speak for itself. 
 On the whole, in the present stage of inquiry, the 
 preponderance (at the least) of reliable evidence is in 
 favour of the conclusion, that animal sacrifices were 
 the earliest form of religious worship. 
 
 The question is, In what can animal sacrifices have 
 originated ? Shall we say, in the unprompted, un- 
 aided reason and conscience of man, or in a divine 
 intimation and command? The individual convic- 
 tion is here expressed, that not man, but God must 
 have been the author of the sacrificial rite. The very 
 idea of acknowledgment to God at all, of outward 
 material acknowledgment to God, not in the form of 
 sacrifice, but even in the presentation of flowers and 
 fruits, could never have been spontaneously adopted, 
 far less originated by the human mind. We, with 
 our churches, and chancels, and altars, and vestments, 
 and vessels, and flowers, and ornaments, forget that 
 we have grown up, through a long process, and by 
 the slow teaching of ages, into the later thoughts 
 which are conceived to demand or to justify these 
 things. But man in his original condition had 
 
SACRIFICE. 207 
 
 the very first step in this long process to learn. In 
 his untaught, inexperienced simplicity and natural- 
 ness, would it not occur to him at once to ask, and 
 would it not disabuse his mind of all idea of material 
 acknowledgment to God, when he asked himself, 
 " What can such presentations be, or do, to an un- 
 seen, spiritual Being ? how can they aifect or influ- 
 ence Him in any way ? " We can readily conceive that 
 men in the primitive ages might be natively predis- 
 posed, and prepared to believe that their Creator was 
 not indifferent to the state of their minds, and was 
 not ignorant of their joy or their sorrow, their thank- 
 fulness or their penitence. We can readily conceive 
 that they might spontaneously utter and express these 
 affections in the way that natural instinct dictates, 
 and that penitence and sorrow would reveal them- 
 selves in the sadness of the countenance, in flowing 
 tears, and in sounds and words of lamentation. We 
 can readily conceive that, in the warm gratitude and 
 the gushing joy of their hearts, they might deck 
 themselves with flowers, and sing and make merry 
 and feast together on the fruits and the produce of 
 God's earth. But to offer anything to Him, to make 
 a present of anything to Grod, who possesses all things ! 
 how could this be ? What meaning could it have, 
 which was not either palpably absurd or deeply in- 
 sulting ? IIow vast is the leap from what is natural 
 and credible to what seems contradictory and foolish ! 
 
208 SACKIFICE. 
 
 Where were men to place their flowers and fruits, 
 that they might be nearer to God, or more under His 
 eye, than if they were left where they grew ? And 
 place them wherever they might, the offerers would 
 see that there, where they placed them, they lay, un- 
 touched, unnoticed, till they wasted, decayed, and 
 perished. There is a deep, wide gulf between reli- 
 gious sentiments and affections and any outward, 
 material offering to an unseen and spiritual Being, 
 — a gulf across which man himself could never have 
 thrown a pathway. We conclude that the idea of 
 outward, material offering to God must have been a 
 divine suggestion, not an unprompted, spontaneous 
 birth of the human mind. 
 
 Whatever truth there be in the course of thought 
 we have pursued, it bears with tenfold force upon the 
 fact that animal sacrifices were, as we judge, the 
 earliest form of sacred offering. All must admit that 
 in itself, sacrifice is a coarse and cruel rite. The 
 question is. Could man of himself merely, by any 
 natural process of thought or feeling combined, have 
 come to think and believe that such a rite stood in 
 close relation, in most holy relation, to the blessed 
 God ? Could he ever have come to regard it, as not 
 only innocent and not only praiseworthy, but most 
 sacred, a solemn act of piety ? We are so habitu- 
 ated to the idea, and the word, sacrifice, so trained 
 in the notion of the connexion of sacrifice with sin 
 
SACRIFICE. 209 
 
 and with divine forgiveness, that it is only by a 
 
 severe effort we are able to conceive of it naturally 
 
 and impartially, and in itself merely. But suppose 
 
 the entire absence of all our training and associations 
 
 and modes of thinking, — suppose primitive man, 
 
 with only his mere judgment and conscience, his 
 
 natural mode and power of looking at things, and 
 
 his personal experience to guide him, — the question 
 
 is, could he, in this case, of himself have come to 
 
 believe that the death of a beast could in any way 
 
 influence or bear any possible relation to, the mind of 
 
 his God ? Suppose the sense of sin in his soul ever 
 
 so deep, suppose his fear of punishment and his 
 
 dread of divine anger ever so overwhelming, could 
 
 he of himself have imagined that God would be 
 
 appeased towards him, and would find satisfaction in 
 
 the sufferings of an innocent and helpless animal? 
 
 It seems impossible to think so. What dictate of 
 
 natural conscience, what principle of common equity, 
 
 what law of the understanding, what process of fair 
 
 reasoning could have led him to such a conclusion ? 
 
 Not one. From what premises could he argue, on 
 
 what grounds could he rest his belief ? There were 
 
 none. Even supposing that his notions of God were 
 
 of the grossest kind, supposing that he imagined 
 
 God to be altogether such an one as himself, or 
 
 worse than himself, an imj)lacable, revengeful Being, 
 
 who delighted in blood and death and revelled in the 
 
 
 
210 SACRIFICE. 
 
 agonies of His creatures, this of itself would be 
 enough to convince him that such a Being could 
 never be contented with the sufferings of a mere 
 animal, substituted for the far acuter and deeper 
 sufferings of a rational man. A divine suggestion to 
 the human soul, but only this, solves all the diffi- 
 culties and perfectly meets all the circumstances of 
 the case. It seems reasonable to think that it must 
 have been in obedience to God, as it certainly was in 
 solemn acknowledgment of God, that, first of all, 
 irrational animals were slain. But the rite once 
 ordained, the act once familiar, the notion once 
 planted in the mind, all thereafter is comparatively 
 plain. The sacrifice of animal life w^ould become 
 a part of the understood, accepted, common know- 
 ledge of mankind, would be preserved and extended, 
 as a tradition, where the fact of its origin was 
 unknown, and would gather around itself, in the 
 progress of time, all manner of ideas, false and true, 
 according to the character and tendencies of indivi- 
 duals, nations, and ages. 
 
 The first mention of sacrifice in the Holy Scrip- 
 tures almost compels the belief, that it was by no 
 means the first time that such a thing had taken 
 place. " Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, 
 and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect 
 unto Abel and to liis offering." No special atten- 
 tion is drawn to the fact, as if it were altogether 
 
SACRIFICE. 211 
 
 novel and extraordinary. It is simply named as 
 a thing quite understood and perfectly usual. So 
 far as the testimony of the Hebrew Scriptures goes, 
 animal sacrifice certainly dates not long after the 
 creation of man. There is a kind of traditionary, 
 hereditary notion, widely prevalent, to the effect 
 that the food of primitive man was vegetable, and 
 that after the apostasy for the first time animal 
 food was used. Let no undue weight be attached 
 to this notion. It may have no authority at all. 
 But quite apart from this, it is in itself highly pro- 
 bable, we venture to think it all but certain, that 
 it was by divine suggestion, first of all, that animal 
 life was taken, in order that animal substance 
 might be used for human food. It needed such a 
 suggestion, first, to justify man in destroying animal 
 life, and, second, to prompt him to this act. The 
 taking of life, in any case, on any ground, is revolt- 
 ing and abhorrent to nature. We shrink from it, 
 we shudder at the sight of it. If it be a necessity, 
 it is a barbarous and brutal necessity, and no 
 ordinary force is required to overcome that deep 
 repugnance to it, with which all but very coarse 
 natures are possessed. It is quite true that our 
 instincts and our structure, beyond doubt, place us 
 in the order of carnivorous animals. But let us 
 carefully mark how much this involves. "We are 
 formed by nature to be flesh-eaters ; but whose flesh 
 
212 SACRIFICE. 
 
 — wLetlier that of oiir own race, or tliat of inferior 
 creatures — is a point wholly undetermined by our 
 structure. So far as structure is concerned, we have 
 precisely the same right, neither less nor more, to 
 feed upon one another as to take the life of any 
 animal, in order to appease our fleshly instincts. 
 Might is not right, and all our appetites must be 
 under law to reason and to God. Hence we argue 
 that the Being who formed our nature. Himself im- 
 pelled to the legitimate method of preserving it, and 
 appointed for our needs the death of the inferior 
 tribes. At the same time, we cannot doubt that a 
 deeper lesson, in harmony with the great facts of 
 the creation, the redemption and the ultimate per- 
 fection of the universe, was involved — a lesson reach- 
 ing to the inner, spiritual nature, and suggesting 
 that life is sustained only by the sacrifice of life. 
 All life, vegetable as well as animal, lives only hy the 
 death of other forms of being. Truest of all, the 
 higher life thrives by the sacrifice of the lower outer 
 life. Man rises to God, only out of the depths of 
 conflict and sufl'ering. By wholly giving himself up, 
 he gains himself. By simply but absolutely sur- 
 rendering his will to the good will of God, he be- 
 comes a freeman and a conqueror. By crucifying 
 the flesh, the spirit is crowned with true glory. By 
 dying he lives. 
 
 The rite of sacrifice was, first of all, merely the 
 
SACRIFICE. 213 
 
 divine provision for human sustenance. But in 
 connexion with this, there is an additional fact to 
 be noted — a manifest and merciful protection was 
 thrown around the lower creation. Animal life was 
 exalted into a sacred thing, and the taking it away 
 was hallowed as a solemn act of religion. From 
 the first, God taught His rational offspring that a 
 deed in itself strange and revolting must not be ven- 
 tured heedlessly or wantonly — must be transacted 
 under a distinct sense of His presence and His 
 rights, and must in fact be nothing less than a sur- 
 render back to Him of that which was wholly His — 
 a true act of worship. In this connexion, it is re- 
 markable that through the whole duration of the 
 Mosaic dispensation, the persons, save in exceptional 
 instances, who slew the animals used for food by the 
 Israelites were the priests. In Leviticus xvii. 3, 4, 
 the Israelites are expressly prohibited from killing 
 any animal for food without first offering it to the 
 Lord, and having it slain by the priest, before the 
 door of, the tabernacle. To this day, we believe, 
 among the scattered descendants of Abraham sacred 
 oflS.cers have to do with every animal which is used 
 for food. It is even yet more remarkable and more 
 decisive that, in killing animals to be used for food, 
 Mohammedans, who entirely abjure the rite of sac- 
 rifice, up to this hour invariably, as the knife de- 
 scends to cut the throat of the creature, utter the 
 
214 SACRIFICE. 
 
 words, " Bismillah," — " In the name of God." No 
 good Mussulman will eat the flesh of an animal 
 which has not in this way, as they judge, been made 
 sacred to God. The false and corrupt religious 
 ideas, too often associated with the rite of sacrifice, 
 render it hard, if not impossible, to reconcile it with 
 just conceptions of the Great Being. But so far as 
 we have gone in these hints as to its primitive 
 meaning and design, it is impossible not to regard 
 it as a provision altogether worthy of God — most 
 merciful and most wise — unspeakably more merciful 
 and more wise than the very best of our existing 
 Christian civilisations are able to exhibit. 
 
 It has been suggested that the notion of man and 
 God eating together, in token of reconciliation, was 
 involved in the primitive institution of sacrifice. 
 The form of the altar, literally a raised table, and 
 the fact that the priests (and the offerers at their 
 own homes) partook of the animals sacrificed, are 
 not without weight. The mode in which federal 
 treaties or compacts were made and confirmed in 
 ancient times has, perhaps, greater force still. "When 
 a disagreement had been made up, or when a com- 
 pact or covenant was entered into, the transaction 
 was hallowed by sacrifice. An animal was slain, 
 and divided into two portions; and the contracting 
 parties passed between the divided sacrifice, as much 
 as to say, " Let us no more henceforth be divided ;" 
 
SACRIFICE. 215 
 
 or, " So be it done to us, if we violate this covenant." 
 Thereafter they sat down together, and feasted on 
 the sacrifice. No unprejudiced inquirer can fail to 
 learn here, that the taking of animal life was held to 
 be a sacred thing, and to make sacred, to some ex- 
 tent, whatever was connected with it. It is plain, 
 also, that the God to whom life belongs was here in- 
 voked to witness and to sanction what was transacted. 
 But beyond this, all is unreal and contradictory. It 
 was not true that God did eat with men, and took 
 His place along with them at the altar. There is 
 nothing to show that they entertained this notion; 
 and if they did, it was not only a mere fancy, but a 
 gross and coarse, a degrading and dishonouring fancy. 
 The natural and rational analysis of the primitive 
 meaning of sacrifice guides us to one other, but only 
 to one other fact, in addition to the two already pro- 
 duced — the fact of human sin. Man had forfeited 
 his life. Every being who sins forfeits his right to 
 live. In the very act of sin he inflicts a death upon 
 himself, and strikes a mortal blow at his spiritual 
 nature. It was not unworthy of God, but most 
 worthy, to furnish, in the very mode in which even 
 the outer life of his rational creatures was preserved, 
 a perpetual, material symbol of the deeper evil which 
 they had brought upon themselves, and to extort 
 from them a silent, but significant confession of sin. 
 The teaching of the slain animal from the first, and, 
 
216 
 
 SACRIFICE, 
 
 later still, of the altar, was that human life was for- 
 feited life, life forfeited by transgression. 
 
 Few things are now less thought of, because so 
 common, than the death of animals, for the purposes 
 ^of daily subsistence. But it was not so from the 
 beginning. That deed, which, in token of disgust, 
 we call butchery, had at first a very hallowed mean- 
 ing. It was done in the name and by the command 
 of God, and was understood to be a solemn act 
 of acknowledgment and of reverent worship. It 
 taught the sacredness of all life, and was a surrender 
 back to God of what was supremely His — a virtual 
 self-surrender on the part of the offerer. Last of all, 
 it distinctly involved a silent confession of depend- 
 ence and of sin. In itself, merely, the act had no 
 sacredness, it became sacred because it was the 
 ordained symbol of that spiritual acknowledgment 
 which God required from His rational creatures. 
 But the material act was far easier than this mental 
 exercise. One of the deepest tendencies of men, in 
 the sphere of religion, is to substitute the outward 
 for the inw^ard, to put religious rites in the place of 
 religious convictions and feelings. Too often, the 
 abundant care and pains bestowed on outward forms, 
 are only the sure sign how utterly we have lost the 
 inward spirit of worship to which alone God looks. 
 It is not hard to conceive how men learned to count 
 the mere rite of sacrifice, apart from its inward 
 
SACRIFICE. 217 
 
 meaning, a thing good and holy in itself and pleas- 
 ing to God, and how they laboured, in their own 
 perverse way, to render the rite more imposing and 
 more awful. It is not wonderful that in successive 
 ages, utterly false ideas were so crowded around it, 
 as to bury out of sight the divine simplicity. As the 
 degeneration of the human races deepened, and as 
 men's thoughts of God became more dishonouring 
 and more gross, we have no difficulty in imagining 
 how they descended lower and ever lower still, until 
 at last they believed that the more numerous and the 
 more revolting the sacrifices which they brought to 
 the altar, the more likely they were to please the 
 Great Being. Even in the age of the patriarch 
 Abraham, the inhabitants of Canaan had sunk into 
 the most fearful debasement, and entertained the 
 most revolting notions of the Supreme. He was 
 transformed in their conceptions into a monster of 
 cruelty, whose anger could be appeased only by a 
 horrible and hideous worship, and to whose implac- 
 able revenge they must offer up not animal only but 
 human life, and even the life of their own offspring. i 
 We turn from the abuses and corruptions of a 
 sacred ordinance to its solemn restoration and re- 
 enactment by its divine Author. 
 
 1 The reasonings in the chapter following are quite apart from 
 the view of sacrifice presented in this chapter, and rest, as will be 
 perceived, on their own independent grounds. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 Section First. — Its Chief Characteristic. 
 
 Section Second.— Its True Meaning and Interpretation. 
 
SECTION FIRST — CHIEF CHARACTERISTIC OF THE 
 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 Religion of Blood — Endless Sacrifices — Rite Simplified and Purified 
 — Appeal through Senses to Soul — Two Ideas — Human Sus- 
 tenance and Divine Worship — Paschal Lamb, a Supper — Also, 
 Act of Worship — No Idea of Expiation — How Blood, Atone- 
 ment for Soul — Blood and Fat, God's Portion — Rest for Food 
 — Kaphar, iXdcr/co/iai, Atonement — Not Expiation — Proof 
 
 THEKE is a painful recoil in many minds, from 
 more than one aspect of the Jewish institutions, 
 and of the entire dispensation founded upon them. 
 The chief cause of offence is the place to which the 
 rite of sacrifice is exalted, being not simply or 
 occasionally recognised along with other and more 
 spiritual acts of worship, but constituting the 
 grand, pervading, and perpetual characteristic of the 
 economy. Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, on innu- 
 merable special occasions, and for innumerable 
 personal, domestic, social, private, and" national 
 causes, innocent animals were slain on the altar of 
 Jehovah. No ordinary arithmetic could compute 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 the sacrifices, of all kinds, which were offered up, in 
 whole or in part, in the tabernacle first and after- 
 wards in the temple. Such a narrative as that of 
 the first dedication of the temple in Jerusalem, when 
 Solomon and all Israel with him off'ered sacrifice 
 before the Lord, 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep, 
 bears no distant affinity, it is maintained, in this 
 particular feature to a Pagan festival. 
 
 It were easy, were it here needful, to exhibit the 
 widest distinction between Judaism and all the forms 
 of ancient idolatry. None of the revolting impurities 
 of Gentile worship, and none of the abominations of 
 human sacrifice, find a place in the law of Moses. 
 And then, instead of sacrifices to many gods, the 
 many sacrifices were all offered to the One only God, 
 the true object of worship. Even the number, the 
 modes, and the exact times of holy offerings were 
 fitted to act with beneficial power, on an undis- 
 ciplined multitude, to train them to habits of order 
 and of thoughtful care, and to inspire them with 
 the idea of the constancy, the awe, and the un- 
 feigned consecration which were demanded in divine 
 worship. But when all this and much more has 
 been advanced, the question is unanswered, " How 
 can we .connect the living God with a religion of 
 blood ? " for hour by hour of every day, the altar of 
 Jehovah streamed and reeked with blood. 
 
 It is not favourable to modern ideas, that some 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 223 
 
 of the wisest and most admired of the early Chris- 
 tian fathers vindicated the Mosaic institutions, by- 
 reference to the religious rites of Egypt and other 
 ancient nations. Had they, in that day, sympathised 
 with the later scholastic mode of interpreting the 
 rite of sacrifice, their course must have been the 
 very opposite. After the manner of more modern 
 apologists, they had only to show that Moses was 
 a, type of Christ, that the Jewish was a prefiguration 
 of the latter Christian dispensation, and that the 
 legal sacrifices were meant to prepare the world for 
 the true sacrifice of Christ. This would very readily 
 and legitimately have accounted for whatever seems 
 repulsive in the ancient ritual. But not a word to 
 this effect, do these primitive disciples of our Lord 
 utter. Instead of any such reasoning, they point 
 to the condition of the whole Gentile world, and 
 especially to the bloody altars of Egypt, with which 
 the Israelites had long been familiar, and in services 
 like to which they had long been trained. Hence 
 they argued that the institution of sacrifice by Moses 
 was an inevitable necessity, and that had it not been 
 sanctioned, as it was, by God, and placed under 
 special and exact laws, it would certainly have been 
 introduced by the Israelites themselves, indepen- 
 dently of divine sanction. It is strange but true. 
 The ancient. Christian argument involved this most 
 dishonouring conception — that God was obliged to 
 
224 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 succumb to a necessity, and was able only to regulate 
 and modify what it was impossible for Him to prevent. 
 
 The original meaning of the rite of sacrifice, if we 
 have correctly interpreted it, conducts us without 
 recoil, and by an obvious and easy process of 
 thought, to all the distinguishing services of Juda- 
 ism. That rite was first of all the divine provision 
 for human sustenance ; but it was a sacred rite from 
 the beginning, and was ordained and understood 
 to be a true act of worship — a distinct acknowledg- 
 ment of God, and a virtual self-surrender to Him. 
 It was the primitive, universal form of divine wor- 
 ship — the divinely-appointed mode in which men 
 expressed outwardly their reverent recognition of 
 the Great Creator. So far from yielding to a ne- 
 cessity, and sanctioning what He had never or- 
 dained, but only winked at, God, in the dispensation 
 of Moses, simply restored and re-enacted, with great 
 solemnity. His own significant ordinance. Away 
 from all which the ignorance, and the errors, and 
 the fears of men had originated. He reconnected 
 the taking of animal life with the presence and the 
 rights of the unseen Life-giver, and reclaimed, in this 
 significant act, the homage and the love of the 
 human soul. 
 
 It is important to bear in mind that the entire 
 ancient economy was an appeal directed, first of all, 
 to the senses of the Israelites, ultimately to their 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 225 
 
 judgment and conscience ; but first, through the 
 medium of strong impressions made on their animal 
 nature. The reason is manifest ; it was not possible, 
 by any other means, to have addressed an effective 
 appeal to such a people, as the Israelites were, at 
 this period of their history, a nation of slaves, 
 emasculated and ground down by two centuries of 
 the most galling bondage — a savage, ignorant, and 
 unintelligent multitude. The barbaric gorgeousness 
 of the tabernacle, with its coverings, and ornaments, 
 and colourings ; the outer court ; the holy place and 
 the holy of holies ; the dresses of the priest and of 
 the high priest ; the altars of sacrifice and of incense ; 
 the gold and silver vessels of the sanctuary ; the 
 numberless holy days and festivals ; the minute, 
 punctilious, rigorous details ; the washings, and 
 cleansings, and changings of robes ; the times, the 
 modes, and all the petty arrangements of cere- 
 monies and services, and the never-ending offerings 
 on all sorts of occasions and for all sorts of purposes, 
 — had one manifest design, to affect the senses of 
 the people, and through their senses to convey to 
 their minds, with extraordinary impressiveness, the 
 thought of God — a God ever near to them, ever 
 observant of them, and whose watchfulness was un- 
 ceasing and minute. 
 
 But if the rite of sacrifice, like the entire dispen- 
 sation to which it belonged, addressed the outward 
 
226 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 senses, that rite had in itself a wonderful simplicity 
 and directness of meaning, such as the humblest 
 might at once comprehend. And this simplicity 
 and directness were restored, preserved, and even 
 intensified by the peculiar institutions of the ritual 
 law of Moses. The sacrificial ordinance — cleared 
 from all the pagan ideas which had been imported 
 into it, and from all the pagan abominations which 
 had been associated with it — was made once more, 
 what it had been at the first, simply the outward 
 mode, whereby men gave token of their reverence 
 and their homage, whilst at the same time and by 
 the same act, God mercifully provided for them the 
 means of subsistence. 
 
 The first mention of sacrifice in the history of the 
 Jews, as a people, furnishes a significant, almost 
 startling, confirmation of this view. The Paschal 
 lamb formed the supper of that night when they 
 were driven out of Egypt. It was eaten with bread 
 hastily and imperfectly prepared, and with bitter 
 herbs, and amidst other signs of the perilous crisis 
 they had reached. But it was eaten, and it supplied 
 a meal of animal food very needful and strengthen- 
 ing for the anxious journey they were about to un- 
 dertake. At the same time, the slaying of the 
 lamb, as in all cases, was in the name and by the 
 command of God — it was essentially a sacred rite, 
 an act of homage and submission to the unseen 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 227 
 
 Jehovali, under whose protection they were to go 
 forth from Egypt, and who, on that memorable 
 night, was to shield them from the dire calamity 
 soon to come down on the inhabitants of the land. 
 It is only reasonable to conjecture that the religious 
 system afterwards established by divine command 
 may possibly be found to be in strict harmony with 
 this original fact. The two ideas at the first con- 
 joined — human sustenance and divine worship — 
 were certainly embodied in the sacrifices under the 
 law of Moses. The whole burnt-offering, symbolic 
 of extraordinary and entire consecration to God, 
 had its fitting place in that law ; but usually, gener- 
 ally, whilst in every proper sacrifice, a certain part 
 was consumed on the altar, in token of surrender to 
 God, the remainder was the food either of the 
 priests or of the ofi'erers themselves. On this prin- 
 ciple, a consistent and honourable interpretation is 
 supplied of the fact already referred to in connexion 
 with the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem, when 
 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep were sacrificed. It 
 was no outburst of brutal savageism, and no mere 
 cruel and wicked waste of animal life. The occasion 
 was one of extraordinary thanksgiving and rejoicing 
 — of solemn worship, indeed, but also of feasting and 
 of national exhilaration. "While God was reverently 
 acknowledged, and whilst the rich celebrated a joy- 
 ous holiday, hundreds and thousands of the poorer^ 
 
228 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 Israelites, who had no sacrifice to olFer, were fur- 
 nished with the means both of worship and of feast- 
 ing — the means of adoring their God, and of making 
 glad in the joy of their country. 
 
 The sacred side of the rite of sacrifice, apart from 
 its secular uses, was unambiguous and intelligible — 
 reverent acknowledgment of God, and return and 
 self-surrender to Him. But was this the entire sig- 
 nificance of so strange a rite ? That is the question 
 which deserves an extended and explicit reply. The 
 fact must not be concealed, that long before the 
 time of Moses, among the Gentile peoples around, as 
 in heathen nations at this hour, a larger and very 
 different conception was entertained. Urged by their 
 fears, and judging by a human standard, and by 
 human experiences, men early dreamed of propitiat- 
 ing divine favour, and appeasing divine anger, and 
 of prevailing on the gods either to avert evil, or 
 to bestow some desired benefit. To them Baal or 
 Ammon or Moloch or Jupiter were monster exag- 
 gerations of human passions and vices ; and hence, 
 in the worship of such deities, they shed blood in 
 torrents, perpetrated horrible cruelties, cut them- 
 selves with knives and sacrificed their fellow-crea- 
 tures, and even their own children, on the altar. Their 
 idea was to make up, somehow, for the wrongs they 
 had done, to glut and satiate the revenge, of which 
 they supposed themselves to be the objects, or to 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 229 
 
 work upon the stern and cruel nature of their gods, 
 so as to secure some coveted favour. But it would 
 require more than common evidence to sustain the 
 belief that these Pagan ideas in any degree tainted 
 the divine economy of the Old Testament. It is 
 not, indeed, impossible, or even improbable, that 
 among the Jewish people something of the pagan 
 element may have found its way. That element, as 
 is shown in its early and wide development, must 
 have much in it which is congenial with the ignor- 
 ance and the gross ideas, and, especially, the fears 
 of the human soul. Men are slow to believe that 
 God's thoughts are immeasurably high above their 
 thoughts, and His ways immeasurably high above 
 their wa^^ s, slow to believe that His mercy reacheth 
 to the clouds, and that He delighteth to pardon. 
 But they do naturally, though most perversely, judge 
 of the Most High by themselves, and by themselves 
 even in their worst aspects — as furious, revengeful, 
 and implacable. They do imagine that, like them- 
 selves. He also must hunger for satisfaction, must 
 thirst for blood, must burn to wreak His vengeance. 
 It is possible — though any distinct evidence of such 
 a thing is altogether wanting — that this Pagan con- 
 dition of thought and of heart may have more or 
 less infected the Jewish people. But that it was 
 ever sanctioned, or even indirectly countenanced, by 
 their religious institutions, must be resolutely denied. 
 
230 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 When the Jew brought his sacrifice to the altar, two 
 distinct ideas were presented to his mind. On the 
 one hand, here was a merciful divine provision for 
 his animal life; on the other hand, the God, who 
 had made this provision, was here laying claim to 
 the reverence and the love of his heart, and demand- 
 ing his willing return and self-surrender. Every 
 fresh offering was meant to be a fresh response to 
 the divine claims, a new and sacred acknowledgment 
 on his part, a new return and self-surrender to his 
 God. The occasions of sacrifice were endless; but 
 throughout them all, in every instance, the one mean- 
 ing was simply this, renewed and reverent acknow- 
 ledgment of God. He was taught that the grand 
 reality, to be recognised in every change of circum- 
 stances, and with every passing hour, was God. The 
 transparent purpose of the institution under which 
 he lived was to encompass him with a holy rcA^erence 
 of God, to keep alive in him a constant sense of God's 
 presence and God's rights, and to convince him that 
 he could be happy and safe and right only in God, 
 in a cordial return and surrender to Him. 
 
 But the question is repeated, Was there no more 
 than this involved in so extraordinary a rite ? Are 
 we not compelled to think that there must have 
 been much more than this ? How, for example, are 
 we to account for the frequent mention of sacrificial 
 blood in the Old Testament, and for the constant 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 231 
 
 and reverent use which was made of it? The 
 writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews states the simple 
 fact when he says that " almost all things were by 
 the law purged with blood." " And that without 
 shedding of blood is no remission." The sprinkling 
 of blood was one of the most sacred of all the rites 
 connected with sacrifice. It was performed always 
 towards the mercy-seat, sometimes in the outer court, 
 sometimes in the holy place, sometimes in both, 
 and once a year in the holy of holies. Blood was 
 sprinkled on the person, on the garments, and on the 
 dwelling. The sacred vessels and furniture of the 
 tabernacle were purified with blood. When the 
 throat of the sacrifice was cut, the blood was caught 
 in a vessel, and with his fingers the priest touched 
 with blood the horns and sometimes the sides of the 
 altar, the rest being poured out at the bottom of the 
 altar, from which, through two openings, it was con- 
 ducted into the brook Kedron. On the great day of 
 atonement, the high priest with unusual solemnity 
 carried the blood of the sacrifice into the holy of 
 holies, and sprinkled it reverently before the mercy- 
 seat and on the mercy-seat. 
 
 A peculiar significance is added to all these facts, 
 by the divine announcement in Lev. xvii. 10, 11. 
 "Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or 
 of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth 
 any manner of blood; I wiU even set my face against 
 
232 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from 
 among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the 
 blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar, to 
 make an atonement for your souls (lives) ; for it 
 is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul," 
 (life.) Physiological and sanitary reasons were 
 doubtless combined with others of a purely sacred 
 kind, in this promulgation of the mind of God ; but 
 the sacred ground is emphatic and distinct : "it 
 is the blood that maketh an atonement for the 
 soul," (life.) Without determining at present the 
 exact sense of the word " atonement," this much is 
 evident, that whatever value, whatever acknowledg- 
 ment of God there was in the sacrifice proper, was 
 owing simply and wholly to the life-blood being 
 shed. There was no sacrifice in the highest sense 
 without this, and a strong confirmation is here 
 incidentally furnished of the interpretation which has 
 been given of the sacrificial rite, in its primitive and 
 natural meaning. We found that it was animal life 
 in that rite, which was made a sacred thing by God, 
 and it was the taking and offering up of the life, not 
 the wounding or maiming of an animal, but the 
 taking of the life, in which consisted the act of 
 worship. The acknowledgment of God in the 
 slaying of an animal was the acknowledgment of 
 the Life-giver, and the act of worship was recogni- 
 tion of His rights and surrender back to Him of that 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 233 
 
 which was supremely His, involving as it did a 
 virtual self -surrender on the part of the offerer. 
 The presentation and sprinkling of the blood were 
 thus indispensable ; and as the symbol of life taken, 
 and of life surrendered, to the Life-giver, the blood 
 had a meaning which did not belong to anything 
 else, whilst, in itself merely, it was no more sacred 
 than any other part of the sacrifice, and had no 
 more efficacy or power. To set our minds com- 
 pletely at rest on this head, we have only to turn 
 to another passage in the book of Leviticus, chap, 
 vii. 23, 25 — " Speak unto the children of Israel, 
 saying, Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or 
 of sheep, or of goat. For whosoever eateth the fat 
 of the beast, of which men offer an offering made 
 by fire unto the Lord, even the soul that eateth it 
 shall be cut off from his people." The plain fact 
 is this, in every proper sacrifice, two things were 
 reserved sacred to God, the blood and the fat, but 
 the one no more than the other — the blood being 
 sprinkled and poured out. and the fat being con- 
 sumed on the altar. The same solemn prohibition 
 against eating applied to both alike, and the same 
 penalty of death was attached to the violation of 
 the prohibition, in the one case, and in the other 
 alike. There were very strong sanitary reasons 
 for such a law in that climate, and in the circum- 
 stances of the Israelites, but we have here simply 
 
234 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 to understand that the blood and the fat were God's 
 portion in every sacrifice: all the rest, that is, all 
 which was really wholesome, being used for food. 
 
 Among the causes which have operated in identi- 
 fying the Jewish law with pagan worship one of 
 the most powerful lies in that word " atonement." It 
 is met with repeatedly, especially in the Pentateuch, 
 creates, it is imagined, a most formidable diffi- 
 culty, and involves thoroughly Pagan notions of 
 the rite of sacrifice.i The original Hebrew term 
 (Kaphar) affords no assistance to the inquirer. It 
 simply means to cover, to conceal, to put aside. A 
 little help is gained from the Scptuagint, the oldest 
 translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, a translation 
 by Jews of their native tongue into a foreign lan- 
 guage, which, however, they were in the constant 
 habit of using, and with which they were thoroughly 
 familiar. Two or three different words are employed 
 in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew, (Kaphar.) 
 We have, in several instances, dyid^co, I sanctify, con- 
 secrate, set apart; or, KaOapl^o}^ KaOalpco^ I purify, 
 cleanse, and their derivations; but in by far the 
 greater number we find IXdcrKOfiai, or its compound, 
 e^ikdaKOjjLai. There can be no question that, ac- 
 
 ^ I have sought to examine, with all the care possible to me, the 
 whole of the passages of the Old Testament, in number between 
 sixty and seventy, in which the word "atonement" occurs, and have 
 given, in the succeeding pages, the result of this examination. 
 
MOSAIC ECOI^OMY. 235 
 
 cording to ordinary Greek usage, the two latter verbs 
 convey distinctly the idea of propitiating or appeas- 
 ing, and are constantly employed by Greek writers 
 to express the supposed effect of sacrifices in avert- 
 ing the anger of the gods. But because the Sep- 
 tuagint translators applied a common, Pagan, sacri- 
 ficial word to the Mosaic offerings, are we obliged to 
 conclude that therefore they applied it, in the Pagan 
 sense ? It by no means necessarily follows ; and 
 there are strong reasons against such a conclusion. 
 For example, of^iaCjua and Ka9ap[t,(o are sometimes 
 used indifferently, in the Septuagint, with IXdaKoixat 
 and i^lXdaKOfiai, as if they were convertible terms, 
 though the two former certainly contain no such 
 sense as expiation or propitiation. In the account 
 of the most solemn of all the Jewish festivals, the 
 great day of atonement, given Exod. xxx. 10, we 
 read, *' Aaron shall make an atonement upon the 
 horns of it, i^lXdaerai eir dvro, (shall expiate upon 
 it,) once a year with the blood of the sin offer- 
 ings of atonement, tov KaOaptcr/jboVy (of cleansing:) 
 once in the year shall he make atonement upon it, 
 Kd6apiei, (cleanse upon it.)" Again, we read in 
 Lev. xii. 20, " When he hath made an end of re- 
 conciling (atoning) the holy place, and the taber- 
 nacle of the congregation, and the altar," &c. The 
 Hebrew is Kaphar, and IXdcrKOfiaL is the verb used 
 in the Septuagint. But whatever be the meaning 
 
236 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 of the Hebrew or of the Greek word elsewhere, in 
 sacred or in profane writing, at least in this passage, 
 atoning, as that word is understood in scholastic 
 theology, propitiating, or appeasing, is utterly inad- 
 missible. The holy place, the tabernacle, and the 
 altar could commit no sin, and could awaken no 
 divine anger which needed to be appeased. Nothing 
 can be more clear than that the word "atone" cannot, 
 in this instance, contain the idea of expiation. 
 
 It is worth while to note, in passing, that the text 
 just quoted is not the only one in which our English 
 translators have rendered the Hebrew Kdplidr by 
 "reconcile" instead of "atone." In at least five 
 other instances, Lev. vi. 30 and viii. 15, Ezek. xlv. 
 15 and 18, and Dan. ix. 24, this rendering occurs. 
 And it will be remembered that in the New Tes- 
 tament we found i that "reconcile" and "reconcili- 
 ation," in twelve out of thirteen cases, are the trans- 
 lation of a Greek term which undeniably can have 
 no reference to expiation, or satisfaction, in the schol- 
 astic sense. The impression is not unreasonable, 
 that " reconcile" and " reconciliation" may possibly 
 convey all that is essential in atone and atonement, 
 as occurring in the Old Testament. A more ex- 
 tended examination of passages, as we judge, will 
 strengthen this impression, and convert it into a con- 
 viction, based on no slender ground. 
 
 1 See chap, v., p. 125. 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 237 
 
 We read in Excel, xxix. 36-37, " Thou shalt offer 
 every day a bullock for a sin-offering of atonement : 
 and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast 
 made an atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, 
 to sanctify it : . . . and it shall be an altar most holy ; 
 whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy." The 
 altar was holy, not morally, but ceremonially ; holy, 
 in the sense of sacred ; sanctified, in the sense of 
 being consecrated; separated, set apart to the service 
 of God. So sacred was it, that whatsoever touched 
 it partook of its sanctity, and only sacred j)ersons, 
 specially separated to this end, durst touch it. But 
 we are taught, that it became thus sacred, became a 
 sanctified, hallowed, atoned thing, through sacrifice, 
 — seven days of sacrifice ; and the question is. How 
 could this be ? We have only to recollect, in answer 
 to this question, that sacrifice was among the sacredest 
 of human acts, the sacredest of all the outward forms 
 of religious worship, and of all the outward modes of 
 acknowledging the presence and the rights of God. 
 In order to consecrate anything, to take it out of the 
 circle of common things, and to set it apart for God, 
 the directest method was to connect it with sacrifice. 
 As for any idea of atonement for sin, as we speak, in 
 the case of the altar, a piece of inanimate matter ; as 
 for any idea of expiation or propitiation or satisfac- 
 tion to divine justice, it is simply and wholly unin- 
 telligible. Nor will it avail to suggest that the sins 
 
238 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 of the Israelites, whose offerings were laid upon the 
 altar, rendered it unclean. Formally, ritually, it 
 might be so, indeed it certainly was so, even as he 
 who touched, or was touched, by anything ceremoni- 
 ally impure, was held to be ceremonially impure, 
 (though he had contracted no real, moral defilement,) 
 until by certain observances he was again formally 
 cleansed. Accordingly, we are expressly told that 
 the altar needed to be, and was, hallowed, atoned, 
 once a year " from the uncleanness of the children of 
 Israel.'' But sin, real impurity, moral evil, could 
 not insert itself into the wood or clay or stone of 
 which the altar was made, could not inhere or adhere 
 to it, could not touch it, could not affect it in any con- 
 ceivable way, or in tlie slightest degree. Atonement, 
 in the sense of expiation of sin, for the altar, was 
 impossible ; the thing was either unmeaning or most 
 impious. At the same time, it is easy to see that 
 the very sacred and extended ceremonies by which 
 the altar, and, in like manner, the sanctuary, and the 
 tabernacle of the congregation were atoned, which in 
 this place can signify only restored and reconciled to 
 their holy uses, had an important meaning and an 
 exalted purpose. In harmony with the entire spirit 
 of a dispensation which was all addressed to the 
 senses of an uncultivated people, an impression of 
 profound awe was made on the Israelites. Their 
 God was a holy and a jealous Grod, and would toler- 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 239 
 
 ate no oversight ; His service was most sacred, and 
 everything used in it must be held to be most sacred, 
 and must be jealously kept perfectly free from spot 
 or taint. But such atonement is not expiation. 
 
 A strong confirmation of this course of thought is 
 found in Lev. xiv. 48-53. The passage refers to the 
 plague of leprosy, in the walls of a house, which is 
 most minutely described, by its various indications. 
 The priest is, first of all, to make a careful inspection 
 of the place, and to order certain steps to be taken by 
 the inmates. These attended to, " if the priest shall 
 come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague 
 hath not spread in the house : then the priest shall 
 pronounce the house clean, because the plague is 
 healed. And he shall take to cleanse the house, two 
 birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop : and 
 he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over 
 running water: and he shall take the cedar wood, 
 and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, 
 and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in 
 the running water, and sprinkle the house seven 
 times : and he shall cleanse the house with the blood 
 of the bird, and with the running water, and with 
 the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with 
 the hyssop, and with the scarlet : and he shall let go 
 the living bird out of the city into the open fields, 
 and make an atonement for the house : and it shall 
 be clean." The meaning of the word "atonement" is 
 
240 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 the subject of our inquiry. It is no presumption to 
 assert, with entire confidence, that here that meaning 
 cannot, on any possible ground, contain the idea of 
 expiation, propitiation, satisfaction to divine justice. 
 And for a reason which is altogether invincible, the 
 walls of the house had committed no sin, and were 
 incapable of moral impurity. But wherefore, then, 
 is it asked such ceremonies as are described in detail ? 
 Simply because such a house was an offence among a 
 people, who, in a sense different from all others on 
 the face of the earth, had been separated to God, and 
 who, not in their religious rites only, but in their 
 dwellings, their garments, their food, and everything 
 belonging to them, were to keep themselves with 
 jealous care from all that was noxious or unclean. 
 
 Lev. xiv. 1-20, contains the law relating to a man 
 afilicted with the disease of leprosy — no sin, but a 
 merely physical calamity. When the disease was 
 cured, he had an atonement made for him by sacri- 
 fice. After other details of observances, we read, in 
 verses 19, 20, " the priest shall offer the sin-ofiering, 
 and make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed 
 from his uncleanness; and afterwards he shall kill 
 the burnt- offering: and the priest shall offer the 
 burnt-offering and the meat offering upon the altar : 
 and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and 
 he shall be clean," — that is, he shall be reinstated 
 again in his place among the holy people as one of 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 241 
 
 them, one consecrated and separated to God like tlie 
 rest, reconciled and restored to his position and his 
 privileges. To the same effect, the man who had a 
 running issue in his flesh, when the disease was cured, 
 was atoned by sacrifice. " The priest shall make an 
 atonement for him before the Lord for his issue." l 
 A mother after child-birth, and a woman during her 
 separation, were ceremonially unclean, and were 
 atoned by sacrifice. 2 Bodily uncleannesses of many 
 different kinds are minutely described in the books 
 of Moses ; sins of ignorance also, which were not 
 moral offences at all, are set down, and were all 
 atoned by sacrifice. To such minuteness did the 
 law descend, that if a Jew but touched any unclean 
 thing, such as the carcass of an unclean beast, the 
 priest must make atonement for him by sacrifice. 3 
 
 It would be idle to argue that in all these and 
 similar passages — very numerous as they are, and 
 comprising a large proportion of all the instances in 
 which the term under discussion occurs — there can 
 be no possible reference to expiation, as that word is 
 now understood. Where no sin had been committed, 
 atonement for sin, in the scholastic sense, was impos- 
 sible. But the word is used, and this proves, if any- 
 thing can prove, that the word does not necessarily 
 involve this idea. The various ordinances, all the 
 while, show on their surface their own significant 
 
 ^ Lev, XV. 15. 2 Lev. xii. 7, and xv. 30. ^ Lev. v. 6. 
 
 Q 
 
242 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 interpretation. The Israelites were a consecrated, a 
 separated people. God acknowledged tliem as His, 
 and admitted them to His worship ; but they must 
 be taught in the only effectual way in which such a 
 j)eople could be taught, that it was no light thing to 
 draw near to Him. They must be taught that no 
 negligence, and not the slightest defect, could escape 
 His eye for a moment, and that the least defilement 
 affecting their persons, their dress, their food, their 
 houses, or anything connected with them, would unfit 
 them for His service, and exclude them for the time 
 from His house and His worship. But so soon as 
 the outward cause of exclusion was removed, their 
 God was ready to welcome them again, and it was 
 their part to return to Him, and in a way prescribed 
 by Himself, to reconcile and restore themselves to 
 His service. Sacrifice was thus the significant ex- 
 pression of their desire to acknowledge and return to 
 God, the outward symbol of their restoration to His 
 house and their re-union with His people. The rite 
 did nothing to God, appeased no anger, expiated no 
 sin, but it spoke much, and was meant to speak much, 
 for the offerers. It testified their humble acknow- 
 ledgment and their reverent surrender to God ; but 
 that was all. 
 
SECTION SECOND — ITS TRUE MEANING AND INTEEPEE- 
 TATION. 
 
 Visible Punishments and Eewards in Old Testament — Atonement 
 for Life, not Soul — System of Discipline and of Worship — Not 
 Scheme of Salvation — Training of Israelite! — Old Testament, 
 Record of Spiritual Truth — Special Privileges — Salvation 
 always Common to World — Sacrifices never Ground of Pardon 
 — "Purifying of Flesh" — No More— Anticipation of Death of 
 Christ Impossible — " I, even I, am He that Blotteth out/' &c. 
 
 IT is very needful to pause here for a moment, and 
 to reflect on the weighty conclusion which we 
 have reached. Some of the wisest and best of men 
 have accepted the doctrine of Atonement — meaning 
 expiation and satisfaction to justice — because the 
 terms of Scripture, as they judged, expressly con- 
 tained it. Undoubtedly the Pagan sacrifices, by those 
 who offered them, were held to be expiatory ; as 
 undoubtedly the very terms, such as Ixda-Kofiai and 
 t.\d(7fjLo^, which ordinary Greek writers constantly 
 employed to express the expiatory character of their 
 sacrificial rites, are applied by the Septuagint writers 
 of the Old Testament, and by the inspired writers of 
 
244 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 the New Testament, to the Mosaic sacrifices, or to 
 the death of Christ on the cross. But notwithstand- 
 ing this, it has been distinctly proved, by several de- 
 cisive examples, (and the fact will be confirmed pre- 
 sently by additional proofs,) that the Hebrew Kaphar, 
 the Greek IXdaKOfiai,, and the English atone, do not, 
 and cannot, in the cases cited, involve the idea of 
 expiation. The sacred writers employ the common. 
 Pagan, sacrificial term — it would have been difficult, 
 if not impossible, for them to have done anything 
 else ; but they distinctly do not employ it to express 
 the Pagan idea, but one essentially and totally differ- 
 ent from it. The use of Kaphar, IXdaKo/jLaL, and 
 i\d(T/jLo<;, is not proof of the doctrine of expiation and 
 satisfaction ; is immeasurably fa;* from this. 
 
