Skip to main content

Full text of "The Atonement and Modern Thought"

See other formats 


TONE  ME  NT 


N 


•H  OUGHT 


iER,D.D.,LLD. 


LIBRARY 


TORONTO 


«.' 

Shelf  No.   &T 


STACKS 


Register  No. 


' 


The  Atonement 
and  Modern  Thought 


BY 


REV.  JUNIUS  B.  REMENSNYDER,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

Author  of  "  Heavenward,"  "  Doom  Eternal,"  "  Six  Days 
of  Creation,"  "Lutheran  Manual,"  etc.,  etc. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 
BY 

PROF.  BENJAMIN  B.  WARFIELD,  D.D.,  LL.  D., 

OF   PRINCETON   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY. 

/        !  ', 


"  The  death  of  Christ  is  the  crown  of 
His  redemptive  work."—  IREN/EUS. 


PHILADELPHIA,   PA.: 

LUTHERAN  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY. 


COPTRIGHT,   1905, 

BY  THE 
LUTHERAN   PUBLICATION   SOCIETY. 


-„•  ^ 


FOREWORD. 

A  STATEMENT  of  so  essential  a  Christian  doctrine 
as  that  of  the  Atonement,  in  the  full  range  and  com 
pass  of  its  significance,  and  defended  from  the  neg 
ative  views  now  seeking  to  invalidate  it,  is  cer 
tainly  a  pressing  need  of  the  times.  It  is  the  earn 
est  attempt,  at  least,  of  this  volume,  to  meet  this 
want  in  our  theology  and  devotional  literature. 


(iii) 


"3esus  Christ,  with  his  pierced  hands,  lifted  the 
gates  of  empires  from  their  hinges  and  changed  the 

Currents  Of  history,' '-Jean  Paul  Ricbter. 


CONTENTS. 


PACK 

INTRODUCTION    .  ix 


CHAPTER  I. 

CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  MODERN  SPIRIT 19 

Sec.  i.  Religion  and  Our  Age 19 

Sec.  2.  Christianity  on  Trial 20 

Sec.  3.  Denial  of  the  Supernatural 21 

Sec.  4.  Modern  Thought  Cannot  Outgrow  Essential 

Christian  Truths 24 

Sec.  5.  No  Occasion  for  Alarm,  but  for  Vigilance  .    .  28 

CHAPTER  II. 
VITAL  NATURE  OF  THE  ATONEMENT 33 

CHAPTER  III. 
SCRIPTURAL  PRESENTATION  or  THK  ATONEMENT  ....      38 

CHAPTER  IV. 
CHRIST'S  TEACHING  AND  THE  ATONEMENT  ......     43 

CHAPTER  V. 

VICARIOUSNESS  OF  THE  ATONEMENT 48 

(v) 


VI  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  VI. 
OBJECTIVE  EFFICACY  OF  THE  ATONEMENT 53 

CHAPTER  VII. 
WAS  IT  CHRIST'S  LIFE  OR  DEATH  THAT  ATONED  ? 57 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  ATONING  BLOOD 61 

CHAPTER  IX. 
DID  CHRIST  SUFFER  THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  SIN  ? 67 

CHAPTER  X. 
Is  GOD  RECONCILED  TO  Us  ? 71 

CHAPTER  XL 

THE  CENTRAL  PLACE  OF  THE  ATONEMENT  IN  CHRISTI 
ANITY 76 

CHAPTER  XII. 
UNIVERSALITY  OF  THE  ATONEMENT 83 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
No  UNIVERSALISM  IN  THE  ATONEMENT 89 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
THEORIES  OF  THE  ATONEMENT 92 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XV. 

OBJECTIONS  TO  THE  ATONEMENT.    Is  GUILT  TRANSFER 
ABLE  ?    ETHICS  AND  SCIENCE 98 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
GROSS  REPRESENTATIONS  OF  THE  ATONEMENT 113 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
DID  GOD  SUFFER  IN  THE  ATONEMENT  ? 120 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
MODERN  VIEWS  OF  SIN  AND  THE  ATONEMENT 128 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  ATONEMENT  AND  THE  HEATHEN 134 

CHAPTER  XX. 
THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  HERESIES 139 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE  NEGATIVE  HIGHER  CRITICISM  AND  THE  ATONEMENT    149 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
THE  ATONEMENT  AND  CHRISTIAN  HISTORY 155 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
THE  LUTHERAN  VIEW  OF  THE  ATONEMENT 164 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
THE  SINNER'S  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 172 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
THE  MIRACLE  OF  THE  CROSS 183 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  IN  THE  PASSION  AND  ATONING  WORK 

OF  CHRIST 190 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE  ATONEMENT,  THE  EVANGELICAL  PULPIT,  AND  CHRIS 
TIAN  EXPERIENCE 197 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
THE  ATONEMENT  IN  THE  ETERNITIES,  PAST  AND  TO  COME  204 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
CONCLUSION  . 210 


INTRODUCTION. 

DR.  REMENSNYDER  has  written  this  book  to 
commend  the  doctrine  of  the  substitutive  atone 
ment  of  our  Lord  and  Savionr  Jesus  Christ.  He 
has  kindly  asked  me  to  say  a  few  words  by  way  of 
Introduction.  It  would  be  impossible  not  to  com 
ply  with  such  a  request.  The  battle  in  which  Dr. 
Remensnyder  has  drawn  his  sword  is  the  battle  of 
every  Christian  man,  and  no  one  bearing  the  name 
of  Christian  has  a  right  to  refuse  to  do  his  part  in 
it.  It  is  quite  true  that  Dr.  Remensnyder  writes 
from  his  own  point  of  view,  with  which  my  own 
does  not  perfectly  coincide.  He  is  a  Lutheran  of 
the  Lutherans — I  am  of  the  Reformed  ;  and  these 
two  historical  types  of  Christian  thinking  do  not  see 
quite  eye  to  eye  in  all  matters  that  concern  even 
this  central  doctrine  of  Christianity.  Were  it  my 
duty  to  follow  him  in  all  the  details  of  his  exposi 
tion,  I  am  afraid,  therefore,  I  should  have  occa 
sionally  to  enter  a  somewhat  emphatic  dissent. 
But  fortunately  it  is  possible  to  differ  in  some 
things  and  yet  heartily  to  agree  in  the  main  thing, 
and  happily  this  is  true  in  the  present  case.  Lu 
therans  and  Reformed  are  entirely  at  one  in  their 
conception  of  the  nature  of  our  Lord's  saving 

(ix) 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

work  as  a  substitutive  sin-bearer  and  an  atoning 
sacrifice,  and  of  the  vital  importance  of  this 
conception  for  both  Christian  thought  and  Chris 
tian  life.  It  would  be  a  great  pleasure  to  me  if  I 
thought  I  could  say  anything  that  would  in  the 
least  degree  add  to  the  effect  of  Dr.  Remensnyder's 
faithful  reassertion  of  what  he  justly  speaks  of  as 
"the  heart  of  the  Gospel,"  "the  keystone  of  the 
Christian  system,"  "the  corner-stone  of  redemp 
tion." 