 There is another consideration which must be taken 
 into account in interpreting the Mosaic system. That 
 system was distinctively one of visible punishments 
 and rewards. Bodily health and outward prosperity 
 were promised to obedience; outward calamity and 
 death were threatened to disobedience. It is start- 
 ling, how often, as the penalty of mere ceremonial 
 offences, we read " that soul shall be cut off from his 
 people." It will be remembered that among the pas- 
 sages a little while ago referred to, we found that the 
 eating of blood or of fat was punishable with death. 
 In like manner it is recorded that the man who was 
 found gathering sticks on the Sabbath-day was put 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 245 
 
 to death. And for all presumptuous sins — that is, 
 deliberate, conscious violation or neglect of ceremonial 
 ordinances — the punishment was death. This fact 
 will readily explain to us a phraseology not infre- 
 quent in the Old Testament, which by itself would 
 be hopelessly perplexing. The sacrifices are re- 
 peatedly said to be an atonement for the soul. The 
 people are commanded to sacrifice, that they may 
 make an atonement for their souls. But the Hebrew 
 word for soul means, not always, or even often, what 
 we distinguish as soul, but simply life. In most, 
 perhaps all, of the passages where the word is found, 
 the true rendering would be life, not soul, in the pre- 
 sent accepted sense. It was hteraUy true, under the 
 Mosaic dispensation, that the health and life — the 
 soul — of the people depended on their faithful ob- 
 servance of the outward rites of their religion. They 
 were bound even, for health's sake and for life's sake, 
 to worship the Life-giver, and to do so exactly in 
 the prescribed form — to express their acknowledg- 
 ment and their felt dependence, and formally yield 
 themselves up to Him. 
 
 A passage in illustration may be here quoted,i con- 
 taining an ordinance which dates from the very com- 
 mencement of the dispensation, and the teaching of 
 which is very unambiguous. It relates to the num- 
 bering of the people at stated times. " They shall 
 
 1 Exod. XXX. 11-16. 
 
246 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 give every man a ransom for his soul (his life) unto 
 the Lord, when thou numberest them." Half a 
 shekel was the sum to be given by rich and poor 
 alike, neither more nor less, " an offering unto the 
 Lord." It is added, " to make an atonement for 
 your souls (lives.) And thou shalt take the atone- 
 ment money of the children of Israel, and shall 
 appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the 
 congregation, that it may be a memorial unto the 
 children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atone- 
 ment for your souls" (lives.) In this passage that 
 efficacy which is conceived to belong exclusively to 
 bloody sacrifices, is connected with a payment in 
 money. Unquestionably there was no expiatory, pro- 
 pitiatory offering here, no satisfaction to divine jus- 
 tice, as we speak; but there was, it is explicitly 
 declared, a real atonement ; showing, if language has 
 a meaning, that the word " atonement" in the Old 
 Testament cannot in this instance signify what we 
 have supposed it must always signify, but must mean, 
 simply, reverent acknowledgment of God — an expres- 
 sion of submission, of self-surrender, and of cordial 
 reconciliation to Him. 
 
 A passage very similar to the last, and as decisive 
 in its teaching, will be found in Num. xxxi. 50-54. 
 There had been war with Midian, immense spoil had 
 been taken, and not one of the Israelitish warriors 
 had fallen. At the command of God, a certain 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 247 
 
 portion of the spoil was given to the Levites, and for 
 the service of the tabernacle. But we read that the 
 officers of the army came near to Moses and said, 
 " We have brought an oblation for the Lord, what 
 every man hath gotten of jewels, of gold, chains and 
 bracelets, rings and ear-rings, and tablets, to make 
 an atonement (obviously meaning grateful acknow- 
 ledgment) for our souls (lives) before the Lord/^ 
 This passage may be left to speak for itself. 
 
 The examination, somewhat extended, which we 
 have sought to conduct, brings us to the fixed con- 
 clusion, so far as we have yet gone, that atonement 
 in the sense of expiation for sin, has no place what- 
 ever in the Mosaic ordinances. The sin to which 
 alone these ordinances refer throughout, is wholly 
 ceremonial, ritual, not moral, that is, not real sin at 
 all. And not only so, for it has been proved very 
 distinctly, that the sacrifices even for ceremonial 
 offences were in no sense meant to be expiatory, but 
 were simply the ordained and significant mode in 
 which the people expressed their desire to reconcile 
 and restore themselves to God. Additional and 
 striking evidence of this fact is still to be adduced. 
 In the meantime, we turn to a passage which inci- 
 dentally and from the negative side, supplies singular 
 evidence. When Moses was in the mount with God 
 receiving the tables of the law, the Israelites, wearied 
 out with his long absence, and still retaining much of 
 
248 MOSAIC EC0N03IY. 
 
 tlie spirit of Egyptian idolatry, formed a molten calf, 
 and bowed down before it, saying, '^ These be thy 
 gods, Israel/^ The crime was punished awfully ; 
 a vast multitude of the idolaters, to the number of 
 about three thousand, fell by the sword of the 
 Levites. After the infliction of this terrible punish- 
 ment, Moses gathered the congregation together on 
 the morrow and said to them, for they were all 
 implicated in the crime, " Ye have sinned a great 
 sin,"— no mere ceremonial offence, but a real, moral 
 transgression, a transgression heinous and aggravated 
 above measure, against the nature and the law and 
 the honour of Jehovah — " Ye have sinned a great 
 sin, and now I will go up unto the Lord, peradventure 
 I shall make an atonement for your sin." i 
 
 Let us well mark and ponder how the man of God 
 conducted this perilous case. Of course, we should 
 naturally have anticipated that the very first thing to 
 which his convictions and his hopes as a Jew must 
 have impelled him, would be sacrifice. If, according 
 to modern conceptions, sacrifice was the appointed 
 method of expiating sin and propitiating the favour 
 of God, now, of all others, was the very moment 
 for proving the efficacy of the rite. Moses certainly 
 understood the doctrines and the laws of Judaism, 
 and had an undoubted faith in them ; but strange 
 to say, he ofi'ers no sacrifice. Indisputably, he did 
 
 ^ Exod. xxxii. 30. 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 24:9 
 
 not believe in the expiation of real sin by sacrifice; 
 indisputably, he did not believe that God would be 
 propitiated by blood, else he would certainly have 
 offered up a victim. Instead of all this, in the 
 face of all this, he adopts the old, the primitive, 
 the unchanging, the only and ever availing method, 
 that of simple, humble confession and prayer. 
 The people had awfully separated themselves from 
 their God ; they must be brought back, recon- 
 ciled, atoned to Him. Moses in their name throws 
 himself at the feet of God, in their name con- 
 fesses the sin and its greatness, and in their name 
 begs forgiveness from the pure, free grace of the 
 divine bosom. And it was granted. The revela- 
 tion of the forgiving mercy of the holy God, in 
 which Moses trusted thousands of years ago, and 
 on which he cast a guilty nation, dates from the first 
 moment of sin. This was the true and the only 
 ground of faith to all the good, from the creation, on 
 through succeeding ages, till the advent of Christ. 
 In the reconciling, redeeming love of the Incarnate 
 One, we now have evidences and influences, such as 
 earlier generations never knew, but substantially and 
 virtually the ground of faith is, and has been ever 
 the same — the revealed, forgiving mercy of the holy 
 God. The Jewish economy did not touch this 
 common heritage of man at all, except that it ex- 
 pressly contained and exhibited it. This was not 
 
250 MOSAI€ ECONOMY. 
 
 Jewish, but human, the hope of man, wherever there 
 was a soul that struggled after God and besought 
 His mercy. 
 
 But without undervaluing in the least this im- 
 portant fact, most precious to man and to all ages, 
 it is not to be forgotten that the Great Father, 
 who pities and loves all souls, had high and special 
 purposes to accomplish through the agency of tlie 
 descendants of Abraham. The Incarnate Kedeemer 
 of men, as concerning the flesh, was to spring from 
 this race, and a line of dim prophetic twilight was to 
 be coincident with the course of Jewish history, till 
 it merged and melted in the dawn of Bethle- 
 hem, in the mysterious glories of Calvary, and in 
 the sunshiue of the Christian revelation. God had 
 more to accomplish for the world through their 
 means than through means of other nations, and 
 therefore spoke to them and through them, as He 
 could not speak in the case of others. Simply because 
 of the merciful, universal purpose, which in the vast 
 complications of Providence was to be served by them, 
 the Jews were in certain respects nearer to the foun- 
 tain of truth than others ; but they were not therefore 
 and never were more beloved than others. 
 
 It is impossible to interpret the profound historic 
 interest which to this hour attaches to the Jewish 
 nation, except on the ground of a special and grand 
 destiny in the purposes of Almighty Providence. 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 251 
 
 Four thousand years ago the Jews were a nation, and 
 they constitute a distinctly recognised nation at this 
 day, though without a country and without political 
 organisation. For two thousand years they have 
 been dispersed over all quarters of the globe, Europe, 
 Asia, Africa, and America, amongst all nations, 
 Pagan, Mohammedan, and Christian, Koman Catholic 
 and Protestant, and have many times been pursued 
 with most merciless hostility. But they have not 
 yet perished, not melted away, have not been 
 swallowed up by surrounding and aggressive popu- 
 lations, not been slowly fused down and rendered 
 indistinguishable from the masses on every side. 
 After four thousand years of existence and two 
 thousand years of dispersion and persecution, they 
 remain a distinct, recognised people, having preserved 
 their language, their laws, their worship, and even 
 their physiognomy, to this day. What does, what 
 can it mean? The fact is perfectly alone in all 
 history. Not another such example, nor anything 
 approaching to it, can be pointed out in the entire 
 annals of the world. It is not the sacred books of 
 the Jews, nor even their religion, to which we need 
 to appeal. Their very existence, were there nothing 
 else, is a standing proof of a marvellous purpose of 
 Providence, somehow connected with their preserva- 
 tion and isolation. 
 
 The key to the interpretation of all the peculiarities 
 
252 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 of ancient Judaism, lies here, as we venture to judge. 
 An ignorant and barbarous people were to be dis- 
 ciplined for a lofty and godlike mission, of the real 
 nature of which, its mystery, its vastness, its gran- 
 deur, they were to the last almost as unaware as 
 others. By means of a stringent and all embracing 
 form of worship, which affected every hour of the 
 day, and every element and aspect of their life, they 
 were brought into peculiar and constant relation with 
 the one true Jehovah, and taught to believe and feel 
 that they were His people. By a succession of never- 
 ending sacred rites, every one of which, even at the 
 peril of their lives, they had to observe scrupulously, 
 to the veriest jot and tittle, they were not only 
 habituated to the thought of God but inspired with 
 profound awe of Him, and educated in the conviction 
 of His constant presence, His unerring observation, 
 and the perpetual reverence which He demanded. 
 From age to age, heroic souls were born among them 
 to govern, deliver, rebuke, or punish them, and to 
 reform their institutions and their manners. Gifted 
 sages were raised up to inspire them with exalted 
 and pure conceptions of Jehovah. Holy men of 
 God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, 
 and historians, and psalmists, and prophets, and 
 seers, uttered their divine messages through the 
 length and breadth of the land. To the Jews, as 
 to no other people under heaven, were committed 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 253 
 
 the oracles of God. Without philosophy, without 
 science, without literature, except of a sacred kind, 
 the writings of their inspired men contain for the 
 world, the largest amount anywhere to be found, of 
 what the world to this day acknowledges to be best 
 and truest in divine religion. Objections, some of 
 them of great weight, and all of them meriting im- 
 partial examination, have often been taken to in- 
 dividual portions of the Old Testament, to some of 
 its facts, its moral precepts, its doctrines, its spirit. 
 But it is seldom understood, that were the whole of 
 the portions objected to taken out, the Old Testament 
 would be diminished to no considerable extent, and 
 it would still be a repository of essential and highest 
 truth for man, a tithe of which all the sacred books 
 in the world besides put together could not supply. 
 
 During the present century, and increasingly as 
 the century has advanced, enlightened research has 
 been laboriously directed to the Yedas, and Puranas, 
 and Shasters of India, and to the Avesta and Zend- 
 Avesta of Persia. 1 Thank God, for divine passages 
 in these ancient writings ! Thank God, for many 
 beautiful, and pure, and true sayings ! But impartial 
 
 1 Altogether unacquainted with the Sanscrit and Persian lan- 
 guages, I have no knowledge of the sacred books of the East, be- 
 yond what may be gathered from such portions of them as have 
 appeared in an English dress. But these have not been inconsider- 
 able, and may be supposed to convey a tolerably faithful impression 
 of the general character of the writings. 
 
254 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 scliolars will not dispute that these are few and short, 
 and are found in the midst of a mass of what can 
 be called by no fitter name than Pagan rubbish. 
 Scarcely have we been touched by some sentence of 
 elevated and holy thought, than we are dragged down 
 to coarse, gross polytheism, to stupid, childish, 
 legendary tales, or to what is as corrupt as it is 
 puerile ; and these form the staple and the substance 
 of the sacred books. The Jewish Scriptures, on the 
 other hand, are not only more simple and more clear, 
 but their teaching is persistent and uniform. With 
 a constant voice they proclaim, sometimes in simple 
 terms, but often in language of surpassing magnifi- 
 cence and sublimity, the eternity, the omnipresence, 
 the omniscience, the spirituality, the holiness, and the 
 wisdom, of the one true Jehovah. And, above all, 
 in passages without number, and in forms the most 
 tender and the most touching, they consistently pro- 
 claim the forgiving mercy of the holy God. 
 
 But this last, it is needful to recollect, was not 
 specially a Jewish revelation, but was common to the 
 whole world from the beginning, and remained with 
 the world, so far as the world chose to retain and 
 preserve it faithfully. Ever and everywhere, there 
 was a loving Spirit of God, striving with man, as in 
 the long ages before the flood. The blessed God 
 never abandoned the souls He had made, darkened 
 and sinful though they were. The blessed God never 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 255 
 
 limited His influences or even His light to one little 
 spot of earth, though for obvious reasons the light 
 which fell there was more abundant and more clear 
 than could shine elsewhere. To Jews and Gentiles 
 in common, to the whole world, the primitive, uni- 
 versal ground of faith in the mercy of a holy God 
 had been revealed from the first. And we shall 
 certainly misconceive the economy of Moses, if we 
 suppose for a moment that it was intended to super- 
 sede the primitive revelation of mercy, and to reveal 
 a new and peculiar method, for the forgiveness of 
 sins. One thing is plain ; if this had been the case, 
 few except Jews could ever have known it, and the 
 whole world besides would simply have been left to 
 perish. But on the ground of all that has been 
 advanced in this section, we maintain that that 
 economy was only and wholly a system of discipline 
 and of worship — a system wisely adapted to the con- 
 dition and to the special and select destinies of the 
 Israelitish people. Nowhere and never by God's 
 authority was forgiveness of real sins connected with 
 ritual observances of any kind, and above all, never 
 was it connected with the taking of animal life. 
 
 The example of Moses on the mount, pleading for 
 Israel, when they had sinned a great sin, teaches, 
 without the possibility of mistake, that forgiveness 
 of sins was to be obtained, not at all by offering sacri- 
 fice, but wholly and solely as the pure, free gift of 
 
2dG mosaic economy. 
 
 God's grace. If anything were wanting to fortify 
 this conclusion, it is abundantly supplied by the 
 unequivocal judgment which is pronounced by the 
 writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. x. 4. 
 "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of 
 goats should take away sin." The sin, therefore, 
 to which alone the ancient sacrifices referred and 
 which they are said to cover, (Kaphar,) was cere- 
 monial, not moral. And this is actually declared in 
 so many words by the same inspired writer in another 
 passage of the same Epistle. He is proving the 
 superior efficacy of the blood of Christ, " how much 
 more shall the blood of Christ purge your con- 
 sciences,'' &c. And the ground on which he thus 
 argues is this, " if the bl'X)d of bulls and of goats, 
 and the ashes of an heifer, sanctify to the purifying 
 of the flesh," &c. He admits that these had a 
 certain effect, according to the appointment of God, 
 but it was merely an outward effect, they could not 
 take away real sin, not at all ; if they sanctified, that 
 is, set apart, separated, distinguished, it was only 
 externally, the efi'ect reached no farther than the 
 outer relations, and the social and ecclesiastical stand- 
 ing. That was literally all, in the judgment of an 
 inspired apostle when announcing formally the 
 meaning and the highest efficacy of the ancient 
 economy. It was not, according to this authority, a 
 scheme of forgiveness, a plan for the salvation of the 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 257 
 
 soul. It was simply a system of worship and of 
 discipline. It reached to "the purifying of the 
 flesh," but nothing more. 
 
 We come to this : the Israelites, for high and 
 special reasons, were brought into relation with the 
 living God, and admitted to His temple and His 
 worship. But a thousand causes, every day some 
 outward defilement, some neglect, or some violation 
 of ceremonial rites and forms, of which they might 
 even be unaware, might interrupt the relation and 
 render them unworthy. They needed, and were 
 taught that they needed, perpetual cleansing from 
 personal, outward unworthiness, needed to renew 
 their acknowledgments, their submission, their sur- 
 render to God, as a peculiar and separate people, and 
 to reconcile and restore themselves to His service, 
 by the means which He had ordained. Hence, and 
 only hence, originated not only the daily and more 
 ordinary re-consecrations by sacrifice, but also the 
 grand, solemn, annual purgation from all the ritual 
 delinquencies of a lengthened period ; hence the new 
 beginning of the ceremonial year, and their reinstate- 
 ment in all the privileges and rights of a holy and 
 chosen people. Under the guidance of the inspired 
 apostle, whose decisive words have been quoted, we 
 look back on the entire Jewish economy, on the 
 tabernacle and the temple, on the burnt-ofierings 
 and the sin-offerings, and the trespass-offerings, and 
 
258 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 the peace-offerings, and the wave-offerings, and the 
 meat-offerings, and the drink-offerings on the daily- 
 morning and evening sacrifices, the special services 
 for Sabbath days and for new moons, on the three 
 great festivals, and especially on the most solemn of 
 them all, the feast of atonement, and we learn with- 
 out misgiving, that these all sanctified only to the 
 purifying of the flesh, but nothing more. They did 
 not touch real sin, and they were never intended to 
 touch real sin. Ceremonial reconciliation to God, 
 outward restoration to His worship, they could and 
 did secure, but real forgiveness, forgiveness of real 
 sin, then, as now and always, was dispensed only to 
 humble, simple faith in the pure, free mercy of the 
 holy God. 
 
 Eeligion in the human soul, — veneration of the 
 living God, trust in His holy mercy and love of Him, 
 of what He is and of what He loves — must be essen- 
 tially the same everywhere, and for all ages. The 
 outward modes of expressing this inward condition, 
 like the many tongues of men, the visible symbols of 
 it, that is to say, the forms and rites of religious 
 service, may vary endlessly, but the invisible real 
 constituents of religion are unalterable. Genuine 
 piety and goodness in a Jew thirty centuries ago, 
 and in a Christian at this hour, cannot differ in any 
 really essential element. It is a patent fact, that the 
 Jewish psalms chanted three thousand years ago in 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMy. 259 
 
 the temple of Jerusalem, speak now, to myriads of 
 human hearts in Europe, Asia, America, and Africa, 
 with a subduing power which is irresistible, and are 
 as fresh and as true to the mental states of the 
 good, to their sins, their conflicts, their doubts, their 
 fears, their depressions, their joys, their faith and 
 their hope, as if they had been written yesterday. 
 Christians can find no fitter or happier words in 
 which to utter their holiest feelings and their pro- 
 foundest experiences, than those of the old shepherd- 
 king of Israel — and why ? Because religion in the soul 
 is and must be the same for all times and for all lands. 
 The extraordinary attention which has been be- 
 stowed on the mere ritual of Judaism has proved 
 most misleading, and a morbid fancy has busied 
 itself in detecting latent spiritual meanings in it, 
 which it certainly never contained. It was ordained 
 in the divine wisdom and goodness, and we cannot 
 doubt that it was found a help to piety and a fitting 
 medium for that age and people, through which the 
 emotions of the soul might be uttered forth. But 
 pious emotions and experiences, though capable of 
 being expressed in many different modes, are apart 
 from them all, and have another and a far deeper 
 origin than any outward ritual. All that was real 
 in the soul of the old Jew had its root, just as at this 
 hour, in holy truth, perceived and loved and chosen 
 by his will, and in the agency of that Divine Spirit, 
 
260 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 who works independently of tabernacle or temple or 
 altar. We have so reasoned respecting the symbols 
 and forms of Jewish worship, as if they were essential 
 to salvation, and as if they constituted to the Israel- 
 ites the very method of their spiritual acceptance 
 with God. But it must be an entire mistake. Exact 
 obedience to the Mosaic law was indispensable on 
 many grounds. It was certainly indispensable to 
 their national salvation, and was the one condition 
 on which they retained their peculiar relation to God, 
 and their position and their privileges as a separated 
 people ; but it did not, and could not, in the least 
 determine the presence within them or the absence 
 of real religious life. An Israelite might observe in 
 the exactest form all the sacrifices and services of 
 the temple, and be entitled to be held, in this regard, 
 perfectly faultless and sinless, who was nevertheless 
 really impenitent and ungodly. Then, as now, what 
 a human soul really was depended entirely on the 
 irxward convictions and principles and reigning spirit, 
 and was determined not at all by what was specially 
 Jewish, but by what was generic and human, or 
 rather divine. An Israelite long ago struggling after 
 God, oppressed with the consciousness of inward evil, 
 and longing to throw off the burden and return to 
 the Father against whom he had sinned, was in 
 nothing essentially different from true penitents at 
 this day, and had no refuge but the old, the pri- 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 261 
 
 mitive, the universal revelation given to the whole 
 world in common — the forgiving mercy of the holy- 
 God. Trusting simply in this, he was at peace, re- 
 conciled and restored, pardoned and saved, not on 
 the ground of any sacrifice or expiation, but in the 
 mere, pure, free mercy of the Most High. 
 
 But take the opposite alternative. Let it be sup- 
 posed that a Jew had adopted what indeed was the 
 universal Pagan notion, that of appeasing divine 
 anger, and propitiating divine favour. Let it be 
 supposed that, having offered sacrifice according to 
 the law, he looked, on this ground, for forgiveness 
 from God for his real sin. What then? In this 
 case it must be maintained, not as a mere matter of 
 individual opinion, but on the clear authority of the 
 New Testament, that he trusted in an unmitigated 
 imtruth. "It is not possible " — it never was or 
 couhl be possible — "that the blood of bulls or of 
 goats should take away sins.'' On this subject, very 
 strong and gross language is ventured by good men, 
 even up to the present day. Kurtz, on the sacrificial 
 language of the Old Testament, thus writes : — " The 
 soul of the sacrificed animal made expiation for the 
 sinful soul sacrificing, and procured the forgiveness 
 of sins." Again, " The sinless soul of the animal was 
 the medium of expiation to the sinful and guilty soul 
 of the man.'' Again, " The laying on of hands was 
 the transfer of sin and guilt from the man to the 
 
262 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 beast." 1 We meet all such statements with a short 
 but invincible reply. Unless the apostle Paul be at 
 fault in his reasoning, they must be altogether un- 
 true. " It is not possible that the blood of bulls and 
 of goats should take away sins." And if this ever 
 was and is impossible, shall we on any ground ima- 
 gine that God nevertheless intended the Jews to 
 believe it? Did He, by any utterance or arrange- 
 ment of His, create this delusion ? or did He tacitly 
 allow it, or countenance or favour it in any way ? It 
 cannot be ; the suspicion is blasphemy. 
 
 It is argued that the great sacrifice to be ofifered 
 by the Messiah in the end of the ages, and not the 
 actual animal sacrifices, which, on the contrary, were 
 simply prefigurative and typical, was that alone on 
 which the faith of the pious Israelite rested for sal- 
 vation. But if evidence of the existence of this anti- 
 cipative, substitutionary faith be required, it cannot 
 be produced. There was a universal and confident 
 hope in Judea of a coming Messiah ; but the notion 
 of a sacrifice to be endured by the Messiah, if it was 
 ever entertained, has at least never found expression 
 in the Old Testament, and exists only in the devout 
 imagination of Christians. That the ancient Jews 
 could form no possible preconception of the life and 
 death of Jesus Christ seems indisputable. To say 
 nothing of incarnation, and supposing them able to 
 
 1 Clark, Edinburgh, pp. 75, 80, and 86. 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 263 
 
 preconceive a God in human form, could they by any 
 possibility imagine this Incarnate Deity humbled 
 before His creatures, despised, rejected, publicly con- 
 demned, and at last ignominiously cut off and cast 
 away from the face of the earth? Is it forgotten 
 that these very things, when they occurred, caused 
 all but the entire Jewish nation to reject the Christ of 
 God when he actually appeared ? Is it forgotten that 
 these are the very things which for two thousand years 
 have kept, as they continue to keep, the entire Jewish 
 nation at an almost hopeless distance from the Mes- 
 siah ? And can it be believed that these things so 
 incredible and so hateful when they were realised 
 — that these, or anything like these, could be 
 preconceived centuries before they happened, and 
 preconceived through the aid of bleeding victims on 
 the altar ; and not only thus preconceived, but wel- 
 comed, so as to be the ground of an intelligent and 
 happy faith ? It seems the merest impossibility, and 
 it is destitute of the slightest evidence. 
 
 There is not a single instance, so far as we are 
 aware, in which any Old Testament writer represents 
 the legal sacrifices as types or prefigurations of a 
 nobler sacrifice to be offered up, once for all, in the 
 future ages. And not only so, there is not a single 
 instance, so far as we are aware, in which it is indi- 
 cated that the legal sacrifices, whether as present or 
 as anticipative and prefigurative acts, were the ground 
 
264 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 of tlie pardon of real sin ; there is not a single passage 
 of the Old Testament in which, either by God or 
 man, the offering of sacrifice is connected with the 
 salvation of the soul. It ought to be pondered with 
 profound seriousness by all, that the Jehovah of the 
 Bible never declares, " lay your sacrifices on mine 
 altar, and your souls shall be saved," and that no Old 
 Testament saint is ever heard using the plea with his 
 God, " pardon mine iniquity, for I have offered up 
 all the appointed sacrifices." It is altogether and 
 uniformly the reverse. 
 
 David the king fell before a shameful and horrible 
 temptation, and committed a double and atrocious 
 crime. Did he hasten to the altar to make expiation 
 and atonement ? No. " Thou desirest not sacri- 
 fice," he says, " else would I give it." This was no 
 case for sacrifice, it was real, not ritual transgression, 
 and sacrifice of another kind, true, inward, spiritual 
 self-sacrifice alone could avail here. " Thou desirest 
 not sacrifice, else would I give it." " The sacrifices 
 of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite 
 heart, God, thou wilt not despise." David finds 
 refuge in the primitive, divine sanctuary — free, for- 
 giving mercy — and betakes himself to the old, only 
 way of humble confession and prayer. " Have mercy 
 upon me, God," he cried — because I have offered 
 the appointed sacrifices? no — *' according to thy 
 loving-kindness : according imto the multitude of thy 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 265 
 
 tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash 
 me throughly from mine iniquities, and cleanse me 
 from my sin. Create in me a clean heart, God ; 
 and renew a right spirit within me."l 
 
 At the dedication of the temple, after innume- 
 rable sacrifices had been offered up, Solomon con- 
 secrated the house of God by prayer, and here 
 are some of the sentences of the memorable in- 
 vocation. " When thy people Israel be smitten 
 down before the enemy, because they have sinned 
 against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and 
 confess thy name, and" — offer sacrifice and ex- 
 piation? no — "pray, and make supplication unto 
 thee in this house : then hear thou in heaven, and 
 forgive the sin of thy people Israel." " What 
 prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, 
 or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every 
 man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth 
 his hands towards this house: then hear thou in 
 heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive," &c. &c. " If 
 they shall bethink themselves in the land whither 
 they were carried captives, saying, we have sinned, 
 and done perversely, we have committed wickedness : 
 and so return unto thee with all their hearts, and 
 pray unto thee towards the land, which thou gavest 
 unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, 
 and this house which I have built for thy name; 
 
 1 Ps. li. 1, 2, 10, 16, 17. 
 
266 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 then hear thou their prayer and their supplication 
 in heaven thy dwelling-place, and maintain their 
 cause," &C.1 There is not a single hint here of 
 sacrifice as the medium of pardon and reconcilia- 
 tion. The one method is confession, prayer, and 
 trust in the primitive revelation of free, forgiving 
 mercy. 
 
 But strange to say, even the Old Testament con- 
 tains very direct and unambiguous teachings on this 
 subject, and to the same effect. " Hath the Lord as 
 great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in 
 obeying the voice of the Lord ? Behold, to obey is 
 better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of 
 rams." 2 '« I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and 
 the knowledge of God more than burnt-offering." ^ 
 " Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow 
 myself before the High God ? Shall I come before 
 Him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old ? 
 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or 
 wdth ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I give my 
 first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body 
 for the sin of my soul ?" The patent design of these 
 questions is to expose the perfect worthlessness of all 
 sacrifices, however costly, as a means of putting away 
 sin. But the answer to the questions is more signifi- 
 cant and decisive still, — " He hath showed thee, 
 
 1 1 Kings viii. 33, 34, 38, 39, 47-49. = 1 Sam. xv. 22. 
 
 ^ Hosea vi. 5. 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 267 
 
 man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require 
 of thee " — sacrifices ? thousands of the costliest offer- 
 ings ? No — '' but to do justly, to love mercy, and to 
 walk humbly with thy God/' ^ If this be legalism, 
 as has been often said — if this be salvation, not by 
 faith but by works, at the least it does not belong 
 only to the Old Testament. The same thing, vir- 
 tually, only in a more thoroughly legal dress, is found 
 in the New Testament. " Pure religion and unde- 
 filed before God, even the Father, is this, to visit the 
 fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep 
 himself unspotted from the world." 2 The eye of God 
 discerns the spirit which is in a man, and which alone 
 determines what he is. Sacrifices, ritual conformity, 
 outward acts of worship, have their meaning, without 
 doubt, but the inner, reigning law of a man's soul 
 and life is the supreme, the sole test. We ask, with 
 the old prophet, is he reverent and lowly before God ? 
 is he upright and true ? is he merciful as his Father 
 in heaven is merciful ? We ask, with the apostle 
 James, is he pure in heart ? is he self-denying and 
 devoted to the good of others ? 
 
 The sacrifices under the law of Moses were of 
 importance on many obvious accounts, and they 
 were imperatively binding, — for the highest of all 
 reasons, the command of God. But they had no 
 spiritual worth, except arising from the principles 
 1 Micah vi. 7, 8. = James i. 27. 
 
268 MOSAIC ECONOMY. 
 
 and the state of the hjsart ; and in the matter of 
 the forgiveness of sin and reconciliation to God, 
 they had no worth or power at all. The Being 
 who in His wisdom ordained them, denounces them, 
 however outwardly and ritually faultless, when 
 the inward state of those who offered them was 
 vicious or godless. " To what purpose is the multi- 
 tude of your sacrifices unto me ? saith the Lord : I 
 am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of 
 fed beasts ; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, 
 or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to ap- 
 pear before me, who hath required this at your hand, 
 to tread my courts ? Bring no more vain oblations ; 
 incense is an abomination unto me ; the new-moons 
 and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away 
 with ; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your 
 new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: 
 they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear 
 them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will 
 hide mine eyes from you : yea, when ye make many 
 prayers, I will not hear : your hands are full of blood. 
 Wash you, make you clean ; put away the evil of 
 your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil ; 
 learn to do well ; seek judgment ; relieve the op- 
 pressed ; judge the fatherless ; plead for the widow." l 
 To what do all these marvellous words evidently 
 point ? There is something immeasurably more im- 
 1 Isa. i. 11-17. 
 
MOSAIC ECONOMY. 269 
 
 portant than sacrifices, however ceremonially perfect ; 
 and that something is the state of the heart, — the in- 
 ward principles and laws of the soul. But what be- 
 comes of such sinners as God in this strong passage 
 rebukes and condemns? Having denounced their 
 wickedness and declared His demands, does He forth- 
 with leave them to themselves ? Or is He prepared 
 still to deal with them, and if so, on what ground ? 
 If sacrifice had been His own appointed medium of 
 expiation and salvation, God must have directed 
 them, though in a totally new spirit, to offer sacrifice. 
 But not a word is uttered respecting that rite, as if it 
 had anything to do with pardon. Instead of this, 
 here is the divine method following at once, without a 
 break, the exposure and denunciation of sin. — " Come 
 now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: 
 though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white 
 as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall 
 be as wool." i It is Heaven's simple, glorious, unen- 
 cumbered plan, — forgiveness, the pure, free gift of 
 God's grace. "I, even I, am he that blotteth out 
 thy transgressions,'' — on the ground of sacrifice, of 
 adequate atonement and satisfaction ? no, — " for 
 mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." 2 
 
 1 Isa. i. 18. 2 Isa, xliii. 25, 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 Voluntary — "I lay down My Life" — Issue Foreseen and Encoun- 
 tered Willingly — Escape without Dishonour, Impossible — ^Men, 
 Sole Agents in Crucifixion — Determinate Fore-knowledge of 
 God — Natural Course of Events — Wholly, a Human Crime — 
 Ko Sacrifice by Men to God — No Divine, Judicial Arrange- 
 ment — Two Gods — Tri-unity Destroyed — Substitution, its 
 Meaning — Figure, not Reality — Mere Human Notions, trans- 
 ferred to Mind of God — Natural Sense of Scripture — Fictions 
 taken for Facts— Perfect Love, in Death of Christ — Human 
 Self-sacrifice — Noble and Ennobling — Ray from Heaven — 
 Eternal Fountain of Pure Generosity — God's Sacrifice for Men 
 — Conquers SouL 
 
A PHYSICAL miracle, amidst the wilds of Sinai, 
 is supjjosed to prefigure the spiritual mystery 
 which long afterwards was unveiled outside the gate 
 of Jerusalem. The bush that burned with fire and 
 yet was not consumed, is held to be a symbol of 
 the awful death of Jesus of Nazareth. And it needs 
 no extravagant fancy, but only reverent and calm 
 thought, to perceive points of analogy between the 
 two facts. On a holier mountain than Horeb, a 
 greater spectacle than the burning bush is set before 
 the eyes of men, " Behold the Lamb of God, who is 
 taking away the sins of the world ! " It is simply 
 true, besides, as of old, that only in the far-ofP desert, 
 with the awful stillness around, and the vast skies 
 overhead, only in the deep solitude and silence of the 
 soul, in moments of intense, lowly, and rapt spiritual 
 vision, we can gaze on this transcendent spectacle, so 
 as to reach even the outermost fringe of its mysteri- 
 ous significance. There is here an unearthly struggle 
 between darkness and light, the light lurid and 
 terrible from the darkness which envelopes and 
 threatens to quench it, the darkness ever more visible 
 
274 SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 from the flashing light which darts across it. A 
 dread conflict is waging, a conflict of life with death, 
 death trampling down and crushing out the vital 
 flame, life flickering, and sinking, and seeming to 
 expire, hut enkindling again and glowing anew, and 
 flaming up into a hlaze of triumph, in which death 
 itself, at last, shall he consumed. " death, where 
 is thy sting ? grave, where is thy victory ? The 
 sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the 
 law ; hut thanks he unto God, who giveth us the 
 victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Not man 
 hut God is here, amidst the struggle and conflict, 
 God in man, God teaching the world by a stupendous 
 example, and Himself making a mysterious sacrifice 
 for His erring children. It is proclaimed from the 
 cross to the wide universe, that there is life in death, 
 gain in loss, dignity in self-abasement, blessedness in 
 suffering, and glory in shame. It is taught, as 
 nowhere else and never before or since was possible, 
 that the vilest and worst of deaths may be sublimed 
 by the soul of the dying, which death cannot touch, 
 and that a love which sacrifices itself for others and 
 gives up all to God, is the last crown of spiritual 
 excellence. 
 
 Jesus Christ our Lord was sacrificed — that at least 
 is not questioned, and cannot be questioned ; his life 
 was violently and cruelly taken away. It is admitted, 
 besides, by all who bear his name, that he was sacri- 
 
SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 275 
 
 ficed for the sake of men, and in order to secure the 
 highest good of the human race. We change only 
 the form, not the reality of this idea, when we say 
 that he was sacrificed for sin, on account of sin, to 
 put away sin ; because sin ever was and is the prime 
 obstruction to the well-being of the world. Had 
 there been no sin, men had needed no redemption. 
 So that in the strictest sense, Jesus died wholly on 
 account of sin, and in order that this radical curse 
 might be utterly and for ever extirpated. 
 
 Whatever more than this be true, there is, at least, 
 this one thing additional perfectly certain, if the his- 
 toric records be accepted; that Jesus, of himself, 
 voluntarily and freely sacrificed his own life. " I 
 lay down my life for the sheep. Therefore doth my 
 Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I 
 might take it again. No man taketh it from me, 
 but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it 
 down, and I have power to take it up again." It 
 would be wholly false to think that anything was 
 ever done by the holy Saviour to tempt or provoke, 
 or in any way influence men to compass his death. 
 On the contrary, all that he did was calculated to 
 render this issue impossible. But he must pursue 
 his course of truth, and purity, and love, in spite of 
 everything. It was a necessity — the highest moral 
 necessity — in him to be faithful to himself, to God, 
 and to man, without regard to consequences, or to 
 
276 SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 the prejudices, the wishes, or the judgments, of 
 people, or rulers, or priests. Being what he was, 
 Christ's death, in that age and nation, was inevitable, 
 and he knew that it was. The issue was not an 
 accident — not an unforeseen and unhappy upshot of 
 circumstances, to which, in spite of himself, he was 
 forced to surrender. On the contrary, it was dis- 
 tinctly contemplated from the first— as distinctly 
 contemplated as any part of his self-determined 
 course. But if, owing to the ignorance and the false 
 views and the wicked passions of men, this issue was 
 inevitable, he was resolved that it should not move 
 him for an instant from his integrity and fidelity. 
 With his eyes open, of his own free will and pur- 
 pose, he encountered the agony, the terror, and the 
 shame of crucifixion. " He was led as a lamb to the 
 slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, 
 so he opened not his mouth." 
 
 It was indispensable to the success of the mission 
 of divine love that the Incarnate should accept all 
 hazards, be they what they might. Had he once 
 yielded to fear, or to the instinct of self-preservation, 
 or to the sense of shame, or to disappointed hope, or 
 to disgust and anger at the baseness of men, — had he, 
 on any ground, stopped short, and only retired from 
 a course which seemed to be fruitless, this had been 
 a confession of defeat, and a palpable distrust of God, 
 the living energy of reconciling, redeeming power 
 
SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 277 
 
 had been lost, and divine love had been shorn of its 
 last overwhelming expression. But if death could 
 not be escaped without dishonour, the Infinitely 
 Mighty and Wise determined to convert even death 
 into life — to extract the noblest good out of essential 
 evil, and to make the very wrath of men to praise 
 Him. Leaving the perverse human will to take its 
 way. He who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in 
 ^working was able to defeat His creatures by their 
 very success, and to convert their crime and their 
 curse into a blessing, wide as the world, and lasting 
 as eternity. Hence said the apostle Peter on the 
 day of Pentecost, " Him being delivered" — given up, 
 surrendered — " in the determinate counsel and fore- 
 knowledge of God, ye have taken, and with wicked 
 hands have crucified and slain." His betrayal and 
 capture and murder, like all the guilty outbreaks of 
 the human will, however opposed to truth, and right, 
 and God, were not left out in the vast system of pro- 
 vidence, but distinctly reckoned and provided against, 
 as wisdom and love should ordain. Hence wrote the 
 prophet long before Messiah's advent, " It pleased the 
 Lord to bruise (crush) him ; He hath put him to 
 grief.'' That which comes out in God's providence 
 is often in Scripture so put as if it were the direct 
 doing of God, though most manifestly it neither is 
 nor can be. " The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart," 
 it is said, when all that God did had a manifest ten- 
 
278 SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 dency to subdue and reclaim rather than to harden. 
 But because the actual effect was to render the King 
 of Egypt only more obdurate than before, that effect 
 is ascribed, though it can be so only in the most 
 secondary and indirect sense, to the divine agency. 
 Most certainly God did not crush the Messiah, or put 
 him to grief. Most certainly the fact of his being 
 crushed and grieved in itself was abhorrent, not 
 pleasing, to God. But, forasmuch as the love which 
 bore the agonies and the shame of crucifixion was 
 evinced to be unconquerable, and was eventually to 
 effect the redemption of a lost world, these agonies 
 and that shame became, and truly were, an infinite, 
 divine satisfaction. 
 
 Jesus died ! in harmony with the thought and the 
 will of the Father, he died ; and since fidelity to his 
 divine mission demanded that he should brave all 
 consequences, he freely offered himself up a sacrifice 
 to God, in that cause which was God's no less than 
 man's. Even the outward surrender was noble, the 
 noblest which it is possible for humanity to yield. 
 It was a beautiful sacrifice which was cheerfully laid 
 upon the altar of God, a young, fresh, human life, 
 full of active goodness, wise and meek and patient, 
 — a pure, spotless, loving, tender life. And this was 
 but the symbol of a higher sacrifice still, for Jesus 
 offered up his soul to God. " I and my Father are 
 one," is his own marvellous testimony. At the least 
 
SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 279 
 
 it must mean, at one, perfectly at one. The soul of 
 Jesus ever moved in unbroken, filial harmony with 
 the mind of God. Divine thoughts, divine purposes, 
 divine sympathies, divine love of man, the divine 
 idea of redeeming and reconciling man and of estab- 
 lishing the reign of purity and truth and love and 
 peace on earth, found a medium and a home in him. 
 And when, at the last, either the mission of mercy 
 must be abandoned, or the earthly life must be sur- 
 rendered, his choice was immovable, his free, entire 
 will was fixed, and love had its perfect work. Love 
 of God and love of man serenely asserted their supre- 
 macy. " Even so. Father." " Thy will be done." 
 " Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit," 
 and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost, a true 
 and holy and proper sacrifice to God. " For Christ 
 hath loved us," saith the apostle, " and hath given 
 himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God of a 
 sweet smelling savour." 
 
 All the while, men were the visible and the only 
 direct agents in the crucifixion. So far as appeared, 
 the event, however abhorrent to justice, occurred 
 perfectly naturally, and according to the ordinary 
 course of things. Satan might enter into the heart 
 of Judas Iscariot, as indeed he is believed to do 
 wherever a wicked purpose is harboured in any 
 human soul, and the spirit of all evil might be 
 equally busy with the less conspicuous parties con- 
 
280 SACRIFICE OF CHEIST. 
 
 cerned in tlie horrible transaction. But temptation 
 is not compulsion, and the perpetrators of this mur- 
 der simply obeyed the command of their own vile 
 wilL The holy God who sees the end from the 
 beginning, foreknew this result, as He foreknows 
 every crime, and determined in this, as in countless 
 instances besides, to bring glory and good out of 
 human wickedness ; but this must not be suffered to 
 conceal from us the independent fact, that that which 
 He foreknew was wholly and only the unprompted, 
 native, free choice of men. Had the dread result 
 been preordained by God, it had then been, on every 
 just principle, the act of God, and what criminality 
 it involved had been lifted off from the visible instru- 
 ments and righteously charged against the invisible 
 originator. But the death of Jesus was the act of 
 men, wholly and solely the act of men, and of none 
 else, and the actors Avere governed, not by an invin- 
 cible decree of God, and not by a resistless Satanic 
 influence, but simply by their own views of the 
 character of their victim, by what they imagined was 
 demanded for the safety of their religion and their 
 country, and by strong feelings of revenge and of 
 malice. The undoubted fact was this, some of the 
 Jewish rulers and people hated Jesus intensely, and 
 urged by their passions and their fears, they hurried 
 their country into the murder of the Holy One and 
 the Just. Without question, Jesus fell a sacrifice to 
 
SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 281 
 
 jealousy and rage ; and without question, the offerers 
 of the sacrifice — the only offerers — were the Jews. 
 
 It is pertinent, indeed incumbent, to note, in this 
 place, that whatever the Jews might mean, they 
 certainly did not mean, in this instance, to offer 
 sacrifice to Grod for their sins ; they certainly did not 
 mean hereby to make atonement and to render satis- 
 faction to divine justice. Not a solitary individual 
 in the whole Jewish nation at the time, not a solitary 
 individual among the Koman officials and soldiers, 
 not a solitary individual on the face of the whole 
 earth, had, or could have had, the remotest concej)- 
 tion of such a thing. We do not need here to 
 discuss the meaning of an expiatory, propitiatory 
 sacrifice, in the scholastic sense, for that is well 
 understood and admitted on all sides. Such a 
 sacrifice supposes that an individual, or a number 
 of individuals, have come before God to confess their 
 sins, and to implore His forgiveness ; and that in 
 order to move Him to clemency, and to appease His 
 righteous anger, they have taken a certain method 
 of expressing what they feel they deserve, and have 
 laid an innocent animal on the altar, and put it to 
 death, and poured out its life-blood. Not the merest 
 shred of such a meaning as this can be found in the 
 death of Jesus. Where was the temple, the taber- 
 nacle, or the altar, where were the persons solemnly 
 presenting themselves before God, where was their 
 
282 SACKIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 confession of sin, their prayer for forgiveness, tlieir 
 offering of sacrifice to God? They are not, nor 
 anything that can be construed into the remotest 
 approach to them. The Jews simply hated Christ, 
 and thought him a criminal, dangerous to their 
 country and their religion, and only worthy of 
 death, and they crucified him. 
 
 Was it ever heard of, that an expiatory sacrifice 
 was offered up to God, without the consent of the 
 offerer and even without his knowledge ? Was it 
 ever heard of that a certain act of such a supposed 
 offerer, amounted to a sacrifice to God, when not only 
 he did not know it, but when his mind, all the while, 
 was thoroughly possessed with perfectly opposite con- 
 ceptions of the whole transaction? Was it ever 
 heard of, that on the ground of this so-called sacri- 
 fice totally unknown to him, a man could be assured 
 that his sins were atoned, that God's justice was 
 satisfied, that God's anger was turned away, and that 
 eternal salvation was obtained for him ? It seems to 
 throw into utter confusion all consistent ideas of 
 sacrifice, view it how we may, and still more, all 
 consistent ideas of God, in relation to man. The 
 Jews sacrificed Christ, sacrificed him to their vile 
 passions ; but as certainly, they offered no sacrifice to 
 God, and never dreamed of such a thing ; as certainly 
 they did not mean to atone for their sins, or to render 
 satisfaction to divine justice. 
 
SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 283 
 
 Without questioning what has just been advanced, 
 it is maintained that there is something beyond, 
 which is no less true, and which furnishes a con- 
 sistent and lofty interpretation of the facts. Man 
 had no sacrifice sufficiently valuable to offer to God, 
 even had he been ever so much disposed to do so. 
 He was doomed to perdition, and was utterly incap- 
 able of making the slightest reparation for the past, 
 or of doing anything to appease the righteous anger 
 of God, and to rescue himself from deserved punish- 
 ment. In these circumstances, God himself finds 
 and offers up a sacrifice to Himself, without the con- 
 sent or even the knowledge of any creature, and 
 thereafter tells the world that its sin is expiated, that 
 divine justice is satisfied, and that divine anger is 
 appeased. That is to say, the Being, who was sup- 
 posed to be angry, but who could not have really 
 been so, takes it upon Himself to cool down His own 
 wrath ; the Being who had been deeply wronged, and 
 who, it is supposed, had demanded extraordinary re- 
 paration from the wrong-doers, when the demand is 
 refused, thereafter Himself makes amends to Himself, 
 while His creatures are not only uninterested in the 
 transaction, but perfectly ignorant of it. The Pagan 
 sacrificial rites were fundamentally false, but they had 
 a meaning, nevertheless, a very intelligible meaning. 
 The sacrifices, actually, did something, it was ima- 
 gined, and something significant, with a view to avert 
 
284 SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 the anger of the gods and to obtain their favour. But 
 in the death of Christ, the acting parties not only did 
 not mean to offer sacrifice to God, but did not know 
 that, anyhow, or in any sense, sacrifice to God was 
 offered. What they did was neither more nor less 
 than this, to perpetrate a horrible crime, a judicial 
 murder. The incongruity, not to use a stronger 
 term, is not to be measured, of God being the real, 
 while men were the visible agents in the crucifixion, 
 of God being Himself at once the offerer up of a 
 sacrifice to Himself, and the acceptor of it when 
 offered, of God acting wholly on Himself and for 
 Himself, appeasing His own anger and satisfying His 
 own justice — His agency all the while being utterly 
 unknown to a single creature, and wholly undiscover- 
 able from the outward circumstances, and, as we 
 judge, irreconcilable with them. 
 
 In the scholastic idea of Christ's sacrifice, there 
 seems inevitably involved the conception of two dif- 
 ferent Gods, however blasphemous the conception be. 
 There is God in Christ and there is God out of 
 Christ, and these two, in the dogma we are examin- 
 ing, are certainly not one God, for they act different 
 parts and gain two different purposes. The one God 
 wills to uphold the authority, and majesty, and purity 
 of the Godhead ; the other God, not in opposition to 
 the first, but acting quite separately, wills to redeem 
 men and to render their redemption consistent with 
 
SACEIFICE OF CHRIST. 285 
 
 divine authority, and majesty, and purity. In spite 
 of ourselves, Ave are compelled to conceive two Beings, 
 the one, with an aspect overwhelming and awful, the 
 other benignant, subduing, and tender. When we 
 bow with adoring reverence before the eternal, essen- 
 tial unity, it is not hard to think of distinct aspects 
 blending mysteriously and harmoniously in one Being, 
 or of distinct agencies and influences springing out of 
 one source ; but this forces us to separate the Divine 
 nature into two parts, to place the severed unity in 
 tvfo different regions, at the same moment, and to 
 imagine two agents moving, if not in hostile, in quite 
 separate directions. There is more than this, ne- 
 cessitating, not the sublime Tri-unity of Scripture, 
 the Eternal, threefold distinction in the one uncreated 
 essence, but virtually two Gods. The one God is 
 represented as angry with the other God, and the 
 incarnate God is represented as bearing the wrath of 
 the first — and this with a view to strike awe into the 
 moral universe, and to prove the divine abhorrence of 
 sin, and the impossibility of pardon without adequate 
 satisfaction to justice. It would be painful to pursue 
 illustration in this line ; but he who wdll piously and 
 humbly follow it out for himself, will find that we 
 have touched only the outer verge of a circle of im- 
 possibilities and contradictions. 
 
 Jesus the Incarnate was the substitute of men, 
 and acted and suffered in their room. But plain as 
 
2S6 SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 these terms seem, it is yet a question unsettled what 
 they actually convey. By one school of theologians 
 some very beautiful but purely fanciful illusions have 
 been founded on this apparently simple statement. 
 Christ becomes not a man, but man, the ideal man, 
 humanity in its normal and total development, such 
 as the Great Father could look upon with satisfac- 
 tion, and in which He could find a faithful embodi- 
 ment of His own primitive eternal conception. God 
 sought to behold, and would have men behold, in a 
 living form that which, till the Incarnation, had ex- 
 isted only in idea. Christ was humanity imperson- 
 ated, and what he did and suffered and achieved, 
 man did and suffered and achieved. Christ was a 
 type of the idea and the destiny of the race, and in 
 him God recognised not an individual but a totality — 
 man, humanity, the race — the race contending against 
 privation, and grief, and pain, and rising above them, 
 struggling with temptation and conquering it, bear- 
 ing all the direful consequences of sin, in a sinful 
 world, but recovering from them, — going down to 
 death, but bursting away from its grasp, and rising 
 into life again, redeemed, regenerated, and disen- 
 thralled for ever. For the satisfaction and the joy 
 of the Divine mind, and for the ultimate salvation of 
 the world, Jesus our Lord personated and repre- 
 sented the human race, and was to God the earnest 
 and first fruits of the final harvest of all time. 
 
SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 287 
 
 Whatever beauty, and whatever blending of truth, 
 the imaginative and mystical soul may find here, to 
 the plain understanding of common men, it is funda- 
 mentally and wholly fictitious ; too ingenious, too re- 
 condite, and too far-fetched to be true. Jesus Christ 
 of Nazareth, the man Jesus, was a single unit of the 
 human race, like any other individual man. It is 
 indispensable to the reality, and simplicity, and pur- 
 port of the divine intervention, that he should be 
 this and no more than this. He had an individual 
 human mother, was born in a particular spot, and 
 at a precise date, stood in personal, individual rela- 
 tionship with kindred, with neighbours, with asso- 
 ciates and friends, with general, Jewish society, and 
 lived, and died, and filled out, with his individual 
 being and doing, a definite span, and no more, in the 
 outstretching course of time. Jesus was not human- 
 ity, but a man ; his own individual self, and no 
 more. Jesus was not the ideal man, and could not 
 be. With profound reverence, we venture to think 
 that the Divine idea, that which lay at the root of the 
 Incarnation itself, was something totally difi'erentj 
 and far higher and brighter. God's ideal, if we dare 
 conceive it, was not man, in a world of pain and sin, 
 not man sorrowing, suffering, struggling with evil, 
 though rising above it and confronting death, though 
 conquering it ; not this at all, but man in immortal 
 life, man set free from sorrow, and pain, and tempta- 
 
288 SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 tion, and sin, man for ever ascending in intelligence, 
 and wisdom, and purity, and love, and sweetness, and 
 beauty, unfolding his entire God-given nature, and 
 speeding his way onward in an interminable course, 
 opening out, without end, into new regions of eternal 
 life and light. Can we wonder that, for the realisa- 
 tion of an idea so grand and so blessed, even the 
 Great God should contemplate a sacrifice which only 
 He could make, and should adopt a method all-divine, 
 of transcendent mystery, but of illimitable efficiency ? 
 It was even so in very truth, for " God spared not 
 His own Son, but delivered him up for us all." 
 
 It comes out of all this, that there is a sense — a 
 natural and intelligible sense — in which Jesus the 
 Incarnate was the substitute of men, and acted and 
 suffered in their room. But the language is strictly 
 figurative, and we must not forget that a figure can 
 never be so exact and so perfect that it shall convey 
 the whole spiritual reality, and nothing but the spiri- 
 tual reality. In certain points it will prove a safe 
 help and guide to thought, but in others it will be 
 found inapplicable and untrue. The life of Jesus 
 was wholly a vicarious, a substituted life ; his hu- 
 manity was not a natural, but a preternatural huma- 
 nity, and was called into being, not for itself 's sake, 
 but wholly for man's sake, and, except on this ac- 
 count, it had never existed at all. Certainly, Jesus 
 appeared in the world in the room of man, to do for 
 
SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 289 
 
 man what man could not do, or would not do, for 
 liimself , and to reconcile and restore the sinful human 
 soul to its God. But we shall only destroy a grand 
 and just idea, and turn it into confusion and falsity, if, 
 forgetting that the language in which it is conveyed 
 is largely figurative, we cast it into the form of a 
 hard, logical proposition. 
 
 Christ was not the substitute of men in all, or 
 even in many, of the senses in which these words 
 admit of being understood. For example, he was 
 not selected by men to live and act in their name ; 
 the generations of men were never consulted on 
 the subject, and certainly never signified their con- 
 currence in such a selection. Not a single gene- 
 ration, not a single individual in any of the gene- 
 rations, had ever dreamed of such a selection. But 
 it is supposed that God, in perfect harmony with 
 the human will of Jesus, arranged this substitution, 
 without the consent or the knowledge of His crea- 
 tures. Men, being simply criminals before God — 
 criminals lying under a sentence of death, which it 
 was impossible for them, themselves, to escape, it 
 was ordained that Jesus should take their place, and 
 suffer the penalty of their crimes, and thus set them 
 free. But if we demand proof of this divine ordina- 
 tion, not a shred of proof can be produced. Secret 
 things belong to God, and of all secret things, the 
 most secret and awful must be His eternal purposes. 
 
 T 
 
290 SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 There is something appalling in the thought of a hu- 
 man being professing to have access to an ordination 
 of God. Inferences, drawn from obscure and ambigu- 
 ous ancient oracles ; conclusions, based on isolated 
 phrases and terms, must be abjured, as wholly im- 
 pious. In such a case, nothing can satisfy a truly 
 reverent soul but a clear and express revelation of a 
 secret decree, which had lain from eternity in the 
 Divine mind. But we look in vain for such a revela- 
 tion, or anything in the least approaching it. There 
 may be texts in the Old Testament which it is possible 
 so to interpret, that they shall not be wholly subver- 
 sive of the notion of a divine decree of substitution 
 and vicarious punishment, but there is not a single 
 text of Scripture in which this notion or anything 
 approaching it is directly expressed, or in which even 
 it is natural, far less necessary, to presuppose it. 
 
 Logicians, in their pious ingenuity and subtlety, 
 have striven to systematise and harmonise revealed 
 truth, to trace ah initio, or rather ah eterno, the steps 
 of God's procedure, to find out the secret grounds on 
 which each step was taken, and could be justified in 
 rectitude and wisdom, to discover the everlasting 
 underlying principles of human redemption, and, by 
 means of the dogma of substitution, to unravel the 
 clue to all the winding intricacies of spiritual provi- 
 dence. But they have simply dwelt so long and so 
 fondly on their own thoughts, that they have at last 
 
SACRIFICE OP CHRIST. 291 
 
 believed them to be divine, and, transforming their 
 own poor contrivances into plans of God, and the 
 speculations of time into the decrees of eternity, they 
 have gone to the Scriptures to see the delusion con- 
 firmed by tlie highest authority. After the abundant 
 and perplexing experience of the last thousand years, 
 it is not surprising, but very easy of belief that they 
 have found, at least have persuaded themselves that 
 they have found, what they sought, and that with 
 perfect honesty, and much ingenuity and skill, they 
 have been able to make the phrases and terms of the 
 New Testament consort w^ith their cherished dogma 
 of vicarious sin and punishment. ^ 
 
 In a beautiful passage of ancient prophecy which 
 has been already quoted and ex2)lained, we read, 
 " He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, 
 he was wounded for our transgressions," — ^wholly on 
 account of our transgressions, certainly not on account 
 of his own, — "and bruised for our iniquities; the 
 chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with 
 his stripes we are healed." As the words lie before 
 us, in their obvious and natural meaning, every one 
 
 ^ Few, who have not actually experienced it, can have any proper 
 idea of the almost insuperable difi&culty of overcoming the effect of 
 a systematic, scientific, theological training. Certain dogmas from 
 the first are fixed in the mind of the student as of divine authority, 
 and hardly any amount of evidence is able afterwards to persuade 
 him, that instead of sacred truths, these are only human, and not 
 wise, and not just modes of interpreting truth. 
 
292 SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 feels that they are simply and toiichingly true ; but 
 who, except in the overmastering desire to maintain 
 a foregone conclusion, and to carry out a one-sided 
 scheme of thought, could have imagined that this or 
 any similar passage contained the strange and re- 
 volting idea, that God imputed the sins of men to 
 Jesus the Messiah, laid them upon him and put 
 them to his account, and that, on this ground, Jesus, 
 as the substitute of sinners, was chargeable with the 
 entire amount of human sins, from the beginning to 
 the end of time. It is easy to utter or to write down 
 this language, but have we ever calmly put before 
 our minds what it really involves. To impute sin to 
 any being, must mean one or other or both of two 
 things, either that he is considered, judged to be 
 actually guilty of the sin imputed to him, or that he 
 is to be dealt with as if he were actually guilty of it. 
 Jesus Christ was perfectly holy and was justly 
 chargeable with no sin whatever, against God or 
 man. That is an admitted fact ; and of all beings in 
 the universe, the Omniscient best knew the fact. To 
 say that God nevertheless imputed sin to Jesus, that 
 is, considered, judged, thought him to be guilty of 
 sin, is direct blasphemy. The thing was impossible, 
 because it was not true, in no sense true, and God, of 
 all beings, knew that it was not true. 
 
 Sin has a very distinct and unambiguous meaning, 
 it is the conscious resistance of the human to the 
 
SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 293 
 
 divine will ; or, more accurately still, it is tlie 
 conscious resistance of the human will to what 
 is known to be true, and right, and good. From 
 its very nature it can lie nowhere but in the mind, 
 it is the conscious act of the mind, and nothing 
 but this ; it is the mind desiring, choosing, purposing 
 in the face of reason and conscience. To be justly 
 imputed or reckoned to any being, sin must be the 
 act of the being. It cannot be deposited within him, 
 like some material substance, in a chamber or a 
 cellar, and it cannot be put on him or affixed to him 
 like an adhesion on his person or his dress. If it be 
 the act of his soul, it is justly imputed to him; if it be 
 not, then to impute it to him, to hold that he is 
 guilty when he is not, is an atrocious crime, it is an 
 utter falsity and clear unrighteousness. The idea of 
 putting the sins of a being who is guilty on or in 
 another being who is innocent, of making the innocent 
 chargeable with them and putting them to his ac- 
 count, would be gross injustice if it were possible ; 
 but it is not possible, the thing is a pure, sheer 
 absurdity. 
 
 In the sphere of pure imagination, very wide 
 licence is permitted with safety. We can fancy a 
 tree to be a living being, and can readily picture it 
 to ourselves as such, with its head, and feet, and 
 heart, and trunk, and arms, and limbs. We can 
 fancy it endowed with the power of speech, and 
 
294 SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 rehearsing to the night-winds the tale of its 
 growth, its lost companions, the storms that have 
 swept over it, and the springs, and summers, and 
 winters it has seen. But in the sphere of reality 
 there can be no licence, one single step beyond truth 
 and fact. Whatever we may fancy, we can never 
 think, never, in sane mind, judge that a man is a 
 beast of the forest or an eagle of the sky. And were 
 it even possible in some moment of wild aberration 
 to form such a thought, there would be something 
 more frenzied, and more outrageous stiU, in building 
 up a long succession and a complicated system of 
 ideas, on the absurd basis that a man was a four- 
 footed beast or a bird of the air. To all such repre- 
 sentations, as that God thought, judged, reckoned 
 Jesus to be chargeable with the sins of men, or that 
 Jesus had the sins of men laid on him, or imputed to 
 him, the decisive reply must be, they cannot be true, 
 the thing they assert is utterly impossible and 
 absurd. 
 
 The question is asked, ^dth much confidence, ma} 
 not a responsible agent, without being considered, 
 judged to be guilty of sin, be, nevertheless, for the 
 sake of others in whom he is interested, dealt with, 
 treated, as if he were guilty — especially, may he not 
 be so treated, when his own free and full consent 
 has been given to the arrangement ? God did not 
 and could not judge, consider that Jesus was charge- 
 
SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 295 
 
 able with the sins of men ; but did He not treat him, 
 and act towards him, as if he were chargeable with 
 them ? It is quite true, and a common enough ex- 
 perience in our world, that one man shall become 
 surety for another, and shall make himself respon- 
 sible for the payment of a sum of money, or for the 
 performance of certain services. It is quite true, 
 also, that, failing the principal, his surety is bound 
 in law to pay the money, and to secure the perform- 
 ance of the stipulated services. But even in this 
 event the security is never charged with any crime, 
 never considered or reckoned, guilty, because the 
 principal has been guilty. The security must bear, 
 as he has engaged to do, the consequences of the 
 principal's default, but that is all. And besides, it 
 must be borne in mind that there are clear and well- 
 understood limits even to this vicarious responsibility. 
 If an individual were to offer, to suffer imprisonment 
 or banishment or death, in the room of a criminal 
 who had been sentenced to any of these punishments, 
 human law, and every righteous human judge, would 
 simply and instantly reject the offer. Such a thing 
 could not be tolerated for a moment ; it is abhorrent 
 to all equity and all justice. Law pronounces that 
 the transgressor shall be punished, but it does not 
 recognise, and cannot permit, that another, innocent 
 of crime, shall be punished in his stead. Is it pos- 
 sible to conceive that God has done what is abhorrent 
 
296 SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 even to human law, and still more to the natural 
 conscience of man? Is it possible to conceive that 
 God should treat the innocent Saviour, and should 
 act towards him as if he had been guilty of sin, when 
 he had not ? 
 
 We are told that the dying agony of Jesus was 
 not owing to his bodily sufferings ; nor yet to the 
 anguish which pierced him, when he thought of the 
 sin of the world, which was even then exhibiting 
 itself in so revolting a form ; nor to the sense of 
 misappreciation and of ingratitude on the part of 
 the beings whom he loved ; but to a cause far more 
 mysterious and awful, to the secret anger of God the 
 Father. God, acting in His official, judicial char- 
 acter, regarded Jesus as the substitute of sinners, 
 and poured out on his soul, without measure, the 
 vials of divine wrath. In all simplicity and earnest- 
 ness, and with deep reverence, we ask, is it possible 
 for any devout soul to put this idea, in all its naked 
 horror, before itself, even for an instant ? Can the 
 conception be endured that the Great God was 
 angry, was even displeased, in any sense, on any 
 ground, with Jesus on the cross ? That moment 
 which needed, above all others, infinite sympathy and 
 yearning love, was it the chosen moment for the out- 
 pouring of cruel and unmerited wrath ? It is impos- 
 sible. Facts, not fancies or fictions, must be dealt 
 with here. All are agreed, that when Jesus hung on 
 
SACRIFICE OF CHEIST. 297 
 
 the cross, lie was perfectly blameless and spotless, 
 suffering, but suffering unjustly. He was then ac- 
 tually giving the last proof of unconquerable fidelity 
 and love to God and to man ; and what is still more, 
 he was then actually achieving that which the Father 
 was to convert into the mightiest instrument for 
 touching and subduing the heart of man, and for 
 reconciling and redeeming the world to Himself. 
 These are the facts beyond dispute. Is it possible 
 to conceive that, instead of these, God saw only a 
 mere fiction of law, and acted towards Jesus as if he 
 were a guilty being — the guiltiest of all the guilty ? 
 Who can believe it ? If there was an instant in the 
 whole life of Jesus, when God must have been in- 
 finitely well pleased in His beloved Son, it must have 
 been then, when he was bearing the unmerited, 
 illegal, and most merciless indignities and agonies 
 of crucifixion. At any and every period of Christ's 
 earthly life, anger towards him on the part of God 
 must have been impossible, because there never was, 
 or could be, the smallest cause for such a sentiment ; 
 but on the cross, when he was offering himself to 
 God, a willing and a holy sacrifice, there was not 
 only no cause for anger, but infinite cause for divine 
 satisfaction and joy. 
 
 As for official, judicial anger, what does it mean ? 
 and who can attach even the shadow of an idea to it, 
 without darkening the purity and the honour of the 
 
298 SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 Almighty ? Are we to imagine that He was really 
 pleased, but officially angry, and that His face wore 
 the hypocrite's mask — a frown put on, but concealing 
 a true delight ? It is inexpressibly revolting to think 
 that the Great God made-believe that He was wroth 
 with a being with whom He was altogether satisfied, 
 and made-believe that He saw sin in him, who He 
 knew was perfectly sinless. But even this is not all, 
 and not the most abhorrent. Turning to the other side 
 of the scholastic dogma, are we prepared to credit the 
 involved assertion, that God makes-believe that men 
 are sinless, whose own hearts tell them that they are 
 very sinful; and makes-believe that men are perfectly 
 righteous, who He knows all the while are yet unright- 
 eous ? It cannot be. That which rests not on plain 
 fact, but on legal fictions — that which necessitates 
 impossible make -beliefs, and which brings no evi- 
 dence, but only gratuitous assumptions, cannot be of 
 God, but must be wholly of man. 
 
 Substitution, not in a fictitious, but in a beautiful 
 and noble and free and wide sense, is not unknown 
 even in a selfish and sinful world. Human nature 
 furnishes marvellous instances of self-sacrifice for 
 others, by the aid of which we are able to conceive 
 the higher Divine mystery. The mother who watches 
 day and night by the bed of her child, smitten with 
 a deadly plague, who lives only so long as to see the 
 dying one restored, and then catches the mortal in- 
 
SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 299 
 
 fection and dies ! The father clinging to the prodigal, 
 whom all besides have abandoned, descending with 
 him, without partaking his guilt, as he sinks to beg- 
 gary and crime, pursuing him year after year with 
 tender counsels, or with silent grief, and with loving 
 prayers and tears and looks, and who dies of a broken 
 heart, without knowing the holy change, which his 
 death at last produced ! The youth plunging into the 
 deep to save a drowning brother, and who, after incre- 
 dible exertions, reaches him, seizes him, is able only to 
 hold him up till other help arrives, and then himself 
 sinks and perishes ! The physician, knowing certainly 
 that the attempt must be fatal, but would as certainly 
 be the means of saving life to the community, delibe- 
 rately going alone into the room where lay a dead 
 body which contained the secret of a then unknown 
 and terrific disease, opening the body, discovering 
 the seat and nature of the disease, writing what he 
 had discovered, affixing the writing to the dead body^ 
 that it might be found at once by the first who en- 
 tered the room, and who then simi)ly laid him down 
 and died ! 
 
 These are among the known examples, not indeed 
 of vicarious sin, for that is for ever, absolutely im- 
 possible, but of vicarious suffering. These are glow- 
 irtg flashes of love from heaven in a dark and cold 
 world. There must be an Eternal sun of love, out 
 from which these are scattered and imperfect radia- 
 
300 SACRIFICE OP CHRIST. 
 
 tions ; there must be a parent fountain of pure, infinite 
 generosity, an original form and type of moral no- 
 bility. God is perfect love, God must be essentially, 
 eternally, self-sacrificing. His rational creatures, His 
 children, the souls He hath made, are unutterably 
 dear to Him, and within the limits of truth and right, 
 there is nothing which He is not willing to do for 
 them. Their true blessedness, the perfect salvation 
 and the progressive development of their entire nature 
 as He first fashioned it, is the end and the joy of the 
 infinite Father. 
 
 Amidst the reign of eternal laws, which never are 
 or can be violated ; under the sway of eternal justice, 
 which proclaims and secures that sin is death, and 
 that only holiness is life, it abides for ever true that 
 God is love, self-sacrificing love ; and the last and 
 highest utterance of God's love is Christ — the 
 spoken, articulated Word, (Logos,) within which lies 
 the sublime idea, God. 
 
 It is quite true that the human in our great Ee- 
 deemer was not a mere passive instrument, but a 
 perfectly voluntary agent. The human will, not 
 passively, but freely and gladly harmonised with the 
 Divine, and when death was inevitable Jesus volun- 
 tarily and wholly gave himself up to God, for the 
 accomplishment of God's purposes, an offering and a 
 sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour. But it abides 
 none the less true, that in the highest sense the 
 
SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 301 
 
 sacrifice for men was made by God. Christ was 
 God's, Christ was God, God in the form of man, God 
 expressed and pronounced, so far as it was possible 
 for a created medium to give forth the uncreated 
 reality. The infinite Father, in boundless pity, looked 
 down on His undutiful children, and yearned to rescue 
 them, by regaining their hearts, and drawing them 
 back to allegiance and to peace. With God-like 
 mercy, He unveiled all which was possible of Divine 
 purity, and truth, and beauty, and sweetness, and 
 lovingness, and compassion — He humbled Himself, 
 descended to the level of His creatures, walked among 
 them, spoke with them face to face, and appealed as 
 He still continues to appeal to their hearts, through 
 the gentleness, the tenderness, the wisdom, the meek- 
 ness, the patience, the sufferings, the tears, the blood, 
 and the death of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The distinction here is radical and fundamental.^ 
 The sacrifice was not offered up by men at all, or by 
 a substitute in their room, and it was not required to 
 appease God's anger, or to satisfy His justice, or to 
 
 ^ In a work of great beauty and truth, and the fruit of much 
 spiritual experience, Mr Campbell adheres to the central idea of the 
 scholastic atonement. He fancies that in Christ's awful sense of 
 human sin, and his vicarious repentance on account of it, God found 
 that satisfaction which His justice demanded, and on the ground of 
 which He could righteously forgive. With great respect, I am un- 
 able to look on this, as any other than a beautiful and pious illusion, 
 but an illusion, a mere illusion. 
 
 See "Nature of the Atonement," Macmillan, London, 1856. 
 
302 SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 render Him propitious. The sacrifice was not offered 
 by men to God, but was made by God for men, 
 wholly and solely made by God for men, and for sin, 
 in order that sin might be for ever put down, and 
 rooted out of human nature. This stupendous act of 
 Divine sacrifice was God's instrument of reconciliation 
 and redemption, God's method of conquering the 
 human heart, and of subduing a revolted world and 
 attaching it to His throne — pure love, self-sacrificing 
 love, crucified, dying love ! " For God so loved the 
 world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who- 
 soever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS IN THE NEW 
 TESTAMENT. 
 
 Section First.— The Epistles. 
 
 Section Second. — Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 Section Thiud.— The Gospei^. 
 
SECTION FIRST — THE EPISTLES. ^ 
 
 WriUen by Jews — Addressed, First, to Jews — Jewish Phraseology 
 and Imagery, Inevitable — Exposition of Passages — Beautiful, 
 Natural Sense — Christ's Death, and Ancient Sacrifices — Epistle 
 to Hebrews — Typical Language — Use and Abuse — Apostolic 
 Gospel. 
 
 IT would have been unnatural, if not really impos- 
 sible, for the first teachers of Christianity, in 
 their spoken or written utterances respecting the new 
 kingdom of God, to have avoided frequent reference 
 to the earlier dispensation of Moses. They were 
 Jews, all, without exception, Jews, and this single 
 fact throws light on several of the peculiarities of the 
 New Testament. The heavenly truth uttered by the 
 
 ^ In order to the faithful discussion of the subject of this chap- 
 ter, I have specially gone over the whole of the New Testament, 
 and have endeavoured to note every passage in which Christ's death 
 for sin is mentioned or alluded to. One or more passages may 
 have been overlooked, but I am not aware of any omission, and 
 must think it at least not probable. Necessarily only a few out of 
 very many passages are quoted ; but I believe that all the texts, 
 without exception, which are usually supposed to bear most strongly 
 in favour of artificial theology, will be found in the succeeding 
 jmges. 
 
 U 
 
30G SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 Kedeemer fell into minds necessarily influenced very 
 strongly by the associations, the ideas, and the spirit 
 of Judaism. The thoughts of the first apostles and 
 |)rGachers respecting Christ's gospel, like all new 
 thoughts in any mind, connected themselves, of ne- 
 cessity, with their earlier experiences and knowledge, 
 and were modified by them to a large extent. In 
 attempting to conceive fresh truth, we are forced to 
 relate it, by one means or another, to the previous 
 contents of our minds, and to attach it, as closely as 
 possible, to familiar associations, images, phrases, and 
 terms. These images and terms, in their new rela- 
 tions, may mean more than they at first contained, 
 they may even mean something quite diff'erent ; but 
 the old speech, wisely accommodated and adapted, is 
 the happiest, as it is the readiest, which we can use in 
 order to present to our own minds, or to others, intel- 
 ligently and interestingly, a new meaning, which we 
 have come to apprehend. The apostles would have 
 acted unnaturally if, in speaking of Christ, they had 
 not often gone back to the temple, and the altar, and 
 the sacrifices, and the blood. 
 
 Another thing must be borne in mind, that the 
 first Christian preachers and writers, themselves 
 Jews, addressed Jews ; at the least, first of all, they 
 addressed Jews. And there was certainly no way in 
 which they could approach their kinsmen according 
 to the flesh, with such marked advantage, as on the 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 307 
 
 side of Judaism. Comparisons or contrasts between 
 the earlier and the later truth, references to ancient 
 facts and types, the frequent use of words and phrases 
 which had been consecrated in Judea for ages, were 
 inevitable, without doing violence to nature, and to 
 all the laws of human thought and speech. We are 
 compelled to think that the fresh, glad tidings of 
 Heaven's mercy could not possibly have been given 
 forth, first of all, save in Jewish phrase and form, 
 and that, first of all, Christ must, of necessity, have 
 been preached through the voice, and the institutions, 
 and the spirit of Moses. 
 
 It is easy to see that a certain amount of dis- 
 advantage, and of danger, was inseparable from 
 this fact. In the application, however skilfully, of 
 old language to new thoughts, there was a risk 
 that to some, perhaps to many minds, the old 
 and not the new ideas might be suggested. And 
 then, in the use, however wise, of imagery, and me- 
 taphor, and type, there was the further risk, that 
 what was meant for figure might be taken for fact, 
 and that what was announced as the antitype of an 
 ancient symbol, might be conceived to be a mere 
 repetition of that symbol, instead of a totally differ- 
 ent, and higher, and purer reality. It is very ob- 
 vious that the kind of danger here supposed must be 
 enhanced a thousandfold, when a piece of writing is 
 placed, as the New Testament is, before men, all 
 
308 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 whose associations, and experiences, and modes of 
 thinking, and actual knowledge, are wholly different 
 from those, as well as of the writers of the piece, as 
 of the persons to whom it was originally addressed. 
 Hence the necessity, in all cases, for discriminating, 
 temperate, cautious, and modest criticism of the New 
 Testament, in the absence of which the gravest errors, 
 and the wildest extravagance of interpretation, may 
 be pronounced inevitable. 
 
 We turn to some of the more familiar terms and 
 phrases of the New Testament wliich are imagined 
 to involve the idea of satisfaction. '' His name shall 
 be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from 
 their sins.'' He came " to seek and to save that 
 which was lost." " He is able to save to the utter- 
 most." " He died for us." " He loved us, and gave 
 himself for us." " He was delivered for our offences." 
 *' Christ died for the imgodly." "While we were 
 yet sinners Christ died for us." " He died for our 
 sins, according to the Scriptures." " Christ loved 
 the Church, and gave himself for it." " He came 
 into the world to save sinners, even the chief." '' He 
 put away sin, by the sacrifice of himself." " We are 
 redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a 
 lamb without blemish and without spot." "We have 
 redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, 
 according to the riches of his grace." " He bare our 
 sins in his own body on the tree." " Christ hath 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 309 
 
 redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made 
 a curse for us ; for it is written, Cursed is every one 
 that hangeth on a tree." " Christ also suffered for 
 sins, the just for the unjust." All these, and other 
 similar forms of expression, bear a beautiful and 
 direct meaning, quite apart from the idea of satis- 
 faction to justice — which, on the contrary, would 
 entirely change and ruin their own simple and touch- 
 ing sense. The entire life of Christ on earth, we 
 have seen, was sacrificial, substitutionary, and vica- 
 rious; its deep and sole ground was love of man, 
 based on the fact of mans sin, which created the 
 need of redemption. All in all, Christ was a mere, 
 pure sacrifice, and nothing but a sacrifice — a sacrifice 
 to God ; but more truly still, and in the highest sense 
 of all, a sacrifice made by God for men. Christ 
 lived, emphatically he died, wholly and solely for 
 men and for sin ; to put away sin, to redeem the 
 human soul from sin — not so much from punish- 
 ment, which was only a secondary result, but from 
 sin. The texts quoted above express, in varying 
 form, these imperishable thoughts. And nothing 
 but an acquired and artificial scheme and habit of 
 thought prevents this from being perceived at once. 
 We have been so trained to associate a peculiar 
 sacrcdness with certain scholastic distinctions and 
 divisions, that when we open the New Testament, it 
 is almost impossible for us not to force into its terms 
 
310 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 what they could never of themselves have suggested, 
 what indeed is entirely destructive of their natural 
 meaning. It is like an introduction to a new world, 
 like breathing a pure, divine air, when we break 
 through the imprisonment and the fetters of a merely 
 human system, and stand beneath the free light of 
 heaven, and look with our own eyes on the glorious, 
 spiritual revelations spread out before us by the Only 
 Wise and True. 
 
 There are three passages in the New Testament 
 in which we find a word of much greater force than 
 in any of those already brought forward. " Whom 
 God hath set forth, a propitiation, ikaaTrjpLov, 
 through faith in his blood." i "He is the propiti- 
 ation, ikaaixo^, for our sins."2 " God sent His Son 
 to be the propitiation, iXaafi6<;, for our sins." 3 It is 
 unnecessary to notice the distinction between the two 
 words here employed, which have the same root, and 
 amount to the same sense. The Pagan meaning of 
 /XacryLto? is undoubted ; the word was constantly used 
 by Pagan writers to mark the supposed effect of 
 sacrifices, in propitiating the gods to whom they 
 were offered. But we have to recall the fact, that 
 the Jewish translators ^ of the Hebrew Scriptures 
 into Greek, in rendering the distinctive word Kaphar, 
 employed the term IXaafxh^, while at the same time 
 
 ^ Rom. iii. tiS. ^ 1 John ii. 2. 
 
 ^ 1 John iv. 10. 4 gee p^ 234. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 311 
 
 it was proved, by several undoubted examples, that 
 this common Pagan sacrificial term was not used by 
 them at all in the Pagan sense, but in a sense most 
 widely dififerent. Precisely on the same grounds, we 
 argue that while the inspired writers of the New 
 Testament used the accepted, sacrificial word tkaa- 
 /io9, this is no proof that they used it in the accepted 
 meaning. That meaning, as accepted by the Pagan 
 world, was throughout an utter falsity. They were 
 no gods to whom the Pagan sacrifices were offered ; 
 the anger which it was sought to appease, by means 
 of these sacrifices, was all unreal, and the appeasing 
 efi'ect was mere 4elusion. But the apostles of Chris- 
 tianity had something real and true and great to 
 announce, in the room of the falsities and fancies of 
 Paganism. There was a real God, a real hatred of 
 sin, but at the same time a real and infinite love of 
 the human soul. There was also a real propitiation, 
 but immeasurably far away from that which the be- 
 wildered and distorted Pagan mind had pictured. 
 Instead of the fiction of an incensed Jupiter or Pluto, 
 there was seen on earth the image of the brightness 
 of the God of love. Christ came not to appease 
 anger, for it was owing solely to the unprompted 
 and unbounded mercy of the Father, that he ever 
 lived, and that at last he died on a cross, but to be 
 the wondrous medium of reconciling and restoring 
 human hearts to Him from whom they had revolted. 
 
312 SACRIFICIAL TEEMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 Incarnate love, — bleeding, dying love, is the power 
 whereby God is recovering the world to Himself. 
 
 The inspired writers of the New Testament liken 
 the death of Christ on the cross to the animal sacri- 
 fices under the law of Moses, and compare and con- 
 trast the two in manifold forms. There is no 
 evidence, that any such similitude was ever imagined 
 during the course of the Jewish dispensation itself. 
 The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah and the twenty- 
 second Psalm, certainly, and in the strongest form, 
 do noio suggest the idea of a suffering, as well as of 
 a conquering King, and we, with the gospels in our 
 hands, have no difficulty in applying these holy 
 oracles to our blessed Lord, and can only marvel at 
 their touching beauty and their exact truth. But 
 whatever meaning the seer and the singer of old may 
 have attached at the time to their own words, and 
 however piously they may have searched " what, 
 or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which 
 was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand 
 the sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should 
 follow," it must have been impossible for them, as 
 has already been shown, to have formed the faintest 
 conception of anything like a Messiah offered up in 
 sacrifice, as animals were anciently offered up and 
 slain on the altar. If any ancient Jew succeeded in 
 reaching such a preconception, and was able to regard 
 his bloody offerings as typical of a more bloody offering 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 313 
 
 still, to be laid on some future altar in the distant ages 
 to come, this at least is certain, that no record of the 
 fact can be found, from which there is ground further 
 to conclude, that a fact of the kind never existed. 
 
 Even the words of Jesus to his disciples, after the 
 resurrection, confirm this conclusion. " fools, and 
 slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have 
 spoken! Ought not (the) Christ to have suffered 
 these things, and to enter into his glory ? And be- 
 ginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded 
 to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning 
 himself." Looking back on the ancient Scriptures, 
 in the light which the life and death of Jesus throw 
 on them, the blindness to us is unaccountable which 
 failed to perceive that the Messiah must needs suffer, 
 and we do not wonder at the implied rebuke uttered 
 by the Saviour. But we must not forget, at the 
 same time, how incongruous and seemingly blas- 
 phemous the idea was to the Jewish mind. Perhaps 
 of all men in Judea, or elsewhere in that age, the 
 disciples, pre-eminently, were placed in circumstances 
 the most likely to remove the deep repugnance to 
 this idea, and to reveal its truth. But even they 
 were utterly blind to the last, foolish and sottish, 
 as all their fathers had been. 
 
 It was marvellously different, when the higher 
 illumination of the Holy Ghost had fallen on their 
 minds. We open the New Testament, and there we 
 
314 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 cannot fail to see that Christ's death is often and 
 closely associated in the minds of the writers with 
 the altar and its offerings. " Christ, our passover, is 
 sacrificed for us." " We have an altar." " He was 
 once offered to bear the sins of many." " He gave 
 himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." 
 Nothing could be more thoroughly natural in the cir- 
 cumstances, and nothing more inevitable, than such 
 language, conveying, however, a very different and a 
 far higher truth, though at the same time, one which 
 bore a striking analogy in some obvious points to the 
 ancient symbols. But in addition to these scattered 
 and occasional phrases, one entire epistle, not a short 
 one, specially and significantly addressed to Hebrews, 
 is occupied with an extended and minute compari- 
 son between Judaism and Christianity, pointing out, 
 wherever it is possible, their points of resemblance ; 
 but also, and not less faithfully, their points of con- 
 trast. Christ is compared with Moses, with Mel- 
 chisedec, with Aaron, and w^ith the Jewish priesthood 
 as a Divine Institute: the ancient temple, with its 
 compartments, and its utensils, and its officers of 
 various orders, and its endless ceremonies and rites 
 are graphically described, and largely made use of 
 for the purposes of illustration. The epistle is of 
 necessity intensely Jewish. It is a Jew specially and 
 formally addressing Jews, in language, and through 
 associations and experiences which to both were most 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 315 
 
 endeared and most sacred. It is a Jew seeking to 
 introduce Christian truth into Jewish minds, through 
 Jewish channels, and in many forms Christ's death is 
 brought into relation with ancient sacrifices. " Once 
 in the end of the world hath he appeared to put 
 away sin by the sacrifice of himself.'' " This man, 
 after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, for ever sat 
 down on the right hand of God." " By one offering 
 he hath for ever perfected all them that are sancti- 
 fied." " Jesus, that he might sanctify the people 
 with his own blood, suffered without the gate." 
 
 The words of John Baptist, though out of their 
 proper order in this place, may be noted as convey- 
 ing perhaps the most expressive statement in this 
 relation, to be found in the New Testament, more 
 expressive and significant by far, than those just 
 quoted from the Epistle to the Hebrews. "Be- 
 hold the Lamb of God, wdio is taking aw^ay the 
 sin of the w^orld." It is the natural, instinctive, 
 fervent utterance of a pious Jew, on first beholding 
 him whom he knew to be the promised Messiah. 
 This was God's Lamb, God's sacrifice, though how 
 and in what sense or in what form, John could not 
 know, for there was no apparent similarity between 
 the type and the antitype. Here w^as no literal lamb, 
 no beast but a rational man ; here was no doomed 
 sacrifice on the altar awaiting the sacrificial knife, but 
 a youthful, hopeful, vigorous life, just entering on a 
 
316 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 wondrous course of active service. It would be most 
 gratuitous to fancy, that John foresaw the tragical 
 close of our Lord's life. There is not a word or even 
 a distant hint to favour such an idea, and there is 
 nothing in the circumstances to lead us to suppose it. 
 But John certainly did believe, for the words can 
 mean nothing else, that this living man was God's 
 Lamb, somehow, — the true and only spiritual antitype 
 of the sacrifices under the law of Moses. What is 
 yet more, John afhrmed that this divine Lamb, at the 
 moment when he spoke, was taking away, and was 
 destined to take away, the sin of the world. Never 
 had lamb or sacrifice of any kind effected such a pur- 
 pose. In this respect, as we have already shown, the 
 ancient sacrifices were as dark, as vague, and as 
 empty of meaning as a very shadow is of substance. 
 But this divine Lamb, unlike the ancient victims, was 
 no shadow, but a substance, a glorious spiritual 
 reality, and was to secure an end which sacrifices not 
 only never could have efi'ected, but were never meant 
 to effect. Christ came not nominally, or formally, or 
 judicially, but really, literally, and for ever to take 
 away the sin of the world — to root it out of the world's 
 heart, out of the world's life — to kill by his life and 
 his death the evil which was killing the soul — to 
 cleanse and revivify humanity — to send through it a 
 healthful pulse of love and purity, and to mature it 
 for an immortal and blessed life in the eternal ages. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 317 
 
 The language of the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 is throughout intensely typical, and the subject 
 of Scripture-types is pre-eminently one which de- 
 mands delicate and cautious treatment, such as, un- 
 happily, it has not always received. In the nature 
 of the study itself, there is strong temptation to 
 indulge a prurient ingenuity and a licentious ima- 
 gination ; and some of the most extravagant, and 
 wdld, and even ludicrous examples of so-called re- 
 ligious writing are supplied by students of this 
 branch of sacred literature. Even the severest theo- 
 logians are apt to stray when they venture on this 
 dangerous ground. A vast science of typology has 
 been constructed on what might have been judged 
 a very slender basis. We have typical individuals 
 and typical classes of persons, typical facts, typi- 
 cal purifications, and typical seasons ; and with 
 laborious ingenuity an ample codex has been drawn 
 up of rules or canons of typical interpretation. It 
 is remarkable that in the Scriptures themselves, 
 no special attention is drawn to types, as if they had 
 some profound, mystical, spiritual meaning, and as if 
 God spoke through them with the desire of awaken- 
 ing a peculiar reverence. The New Testament writers, 
 on the contrary, often refer to the whole of the 
 ancient institutions in a tone by no means indicating 
 either affection or respect. " Stand fast in the liberty 
 wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not en- 
 
318 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 tangled again with tlie yoke of bondage." i Judaism, 
 in the thought of inspired men, was a yoke of bond- 
 age; a most galling yoke, also, it appears; for even 
 the apostle Peter, who was not the least Judaistic of 
 the twelve, besought the assembled church of Jeru- 
 salem " not to tempt God, and not to put a yoke on 
 the neck of the (Gentile) disciples, which neither our 
 fathers nor we were able to bear." 2 «' Let no man 
 therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect 
 of an holiday, or of the new-moon, or of the Sabbath- 
 days ; which are a shadow of things to come ; but 
 the body (substance) is of Christ." ^ The law had a 
 " shadow of good things to come, and not the very 
 image of the things." ^ A shadow is the most dim, 
 vague, superficial, unlifelike, unreal representation 
 which can be given of a substance, showing only the 
 mere outline, and even that, generally, in a distorted 
 and untrustworthy form. No one in his senses would 
 seek the shadow, in order to correct and complete his 
 idea of a substance which was before him. 
 
 The peculiar word " type," which is deemed so 
 sacred, and which has been guarded by exact and 
 nice definitions and canons, is used in the New Testa- 
 ment in the most general and free manner possible, 
 certainly without any precision, or sanctity of mean- 
 ing. "Brethren, be followers together of me, and 
 
 1 Gal. V. 1. « Acts XV. 10, 
 
 3 Col. ii. 16. * Heb. X. 1. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 319 
 
 mark them who walk so, as ye have us for an 
 example," (type.)i " So that ye were examples 
 (types) to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia/'^ 
 " Not because we have not power, but to make 
 ourselves an example (type) unto you to follow us/'^ 
 "Be thou an example (type) of the believers, in 
 word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, 
 in purity."* " Neither as being lords over God's 
 heritage, but being examples (types) to the flock."^ 
 " Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be 
 ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the 
 cloud, and all passed through the sea ; and were all 
 baptized unto Moses, in the cloud and in the sea ; and 
 did all eat the same spiritual meat" — referring to 
 the manna, a spiritual, that is a preternatural gift 
 from Heaven — " and did all drink the same spiritual 
 drink " — 'referring to the water supernaturally struck 
 out of the rock — '' for they drank of that spiritual 
 Kock that followed them ; and that Eock was Christ. 
 .... Now these things were our examples, (types,) 
 to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as 
 they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were 
 some of them Neither let us commit forni- 
 cation, as some of them committed Neither 
 
 murmur ye, as some of them also murmured 
 
 Now all these things happened unto them for 
 
 1 Phil. iv. 17. 2 1 rriiess. i. 7. » 2 Thess. iii. 9. 
 
 * 1 Tim. iv. 12. « 1 Peter v. 3. 
 
320 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 examples/' (types. )i To show beyond doubt the true 
 and sole intent of these, and of all tj^pes, the apostle 
 immediately adds, "and they are written for our 
 admonition, on whom the ends of the world (the last 
 of the ages) have come." It is precisely the thought, 
 almost in the very words, expressed by the same 
 writer in another passage, only with a mucli more 
 extended application. " Whatsoever things were 
 written aforetime, were written for our learning; 
 that we, through patience and admonition of the 
 Scriptures, might have hope."^ That is to say, the 
 recorded facts of the Israelitish history, their national 
 annals and their religious experiences, and worship, 
 and faith, and not these only, but all the ancient 
 Scriptures, in all their various parts, are designed to 
 convey to future times instruction, and guidance, and 
 encouragement, and warning. It can hardly fail to 
 occur to us that ordinary human history, in its 
 measure, serves the same great purpose. History 
 hands down to succeeding ages a series of types of 
 humanity, it forms a permanent fund of precious 
 instruction, it is an extended foreshadowing of human 
 character, ever repeating itself, and of human experi- 
 ences, and of human destinies. 
 