The  fact  is  that  the  views  men  take  of  the  atone 
ment  are  largely  determined  by  their  fundamental 
feeling  of  need,  by  what  they  most  long  to  be 
saved  from.  They  are,  therefore,  apt  to  conceive 
of  the  atonement  in  very  broken  and  partial  ways, 
corresponding  to  the  evils  which  have  been  most 
poignantly  brought  home  to  their  thought.  From 
the  beginning,  well-marked  types  of  thinking  on 
the  subject  have  accordingly  been  traceable.  Men 
have  been  oppressed  by  the  ignorance,  or  by  the 
misery,  or  by  the  sin  in  which  they  have  felt  them 
selves  sunk,  or  by  the  vague  sense  of  incomplete 
ness  and  limitation  which  belongs  to  them  as 
finite  creatures.  They  have,  therefore,  looked  to 
Christ  to  deliver  them  now  from  the  one  and  now 
from  the  other  of  these  evils ;  and  thus  have  con 
ceived  His  work  as  consisting  fundamentally  in  reve 
lation  of  divine  knowledge,  or  in  the  inauguration 
of  a  reign  of  happiness,  or  in  emancipation  from  the 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

limitations  of  individual  existence,  or  in  deliverance 
from  the  curse  of  sin.  In  the  early  ages  of  the 
Church's  development,  the  intellectualistic  tendency 
allied  itself  with  the  class  of  phenomena  which  we 
call  Gnosticism  ;  and  the  longing  for  peace  and 
happiness  which  was  the  natural  result  of  the  crying 
social  evils  of  the  time  found  its  most  remarkable 
expression  in  what  we  know  as  Chiliasm.  The 
vague  aspiration  toward  absorption  in  something 
wider  and  higher  than  humanity  we  call  Mysti 
cism.  That  no  such  party-name  suggests  itself  to 
describe  the  manifestation  given  to  the  longing  to 
be  relieved  from  the  curse  of  sin  does  not  mean 
that  this  longing  was  less  prominent  or  less  intense, 
but  precisely  the  contrary.  Each  of  the  other 
views  was  recognized  in  its  one-sidedness  as  a 
heresy,  and  received  an  appropriate  designation  as 
such.  This  view,  on  the  contrary,  was  the  funda 
mental  point  of  sight  of  the  Church  itself,  and,  as 
such,  was  given  expression  in  numberless  ways — 
some  of  which  appear  somewhat  strange  to  us,  as, 
for  example,  the  widespread  representation  of  the 
atonement  as  centering  in  the  surrender  of  Jesus  as 
a  ransom  to  Satan. 

Our  modern  church  is  very  much  like  the  early 
church  in  all  this.  All  of  these  tendencies  are  as 
fully  represented  in  present-day  thought  as  in  any 
age  of  the  Church's  life.  Perhaps  at  no  other  period, 
indeed,  was  Christ  ever  so  frequently  or  so  passion- 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

ately  set  forth  as  merely  the  regenerator  of  society. 
Certainly  at  no  other  period  has  His  work  been  sa 
prevalently  summed  up  in  mere  revelation.  The 
wonderful  genius  of  Schleiermacher  has  given  mys 
ticism  a  vogue  in  the  modern  church  such  as  it  has 
enjoyed  in  no  other  age.  But  now  as  ever  the  hope 
of  Christians  at  large  continues  to  be  set  upon  the 
Saviour  specifically  as  the  Redeemer  from  sin, 
and  wherever  vital  Christianity  exists  it  exists  by 
virtue  of  a  clear  and  firm  hold  upon  the  basal  fact 
of  Christianity,  declared  by  our  Lord  Himself  and 
His  apostles  in  the  crisp  formula  that  "  Jesus  Christ 
came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners." 

The  forms  in  which  these  differing  types  of 
thinking  are  clothed  in  our  modern  days  are  largely 
the  result,  of  course,  of  the  history  of  thought 
through  the  intermediate  centuries.  The  assimila 
tion  by  the  Church  of  the  doctrines  of  revelation 
was  a  gradual  process ;  and  it  was  also  an  orderly 
process — the  several  doctrines  emerging  in  the  con 
sciousness  of  Christians  for  formal  discussion  and 
scientific  statement  in  a  natural,  or,  we  might  say, 
logical  sequence.  In  this  process,  the  doctrine  of  the 
atonement  did  not  come  up  for  formulation  until 
the  eleventh  century,  when  Anselm  gave  it  its  first 
really  fruitful  treatment,  and  laid  down  for  all  time 
the  general  lines  on  which  the  atonement  must  be 
conceived,  if  it  is  to  be  thought  of,  in  accordance 
with  Scripture,  as  a  work  of  deliverance  from  the 


INTRODUCTION.  Xlll 

penalty  of  sin.  The  influence  of  Anselm's  discus 
sion  has  been  determinative  on  all  subsequent 
thought  down  to  to-day.  Even  the  opposition  to  it 
has  taken  form  and  color  from  antagonism  to  it. 
Its  extreme  antithesis — the  general  conception  that 
the  atoning  work  of  Christ  finds  its  essence  in  reve 
lation  and  had  its  prime  effect,  therefore,  in  de 
liverance  from  error — was  advocated  in  Anselm's 
own  day  by  perhaps  the  acutest  reasoner  of  all  the 
schoolmen,  Peter  Abelard.  Later  an  intermediate 
view  was  powerfully  set  forth  by  Hugo  Grotius. 
Mystical  ideas  always  exist  among  us,  but  have 
never  threatened  to  become  dominant  except  per 
haps  during  the  short  period  when  the  influence  of 
Schleiermacher  reigned  supreme.  Broadly  speak 
ing,  the  field  has  been  held  practically  by  the  three 
theories  which  are  commonly  designated  by  the 
names  of  Anselm,  Grotius,  and  Abelard  ;  and  age 
has  differed  from  age  only  in  the  changing  expres 
sion  given  these  three  theories  and  the  relative 
dominance  of  one  or  another  of  them. 

The  Reformers,  it  goes  without  saying,  were  en 
thusiastic  preachers  of  the  great  Scriptural  doctrine 
of  "  satisfaction  "  as  given  form  by  Anselm — of 
course  as  corrected,  developed,  and  enriched  by 
their  own  truer  insight  and  deeper  thought.  Their 
successors  adjusted,  expounded,  and  defended  the  de 
tails  of  this  doctrine,  until  it  stood  forth  in  the  seven 
teenth  century  dogmatics  in  practical  complete- 


xiv  INTRODUCTION. 

ness.  It  is  only  true  to  say  that  during  this  whole 
period  this  conception  dominated  the  entire  think 
ing  of  the  Church.  Numerous  controversies,  it  is 
true,  raged  about  it ;  but  these  controversies  were 
with  Socinians  and  Mystics,  rather  than  between 
recognized  Church  teachers  themselves.  It  was 
only  with  the  rise  of  Rationalism  that  a  widely  spread 
defection  became  observable.  Under  the  blight 
which  followed  in  the  train  of  this  great  depression 
of  Christian  thought  and  feeling,  men  could  no 
longer  believe  in  the  substitutive  expiation  which  is 
the  heart  of  the  Anselmic  doctrine,  and  a  blood- 
bought  redemption  went  much  out  of  fashion.  The 
dainty  u  Supranaturalists,"  or  Semi-rationalists — 
who  represented  the  higher  reaches  of  Christian 
thinking  in  that  sad  day  of  coldness  and  shallow- 
ness  in  religion — could  climb  only  to  the  height  of 
the  Grotian  half-view,  and  allowed  only  a  "  demon 
strative  "  as  distinguished  from  an  "  ontological  " 
necessity  for  an  atonement,  and  an  "  executive  "  as 
distinguished  from  a  "  judicial '  effect  for  it.  It 
required  the  great  upheaval  of  the  revivals  of  the 
late  eighteenth  and  early  nineteenth  centuries  to 
restore  the  balance  of  Christian  thought  and 
enable  men  once  again  to  recover  the  central  doc 
trine  of  Christianity  in  its  purity.  This  they  effect 
ually  did  ;  and  it  is  probable  that  about  the  middle 
of  the  nineteeth  century  the  doctrine  of  penal  sat 
isfaction  had  such  a  hold  on  the  Churches  that  only 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