 But while all sacred Scripture and all wise secular 
 writing are profitable for our learning, it deserves to 
 be noted, besides, that the facts of daily life, and the 
 
 1 1 Cor. X. 1-11. 2 p^ojjj_ ^^^ 4^ 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 321 
 
 objects and operations of nature, are a medium of 
 what may legitimately be called typical teaching. 
 Providence and nature are full of similitudes, simili- 
 tudes of beautiful and profound meaning to the 
 purified vision. There is a marvellous, universal 
 homogeneity in creation, throughout all its depart- 
 ments of brute matter, and of vegetable, animal, 
 rational, moral, and spiritual life, and even the dullest 
 eye cannot fail to detect some of its patent analogies 
 and images. The beauty of poetry is the revelation 
 of a hidden and higher meaning in common things. 
 It is a rare gift of God to some peculiar souls, an 
 enviable and much envied faculty, which " finds 
 tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, ser- 
 mons in stones, and good in everything." But this 
 faculty is prone to be impatient of the obtuseness 
 and blindness of common men, and to frown con- 
 temptuously on human reason, and especially on 
 human judgment, with its cautious and slow processes, 
 most galling to the quicker force of insight. One 
 man shall see at a glance the wealth of Peru in a 
 mine, which to another is only dull clay, or worthless 
 stone or sand, though, perhaps, were the mine 
 actually worked, it might eventually turn out that 
 all was not really gold which once glittered to the 
 imagination. Specially gifted mindg, not without 
 some counterbalance, find their own reward, a rich 
 one, in iJiemselves. In relation to Scripture, and the 
 
322 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 sphere of spiritual religion, they have moments of 
 exquisite delight, and see, or think they see, and 
 certainly feel what the unendowed never know. 
 They find, as others cannot, the images and types of 
 Scripture, of Providence, and of nature, helpful to 
 their higher well-heing, and they supply to commoner, 
 duller souls, materials of holy enjoyment, and even 
 an invigorating stimulus to their God-ward desires. 
 Let no interdict he laid on the mystic fancy, save 
 what right reason and religion impose ; let it discover 
 in the ancient Scriptures, what foreshadowings, and 
 similitudes, and types it may : they may be beautiful, 
 even legitimate, and healthful, and helpful. But we 
 have herein reached the farthest limit of freedom; 
 they cannot rightfully and they must not be pro- 
 nounced divine. Because we think we perceive in 
 any ancient statement, or symbol, or fact, an image 
 of a future spiritual truth, we are not entitled on this 
 ground alone to affirm that the similitude was pur- 
 posed by God. This introduces a totally new element, 
 which, if true, must rest on other and better evidence. 
 Undoubtedly, all the possible similitudes and issues 
 of all things must be for ever present in the eternal 
 glance ; but to pronounce that any similitude which 
 we perceive, or think we perceive, was pre-ordained 
 and purposed, must be the highest presumption, 
 unless, indeed, the Divine purpose be revealed. 
 One thing is certain, that the perception of a typi- 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 323 
 
 cal meaning in any symbol, and the interpretation of 
 that meaning, must be almost as various as there are 
 individuals, and must inevitably depend, not only on 
 the extent and the kind of a man's knowledge, but 
 on the character of his judging faculty and on the 
 strength and culture of his imagination. He can 
 only liken the type to what he already knows ; he can 
 only judge of it, according to his capacity, whatever 
 that may be ; and the result can only take its form 
 according as his fancy is poor, and coarse, or dis- 
 ciplined, vigorous and chaste. A Christian man may 
 act not wisely, who does not allow a reverent and 
 subdued imagination to range the sphere of his 
 spiritual contemplations, but he is more unwise still, 
 who exalts the play of his fancy, how^ever legitimate 
 in its own sphere, into divine thought and divine 
 ordination. 
 
 Neither the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 nor any of the writers of the New Testament ever 
 assert that the similitudes which they introduce were 
 ordained as such by God. In announcing the 
 heavenly truth which they were commissioned to 
 teach, they drew, as it was impossible for them not 
 to have done, on their previous associations, and 
 knowledge, and sphere of thought, and so much the 
 more, as these were all common to them with those 
 whom they addressed and were as sacredly dear to 
 both. They had no difficulty in finding many points 
 
324 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 of likeness, as well as of direct contrast, between the 
 new and the old dispensation. No difficulty in turn- 
 ing to the best account ancient statements, ancient 
 facts, ancient persons, and ancient institutions, and 
 no difficulty in illustrating the new by the old and 
 giving a peculiar interest to the new, especially in 
 the minds of Jews, from its pictured relation to the 
 old. Frequently and freely they compared and con- 
 trasted Christ's death with the legal sacrifices. But 
 they never intimated that the legal sacrifices were 
 ordained by God to be typical and explanatory of the 
 death of Christ ; no, not once. The two were quite 
 capable of being compared ; and such points of com- 
 parison as naturally suggested themselves to their 
 minds, the sacred writers pointed out, but that was 
 all. The inspired statements as they lie before us in 
 the New Testament are perfectly natural and intelli- 
 gible ; they picture a relation now of resemblance and 
 again of difference, a relation which was real, as it 
 was striking. But the more real it is, so much the 
 surer , is the conclusion, that if, as was proved, the 
 ancient sacrifices involved no expiation or satisfac- 
 tion, it must be wholly fallacious to attach this idea 
 to the death of our blessed Lord. What the ancient 
 sacrifices did not themselves contain they could not 
 surely be employed to teach. 
 
 Whatever be the relation between type and anti- 
 type, this at least seems certain, and confirmed by 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 325 
 
 invariable usage, that the antit}^e is something 
 higher than the type, something further removed 
 from the circle of common things. One or two 
 familiar examples will exhibit more distinctly what 
 is here intended. "As Jonas' was three days and 
 three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of 
 man be three days and three nights in the heart of 
 the earth." ^ We do not imagine a repetition of the 
 ancient phenomenon, another rebellious prophet flee- 
 ing from the service of his God, another monster of 
 the deep, and another marvellous swallowing and 
 disgorging. The second is not a fac-simile of the 
 first, but something greater, and better, and truer to 
 nature and to spirit. " Destroy this temple, and in 
 three days I will raise it up. He spake of the temple 
 of his body." 2 We do not imagine the demolition of 
 huge masses of stone and mortar, and again the noise 
 of axes, and hammers, and of busy workmen rearing 
 a fallen structure. Instead of this, there is the 
 silent revivification, by the invisible power of God, of 
 a body that had sunk in death. " I am the vine, ye 
 are the branches." 3 We do not imagine another 
 vine-like trunk, with other spreading branches on 
 either side. The reality corresponding to the na- 
 tural image is a relation immeasurably higher, not 
 material at all, but purely spiritual. We under- 
 stand that a wondrous soul has united other souls to 
 
 ' Matt. xii. 40. « John iL 19, 21. ^ JoI^q ^v. 5. 
 
326 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 itself by common tlioughts, common sympathies ; and 
 a profound, common love has so imparted itself to 
 them, and so attracted them into its very depths, 
 that living and luminous and sanctifying influences 
 flow from it into them, and an indissoluble union is 
 generated. " I am the living bread which came 
 down from heaven. Whoso eateth my flesh and 
 drinketh my blood, hath eternal life.^l Here is 
 intensely typical language ; but must the reality 
 answering to it be as material and as gross as the 
 words suggest ? On the contrary, the antitype is 
 wholly, intensely, and exquisitely spiritual. We 
 understand that there is such a vivid apprehension of 
 the Saviour, such a welcoming of him and of what 
 he is to us, and can do in us, and for us, that he 
 becomes the very life of our life, the stay, and staff 
 and joy, and glory of our inner being. 
 
 With the aid of these illustrations which bear 
 directly on the interpretation of almost every verse in 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews, we turn to the altar of 
 sacrifice and behold upon it an innocent lamb. The 
 offerer comes to acknowledge and adore God, the life- 
 giver, to surrender back to Him that which is wholly 
 His, and to express, in the way divinely commanded. 
 His prayer to be restored to or continued in the 
 separated nation, with all its privileges. The lamb 
 is slain. A deep gash is made in its throat and we 
 
 ^ John vi. 51, 54. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 327 
 
 see it quivering and struggling, and slowly bleeding 
 to death. If now we pass to the scene on Mount 
 Calvary, it occurs at once to thought, that there is 
 no offerer here, either to acknowledge, or adore, or 
 surrender, or express his desire or prayer to God — 
 no priest and no altar. But there is a sacrifice, a 
 manifest and most costly sacrifice, of life. Must we 
 imagine it to be a mere repetition, in all the disgust- 
 ing and coarse features, of the ancient ofifering? — 
 nay, more, must we imagine it to be not only not of 
 a higher character than the Mosaic rite, but im- 
 measurably lower and worse, (for here is not a beast, 
 but a man, a spotless, holy being,) more revolting, 
 more inhuman, more horrible ? There are points of 
 resemblance, it is true, which we cannot fail to mark. 
 The broad, dark fact stands out common to both — 
 death, a violently cruel death. The shedding of the 
 life-blood is characteristic of both, but profound and 
 wide contrasts are numerous as they are obvious. 
 Animal life, on the one hand, human life, on the 
 other hand, is sacrificed. The one is wholly an un- 
 conscious act ; the other is conscious and deliberate. 
 The one is enforced endurance ; the other is volun- 
 tary surrender to God and to man. The one affects 
 only ceremonial offences ; the other deals with real, 
 human sins, as a wrong against God and the moral 
 universe. The one secures outward reconciliation 
 and restoration to divine worship, and to the separ- 
 
328 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 ated people ; the other effects the real restoration of the 
 human soul to God, to purity, and love, and heaven. 
 Incarnate, crucified love kills sin in the heart — that 
 is the simple fact of all Christian experience. 
 
 It is astounding, but it is simply true, that this 
 very Epistle to the Hebrews, with its highly-coloured 
 figures of a priest, a sanctuary, a most holy place, 
 an altar, a sacrifice, and a blood of sprinkling — all 
 which, instead of mere figures, often very forced and 
 mixed, have been taken for actual literal facts — this 
 epistle, on which so much has been built — this 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, intensely Hebrew as it is, 
 contains the very distinctest and most emphatic de- 
 clarations of the purely ceremonial character of the 
 ancient rites and of the immeasurably higher and 
 wholly spiritual nature of the sacrifice of Christ. It 
 is from the Epistle to the Hebrews we learn that 
 " it is not possible" — ^never was, and never could be, 
 possible — " that the blood of bulls and of goats should 
 take away sins " i — ^real sins. It is in the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews we find it declared, wdth such emphasis 
 and such clearness, that the blood of Christ, the sym- 
 bol of divine, reconciling love, acts not on the past of 
 a man's history, but on the inmiediate present— not 
 on his outward relations, but on his inward being, 
 and without touching the facts of his history, wholly 
 changes, and cleanses, and sanctifies his nature. " If 
 
 1 Heb. X. 4. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 329 
 
 the blood of bulls and of goats, and tlie aslies of an 
 heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purify- 
 ing of the flesh ; how much more shall the blood of 
 Christ, who, (wholly possessed and moved) by the 
 Eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot unto God, 
 purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the 
 Living God/'"^ The antithesis is put with beautiful 
 clearness and with irresistible force. The one mem- 
 ber of the contrast touches only the flesh ; the other 
 reaches the soul, the depths of the soul, the con- 
 science. The one takes away surface defilement ; the 
 other washes out real evil from the heart, and does so 
 by creating love of God, who so loved us. There is 
 power, not conventional, factitious power, but real, 
 spiritual power in this — a power redeeming us from 
 dead works, (works which carry death within them, 
 and have death as their proper and necessary fruit, 
 for the wages of sin is death ;) power which trans- 
 lates us from death to life, from deathful works to 
 a living God, and a living, holy service. The pur- 
 pose of the blood of Christ, of Incarnate, dying love, 
 according to this inspired writer, the end which it 
 contemplates, and which it efiects, is real, inward 
 purification, neither more nor less. The blood of 
 Christ is only and wholly a moral influence, not 
 the ground of any imagined, legal acquittal, but 
 the deep cause of a spiritual renewal, and of a pu- 
 
 1 Heb. ix. 13, 14. 
 
330 SACKIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 rity which springs from humble trust in God's free 
 grace. 
 
 Passing now from the Epistle to the Hebrews, one 
 of the most extended and clear and simple accounts 
 to be found in the apostolic letters of what we should 
 now call the nature of the gospel, of the mission in- 
 trusted to the apostles of Christianity, and of the 
 message which they were empowered to announce to 
 the world, is given in 2 Cor. v. 14-21. The question 
 may be supposed to be put. Who were these apostles 
 who traversed the world, preaching and labouring 
 and suffering and dying? What did they mean? 
 what was their aim? and what was the influence 
 under which they were acting ? The question is an- 
 swered with great distinctness. " Love of Christ "-^ 
 not love of glory, or of wealth, or of personal aggran- 
 disement of any kind, but pure love of Christ — 
 " constraineth us ; because we thus judge, that if one 
 died for all, then were all dead" — doomed to death. 
 A constraining, overpowering force of gratitude had 
 laid hold of these men, generated by the faith that 
 God had so loved them, and that, in the love of God, 
 Christ had lived and died for them. " And that he 
 died for all, that they who live " — who have through 
 this means been raised and restored to a new life — 
 "should not henceforth live unto themselves, but 
 unto him who died for them, and rose again." And 
 this profound sense of the dying love of Christ, and 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 331 
 
 of the love of God in Christ, had laid open to them 
 a totally new world, and revealed and generated a 
 totally new centre of being, a new aim and end. 
 Hitherto they had been in the flesh, saw with their 
 fleshly eyes, and thought and felt under the influence 
 of common outward interests, ambitions, and rela- 
 tions. But now they were in the Spirit, the holy 
 Spirit of God, of Christ ; and the consequence was, 
 that a totally new mode of thinking and feeling and 
 looking at everything possessed them. Jewish ideas 
 and prepossessions and prejudices were in great mea- 
 sure gone ; a wide, quickening, humanising, divine 
 influence reigned in them , and men and things were 
 no longer to them as they had before been. " Where- 
 fore, henceforth know we no man after the flesh." 
 The distinction between Jew and Gentile, country- 
 men, kinsmen, and strangers, bond and free, was no 
 more recognised, but a higher, broader, an all-em- 
 bracing love took its place. " Yea, though we have 
 known Christ after the flesh" — known him and 
 boasted of him as a Jew, the son of David, one of 
 the holy nation — " yet now henceforth know we him 
 no more." He is to us the symbol, not of glory to 
 the Jew, but of God's unspeakable love to the world. 
 " Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new 
 creature: old things are passed away; behold, all 
 things are become new." 
 
 At this point the question may be supposed to be 
 
332 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 put, Whence, and how has this great spiritual re- 
 volution originated? Is it human, or divine? — a 
 thought of these apostles themselves, an effort, an 
 achievement of theirs, or purely and solely a divine 
 work ? Again the question is answered with great 
 distinctness ; and we are taught that the work and 
 the thought are wholly divine, wholly springing out 
 of divine, reconciling love. " And all things are of 
 God, who hath reconciled us to himself by (or in) 
 Jesus Christ/' Not a word or hint is there here of 
 reconciling Himself to us, appeasing His anger, satis- 
 fying His justice, or expiating our sin. If Paul had 
 anything of this kind in his thoughts, at least he has 
 left no record of the fact. The great, we are entitled 
 to assume, the sole idea in his mind, as he recalled 
 his own experience of Christianity, and reflected on 
 what he knew of the experience of others, was this, 
 God hath reconciled us, won us back, to Himself by 
 Jesus Christ, " And hath given to us the ministry of 
 reconciliation." But what is the ministry of recon- 
 ciliation ? "To wit, that God was in (or by) Christ, 
 reconciling the world to himself" — not adopting a 
 strange expedient whereby to reconcile Himself to 
 men, and render it consistent and honourable and 
 safe in Him, as a just God, and the Moral Governor 
 of the universe, to pardon them ; not this, not this at 
 all, but exactly the reverse, " Keconciling (gaining 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 333 
 
 back, recovering) the world to himself" — " not im- 
 puting their trespasses unto them." 
 
 Ought we not to pause with great seriousness, and 
 ponder this singularly simple and clear and unen- 
 cumbered deliverance of holy Scripture ? The God 
 in whom Paul trusted was not a Being who needed 
 first of all to be propitiated and appeased, and who 
 must first of all have sin atoned for, and justice satis- 
 fied, and law honoured by sacrificial suffering ; but 
 One who loved the world with an infinite love, who 
 was infinitely in earnest that it should turn to Him 
 and live, and who had adopted the most overwhelm- 
 ing method of expressing His love, and of laying 
 open to His creatures the very depths of His heart. 
 The God in whom Paul trusted was not a Being who 
 waited in silent anger till men came to His feet, and 
 either themselves, or through a substitute, did some- 
 thing which should render it consistent and dignified 
 in Him to forgive them ; but One who came forth to 
 seek and to save the lost, and to tell men that He 
 wanted nothing, but that they should turn to Him 
 and live, proclaiming it with His own voice, " Turn 
 ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?" That is the 
 gospel which apostles were commissioned to announce 
 to the world, and which was mighty, through God, 
 in the regeneration of myriads I 
 
 One question now remains, of very obvious prac- 
 
334 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 tical importance, How did the apostles acquit them- 
 selves of their sacred trust, if such it was, as these 
 sentences convey? What did they imagine that 
 faithfulness to their trust required of them in deal- 
 ing with men ? A modern teacher or preacher would 
 probably feel, that his first duty, in fulfilling a sacred 
 ministry, was to show the necessity of atonement for 
 sin, and satisfaction to justice, before God could 
 pardon ; to explain how this necessity had been com- 
 pletely met by the obedience and sufferings of Christ 
 in the room of sinners ; and to urge men to seek for 
 pardon on this ground. But Paul has forgotten, at 
 all events he distinctly omits, this, as many judge, 
 corner-stone of the Christian faith. Perhaps in the 
 hurry and fervour of speaking it escaped him, though 
 so vitally and essentially important. We cannot 
 make this excuse. He is not speaking, but writing, 
 dictating to an amanuensis, who shall read over again 
 to him what has been put down. He is writing a 
 very important letter to the Corinthian church, 
 leisurely, collectedly, carefully. He is dealing with 
 the most central and the most vital truths of Chris- 
 tianity ; and he omits altogether that which is sup- 
 posed to be the truest and highest of them all. He 
 had shown what he had conceived to be the gospel, 
 the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God, by 
 Jesus Christ, was subduing the heart of the world, 
 and reconciling it to Himself. It follows imme- 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 335 
 
 diately, " Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, 
 as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you 
 in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." This is 
 all, in Paul's judgment, which God asks ; this is the 
 one aim and end of all God has done — " be ye recon- 
 ciled to God." And now clothing His thoughts in 
 Jewish imagery and phrase, he adds, " for He hath 
 made him to be sin (a sin-offering) for us, who knew 
 no sin." But the apostle brings out a far nobler, a 
 diviner, meaning than the old language and the old 
 worship ever expressed. Christ, he suggests, was the 
 true sin-offering, the only true sin-offering, the world 
 ever saw, or ever will or can see. He did what no 
 Jewish sacrifice was ever intended to do, what no 
 sacrifice, Jewdsh or Pagan, ever could do, he actually, 
 really took away sin, took it, and takes it, out of the 
 heart, by his sacrifice and death. God hath made 
 him to be a sin-offering for us, who knew no sin, 
 " that we might be made the righteousness (right- 
 nes3 or rightenedness) of God by him" — that we 
 might be divinely Tightened by him. 
 
 In the same simple, beautiful, and subduing tone 
 and spirit, far, far away from all ideas of expiation 
 and satisfaction, the apostle closes his message, as an 
 ambassador of Heaven, " We then, as workers toge- 
 ther with God, beseech you also, that ye receive not 
 the (this) grace of God in vain." 
 
SECTION SECOND — ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 Early History of Christianity — First Christian Sermon — Peter's 
 Gospel — Martyr Stephen — Ethiopian Eunuch — Cornelius — 
 Saul of Tarsus, His Conversion, His Ministry — Antioch, 
 Athens, Miletus, Philippi — "Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." 
 
 THE early history of Christianity is invaluable as 
 a key, the only one which we possess, to that 
 which was uppermost in the thought and in the heart 
 of the first disciples, in the years immediately suc- 
 ceeding the death of their Master. It needs no 
 reasoning to prove that they knew thoroughly well 
 what Christ's gospel really was. The personal friends 
 and companions of Jesus, who had been most inti- 
 mately and affectionately associated with him for 
 three years, and during that period had been con- 
 stantly under the influence of his deeply marked 
 character, and of his special and singular spirit, of 
 his public teaching, and of his most retired and sacred 
 utterances; who had witnessed his death, and had 
 seen him, and had intercourse with him after his 
 
SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS, ETC. 337 
 
 resurrection ; who, after his departure, had, at his 
 command, waited in solemn prayer to God, during 
 seven days, for that Holy Ghost whom he had pro- 
 mised to send forth, and on whose souls at last an 
 extraordinary divine . power had descended, — they 
 certainly must have known what their Master in- 
 tended should be preached, as his gospel, and above 
 all, must have known that which was most essential 
 and divine in it. And when, only seven weeks after 
 his death, on the day of Pentecost, they assembled in 
 Jerusalem, it is impossible to doubt that their minds 
 and their hearts must have been full of Christ, of his 
 teaching, his thoughts, his spirit, and his very words. 
 They must have burned to speak of him, and to pro- 
 claim in the fullest, clearest, and broadest terms, that 
 in him which they had found to be life for them- 
 selves, and which they knew was meant to be life to 
 the world and to all times. 
 
 A noble occasion of disburdening their full hearts 
 was presented. Jerusalem was crowded with multi- 
 tudes from all quarters of the known world ; a mighty 
 audience was prepared, and they w^ere not only ex- 
 pected, but invited to speak. And they did speak. 
 Thoroughly instructed as they were in the life, and 
 death, and doctrine of their Lord, glowing with love 
 of Christ, and love of their yet blinded countrymen, 
 specially intrusted with the message of salvation, 
 and specially endowed to proclaim it, they did speak, 
 
338 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 and with great freedom, and fervour, and fulness. 
 But their theme, what was it? The expiation of 
 human sin, and satisfaction to divine justice, by the 
 sacrifice and sufferings of Jesus on the cross. Pardon 
 obtained from God, through means of that sacrifice 
 and these sufferings. If ever there was an occasion, 
 whether we look to the speakers or to the hearers, or 
 to the circumstances, when these announcements, sup- 
 posing them to be fundamental and vital, must have 
 been made, this was that occasion. But they were 
 not made, and nothing like them was once uttered. 
 
 Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost to the 
 crowding, eager multitudes of Jerusalem, the first 
 Christian sermon ever preached in this world, con- 
 tains from beginning to end nothing of this kind. 
 The preacher begins by accounting for the unex- 
 ampled enthusiasm and excitement which the people 
 had witnessed in him and his fellow disciples, on the 
 ground of an influence from above, such as is dis- 
 tinctly foretold in ancient prophecy. He connects 
 this extraordinary divine influence with the power of 
 the risen Jesus, and he declares him to be the true 
 son of David, the Messiah promised to the fathers. 
 He tells of his life, his death, his resurrection, and 
 his ascension; he solemnly adjures all the house of 
 Israel now to know assuredly that God had made 
 this Jesus, . both Lord and Christ ; and, finally, he 
 charges home on his countrymen the crime of put- 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 339 
 
 ing to death God's Anointed. That is the sermon, 
 the whole sermon — surely not given to the world 
 with so serious a fault, as the omission of that which 
 was most essential and most vital for all coming ages 
 to know. 
 
 But certain memorable consequences followed this 
 address, in the record of which, perhaps, we may find 
 this great defect supplied. Let us see. The sermon 
 produced a marvellous effect. " Now when they 
 heard this they were pricked in their hearts, and 
 said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men 
 and brethren, what shall we do ? Then Peter said 
 unto them, Kepent, /jLeravorjaare, and be baptized 
 every one of you in (into) the name of Jesus Christ 
 for (in order to) the remission of sins, and ye shall 
 receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." i That very 
 important word, "repent," is ill understood by mere 
 English readers of the New Testament. It does not 
 mean, be sorry for sin ; it does not mean this at all, 
 though sorrow for sin is one of the effects included in 
 the far more comprehensive idea which the word 
 expresses. Kepent is, simply, change your mind — 
 no more ; and repentance is not sorrow for sin, but 
 simply, change of mind — no more. Peter's counsel 
 to the conscience-stricken people of Jerusalem is 
 this, " change your mind." Your mode of thinking 
 has been entirely wrong, your conception of God, 
 1 Acts ii. 37, 38. 
 
340 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 of tlie Messiah, of yourselves, and of sin, has been 
 founded in error. Change your mind : see in Jesus, 
 Gods Messiah ! see God himself in His Anointed ! 
 above all, see God's love to you in him ! Turn to 
 this loving God with all your heart — repent — change 
 your mind ; and in token of this change, and of your 
 genuine self-surrender, " be baptized every one of you 
 into the name of Jesus, in order to the remission 
 of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost." 
 
 The second Christian sermon ever preached, like 
 the first, fell from the lips of Peter. A vast crowd 
 had collected, on the rumour of the marvellous cure 
 of a lame man, at the gate of the temple, and Peter 
 addressed them. First of all, he again extols Christ 
 his Lord, and ascribes the miracle to his power. 
 Again, he tells of Christ's life, and death, and resur- 
 rection, charges them with his murder, and by refer- 
 ence to Moses and all the prophets, is at pains to 
 prove his true Messiahship — his very sufferings and 
 death themselves, long ago foreshown, being among 
 the strongest evidences of the fact. Once more his 
 counsel is, " Kepenf' — change your mind — " and be 
 converted," — turn to God, — " that your sins may be 
 blotted out." Encouraging and urging them in- 
 stantly to this course, ho closes with these words, 
 " Unto you first God, having raised up his Son 
 Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 341 
 
 one of you from his iniquities." l This is the holy 
 work intrusted to the Kedeemer, not to appease 
 God's anger, but to be the highest utterance of 
 God's love, — not to satisfy God's justice, but to be 
 God's messenger to bless mankind, — not to make 
 expiation for sin, but to turn men away from sin, 
 and to fill their hearts with abhorrence of it. 
 
 To the same effect, when brought before the coun- 
 cil on account of this miracle of healing, Peter's aim 
 is still to exalt his Lord, as the source of that power 
 by which the impotent man was cured, and as the 
 true Messiah, — a stone once rejected, as foretold by 
 the prophet, but now become the head of the corner. 
 The Jewish rulers and people dreamed of another 
 Messiah, by another name than that of Jesus, who 
 was yet to appear for the salvation of Israel. The 
 apostle denounces the visionary hope, " Neither is 
 there salvation in any other, for there is none other 
 name under heaven given among men, whereby we 
 must be saved. "2 At a later period, when once more 
 brought before the Sanhedrim and commanded to 
 cease preaching in the name of Christ, the apostles 
 replied, " We ought to obey God rather than men," 
 and then fell back on the ground which they at first 
 had taken, and reiterated what to them was the 
 highest truth, involving every other, " The God of 
 our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and 
 
 1 Acts iii. 19, 2G. 2 ^^ts iv. 11, 12. 
 
342 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His 
 right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to 
 give repentance" — an entire change of mind — "to 
 Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his wit- 
 nesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, 
 whom God hath given to them that obey Him."^ 
 
 Of the course of the gospel during the next ten or 
 twelve years which succeeded the death of Jesus, 
 our knowledge is exceedingly limited. But so far as 
 the scanty materials of information go, there is not 
 a word or hint of sacrificial, expiatory sufferings, of 
 pardon from God procured by these, or of imputation 
 or satisfaction. In the first fervours of Christianity, 
 when, if ever, the true message of the cross, and its 
 supreme significance, must have been proclaimed 
 unweariedly, the subject of apostolic teaching, the 
 chief, almost the sole subject of apostolic teaching, 
 was Christ, the Messiah of God, but rejected and 
 crucified by men, — Christ, the hope of Israel and of 
 the world, — Christ, in whose name was preached to 
 all men the forgiveness of sins. 
 
 The first Christian martyr, Stephen, was endowed 
 with uncommon gifts, and had been selected by his 
 fellow-disciples, as the first of seven, who, next to 
 the apostles, v/ere charged with the oversight of the 
 newly- formed church. His extraordinary powers 
 drew down on him the vengeance of the elders and 
 
 1 Acts V. 29-S2. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 343 
 
 scribes, and he was summoned before the Sanhedrim, 
 and charged with a capital offence. In such circum- 
 stances, one baptized, as he was, with the spirit of 
 Christ and of Christianity, in earnest, both to defend 
 his own convictions, and to reach the blinded and 
 hardened consciences before him, could not have kept 
 back the most essential truth of his adopted faith. 
 He certainly did not ; but he considered the most 
 essential truth to be this, that God's Messiah, who 
 came to save from sin, and who was actually saving, 
 as he and thousands of others knew in themselves, 
 had been wickedly scorned and crucified. His long 
 address is a recapitulation of Israelitish history lead- 
 ing to this point, that through all the ages God's 
 prophets had been persecuted and slain, and that, at 
 last, the Anointed himself had been basely put to 
 death. He was listened to till he directly charged 
 those before him, in these tremendous words: your 
 fathers " have slain them which showed before the 
 coming of the Just One, of whom ye have been now 
 the betrayers and the murderers : who have received 
 the law by the disposition of angels, and have not 
 kept it." Then they stoned Stephen — a noble 
 exemplar to all times, how most Christianly death 
 may be encountered, be the circumstances what they 
 may. "They stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and 
 saying. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Following 
 his blessed Lord, the first martyr be(][ueathed to the 
 
344: SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 world a testimony such as only the religion of the cross 
 ever inspired, and only the religion of the cross ever 
 received. " And he kneeled down, and cried with a 
 loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. 
 And, when he had said this, he fell asleep." "•• 
 
 The narrative of the Ethiopian eunuch meeting 
 with the evangelist Pliihp, carries us into a region 
 of faith and hope, of which but few glimpses are 
 afforded. A Gentile, belonging to a remote country, 
 had come to know the God of Israel, and was some- 
 how possessed of a portion of the Jewish Scriptures. 2 
 He was reading Isaiah liii. when Philip encountered 
 him, and he at once eagerly sought an interpretation 
 of the passage. We are told that " Philip opened his 
 mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached 
 unto him Jesus.'' The sermon is not given, but we 
 can imagine how, from such a text, he would unfold 
 the character and the work of the Messiah, and pre- 
 sent the simple, touching sense of the prophecy. We 
 can imagine that he would point out how naturally 
 and literally the ancient oracle fulfilled itseK in Jesus 
 of Nazareth ; how innocent and patient and meek he 
 was, amidst all his cruel sufferings ; how he died for 
 sins, but not his own — died, to take away sin out of 
 the hearts of men ; how love, divine love, was ex- 
 pressed in his life, and in his cross ; and how, through 
 all, he was proved to be the very Messiah of God. 
 
 i Acts vii. 52, 53, 59, 60. ^ j^g^s viii. 28, 35, 37. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 3-i5 
 
 The effect of the sermon we know, and its effect 
 reveals plainly what itself must have been. It 
 brought the eunuch to this conclusion: — " I believe 
 that Jesus is the Son of God'' — another name for 
 Messiah, the Anointed of God, who came to save 
 his people from their sins. And on this profession 
 he was baptized. 
 
 Closely connected with the story of the Ethiopian 
 eunuch, and, like it, throwing some light into the 
 darkness of ancient heathendom, is the conversion 
 of the Koman centurion, Cornelius. The narrative 
 teems with interest on all skies. The apostle Peter 
 himself, divinely taught, made a marvellous advance 
 on this occasion into the clearer, fuller, broader light 
 of heavenly truth. For the first time, so far as 
 appears, his mind, intensely Jewish before, opened 
 itself wide to the true character of God, as the lovins: 
 Father of all His children on earth, and not the par- 
 tial guardian of a single favourite tribe. How these 
 noble words of the newly -illuminated and inspired 
 man shatter to pieces and scatter to the winds all 
 our scientific theologies : " Of a truth I perceive that 
 God is no respecter of persons : but in every nation 
 he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is 
 accepted with him." ^ 
 
 But we are specially interested to ascertain the man- 
 ner in which Peter acquitted himself of his apostolic 
 
 1 Acts X. 34-43. 
 
346 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 trust. Cornelius and his people were proselytes to Ju- 
 daism, liad heard something of the new truth which 
 had shone on Judea, and were profoundly anxious to 
 know what it really was. They were preternaturally 
 assured that Peter was commissioned and endowed by 
 Heaven to instruct them ; and with great earnestness, 
 Cornelius says to him, " We are all here present before 
 God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of 
 God." In such circumstances, it is very certain that 
 Peter, whatever else he proclaimed, would not omit 
 the things most essential to salvation. The sermon is 
 before us. It tells of the life and death and resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus, and especially, that he was ordained of 
 God, the Judge of the living and the dead, as else- 
 where he is declared to be set for the fall and the 
 rising again of many in Israel — the touchstone and 
 test, whereby it should be shown whether they would 
 hear, or whether they would forbear. But the sum 
 and the grand aim of Peter's words are contained in 
 this sentence : " Christ is Lord of all." He is the 
 Messiah whom God hath sent to bless men in turn- 
 ing them away from their iniquities. " To him," 
 says Peter, on this memorable occasion, " give all the 
 prophets witness, that, through his name, whosoever 
 belie veth in him shall receive remission of sins." 
 Trust in God's Messiah, trust in a loving, reconciling 
 God in Christ, is the germ of spiritual salvation. 
 The conversion of Saul of Tarsus marks a great 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 347 
 
 crisis in the early history of our religion. We have 
 three accounts of this wonderful event — one by the 
 historian of the Acts, another, reported in the words 
 of Paul himself when he addressed the tumultuous 
 assemblage in Jerusalem, and a third, also reported 
 in Paul's own words when he appeared before Agrip- 
 pa. The accounts, more or less full, are consistent 
 and harmonious. But whether we turni to the 
 words of Jesus to the persecutor of his church, as he 
 travelled on his murderous mission to Damascus, or 
 to the words of Ananias, who was commanded to 
 instruct and direct the penitent, we mark the total 
 absence of everything which bears even the most dis- 
 tant approach to what in these days is called, by way 
 of eminence, the gospel. Saul himself, even in the 
 first impetuous warmth of Christian faith and zeal, 
 does not preach this gospel at all, to the perishing 
 sinners of Damascus. But he does preach ; at once, 
 and wdth all the characteristic ardour of his nature, 
 now fired with a deeper and diviner love than he had 
 ever known, he throws himself into the holy service 
 of his Lord. But his theme is certainly not the gos- 
 pel, as now conventionally understood. We read, 
 " he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is 
 the Son of God," — the Messiah. His hearers, re- 
 ferring to his past life, were amazed. " But Saul 
 increased the more in strength, and confounded the 
 
 1 Acts ix. 5, 17. 
 
348 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is 
 very Christ." i That is all which has come down to 
 us of his earliest ministry as an apostle. His subject 
 is the Messiahship ; Jesus, God's Messiah, but always 
 at the same time, Jesus the Saviour of Jew and 
 Gentile, Jesus who came forth from God with this 
 sole purpose, to save from sin, and to publish forgive- 
 ness of sins, as the pure, mere gift of God's grace. 
 
 The first Christian sermon by the apostle Paul, of 
 which we have any detailed record, was preached in 
 the synagogue of Antioch. It begins with early 
 Israelitish history up to the time of David, proclaims 
 Jesus to be the son of David, and the Saviour of 
 Israel, shows how John, Messiah's forerunner, pointed 
 out Jesus as he that should come after him, relates 
 how he was rejected, condemned, and crucified, but 
 raised again by the power of God, and concludes 
 with these words : " Be it known unto you, therefore, 
 men and brethren, that through this man is preached 
 unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that 
 believe are justified (set right, rectified) from all 
 things, from which ye could not be justified (set 
 right, rectified) by the law of Moses." 2 At Lystra 
 Paul and Barnabas were honoured at first exceed- 
 ingly, and were imagined to be gods in human form. 
 The people, with the priest of Jupiter at their head, 
 brought oxen and garlands, and were ready to do 
 
 ^ AciiS ix. 20, 22. 2 ^^ts xiii. 16-39. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 349 
 
 sacrifice to them. Here, surely, was not only a 
 legitimate occasion offered, but a positive necessity 
 created for proclaiming the one only expiatory sacri- 
 fice for sin, if this had been the truth, and above all, 
 the highest truth of Christianity. But not a whisper 
 of this kind fell from the lips of God's ambassadors. 
 They only rushed in among the people in conster- 
 nation, and strove to put a stop to the impiety. 
 " Sirs, why do ye these things ? We also are men 
 of like passions with you, and preach unto you that 
 ye turn from these vanities unto the living God.'' i 
 
 At Athens, the centre of ancient civilisation, but 
 the stronghold also of ancient idolatry, Paul pro- 
 claims 2 the One true God, to them unknown, a 
 Spirit, and the Father of spirits ; proclaims the 
 living, loving Father, and all souls His offspring, 
 a God not distant, but very near to every one of us ; 
 not indifferent, but observant, and ever holding His 
 rational children responsible to Himself. " He hath 
 appointed a day in the which He will judge the 
 world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath 
 ordained, whereof He hath given assurance unto all 
 men, in that He hath raised him from the dead." 
 This day of judgment some able expositors have 
 suggested — and the idea adapts itself with remark- 
 able fitness to Paul's audience, and to the circum- 
 stances — is the whole course of the Christian dis- 
 
 1 Acts xiv. 15. ^ Acts xvii. 31. 
 
350 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 pensation on earth, from its beginning to its close, 
 during which the world is tried and proved by Christ, 
 the Incarnate, Crucified One, and the last test is ap- 
 plied whereby it shall be discovered, whether men 
 will yield, or not yield, to the claims of God, ap- 
 pealing to them in their strongest and most subdu- 
 ing form. 
 
 At Miletus Paul addressed the elders of Ephesus, 
 where he had long laboured, and in a single sentence 
 expressed the whole aim and meaning of the work of 
 his life — " testifying both to the Jews and also to the 
 Greeks, repentance (an entire change of mind) toward 
 God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." l 
 
 When Felix the governor, with his wife Priscilla, 
 a Jewess, sent for Paul to hear from him concerning 
 the faith of Christ, we cannot doubt that the apostle 
 was true to the Master he loved, and was in earnest 
 to reveal the very soul of the new doctrine. But the 
 gospel, for that day and that audience, took this form 
 in his hands: "he reasoned of righteousness, temper- 
 ance, and judgment to come," till Felix trembled and 
 said, " Go thy way for this time, when I have a con- 
 venient season I will call for thee."2 Before Agrippa 
 the king, in like manner, nothing falls from the lips 
 of Paul which approaches the standard of scholastic 
 theology. After relating his own conversion to 
 Christianity, and the change of his whole life con- 
 
 1 Acts XX. 21. 2 ^cts xxiv. 24, 25. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 351 
 
 sequent upon it, he maintains Christ's Messiahship 
 and shows Jesus to be none other " than that which 
 the prophets and Moses did say should come ; " and 
 with such effect did he thus exalt his Lord, that 
 Agrippa said, " Almost thou persuadest me to be a 
 Christian."! 
 
 We turn back to the only passage in the Acts 
 bearing on the subject of discussion, which has been 
 omitted in this rapid survey. That passage has been 
 reserved to the last, because it seems to be the most 
 distinct and explicit of all that are found in this book. 
 It is in chapter xvi., verses 30, 31. The scene is 
 Philippi, and the public jail of the city ; the time is 
 midnight. We say nothing of the prayers of Paul 
 and his companion, or of their hymn of praise, rising 
 with strange, mysterious effect at that silent hour, 
 and in a place used to far other sounds ; we say 
 nothing of the earthquake, the opening of the prison 
 doors, or of the terror of the jailor when he imagined 
 that his prisoners had fled. But when Paul called 
 out, " Do thyself no harm, for we are all here,'' it was 
 not the sudden escape from a great peril^though had 
 the prisoners fled his life would certainly have been 
 taken— it was not this only, or chiefly which affected 
 the jailor ; but the eager kindness of a man whom 
 he had treated with brutal cruelty, produced in him a 
 revulsion of feeling, thoroughly overpowering. '*' He 
 
 1 Acts xxvi. 22, 28. 
 
352 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 called for a liglit, and sprang in, and came trembling^ 
 and fell down before Paul and Silas." As in the 
 flash of a moment, his whole life was revealed to him, 
 his savage nature, and all his crimes, and he cried, 
 " Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? And they said. 
 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
 saved, and thy house." 
 
 There are two radical mistakes, easily and often 
 made in the interpretation of these simple, glorious 
 words. They are true, true always, everywhere, and 
 for every human being. To trust in incarnate, re- 
 deeming love is salvation. But on the one hand, it 
 is imagined that this believing is the act of a moment 
 or of an hour, a completed act ; repeated indeed, but 
 completed at the time. On the other hand, it is 
 imagined that the salvation resulting is also a com- 
 pleted act, an act of God, done at once, and for ever, 
 in the moment of believing. You shall say to a 
 sinful, impenitent human being, God has made a 
 perfect atonement in the sacrifice of Christ, for all 
 your sins, past, present, and to come, and He requires 
 nothing more than that you simply believe this fact. 
 Believe it, and in that moment you are perfectly and 
 for ever pardoned, and accepted as perfectly righteous 
 in the sight of God, because he counts all j^our sins 
 as laid upon Christ, and Christ's perfect righteousness 
 as laid upon you and covering you. We are not 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 353 
 
 now to argue this point, which has been done already 
 in the earlier chapters, but we seek to place beside 
 this involved and complex exposition of the inspired 
 words, another sense, which seems more natural and 
 more true to the facts of Christian experience. 
 
 In general, let it be stated that the believing on 
 the part of man, and the saving on the part of God, 
 are not, and never are, merely acts, but processes, — 
 always processes, and never completed till the last 
 moment of life. There is a beginning of believing, 
 a first act of believing, if you will, — a very feeble, 
 very imperfect act of a mind that sees and knows 
 very little, and has yet great ignorance, great preju- 
 dice, great error to overcome ; many struggles, many 
 fears, and much bitter experience to pass through, — 
 but the first genuine act carries in its bosom the seed 
 of its necessary perpetuation and aftergrowth, so that it 
 is essentially of the nature of a process — a constantly 
 cumulative and corrective process. There is also a 
 beginning of salvation, — a very small beginning it 
 always is, and must be. Evil in the soul is deep and 
 strongly rooted. The root is struck, but it will not 
 die soon or easily. The soul has to endure a long 
 conflict, and only with the last cruel wrench of life 
 shall it be delivered. But the salvation is begun, 
 and the beginning of believing is the beginning of 
 salvation. The first trustful look towards God in 
 
 z 
 
354 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 Christ, towards God reconciling us to Himself by 
 Christ Jesus, is a mortal blow to sin in the heart. 
 And the more intense, the more fixed, and the more 
 loving that look becomes, ever the more saving, the 
 more redemptive, because the more destructive of sin, 
 is the eflPect. That rude and ignorant jailor whom 
 Paul addressed, was suddenly convinced ; connecting 
 what he had before heard or seen of his prisoners with 
 what he had himself experienced, he was convinced 
 that Paul and Silas were men of God somehow, and 
 must be able, if any on earth were, to guide him to 
 truth, and peace, and salvation. " Believe in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ," said Paul ; " He is the way and 
 the truth and the life.'' God is in him reconciling 
 men to Himself, and he, in God's name, proclaims 
 a free forgiveness of sins, and we, as His ambassa- 
 dors, proclaim it to you, — be not afraid, only believe 
 the love which God has to you, and you shall be 
 saved. You will find, with the first movement of 
 simple trust, a new power, a living power in your 
 nature, putting sin to death, and shedding a holy, 
 sanctifying peace within, such as you never knew. 
 
 We close this hasty review with Paul's own mem- 
 orable sentence, which reveals both the secret of his 
 experience and the spirit of all his teaching, — " This 
 is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, 
 that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 355 
 
 of whom I am tlie chief. Howbeit, for this cause I 
 obtained mercy, that in me especially Jesus Christ 
 might show forth all long-suffering for a pattern to 
 them who should hereafter believe in him to life 
 everlasting." 
 
SECTION THIRD— THE GOSPELS. 
 
 Hostile Criticism — Its Unsound Basis — Sayings and Discourses of 
 Jesus — How Preserved and Transmitted — Christ's Soul, their 
 Fountain — Immeasurable Superiority — To Early Christian 
 Writings — To Noblest Heathen Utterances — Exposition of 
 Passages — No Expiation or Satisfaction — Must have been, if 
 True — Lord's Prayer — Last Supper— Calvary — After Resurrec- 
 tion — Olivet — Christ's Teaching Opposed to Satisfaction — 
 Pharisee and Publican — Prodigal, 
 
 THE most precious portion of the New Testament 
 writings, it will hardly be questioned, lies within 
 the four Gospels, and they arc also the very portion 
 against which the attacks of hostile criticism have 
 been mainly directed. This is not the place, even if 
 we had the power, to discuss the authenticity or the 
 genuineness of these sacred narratives, but wo ven- 
 ture to express the conviction that the mode in which 
 Baar, Strauss, Schwegler, and the school to which 
 they belong, argue respecting the Gospels, is most 
 vicious in principle, and most arbitrary in applica- 
 tion. To theorise on the Petrine, Pauline, Ebionitish, 
 Platonic, Gnostic, or Montanistic elements of belief, 
 
SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS, ETC. 357 
 
 floating in Judea, Egypt, or any part of the Eoman 
 world in the first and second Christian centuries, and 
 thence, according as these ancient documents are im- 
 agined to harmonise with this or that speculative 
 tendency or school of opinion, to determine their 
 authorship and their date, may give scope for the 
 display of great learning and great ingenuity, but is 
 radically unsatisfactory and unsound. The Gospels 
 do not date themselves, and within certain limits their 
 date is an open question, but it is one which cannot 
 be reached by scholarly conjectures, or by ingenious 
 theories, but must rest entirely on historical evidence. 
 Either it is a matter of fact, substantiated or rendered 
 most probable by sufficient testimony, that the Gospels 
 of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are genuine and 
 authentic, and were in existence at such and such a 
 date, or it is not. Obviously, that is the first point 
 before all others to be settled, on its proper grounds. 
 So far as the historical evidence goes, it will appear 
 that about the middle of the second century, four 
 Gospels, and only four, were recognised by the Chris- 
 tian community, as containing authentic accounts of 
 the sayings and the acts, the life and the death, of our 
 blessed Lord. If any one can believe that before this 
 date, that is within a century from the death of Christ, 
 a Gospel professing to be written by an apostle or a 
 disciple, but actually not so written, could be palmed 
 upon the whole Christian people, then a vast multi- 
 
358 SACRIFICIAL TEEMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 tude, and accepted by them as genuine, let him believe. 
 After this date such a thing was surely impossible. 
 
 The critics of Tiibingen are keen-sighted and 
 laborious, in searching out what they deem imper- 
 fections, discrepancies, inaccuracies, even contradic- 
 tions in the Gospels. Their labours certainly tend to 
 disparage in every possible way the only record we 
 possess of a heavenly life on earth, and to silence the 
 only echo of heavenly utterances that yet lingers 
 among men. It may not be — it would be most un- 
 just to assert that it was — with intent, but at least in 
 effect, they foul at its spring-head, that stream, which 
 is life and salvation to the world. The bitter conser- 
 vatism — the crushing bondage, with the utter loss of 
 free speech, in the region of politics and of civil insti- 
 tutions, under which Germany has so long groaned, 
 has wrought out too heavy a retribution in the only 
 fields which remained open to the galled soul of the 
 nation, those of pliilosophy and theology. Unright- 
 eous repression in one direction has punished and 
 avenged itself in another, by an extravagance and a 
 wild licence of speculation unsurpassed elsewhere. 
 That German critics in assailing the Gospels are per- 
 fectly honest and sincere, we do not for a moment 
 question, and that they have brought to their task 
 unusual learning and laboriousness is palpable 
 enough. But it is hardly less clear that, however 
 upright in intention, they are thoroughly partial and 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 359 
 
 one-sided in fact. From the first they set out with a 
 preconceived theory — the naturalistic, the mythic, 
 or the philosophic — and their labour is to adjust the 
 Gospels and make them fit in with their favourite 
 theory, dismissing so much as spurious, and discredit- 
 ing this as a blunder, and that as an interpolation, 
 with the most lawless freedom and the most cool 
 assurance. All the while, most manifestly, a fore- 
 gone conclusion is in their minds. Honestly they 
 investigate and toil, but it is to mass up real or fancied 
 grounds, on which this foregone conclusion may 
 stand, and they either do not see or laboriously 
 explain away whatever tends to a contrary issue. 
 Dispassionate critics, perfectly open on all sides, they 
 certainly are not, but prepossessed, and, therefore, not 
 impartial. At the same time, it can hardly be ques- 
 tioned that the school even of Paulus, and still more 
 of Baur, has done real and much-needed service. It 
 has contributed to break down, we trust for ever, the 
 old reliance on tradition and ecclesiastical authority, 
 and to reveal the only true ground of an intelligent 
 faith. Let such criticism do its best and its worst, 
 without hindrance. A free press is sufficient for 
 itself to correct its own errors, sufficient also for the 
 protection of all the interests of righteousness and 
 truth, without vehement anathemas, ecclesiastical, 
 civil, or social. 
 
 It falls not within our province here to show how 
 
360 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 far the findings of hostile criticism have either been 
 set aside or largely modified; but let it be under- 
 stood, that the sayings and discourses of Jesus are 
 imagined to be the least reliable portion of the Gos- 
 pels, and that, of these, the least reliable of all are 
 the lengthened discussions and addresses in the Gos- 
 pel of John. The latter are, with great confidence, 
 asserted to be the product either of John himself, in 
 harmony with what he knew to be the sentiments of 
 his master, or more probably still, of some later dis- 
 ciple of John, familiar with the Ebionitish, Platonic, 
 and Gnostic ideas afloat in the Koman world at the 
 time. The impossibility of any human memory 
 being able to retain, after the lapse of very many 
 years, long successions of thought, and exact state- 
 ments in words, is appealed to as invincible proof on 
 this point. Of course, anything like supernatural 
 influence is utterly ignored. But we must maintain, 
 even on very general and very palpable grounds, that 
 it is not reason, but unreason, which ignores the 
 inspiration of the Gospels. To take only a humble 
 position, can it be deemed unworthy of God, in a 
 case which involved the highest interests of all 
 future generations, and when, for good or for evil, 
 so much might be done or left undone, — can it be 
 deemed unworthy of God, by His own living Spirit 
 of truth and love, to have presided over the sacredest 
 work to which human hands were ever put, and to 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 361 
 
 have thus secured, that the result should be such as 
 He deemed wisest and best? To take even lower 
 ground still, the lowest of all, and admitting the 
 faithlessness and feebleness of human memory, it 
 is not hard to conceive how, with perfect natural- 
 ness, a trustworthy account of the very utterances 
 of Jesus may have descended to this day. 
 
 After the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension 
 of their Lord, when the truth at length revealed itself 
 to their minds, that he was no other than God mani- 
 fest in the flesh, the first and deepest desire of the 
 disciples must have been to recall and preserve all 
 that had fallen from his lips. The great events and 
 acts of his life would not need this care so much ; they 
 were prominent and striking, and would not easily 
 or soon be forgotten. But his words, which had im- 
 pressed and laid hold of them even at the time, and 
 which now were a thousandfold more precious than 
 ever, might escape their memory, and must by all 
 means be secured and treasured up. We can ima- 
 gine how they would go back in thought to that 
 living, loving voice, to which they had so often 
 listened, and how each would repeat and repeat to 
 himself many divine sentences, and would strive, 
 time after time, to recall more and yet more, until 
 he was able to reproduce much which he had heard, 
 in the very form in which it had come from the lips 
 of the Master. During that seven days of waiting, 
 
362 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 which closed with the wonders of Pentecost, it is 
 quite within the range of high probability, that part 
 of the time would be occupied in repeating to one 
 another, so much as each remembered of Christ's 
 sayings, and in carefully comparing and bringing to- 
 gether their several recollections. For some time 
 after the crucifixion, many a meeting of the dis- 
 ciples may have been held for the very purpose of 
 refreshing one another with the words of Jesus, 
 and of extending and amending their various con- 
 tributions, until at last they could feel morally 
 certain that they were able to present nearly, if not 
 quite in their original form, all, or nearly all, the 
 most important of the divine utterances. And when 
 they went forth to preach in Christ's name could they 
 fail to rehearse what had once touched their own 
 souls so deeply, and on their fellow-disciples not 
 privileged as they had been, and on their converts, 
 what richer boon could they confer, than to repeat a 
 conversation or a discourse of the Master. 
 
 It is even perfectly conceivable, and it is natural to 
 think, that long before the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, 
 Luke, or John were issued, several of the first disciples 
 for their own use, may have committed to writing 
 their recollections of Christ, and that in this way 
 many Christian converts may have been long familiar 
 with the substance, and even the form of what we now 
 possess under the name of Gospels. One step further 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 363 
 
 we advance. In later years, when the necessities not 
 only of a wide-spread and vast Christian community, 
 but of a whole world, to which the glad tidings were 
 commanded to be proclaimed, cried loudly for a faith- 
 ful testimony, to the life, and death, and work of the 
 Kedeemer, and when four evangelists were raised up 
 to meet these necessities, shall it be smiled at as im- 
 becility, or denounced as fanaticism, to believe that 
 these four men in such circumstances, raised up and 
 for such a purpose, each preserving and acting out 
 his own individuality, his own distinctive, intellectual, 
 and moral capabilities and tendencies, were neverthe- 
 less all aided, directed, and controlled by a special 
 influence from above. Such imbecility and such 
 fanaticism be ever ours ! 
 
 Not Jesus but John, they tell us, is the author of 
 the addresses and discourses in the fourth Gospel. 
 But what had John which he had not received ? He 
 was, what communion with the mind and spirit of 
 Jesus had made him — no more I at best a reflection 
 and a faint reflection of "The light of men." It 
 seems infatuated and suicidal. They cannot bring 
 themselves to believe that the Master uttered the 
 words imputed to Him, but they are able to believe 
 that the disciple conceived and put into form ideas, 
 the like of which all heathen and Christian antiquity 
 cannot produce. "Who was this John ? A divinely- 
 taught man without doubt, and singularly privileged 
 
364 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 by intimate and endeared fellowsliip with the Lord. 
 But was he connected with any of the famed schools 
 of philosophy that he should be deemed half Platonist; 
 half Gnostic, with very much of the Ebionite in his 
 nature ? Was he at all likely to have known much of 
 ancient speculation, or indirectly to have imbibed its 
 influences ? He was a humble fisherman of Galilee 
 first, and afterwards a despised, hard working, sufi'er- 
 ing apostle of Christianity; but he was a singular and 
 a noble specimen of manhood, nevertheless ; and his 
 beautiful idiosyncrasy was most marked. Originally 
 of vehement, passionate nature, he became the apostle 
 of love, and the most gracious human pattern of the 
 divine type. John was the best beloved of all the 
 disciples, and that must mean that his nature had 
 more and deeper points of sympathy with Jesus than 
 any of the others. An impressionable, mystical, 
 etherial spirit, he was drawn more powerfully and 
 nearer than the rest, to the mysterious Saviour of 
 men, and drank in more deeply of his spiritual in- 
 fluence. Hence, the acts and events of Christ's 
 ministry we have in the other evangelists, but the 
 soul of Christ is revealed chiefly by John. 
 
 In a very high sense the Gospels are their own 
 evidence, and of all parts of the Gospels, the con- 
 versations, discourses, and sayings of Jesus bear 
 emphatic testimony to themselves. Who could have 
 uttered the heavenly words, if they fell not from the 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 365 
 
 lips of Jesus ? Whence could tlie thoughts, the 
 affections, the soul-experiences, the upward breath- 
 ings set forth in the Gospels, have come, if not from 
 the soul of Jesus ? Where in heathen literature, or 
 in early Christian wi'itings, shall we find a parallel 
 to the sayings and discourses of Christ, for uniform 
 and continuous and sustained simplicity, purity, lofti- 
 ness, and serene decisiveness, as of a master mind, 
 who was ever above the truth he uttered, not the 
 truth above him. If these be not divine, there is 
 no divine thing in this world, — so profound, so far 
 reaching, so just, so true, so pure, so high, so illumi- 
 nating and so sanctifying. They touch the soul at 
 its vital centre, and compel it to feel and own the 
 divine. There are no graces of speech, no ingenious 
 turns, no fire of fancy, no richness of imagery, and 
 no wealth of learning, but only genuine, heavenly 
 truth, out of the eternal fountain, flowing gently and 
 unpretentiously from lips of grace, a river clear as 
 crystal, a pure river of water of life, for the healing 
 of the nations. 
 
 Take the sermon on the mount, the conversation 
 with the woman of Samaria, the story of the death 
 of Lazarus, the parable of the good Samaritan, or of 
 the Pharisee and the publican, or of the prodigal 
 son, or take the discourses and the prayer at the last 
 Supper ! Place these by the side of the best Chris- 
 tian writings of the first and second centuries, those 
 
366 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 of the so-called apostolic fathers, the epistles of Cle- 
 mens Komanus, of Polycarp, of Barnabus, and of 
 Ignatius ! How poor, with whatever merit they 
 possess, how weak, how manifestly undivine are we 
 not obliged to feel these are in comparison ! Place 
 them again by the side of the noblest remains of 
 ancient heathen religious and moral speculation ! 
 Take the sayings of Socrates, the ethics of Seneca, 
 and the meditations of Marcus AureKus, certainly 
 the simplest, the purest, and the truest of heathen 
 utterances anywhere to be found ! It is no candour, 
 but only mere honesty, to admit that there are mar- 
 vellous beauties, genuine truth, and lofty virtue in 
 these writings, many divine conjectures and antici- 
 pations, a cleaving of the darkness sometimes, and a 
 sudden glow of light through the cleft, — all which 
 can be explained only on the ground of a divine 
 teaching. These men, amidst darkness, and falsi- 
 ties, and vices, were surely taught of God. The 
 Holy Ghost was with them, in their measure, and 
 according to their possibility of receiving his influ- 
 ence. It would be small honour to Judaism, or to 
 Christianity, to imagine that the Spirit of God had 
 for thousands of years deserted the whole world, 
 except an insignificant fraction of it. The earlier 
 Christian disciples were nobly open and generous in 
 their sentiments on this question. Justin Martyr 
 freely and joyously recognised the divine throughout 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 367 
 
 the better portions of heathen writings, and of hea- 
 then life. Augustin ^ refers especially to Seneca as 
 most wise and just in his expressed sentiments, 
 though in practice he conformed to the established 
 worship. Lactantius^ is more than free, almost im- 
 passioned in his admiration of Seneca. " How many- 
 other things does this heathen speak of God, like 
 one of us." *' What could a Christian have spoken 
 more to the purpose in this case than this divine 
 Pagan." 
 
 Place by the side of Socrates, and Seneca, and 
 Marcus Aurelius, the young carpenter of Galilee — 
 and be it remembered that this at least is no myth ; 
 his youth and his social position have no possible 
 relation to Jewish preconceptions and Messianic ideas ; 
 quite the reverse ; — place this youth, thirty years of 
 age, uneducated, (in the formal sense of the word,) 
 untravelled, unpatronised, unprivileged, by the side 
 of Socrates, and Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius ; place 
 this Jesus, as he stood on the mount, or at the grave 
 of Lazarus, or as he sat wearied and faint by the 
 well of Samaria, or oppressed with an agony of sad- 
 ness at the last Supper ! I feel as if it were impious 
 to name comparison. What a blending is here of 
 human with divine sympathy, tenderness, and wis- 
 dom. What clear, pure utterances ! What quiet, 
 
 1 De Civit. Dei, lib. vL, cap. 10. 
 * Div. Instit., lib. vi., cap. 1 and 14. 
 
368 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 meek, yet dignified decision in dealing with minds 
 and with the truth which they most needed to know ! 
 What simple, elevated, and elevating ideas are sug- 
 gested to the soul, as he speaks ! We are lifted up 
 unawares into a region of rare and holy thought, such 
 as even Socrates never ascended, we wonder as the 
 divine atmosphere silently envelopes and enwraps us, 
 and we breathe the air, and feel the light, and hear 
 the soft, deep, eternal symphonies of heaven ! 
 
 Gospel is a marvellously fitting name. Good 
 tidings, God's-spell, the divine story ! " Behold, I 
 bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be 
 unto all people." " And suddenly there was with the 
 angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, 
 and saying. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
 peace, goodwill towards men." In a new, a more 
 divine, and a more subduing form. Heaven was now 
 to communicate with earth. From the first, the re- 
 velation of mercy had been given to the whole world, 
 but it had been buried deep under the Polytheism 
 and the revolting rites of Pagan nations ; and when 
 for a time and for the highest purposes, it was com- 
 mitted as a special trust to the custody of one people, 
 even then it had been barely preserved through 
 means of the isolation, and the inspirations, and the 
 worship of Judea. Once more, therefore, in :iew 
 circumstances it was to be proclaimed unto all 
 nations, and God was to be seen reconciling]: men to 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 369 
 
 Himself by the mightiest, the divinest of means. A 
 Being, such as never trod the earth before, was to 
 announce, and by his life, his humiliation, and his 
 death, was to express and to embody God's love to 
 men, and to be the herald of a free, an unconditional 
 and a universal amnesty. 
 
 " Thou, child," said Zacharias, of his son John 
 Baptist, " shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest, 
 to go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, 
 to give knowledge of salvation to his people, m the 
 remission of their sins." ^ One essential part of the 
 work of the apostles was to publish over the wide 
 earth, in Christ's name, the forgiveness of sins, by a 
 loving though a holy God. Immediately before 
 leaving the earth for his throne in the heavens, the 
 Lord declared to his followers : " Thus it is written, 
 and thus it behoved the Christ to suffer and to rise 
 from the dead the third day, and that repentance 
 (change of mind) and remission of sins should be 
 preached in his name, among all nations, beginning 
 at Jerusalem." 2 But that which was to be pro- 
 claimed so freely had to be gained at immense cost. 
 In a very memorable instance, rebuking the selfish- 
 ness and ambition of his disciples, Jesus reminded 
 them, " The Son of man came not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for 
 many." 3 Simply, but touchingly, the profound and 
 
 1 Luke i. 76, 77. = Luke xxiv. 46, 47. =* Matt. xx. 28. 
 
 2a 
 
370 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 mysterious fact was thus early announced, that human 
 redemption was to cost him his life. Divine wisdom 
 and love found no other means of extirpating sin, 
 and of reconciling and regenerating man's heart, 
 than incarnation, humiliation, and death. This was 
 literally the cost of salvation, the ransom-money paid 
 down for it. 
 
 In harmony with this simple, common figure, 
 there lies a beautiful sense in the words of Jesus 
 at the last Supper : '* This is my blood of the new 
 covenant, which is shed for many, for (in order 
 to) the remission of sins." i In like manner, using 
 an ancient and familiar type, the Lord thus sym- 
 bolises his own death on the cross : "As Moses lifted 
 up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son 
 of man be lifted up, that whosoever beUeveth on him 
 should not perish, but have everlasting life."^ There 
 was no sacrifice offered to God by the lifting up of 
 the brazen serpent, neither have we to imagine in 
 our Lord a mere repetition of the old symbol ; another 
 brazen figure, another serpent, and another pole. 
 The obvious, and the only points of similitude are the 
 exposure to universal observation, and the healing 
 effect that followed. In direct terms, on another 
 occasion, the same idea is conveyed, " I, if I be lifted 
 up, will draw all men unto me. "3 The Crucified 
 One draws, resistlessly attracts, the hearts of men by 
 
 1 Matt. xxvi. 28. 2 JoI^q m 14 15, 3 john xii. 32. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 371 
 
 an invisible power. The force treasured up in his 
 cross is purely a moral, a spiritual force, the force of 
 love, of pure, self-sacrificing love. Hence, immedi- 
 ately after the reference to the serpent in the wilder- 
 ness, these words follow : " For God so loved the 
 world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that 
 whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but 
 have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son 
 into the world to condemn the world ; but that the 
 world through him might be saved."i Love, mere 
 pure love, God's love of a sinful world, is the reigning, 
 the sole idea ; but a love at the same time, by which 
 as is uniformly shown, the soul of Christ, in mysteri- 
 ous harmony with the Divine Mind, was wholly 
 possessed and ruled. 
 
 " I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth 
 his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and 
 not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth 
 the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth ; 
 and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 
 .... I am the good shepherd, .... and I lay down 
 my life for the sheep. "2 The sole idea is love, generous, 
 self-sacrificing love. On the mount of transfiguration, 
 Moses and Elias appeared in glory and " spake of the 
 decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.''^ 
 We may supplement, if we wdll, this simple state- 
 ment, and imagine that the heavenly visitants dis- 
 
 1 John iii. 16, 17. 2 John x. 11, 12, 14, 15. ^ L^ke ix. 31. 
 
Ot'Z SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 coursed of satisfaction to divine justice ; but it is 
 fancy, mere fancy, without a shadow of foundation in 
 fact. And it would be at the least as natural, and 
 certainly more in unison with the tone of that world, 
 to which these glorified beings belonged, to conceive 
 that the decease at Jerusalem was to them the over- 
 whelming expression of divine, redeeming love. On 
 the last night of his life amidst darkness and sorrow, 
 the Lord with a tender hand touched the deep 
 principle of his whole work on earth, and said to his 
 disciples, " greater love hath no man than this, that a 
 man lay down his life for his friends."^ We venture to 
 add an inspired apostle's commentary, "For scarcely 
 for a righteous man will one die ; yet peradventure 
 for a good man some would even dare to die. But 
 God commendeth His love toward us, in that while 
 we were yet sinners, (enemies,) Christ died for us."2 
 It is still love, only love, which is the sole idea. 
 
 The positive evidence to be found in the Gospels, 
 as to the meaning of the death of Christ, is literally 
 exhausted in these quotations, and every passage, we 
 believe, which bears directly, in the most distant de- 
 gree, on the subject, has been noticed. The doctrine 
 of expiation, or satisfaction, has no place whatever in 
 the words of Christ, or in the statements of the evan- 
 gelists. But the negative proof, if we may so speak, 
 is yet stronger still, and more abundant. 
 
 1 John XV. 13. 2 ^Q^^ ^ 7^ 3^ 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 373 
 
 However we may attempt to account for the ab- 
 sence of any direct statement in the Gospels, there is 
 one ground on which it cannot be put, namely, that 
 Jesus avoided allusion to his own death at all, for this is 
 conspicuously not true. On three separate occasions, 
 at least, it appears that he distinctly intimated to his 
 disciples the certainty of his death, its not distant 
 occurrence, and some of its special circumstances. 
 Immediately after Peter's avowal of his faith in the 
 Messiahship of his Lord, we read, " from that time 
 forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how 
 that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many 
 things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and 
 be killed, and be raised again the third day/'^ "And 
 while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, 
 The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of 
 men : and they shall kill him, and the third day he 
 shall be raised again. And they were exceeding 
 sorry." 2 " And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took 
 the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto 
 them. Behold, we go up unto Jerusalem ; and the 
 Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests, 
 and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to 
 death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles, to mock, 
 and to scourge, and to crucify him : and the third 
 day he shall rise again." ^ Let us now suppose that 
 the grand purpose of the death which was thus fore- 
 
 1 Matt. xvi. 21. 2 i^iatt. xvii. 22. ^ jy^^tt. xx. 17-19. 
 
374 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 told, the one fact which, gave it all its meaning, and 
 all its glory, was this, that by means of it Jesus was 
 to make expiation for human sins, and to purchase 
 with this price, from God a free forgiveness for men. 
 For what reason was this not distinctly stated ? nay 
 more, why was it wholly concealed ? Had it been 
 really true, on what ground of wisdom, of upright 
 dealing, or of mere kindness to the disciples, could it 
 have been kept secret ? But it was kept secret ; and 
 we are compelled to judge that it cannot have been 
 true. All that these confiding followers learned from 
 their Master was this, that he was doomed to death, 
 to crucifixion, and that with his eyes open, deliber- 
 ately and voluntarily, he was about to sacrifice his life 
 in Jerusalem, and on a cross. 
 
 The place which expiatory sacrifice holds in 
 scholastic theology must be fairly understood. It is 
 not simply one of many truths, all equally important, 
 it is the one essential, vital truth, which makes the 
 gospel the gospel, and to believe which is salvation, 
 and to disbelieve which is condemnation. A human 
 being in darkness and trouble is taught to look to 
 Christ, to Christ alone, for salvation. It is well, 
 thoroughly well ; but the meaning of the language, 
 as thus employed, requires to be examined. The 
 man is in fear of the anger of God, in fear of an 
 eternal hell, which he sees before him. He deserves 
 God's wrath and curse ; and how shall he escape ? 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 375 
 
 In this way, and only in this way, according to 
 scholastic theology. There are two distinct points ; 
 first of all, Christ, by his death on the cross, has 
 borne the whole punishment of human sin ; secondly, 
 the man who believes the revealed fact, and lays hold 
 of Christ as his surety and substitute, is infallibly 
 pardoned and accepted by God, on this ground, but 
 on this ground alone, and no other. If he do not 
 believe that Christ, by his death on the cross, has 
 satisfied all the claims which justice and law have 
 upon him, and has reconciled a holy God to men, 
 sinful as they are, there can be no salvation. Were 
 he on his deathbed, the question would still be, on 
 what ground do you look for pardon from God ? Is 
 it because Christ has satisfied divine justice, and 
 made a full expiation for sin, and on this ground 
 alone, or is it not ? If not, there could be no scrip- 
 tural warrant for hope. The man, in this case, mis- 
 conceives and dishonours the character of God, and 
 is certainly unsaved. We venture to declare, with 
 confidence, that no such teaching as this, nor even 
 the faintest semblance of it, w^as ever heard by a 
 single human being from the lips of the Kedeemer. 
 This doctrine must either not be essential and not 
 even important, or the great Saviour, knowdng it to be 
 essential, or at the least important, for some inscrutable 
 reasons concealed it, and suffered the multitudes whom 
 he addressed to perish in complete ignorance of it. 
 
376 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 The doctrine of reserve and of gradual progress in 
 divine revelation, true anl just within certain limits, 
 we shall find singularly incapable of application in 
 this instance. The tree reveals a long and slow his- 
 tory of growth. The seed does not start in a night 
 into the form and verdure and beauty of the flower 
 or the plant. The star was once a nebulous speck, 
 and only by successive attractions and accretions, 
 through a thousand cycles, has reached its consis- 
 tency, magnitude, and figure. The sun, at its rising, 
 does not rush forthwith to the summit of the sky. 
 There is a day-star, a dawn, a gradual ascent, till 
 the meridian is reached, and the full flood of light is 
 poured down on the earth. A wise teacher begins 
 with the simplest elements of knowledge, and only as 
 the mind of the disciple opens, and his powers are 
 strengthened by exercise, he advances by slow degrees 
 to impart higher, and still higher truth. No one 
 doubts that, in divine revelation, there are an in- 
 creasing clearness and fulness as the ages rolled on, 
 and as one piece after another of inspired writing was 
 given to the world. The New Testament is an im- 
 mense advance on the Old Testament. But there 
 was the plainest reason, indeed, an absolute neces- 
 sity, in this. It was not that God loved to keep 
 back His truth — to reveal so much at one time, and 
 so much more at another — loved this method for 
 itself. No, never, in any wise. The condition and the 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 377 
 
 capabilities of mankind, and the highest interests of 
 truth itself, formed always the ground of limitation. 
 As the world was able to bear and to appreciate the 
 light of Heaven, it was shed down, in the divine 
 wisdom and goodness. As the world was prepared 
 for its reception, truth was announced, and in such 
 wise as should best promote its final and universal 
 diffusion. There was never reserve for mere reserve's 
 sake. 
 
 The advance from the Old Testament to the New 
 is manifest and great ; but the advance in the ISTew 
 Testament itself, from one portion to another, it 
 would not be easy to discover. One main fact seems 
 to 1)0 overlooked, on which the best authorities are 
 agreed, namely, that of the four Gospels, one was 
 probably the very last, and the others at least among 
 the last, pieces of inspiration given to the world. 
 The Gospels, as parts of written revelation, were not 
 earlier, but later, than the Epistles, and, according to 
 the doctrine of progress, they ought to contain the 
 more ample disclosures. Perhaps they do. They 
 are remarkable, not for reticence, but for trans- 
 parency and breadth of statement. Our blessed 
 Lord showed no reserve in dealing with the age in 
 which he appeared, and with its most honoured 
 names, their hypocrisy, their cruelty, their vices ; no 
 reserve as to the Fatherhood and the infinite perfec- 
 tions of God, as to the human soul, the future state, 
 
378 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 true religion in the heart, true worship, or as to the 
 free forgiveness of sins. Not to his own discijoles 
 only, but to others, individuals and assemblies, to 
 scribes and Pharisees and rulers, he announced his own 
 Incarnation in the freest language. " Before Abra- 
 ham was, I am.'' And from his disciples at least, he 
 did not conceal even his death and his cross. But 
 not a word did he utter of satisfaction to divine 
 justice. 
 
 It is alleged that until Christ had actually died, 
 and until the sacrifice for sin had actually been 
 ofi'ered up to God, salvation, on this ground, could 
 not properly have been published, and that therefore 
 it was left to the apostles to unfold what the peculiar 
 circumstances rendered it unsafe and unwise to an- 
 nounce at an earlier period. It is very difficult to 
 imagine, though the thing is so often and so confi- 
 dently declared, in what way a want of wisdom could 
 have been shown by an earlier announcement, or 
 what possible danger could have been created by it. 
 Our Lord announced his death, why not its purpop^*. 
 if it had such a purpose ? "Why not tell of pardon 
 through a sacrifice yet to be offered up ? If, as is 
 believed by many, the ancient sacrifices were in any 
 sense expiatory, or if, though not themselves expia- 
 tory, they were meant to teach expiation, and even 
 designed to prefigure and point to one great expia- 
 tory sacrifice for gins, at the fulness of the times, 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 379 
 
 where had been the hazard in our Lord connectino; 
 this existing belief, in plain terms, with his own life 
 and death ? On the contrary, what could have been 
 more simple, more easy, more natural, than for him 
 to have stated the fact? Had it been true, what 
 could have been more inevitable than that he must 
 have stated it again and again ? But he never did. 
 There is more than this. If salvation depend upon 
 our understanding and believing the judicial ground 
 of forgiveness ; if, without this, we dishonour God 
 and endanger our souls, then, in omitting this from 
 his personal teaching, Jesus was risking the eternal 
 life of those whom he addressed, and leaving them 
 to perish. But he does omit it, uniformly, invariably 
 he omits it. There is not only not one clear, full state- 
 ment of it from his lips, but it is not even hinted at. 
 In his more pubhc addresses, in his more private 
 interviews with his disciples, or with single indi- 
 viduals, it is not once hinted at, not hinted at even 
 on certain marked occasions by and by to be noticed, 
 when, had it been true, it must have been announced 
 unmistakably, and with all the solemn earnestness of 
 a holy and loving nature. 
 
 The beginning of Christ's earthly ministry is thus 
 described, " Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the 
 gospel (the good tidings) of the kingdom (the 
 reign) of God, and saying. The time is fulfilled, and 
 the kingdom (reign) of God is at hand : repent ye, 
 
380 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 (cliange your mind,) and believe the gospel," i (the 
 good tidings.) More briefly still, another evangelist 
 writes, "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to 
 say. Repent : for the kingdom of God is at hand"^ — 
 change your mind, for the reign of God is at hand. 
 A state of things of which they had as yet no idea, 
 which indeed was in the face of all their preconcep- 
 tions, was about to commence ; not an outward king- 
 dom at all, but an inward reign, a reign of God, that 
 is, a reign of righteousness and purity and truth and 
 love in the soul. Far other views, other sentiments, 
 and another spirit than now possessed them, must 
 rule their hearts, if that reign were to be set up 
 within them. Repent ye, change your minds. 
 
 The scene of the first public and formal exercise 
 of Christ's ministry was a mountain in Galilee. A 
 vast multitude was before him, and in the hearing of 
 thousands he uttered that sermon whose divine com- 
 prehensiveness, spirituality, simplicity, and heavenly, 
 holy tone it were vain to attempt to characterise. 3 
 Some of its short sentences few can hear without a 
 sudden rising of the heart, in which veneration and 
 wonder blend with a subduing thankfulness and joy. 
 " Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the 
 kingdom of God. Blessed are they that mourn : 
 for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the 
 meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed 
 
 1 Mark i. 14, ] 5. ^ jj^^^tt. iv. 17. '^ Matt. v. 3, and onwards. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 381 
 
 are tlie pure in heart : for they shall see God." But 
 in this divine sermon, from beginning to end, there 
 is not a word, not a hint, not a breath of what in 
 those dsivs would alone be called the gospel. Our 
 Master either did not believe in satisfaction to justice 
 for the sins of men, or he certainly lost one of the 
 grandest opportunities ever presented to him of pro- 
 claiming it. 
 
 Not long after the commencement of his personal 
 ministry, Jesus sent out the twelve disciples and at 
 a later period the seventy, two and two together, 
 to traverse Judea, and to announce everywhere the 
 coming reign of God. In the lengthened and minute 
 and faithful instructions which he addressed to them 
 before they entered on their mission, there is not even 
 a passing allusion to expiation, as the ground of 
 divine forgiveness. And they, when in obedience to 
 his command they went forth on their heavenly 
 errand, what did they announce ? Here is the brief 
 record, "they went out and preached that men 
 should repent " ^ — should change their minds. We 
 may connect this early trust committed to the dis- 
 ciples, with the last charge given to them by their 
 Master, immediately before his departure from this 
 world, and when they were thenceforth left to repre- 
 sent and interpret his thoughts and purposes towards 
 men. *' Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, 
 
 1 Mark vi. 12. 
 
382 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of 
 the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to 
 observe all things whatsoever I have commanded 
 you : and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end 
 of the world." "^ Not a word even here at the iinal 
 parting between Master and disciples, of expiation, 
 as if this were the one embodiment of redeeming love. 
 On two occasions at least, Jesus assumed in the 
 presence of men the highest prerogative of God. 
 Once, announcing the pure, free mercy of Heaven, he 
 said to the sick of the palsy, " Son, thy sins be for- 
 given thee ; " and when the scribes charged him with 
 blasphemy, saying, Who can forgive sins but God 
 only ? he replied by a question, " Whether is it easier 
 to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven 
 thee ; or to say, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk ? 
 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath 
 power on earth to forgive sins, he saith to the sick of 
 the palsy, I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, 
 and go thy way into thine own house." ^ On another 
 occasion, in the case of the woman who was a sinner, 
 Jesus assumed the place and the rights of very God. 
 Addressing Simon the Pharisee, at whose table he 
 sat, and pointing to the Magdalene, he said, *' Her 
 sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved 
 much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same 
 loveth little. And he said unto her," — purely out of 
 
 1 Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. « j^ark ii. 5, 7, 9, 11. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 383 
 
 that loving heart of his, which ere long bled on the 
 cross, and because he saw in her that self-abasement 
 and dependence which God ever blesses — " thy sins 
 are forgiven." i 
 
 These are not the only instances in which w^e learn 
 that it is the reigning spirit within a man which tests 
 and proves his real state before God. The redeeming 
 mercy of Heaven, the dying love of the Saviour, 
 touches and changes the heart, strikes in order at 
 last to kill the evil that is in it, and creates in 
 its stead a humble, unfeigned, and loving spirit. 
 Divine mercy is first, and is the cause of spiritual 
 change, not the change the cause and ground of 
 mercy. But the effect follows necessarily from the 
 cause. If there be no effect, we infer the absence of 
 the cause, and conclude that the relation of the human 
 soul to God must be yet unaltered. Hence we read, 
 "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly 
 Father will also forgive you ; but if ye forgive not 
 men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly 
 Father forgive your trespasses." 2 The unforgiving 
 soul proves itself to be the unforgiven soul. Pardon 
 is not an arbitrary, capricious favour forced on men, 
 will they or will they not ; it is ours only if we truly 
 seek it, and that true seeking is incipient faith in the 
 Loving One, it is the child-spirit, the first real return 
 of the heart to God. This truth is revealed with won- 
 
 1 Luke vii. 47, 48. 2 ^att. vi. 14, 15. 
 
384 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 derful clearness in our Lord's representation of the 
 final judgment.^ A line of sej)aration is supposed to 
 be drawn between the good and the bad. On the 
 one side of that line then, are we to find those who 
 have understood how to reconcile divine government, 
 and justice, and law, with divine forgiveness — those 
 who have pled for, and might indeed have demanded 
 acquittal, because Christ had borne the full penalty 
 of their sins, and set them perfectly free from all 
 claims whatever ? And on the other side of that 
 line, are we to find those who have either not known 
 or not been able to discover in the New Testament 
 this imagined imputation ? Not- at all. Not 
 the faintest indication is given of any sueh thing. 
 Men are tried before God, and their real state is 
 proved by the spirit which is in them, and nothing 
 else. If the holy mercy of Grod, if redeeming love in 
 Christ, has really touched their nature, and begun to 
 assimilate them to itself, so that in the spirit of un- 
 feigned loving-kindness, it has been in their hearts, 
 even though not in their power, to feed the hungry, 
 and to clothe the naked, and to do only good to all ; 
 then, but only then, shall the Great Judge say to 
 them, " Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the 
 kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
 world/' 
 In strict harmony with these principles of judg- 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 385 
 
 ment is the mode in which Jesus tested certain indi- 
 vidual characters, who, along with not a little which 
 was good, were nevertheless radically wanting and 
 wrong. Wliat, of all things he looked to, in any 
 case, was the spirit, the pervading, reigning spirit of 
 a man's soul. "Whosoever shall not receive the 
 kingdom of God as a little child shall in nowise enter 
 therein." A humble, docile, trustful, childlike state of 
 mind is everything in religion — the spring of all the 
 highest good. *' And a certain ruler asked him say- 
 ing, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal 
 life ? " 1 This was an example of a religious inquirer, 
 as we should speak ; and now, if ever, the very truth, 
 and above all the most essential truth, would certainly 
 be announced by him who was emphatically sent 
 forth to bear witness to truth. But not a reference 
 is made, even in such a case as this, to what is now 
 proclaimed as the essence of Christianity. Jesus 
 perceived that there was a radical want, a radical 
 evil in the character of this young ruler. Instead of 
 self-surrender and submission to God, he was cherish- 
 ing at the moment a conscious reserve on one point, 
 and a deep resistance to the highest claims, which 
 was fatal to the whole of his imagined religion. 
 *' Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, 
 and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." Our Lord 
 touches the root of bitterness, reveals this deceived 
 1 Luke xviii. 17, 18. 
 
 2b 
 
386 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 heart to itself, and leaves the revelation to work 
 within with silent force. Perhaps the ruler yielded 
 to the light thus shed on his nature, and to the 
 teaching and striving of God's Spirit within him. 
 We know not ; but there can he no salvation without 
 unreserved and entire seK-surrender. 
 
 On another occasion we read, " A certain lawyer 
 stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall 
 I do to inherit eternal life ? " i It was a momentous 
 question, though the questioner might be, and pro- 
 bably was, dead to its profound meaning. He little 
 merited a reply, but Jesus was not one, at any time, 
 who if asked for bread would offer a stone. This 
 lawyer had an immortal nature to be saved or lost — 
 that was enough. He had, besides, himself created 
 the occasion for close spiritual dealing, and had ex- 
 pressly invited instruction respecting the method of 
 salvation. Was, then, this singular and precious 
 opportunity lost ? lost by one who loved the souls of 
 men, and died for them ? It certainly was. If we, 
 in these days, are right in our ideas of the gospel, 
 our Master was certainly wrong. For how does he 
 proceed? Again, as in the former example, he 
 touches the core of this man's spirit, and makes it 
 naked to itself. The nature of moral excellence — 
 love of God and love of man — is unfolded, and then 
 follows the parable of the good Samaritan, teaching 
 » Luke X. 25-37. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 387 
 
 that, apart from descent, or outward privilege, or 
 creed, it is only when the soul has been divinely 
 reached and assimilated — only when the nature has 
 been subdued to humble, pure, loving-kindness — 
 that it is safe before God, eternally safe. " Go, and 
 do thou likewise," was the command, — not only 
 copying the act, but filled with the spirit of the good 
 Samaritan. 
 
 On another occasion still, and under different 
 circumstances, we arrive at the same idea of our 
 Lord's teaching. The case was that of a Koman 
 centurion,^ — a soldier, a Gentile, a Pagan. That 
 he must have seen and heard Jesus, perhaps re- 
 peatedly, before this, seems evident, for another 
 than the spirit of Paganism had already largely 
 entered into his soul, and he was possessed with 
 the settled conviction that Jesus was from above, 
 a messenger of the true God. And when he came, 
 beseeching that his servant might be healed, and 
 when the Master said, " I will come and heal him," 
 he replied, " Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst 
 come under my roof, but speak the word only and my 
 servant shall be healed/' In these words, and in the 
 tone and look of the man, it was shown beyond doubt 
 that his spirit was deeply reverent, and humble, and 
 trustful. The core of his nature was all right before 
 God, Jesus himself pronounced it all right, and said, 
 
 1 Matt, viii. 7-8, 10-11. 
 
388 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 " I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel," 
 and immediately added these inspiring words, " I say 
 unto you, that many shall come from the east, and 
 from the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and 
 Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 The woman of Samaria ^ was not a Pagan-born, 
 like Cornelius, but, half Jew, half Gentile, her con- 
 dition was little above that of a heathen. To her, 
 surely, Jesus would at least convey what was essential 
 to salvation. In a lengthened interview, as it seems 
 to have been, there was abundant opportunity of ad- 
 dressing her conscience and her heart, and of so pre- 
 senting the grounds of pardon, as we speak, that her 
 soul might be saved. Did our Lord embrace the 
 opportunity ? Undoubtedly he did not, if the pre- 
 vailing ideas of the method of salvation be just. 
 Never, perhaps, with more sublime simplicity did 
 the Great Teacher discourse of the very loftiest 
 truths — the nature of God, the nature of worship, 
 and the nature of religion in the human soul — than 
 on this very humble occasion, in a lonely place, as 
 he sat wearied and faint by the well of Jacob, and 
 spoke to a single auditor, a poor Samaritan woman. 
 But the astounding fact is, that all the while not a 
 word of, what would now be called by many, the 
 gospel, was uttered — notliing of expiation of sin, and 
 nothing of pardon grounded in expiation. Explain 
 
 ^ John iv. 7-42. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 389 
 
 it how we may, this is the fact, and either we on this 
 point are altogether wrong, or our Master is. It must 
 be noted, besides, that when, on the report of the 
 woman, the people of the town came to see and hear 
 for themselves, and were not less affected by the 
 divine words and the divine spirit of Jesus than she 
 had been, they, too, had learned no gospel, no such 
 method of salvation, as is now so widely honoured. All 
 they said was this, " We have heard him ourselves, 
 and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour 
 of the world." Neither in this nor in any single in- 
 stance on record, do we find that any human being 
 having heard the words of Jesus, left him declaring 
 that he had learned the doctrine of forgiveness 
 through the expiation of sin. 
 
 The Lord's Prayer i is justly regarded with great 
 reverence by those who love the New Testament. 
 All acknowledge readily, however far they be from 
 acting on the acknowledgment, that it is the model 
 of true Christian prayer. That Jesus selected words, 
 either wholly or in part, which were already in use 
 among the Jews in their worship, does not affect the 
 case in the least. The prayer is invested with all 
 his authority, and the words are such as he thought 
 fittest and best, as much so, as if they had been 
 uttered for the first time, and by his lips alone. 
 Short as it is, no one who reverences its Author 
 
 1 Matt. vi. 9, 13. 
 
390 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 will believe that anything essential can have been 
 omitted from it. It is provided for the use, not 
 of one nation, or one age, or one class, but of all 
 men, of all classes, and of all times. Any sinful 
 human being, in any part of the earth, has a 
 right to utter it, in order to express his desires 
 to God, and in uttering it, under the guidance 
 of the holy, and wise, and loving Kedeemer, he is 
 surely at the least secured against the possibility of 
 leaving out what it is most essential for him, in such 
 an act, to address to the God against whom he has 
 sinned. What, then, does Jesus authorise, encour- 
 age, command us to say, when we kneel before God ? 
 The question is a very vital one. Are we taught to 
 ask forgiveness, on the ground of expiation, and to 
 think of God as a righteous Judge, whose anger has 
 been appeased by sacrifice, and who will do, for the 
 sake of one who has acted the part of man's friend, 
 what He would not, or could not do for His own blessed 
 sake, and out of the pure, free love of His own na- 
 ture ? No, by no means. Nothing like this is sug- 
 gested, or by any possibility involved. The prayer 
 contains a distinct reference to sin ; but it is to this 
 effect, and no more, " Forgive us our debts as we 
 forgive our debtors." Two short additional sentences 
 bring the prayer to its amen; and then immediately 
 follow the words, which have been already quoted and 
 explained, — " For if ye forgive men their trespasses, 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. '691 
 
 your heavenly Father will also forgive you; hut 
 if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will 
 your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses." The 
 reigning spirit within a man is everything. The 
 unforgiving is the unforgiven. But if divine, redeem- 
 ing love has gained an entrance into the soul, and 
 has hegun to assimilate and conquer it, this means 
 that the nature is restored to God, once and for ever. 
 " In that day thou shalt say, Lord, I will praise 
 thee : though thou wast angry, thine anger is turned 
 away, and thou comfortest me." i 
 
 We pass to the closing scenes of our Lord's life on 
 earth, to the night on which he was betrayed, when 
 his disciples were gathered around him at the Last 
 Supper, and he addressed them in the divinest words 
 ever heard by men. That short section of John's 
 Gospel, from the thirteenth to the seventeenth chap- 
 ters inclusive, contains inspirations so intensely spi- 
 ritual, so lofty and so pure, as, if they had stood quite 
 alone in the New Testament, would have rendered 
 it priceless to- all generations. Who can worthily 
 represent the simple, marvellous openings into regions 
 of heavenly truth, as rare as they are ineffably glori- 
 ous ; or the assuring promises of another Teacher and 
 Comforter, when his own visible presence was with- 
 drawn ; or his holy, and far-reaching counsels ; or his 
 kindly but faithful warnings of persecution and of 
 
 ^ Isa. xii. 1. 
 
392 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 coming evil ; or his words of courage and comfort ; 
 or his gentle, mournful hints of his own departure ; 
 or the tender expressions of his sympathy and love ? 
 But surely now, at last, if before there had ever been 
 reserve on the most pressing of all subjects, Jesus, by 
 the force of affection, and by the urgency of the cir- 
 cumstances, would be compelled to break through it, 
 and to state plainly and fully the meaning of his own 
 death. But, with the cross close at hand, and full in 
 view, nothing is said, literally nothing, to those whom 
 he tenderly loved, and from whom he was now to be 
 torn away, of that which is supposed to be its true 
 meaning and its chief glory. The supposition must 
 be an entire misapprehension, unless we would charge 
 our Lord with a want of common honesty, and with 
 a disregard of the duties of ordinary friendship. 
 Even in the institution of the holy Supper, when the 
 occasion was literally thrust upon him, to speak with 
 perfect plainness, we can find no reference to expia- 
 tion of sin by sacrifice. " This is my body, which 
 is given for you: this do in remembrance of me." 
 " This cup is the new testament in my blood, which 
 is shed for you." i In the Gospel of Matthew already 
 quoted, we read — "This is my blood of the new 
 testament which is shed for many, for (in order to) 
 the remission of sins." These words announce 
 
 1 Luke xxii. 19, 20. 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 393 
 
 simple facts, which were soon to stand forth in all 
 their dark significance. Very shortly thereafter, his 
 body was literally given, and his blood was literally 
 shed, for men — literally for men's sins, literally in 
 order to the remission of sins. His death, like his 
 life, was meant for nothing else than to take away 
 sins, not in a legal, fictitious sense, but literally and 
 actually. He died to make a real end of sin. Of all 
 powers on earth, his cross has proved itself the 
 mightiest, in expelling sin out of the heart of man, 
 and out of the world. Hence, in that prayer, which 
 stands forth a glory by itself, even in this highest 
 heaven of inspirations, Jesus, addressing the Father, 
 says — " This is life eternal, that they might know 
 thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom 
 thou hast sent." i To know God — to know God in 
 Jesus Clirist; to see Him, out of His mere, pure 
 love, surrendering His Son — giving his body to be 
 broken, and his blood to be shed ; to know God as 
 thus drawing and reconciling men to Himself by 
 Christ : this is the destruction of sin in the heart — 
 this is salvation — this is life, eternal Hfe. 
 
 Follow the Kedeemer to the garden of Geth- 
 semane, thence to the Sanhedrim, with Caiaphas 
 at its head, thence to the judgment hall of Pilate, 
 the Eoman governor, and thence to Calvary and 
 
 1 John xvii. 3. 
 
394 SACKIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 the cross 1 Surely, if it had been in the least de- 
 gree true that he was making expiation for sin, 
 and satisfying divine justice, some hint, some allu- 
 sion, which, at the least, might be intelligible to 
 his disciples, would now drop from his lips. We 
 pass to his resurrection, and to his interview with 
 his disciples after that event. Surely all reserve 
 must, at least, then have been laid aside. His death 
 had been accomplished, expiation for sin, as is sup- 
 posed, had been made, and there could now be no 
 possible cause for concealment or hesitation. He 
 cannot have left his disciples, during these resurrec- 
 tion days, in ignorance of that which was to be the 
 burden of their message to the world. At all events, 
 on the Mount of Olives, when he looked on them for 
 the last time before he ascended to his glory, and 
 they were to be left alone in the world intrusted 
 with his Grospel, some clear, decisive words would 
 be spoken respecting what is imagined to be the 
 central truth of salvation. But no ; if expiation for 
 sin and satisfaction to justice be a doctrine of the 
 New Testament, at least it was never heard by any 
 human being from the lips of our Lord, from the 
 beginning to the close of his ministry on earth. 
 