an  academic  interest  attached  to  the  lower  theories. 
About  that  time  a  great  change  began,  however, 
to  set  in,  and  once  more  the  doctrine  of  a  truly  sub- 
stitutive  atonement  came  to  be  in  wide  circles  first 
doubted  and  then  scouted.  At  first  voices  like  those 
of  Hofmann  in  Germany,  of  Maurice  and  McLeod 
Campbell  in  Britain,  then  more  radical  notes  like 
those  of  Bushnell  and  Ritschl  were  heard,  until 
it  became  evident  that  a  new  flood  of  Rationalism 
was  fully  upon  us.  The  immediate  effect,  of 
course,  was  to  call  out  a  powerful  defense  of  the 
Scriptural  doctrine ;  and  our  best  treatises  on  the 
atonement  come  accordingly  from  this  period.  But 
the  defense  only  stemmed  the  tide  and  could  not 
roll  it  back.  The  ultimate  result  has  been  that  the 
revolt  from  the  conceptions  of  satisfaction,  propitia 
tion,  expiation,  sacrifice,  reinforced  continually  by 
tendencies  adverse  to  evangelical  doctrine  peculiar 
to  our  times,  has  grown  more  and  more  widespread, 
and  in  some  quarters  more  and  more  extreme, 
until  it  has  issued  in  an  immense  confusion  on 
this  central  doctrine  of  the  Gospel.  Voices  are 
raised  all  about  us  proclaiming  a  "theory''  of  the 
atonement  impossible  ;  while  many  of  those  who 
essay  a  "  theory  "  seem  to  be  feeling  their  tortuous 
way  very  much  in  the  dark.  That,  if  I  mistake 
not,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  the  popular  literature  of 
the  day,  is  the  real  state  of  affairs  in  the  modern 
church. 


XVI  INTRODUCTION. 

Probably  the  majority  of  those  who  hold  the 
public  ear  have  definitely  broken  with  the  doc 
trine  of  a  substitutive  atonement.  A  tone  of  speech 
has  even  grown  up  regarding  it  which  is  not  only 
scornful  but  positively  abusive.  Of  course  it  is  still 
in  terms  of  the  substitutive  atonement  that  the 
humble  Christian  everywhere  expresses  the  ground 
of  his  hope  of  salvation  ;  and  it  is  in  its  terms  that 
the  earnest  evangelist  everywhere  still  presses  the 
claims  of  Christ  upon  the  awakened  hearer.  There 
is  no  "  life  "  in  any  other  doctrine.  But  this  does 
not  deter  "  men  of  light  and  leading  "  from  apply 
ing  the  harshest  epithets  to  it,  or  pouring  the 
strongest  invectives  upon  it.  "  The  whole  theory 
of  substitutional  punishment  as  a  ground  either  of 
conditional  or  unconditional  pardon,  is  unethical, 
contradictory,  and  subversive  " — that  is  the  way 
those  who  study  mildness  of  speech  speak  of  it.  If 
hard  words  broke  bones,  the  doctrine  of  the  substi 
tutional  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God  for  the  sin  of 
the  world  would  long  ago  have  been  ground  to 
powder.  The  timeliness  of  a  defense  of  this  doc 
trine  like  Dr.  Remensnyder's  is  therefore  certainly 
obvious. 

Let  me  try  to  set  down  in  few  words  the  impres 
sion  which  the  most  recent  literature  on  the  sub 
ject  makes  on  me  of  what  the  modern  world  offers 
instead  of  the  Scriptural  doctrine  of  a  substitutive 
atonement.  We  have  already  intimated  that  it  is 


INTRODUCTION.  XV11 

confusion  that  reigns  here  ;  and  in  any  event  I  can 
not  go  into  detail.  But  it  may  repay  us  to  observe 
at  least  in  outline  the  driftage  of  recent  teaching. 

To  obtain  a  just  view  of  the  situation,  I  think  we 
ought  to  note,  first  of  all,  the  wide  prevalence  among 
the  sounder  thinkers  of  the  time,  of  the  Grotian  or 
Rectoral  theory  of  the  atonement — the  theory,  that 
is,  that  conceives  the  work  of  Christ  not  as  supply 
ing  the  ground  on  which  God  forgives  sin,  but  only 
as  supplying  the  ground  on  which  He  may  safely 
forgive  sin  on  the  sole  ground  of  His  compassion. 
This  theory  has  come  to  be  the  orthodox  Arminian 
view  and  is  taught  as  such  by  the  leading  expo 
nents  of  modern  Arminian  thought  whether  in  Brit 
ain  or  America ;  and  he  who  will  read  the  powerful 
argumentation  to  that  effect  by  the  late  Dr.  John 
Miley,  say  for  example,  will  be  compelled  to  agree 
that  it  is,  indeed,  the  highest  form  of  atonement- 
doctrine  conformable  to  the  Arminian  system.  But 
not  only  is  it  thus  practically  universal  among  the 
Wesleyan  Arminians.  It  has  become  also  the  mark 
of  orthodox  Nonconformity  in  Great  Britain  and  of 
orthodox  Congregationalism  in  America.  Nor  has  it 
failed  to  take  a  strong  hold  also  of  Scottish  Presbyte- 
rianism  ;  and  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  it  is  wide 
spread  among  the  saner  teachers.  One  notes  with 
out  surprise,  for  example,  that  it  was  taught  by  the 
late  Dr.  Frederic  Godet,  though  one  notes  with  sat 
isfaction  that  it  was  considerably  modified  upward 


XV111  INTRODUCTION. 

by  Dr.  Godet,  and  that  his  colleague,  Dr.  Gretillat, 
was  careful  to  correct  it.  In  a  word,  wherever  men 
have  been  unwilling  to  drop  all  semblance  of  an 
"  objective  "  atonement,  as  the  word  now  goes,  they 
have  taken  refuge  in  this  half-way  house  which 
Grotius  has  builded  for  them.  I  do  not  myself  look 
upon  this  as  a  particularly  healthful  sign  of  the 
times.  I  do  not  myself  think  that,  at  bottom,  there 
is  in  principle  much  to  choose  between  the  Grotian 
and  the  so-called  "  subjective  "  theories.  It  seems 
to  me  to  be  only  an  illusion  to  suppose  that  it  pre 
serves  an  "  objective  "  atonement  at  all.  But  mean 
while  it  is  adopted  by  many  because  they  deem  it 
u  objective,"  and  it  so  far  bears  witness  to  a  rem- 
anent  desire  to  preserve  an  "  objective  "  atonement. 
We  are  getting  more  closely  down  to  the  real 
characteristic  of  modern  theories  of  the  atonement 
when  we  note  that  there  is  a  strong  tendency  ob 
servable  all  around  us  to  rest  the  forgiveness  of  sins 
solely  on  repentance  as  its  ground.  In  its  last  anal 
ysis,  the  Grotian  theory  itself  reduces  to  this.  The 
demonstration  of  God's  righteousness,  which  is  held 
by  it  to  be  the  heart  of  Christ's  work  and  particu 
larly  of  His  death,  is  supposed  to  have  no  other 
effect  on  God  than  to  render  it  safe  for  Him  to  for 
give  sin.  And  this  it  does  not  as  affecting  Him, 
but  as  affecting  men — namely,  by  awaking  in  them 
such  a  poignant  sense  of  the  evil  of  sin  as  to  cause 
them  to  hate  it  soundly  and  to  .turn  decisively  away 


INTRODUCTION.  XIX 

from  it.  This  is  just  repentance.  We  could  desire 
no  better  illustration  of  this  feature  of  the  theory 
than  is  afforded  by  the  statement  of  it  by  one  of  its 
most  distinguished  living  advocates.  The  necessity 
of  atonement,  he  tells  us,  lies  in  the  "  need  of  some 
such  demonstration  of  God's  righteousness  as  will 
make  it  possible  and  safe  for  Him  to  forgive  the  un 
righteous."  Whatever  begets  in  the  sinner  true 
penitence  and  impels  him  toward  the  practice  of 
righteousness  will  render  it  safe  to  forgive  him. 
Hence  this  writer  asserts  that  it  is  inconceivable 
that  God  should  not  forgive  the  penitent  sinner,  and 
that  Christ's  work  is  summed  up  in  such  an  exhi 
bition  of  God's  righteousness  and  love  as  produces, 
on  its  apprehension,  adequate  repentance.  "  By 
being  the  source,  then,  of  true  and  fruitful  peni 
tence,  the  death  of  Christ  removes  the  radical  sub 
jective  obstacle  in  the  way  of  forgiveness."  "The 
death  of  Christ,  then,  has  made  forgiveness  possi 
ble,  because  it  enables  man  to  repent  with  an  ade 
quate  penitence,  and  because  it  manifests  righteous 
ness  and  binds  men  to  God."  There  is  no  hint 
here  that  man  needs  anything  more  to  enable  him 
to  repent  than  the  presentation  of  motives  calcu 
lated  powerfully  to  induce  him  to  repent.  That  is 
to  say,  there  is  no  sign  here  of  an  adequate  appre 
ciation  of  the  subjective  effects  of  sin  on  the  human 
heart,  deadening  it  to  the  appeal  of  motives  to  right 
action  however  powerful,  and  requiring  therefore 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 

an  internal  action  of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  it  be 
fore  it  can  repent ;  or  of  the  purchase  of  such  a  gift  of 
the  Spirit  by  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.  As  little  is  there 
any  indication  here  of  the  existence  of  any  sense  of 
justice  in  God,  forbidding  Him  to  account  the  guilty 
righteous  without  satisfaction  of  guilt.  All  God 
requires  for  forgiveness  is  repentance  :  all  the  sin 
ner  needs  for  repentance  is  a  moving  inducement. 
It  is  all  very  simple  ;  but  \ve  are  afraid  it  does  not 
go  to  the  root  of  matters  as  presented  either  in 
Scripture  or  in  the  throes  of  our  awakened  hearts. 
The  widespread  tendency  to  represent  repentance 
as  the  atoning  fact  might  seem,  then,  to  be  ex 
plicable  from  the  extensive  acceptance  which  has 
been  given  to  the  Rectoral  theory  of  the  atonement. 
Nevertheless  much  of  it  has  had  a  very  different 
origin  and  may  be  traced  back  among  English- 
speaking  teachers,  at  least,  rather  to  some  such  doc 
trine  as  that,  say,  of  Dr.  McL,eod  Campbell.  Dr. 
Campbell  did  not  himself  find  the  atoning  fact  in 
man's  own  repentance,  but  rather  in  our  Lord's  sym 
pathetic  repentance  for  man.  He  replaced  the  evan 
gelical  doctrine  of  substitution  by  a  theory  of  sym 
pathetic  identification,  and  the  evangelical  doctrine 
of  expiatory  penalty-paying  by  a  theory  of  sympa 
thetic  repentance.  Christ  so  fully  enters  sympa 
thetically  into  our  case,  was  his  idea,  that  he  is  able 
to  offer  to  God  an  adequate  repentance  for  our  sins  ; 
and  the  Father  says,  It  is  enough  !  Man  here  is  still 


INTRODUCTION.  XXI 

held  to  need  a  Saviour,  and  Christ  is  presented  as 
that  Saviour,  and  is  looked  upon  as  performing  for 
man  what  man  cannot  do  for  himself.  But  the 
gravitation  of  this  theory  is  distinctly  downward, 
and  it  has  ever  tended  to  find  its  lower  level.  There 
are,  therefore,  numerous  transition  theories  preva 
lent — some  of  them  very  complicated,  some  of  them 
very  subtle — which  connect  it  by  a  series  of  insen 
sible  stages  with  the  proclamation  of  human 
repentance  as  the  sole  atonement  required. 
As  typical  of  these  we  may  take  the  elab 
orate  theory  (which,  like  man  himself,  may  be 
said  to  be  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made)  set 
forth  a  few  years  ago  by  the  Andover  divines.  This 
finds  the  atoning  fact  in  a  combination  of  Christ's 
sympathetic  repentance  for  man  and  man's  own  re 
pentance  under  the  impression  made  upon  him  by 
Christ's  work  on  his  behalf — not  in  the  one  without 
the  other,  but  in  the  two  in  unison.  A  similar 
combination  of  the  revolutionary  repentance  of  man 
induced  by  Christ  and  the  sympathetic  repentance  of 
Christ  for  man  meets  us  also  in  recent  German  the 
orizing,  as,  for  example,  in  the  teaching  of  Haring. 
It  is  sometimes  clothed  in  u  sacrificial "  language 
and  made  to  bear  an  appearance  even  of  ''substitu 
tion."  It  is  just  the  repentance  of  Christ,  however, 
which  is  misleadingly  called  His  u  sacrifice,"  and 
our  sympathetic  repentance  with  Him  that  is  called 
our  participation  in  His  "  sacrifice  ;  "  and  it  is  care- 


XX11  INTRODUCTION. 

fully  explained  that  though  there  was  "  a  substitu 
tion  on  Calvary,"  it  was  not  the  substitution  of  a 
sinless  Christ  for  a  sinful  race,  but  the  substitution 
of  humanity  plus  Christ  for  humanity  minus  Christ. 
All  of  which  seems  but  a  confusing  way  of  saying 
that  the  atoning  fact  consists  in  the  revolutionary 
repentance  of  man  induced  by  the  spectacle  of 
Christ's  sympathetic  repentance  for  man. 

The  essential  emphasis  in  all  these  transition  the 
ories  falls  obviously  on  man's  own  repentance  rather 
than  on  Christ's.  Accordingly  the  latter  falls  away 
easily  and  leaves  us  with  human  repentance  only  as 
the  sole  atoning  fact — the  entire  reparation  which 
God  asks  or  can  ask  for  sin.  Nor  do  men  hesitate 
to-day  to  proclaim  this  openly  and  boldly.  Scores  of 
voices  are  raised  about  us  declaring  it  not  only  with 
clearness  but  with  passion.  Even  those  who  still  feel 
bound  to  attribute  the  reconciling  of  God  somehow 
to  the  work  of  Christ  are  often  careful  to  explain 
that  they  mean  this  ultimately  only,  and  only  be 
cause  they  attribute  in  one  way  or  another  to  the 
work  of  Christ  the  arousing  of  the  repentance  in 
man  which  is  the  immediate  ground  of  forgiveness. 
Thus  we  are  told  that  it  is  "  Repentance  and 
Faith  "  that  "  change  for  us  the  face  of  God."  And 
then,  it  is  added,  doubtless  as  a  concession  to  in 
grained,  though  outgrown,  habits  of  thought  :  "If 
then  the  death  of  Christ,  viewed  as  the  culmi 
nating  point  of  His  life  of  love,  is  the  destined  means 


INTRODUCTION.  XX111 

of  repentance  for  the  whole  world,  we  may  say 
also  that  it  is  the  means  of  securing  the  mercy 
and  favor  of  God,  of  procuring  the  forgive 
ness  of  sins."  Again,  we  are  told  that  Christ  enters 
sympathetically  into  our  condition,  and  gives  ex 
pression  to  an  adequate  sense  of  sin.  We,  per 
ceiving  the  effect  of  this,  His  entrance  into  our  sin 
ful  atmosphere,  are  smitten  with  horror  of  the  judg 
ment  our  sin  has  thus  brought  on  Him.  This  hor 
ror  begets  in  us  an  adequate  repentance  of  sin.  God 
accepts  this  repentance  as  enough  ;  and  forgives  our 
sin.  Thus  forgiveness  rests  proximately  only  on 
our  repentance  as  its  ground  :  but  our  repentance  is 
produced  only  by  Christ's  sufferings :  and  hence, 
we  are  told,  Christ's  sufferings  may  be  called  the 
ultimate  ground  of  forgiveness. 