 This is not all. The direct teachings of the gos- 
 pel are not only wanting in the supposed doctrine — 
 they are diametrically opposed to it. With the ex- 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 395 
 
 amination of only two out of many passages, in 
 support of this position, we close this rapid survey 
 of the Gospels. The parable of the Pharisee and 
 the Publican 1 is a simple picture of ritual and of 
 real religion, the religion of outward observance, 
 and the religion of the soul. The Pharisee uses 
 the language — we need not suppose insincerely — 
 of gratitude to God for what he was, and for what 
 he was conscious of having done, but there is no 
 symptom in him either of a sense of sin, or of any 
 need of pardon. Such imperfections and faults as 
 he was conscious of did not trouble or burden him, 
 — at all events, they did not draw him to the foot- 
 stool of God to beg forgiveness. 
 
 On the other hand, the class of publicans were 
 most hateful to the Jews, perhaps often deservedly 
 so, and this publican may have been no better than 
 most of his order. But whatever he may have been 
 formerly, he is so presented to us here, that we are 
 able to judge satisfactorily of what he now was. 
 '' Standing afar off, he would not lift up so much as 
 his eyes towards heaven, but smote upon his breast 
 saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." Not his 
 words only but his look, his tone, his attitude, and 
 his very significant action, all prove that he was in the 
 deepest earnestness, and that he found refuge nowhere 
 
 ^ Luke xviii. 10. 
 
396 SACRIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS 
 
 but in the pure, free mercy of God. Very humbly 
 very timidly, he trusts in mercy, God's mercy. But 
 he trusts, and this is the very state of mind which 
 a true sense of mercy always creates, which, above all, 
 Incarnate, dying love creates, and is meant to create. 
 Kevealing as it does, a pitying, forgiving God, by 
 this very means it exposes the horrible nature of sin, 
 and generates a profound self-abhorrence. This 
 publican has no plea to put forward, no idea of his 
 sins having been expiated, or of its being possible to 
 expiate them, and no ground whatever, on which to 
 plead for pardon except pure, free mercy ; but he does 
 trust in this, tremblingly he trusts in this. It is 
 enough. " I tell you this man went down to his 
 house, justified rather than the other.'' Justified ? 
 we ask — without satisfaction to justice? Without 
 the full execution of the threatened penalty ? With- 
 out an imputed righteousness to cover his polluted 
 soul ? Yes, verily so. Our blessed Lord says, 
 "justified,'' that is, rightened, his inner nature set 
 right — " rather than the other." The other was only 
 wrong, all wrong; his spirit, satisfied in itself, was 
 just therefore quite away from God. But the pub- 
 lican was really rightened, his nature was turned 
 right towards God, the fountain of mercy, of pardon, 
 and of all blessing. Wherever a human being truly 
 feels the burden of inward evil, and is penetrated 
 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 397 
 
 and subdued by the thought of divine love, and trusts 
 in pure, mere mercy, he is justified, Tightened before 
 God, and the very highest purpose of the cross, and 
 of the bleeding Lamb that hung upon it, is to create 
 and secure this result. 
 
 More touching, more simple, more divine still, is 
 the parable of the Prodigal Son. Where in this 
 heavenly story, is there any single shred or shadow 
 of the complicated, logical plan of justification? 
 Nowhere, absolutely nowhere. The prodigal does 
 nothing, can do nothing, urges no plea grounded on 
 anything in himself, or done, or merited by another ; 
 he only feels the baseness, and the folly of his course, 
 and turns his eye homewards and says, " I will arise 
 and go to my father. "i The old man, grieved and 
 crushed, had waited long, and long in vain, but he 
 waited still, and was only eager to welcome the lost 
 one home, and to love him as tenderly as when the 
 child sat on his knee or played at his feet. At last, 
 when he caught sight of his son, in a moment all 
 the father stirred within him, and he ran and fell 
 on the prodigal's neck and kissed him. Such is the 
 tale. But there is a divine reality answering to it 
 more marvellously touching. Our Father in heaven 
 waits and longs for the return of his lost children. 
 The one only thing He asks, is our return. His 
 
 ^ Luke XV. 18. 
 
398 SACEIFICIAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS, ETC. 
 
 supreme joy is our return : " This my son was dead 
 and is alive again, was lost and is found." " There 
 is joy in heaven among the angels of God, over one 
 sinner that repentetli," that changeth his mind, re- 
 tm-neth to God. This may not be a gospel accord- 
 ing to human creeds, but it is certainly the gospel 
 according to Christ our Lord and Master. 
 
CHAPTEK XL 
 
 , ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE DOCTRINE OF 
 SATISFACTION. 
 
 Section First. — From the Apostolic Age to that of Anselm. 
 Section Second. — From the Age of Anselm to the Present 
 Time. 
 
SECTION riEST — FROM THE APOSTOLIC AGE TO THAT 
 OF ANSELM. 
 
 Foundation in Human Nature — Ignorance and Fears — Early Chris- 
 tian Writings — Repeat Language of New Testament — No Inde- 
 pendent Statement — Proof Passages — Dr Shedd's Admissions 
 — First Idea, Satisfaction to Satan — Irenseus — Origen — Abuse 
 of Figures, the Original Root of Error — First Explicit State- 
 ment — Athanasius — Augustin — Anselm. ^ 
 
 THE idea of satisfaction to divine justice unques- 
 tionably has its root in human nature, but it is 
 in the ignorance, the false views and the false fears of 
 human nature. That idea could never have been 
 originated, or if originated, could never have been so 
 universally and thoroughly adopted had there not 
 been first of all some deep common ground for it in 
 ihe soul itself. The universal sense of sin is obviously 
 
 ^ See Shedd's " History of Christian Doctrine," Clark, Edinburgh, 
 1865; " Lehrbuch der Dogmen Geschichte," Hagenbtcch, Leipsic, 
 1857 ; " Die Christliche Lehre von der Versohnung," Baur, Tubin- 
 gen, 1838; and "Christian' Literature and Doctrine," Donaldson, 
 London, 1864; a work which, if succeeding volumes maintain the 
 same high character as the first, will be no common treasure to 
 many besides theologians. 
 
402 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 the chief element, lying at the very base of the notion^ 
 The fancy that eternal like human justice may be 
 defrauded, and must receive its full satisfaction by 
 one means or other, forms an additional element. 
 There is besides the idea, that God is subject as men 
 are to the passion of anger, and last of all there is 
 the thought, that if God's anger is to be appeased 
 and His justice satisfied, it must be in some such 
 way as human passion is quieted and gratified, 
 namely, by punishment — the more effective in pro- 
 portion as it is severe. It is singularly seldom that 
 any phrases, at all suggestive of this strictly Pagan 
 idea, or which could even harmonise with it, are to 
 be found in the New Testament. The following pas- 
 sages stand all but alone: — "We are saved from 
 wrath through him." i " Jesus who delivered us 
 from the wrath to come.'^ 2 " (^od hath not appointed 
 us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord 
 Jesus Christ."^ "Thou treasurest up unto thyself 
 wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the 
 righteous judgment of God." ^ And these passages 
 refer to a literal fact of the most solemn import. 
 The penalty which sin insures, and insures necessarily, 
 is a standing proof of the abhorrence with which God 
 regards it, and that penalty, if sin abide in the nature, 
 is not limited to the present existence, but certainly 
 
 1 Rom. V. 9. 2 1 Thess. i. 10. 
 
 3 1 Thess. V. 9. * Rom. ii. 5. 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 403 
 
 extends to the life beyond the grave. There is wrath 
 to come, and on one side, the salvation which is 
 through Christ, is deliverance from the wrath to 
 come. We need to know it, and to feel deeply all the 
 awakening force of the fact. 
 
 But the constant, the pervading representations 
 of the New Testament are quite of another character. 
 The writers dwell on the love of God in the death of 
 Christ, and nothing else.' " Hereby perceive we the 
 love of God, because he laid down his life for us.'' i 
 " Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He 
 loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for 
 our sins." 2 "Behold, what manner of love the 
 Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be 
 called the sons of God." ^ " We love him because 
 he first loved us." * " Herein God commendeth His 
 love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, 
 Christ died for us." ^ " God so loved the world, that 
 He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
 lieveth on him should not perish, but have everlast- 
 ing life." 6 What we learn from the New Testa- 
 ment with very unusual distinctness is this, that 
 God's love to men, and His holy purpose to destroy 
 evil within them, were such that He incarnated 
 Himself in the holy Saviour, and that the Incarnate, 
 in perfect harmony with the divine thought, was ready 
 
 1 John iii. 16. ^1 John iv. 10. ^1 John iii. 1. 
 * 1 John iv. 19. ^ Kom. v. 8. 'John iii. 16. 
 
404 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OP 
 
 to do and to endure anything and everything in- 
 volved in his earthly mission, in order to instruct, 
 convince, subdue, and conquer the obdurate heart of 
 man. " He loved us and gave himself for us." 
 
 Such was the divine method. But the darkened, 
 guilty, and terror-stricken mind longs for something 
 more definite, more exact, more judicially, commer- 
 cially final, something more like the satisfaction 
 which an angry and outraged fellow-creature would 
 demand. This is human nature, but it is human 
 nature imagining God to be like itself, and only 
 capable of being influenced as itself is ipfluenced ; it 
 is human nature in its blindness, in its dishonouring 
 and low conceptions of the Most High, and in its 
 degrading fears. And this, it is quite conceivable, 
 though unsupported by any ascertained facts, might, 
 more or less, diffuse itself, during the course of the 
 Mosaic economy. And it is at least quite as much 
 within the range of probability and quite as natural, 
 that after the death of Christ, and when the language 
 and the symbols of Judaism were applied to the 
 cross, there might be a latent tendency from the first 
 among the Pagan and even the Jewish converts, to 
 adulterate the simplicity and the pure graciousness 
 and love of the gospel. It had been nothing wonder- 
 ful, but only in accordance with very common experi- 
 ence, if almost in the life-time of the apostles, or 
 very soon after their death, the infection of Pagan 
 
THE DOCTKINE OF SATISFACTION. 405 
 
 tliouglit and Pagan feeling had begun to corrupt the 
 divine redemption. We can only marvel that it did 
 not, and that it took several centuries before the cor- 
 ruption at all established itself. 
 
 The early Christian writings following those of the 
 New Testament, up to about the middle of the third 
 century, are comparatively few. The shepherd of 
 HermaSji the epistles of Clemens Komanus,! of Bar- 
 nabas,^ of Polycarp,! and of Ignatius,^ the five books of 
 Irena3us,2 the epistle to Diognetus,^ and the pieces of 
 Athenagoras,4 Theophilus,^ Justin Martyr ,6 Tatian,7 
 Tertullian,8 and Minucius Felix,^ make up nearly all 
 the extant Christian literature, within the period in- 
 dicated. It is beyond our sphere to pronounce on 
 either the correct date of the writings, or their true 
 authorship. Both are, in several instances, matters 
 of uncertainty, and cannot be determined here. Not 
 rigid chronology, but pertinence to our subject, guides 
 the arrangement of the quotations introduced. 
 
 The testimony of those who immediately followed 
 the apostles of our Lord, and had received the Chris- 
 
 ^ Patrum Apostolicorum Opera : Dressel, Leipsic, 1857. 
 
 2 S. S. Irenaei, libri quinque : Harvey, Carabridge, 1857. 
 
 3 Der Brief an Dognet : Hollenberg, 1853. 
 
 ^ Corpus Apologetarum Christianorum : Otto, Jena, 1857. 
 ^ Theopbili, Libri tres : Humphrey, Cambridge, 1852. 
 
 6 S. Justin, Opera: Otto, Jena, 1842-3. 
 
 7 Tatian : Otto, 1852. 
 
 8 Patrologiae Cursus Completus : Migne, Paris, 1844. 
 * Minucius Felix: Holden, Cambridge, 1853. 
 
406 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 tian doctrine from their lips, and again the testi- 
 mony of their direct successors for a hundred years 
 onward, would be invaluable, could it be taken simply 
 as it is, and with perfect impartiality and simplicity. 
 It is vain to imagine this possible, for even the most 
 upright could not, with their utmost efforts, divest 
 themselves of some pre-judgment, prejudice, or bias 
 on one side or other. But thus far all are agreed, 
 that the references to what is now understood as the 
 gospel,^ by early Christian writers, are surprisingly 
 few, and all but always merely in the words of the 
 New Testament, without comment of any kind. So 
 near to the cross as they were, with a perishing 
 world (as we speak) around them, and with a new^ 
 and precious experience which had entirely changed 
 their Jewish or Pagan life, we should have expected 
 something verj different, if the now accepted views 
 of Christ's death had been true. But it is indisput- 
 able, that they rarely touch what our modern theo- 
 logy pronounces to be the very core of saving truth. 
 
 Perhaps the most pious and spiritual of the pri- 
 mitive Christian remains, and the most apostolic in 
 phraseology and in form, are the epistles of Clemens 
 Komanus, of Barnabas, of Polycarp, and of Ignatius. 
 The first epistle of Clemens especially reads, in some 
 portions, like an extract from the New Testament, 
 but with this exception, not excluding even Ignatius, 
 
 ^ Meaning chiefly the doctrine of satisfaction to justice. 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 407 
 
 there is often a sense of feebleness, almost of insipi- 
 dity, created in the reading of these letters, which it 
 is difficult to resist. The letter of Clemens to the 
 Corinthian Church is an exception, and is full of 
 wise and holy counsels, of warnings against pride and 
 vain-glory and the spirit of emulation, and of lamen- 
 tations over the miserable schism which was tearing 
 them in pieces. In order to crush out their bitter 
 jealousies and heart-burnings one against another, 
 and to create a loving mutual forbearance, and a 
 generous yielding to each other's wishes and views, 
 he appeals to the Divine pattern of love and of pure 
 self-sacrifice. *' Without love, nothing is well- pleas- 
 ing to God Through the love which he bore 
 
 to us, Christ our Lord gave his blood for us, by the 
 will of God, and his flesh for our flesh, and his soul 
 for our souls,"! — in which passage let those who can, 
 imagine expiation of sin or satisfaction to justice, 
 but assuredly it is in them, not in it. The self- 
 sacrifice of pure love is there, nothing else. Again 
 we read, " Let us steadfastly look to the blood of 
 Christ and see how precious it is to God his Father, 
 because being shed for our salvation, it bore [pain- 
 fully yielded] to the whole world the favour of change 
 
 ^ At'xa dydTTTjs oiidh ivdpearov r^J OeQ . . . 5tct ttj'^ dydTrrju ijv icrx'^v 
 Trpbs i]fids rb atfia airov iduKcv iirkp ijfiwp 'Irja-ovs Xpicrrbs 6 Kijpios 
 Tjfiuv, ev deX-qfJiaTi Qeov, Kal ttjv cdpna virkp ttjs aapKbs tj/xQv, Kal tijv 
 \}^vxi]v vTrkp tQiv rpvxCov rifxCov. — Patrum Apostolicorum Opera, Leipsic, 
 1857; Clem., i.c. 46. 
 
408 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 of mind. Let us go back to all past generations and 
 learn that, from age to age, the Lord hath afforded 
 place for change of mind to those who wished to 
 turn to Him." l One other quotation we introduce, 
 and expressly for the purpose of showing how little 
 dependence ought to be placed on the wisest and 
 best of these early Christian writers, especially in 
 matters of interpretation and of criticism. This 
 same Clemens, probably the companion and disciple 
 of Paul, gives his name to a far-fetched and con- 
 temptible conceit. It relates to Kaliab the harlot : — 
 " Moreover, they gave to her a sign that she should 
 hang out of her house a scarlet thread, showing 
 thereby that by the blood of the Lord there should 
 be redemption to all who believe and ho-pe in God.''^ 
 Strange to say, even this is surpassed in fancifulness 
 and in absurdity, by a later and a deservedly-ad- 
 mired father. Irenaeus says, " So also the harlot 
 Kahab, while condemning herself as a Gentile, guilty 
 of all kinds of sin, did yet receive the three spies 
 
 ^ ' A.T€vl(j03}iev eh rb atfia rod XpiaroO, /cat tdicfiev, ws 'icrriv ri/unov t(3 
 0ey, iraTpi avrov on dia ttjv TjfieT^pav acorrjpiav eKxvQ^v iravrl tc^ 
 KbafiQi fieravoias x^P'-^ VTyveyKCP. ' ApiXOcofiev els ras yei/eas irdaas kuI 
 KaTafMddui/xep 6ti iv yevea Kalyeveq. pLeravoias tottov ^duKev'o Aeairdrris 
 Toh ^Qv\op.evoi.s iTn(rTpa(p7]uai iir avrbv. — Patrum Apostolicorum 
 Opera, Leipsic, 1857 ; Clem., i. c. 7. 
 
 ^ Kal TrpocredivTO avrg dovvai crip.e'LOV Sttws Kpepidari ck tov oikov 
 aiTTJs k6kklvov irpbhrfKov Troiovvres on Slcl tov aip-aTos tov Kvpiou 
 X^rpuais ^aTai Tract rots iriGTevov (Xlv Kal ^\irl^ov<nv iirl tov Qeou. — 
 Idem., c. 7. 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 409 
 
 who were searching the land, and hid them in her 
 house, — to wit, the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost." i- It would not be easy to excel this state- 
 ment in extravagance or impiety. 
 
 The letters ascribed to Barnabas, the companion 
 of Paul, and to Polycarp, the disciple of John, pious 
 in sentiment and in spirit, would attract, and are 
 worthy of little consideration, but for the names 
 which they bear. Even the seven epistles ascribed 
 to Ignatius, the fellow-disciple of Polycarp, though 
 often spiritual and fervid, and, like Clement, apostolical 
 in language and in form, possess no solid value, and 
 are almost devoid of interest, except for their vener- 
 able antiquity, and as the utterance of warm affec- 
 tion and of earnest piety. In many parts, besides, 
 they are painfully inflated, fulsomely complimentary 
 to the churches and their bishops, even offensively 
 self-glorifying, and above all, poisoned with a strange 
 ambition, expressing very often a morbid and proud 
 desire on the part of this saint to suffer martyrdom, 
 which he did ere long, with unshaken faith and a 
 true heroism. 
 
 Of the shepherd of Hermas, the most singularly 
 
 ^ Sic autera et Rahab fornica, semetipsam quidem condemnans, 
 quoniam esset gentilis, omnium peccatorum rea, suscepit autem 
 tres speculatores, qui speculabantur universam terram et apud se 
 abscondit, Patrem, scilicet et Filium cum Spiritu Sancto. — S. Ire- 
 Baei, libros quinque, edidit W. W. Harney, S. T. B., Cambridge, 
 1857, ii. 224. 
 
410 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 opposite judgments have been pronounced. To many 
 it seems poor and feeble from beginning to end, often 
 very questionable in taste, even in moral taste, and 
 with hardly a redeeming quality. Certainly the 
 world would not have lost much had the visions, and 
 commands, and similitudes of Hermas never been 
 heard of. 
 
 In the epistle to Diognetus, ascribed to Justin 
 Martyr, but whose authorship and exact age are 
 doubtful, though its very early date is not disputed, 
 we meet with a passage, the very strongest in ex- 
 pression and in tone of any to be found in the post- 
 apostolic writings. " But when the measure of our 
 unrighteousness was filled up, and it had been fully 
 shown that punishment and death awaited us as its 
 reward, and the time had come which God had fore- 
 ordained to show forth His own goodness and power, 
 of what surpassing benevolence was the love of God 
 to man ! He did not hate us or cast us off, or re- 
 member the evil against us. But He bore long with 
 us, and gave up His own Son as a ransom for us, the 
 holy for transgressors, him who was without evil for 
 sinners, the just for the unjust, the imperishable for 
 perishing man, the immortal for mortals. For what 
 else but his righteousness could have been a covering 
 for our sins ? By whom could we, sinners and un- 
 godly, have been justified, but by the Son of God 
 alone ? Oh, the sweet exchange ! oh, the unsearuh- 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 411 
 
 able dispensation ! oh, the unlooked-for benefits ! 
 To cover the transgressions of many through one 
 righteous man, and by the righteousness of one to 
 justify many sinners I"^ The rhetorical, almost 
 rhapsodical, character of these sentences is obvious. 
 The author is writing manifestly from a glowing 
 and grateful heart, and from a kindled and excited 
 imagination. Warm with the ravishing thought of 
 Divine love, he repeats, and repeats, and still repeats 
 one idea. Laying hold of a sacred figure, he does 
 what all do in dealing with figures, he extends and 
 expands it, and conveys by this means a true im- 
 pression of his feelings, but in words which, if rigidly 
 taken, would suggest what was not true in his 
 thoughts. 
 
 From the remaining early Christian writers, we 
 have addresses of various kinds, to individuals, to 
 
 ^ 'Ettci 5^ ireirX-Zipuro fiiv i) rjixeripa ddiKia Kal reXetcos ireipavipuTO 
 6'Tt 6 /MLcrdbs avTTJs KdXaais Kal ddvaros TrpoaedoKdro, ^Xde 8^ 6 Kuipbs 8p 
 Qebs irpoedero Xonrbu (pavepQcrat t7]v eavroO x/)?7(rT6T77Ta /cat dijva/xiv — ws 
 T^s virep^aXXo^arjs (ptXavdpuTrias (ila aydirrj rod Qeov — ovk i/JLiarjaev 
 ■}]fias 6v5e dirwaaro 6v5k i/JLvaaiKaKijcrev dXXd i/j,aKpod6fX7]aev dvrbs rbv 
 X^LOv vibv diredoTO XOrpov virep rjixdv rbv dyiov virkp tGjv dv6fxojv, rbv 
 &KaKov virkp tCjv KaKdv rbv SiKatov virkp rdv ddcKCov, rbv dcpOaprbu 
 virkp tQ)v (pdaprQu rbv dddvarbv virkp rQv OvijrQv. Tt yap dXXo rds 
 afxaprias TjfxQv rjduvrjdr] KaXv\}/aL ^ iKcivov dLKatoaiJvr] iv rlvi diKaiodTJvai. 
 dvvarbv roi>s dvofiovs 7]/xds Kal dffe^elt i} iv fxbvcp t<^ vi(^ rov Qeov. 
 a rrjs yXvKeias dvraXXayrjs, & t^s dve^ixvlacrrov dTjjxiovpyias, & rdv 
 dirpoaSoKrjrCov ivepyeaiuv. "Ii'a dvofiia [xkv iroXXQv ivdiKatcp evl Kpv^rj, 
 diKaioavvT] 8k evbs, iroXXoi/s dv6fjt.ovs Si/caiwcr?;. — Der Brief an Disquet- 
 Hollenberg, Berlin, 1853; c. 9., s. 17. 
 
412 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OP 
 
 churches, and to emperors or governors, apologies 
 for Christianity, defences of Christians, short trea- 
 tises or essays, some of them very effective, but 
 seldom or never accompanied with anything which 
 could now be called the gospel The address of 
 Tatian l to the men of Greece, explaining his con- 
 version to Christianity, is an exposition of the folly 
 of idolatry, of the character of the Pagan gods, and 
 of the absurdity of the doctrine of fate, but no gos- 
 pel. Athenagoras ^ has an essay on the resurrection 
 of the dead body, which would compare not unfavour- 
 ably with many a modern treatise on the same sub- 
 ject, but no gospel. Theophilus 3 of Antioch writes at 
 great length to Autolycus, a Pagan, argues ably for the 
 being of one God over all, exposes the folly of poly- 
 theism and idolatry, discourses loftily of the nature 
 and attributes of the One God, enters largely into 
 questions of antiquity and chronology, and then pre- 
 sents a compendium of the Mosaic account of the 
 creation, the deluge, and the early history of the 
 world; but there is no gospel. Athenagoras,* ad- 
 
 » Oratio ad Graecos: I. C. T. Otto, Jena, 1852. 
 
 2 Corpus Apol, Christian : I. C. T. Otto, Jena, 1857. 
 
 3 Theophili, libri tres : G. G. Humphrey, S. T. B., Cambridge, 
 1853. 
 
 ■* "0 Tov 5^ rod iravrbs Arjfxiovpybs Kal irarTjp ov de^rai aifxaros ov5^ 
 Kviaar]$ ovd^ ttjs airo tCov d.vdC}v Kal dv/jnajxaTuv euwSt'as* . . . 'AWd 
 Bvcla avTip fieyiarr) &v yivdjaKU/xef , - . Srav ^xoires tou Arj/niovpybu 
 Oeov avv^xovra Kal iiroineijoPTa iTncmfjfjLrj Kal t^x^V i^^^ V^ ^7^' '^^^ 
 irdPTa kiraiptjoixev baias x^^pas aury Trotas eVi Xfidav iKaTbfi^Tjs ^x^t. 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 413 
 
 dressing " Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Lucius 
 Aurelius Commodus, the conquerors of Armenia, 
 and, what is greatest of all, philosophers," executes 
 an elaborate defence of the Christians, from the 
 principal charges which were then brought against 
 them. One of these charges was to this effect, that 
 the followers of Jesus did not, like all other nations 
 of the then known world, offer sacrifice, as an act 
 of worship. If ever there was a fair opportunity, 
 almost a clear necessity, it was now, for proclaiming 
 the expiation of sin, (had it been true,) by the one 
 sacrifice of Christ on the cross. But no such idea is 
 once expressed or hinted at. Something widely dif- 
 ferent is advanced, and that which is now supposed 
 to be the essence of Christian truth is thoroughly 
 ignored. " The Father and Creator of the universe 
 wants not blood nor savour [of victims,] nor sweet 
 
 scent from flowers and from incimse But the 
 
 best sacrifice to Him is that we should acknowledge 
 
 Him When, having before our minds God, 
 
 the Creator, sustaining and inspecting all things, in 
 the knowledge and skill with which He rules them, 
 we lift up holy hands to Him, what need is there of 
 other hecatombs? Why must we offer holocausts, 
 
 Ti de fioi oKoKavTibaecou dv /XT] Setrat 6 Qeos' 'Kalroi. irpocrcpipeLV deov 
 duai/xaKTOV dvalav Kal r-qu XoyiKTjv irpoab^yeiv Xarpeiav. — Corpus 
 Apologetarum Cbristianorum, I. C. T. Otto, Jena, 1857, pp. 
 59, 60. 
 
414 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OP 
 
 since God wants them not ? We must offer an un- 
 bloody sacrifice, and bring to Him a reasonable ser- 
 vice." Minucius Felix, a much later writer than any 
 yet named, a Koman lawyer, is the author of an 
 imaginary dialogue between Octavius a Christian, 
 and Cecilius a Pagan. The Pagan fairly represents 
 the philosophical and the popular arguments against 
 Christianity, deals with some of the special Christian 
 tenets, arraigns the ignorance and presumption of 
 Christians, and reprobates the flagitious crimes of 
 which they were commonly accused. Octavius re- 
 pels the accusation, however common, and shows its 
 improbability and falsehood, explains some of the 
 Christian tenets, but chiefly insists — with the aid of 
 arguments drawn from the old philosophy itself — on 
 the unity of God and the doctrine of providence. 
 The work has some prominent faults, an occasional 
 puerility and triviality, as in its reference to the sign 
 of the cross, to the agency of demons, and to the gods 
 of the heathen ; but as a whole, it is one of the least 
 objectionable and most excellent of the ancient writ- 
 ings. It is simple and beautiful in conception, inge- 
 nious, subtle, and cogent in argument, and most 
 graceful and elegant in execution. But there is no 
 gospel. 
 
 Justin Martyr holds a most honourable place in 
 the list of primitive apologists. His writings, ex- 
 cluding several which are supposed by the best 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 415 
 
 authorities to be spurious, are mucli more extended, 
 if we exce|)t TertuUian, tlian those of any of the post 
 apostolic fathers, and more valuable as the utterance 
 of primitive thought and piety. One is startled, even 
 in them, by puerile and absurd notions, which, how- 
 ever, were shared, more or less, by most of the marked 
 names of that age which have come down to us. 
 Justin shocks modern ideas by his opinions respect- 
 ing evil spirits, their power over men, and men's 
 power over them, respecting the virtue of the sign of 
 the cross, respecting the transmigration of human 
 souls, and respecting baptism, in which last, how- 
 ever, he is far surpassed by TertuUian in mystical 
 and misleading language. But, as a whole, Justin's 
 writings are intrinsically valuable, pervaded by a 
 deep spirit of piety, and manifestly drawn forth out 
 of a genuine and profound religious experience. His 
 two apologues contrast favourably with that of Ter- 
 tuUian, as forcible and as just, but far more temper- 
 ate and Christian in spirit. For our purpose, it is 
 enough to say, that — except quotations from Scrip- 
 ture, and chiefly from the 53d chapter of Isaiah — 
 there is nothing in them bearing on satisfaction to 
 justice — certainly no independent statement, or even 
 allusion to the idea. We have a most interesting 
 detail of the forms of early Christian worship — the 
 reading, the discourse, the prayers, the eucharist of 
 the bread and of the cup, the duty of the deacons to 
 
416 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OP 
 
 reserve a portion of tlie sacred feast for those who 
 were absent, the collection for the widows, the father- 
 less, and the poor. But even here, though it would 
 have been so natural, (had it been true,) and so 
 necessary and fitting, when addressing a heathen 
 emperor and a heathen senate, not a hint escapes 
 that the Christian assembly, which he had described, 
 believed in the expiation of human sin by the death 
 of Christ. 
 
 The longest and ablest of- Justin's works is his 
 imaginary dialogue with Trypho a Jew. It is an 
 extended argument, in which the once-heathen philo- 
 sopher proves to the Jew the Messiahship and the 
 Divinity of Jesus Christ ; and, as was to be expected, 
 it abounds with quotations from the Old Testament, 
 and especially from the book of Isaiah. There is, 
 among other things, a long and lucid explanation of 
 the sufferings of Christ as real, in opposition to the 
 Docetae, and as perfectly compatible with his essen- 
 tial divinity. But even here not a hint is given that 
 these sufferings were expiatory and judicial. The 
 following quotations, the strongest in expression 
 which the w^ork contains, must suffice to convey as 
 faithful and complete an impression, as can be ga- 
 thered, of the tone and the form of the convictions 
 of this accomplished and devout Christian saint : — 
 " Wherefore, if they repent, all who wish can obtain 
 mercy from God, and the Scripture pronounces them 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 417 
 
 blessed, saying, Blessed is the man to whom the Lord 
 will not impute sin, — that is, that having repented 
 of his sins, he may obtain remission of them from 
 God, but not as you, and some others who resemble 
 you in this particular, deceive yourselves, and say 
 that even if they be sinners, and know God, the Lord 
 will not impute sin to them." ^ Trypho having asked 
 if unbelieving Jews, who directed their lives by the 
 law of Moses, would be saved, Justin answers, that 
 whatever is naturally good, holy, and just, is com- 
 manded by Moses ; and then adds, " Since they who 
 did such things as are by nature universally and 
 eternally good, are well pleasing to God, they, through 
 this Christ of ours, shall be saved in the resurrec- 
 tion, equally with their righteous forefathers, Noah, 
 Enoch, Jacob, and others, together with those who 
 acknowledge Christ as the Son of God." 2 Again, 
 " God has, beforehand, declared that all who, through 
 this name, make those sacrifices which Jesus, who 
 
 ^ (icrre iav fierapo'^crucri, Trdures ^ovKdfievoi rvx'^'i-v tov irapa rod 
 Qeov eX^os dvvaprai, koX //.aKaptovs avroi/s 6 Xoyos irpokiyeL eLirdov, Ma- 
 KapLos y ou fiT) XoyiarjTai K^pios a/Maprlav. ToOto di iarcv us fMera- 
 voriaas irrl rois rifiapTTj/xacrt rdv TjfiapTrj/jidTwv iraph rod Qeov \d^rj 
 dcpecriv aXX' 01;% ws vfjiels dTrarare eauroCs Kal fiXXot rivh v/xiv Sfxoiot. 
 Karai, toOto, ot X^yovaiv 8ti nhv afxapruXol &(ri Qebv d^ yipdicrKOvaiv, 6v 
 fiT] XoylarjTai. ai/rois Kvpios afxaprLav. — Cap. 141, p. 460. 
 
 2 'ETrel ot TO. KadbXov Kal (pva-ei kuI aldovia KaXa kirolovv evapecrroi 
 elci T($ 0e<p Kal dla tov xpi^CTOv To{rrov iu rrj dvaardaei 6/xouos rots Trpo- 
 yevo/xevoLi dvTuv diKalois, Nwe. '^vbx, 'Ia\'u)/3, Kal ei tipcs &XXol yeyo- 
 vaai, aud-qaovTai aiiv roh iinyvovai. tov xpi-CTbv tovtop tov Qeov vXov. 
 — Ibid., c. 45, p. 144. 
 
 2b 
 
418 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OP 
 
 is the Christ, commanded, — ^that is to say, in the 
 eucharist of the bread and of the cup" — certainly no 
 expiatory sacrifice, but a pure act of loving remem- 
 brance, of thanksgiving, and of self - surrender — 
 " which are offered in every part of the world by us 
 Christians, are well pleasing to Him. But those 
 sacrifices which are offered by you, and through 
 those priests of yours. He wholly rejects, saying, I 
 will not accept joxir offerings at your hands." i 
 Again, " That prayers and thanksgivings, offered 
 up by the worthy, are the only sacrifices which are 
 perfect and acceptable to God, is what I myself also 
 affirm ; for these alone the Christians have been 
 taught to offer." 2 Again, " The mystery of the 
 lamb, which God commanded you to sacrifice as a 
 passover, was a type of Christ, with whose blood, 
 according to the measure of their faith in him, they 
 who believe anoint their houses, — that is, them- 
 selves." ^ Again, Justin places real against ritual 
 
 ^ Hduras odv ot 5la rod dvSfiaTos roirov, dvalas &5 TapiduKcu 'IricroOs 
 6 Xpicrds ybecdai tovt iariv iTrl ry evxapicrria rod aprov kuI toO 
 iroriipLov, rb.^ iu iravrl rSircp ttjs yrjs yLVop.has virb twv xP^a-riavuv, 
 irpoka^div 6 Qebs fiaprvpel evap^arovs iirdpxeiv aurcp. Tas 6^ V(p v/itov 
 Kal 8i iK elv<av vficav tQu lepeuv yivo/xivas, iiravlerat \iy(av, rd? dvaias 
 iffiuv oi -irposSi^ofxai iK tup xf'pwj' v/xcav. — Ibid., c. 117, p. 387. 
 
 * "On fih ovv Kal eir^al Kal e^x'^P'-^T^^'- ^"""^ "^^^ d^lwv yivSp-evai riXeiai 
 p.6vai. Kal eiiapearoi dai T(p 6e<f> dvaiai Kal atrros (prjfii. Tavra yhp 
 (ibva Kal xpt'O'Tiavol irapfKa^ov iroielv. — Ibid., c. 117, p. 388. 
 
 ^ T6 fivaTTjpiov rod irpo^aTov 6 t6 irdax'^ dijeiv ivriTaXrai 8 9e6s 
 Ti/TTos ^p Tov XpicTTod od T(p al'/iart /caret rbp \6yov ttjs els avrop tIct- 
 
THE DOCTEINE OF SATISFACTION. 419 
 
 cleansing, and shows that nothing but thorough, 
 personal abandonment of evil can avail. It was 
 not surely to the bath, he says, that Isaiah sent you, 
 to wash away sins ; but, he adds, " as one would 
 think, there was of old that very washing of salva- 
 tion which is for those who repent, and who are no 
 longer purified by the blood of goats and sheep, or 
 by the ashes of an heifer, hut hy faith^ through the 
 blood and death of Christ, who died for this very 
 purpose." "• Again, " Through the baptism of repent- 
 ance, and the knowledge of God, which, as Isaiah says, 
 was instituted for the sins of the people, we have 
 believed and know that the same baptism, which 
 is alone able to cleanse penitents, is the water of 
 life." 2 
 
 Tertullian is one of the most voluminous of all 
 the early Christian writers, and the least satisfactory. 
 With no little argumentative power, philosophic cul- 
 ture, and natural eloquence, he is intemperate and 
 
 rews xP^ovrai roi/s otKovs iavrup, tovt i(XTiP iavroh, ol TriareiiovTes els 
 aMv.—Ibid., c. 40, p. 130. 
 
 ^ 'AWd (is ek6s irdXat tovto iKecPO rb ffUT'^piov \ovTphv ^v 8 Ziire rb 
 Toh fieTayiP(I}(TKOv<n Kal firjKiTi difiaai rpdycav Kal irpo^drcov 17, ctttoScD 
 5a/j,d\eus Kadapi^ofiivoLs, dWb. iriarTeL 5la rod aifiaros toO Xpiarov Kal 
 ToO davdrov airrov 6s dla tovto diridavev. — Ibid., c. 13, p. 44. 
 
 ^ Atd Tov XovTpoO o^v TT]S fieTavolas Kal ttjs yvdiiaeus tov QeoO 6 vTrhp 
 TTJs dvofxias tCov Xauv tov Qeov yivovev &s 'Hcat'as ^od ijfMeis eincTeTj- 
 (xafiev Kal yvupi^o/iep, 8Tt tovt iKeivo 8 Tporjydpeve t6 ^dirTiajxa, rb 
 p,bvQv Kadaplaai Toi/s p-eTavorjaavTas dvvap,evop tovt6 iffTi t6 (JSoj/) ttjs 
 ^u)7]s.—Ibid., c. 14, p. 48. 
 
420 OHIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 unguarded, and is wanting in that pervading spirit of 
 piety, which so beautifully distinguishes Justin Martyr. 
 His later writings, when he had embraced the heresy 
 of Montanus, and his polemical pieces, are extrava- 
 gant in sentiment, and violent in spirit. The titles 
 of some of the former are enough : — " De Yelandis 
 Yirginibus, de Pudicitia, de Monogamia, Exhortatio 
 Castitatis," &c. We refer here solely to his earlier 
 and better productions, the " Apologeticus adversus 
 Gentes, ad Martyres, ad Scapulam, ad Uxorem II., 
 de Testimonio Animas, de Spectaculis, de Idolatria, de 
 Oratione, de Baptismo, de Pcenitentia, de Patientia, 
 de Corona Militis," and " De Pr^escriptionibus ad- 
 versus Hereticos." Throughout these writings, it is 
 enough to say that no express statement of the doc- 
 trine of satisfaction can be found, and there is less of 
 Scriptural phraseology and quotation, than in any 
 other of the fathers. In the " Apologeticus," one of 
 TertuUian's best productions, and fullest of quotation 
 from the Scriptures, we have a mystical and obscure 
 exposition of the Incarnation, and thereafter of the 
 life and death, and resurrection and ascension of 
 Jesus, but not a word or hint, even here, though it 
 lay so directly in his way (had it been true) of satis- 
 faction for sin. One passage only from the writings 
 of TertuUian we extract, as furnishing some clue to 
 his guiding thoughts. It occurs in the " De Oratione,'' 
 a commentary on our Lord's prayer. On the petition 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 421 
 
 for forgiveness of sin, Tertullian says,i " Prayer for 
 forgiveness is confession, for he that asketh forgive- 
 ness confesseth sin. Thus, also, is repentance mani- 
 fested, acceptable to God, because He willeth this 
 rather than the death of the sinner. But a debt is in 
 the Scriptures a figure for a sin, because payment is, 
 in like manner, by just sentence due, and by the same 
 demanded, nor can it evade the justice of the demand, 
 unless the demand be remitted, as the Lord forgave 
 that servant the debt. For the example of the whole 
 parable looketh this way. For whereas the same 
 servant, when loosed by his Lord, doth not in like 
 manner spare his own debtor, and being on that 
 account brought before his Lord, is delivered to the 
 tormentor, till he should pay the uttermost farthing, 
 that is, the very least sin, so with this agreeth that 
 we also profess to forgive our debtors." 
 
 We have finished our condensed account of the 
 early Christian writings, up to a few years beyond 
 
 ^ Exomologesis est petitio veniae, quia qui petit veniam, delictum 
 confitetur. Sic et penitentia demonstratur acceptabilis Deo, quia 
 vult eum quam mortem peccaturis. Debitum autem in scriptura, 
 delicti figura est quod perinde judicio debeatur, et ab eo exigatur 
 nee evadet justitiam exactionis, nisi donetur exactio, sicut illi servo 
 Dominus debitum remisit. Hue enim spectat exemplura parabolae 
 totius. Nam et quod idem servus, a Domino liberatus, non perinde 
 parcit debitors suo, ac propterea delatus, penes dominum, torturi 
 delegatur ad solvendum novissimum quadrantem, id est, modicum 
 usque debitum, eo competit, quod remittere, nos quoque profitemur 
 debitoribus nostris. — " Patrologise cursus completus." Migne, Paris, 
 1844. I. 1162, 3. 
 
4:22 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 the beginning of the third century. Injustice will 
 certainly be done to them, unless it be understood 
 that most of them make use, though not frequently, of 
 the New Testament language in reference to the death 
 of the Eedeemer, and also that in some instances they 
 apply passages of the Old Testament, such as the 53d 
 chapter of Isaiah and the 22d Psalm, to that death. 
 But with this exception, and an occasional expansion 
 or extension of a scriptural figure or image, there is 
 nothing to indicate the doctrine of satisfaction to 
 Divine justice for sin, as not only an article of Chris- 
 tian faith, but the fundamental and essential article. 
 At the same time, it is fully admitted that the ulti- 
 mate and real question, after all, goes back to the 
 meaning of the New Testament itself. No one could 
 fairly dispute that if the doctrine of satisfaction be 
 there, it is also in the post-apostolic writings. But 
 if it be wanting there, as we have sought to show 
 that it is, then unquestionably it has no place in 
 them. 
 
 It must here be remembered how much, quite 
 away from the disputed doctrine, is taught by those 
 passages in the New Testament which refer to the 
 cross, to human salvation, and to the work of the 
 Eedeemer. From these passages, as has been al- 
 ready made out, we learn most assuredly and dis- 
 tinctly : 1st, That the death and the entire earthly 
 course of Jesus originated in love to men, Grod's love 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 423 
 
 to men, and tliat they form the most mysterious ex- 
 hibition of perfectly pure and unprompted gracious- 
 ness. 2d, That the death and the life of Jesus were 
 literally for sin, on account of sin, and nothing but sin, 
 and were God's last and best means of taking away sin, 
 and rooting it out of the heart of the world. 3d, That 
 the death and the life of Jesus were truly sacrificial 
 — ^he freely sacrificing himself to the will of God and 
 to the good of men, and God sacrificing His Incarnate 
 Son, in order to conquer the obdurate heart of man. 
 And 4th, That the death and the life of Jesus were, 
 properly, vicarious ; that is to say, were owing not to 
 any personal, individual causes whatever, but to pure 
 regard for others ; the death was suffered, and the 
 life was lived, wholly and only for men, just as if 
 that death and that life had been a ransom given, a 
 price paid, for human salvation. But the gulf is 
 measureless, between all this and expiation of sin, or 
 satisfaction to justice. We then pass into a totally 
 opposite region, and we have then to import into 
 beautiful and simple words ideas which are not only 
 inconsistent with their natural meaning, but really 
 destructive of it. Imputation ! which no mind can 
 possibly conceive as real, but which every mind is 
 forced to represent as wholly fictitious. Judicial 
 anger ! though what that can be, as different from 
 real anger, it is impossible to understand. The pro- 
 pitiating and atoning of a Being in whose pure love 
 
424 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 alone, it is admitted, all that has been done origi- 
 nated ! The idea that eternal justice is defrauded, 
 though by the necessity of the moral constitution of 
 things every sin at once inevitably punishes itself! 
 The farther idea that justice, robbed in one quarter, 
 avenges and satisfies itself in another ! These are 
 some of the fictions of law — such, however, as no 
 human law could suffer — which receive no sanction 
 from the New Testament, but are at variance with 
 every section of it, and most decidedly of all at vari- 
 ance with every word that fell from our blessed Lord 
 himself. To speak of the sacrificial, the vicarious, 
 the atoning, that is, reconciling and redeeming, (be- 
 cause love-originated and love-originating,) sufferings 
 of Jesus is one thing, but to imagine that these suf- 
 ferings are in any sense expiatory — that is, that they 
 make amends for sin, appease anger, or satisfy jus- 
 tice — is another and a totally opposite thing, which 
 has no sanction from God's Word, and rests wholly 
 on human authority. 
 
 Few can be more convinced than the writer is, that 
 the representation given in these pages of the early 
 Christian literature in its relation to the great truths 
 of Christianity, is likely to be more or less one-sided 
 and influenced, even unconsciously, by pre-judgment 
 or prejudice. But, happily, we are able to con- 
 firm to a certain extent, and more than confirm, that 
 representation by the unequivocal judgment of one 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 425 
 
 who entertains convictions in reference to expiation, 
 diametrically opposed to those upheld in this volume, 
 and who is the latest, as he is certainly one of the 
 ahlest and most ingenious, defenders of the schol- 
 astic theology, Dr Shedd of Andover.i Dr Shedd 
 entertains, no doubt, that the early Christian writ- 
 ings involve the received doctrine, and are entirely 
 consistent with it. He even affirms that " the idea 
 of vicarious satisfaction is distinctly enunciated by 
 them," 2 though we entirely deny that, apart from 
 the language of the New Testament, he produces 
 one example of such distinct enunciation. Else- 
 where he admits, again and again, in the most 
 explicit terms, that this idea is scarcely expressed 
 at all, and if expressed, it is so only, and always, 
 in the very phraseology of the Scriptures. " The 
 apostolic fathers merely repeated the Scripture 
 phraseology which contained the truth, which was 
 warm and vital in their Christian experience, but 
 did not enunciate it in the exact and guarded state- 
 ments of a scientific formula."^ " Taken as a whole, 
 the body of Patristic theology exhibits but an im- 
 perfect theoretic comprehension of the most funda- 
 mental truth in the Christian system."* " Examin- 
 
 1 "A History of Christian Doctrine," by W. G. T. Shedd, D.D. 
 Clark, Edinburgh, 1865. 
 