It  is  sufficiently  plain  that  the  function  served  by 
the  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ  in  this  construc 
tion  is  somewhat  remote.  Accordingly  they  quite 
readily  fall  away  altogether.  It  seems  quite  natural 
that  they  should  do  so  with  those  whose  doctrinal  in 
heritance  comes  from  Horace  Bushnell,  say,  or  from 
the  Socinian  theorizing  of  the  school  of  Ritschl. 
We  feel  no  surprise  to  learn,  for  example,  that  with 
Harnack  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ  play  no 
appreciable  part.  With  him  the  whole  atoning  act. 
seems  to  consist  in  the  removal  of  a  false  concep 
tion  of  God  from  the  minds  of  men.  Men,  because 
sinners,  are  prone  to  look  upon  God  as  a  wrathful 


XXIV  INTRODUCTION. 

judge.  He  is,  on  the  contrary,  just  Love.  How 
can  the  sinner's  misjudgment  be  corrected  ?  By  the 
impression  made  upon  him  by  the  life  of  Jesus, 
keyed  to  the  conception  of  the  Divine  Fatherhood. 
With  all  this  we  are  familiar  enough.  But  we  are 
hardly  prepared  for  the  extremities  of  language 
which  some  permit  themselves  in  giving  expression 
to  it.  u  The  whole  difficulty,"  a  recent  writer  of 
this  class  declares,  "  is  not  in  inducing  or  enabling 
God  to  pardon,  but  in  moving  men  to  abhor  sin  and 
to  want  pardon."  Even  this  difficulty,  however, 
we  are  assured  is  removable  :  and  what  is  needed 
for  its  removal  is  only  proper  instruction.  "  Chris 
tianity,"  cries  our  writer,  u  is  a  revelation,  not  a  cre 
ation."  Even  this  false  antithesis  does  not,  how 
ever,  satisfy  him.  He  rises  beyond  it  to  the  acme 
of  his  passion.  "  Would  there  have  been  no  Gos 
pel,"  he  rhetorically  demands — as  if  none  could 
venture  to  say  him  nay — "  would  there  have  been 
no  Gospel  had  not  Christ  died  ?  "  Thus  "  the  blood 
of  Christ "  on  which  the  Scriptures  hang  the  whole 
atoning  fact  is  thought  no  longer  to  be  needed  :  the 
Gospel  of  Paul,  which  consisted  not  in  Christ  sim- 
pliciter  but  specifically  in  "  Christ  as  crucified,"  is 
scouted.  We  are  able  to  get  along  now  without 
these  things. 

To  such  a  pass  have  we  been  brought  by  the  pre 
vailing  Gospel  of  the  indiscriminate  love  of  God. 
For  it  is  here  that  we  place  our  finger  on  the  root 


INTRODUCTION.  XXV 

of  the  whole  modern  assault  upon  the  doctrine  of 
an  expiatory  atonement.  In  the  attempt  to  give 
effect  to  the  conception  of  indiscriminate  and  un- 
discrim  mating  love  as  the  basal  fact  of  religion,  the 
entire  Biblical  teaching  as  to  atonement  has  been 
ruthlessly  torn  up.  If  God  is  love  and  nothing  but 
love,  what  possible  need  can  there  be  of  an  atone 
ment  ?  Certainly  such  a  God  cannot  need  propitiat 
ing.  Is  not  He  the  All-Father  ?  Is  He  not  yearn 
ing  for  His  children  with  an  unconditioned  and  un- 
conditioning  eagerness  which  excludes  all  thought 
of  "  obstacles  to  forgiveness  ?  "  What  does  He 
want  but — just  His  children  ?  Our  modern  theori- 
zers  are  never  weary  of  ringing  the  changes  on  this 
single  fundamental  idea.  God  does  not  require  to 
be  moved  to  forgiveness  ;  or  to  be  enabled  to  par 
don  ;  or  even  to  be  enabled  to  pardon  safely.  He 
raises  no  question  of  whether  He  can  pardon,  or 
whether  it  would  be  safe  for  Him  to  pardon.  Such 
is  not  the  way  of  love.  Love  is  bold  enough  to 
sweep  all  such  chilling  questions  impatiently  out  of 
its  path.  The  whole  difficulty  is  to  induce  men  to 
permit  themselves  to  be  pardoned.  God  is  con 
tinually  reaching  longing  arms  out  of  heaven 
toward  men  :  oh,  if  men  would  only  let  themselves 
be  gathered  into  the  Father's  eager  heart !  It  is 
absurd,  we  are  told — nay,  wicked — blasphemous 
with  awful  blasphemy — to  speak  of  propitiating 
such  a  God  as  this,  of  reconciling  Him,  of  making 


XXVI  INTRODUCTION. 

satisfaction  to  Him.  Love  needs  no  satisfying, 
reconciling,  propitiating  ;  nay,  will  have  nothing  to 
do  with  such  things.  Of  its  very  nature  it  flows 
out  unbought,  unpropitiated,  instinctively,  and  un 
conditionally  to  its  object.  And  God  is  Love  ! 

Well,  certainly,  God  is  Love.  And  we  praise 
Him  that  we  have  better  authority  for  telling  our 
souls  this  glorious  truth  than  the  passionate  asser 
tion  of  these  somewhat  crass  theorizers.  God  is 
Love  !  But  it  does  not  in  the  least  follow  that  He 
is  nothing  but  love.  He  is  Holiness  and  Righteous 
ness  as  well ;  or,  as  our  modern  German  friends 
love  to  express  it,  He  is  not  "  Love  "  barely,  but 
"  Holy  Love,"  or,  as  we  might  as  well  say,  u  Lov 
ing  Holiness."  It  may  well  be — to  us  sinners,  lost 
in  our  sin  and  misery  but  for  it,  it  must  be — the 
crowning  revelation  of  Christianity  that  God  is  love. 
But  it  is  not  from  the  Christian  revelation  that  we 
have  learned  to  think  of  God  as  nothing  but  love. 
That  God  is  the  Father  of  all  men  in  a  true  and 
important  sense,  we  should  not  doubt.  But  this 
term,  "All-Father" — it  is  not  from  the  lips  of 
Hebrew  prophet  or  Christian  apostle  that  we  have 
caught  it.  And  the  indiscriminate  benevolencism 
which  has  taken  captive  so  much  of  the  religious 
thinking  of  our  time  is  a  conception  not  native  to 
Christianity,  but  of  distinctly  heathen  quality.  As 
one  reads  the  pages  of  popular  religious  literature, 
teeming  as  it  is  with  ill-considered  assertions  of  the 


INTRODUCTION.  XXV11 

general  Fatherhood  of  God,  he  has  an  odd  feeling 
of  transportation  back  into  the  atmosphere  of,  say, 
the  decadent  heathenism  of  the  fourth  and  fifth 
centuries,  when  the  gods  were  dying,  and  there  was 
left  to  those  who  would  fain  cling  to  the  old  ways 
little  beyond  a  somewhat  saddened  sense  of  the 
benignitas  numinis.  The  benignitas  numinis ! 
How  studded  the  pages  of  those  genial  old  heathen 
are  with  the  expression ;  how  suffused  their  re 
pressed  life  is  with  the  conviction  that  the  kind 
Diety  that  dwells  above  will  surely  not  be  hard  on 
men  toiling  here  below  !  How  shocked  they  are  at 
the  stern  righteousness  of  the  Christian's  God,  who 
loomed  before  their  startled  eyes  as  He  looms  before 
those  of  the  modern  poet  in  no  other  light  than  as 
"  the  hard  God  that  dwelt  in  Jerusalem  !  "  Surely 
the  Great  Divinity  is  too  broadly  good  to  mark  the 
peccadillos  of  poor  puny  man  ;  surely  they  are  the 
objects  of  His  compassionate  amusement  rather 
than  of  His  fierce  reprobation  !  Like  Omar  Khay 
yam's  pot,  they  were  convinced,  before  all  things, 
of  their  Maker  that  "  He's  a  good  fellow  and  'twill 
all  be  well." 

The  query  cannot  help  rising  to  the  surface  of 
our  minds  whether  our  modern  indiscriminate 
benevolencism  goes  much  deeper  than  this.  Does 
all  this  one-sided  proclamation  of  the  universal 
Fatherhood  of  God  import  much  more  than  the 
heathen  benignitas  numinis?  When  we  take  those 


XXV111  INTRODUCTION. 

blessed  words,  "God  is  Love,"  upon  our  lips,  are  we 
sure  we  mean  to  express  much  more  than  that  we  do 
not  wish  to  believe  that  God  will  hold  man  to  any 
real  account  for  his  sin  ?  Are  we,  in  a  word,  in  these 
modern  days,  so  much  soaring  upward  toward  a 
more  adequate  apprehension  of  the  transcendent 
truth  that  God  is  love,  as  passionately  protesting 
against  being  ourselves  branded  and  dealt  with  as 
wrath-deserving  sinners  ?  Assuredly  it  is  impossi 
ble  to  put  anything  like  their  real  content  into 
these  great  words,  "  God  is  Love,"  save  as  they  are 
thrown  out  against  the  background  of  those  other 
conceptions  of  equal  loftiness,  "  God  is  Light," 
"  God  is  Righteousness,"  "  God  is  Holiness,"  "  God 
is  a  consuming  fire."  The  love  of  God  cannot  be 
apprehended  in  its  length  and  breadth  and  height 
and  depth — all  of  which  pass  knowledge — save  as 
it  is  apprehended  as  the  love  of  a  God  who  turns 
from  the  sight  of  sin  with  inexpressible  abhorrence, 
and  burns  against  it  with  unquenchable  indignation. 
The  infinitude  of  His  love  is  illustrated  not  by  His 
lavishing  His  favors  on  sinners  without  requiring 
an  expiation  of  sin,  but  by  His — through  such 
holiness  and  through  such  righteousness  as  cannot 
but  cry  out  with  infinite  abhorrence  and  indignation 
— still  loving  sinners  so  greatly  that  He  Himself 
provides  a  satisfaction  for  their  sin  adequate  to  these 
tremendous  demands.  It  is  the  distinguishing  char 
acteristic  of  Christianity,  after  all,  not  that  it 


INTRODUCTION.  XXIX 

preaches  a  God  of  love,  but  that  it  preaches  a  God 
of  conscience. 

A  somewhat  flippant  critic,  contemplating"  the 
religion  of  Israel,  has  told  us,  as  expressive  of  his 
admiration  for  what  he  found  there,  "  that  an  honest 
God  is  the  noblest  work  of  man."  There  is  a 
profound  truth  lurking  in  the  remark.  Only  it 
appears  that  the  work  were  too  noble  for  man  ;  and 
probably  man  has  never  compassed  it.  A  benevo 
lent  God,  yes :  men  have  framed  a  benevolent  God 
for  themselves.  But  a  thoroughly  honest  God,  per 
haps  never.  That  has  been  left  for  the  revelation 
of  God  Himself  to  give  us.  And  this  is  the  really 
distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  God  of  revela 
tion  :  He  is  a  thoroughly  honest,  a  thoroughly  con 
scientious  God — a  God  who  deals  honestly  with 
Himself  and  us,  who  deals  conscientiously  with 
Himself  and  us.  And  a  thoroughly  conscientious 
God,  we  may  be  sure,  is  not  a  God  who  can  deal 
with  sinners  as  if  they  were  not  sinners.  In  this 
fact  lies,  perhaps,  the  deepest  ground  of  the  neces 
sity  of  an  expiatoiy  atonement. 

And  it  is  in  this  fact  also  that  there  lies  the 
deepest  ground  of  the  increasing  failure  of  the 
modern  world  to  appreciate  the  necessity  of  an 
expiatory  atonement.  Conscientiousness  commends 
itself  only  to  awakened  conscience  ;  and  in  much 
of  recent  theologizing  conscience  does  not  seem 
especially  active.  Nothing,  indeed,  is  more  start- 


:XXX  INTRODUCTION. 

ling  in  the  structure  of  recent  theories  of  atonement 
than  the  apparently  vanishing  sense  of  sin  that 
underlies  them.  Surely,  it  is  only  where  the  sense 
of  the  guilt  of  sin  has  grown  grievously  faint  that 
men  can  suppose  repentance  to  be  all  that  is  needed 
to  purge  it.  Surely  it  is  only  where  the  sense  of 
the  power  of  sin  has  profoundly  decayed  that  men 
can  fancy  that  they  can  cast  it  off  from  them  at 
will  in  a  "  revolutionary  repentance."  Surely  it  is 
only  where  the  sense  of  the  heinousness  of  sin  has 
practically  passed  away  that  man  can  imagine  that 
the  holy  and  just  God  can  deal  with  it  lightly. 
If  we  have  not  much  to  be  saved  from,  why,  cer 
tainly,  a  very  little  atonement  will  suffice  for  our 
needs.  It  is,  after  all,  only  the  sinner  that  requires 
a  Saviour.  But  if  we  are  sinners,  and  in  propor 
tion  as  we  know  ourselves  to  be  sinners,  and  appre 
ciate  what  it  means  to  be  sinners,  we  will  cry  out 
for  that  Saviour  who  only  after  He  was  perfected 
by  suffering  could  become  the  Author  of  eternal 
salvation. 

B.  B.  WARFIEUX 

PRINCETON. 


THE  ATONEMENT 
AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

CHAPTER   I. 

CHRISTIANITY    AND  THE    MODERN    SPIRIT. 

SECTION  I.   Religion  and  Our  Age. 

OUR  age  is  one  of  unwonted  mental  activity. 
Never  were  there  such  large  editions  of  popular  books 
or  such  multitudes  of  readers.  The  natural  ten 
dency  of  this  vast  product  of  the  press  is  to  superficial 
thinking.  The  temptation  is  to  be  entertained  at 
the  expense  of  reflection.  The  stronger  mental 
faculties  are  slighted,  the  deeper  themes  of  thought 
unstudied. 

Hence,  our  time  is  not  a  favorable  one  for  re 
ligion.  There  is  far  less  than  there  has  been  in  the 
past  of  "seeing  the  invisible,"  of  hearing  the  in 
audible,  and  of  musing  upon  the  eternal.  There  is 

(19) 


20   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

too  little  of  looking  by  faith  upon  the  realities  of 
the  spiritual  sphere,  of  leading  the  still,  deep,  inner 
"life  hid  with  Christ  in  God." 

This  demands  a  more  serious  age,  men  and  women 
of  finer  moral  sense  and  of  sturdier  mental  brawn. 

Nevertheless,  it  cannot  be  said  that  religion  has 
lost  its  interest  in  our  day.  Amid  all  the  worldly 
clamor  and  the  commercialistic  cries  which  fill  the 
air,  men  find  time  for  profounder  thoughts.  There 
is  far  more  grave  thinking  and  introspection  of  the 
soul  in  silent  moments  by  the  leaders  in  the  secular 
marts  than  we  often  suspect. 

And  when  we  come  to  the  philosophical,  the 
literary,  the  theological,  and  the  learned  sphere, 
when  has  there  been  a  deeper  agitation  and  a 
keener  discussion  of  religion  ?  In  fact,  Christianity 
is  the  theme  of  the  hour.  Christ  is  the  great  storm- 
centre.  The  Bible  is  the  chief  issue.  The  doctrines 
of  Chiistianity  are  the  battle-ground. 

SECTION  II.    Christianity    on    Trial. 