 2 Ibid., vol. ii., p. 207. * Ibid., p. 265. 
 * Ibid., p. 212. 
 
426 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 ing them (the apostolic fathers) we find chiefly the 
 repetition of Scripture phraseology, without further 
 attempt at an explanatory, doctrinal statement. 
 There is no scientific • construction of the doctrine 
 of atonement in the writings of these devout dis- 
 ciples of Paul and John."i ''All true, scientific 
 development of the doctrine of the atonement, it is 
 very evident, must take its departure from the idea 
 of divine justice, .... In proportion as the mind 
 of the Church obtained a distinct and philoso- 
 phic conception of this great attribute, as an ab- 
 solute and necessary principle in the divine nature 
 and in human nature, was it enabled to specify, with 
 distinctness, the real meaning and purport of the 
 Kedeemer's passion, and to exhibit the rational and 
 necessary grounds for it." 2 " They (the apostolic 
 fathers) recognised the doctrine of atonement for 
 sin, by the death of the Kedeemer, as one taught 
 in the Scriptures, and, especially, in the writings of 
 the two great apostles, Paul and John, at whose feet 
 they had been brought up. They did not, however, 
 venture beyond the phraseology of Scripture, and 
 
 they attempted no rationale of the doctrine 
 
 The evangelical tenet was heartily and cordially 
 held in their religious experience, but it was not 
 drawn forth from this, its warm and glowing home, 
 into the cool and clear light of the intellect and of 
 
 1 Shedd, vo]. ii., p. 207. ^ /j^-^,^ pp^ 2I6, 217. 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 427 
 
 theological science. The relations of this sacrificial 
 death to the justice of God, on the one hand, and to 
 the conscience of man, on the other — the judicial 
 reasons and grounds of this death of the most ex- 
 alted of personages — were left to be investigated and 
 exhibited in later ages, and by other generations of 
 theologians." 1 "Taking the term 'atonement,' in 
 its technical signification, to denote the satisfaction of 
 divine justice for the sin of man, by the substituted 
 penal sufierings of the Son of God, we shall find 
 a slower scientific unfolding of this great cardinal 
 doctrine than of any other of the principal truths 
 of Christianity. Our investigations in this branch 
 of inquiry will disclose the fact, that it was re- 
 served for the Protestant Church and the modern 
 theological mind to bring the doctrines of Soteriology 
 to a correspondent degree of expansion." 2 
 
 I venture to emphasise this closing statement, 
 because I hold it to be incontestably true, and 
 because, if it be true, it is then past all belief 
 that that which took fifteen centuries thoroughly 
 to interpret and unfold, can have lain, all along, 
 as a Divine revelation in the simple language of 
 the New Testament. Still farther, Dr Shedd al- 
 lows, without qualification, that the doctrine of 
 satisfaction to Divine justice cannot be found in 
 the writings of Origen; and, almost as freely, that 
 
 1 Shedd, vol. ii., pp. 211, 212. = Ibid., p. 204. 
 
428 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OP 
 
 it is also wanting, with anything like precision, 
 even in those of Augustin. Of Origen, at least, 
 he expressly asserts that his leading opinions are 
 '' incompatible with the doctrine of a satisfaction 
 of Divine justice ;''i and adds, "that only a very 
 defective and erroneous conception of this cardinal 
 truth of Christianity is to be found in the Alex- 
 andrian Soteriology."2 During the first three cen- 
 turies, Dr Shedd imagines an effort on the part 
 of the Church, but an unsuccessful effort, to exhibit 
 the truth in a speculative and accurate form. But 
 the success, he thinks, was greater as the ages 
 advanced. " The historical development of the doc- 
 trine evinces, as we follow it down the centuries, 
 that a gradual progress, in acquiring a scientific 
 understanding of the Scripture representation, is 
 going on." 3 "We find, for example, Gregory 
 Nazianzen expressing doubts, and raising inquiries, 
 which indicate that the theological mind was sinking 
 — (what! after 400 years?) — more profoundly into 
 the substance of revelation, and drawing nearer to a 
 correct logical construction of the great doctrine," ^ — 
 that is to say, the doctrine of satisfaction, as now 
 understood, had certainly not attained its deve- 
 lopment, towards the end of the fourth Christian 
 century, and was then only drawing nearer to it, 
 
 1 Shedd, vol. ii., p. 236. = Ibid., p. 237. 
 
 3 lUd., p. 244. * Ibid., p. 245. 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 429 
 
 than at any previous period. And this we hold to 
 be simply true, though very startling and irrepres- 
 sibly suggestive. 
 
 Dr Shedd has a perfect right to utter his honest 
 impression, that the doctrine of satisfaction was 
 " warm and vital in the Christian experience" of 
 the early writers to whom he refers, and was " re- 
 cognised by them as one taught in the Scriptures," 
 was "heartily and cordially held in their religious 
 experience," and had " its warm and glowing home" 
 there. But this is an individual impression, and no 
 more — one, too, not unlikely to be created uncon- 
 sciously by a strong predisposition. Another reader 
 shall rise from a minute and careful and honest 
 examination of the whole of the Christian literature 
 of the first two centuries, with as deep an impression, 
 but directly the opposite — and this, too, in a great 
 degree, owing to a directly opposite mental bias. 
 But apart from mere impressions, however upright, 
 the fact admitted by Dr Shedd is this, that except 
 in the use of Scriptural phraseology, there is not 
 within the range of the early Christian writings, a 
 single expHcit independent statement, to the effect 
 that in the death of Christ, satisfaction for human 
 sins was rendered to Divine justice. May we not 
 venture to assert, that this issue must have been 
 impossible, had such a thing been not only true, 
 but the most fundamental and vital truth of 
 
430 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 Christianity. The occasions presented in these 
 writings, we might say the clamorous necessities 
 arising for announcing the fact, had it heen true, 
 and above all, the central truth, were numerous and 
 palpable. It is useless to suggest that the doctrine 
 awaited development and construction. It certainly 
 did, but the radical idea underlying it was simple 
 enough, and could have been easily expressed. 
 Time might be required so to fashion it, as to 
 make it fit in on all sides to a completed system 
 of theology. But it was easy to announce that 
 Jesus, by his death, had expiated human sins, and 
 satisfied Divine justice, and that in consequence of 
 this, a free pardon was now righteously extended 
 to the chief of sinners. And this was not only easy 
 to announce, but supposing it to be the one saving 
 truth of revelation, it was essential that it should be 
 proclaimed aloud, whatever else was left unuttered. 
 Yet it is precisely this, which in a plain, free, and 
 unambiguous statement, is not once to be found in 
 any early Christian writing. 
 
 One other remarkable fact deserves to stand by 
 itself. The most ancient symbol of the religion of 
 the New Testament is that called the Apostles' 
 Creed, not actually composed by the apostles, but 
 probably dating from the apostolic age, and drawn 
 up from other earlier forms, in which converts en- 
 tering the Church were wont to profess their new 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 431 
 
 belief. This symbol contains distinctly the doctrine 
 of the forgiveness of sins; but other ground of 
 forgiveness than the pur 3 mercy of the Holy God 
 — the God who gave Hiis Son to live and to die for 
 men — it names not, nor hints at. There is an 
 extended confession of the Lord and Saviour in 
 these words, "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only 
 Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy 
 Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under 
 Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried; he 
 descended into hell, the third day he rose again 
 from the dead, he ascended into heaven, and sitteth 
 at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; 
 from thence he shall come to judge the quick and 
 the dead," — ^but that is all — no more — not a hint 
 of satisfaction, now esteemed the fundamental doc- 
 trine of the New Testament. And yet this was the 
 very identical confession of faith, by which Jews and 
 Pagans were admitted into the Christian Church, for 
 at least two or three centuries. Dr Shedd gives a 
 summary of the Christian fafth, by Irenseus, and 
 another by Tertullian,! portions of which, so far as 
 related to our subject, may here be introduced. They 
 singularly strengthen the impression which the 
 earlier symbol is fitted to create. Iren^eus asserts 
 the faith of the Church " in one Jesus Christ, the Son 
 of God, who was made flesh for our salvation, and 
 
 1 Shedd, vol. ii., pp. 432, 433. 
 
432 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 in the Holy Ghost, who through the prophets an- 
 nounced the dispensations, and the advents, and the 
 birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resur- 
 rection from the dead, and the incarnate ascension 
 into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, 
 and his reappearance from the heavens, with the 
 glory of the Father/' TertuUian comprises all that is 
 essential in these few terms : " The rule of faith is 
 one only, and not to be amended, namely, the belief 
 in one sole omnipotent God, the maker of the world, 
 and in his Son Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, 
 crucified under Pontius Pilate, raised from the dead 
 on the third day, received into heaven, seated now 
 on the right hand of the Father, and to come here- 
 after to judge the living and dead, through the re- 
 surrection of the flesh." Where is Divine justice, 
 with its claims to be satisfied? where Divine anger, 
 needing to be appeased? where human sin, calling for 
 expiation? Nowhere. For upwards of two centuries, 
 at least, these ideas were wholly unknown to primitive 
 Christianity. How, -then, were they originated ? 
 
 It is difficult for us in this age to appreciate, with 
 a broad and true sympathy, the condition of Chris- 
 tianity during the first centuries of its existence. 
 Single-handed it had to contend with Paganisms, 
 venerable for their antiquity, and rooted in the habits 
 of thought and of life, in the superstitious fears and 
 in the religious affections of the nations. It had to 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 433 
 
 confront an inveterate Judaism, and it had to meet 
 in argument, as best it could, the Platonic, the 
 Stoic, the Gnostic, and all the philosophies of the 
 West and of the East. Worst of all, it was dis- 
 tracted, broken up, and sorely scourged by intestine 
 divisions of creed, of worship, and of life ; and these 
 divisions increased in bitterness, and became, as the 
 ages advanced, ever more fundamental in their 
 causes, and more disastrous in their effects. The 
 names of Cerinthus, Marcion, Hermogenes, Monta- 
 nus, Arius, Sabellius, Pelagius, and others, are con- 
 nected with a history of discord during the first four 
 Christian centuries, almost, if not quite, without a 
 parallel. And it is never in strife, as even a limited 
 experience is sufficient to discover, that truth comes 
 forth, which, on the contrary, is always the fruit of 
 impartial, patient, and quiet investigation. In all 
 religious controversy, exaggeration, distortion, pre- 
 judice, and unfairness are certain to characterise, not 
 one, but both of the contending sides. Truth is 
 never wholly with either at the time, but is always 
 a later result, to which both shall ultimately con- 
 tribute, though it may be in very unequal propor- 
 tions. It would be acting in the face of all experi- 
 ence, to accept, as final and just, that determination 
 of any great question which we know to have been 
 reached amidst such raging disputes, rancorous per- 
 sonal animosities, wily ambitions, bitter jealousies, 
 
 2e 
 
434 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 and headlong and unscrupulous passion for victory 
 as disgraced the third, fourth, and fifth centuries. 
 The fact is not to be gainsayed, that passing down 
 from the apostolic age, there is ever — with some 
 'beautiful and noble individual exceptions — less and 
 less confidence to be placed either in the decisions or 
 in the actings of the Christian Church. If, in these 
 pages, we have seemed to attach importance to the 
 Christian writings of the two first centuries, it has 
 not been because the writers were at all better able 
 — quite the reverse — than expositors in the present 
 day correctly to interpret the New Testament, but 
 simply because, since they lived near to the times of 
 the apostles, if a certain idea had been announced by 
 these inspired men, they were the persons most likely 
 to have caught it up, and to have expressed it in 
 their own words. And because they certainly did 
 not so express it, we have concluded that the idea in 
 question was not apostolic, but must have had a far 
 later origin. 
 
 Amidst the endless controversies which from the 
 first harassed Christianity, the doctrine of human 
 redemption by Christ and through his cross never 
 was, for at least many centuries, .properly the subject 
 of controversy at all. It would seem that the incar- 
 nation of the Eternal Logos, the rejection and cruci- 
 fixion of the Incarnate One, and in both, the infinite 
 love of a Holy God to men, took thorough possession 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 435 
 
 of the early Church, and rooted itself in the judgment 
 and heart of myriads. There was no dispute among 
 them concerning this. Jews and Pagans alike had 
 come to know and feel that salvation, real inward 
 deliverance, was here, even in Divine, crucified 
 love. Without defining or arguing, they felt within, 
 a contrition, a submission, a trust in God's mercy, 
 and an intense aspiration after purity never known 
 before. The cross meant to them Christ's love, 
 God's love, a holy love, God in Christ reconcil- 
 ing the world, bringing it back to Himself, and 
 to righteousness, and truth, and peace. This was 
 life for death, light for darkness, a force breaking 
 the heart of stone, and sweetly opening their souls, 
 as nothing else had ever done, to the pure influ- 
 ences from above. Up to this point for centuries 
 they were in peace, untroubled by doubt or differ- 
 ence respecting Christ and his cross. They asked 
 no questions. They did not p'hilosophise, far less 
 syllogise or attempt — as in later times was not only 
 attempted, but effected — to work out the problem of 
 salvation by the method of Aristotle and the laws ot 
 logic. 
 
 At a very early period, indeed, there were some 
 who, following the bent of an imaginative and 
 mystic nature, dwelt unwisely, as many in all the 
 ages up to the present have often done, on the typi 
 cal language of Scripture, and who, mistaking fancj- 
 
436 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 for fact, might overpass in some of their expressions 
 the limit of sound reason and of truth. And among 
 the causes which have led to the present wide-spread 
 notions respecting the death of our Lord, the very 
 first, we believe, and not the least powerful because 
 very insidious, was the misuse of typical and meta- 
 phorical language. The Kedeemer of men, as has 
 been repeatedly shown, is often compared in his 
 death to the ancient sacrifices ; his blood is likened 
 to a ransom paid for the deliverance of a captive, and 
 he is sometimes virtually, though never in express 
 terms, represented as the substitute of men. These 
 are Scriptural figures, and in certain easily dis- 
 covered respects, they convey real truth, but they 
 are figures and only figures of truth, and not them- 
 selves truths. The spiritual reality which ihey em- 
 body is not, as has been and is still so often imagined, 
 a mere counterpart and no more of the literal image 
 which represents it, but something widely different, 
 though showing distinct points of resemblance, 
 something immeasurably grander, purer, truer, than 
 any possible figure can suggest. It is not hard to 
 trace, in very ancient as in modern times, the evil 
 effects of this misuse and misapplication of figures, 
 and of an allegorical and mystical interpretation 
 of Holy Scripture. We distinctly believe that in 
 this is to be found the original deadly root, out 
 of which grew up, in the course of centuries, with 
 
THE DOCTRINE OP SATISFACTION. 437 
 
 its many branches, the doctrine of satisfaction for 
 sin. 
 
 A careful examination of the early Christian litera- 
 ture shows that the very first, faint mooting of this 
 notion, though the peculiar term was not used in this 
 sense for centuries afterwards, was occasioned by a 
 misapprehension of the Scriptural figure of a ransom 
 for sin. Imagining this to be not a similitude, but 
 a literal fact, believing that an actual ransom had 
 been paid for the deliverance of men, the question 
 arose to whom was the ransom paid. The first 
 answer given to this question was most natural and 
 perfectly unassailable, if the previous thought had 
 been just. The ransom must have been paid to the 
 Being by whom the captives were held in bondage, 
 and out of whose hands they were to be delivered — 
 it must have been paid to Satan, the tempter and 
 vanquisher of the world. The writer who first 
 distinctly put forth this idea is Irenasus, the disciple 
 of Polycarp. One passage only, out of many which 
 might be quoted, we shall here introduce, and chiefly 
 for the reason that its meaning has been conceived 
 to be altogether opposed to the notion of a ransom to 
 Satan : " And since the apostate unjustly lorded it 
 over us, and while we belonged of right to Almighty 
 God, alienated us from Him, contrary to nature, 
 making us his own peculiar disciples, the Logos of 
 God, all-powerful and not failing in his proper 
 
438 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 justice, dealt righteously even with the apostacy 
 itself, redeeming that which was his own from it, 
 not by force, as he (Satan) had done in the begin- 
 ning, but by persuasion, as became a God who per- 
 suades and does not employ force to gain what He 
 wishes, so that neither what is just might be violated, 
 nor the primitive plan of God be destroyed." i 
 
 From this passage Dr Shedd 2 shows clearly that 
 the persuasive influence referred to is employed with 
 man, to determine him to cast off the yoke of Satan. 
 Undoubtedly it is so. Ireneeus argues that God did 
 not by force tear the captives from the usurp- 
 ing tyrant, but acted so as that men of their own 
 accord should renounce his service. It was by force, 
 by force of craft and falsehood, that Satan had en- 
 slaved the world. But not thus was spiritual deliver- 
 ance to be achieved. As men of their own free will 
 had surrendered themselves to the usurper, even so 
 
 ^ Lib. v., c. i. 1. "Et quoniam in juste dominabatur nobis, 
 apostasia et cum natura essemus Dei omnipotentis, alienavit nos 
 contra naturam, suos proprios, nos faciens discipulos, potens in 
 omnibus, Dei verbum et nou deficiens in sua justitia, juste etiam 
 adversus ipsam conversus est apostasiam, ea quae sunt sua, redimens 
 ab eo, non cum vi, quemadmodum ille initio, sed secundum suade- 
 1am, quemadmodum decebat Deum suadentem et non vim inferen- 
 tem, accipere quae vellet, ut neque, quod est justum confriugsre- 
 tur neque antiqua plasmatio Dei deperiret." 
 
 For further and fuller illustrations of the views of Irenseus, 
 the following passages may be consulted: lib. iii., cc. 18, 19, 23; 
 lib. v., cc. 2, 14, 16, 21, &c., &c. 
 
 2 Shedd, vol. ii., p. 213. 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 439 
 
 their deliverance from his bondage must be not 
 compulsory, but voluntary, an act of their own will. 
 But all the while, it is as true as ever, and as patent 
 as it well can be, that the entire discussion conducted 
 by Irenasus relates wholly and solely to the satis- 
 faction of the claims of Satan on man. Not a word 
 is uttered of meeting the demands of Divine justice, 
 as if that had been defrauded. Whatever idea of 
 reparation, or amends, or compensation is expressed 
 by this ancient father, it is to Satan, not to God, that 
 the amends are made. 
 
 It is not doubted that the reigning idea in the 
 writings of Origen, in relation to this subject, is that 
 of a ransom paid to the Evil One for the redemption 
 of men. But Origen ventures far beyond this point, 
 beyond the notion of a compact or bargain between 
 Satan and God, by which the claims of Satan were 
 to be met, and shows indisputably that anything like 
 satisfaction to God's justice had no place in his mind. 
 He distinctly believed in the claims of Satan, who 
 held men in bondage, and that a ransom must of 
 necessity, and as a matter of common equity, be paid 
 to him. But, in the contract which was imagined 
 to have been entered into, he conceived that the 
 tempter was overreached by infinite wisdom, was the 
 victim of a subtle deception, and was befooled by 
 the very terms to which he had consented. According 
 to Divine arrangement, a man was given into his 
 
440 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OP 
 
 hands, on whom he was free to exhaust all his 
 temptations, and to exert his utmost power and 
 craft. The agreement was, that if this Being failed, 
 men were for ever to remain in bondage, but if he 
 were unconquered, men were to be forthwith released. 
 The devil in his pride and rage conceived the idea, 
 that if this substitute could be disowned, rejected by 
 those whom he came to rescue, and could be ignomi- 
 niously cast out of the world, his success would then 
 be certain. But success proved signal defeat. Jesus 
 died, but by his death the world was redeemed. 
 
 It is important here, because bearing essentially 
 on the development of doctrine, to note the character- 
 istics and the general condition of visible Christianity 
 about the time of Origen. At the introduction of 
 the Mosaic economy, it seemed good to Divine 
 wisdom, to commit a special revelation of truth to 
 one inconsiderable nation, to separate that nation 
 from all others on the face of the earth, to distinguish 
 it by innumerable peculiar institutions and privileges, 
 and to educate it for a sacred destiny in relation to 
 the rest of mankind. Christianity, on the other 
 hand, was never national, and was never meant to be 
 so, but was from the first strictly universal, and was 
 thrown utterly defenceless upon the wide world. It 
 was surrendered to all nations, and all times ; to men 
 of all characters, and all conditions, without a single 
 protection, or guard, or special help from any quarter. 
 
THE DOCTEINE OF SATISFACTION. 441 
 
 except within itself. It was left perfectly alone, to 
 all the possible hazards of an evil world, and it had 
 to suffer, in common with everything here below, 
 from the weaknesses, and the errors, the depraved 
 tastes, and the bad passions, the enmities and the 
 crimes of men. A Divine Providence was over it, 
 and a Divine Spirit was within it, but it had to 
 take its full share, without stint, of scathe and loss, 
 in the great conflict with darkness, and with the powers 
 of evil, on this earth. "What it was in the mind of 
 God, in the soul of Christ, and in the words of 
 the inspired Book, was one thing; what it became 
 in the opinions of men, and in the outward forms 
 in which they represented it, was altogether a 
 dififerent thing. Itself divine, it was hindered and 
 damaged in ten thousand ways, through human folly, 
 human error, and human sin; now robbed of some 
 distinctive glory, and again dishonoured and cor- 
 rupted by spurious additions. The testimony of the 
 best ecclesiastical historians is to this effect uniformly 
 and decisively, that by the end of the third century, 
 the simple, spiritual religion of the cross had become, 
 and afterwards more and more became, a huge super- 
 stition, purposely and not distantly assimilated to the 
 old idolatries of Greece and Kome. The principle of 
 assimilation, with a view to overcome the hostility of 
 the heathen, was openly avowed and acted upon. 
 Festival days, reverence of images and of holy relics, 
 
44:2 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OP 
 
 processions and lustrations, burning of incense, gor- 
 geous robes and vestures, fastings, scourgings, macera- 
 tion, and asceticism in its extreme forms, celibacy, 
 monastic life, retirement to desert solitudes, venera- 
 tion of holy places, and above all, of the holy places 
 in and around Jerusalem, pilgrimages to the tombs 
 of the martyrs — these, belong to the authentic history 
 of the third and fourth and later centuries, and they 
 involve and incriminate the most honoured names 
 that have come down to us. St Jerome, and 
 Ambrose, and Martin of Tours, and not least of all, 
 Augustin, were the open and ardent defenders of the 
 superstitions of their times. 
 
 The high honour in which martyrdom was held 
 seems to have been among the earliest and the most 
 powerful of the causes of degeneracy. To cherish 
 the memory of those who had been faithful unto 
 death, was not only natural, it was simply right and 
 just, and it might have been, under wise guidance, 
 productive of nothing but good. But it proved a 
 snare and a sin. Martyrdom became an object of 
 desire, because of the posthumous glory which it 
 secured. Multitudes were smitten with the strange 
 ambiiion to die the martyr's death, in order that they 
 might gain tke martyr s crown. In the mercenary 
 and debasing arithmetic of the Church, the martyr 
 was reckoned to have yielded a peculiar satisfaction 
 to the mind of God, over and above what was strictly 
 
THE DOCTEINE OF SATISFACTION. 443 
 
 due, and to have done a work of pious supererogation. 
 The word " satisfaction" in the sense of atoning for 
 sin was never once used, till Anselm many centuries 
 later adopted it ; but the satisfactions of the saints, 
 their good deeds beyond the strict requirements of 
 law, are named so early as the time of Tertullian, and 
 ere long became an accepted phraseology. They 
 formed, withal, the first contributions to that ima- 
 ginary treasury of human merit, over which the 
 Koman Church claims to preside, and on which she 
 based her flagitious system of indulgences. 
 
 It is a new illustration and confirmation of what 
 we are seeking to show was the original source of 
 error— the misinterpretation of figurative language. 
 First of all, the phrase, a ransom for sin, was ima- 
 gined to be not a metaphor but a reality, and the 
 idea of satisfaction to the claims of Satan was the 
 result. Then again, the misleading figure was that 
 of sins, as debts due to God. And they are so, and 
 may justly be so called in several quite obvious re- 
 spects. It is a fact that we owe obedience to God, 
 and failing to obey Him, we may be said to be charge- 
 able with an unpaid debt. The language is perfectly 
 intelligible and simple. But it is figure, not fact ; it 
 is a legitimate similitude, but no more ; and the reality 
 to which it points is immeasurably higher and more 
 sacred than the mere similitude suggests. We have 
 resisted God, and conscience, and reason, and have 
 
444 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 set our will against God's will. We have wronged 
 God, wronged ourselves, and wronged the whole uni- 
 verse of moral being, in the commission of even a 
 single sin. That is the reality, that is the fact, and 
 no figure, and we descend incalculably when from 
 this we pass to the similitude of a debtor and creditor 
 account between God and His creatures, with works 
 of supererogation on the one side, and penances and 
 inflictions or atonements of any kind on the other 
 side. 
 
 Be this as it may, it is evident that from an early 
 period the general idea of yielding satisfaction to the 
 mind of God, though not in the sense of appeasing 
 His anger, but in the sense of awakening His com- 
 placency, was familiar to Christian thought. Besides 
 this, even the special idea of satisfaction to justice, 
 though not to Divine justice, but only justice in re- 
 spect of the claims of Satan, had been freely expressed 
 and accepted. All the while, in these early centuries, 
 not one Christian writer is found to advocate satisfac- 
 tion to Divine justice on account of human sin, as if 
 God's justice had been defrauded and dishonoured, and 
 as if it needed and must receive adequate reparation. 
 This dogma waited, for at least three hundred years 
 after the death of Christ, before it was distinctly and 
 unmistakably announced to the world. Athanasius, 
 one of the most imperious, daring, and subtle con- 
 troversialists of any age, was the very first who 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 445 
 
 expressed the idea with perfect clearness ; and he not 
 only expresses it distinctly, but contends for it, though 
 briefly and cursorily, on the very grounds which were 
 afterwards taken with such exhaustive fulness, and 
 with dire effect, by Anselm. One short sentence will 
 be sufficient to confirm this statement : " The first 
 and principal ground of the Logos becoming man 
 was, that the condemnation of the law, by which we 
 are burdened v/ith guilt and eternal punishment, 
 might be removed by the payment of the penalty." ^ 
 This sentence, it is enough to note, does not stand 
 alone, but is one of many scattered passages, all more 
 or less clear and decisive. 
 
 Passing on to the age of Augustin, we find es- 
 pecially in his confessions, and in the touching 
 utterances of his religious experience, what plainly 
 involves the idea, though the distinctive term is not 
 employed, of a satisfaction to Divine justice on account 
 of human sin. But this is very far from being per- 
 sistently upheld, and is associated closely with the 
 notion of satisfaction to the claims of Satan. Dr 
 Shedd admits, " that [by Augustin] the claims of 
 Satan are sometimes recognised in connexion with 
 those of [Divine] justice." 2 And in reference to the 
 earlier Patristic theology as a whole, he confesses 
 freely that, " One characteristic which strikes the at- 
 
 ^ De Incar., c. 11-14, so quoted and translated by Shedd, ii. 243. 
 2 Shedd, vol. ii., pp. 253-4. 
 
44G ORIGIN AND GROWTH, ETC. 
 
 tention is the important part which the doctrine of 
 Satan plays in it." l Again, he states with great 
 force, basing the statement on what he deems strong 
 and sound reason : " In the writings of the first three 
 centuries, disproportionate attention is bestowed upon 
 the connexion between redemption and the kingdom 
 of darkness, and upon the relation of apostate man to 
 Satan. The attribute of Divine justice ought to have 
 been brought more conspicuously into view by the 
 theologians of this period, and the person and agency 
 of the devil have retired more into the background." 2 
 Dr Shedd is perfectly entitled to think so, but it is a 
 matter of fact that these early fathers did not. Un- 
 questionably, their views were not those of their critic, 
 but something widely, even essentially difi'erent. And 
 from the time of Augustin to the middle of the 
 eleventh century, the two aspects of satisfaction, as 
 referring to the claims of God or to the claims of 
 Satan — now the one, and now the other, and again 
 both — are set forth by difi'erent writers of various 
 authority. But at this period, through the infiuence 
 of the writings of Anselm, a change of the most es- 
 sential nature was effected, creating a totally new era 
 in the development of Christian doctrine. 
 
 1 Shedd, vol. ii., p. 215. * Ibid., p. 215. 
 
SECTION SECOND — FROM THE AGE OF ANSELM TO THE 
 PRESENT TIME. 
 
 Athanasius and Anselm — Second, Deeper Source of Error — Pride 
 of Eeason — Intellectual Subtlety — False Philosophy — Misap- 
 plication of Logic — Anselm's Tractate, Logical, not Philoso- 
 phical — Conclusion False — Thomas Aquinas — Luther — Secret 
 of his Power — Success of Evangelical Churches — Calvin, Theo- 
 logian of Reformation— Evangelical Transcendentalism — Es- 
 sential Relation of Divine to Human — God, Father of Souls 
 — Loving, Redeeming Father. 
 
 WE have judged that Athanasius was the first to 
 put forth clearly, and to argue, though in 
 brief and occasional passages, the dogma of satisfac- 
 tion for sin. There lies in this fact a deeper signifi- 
 cance than is at first apparent. No one acquainted 
 with the history of the age in which this extraordi- 
 nary man lived, and with the part he took in the 
 discussion of those dark questions which were then 
 agitated, can doubt that whatever else he was, as a 
 resolute and expert dialectician he had no superior, 
 scarcely an equal. No problem was so profound, no 
 dogma was so transcendental, as to deter him from 
 
448 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OP 
 
 the attempt to subject it to his intellect, and to the 
 laws of ratiocination. A penetrating, dauntless, fiery 
 soul, he quailed not even before the awful mystery of 
 the uncreated essence, the Trinity, the eternal gene- 
 ration of the Logos, and the procession of the Holy 
 Ghost. He was one who would understand, explain, 
 define everything, and master it by force of intellect, 
 and submit it to the laws and the terms of logic. 
 
 In connexion with this fact, let it be here borne in 
 mind, as was noted in the previous section, how often 
 Dr Shedd laments, in the first three centuries, " the 
 slow unfolding of the great, cardinal doctrine (as he 
 judges) of Christianity," i and that in the writings of 
 the period there is "no scientific construction of the 
 doctrine of atonement," 2 that the fathers " attempted 
 no rationale of the dogma," ^ and did not present 
 " the judicial reasons and grounds of the death of 
 the most exalted of personages." ^ He speaks also of 
 the great necessity of " the Church obtaining a dis- 
 tinct and philosophic conception of this great attri- 
 bute,"^ (justice,) so as to " exhibit the rational and 
 necessary grounds "4 for the Kedeemer's death. Such 
 phrases as "a true, scientific development of this 
 doctrine," 4 « a correct, logical construction of the 
 great doctrine," 5 " a scientific understanding of it," 6 
 putting it "in the exact and guarded statements of a 
 
 1 Shedd, vol. ii., p. 204. ^ jj^i^ ^ p, 207. ^ jud^^ p, 211. 
 * Ibid., p. 216. 5 Ibid., p. 245. ^ j^^^^ p^ 244. 
 
THE DOCTEINE OF SATISFACTION. 449 
 
 scientific formula,"! are not rare, and give a charac- 
 ter to his discussion of the subject which it is scarcely 
 possible to misinterpret. 
 
 Deliberately, we mean to maintain that that later 
 application of the forms and the laws of Aristotle to 
 the actings and the words of God, which Dr Shedd 
 so much desiderates, and the want of w^hich in the 
 earlier centuries he bewails so deeply, was one of the 
 worst evils which ever afflicted Christianity, and has 
 entailed an incalculable amount of injury. The 
 primary cause of error was the misinterpretation of 
 inetaphorical language, converting similitude into 
 reality, and figure into fact. But a second, and far 
 deeper and more potent cause, was the transference 
 of Divine thoughts and Divine procedure from their 
 own free and wide S|)here, and their manifold rela- 
 tions, to the modes and terms of human logic. It 
 is a most significant fact that Athanasius, an accom- 
 plished and adventurous dialectician, should have 
 been the first to put forward the dogma of satisfac- 
 tion in unambiguous words, and to place it on its 
 imagined impregnable ground. It is more signifi- 
 cant and suggestive still that this dogma, after 700 
 years from the time of Athanasius, should liave found 
 its greatest champion, and by far its ablest expositor, 
 in Anselm, the vigorous, and, to some extent, the 
 successful antagonist of Abelard and Eoscelin, one 
 
 1 Shedd, vol. ii., i\ 265. 
 
 2f 
 
450 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OP 
 
 among tlie most distinguislied leaders of tlie scholas- 
 tic philosophy, in an age when it was reaching its 
 highest vigour, and beginning to claim its widest 
 authority, when Aristotle was rising to supremacy, 
 and the magic w^ords "magister ait" were sufficient 
 to silence any disputant. 
 
 Anselm is the veritable father and founder of that 
 theology w^hich is adopted, with little modification, 
 by the Protestant Evangelical Churches of Chris- 
 tendom.i His " Cur Deus Homo" is the mine from 
 which many later controversialists have dug out 
 their best materials ; and it contains, in substance 
 and even in form, all the strongest arguments by 
 which the dogma of satisfaction is defended at this 
 day. The claims of Satan are here entirely set 
 aside ; Anselm argues solely for the absolute neces- 
 sity of a complete satisfaction to the justice of God, 
 and for the first time affixes this sense to the 
 favourite term of artificial theology, " satisfaction.'' 
 In the briefest possible compass, his argument is 
 this: — Sin is a debt, and must be paid. God has 
 been robbed of His due, and as the Infinitely Just 
 One, He cannot sufier the robbery to be unpunished. 
 A less cannot be accepted for a greater satisfaction. 
 Sin is infinite demerit, and demands an infinite 
 punishment. Only God can satisfy the claims of 
 God ; but also, only man can satisfy for the sin of 
 
 1 Anselmi Opera Omnia, Migne, 1853, pp. 361-451. 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 451 
 
 man. Hence the God-man, and the infinite merit of 
 the sacrifice of the cross ! 
 
 Anselm's tractate is a finished specimen of the 
 best scholastic productions of the period. With 
 something of their tediousness and pettiness, it is 
 nevertheless full and thorough and exhaustive, and 
 as a piece of logical argumentation, it is invulner- 
 able, if the premises be admitted. But the premises 
 are false ; on the basis of the principles which have 
 been advocated in the earlier portions of this volume, 
 we maintain that they are thoroughly false. The 
 simple fact is, that sin always exacts its own punish- 
 ment, and always continues, so long as it remains in 
 the soul, to exact its own punishment. And in this 
 fact, the justice which ordains always secures its own 
 satisfaction. But when sin has been punished, and 
 when justice has been satisfied, it seems to have 
 been forgotten by the great logician, or regarded as a 
 fact of no importance, that there remains something 
 still untouched, and it is the only thing which re- 
 mains, the state of the sinning mind, a state of 
 disregard and resistance to God, a feeling of indif- 
 ference and of aversion. No punishment, no satis- 
 faction, however stern, can reach this, or make the 
 slightest amends for it. This is a true debt, which 
 can never be paid, except by the mind itself being 
 changed. The wrong done to our nature, and the 
 wrong done to the justice of the universe, may be 
 
4:52 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 met, and are always met, by adequate punishment ; 
 but the cruel wrong done to God by the state of our 
 minds, their alienation and their enmity, cannot be 
 atoned for while it remains, and it cannot even be 
 touched, except by one instrument. The only thing 
 possible even for God to do, is to kill enmity by 
 love; to forgive, and to destroy by forgiving, that 
 which is not less cruel to Him than ruinous to us. 
 In this relation the teaching of the Holy Saviour is 
 full of power as of truth. He bids us go to God 
 and say to Him, " Forgive us our debts, as we for- 
 give our debtors." Do we forgive our debtors only 
 when the debts are paid, and because they are paid, 
 and if we did so, could forgiveness have any true 
 meaning ? 
 
 Dr Shedd's admiration of Anselm's work is almost 
 without limit. It is a " remarkable composition, 
 which exhibits a depth, breadth, and vigour of 
 thinking that is not surpassed by any production of 
 the same extent in theological literature, and de- 
 serves to be studied and pondered by every Protes- 
 tant divine. For it is obvious to remark that such 
 a view of the atonement as is here exhibited is 
 thoroughly biblical and thoroughly Protestant."! 
 "His (Anselm's) view of the work of Christ agrees 
 substantially with that of the Keformation."2 "If 
 his (Anselm's) views and experience, as exhibited in 
 
 1 Shedd, vol. ii., p. 282. » Ibid., p. 274. 
 
J 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 453 
 
 the ' Cur Deus Homo/ could have become those 
 of the Church, of which he was a member and an 
 ornament, the revival of the doctrine of justification 
 by faith in the Lutheran Keformation would not have 
 been needed/' i And the foundation of Dr Shedd'o 
 excessive estimate of Anselm's work is revealed very 
 unambiguously by himself. " So far as the theory 
 of vicarious satisfaction is concerned, this little trea- 
 tise contains the substance of the reformed doctrine, 
 while, at the same time, it enunciates those philoso- 
 phical principles which must enter into every scien- 
 tific construction of this cardinal truth of Christian- 
 ity." 2 Again, "Anselm begins and ends with the 
 idea of an absolute necessity of an atonement, in 
 order to the redemption of man. Everything is 
 referred to a metaphysical or necessary ground, and 
 hence we have in this theory the first metapliysique 
 of the Christian doctrine of atonement." ^ And 
 again, " Anselm is the first instance in which the 
 theologian plants himself upon the position of philo- 
 sophy, and challenges, for the doctrine of vicarious 
 satisfaction, both a rational necessity and a scientific 
 rationality. The fundamental position of the ' Cur 
 Deus Homo' is, that the atonement of the Son of God 
 is absolutely or metaphysically necessary, in order to 
 the remission of sin. Anselm concedes, by implica- 
 tion, throughout his work, that if it cannot be made 
 
 1 Shedd, vol. ii., p. 285. ^ m^,^ p. 283. ' Ibid, pp. 274, 275. 
 
454 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 out that the vicarious satisfaction of Divine justice, 
 by the theanthropic sufferings of Jesus Christ, is 
 required by a necessary and immanent attribute of 
 the Divine nature, then a scientific character cannot 
 be vindicated for the doctrine ; for nothing that is 
 not metaphysically necessary is scientific." i 
 
 These high sounding and not measured phrases, 
 applied to the most sacred subject of thought, are 
 very painful and grating. " Enunciation of philo- 
 sophical principles," " scientific construction of a 
 revealed truth," " metaphysical ground," " the first 
 metaphysique of the Christian doctrine," " the theo- 
 logian planting himself on the position of philoso- 
 phy." Where are we, amidst this bewilderment of 
 sounds, very strange to the anxious student of a life 
 and death question of the New Testament ; and all 
 this has reference to a date a thousand years later 
 than the death of Christ. Anselm was a man of 
 vigorous and cultivated intellect, and of undoubted 
 piety ; but if his discovery and demonstration were 
 not only true, but the essential and saving truth of 
 Christianity, how came they to be delayed for an 
 entire millennium? One is prompted to ask, are 
 we dealing with an early, divine message, commu- 
 nicated for the salvation of the world 1800 years 
 ago, or not rather v/ith a late, human invention? 
 Is it a revelation from God which is before us, a 
 
 1 Shedd, vol. ii., p. 275. 
 
THE DOCTRINE OP SATISFACTION". 455 
 
 revelation to men, intended to be understood by 
 men, by common men, by all sorts of men, by men 
 everywhere, and in every age ? Or is it not much 
 rather an intricate problem which can be solved, 
 a dark, intellectual, enigmatic, sibylline utterance, 
 which can be understood and appreciated, at all 
 events, can be interpreted only by a profound philo- 
 soj)her, or an expert logician ? 
 
 No enlightened Christian would willingly believe 
 that either philosophy or logic was distinctly at war 
 with any doctrine of revelation. Happily, the ten- 
 dency, and even the effect of modern discussion, how- 
 ever mischievous and lawless in some directions, have 
 been to establish a deep harmony between the moral 
 constitution of man, the intuitions, and principles, 
 and powers of his higher nature, and the messages 
 and the teachings of the New Testament. And it 
 needs no prophetic eye to foresee that the more sim- 
 ply and reverently that holy record is studied, and 
 the more it is set free from a vicious metaphysics 
 and an unsound logic, the more surely it will be 
 found to meet the deepest wants, to harmonise with 
 the essential nature, and to awaken the living re- 
 sponse of the human spirit, and the more serenely and 
 resistlessly it will vindicate for itself a Divine origin, 
 as a true message from the great Father of all souls. 
 A false philosophy, long dominant, but now rejected 
 by all the best endowed minds of Europe, has given 
 
456 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 birth to most of the errors of dogmatic theology. 
 Perhaps philosophy, rightly conceived and aided by 
 a sound logic, shall yet be the instrument for correct- 
 ing these errors, and for guiding honest souls to 
 accept the teachings and the facts of the New 
 Testament, simply as they are, without any attempt 
 to build them up into a system, cemented with 
 untempered mortar, and resting on a foundation of 
 sand. 
 
 Philosophy, in its own place, is only noble, elevat- 
 ing, and sanctifying. To descend beneath phenomena 
 to the intelligible principles of which they are the 
 outward form, and by which alone they can be truly 
 understood ; to look with wide, open eye on the vast 
 kingdom of fact and of thought ; to investigate, with 
 patient toil, the relation between these two ; to search, 
 amidst seeming disorder, for an essential harmony of 
 things ; to trace up multiplicity and diversity to an 
 all-embracing unity, and with the profound con- 
 viction, all the while, of the necessary limitation of 
 our faculties, and the entire assurance that, at the 
 best, it is only an approximation, a distant and 
 partial approximation to truth, which is possible for 
 us, nevertheless ; to labour to interpret, up to our 
 measure, the great universe of God — this is among 
 the grandest and the holiest aims of human wisdom. 
 In the widest sense, theology belongs, of right, to 
 such a philosophy, and constitutes its highest and 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 457 
 
 most sacred department. Nothing can be plainer in 
 the history of the ages than that philosophy and 
 theology have acted and reacted most powerfully the 
 one on the other. And if a false philosophy in the 
 past has proved baneful in the sacred region, it 
 may be, that from this very region, good shall be 
 returned for the evil, and the secret of a philosophy 
 _^uch as the noblest human sage never dreamed of, 
 shall be found to lie in the inspirations of a simpler 
 and diviner theology. 
 
 Logic, as revealing the laws according to which 
 the processes of thought can alone be accurately 
 conducted, is invaluable for its own proper purpose, 
 but it cannot be too often repeated, that that pur- 
 pose is never the discovery of new truth. Logic can 
 discover nothing, can never rise higher than its 
 source, or lift us up from the known to the yet 
 unknown. It can only interpret, vindicate, and 
 support what by other means has been already dis- 
 covered. It starts from premises which it takes for 
 granted at the outset, and it can bring nothing forth 
 of them which is not already contained in them, and 
 would only stultify itself by an attempt of the kind. 
 It can eliminate, interpret, and defend what is 
 involved in the premises, but nothing more. It 
 would be hard to discover philosophy, in any worthy 
 sense, in the '' Cur Deus Homo." Such views of 
 the intelligent universe, as are presented in it, suggest 
 
^5S OKIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 notliing so much as a court-liouse and a criminal 
 trial, and such views of God, as it contains, would 
 transform the great Father of souls into a stern and 
 punctilious judge, in whom mercy has no place, and 
 whose chief glory is the rigour of His sentences, and 
 the relentless exactitude with which they are executed. 
 The work is pre-eminently logical, but not philo- 
 sophical, and the logic is faultless, except in that 
 which is most of all essential, its foundation. The 
 argument is logically accurate, and the conclusion 
 is fairly deduced, but the premises being false, the 
 whole process is vitiated, and the conclusion is an 
 aggravated untruth. 
 
 We return to the position that the second and the 
 deeper originating cause of the dogma of satisfac- 
 tion was the application of a false philosophy, and 
 an unsound logic to revealed truth, and to the inter- 
 pretation of the New Testament. Men could not or 
 would not content themselves with the simple words 
 of Scripture. They must justify these words, must 
 discover not their plain meaning, but their unex- 
 pressed secret ground in the mind of God, must 
 arrange them in logical order and put them into the 
 idolised form of the syllogism. The New Testament 
 naturally and ingenuously interpreted was abundantly 
 plain. It proclaimed that God loved the world, the 
 sinful w^orld, was not willing that His children 
 should perish in their separation from Him, but was 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 459 
 
 infinitely ready to receive them, and wanted nothing 
 at their hands, but that they should believe His 
 love, and yield back their hearts to Him. The New 
 Testament proclaimed that, in order to convince men 
 of His holy mercy, God had come near to them, as 
 no^-r as it was possible for Him to come, and had in- 
 x babited, possessed, and pervaded a human soul in a 
 human body, and made it his home, in a sense which 
 it is impossible for us to fathom, but of which even 
 our poor conceptions are overwhelming. The New 
 Testament proclaimed that this God-man, Jesus Christ 
 our Lord, came forth as the chosen medium,^ through 
 which men might be reconciled to God, and was pre- 
 pared for any amount of sacrifice, involved in a direct 
 connexion of the human with the divine, and as it 
 proved a direct collision between the human and the 
 divine. Purposely concealed, he was not only un- 
 known, but cruelly rejected and despised, and at last 
 in his meek wisdom, his Divine purity, his tenderness 
 and spiritual beauty and grace, he could not be en- 
 dured, and was ignominiously slain and cast forth. 
 " Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the 
 sins of the world ! " not by gaining for men a judicial, 
 nominal acquittal from sins, all whose inherent penal 
 force necessarily remained, but by eradicating the 
 evil principle itself out of their hearts, killing it at its 
 root and casting it forth. 
 
 ^ See note on page 27. 
 
460 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 But this was not enough for the great contro- 
 versialist of the fourth century, and for the chief 
 master of logic in the scholastic age. That tendency 
 to philosophise or rather to syllogise on sacred 
 mysteries, which from the time of Athanasius had 
 struggled to embody and enthrone itself in the 
 Church, at last found its anointed high priest and its 
 final and exhaustive exponent in Anselm. The pride 
 of reason and the passion for logical subtlety had 
 long striven, and at last succeeded in erecting them- 
 selves as supreme in the sphere of religious, as of 
 speculative and scientific, truth. God's Word appealed, 
 and always does appeal, to the understanding, it is 
 true ; but men failed to perceive that through the 
 understanding it addressed immediately and chiefly 
 the moral nature, the consciousness of evil, the sense 
 of need, and the great fountain of spiritual emotion 
 in the heart, which is stirred to its depths, by nothing 
 so much as the conviction of ingratitude, coupled 
 with the thought of Divine patience, and of un- 
 prompted, undeserved, unrequited, and abused Divine 
 graciousness. Instead of feeling with their hearts, 
 and taking in to the deepest depths of their moral 
 being, that truth which their intellect had at once 
 perceived, men must explain and reason out what 
 God had not explained, what indeed needed no ex- 
 planation, 'and found its perfect solution in the in- 
 stant experience of the soul itself. Unsatisfied with 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 461 
 
 clear Divine announceinents, so clear that he that 
 runs may read and understand them, men must 
 interpret them by a human standard, must find out 
 the hidden principles on which they rest, which God 
 hasj not revealed, and must prove them to be con- 
 sistent, honourable, righteous, and altogether worthy, 
 as they judge of the Great Being. These system- 
 builders, who valued nothing which could not be put 
 into the mould of a syllogism, and was not constructed 
 according to the laws of Aristotle, must syllogise on 
 the Divine Kedemption. And they did, to the admira- 
 tion of the schools, but with the direst effect on 
 Christianity. Too speedily they reduced the Divine 
 to the human, and narrowed, and dwarfed, and 
 crippled God's simple, glorious, unencumbered 
 plan, till that which was high as heaven and 
 broad as eternity, shrank to the measure of a man, 
 and to the paltry proportions of a sum in common 
 arithmetic. 
 
 The theory of salvation, boldly sketched with in- 
 genious subtlety by Anselm, admitted of being ex- 
 tensively worked out in many minor details, and its 
 capability in this respect was very early tested and 
 exhibited. Thomas Aquinas, himself a master in 
 logic, a profound theologian, and a man of extraor- 
 dinary piety, analysed much further than Anselm 
 had done, and subdivided the great work of the Ee- 
 deemer, and adjusted its separate parts to the sepa- 
 
462 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 rate necessities of man. By him, for the first time, 
 that distinction, now so famiHar to theologians, was 
 drawn between the active and passive obedience of 
 Christ. The sufferings of the Saviour, his passive 
 obedience, Aquinas laid down, were the payment to 
 Justice of the debt of sin, whereby men were righte- 
 ously set free from all its penal consequences. His 
 personal virtues on the other hand, his conformity in 
 his soul and in his life to the perfect will of God, 
 constituted his active obedience, and formed a fund 
 of supererogatory merit, on the ground of which men 
 could be accepted as perfectly righteous, and ac- 
 quired a just title to heaven. That is to say, in 
 addition to the imputation of human sin to Christ, 
 which was embodied in the theory of Anselm, a 
 totally new dogma was now inculcated for the first 
 time, that of the imputation of Christ's personal 
 righteousness to sinful men. 
 
 It would be tedious and of little practical value 
 to detail the innumerable questions and discussions 
 that arose out of the dogma of satisfaction to Divine 
 justice. Suffice it to say, that from its first exposi- 
 tion by Anselm, it was accepted very widely, all but 
 universally, as a fundamental truth. But with its 
 acceptance, the logical passion and the propensity to 
 systematise were by no means quieted. On the con- 
 trary, both found abundant scope, even within the 
 limits of this single article of faith ; — whether the 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 463 
 
 satisfaction of Christ was in itself absolutely or only 
 relatively necessary ; whether this was the only method 
 by which God's purpose of redemption could have 
 -vbee^ achieved, or whether out of many possible 
 methods this was simply that, which in His sove- 
 reign wisdom, God selected; whether the satisfac- 
 tion to Divine justice was rendered on behalf of all 
 mankind, or only on behalf of the elect ; whether 
 the sufferings and death of Christ were a perfect, 
 literal carrying out of the sentence of the Divine 
 law, or not rather a merciful relaxation of its seve- 
 rity ; whether they were an exact equivalent for the 
 eternal punishment of transgressors, or were merci- 
 fully accepted by God as an equivalent, though not 
 really such ; so also, whether on the ground of the 
 satisfaction rendered by Christ men are justified be- 
 fore God through faith alone, or through an incipient 
 holiness, the work of God's Spirit, or partly through 
 both ? These are among the questions which gave 
 rise to endless divisions among Koman Catholics and 
 Protestants alike, and on which much subtlety, much 
 vehemence, and no little erudition and genuine piety 
 were expended to no good purpose, and with no bene- 
 ficial result. 
 
 Luther's crowning peculiarity of belief — the, to 
 him, " articulus stantis vel cadentis ecclesiae" — was the 
 doctrine of justification by faith alone. And in order 
 to appreciate this peculiarity, to understand truly 
 
464 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OP 
 
 what he meant hy it, and how he had been led 
 up to it, the previous circumstances must be very 
 distinctly brought to mind. The abuses connected 
 with the Popish dogma of indulgences, it is well 
 known — the money-price by which they could be 
 obtained, to any amount, by any person, be his 
 character what it might — the public sale of them, 
 and the plea used at the confessional, that penances 
 enjoined by the priest were cancelled by purchased 
 indulgences ; — these were the proximate causes 
 which acted on Luther's mind, and eventually led 
 to the Protestant Keformation. He saw clearly 
 that it was idle to allege that indulgences were no 
 licence to sin, and did not release, and were not 
 meant to release, men from the real penal conse- 
 quences of sin, either here or hereafter, and that 
 they only absolved from the claims of the Church, 
 and from ecclesiastical penalties and censures. He 
 saw clearly that, in effect, and as a matter of fact, 
 practically and really, in the lives of the great mass 
 of the people, indulgences amounted to a full per- 
 mission to sin, and were universally so considered. 
 Luther had no quarrel at this time with the doctrine 
 of satisfactions, human, minor satisfactions, for sins 
 confessed, satisfactions enjoined by the Church, as 
 befitting tokens and means of penitence. On the 
 contrary, in his mind, this was in harmony with 
 the higher and far more important doctrine main- 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 465 
 
 tained by Anselm and Aquinas, and long universally 
 accepted, of one sole' satisfaction to Divine justice, 
 for human guilt rendered by Christ on the cross. 
 To this last idea, especially, from his childhood 
 he had been thoroughly trained, and never aban- 
 doned it as an essential article of Christian faith. 
 All his accustomed thoughts, and all his habits 
 and modes of judging, had grown up along with 
 it, and would have been wrenched and shocked by 
 its rejection. In connexion with this, it must be 
 remembered that, as an Augustinian monk, he had 
 accepted the doctrine of salvation by free grace, — 
 nor only so, but after a long and painful course of 
 inward conflict, of distressing soul-experience, this 
 article of belief had become to him a life within. 
 He, for himself, when all else failed, had found the 
 peace of God in this refuge. When, therefore, the 
 question was asked, satisfaction to God ? by whom ? 
 Luther's answer was instant and profound, " by 
 Christ, by Christ alone." Or, when the farther 
 question was put, " How does Christ's satisfaction 
 become available to us?" the reply was not less 
 assured and prompt, " by faith, by faith alone, with- 
 out works of any kind, in any sense — by grace, by 
 the free grace of God, not by merit, unless the hand 
 of the beggar can claim merit, which simply accepts 
 an alms." 
 
 The free love of God in Christ was the vital, 
 
 2g 
 
4:66 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 glowing centre of Luther's faith, and the hidden 
 source of success, all through his course, as, always 
 and everywhere, it has been the source of strength 
 and triumph wherever it has been proclaimed. 
 This is the very primitive New Testament of God, 
 its deepest spirit, and its highest meaning. There 
 is power in this. Divine power — power which finds 
 its way to the human heart. This, and not the 
 weak logic or the false reasonings of the Keformers, 
 but this simple. Divine gospel was welcomed by 
 Europe, touched its population to the core, drew 
 them, in a way they knew not and could not resist, 
 to the cross, and was felt to be at once a healing 
 balm and a cleansing and vivifying spirit. When 
 the Keformers, trained as they had been, applied 
 their mere understanding, their logical faculty, to 
 the Divine redemption, and attempted to make out 
 the rationale of it, all their educational tendencies, 
 and all their habits of thought, led them inevitably 
 to the theory of Anselm, and so much the more 
 as it was felt to be, and really was, a tower of 
 strength as against the doctrine of salvation by 
 human merit. But their preachings were widely 
 different from their logical argumentations. It is 
 true, they never sought to conceal what we venture 
 to pronounce their error, when occasion required its 
 utterance. They gloried in it as the very truth of 
 God. But that which was prominent in their po- 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 467 
 
 pular addresses, and in their innumerable fugitive 
 pieces^ that which really moved the multitudes, as 
 it once moved the crowds in Jerusalem on the day of 
 Pentecost, was redeeming love, the pure redeeming 
 love of God, in Christ Jesus. " For God so loved 
 the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that 
 whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
 have everlasting life." Salvation by grace, not by 
 merit, salvation through faith, not through works, 
 was the motto inscribed on the standard of the Ke- 
 formation ; and by these simple words, and not by 
 their hard logic, or their artificial schemes of thought, 
 the Eeformers took possession, in perpetuity, of a 
 large part of Christendom. 
 
 On this principle, we interpret the history of the 
 evangelical churches from the Keformation down to 
 this hour. For three hundred years, their course has 
 been often triumphant. If there has been success 
 anywhere in the spread of Christianity, if there has 
 been manifest power, power for highest good, any- 
 where, it has been in connexion with them. Unde- 
 niably, God has been in them and with them, and 
 the Spirit of God has marvellously wrought, through 
 them, for the conversion and moral regeneration of 
 the world. Of what avail, then, it is asked, are argu- 
 ments, when what they prove is at once set aside by 
 an appeal to irresistible facts ? It is a fact that, in 
 the last two or three centuries, the theology of the 
 
468 ORIGIN AND GEOWTH OF 
 
 evangelical churclies has been potent for good beyond 
 any other single cause, or combination of causes. 
 "What but this, it is asked, has changed the face of 
 entire Europe, has elevated and influenced the 
 masses, and has touched, most deeply and perma- 
 nently, not only the religious and moral, but the 
 intellectual, social, and political condition? What 
 but this has founded schools, built hospitals, made 
 provision for the poor, the sick, the friendless, even 
 the reprobate? What but this has stemmed the 
 tide of infidelity, created missions at home and 
 abroad, effected the most marvellous conversions of 
 character and of life, aroused the careless, instructed 
 the ignorant, reclaimed the vicious, comforted the 
 sorrowful, and soothed the dying? Myriads have 
 found true peace in this faith, and have died, re- 
 joicing in the hope of immortality I 
 
 JSTo candid person would, for a moment, deny that 
 the evangelical churches, with all their faults, griev- 
 ous and gross as they may be, have ever exhibited a 
 life, and love, and power, and effectiveness, which 
 contrast painfully with the barrenness, and coldness, 
 and death in other quarters. But all the while, the 
 question, why and how this came to pass, has been 
 only quietly begged, not fairly answered. There is an 
 element of surpassing power in evangelical teaching 
 which we mix up in our thoughts with other and alien 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 469 
 
 causes, but whicli itself alone is abundantly sufficient 
 to account for all the facts. In despite of all else, 
 the evangelical churches have persistently lifted on 
 high the ever-living truth, " salvation by grace," the 
 free, pure, holy grace of God. Their speculative 
 conceptions have been daringly irreverent, their rea- 
 sonings have been narrow and false, but their feeling 
 of the essential spirit of the New Testament has been 
 true, and deep, and right. Even in periods of fever- 
 ish and dangerous excitement, while much that was 
 wild, and false, and even essentially impious, may 
 have been thundered forth, the grand and chief theme 
 has ever been the love of the cross. It is marvellous, 
 at such times, how the impassioned preacher seems 
 to forget utterly what he imagines he believes to be 
 true in reason — such dogmas as reprobation, and 
 satisfaction to justice, and imputation — and how he 
 breathes out only the deep spirit of the New Testa- 
 ment, dwells on the love of Christ, and beseeches 
 men to be reconciled to God, and not to receive the 
 grace of God in vain. Those who are at all ac- 
 quainted with the history of religious revivals, well 
 know that the rationale of redemption, as it has been 
 proudly called, and the subtle syllogism which de- 
 monstrates the justice of God in saving men, are 
 unthought of for the moment, and that only a mes- 
 sage of pure mercy from the Holy Father is an- 
 
470 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OP 
 
 nounced to listening thousands, and with extraor- 
 dinary effect, often only temporary, but often also 
 permanent and life-giving. 
 
 Calvin, far more than Luther, was the theologian 
 of the Eeformation. Not that Luther wanted eru- 
 dition — far otherwise ; but he was the ardent, en- 
 ergetic, and indomitable leader of a movement which 
 he had to command, and whose various fortunes, in 
 the hot conflict of opposing interests and parties, he 
 had to watch and direct. Calvin, a late adherent of 
 the enterprise, a man of acute and penetrating in- 
 telligence, richly endowed by nature and highly cul- 
 tivated, of extensive and varied erudition, an indefat- 
 igable student, and most severe, dogmatic, and in- 
 flexible in his convictions of what he conceived to be 
 truth and duty,— Calvin occupied a totally different 
 position. His special work was with Protestantism, 
 as a new development of thouglit, and as a new form 
 of Christian worship and of church order. The last 
 does not concern us here ; and in the first, Calvin's 
 office was to gather up the scattered elements and 
 utterances of Protestant thought, and to form them, 
 as he best could, into a compendious unity. A born 
 systematiser, as he may be truly called, a trained and 
 skilled logician, he had to give a name, and a place, 
 and a visible shape, among contending schemes of 
 thought, to Protestant theology. And he did, with 
 consummate ability and with astounding success. 
 
\, ^HE DOCTEINE OF SATISFACTION. 471 
 
 His commentaries, invaluable at the time, and im- 
 portant on several accounts at this day, do not con- 
 cern us here. His " Institutes " were the original 
 source of his influence while he lived, and are to a 
 great extent the basis of modern evangelical teaching. 
 It is hardly necessary to say that, as a matter of 
 course, they pronounce very definitely on the eternal 
 decrees of God, election and reprobation ; and that 
 they discuss the doctrine of sacrifice, and after the 
 manner of Anselm, that of satisfaction to justice. 
 Two short quotations shall here be introduced, to 
 illustrate the mode and the spirit in which Calvin 
 deals with the most sacred subjects : — " Had Christ 
 been murdered by robbers, or tumultuously sacrificed 
 in a sedition of the mob, his death would have been 
 no kind of satisfaction. But when he was sisted as a 
 criminal, was accused and crushed by witnesses, and 
 condemned to death by a judge, we understand by 
 these tokens that he sustained the character of a 
 wicked criminal." ^ Again, " Nothing had been 
 efiected, if Christ had only died a corporeal death, 
 but it was incumbent on him also to feel the 
 severity of divine revenge, in order that he might 
 
 ^ " Si a latronibus, jugulatus fuisset, vel tumultuarie, caesus per 
 seditionem vulgi, in ejusmodi morte, nulla satisfactionis species 
 exstitisset. Varum ubi reus ad tribunal sistitur, testimoniis arguitur 
 et premitur, ipsius judicis ore morti addicitur, his documentis, 
 intelligimus, ipsum personam spontis et malefici sastinere." — Calv.. 
 Insti., Tholuck, Berlin, 1846, p. 330, lib. ii., cap. 16, sec. 5. 
 
472 OEIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 both ward off wrath and satisfy a righteous sentence. 
 .... Wherefore, we wonder not if he be said to 
 have descended into hell, since he endured that death 
 which is inflicted by an angry God on the wicked.'^ l 
 Surely this is horrible and blasphemous enough. 
 
 But we cannot righteously judge of any produc- 
 tion, or its author, by a few exceptional passages. 
 Taking the work as a whole, and freely admitting 
 its many great excellences, it is nevertheless difficult 
 from itself alone, to account for its prodigious influ- 
 ence at the time, and in successive ages, an influence 
 almost, if not quite, without a parallel in the history 
 of religious literature. Beyond doubt, the work was 
 precisely what was most needed at the time, in order 
 to give unity and energy to Protestantism, as a new 
 faith. None of the men of the time, Beza, Farel, 
 Melancthon, or even Luther himself, were equal to 
 such a production, so comprehensive, compendious, 
 systematic, and logically constructed. Calvin's repu- 
 tation for marvellous ability for learning, and for 
 finished scholarship, had travelled before him. The 
 Keformation wanted such a man, and when he ap- 
 peared, welcomed him with enthusiasm, and thanked 
 
 ^ " Nihil actum erat, si corporea, tantum, morte, defunctus fuisset 
 Clii'istus, sed operae, simul, pretium erat, ut divinae ultiouis severi- 
 tatem sentiret, quo, et irae ipsius intercederet et satisfaceret justo 
 judicio. . . . Ergo si ad inferos descendisse dicitur, nihil mirum 
 est, quum earn mortem pertulerit, quae sceleratis ab irato Deo in- 
 fligitur." — Ccdv. Insti., Tholuck, Berlin, 1846, lib. ii., cap. 16, sec. 10. 
 
THE DOCTKINE OF SATISFACTION. 473 
 
 God for his advent. But there are some historical 
 facts, perhaps little known, certainly little considered, 
 which deserve to be looked at impartially in their 
 bearing on this subject. 
 
 Calvin was educated, up to manhood, in (as we 
 should speak) all the superstitions and errors and 
 follies of Popeiy. At eighteen years of age, he held 
 two small benefices in the Church of France. For 
 three or four years afterwards he devoted himself to 
 the study of law, and at the end of that period 
 returned to divinity. In 1532, in his twenty-tliird 
 year, he published a commentary on Seneca's two 
 books, " De Clementia," and certainly had not then 
 declared himself on the side of the Eeformation. In 
 1536, when he was most probably in his twenty-sixth, 
 certainly not more than his twenty-seventh year, he 
 sent forth the " Institutio Eeligionis Christianaa." 
 Between this original edition and the latest issued 
 in his life-time, there is a great difference, but the 
 original is unaltered to the last, and appears entire, 
 only with extensive additions on many important 
 points. We venture to suggest that it is not specially 
 assuring, to those who would judge of men and things 
 with candour, yet with severe justice, that a very 
 young convert, at most only four years, escaped out 
 of the heart of Komanism, withal a very young man, 
 at most in his twenty-seventh year, who could not 
 certainly have reached a very reliable maturity, or 
 
474 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OP 
 
 a very extended experience in any direction, issued 
 a treatise respecting the very loftiest and holiest 
 mysteries, and embracing the entire sphere of theo- 
 logy which was accepted at the time, and has been 
 accepted ever since, by nearly the whole of the 
 evangelical chm'ches, as expressive of their deepest 
 faith. 
 
 But far as Calvin and the Eeformers ventured in 
 prying into the hidden decrees of God, (impiously 
 too far, as many wise and good men at this day 
 judge,) even this was not the fixed limit. The spirit 
 of unholy curiosity once indulged, grew by what it 
 fed on, and waxed still more bold and irreverent, 
 and found its ultimate and least guarded exposition 
 in the Westminster Confession of Faith, and in the 
 writings of English Puritans, and Scottish Presby- 
 terians. Up to within the last forty or fifty years, 
 this fully developed system was unreservedly main- 
 tained by the evangelical churches. It is maintained 
 in all its integrity in several quarters at this day. 
 We are taught to conceive a council of eternity held, 
 and an eternal covenant entered into between the 
 three persons of the Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost — called the covenant of redemption. " The 
 plan was drawn from all eternity, in the council of 
 the Trinity. . . . All hands of the glorious Trinity 
 are at work in this building. The Father chose the 
 objects of mercy, and gave them to the Son, to be re- 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 475 
 
 deemed ; the Son purchased redemption for them ; and 
 the Holy Ghost applies the purchased redemption un- 
 to them."i According to eternal predetermination, first 
 of all, a covenant of works was entered into between 
 Grod and Adam, as the representative of mankind; 
 but this failing, a covenant of grace was established 
 between God on the one hand, and the elect on the 
 other hand, or rather, Christ the mediator, in the 
 name of the elect. " By the decree of God, for the 
 manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are 
 predestinated unto everlasting life, and others fore- 
 ordained to everlasting death." 2 Again, " The rest 
 of mankind " (besides the elect) " God was pleased, 
 according to the unsearchable counsel of His own 
 will , c . to pass by, and to ordain them to dishonour 
 and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious 
 justice." 3 
 
 Let us not forget that the men wlio consented to 
 these words, and adopted them as their own, were 
 wise and holy and gracious souls, but we must none 
 the less sternly denounce their errors. It would be 
 difficult, by any combination of human terms, to 
 transcend this fancied exposure of the secrets of 
 eternity. Even apart from the blasphemy, which is 
 enough to fill the mind with an agony of horror, the 
 whole is pure, mere fiction, without a shred or scrap 
 
 ^ Boston on Covenants. Edin. 1798, p. 14. 
 
 2 Westminster Confession, cap. 3, sec. 3. '^ Ibid., sec. 7. 
 
476 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 of foundation in fact. A covenant of works ! Where is 
 the document ? where the evidence of its existence ? 
 A covenant of grace, — a contract or bargain between 
 God and Christ in the elect's name, on certain con- 
 ditions, and involving certain promises and penalties ! 
 Is it possible to attach an idea to it that is not blas- 
 phemous ? An eternal covenant of redemption, be- 
 tween the persons in the Grodhead ! Who was privy 
 to it, or who has been faithlesj? enough to betray 
 the secret ? A Council of Eternity ! What herald 
 convened it, or what meaning can we affix to it that 
 is not inexpressibly degrading? Oh, unhallowed, 
 impious, miserable invention of the human brain, 
 which yet has been accepted as inspiration ! If 
 ever the Divine was brought down to the human, 
 it is here. Men in difficulty summon a council of 
 the wisest and the best, and debate and discuss for 
 the removal of the difficulty, and concert extensive 
 plans, and pre-arrange all the minute details of 
 operation. But is this the Great God ? 
 
 That wild and daring transcendentalism which, in 
 a greater or less degree, essentially affects evangelical 
 theology at this hour, is not by any means the most 
 fatal evil. The doctrine of satisfaction to Divine 
 justice is immeasurably worse in its moral tendency. 
 This, in any form, necessitates for its basis that 
 wliich, though partially true, as a whole is absolutely 
 false. The only, at all events the highest and most 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 477 
 
 widely inclusive, relation in which God stands to 
 men, is conceived to be that of a king, a moral 
 governor to his subjects, or rather that of a judge 
 to criminals standing at his bar. This, beyond all 
 comparison, is the deadliest error. Evangelical 
 teachers admit unqualifiedly that justification, in 
 their sense, is purely a forensic term. It means, 
 and only means, the act of God formally acquitting 
 and pardoning a criminal at His bar. 
 
 Nothing can be more true than that we are every 
 moment instantly judged, righteously and impartially 
 judged by God. Nothing can be more true than that 
 the punishment of sin, in the case of every human 
 being, be he classed with the righteous or with the 
 wicked, takes effect in him at once and inevitably. But 
 this has nothing to do with forensic forms and words, 
 nothing to do with a process of law or a criminal 
 trial. We have sought to showi that the word 
 " justification," in the New Testament, does not, and 
 never does, mean acquittal or pardon or any judicial 
 act, but is only and wholly the real rightening of the 
 spirit of man, and its voluntary return to God. And 
 the great, the essential, the universal relation in 
 which God stands to His rational creatures, is not 
 that of a king or a judge, but that of a father to his 
 children. There are cases in which He may be fitly 
 likened to a human judge or a human king, but there 
 
 1 Chap, vi., p. 160, &c. 
 
478 ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF 
 
 are innumerable cases in which this comparison ut- 
 terly fails. This is a figure, and only a figure, and 
 of limited and occasional application. God's Fa- 
 therhood, on the other hand, is a reality. He is a 
 Father, a real Father. At every moment, and in 
 every possible combination of circumstances, this 
 abides a profound and immovable fact, not a figure 
 The New Testament has consecrated and emblazoned 
 this essential relation between God and men. Per- 
 haps no single word was so often on the lips of our 
 blessed Lord than this, Father — the Father, my 
 Father, our Father in heaven, your Father. Christ 
 our Lord has very affectingly taught us to think of 
 God as our Father, the Father of souls, of all souls. 
 It is confounding and distressing that any who really 
 love the Kedeemer, and really reverence his teaching, 
 should labour not to understand and feel how much 
 this relation must embrace, but within how narrow a 
 meaning, — or rather no meaning at all, — it may be 
 compressed. 
 
 We adopt the ennobling, Divine utterances of the 
 Saviour of men, in all their fearless breadth of mean- 
 ing, and put aside as very worthless the fallacious 
 logic of some evangelical theologians. However men 
 may be, and on some grounds, and for certain pur- 
 poses they may properly be compared to criminals at 
 a judgment bar, there is another and far wider and 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 479 
 
 deeper truth, that they are children — not may be 
 compared to, but really are children — and that God 
 is their Father, their true Father. This, at all 
 events, was not only Christ's conception, but his 
 favourite and chosen conception, of the essential, 
 universal relation between God and man ; that of 
 children, undutiful, rebellious, it is true, but chil- 
 dren in the presence of a Holy Father, who pitied, 
 and loved, and yearned over the souls He had made. 
 With what inimitable nature, and beauty, and pathos 
 this is revealed in the parable of the prodigal, cannot 
 be too often remembered. We might have fancied in 
 this story, that perhaps after long years of ingrati- 
 tude and of abandoned vice on the part of his mis- 
 guided son, the father's heart must have grown cold 
 and hard. Perhaps the old man was inclined to stand 
 on his dignity, and to require some acknowledgment 
 and reparation before he should make any advance. 
 Perhaps he hesitated to welcome the prodigal at once, 
 and began to fear how it might affect his other chil- 
 dren, and his own authority, and the discipline of 
 his family. But no. This is not even human na- 
 ture, at its best and highest. How much less can it 
 be Divine nature ! Our Father in heaven has not 
 only waited long for His apostate children. He has 
 sent after them into the far country. He has Him- 
 self gone forth to seek them. In the form of the 
 
480 OKIGIN AND GEOWTH, ETC. 
 
 Son of man He has come down among them, in 
 order to touch their hearts, and to startle them into 
 love and life. And now, by the cross and the grace 
 of Jesus, He is intreating the world to be reconciled 
 to Him I 
 
CONCLUSIOK 
 
 THE distinctive revelation of the New Testament, 
 the chosen and special teaching of the Master 
 Himself, is the Fatherhood of Grod, and the child- 
 ship of all souls. 
 
 But there are minds peculiarly constituted and 
 conditioned, noble, earnest minds, and of most pure 
 aspirations, who are unable to receive this message, 
 and to whom the Great Being is only an overwhelm- 
 ing mystery. They have pondered so profoundly, so 
 gloomily, so long, and so long in vain, the awful 
 problem of the universe, that they are heljolessly 
 perplexed and bewildered. It would be cruel to 
 say that they disbelieve, for they agonise to believe, 
 but they cannot. The unbeginning, unending, un- 
 changing One is to them reality, but a dreadful, an 
 inconceivable reality — mystery, only mystery, unfa- 
 thomable mystery ! The Great Father, let us not 
 question, well knows such souls, has them in His 
 holy keeping, and judges, them in His righteousness, 
 His tenderness, and His wisdom, but not as we, 
 
 2h 
 
482 CONCLUSION. 
 
 puny, harsh, and rash mortals, often dare to do. 
 The fear which crushes them, all fear, simply as 
 such, is only bad, but their profound reverence, be- 
 fore what they are unable to comprehend, must be 
 redemptive and holy, and it were well if many, whose 
 faith is little wanting in boldness, knew more than 
 they do of godly fear, of reverence, and of awe. But 
 such struggling and burdened natures are few and 
 rare among mankind. The evil of the world is not 
 too profound or too anxious, but too little thought, 
 about the Great Being. 
 
 It is not, and cannot be doubted, that multitudes 
 even of enlightened, virtuous, and good men, so 
 esteemed, deliberately exclude God from their com- 
 mon thoughts, on the ground that the idea is too 
 high and too sacred to be entertained, except in rare 
 and select moments. Still greater multitudes pro- 
 nounce it irreverent and unnatural, even weak and 
 mawkish, perhaps pharisaical and hypocritical, a fit 
 subject for ridicule or indignant scorn, to speak and 
 act as if we cherished the abiding thought of the 
 Great Unseen Presence. With reference to the im- 
 mense mass of human beings over all the world, it is 
 mournfully true, that God, the Living God, is sel- 
 dom, if at all, in their thoughts. Practically and 
 virtually, they have no God, and rarely, if ever, bring 
 the idea of God to bear on their lives, and on their 
 spirit. Is, then, the very foundation of our being a 
 
CONCLUSION. 483 
 
 lie ? Is the crowning dignity of our nature, before 
 which all other proud distinctions are not to be 
 named, a thing to be ashamed of ? Is the highest 
 and sacredest of all truths, the most inspiring and 
 ennobling of all thoughts, to be put aside, concealed 
 and ignored? Is this not worthy of being enter- 
 tained, or is it of such small importance, and capable 
 of exerting so little influence, that it need give us no 
 concern whether we entertain it or not? These 
 questions throw us back at once on first principles. 
 Is our true parentage, our descent from God, a delu- 
 sion, a fancy ? Are we only waifs of chance, blown 
 hither and thither by the fickle breath of time, rest- 
 ing a while on some stray spot, and again floated 
 away, until we are drawn resistlessly into the mighty 
 eddying vortices of eternity, and lost ? But no. If 
 the teaching of the New Testament, if the special 
 teaching of our Divine Lord, be true, nothing can be 
 surer than this, that God is our Father. The human 
 soul is the off'spring of the Eternal. The profoundest 
 and the truest of all facts, that which underlies all 
 other facts, is this, that we are in God, and God is in 
 us. Mysteriously, incomprehensibly, but most really, 
 we are akin to God, and are ordained to be, in our 
 spiritual nature, the finite image of the Infinite. The 
 most awful, but the tenderest and closest of all our 
 relations, is that in which we stand to God. Our 
 whole being at every moment is in Him, and only in 
 
4S4 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Him. ^N'ot our visible, animal life only, but our 
 soul-life, our true, eternal life, is in Him, even as tlie 
 life of the plant is in the ground, out of which, and 
 in which, it grov/s. Tear up the plant, throw it, with 
 its roots uncovered, on the earth, and it becomes a 
 dead thing, and must inevitably die. 
 
 In the deepest sense of all, we cannot be separated 
 from God, essentially, physically, we cannot be sepa- 
 rated from God, except by annihilation. Whether 
 we will or no, all our faculties and capacities are in 
 God, wholly God-given, Avholly and perpetually God- 
 sustained. But, morally, we are able to cut ourselves 
 off from the fountain of life. It is not simply the 
 fact that we are cut off, but we cut ourselves, off — it is 
 our doing, our doing solely — we will it, we put forth 
 effort, successful effort, to t^iis end. The moral 
 relation is one wholly of consciousness, of desire and 
 of purpose, and the fact of moral experience is simply 
 this, that we are able to move away, and be as 
 widely apart from God in thought, in affection, in 
 will, in our modes and grounds of judging, in our 
 mental habits, and in our aims, as if no God existed. 
 So far as concerns us, our thought, our wish, our 
 purpose, there is no God, we have withdrawn our- 
 selves from the eternal ground of our being, and 
 stand alone ; so far as concerns us, the relation to 
 God is disowned, and all the openings and avenues 
 are wilfully closed, through which influence from 
 
CONCLUSION. 485 
 
 Him might flow into our nature. We die, morally, 
 spiritually, we die, as necessarily as the uptorn plant. 
 False to ourselves, false to the highest Being in the 
 universe, and false to His holiest claims, we are no 
 more in the kingdom of truth and life, but belong to 
 the kingdom of falsity and death, for all falsity is 
 irrevocably doomed to perish. And this is sin, this 
 conscious moral separation from God is sin. The 
 spirit of man, breathed out by the Father of spirits, 
 wilfully severs itself from its source, puts God aside 
 from thought, ceases to recognise His presence, and 
 His authority, becomes a law to itself, and is con- 
 sciously governed by nothing higher than its own 
 will. That is sin, in essence and in fact, the original, 
 essential heart of sin. We may put it, and rightly 
 put it in other words — we may conceive of it, as the 
 choice of what is known to be wrong ; or again, as 
 the wilful abuse of moral liberty ; or again, as the 
 revolt of the human will from the sway of judgment, 
 and conscience, and from truth, and right, and love. 
 But the earliest, the deepest, the universal form of 
 sin is voluntary separation from God, in thought 
 and in heart. 
 
 Two great fundamental truths lie before us. On 
 the one side, the abiding and cherished sense of God, 
 and of our relation to God, that is life, only that is 
 life. On the other side, the want of the sense of God 
 in the soul, voluntary separation from Him ; that is 
 
486 OONCI^USION. 
 
 death, that is sin, the real root and cause of sin, the 
 fountain of all evil to the spiritual nature. And 
 what horrible and hideous outgrowths have sprung 
 from this accursed germ, tha history of the world, 
 through all ages, shall reveal too clearly. We 
 shudder at the atrocious crimes of individuals, and 
 of nations ; we turn away, sick at heart, from the 
 sweltering corruptions and abominations of our 
 common humanity. But the deadliest evil of all, 
 the primitive fountain of evil, is voluntary separation 
 from God, the soul forgetting God, disowning God, 
 obeying its own perverted will, and giving loose to 
 all its own mere purposes, passions, and desires. 
 There is nothing for the God-descended soul, no life, 
 no light, no purity, no power, and no joy, except in 
 God, in conscious and chosen union with God, the 
 holy, loving God. All is wrong, and must be for 
 ever wrong, so long as the first, and highest of all 
 our relations is broken, disowned, unknown, and 
 unfelt. 
 
 The essential nature of sin, if we have justly 
 interpreted it, reveals its only antidote and method 
 of cure. The one supreme end of spiritual pro- 
 vidence is to draw man back to God, to reconnect 
 and reunite man with God. The true recovery of the 
 soul to itself, to a sense of its being and its destiny ; 
 the true subjugation of the revolted will, and the true 
 renewal of moral liberty and moral power— all are 
 
CONCLUSION. 487 
 
 contained and secured in the one design to restore 
 God to His own world, and to His rightful place in 
 the mind and heart of man. Hence the unveiling of 
 light, the true light, that inward darkness might be 
 quenched ; hence the enkindling of life, that moral 
 death might be swallowed up of victory ; hence the 
 revelation of love, that enmity might be pierced 
 through and slain ; hence the manifested God, that 
 men might see, and know, and feel, the Divine 
 tenderness, and purity, and wisdom, and beauty, and 
 grace, against which they had wickedly rebelled. 
 
 But the great purpose of spiritual providence, un- 
 like God's designs in the material universe, could not 
 be" gained by force. Power, physical power, however 
 vast, had nothing to do with it. The accursed foun- 
 tain of evil in the soul, unutterably hateful to the 
 Holy One as it was, could not be stopped and dried 
 up except by a purely spiritual agency. The human 
 will could not be forced, it might have been destroyed 
 at any moment, it might have been annihilated, but 
 abiding a faculty of the soul, God had so constituted 
 it that force, physical force, had no relation to it 
 whatever. Man could not be compelled even by his 
 Maker to love goodness and to choose obedience. In 
 the midst of all Divine or other influences, whose 
 potency is incalculable, man, constituted as he was, 
 must choose, not another for him, perfectly freely, of 
 his own will, he must make his choice. Spiritual 
 
488 CONCLUSION. 
 
 providence could evolve itself in no way except 
 through moral and spiritual agencies. Of necessity, 
 unless the nature of the soul were destroyed, and 
 every spiritual result rendered impossible, men must 
 be left perfectly free, left to all the abominations and 
 miseries into which the abuse of moral liberty, if 
 they did abuse it, might drag them down. Of neces- 
 sity sin, if they were determined to sin, must work 
 itself out, in all possible forms ; and all nations, all 
 races, and all ages, must be suffered, if so they re- 
 solved, to riot in evil and in falsity, with their gods 
 many, and their lords many, and their rites of blood, 
 and their murderous wars, and their inhuman vices. 
 But spiritual providence was not asleep, though only 
 spiritual instruments and agencies could avail in 
 conducting it. Everywhere, at every moment, with 
 every people on the face of the earth, and with every 
 successive age, the silent purpose of Heaven was 
 ceaselessly at work. It would be fearfully dishonour- 
 ing to imagine, that though for more than two 
 thousand five hundred years after the apostasy the 
 great, loving Father had been dealing in His mercy 
 and His wisdom with the whole world, and acting 
 on all nations and all times. He then, for thirteen 
 hundred years, shut Himself up in Judea, forsaking 
 all mankind besides. The more cruelly unjust to 
 God is such a thought, when it is remembered, that 
 since the advent of Christ He has again, for nearly 
 
CONCLUSION. 489 
 
 two thousand years, made tlie whole earth His 
 sphere. 
 
 Unquestionably there were special and great pur- 
 poses, purposes which had a direct regard to the 
 highest good of the entire world, to be served by the 
 Jewish people. But the God of the Bible never was 
 in any sense the God of the Jews only. He ever was 
 the God of the Gentiles also. He is the Father of 
 all souls, and He loveth the souls He hath made. His 
 mighty purpose to draw man back to Himself has 
 ever reigned, as it is reigning now, in all the earth 
 and among all nations. That Holy Spirit, who strove 
 so long with the generations of men before the flood, 
 strove as ceaselessly, we cannot doubt, with the gene- 
 rations that followed. In spite of the resistance, and 
 the obduracy, and the wickedness of His creatures, 
 God's holy design, though we be utterly unable to 
 distinguish and unfold its separate processes and 
 modes of development, must have been ever advanc- 
 ing, in the most various and manifold ways, and 
 through means of the most various and manifold 
 agencies, nearer, nearer to its fulfilment. All the 
 needed preparations, of ten thousand kinds, which 
 we cannot comprehend or conceive, must ever have 
 been maturing in all lands, and through all ages, 
 and all the possible instruments and influences must 
 ever have been collecting and concentrating, whereby 
 the last and perfect revelation of truth and love should 
 
490 CONCLUSION". 
 
 be ushered in. It would amount to a denial of God, 
 a denial of His wisdom and His foresight, to doubt 
 that every race of men, and every successive age, had 
 contributed, however unconsciourdy, and even in spite 
 of themselves, contributed also in the best possible way, 
 consistently with all other interests, to the furtherance 
 of the highest good of the whole. Judea, for thirteen 
 hundred years, had its own special and sacred office 
 to fulfil, but not less really, though in far other modes, 
 Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Per- 
 sians, Greeks, and Komans, were workers for God in 
 the evolutions of His mighty spiritual providence. 
 All may be dark as midnight to us, when we attempt 
 to expound what is so vast in the numbers it em- 
 braces, and in the time over which it stretches, what 
 is besides so complicated, so interfused, and so hope- 
 lessly conflicting and contradictory. We may blun- 
 der egregiously in interpreting Heaven s plan in rela- 
 tion to different peoples and times. Our beautiful 
 theories, as to one idea, one great principle, or one 
 particular truth, being wrought out by one race, and 
 one age, and another by another, may be as flimsy as 
 the gossamer web. But if always and everywhere, 
 there has been a loving Father of men, and a Holy 
 Ghost, who strives with human souls, though they 
 resist and reject Him, it abides indubitable, that 
 through all the ages, and over all the earth, God 
 must have been working out the largest amount 
 
CONCLUSION. 491 
 
 possible of highest good, preparatory to the final 
 manifestation of Himself. 
 
 It dawned at length ! Light, " The True Light," 
 broke forth in a dark day. Life, " The Living One," 
 was revealed ; and there were some, eighteen hundred 
 years ago, who were bold enough to affirm, " We have 
 seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eter- 
 nal life, (that Eternally Living One,) which was with 
 the Father, and was manifested unto us ; that which 
 we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye 
 also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fel- 
 lowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus 
 Christ." 1 A wonderful reunion was to be organised, 
 a mysterious but most real fellowship was to be in- 
 stituted, and was already forming itself — God, and 
 Christ, and men — God and men, through Christ, the 
 holy medium. 2 The wicked, wilful separation from 
 God was doomed to come to an end, the cruel es- 
 trangement was to cease and be marvellously healed. 
 God, banished from the thoughts and the hearts of 
 men. Himself came down to earth to make peace, 
 and to reconcile His children to their Father. Long 
 and far away they had been wandering from Him, 
 wandering in darkness, wandering on to death. But 
 their Father loved them, had ever loved them, and 
 in all the weary ages of separation had done every- 
 thing for them which was possible, by His Provi- 
 
 ^ 1 John i. 2, 3. ^ ggg jjote on page 27. 
 
492 CONCLUSION. 
 
 dence and His Spirit ; teaching, and warning, and 
 punishing, and rebuking, and impelling, and restrain- 
 ing, and guiding, and remonstrating with them, so 
 long as they would listen to His voice, and would 
 suffer His merciful striving. 
 
 All the while, sin was only abhorrent to God, His 
 unutterable, eternal abhorrence, and nmst not, and 
 could not, be endured. In His mind and in the 
 unalterable law of the universe, there could be no- 
 thing for sin but death, eternal death. In His mind 
 and in the unalterable law of the universe, there could 
 be no salvation for man, except from sin, not from its 
 consequences merely, but first and chiefly and wholly 
 from the damning root of evil itself. There Avas no 
 alternative. Either man must die or sin must die, 
 the one or the other — nothing else. Here is the 
 profound mystery of redeeming, holy love. Man is 
 saved and sin perishes. The purpose is revealed in the 
 fact. It is not a human thought or a human achieve- 
 ment, but a divine decree. Sin shall and must 
 perish. A mortal blow shall be aimed at it in the 
 soul, and it shall be slain and cast forth for ever. 
 And this is not a purpose only or a prediction, but a 
 history. In innumerable myriads of human souls, 
 sin has been struck and pierced through and slain. 
 " What are these which are arrayed in white robes, 
 and whence came they ? .... These are they which 
 .... have washed their robes and have made them 
 
CONCLUSION. 493 
 
 white in the blood of the Lamb/'l " The blood of 
 Jesus Christ, God's Son, is cleansing us from all 
 sin." 2 Kedeeming dying love, is the mighty purify- 
 ing power in this polluted world. How shall we 
 chase darkness away, except by pouring in light ? 
 How shall deadly disease be stayed except by purify- 
 ing and quickening the stream of life ? How shall 
 enmity be destroyed, except by the outbreathing of 
 deeper love? How shall separation and estrange- 
 ment be healed, except by bringing the estranged, 
 somehow, face to face ? Therefore, the Great Father 
 drew near, very near, to His erring and sinful chil- 
 dren. 
 
 If men will not return and inquire after God, God 
 himself shall come down to seek and rescue them. 
 The Luminous, the Beautiful, the Holy, the Wise, the 
 Loving, the Tender, the Gracious Being, shall unveil 
 (and yet veil) Himself, in a human form. All that 
 can be, shall be manifested through a finite medium, 
 and laid open to the eye and to the soul of the world. 
 Wisdom such as never fell from human lips shall 
 distil like dew on the ear of men. Purity without a 
 stain, without a breath to dim its perfect transpar- 
 ency, shall find its way to touch the guiltiest natures. 
 Power which mortal arm never wielded, power seen 
 even in the look of the countenance, power heard even 
 in the tone of the voice, shall strangely bring down 
 
 1 Kev. vii. 13, 14. 2 i j^j^jj ^ 7, 
 
494 CONCLUSION. 
 
 into the soul the awful feeling of a Divine presence. 
 A gentleness, a patience, a meekness, a swelling, 
 overflowing pity, and a sweetness, and graciousness, 
 never found on earth before, shall tell yet more sub- 
 duingly of God and heaven. Above all, that heart 
 which never harboured one feeling of resentment or 
 anger, which was loaded with sorrows all its own, and 
 which besides, by a mysterious commiseration, bore 
 the griefs and the sins of men within itself — that heart 
 which was so truly alone, without intelligent sym- 
 pathy in a single quarter, which had to endure mis- 
 appreciation, ingratitude, treachery, rancorous hatred, 
 and the vilest cruelty, and did so without a murmur — 
 that heart which at last broke and burst in an agony, 
 not of pain but of grief, and as it broke, cried out, 
 " Father, forgive them, they know not what they do," 
 shall proclaim with piercing, passionate intensity, to 
 the world and to all ages, what the invisible Father 
 truly is, and shall lay open the very innermost nature 
 of the Being from whom men had revolted, and who 
 now besought them to return to His feet and to His 
 heart. " God in Christ is reconciling the world unto 
 Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." 
 
 This is the Divine method of piercing down to 
 the deep root of sin. A real redemption can be 
 achieved in no other way— can never be achieved 
 until man, humbled and penitent, is restored to 
 God, in heart, and soul, and life. Statesmen and 
 
CONCLUSION. 495 
 
 philanthropists work nobly and beautifully on the 
 surface of humanity, and many a sore mischief is 
 cured, and many a healing influence is created, 
 but the root beneath is untouched, and is as rank 
 and strong as ever. Philosophy, and science, and 
 literature, and art, are all enlightening, elevating, 
 even purifying, but neither do they, or can they, 
 touch the deadliest evil of all at its root. The crying 
 want of the human soul is God, the living God. 
 Darkness and death claim it as their own till it finds 
 in God its light and life. Were God, and man's re- 
 lation to God, were the humble, loving, sense of God 
 to become the central and informing soul of all know- 
 ledges and all studies, then philosophy would spring 
 into new life, and become at once more ennobling and 
 more profound; science would become more lumi- 
 nous and more quickening ; literature would catch a 
 new glow and flush from the breath of Heaven, and 
 be more enkindling and more beauteous ; and art 
 would be radiant with a sweeter, a holier, and a di- 
 viner grace. It is the most fatal of all mistakes to 
 judge that the loving sense of God, a holy, redeem- 
 ing God, in the soul, is like other mental possessions, 
 one which we may have or may want indifferently. 
 But this is an absolute necessity to our true being. 
 If we are to live, really to live, not the animal, and 
 not even the intellectual life, but the true soul life, 
 the eternal life, we must be in God, in conscious and 
 
496 CONCLUSION. 
 
 cliosen union with God. Keligion, so called, is not a 
 separate department of human knowledge, a branch 
 like other branches of human inquiry. It is rather the 
 all-encompassing atmosphere, in which, whatever b6 
 our studies or our works, we can alone truly breathe 
 and live, the one inspiring influence which alone 
 puts a soul into our efforts, and gives them a Divine 
 meaning. Eeligion is the sun of the whole inner 
 nature, intellectual, moral, and spiritual, without 
 which all is sterile, cold, and dark. And it is this 
 sun which shines from the face and the cross of Jesus 
 Christ, our Lord, and reveals in him a holy and re- 
 conciling Grod. 
 
 But let us not mistake, Not at Bethlehem, or on 
 Calvary, for the first time did hope and salvation 
 dawn on our world. The Eternal Logos, the true 
 Light, that lighteth every man, was ever in the 
 world from the beginning, sole medium^ between 
 God and men, and kindled many a precious ray, and 
 lit up many a helpful, glittering star. There was 
 a night before the day, there were stars before the 
 sun arose, and even darkness had its worlds of light, 
 that are unseen by day. In the long night of the 
 world, many a weary pilgrim, travelling across the 
 untried pathway, wandering on the mountains, with 
 their deep ravines, their treacherous morasses, and 
 their fatal precipices, lifted up his eyes and blessed 
 
 ' See note on page 27. 
 
CONCLUSION. 497 
 
 God for the stars. He heard a voice within, and 
 often a true voice without, from fellow-travellers like 
 himself, and that Spirit from above, who never leaves 
 human souls, so long as they will suffer His striving, 
 guided him at last out of darkness, and error, and 
 sin, into the land of light that never fades. God is 
 light, God is life, luminous life and living light, 
 the one fountain of all life and light, material or 
 spiritual, in the universe. The soul itself is a Divine 
 spark from the uncreated fire, and wherever there is 
 a single glimmering ray, or a single feeble pulse of 
 vitality, its only source is God. But light to the 
 soul, and life to the soul, pre-eminently to the sinful 
 soul, is love. There is no light like that which 
 beams from loving eyes. There is no radiance, no 
 quickening inspiration, like that which bathes the 
 loving heart. Through love, light makes its way to 
 the nature, suffuses, softens, subdues it, and wakens 
 all its Wealth of sweetness and of purity. The most 
 luminous object in the universe, because the symbol 
 of Infinite Mercy, is a dark cross. The truest source 
 of life, because the divinest utterance of love, is a 
 cruel death. The living Jesus, the dying Jesus, is 
 the Kedeemer of the world. God Incarnate, God i7i 
 Christ, He is '* the Life and Light of men." 
 
 THE END. 
 
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