We  no  longer  live  under  the  peaceful  skies  of 
our  fathers,  when  there  was  a  general  acquiescence 
in  Christianity.  But  the  religion  which  has  stood 


CHRISTIANITY   AND   THE    MODERN   SPIRIT.       21 

for  centuries  in  Western  civilization  as  the  one  only 
true  heaven-given  faith  is  under  fire.  On  this  and 
on  that  ground  it  is  questioned.  From  manifold 
quarters  comes  the  attack.  Everywhere  does  Chris 
tianity  find  her  position  challenged.  The  faith  of 
those  who  have  been  at  ease  is  disturbed.  Convic 
tions  not  deeply  rooted  are  shaken.  Infidelity, 
President  Harper  tells  us,  is  growing  in  the  univer 
sities.  Beyond  question  it  is  a  crucial  epoch  for 
our  holy  religion,  such  as  neither  ancient,  mediaeval, 
nor  modern  history  has  seen. 

There  are  many  causes  for  this,  and  as  varied 
phases  of  the  attack. 

SECTION  III.  Denial  of  the  Supernatural. 

Reason  receives  the  natural  alone.  Faith  per 
ceives  the  invisible  and  believes  the  supernatural 
on  divine  testimony.  Reason  having  failed  to  find 
God  and  immortality,  it  was  left  to  revelation  to 
make  them  known.  For  this  the  agency  of  the 
supernatural  was  necessary.  Christianity  accord 
ingly  stands  or  falls  with  the  supernatural.  God 
in  giving  the  biblical  revelation  has  miraculously 
interposed  in  the  course  of  human  history.  Destroy 


22   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

the  belief  in  its  supernatural  basis  and  ele 
ment,  and  nothing  distinctive  of  Christianity  re 
mains. 

But  ours  is  an  era  in  which  every  attempt  is 
made  to  discredit  the  supernatural.  Science  is  here 
called  upon  to  aid.  The  sphere  of  the  scientists  is 
the  natural,  and  the  marvelous  advances  made  in  the 
last  century  in  the  scientific  realm  have  led  many 
of  its  votaries  to  indulge  an  utterly  false  estimate 
of  its  claims.  They  have  sought  to  make  it  monop 
olize  the  immaterial  and  supernatural,  and  to  dic 
tate  terms  to  religion.  But  the  scientist,  with  his 
spade  and  retort  and  telescope,  can  bring  none  of 
the  spiritual  world  within  his  ken. 

That  is  the  sphere  of  man's  higher  faculties,  of 
his  spiritual  sense.  Science  has  achieved  wonders 
to  heighten  the  ease  of  living  and  to  advance  the 
power  of  man,  but  it  cannot  avail  for  that  which  is 
highest  in  man.  It  must  remember  that  there  is 
nothing  in  electric  light  to  dispel  the  darkness  of 
the  mind,  nothing  in  evolution  to  unveil  God  as  a 
personal  Spirit,  nothing  in  the  energy  of  radium  to 
relieve  the  guilt  of  the  soul. 

This  denial  of  the  supernatural,  whether  in  the 
name  of  reason  or  science,  is  the  most  destructive 


CHRISTIANITY    AND    THE    MODERN   SPIRIT.       23 

form  of  assault  ever  made  upon  Christianity.  It  is 
not  a  question  of  "specks  in  the  marble  of  the  Parthe 
non,"  but  of  the  disintegration  of  its  massive  blocks 
and  the  downfall  of  the  edifice.  That  a  revelation 
has  been  given  to  men  at  all  is  denied.  Jesus  is 
but  another  Zoroaster ;  He  is  the  foremost  of  a  long 
line  of  illustrious  moralists.  The  Bible  is  a  grand 
volume  indeed,  giving  utterance  to  the  sublime 
thoughts  of  a  noble  group  of  ethical  teachers.  Henry 
Preserved  Smith  calls  it  a  u  book  of  moral  edifica 
tion."  But  it  is  not  absolute!}'  unique.  Its  super 
natural  inspiration  is  but  a  pious  myth,  a  fraud 
of  religious  enthusiasts.  It  comes  without  objec 
tive  authority  from  on  high. 

Hence,  after  the  maxim  of  Coleridge,  we  are  only 
to  receive  so  much  of  it  as  divine  as  gets  hold  of 
us,  i.  e.,  as  is  approved  by  our  subjective  reason. 
There  is,  therefore,  no  settled  system  of  religious  truth. 
The  Church's  doctrines  are  the  mere  teaching  of  men. 
The  insistence  upon  faith  in  them  is  a  demand  of 
bigotry.  To  bow  to  this  revelation  as  final  is  to 
narrow,  to  fetter  the  mind.  Reason  is  the  only 
supreme  teacher.  To  escape  from  the  authority  of 
revelation  is  to  drink  the  air  of  liberty,  to  soar  into 
the  sphere  of  freedom.  Such  is  the  issue  joined. 


24   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

The  crisis  is  the  most  elemental  and  dangerous  in 
the  history  of  Christianity. 

"In  the  defense  of  supernatural  Christianity  every 
thing  is  at  stake.  This  is  the  reason  that  the  crisis 
in  which  we  are  to-day  is  the  greatest  war  of  in 
tellect  that  has  ever  been  waged  since  the  birth  of 
the  Nazarene.'" 

The  battle,  then,  is  one  as  to  fundamental  stand 
points.  The  glossing  over  will  not  help  us.  Sweet 
assurances  that  we  lose  nothing  by  the  modern 
theology  must  not  satisfy  us.  "  The  faith  of  the  men 
of  Smith's  type  is  not  the  evangelical  faith  of  the 
Gospel.  Satan  has  clothed  himself  to-day  as  the 
angel  of  scientific  light  and  freedom,  and  is  becloud 
ing  the  spiritual  vision  of  men.  It  is  here  where 
we  must  ask  God  to  help  us  see  clearly,  and  we  dare 
not  cry  peace,  peace,  where  there  is  no  peace,  "f 

SECTION.  IV.  Modern    Thought    Cannot   Outgrow 
Essential  Christian  Truths. 

That  ours  is  an  age  of  progress,  of  discovery,  and 
of  advance,  often  effecting  a  veritable  revolution  in 

*  President  Patton's  Inaugural  at  Princeton  Theological 
Seminary. 

t  Rev.  J.  A.  W.  Haas,  D.  D.,  in  review  of  Prof.  Henry  Pre 
served  Smith's  Old  Testament  History. 


CHRISTIANITY    AND   THE    MODERN    SPIRIT.       25 

human  knowledge,  is  an  argument  weighing  for 
cibly  with  many  against  Christianity.  They  say, 
"  when  we  are  finding  so  much  false  that  we  held 
true,  and  when  we  are  leaving  so  many  effete  errors 
behind  us,  is  it  not  natural  that  your  Christian 
docrines  should  be  outgrown  and  superseded  by 
others?" 

Plausible  as  seems  this  argument,  its  fallacy  is 
easily  exposed.  True  progress  is  not  made  by  de 
struction  of  the  past,  but  by  building  upon  it.  If 
all  that  is  old  is  false,  then  as  soon  as  the  new  grows 
old  it  must  be  repudiated,  and  no  truth  remains — 
all  progress  is  impossible.  Conservatism  is  thus 
the  only  basis  for  progress,  while  radicalism,  reject 
ing  the  rounds  of  the  ladder  of  human  ascent,  ends 
in  a  destructive  iconoclasm.  It  cuts  from  under  its 
feet  the  only  possible  means  of  advance. 

In  the  progress  of  the  human  race  there  are 
always  fixed  factors  which  cannot  change.  Amid 
the  flux  these  abide  settled.  With  these  laws  and 
invariable  factors  in  all  lands  and  times  we  have  to 
deal.  The  ship  builder  in  devising  his  vessel  avails 
himself  of  the  latest  ideas,  and  how  marvelous  are 
the  contrivances  for  speed,  safety,  and  luxury 
of  a  modern  steamer  as  compared  with  the  clumsy 


26   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

hulks  of  half  a  century  since.  Yet  certain  primary 
conditions  have  not  changed.  He  builds  for  the 
same  seas,  the  same  tides,  the  same  laws  of  naviga 
tion  as  prevailed  when  Agamemnon  sailed  his 
simple  craft  of  oar-manned  vessels  against  the  Tro 
jans  thousands  of  years  ago.  Amid  all  superficial 
variations,  the  course  of  nature,  the  orbits  of  worlds, 
the  laws  of  angles,  the  principles  of  mathematics, 
the  properties  of  atoms,  the  elements  of  art  and 
beauty  stand  fast,  as  fixed  by  the  divine  ideal  from 
the  beginning  of  the  creation. 

Just  so  with  moral  and  religious  truths.  The 
ethical  principles  authoritative  over  human  action 
never  change.  So  the  essential  needs  of  man  for 
religion  remain  under  all  changes  the  same.  His 
soul  still  hungers  for  God.  Sin  remains,  and  the 
need  for  redemption  is  as  imperative  as  ever.  Pain 
and  sorrow  and  death  have  not  been  eliminated  in  the 
march  of  human  progress,  and  so  do  men  environed 
by  these  same  foes  require  the  same  features  and 
doctrines  of  Christianity  to  minister  to  their  help 
and  deliverance  that  their  fathers  did.  Though 
theology  may  require  a  restatement  of  its  truths  to 
meet  the  changed  conditions  of  the  time,  religion 
itself  will  not  change.  Of  the  fundamental,  en- 


CHRISTIANITY   AND    THE    MODERN    SPIRIT.       2J 

lightening,  regenerating,  and  redemptive  doctrines 
of  Christianity,  the  saying  of  Christ  stands  fast, 
"  Heaven  and  earth  may  pass  away,  but  my  words 
shall  not  pass  away." 

Hamilton  Wright  Mabie  fitly  gives  expression  to 
this  fact  that  progress  can  only  be  made  by  hold 
ing  to  the  essentials  as  settled  thus  :  "  Whatever 
decay  of  former  ideals  and  traditions  his  contem 
poraries  may  discover  and  lament,  Browning  holds 
to  the  general  soundness  and  wholesomeness  of  pro 
gress,  and  finds  each  successive  stage  of  growth 
not  antagonistic,  but  supplementary  to  those  which 
have  preceded  it."*  To  accord  with  the  spirit  of 
progress  which  characterizes  our  period,  Chris 
tianity  is  not  called  upon  to  surrender  or  substan 
tially  change  or  mould  anew  her  great  distinctive 
doctrines,  but  contrariwise  to  hold  fast  to  them. 

And  this  very  fact,  that  amid  all  the  assaults 
made  upon  her  tenets  by  a  Celsus,  a  Porphyry,  a 
Pelagius,  an  Arius,  an  Abelard,  or  by  Greek  Phil 
osophy,  or  modern  Rationalism,  she  has  never  com 
promised  one  jot  or  tittle  her  holy  faith  and  testimony, 
accounts  for  her  ability  to  retain  her  sway  over  so 
many  varied  ages  of  humanity,  and  so  many  diverse 
*  Essays  on  Literary  Interpretation,  p.  105. 


28   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

periods  of  culture,  even  down  to  the  present  hour. 
And  this  explains  also  why  Christianity  has  ever 
been  the  source  of  mental,  moral,  scientific,  and 
social  progress,  so  that  the  nations  that  have  owned 
her  pre-eminence  have  walked  in  the  light,  while 
others  have  lain  in  darkness. 

How  the  charge  then  disappears  that  conserva 
tive  orthodox  Christianity  is  a  lock  on  the  wheels 
of  human  advance,  growth,  and  progress.  And 
how  irrational  likewise  is  seen  to  be  the  idea  that 
Christianity  must  undergo  a  vital  reconstruction  to 
hold  its  place  as  the  one  only  true  religion  ! 

SECTION    V.    No    Occasion  for    Alarm,    but  for 
Vigilance. 

That  a  crisis  confronts  Christianity  is  not  to  be 
denied.  Never  has  there  been  such  a  concert  of 
energetic  thinking  directed  against  the  cardinal 
tenets  of  the  Christian  faith.  The  peculiarity  of 
the  situation  is  that  Rationalism  within  the  Church 
is  joining  its  hostile  forces  with  those  without. 
Secular  thinkers  treat  orthodox  Christianity  with 
curt  intolerance,  assuming  that  the  victory  over  it 
is  already  won.  And  with  vast  learning  and  im- 


CHRISTIANITY    AND    THE    MODERN    SPIRIT.       2Q 

mense  painstaking,  brilliant  scholars,  professedly 
Christians,  are  turning  the  fire  of  a  destructive 
criticism  upon  the  Bible.  While  declaring  that 
their  aim  is  to  give  us  the  "  real  message  "  of  the 
Bible,  and  claiming  a  motive  to  honor  it,  they  are 
insidiously  destroying  the  main  grounds  upon 
which  can  rest  any  belief  in  its  inspiration  or  any 
respect  for  its  authority. 

And  constantly  is  it  urged  that  we  must  look 
upon  the  Scriptures  from  a  totally  new  standpoint, 
that  Christian  theology  must  undergo  a  radical 
reconstruction,  and  that  the  great  and  essential 
Christian  doctrines  must  submit  to  cardinal  modifi 
cation.  The  Bible  is  simply  a  book  of  "  moral 
edification."  If  Christianity  will  not  thus  adapt 
itself  to  the  spirit  of  the  age,  we  are  told  that  it 
cannot  survive,  but  will  be  relegated  to  the  niche 
of  an  effete,  outworn  faith. 

But  let  not  the  hearts  of  believers  fail,  nor  let  any 
one  waver  in  his  firm,  pure  confession.  It  was, 
meant  that  the  kingdom  of  God  should  pass  through 
just  such  crises  as  these.  True  faith  is  but  purified 
and  strengthened  by  the  severity  of  the  crucible. 
Time  and  again  has  the  Church  met  such  crises, 
when  the  powers  of  darkness  have  prematurely 


30   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

rejoiced,  and  when  the  hearts  of  Christians  have 
grown  faint.  But  ever  has  she  issued  forth  victo 
riously  from  the  peril  and  entered  upon  but  a 
larger  and  more  prosperous  career.  But  the  point  for 
us  to  weigh  is  that  this  has  not  been  effected  with 
out  effort.  Victory  cannot  be  won  by  inertia,  list- 
lessness,  and  indifference.  Attack  must  be  met  by 
defense.  Sleepless  aggressiveness  must  be  resisted 
by  untiring  vigilance.  Scholarship  must  be  an 
swered  by  scholarship.  Specialists  must  be  refuted 
by  specialists.  If  we  allow  the  citadel  to  be  care 
lessly  defended  and  exposed,  we  must  not  be  sur 
prised  if  it  be  taken  by  assault.  It  is  a  burning 
shame  if  the  confessors  of  Christ  will  manifest  less 
of  interest,  ardor  and  sacrifice,  in  standing  up  for 
His  cause,  than  those  exhibit  who  are  bent  on 
overturning  it.  At  present,  not  only  do  Christians 
seem  not  to  be  sufficiently  awake  to  the  danger, 
but  they  are  allowing  to  the  enemy  almost  a  monopoly 
of  zeal  and  enthusiasm.  One  cannot  but  admire  the 
patient,  tireless  study,  and  microscopical  investiga 
tion  which  extremely  latitudinarian  critics  are  giv 
ing  to  every  book  of  the  Bible.  The  most  difficult 
secrets  of  history  are  explored.  The  most  improb 
able  and  impossible  hypotheses  are  formulated. 


CHRISTIANITY   AND    THE    MODERN    SPIRIT.       31 

Every  conceivable  literary  outfit  is  brought  to  play. 
Money  is  expended  with  the  most  lavish  liberality. 
The  press  is  used  with  unparalleled  energy,  and  these 
negative  views  are  circulated  far  and  wide.  They 
are  touching  and  influencing  every  channel  of  cur 
rent  thought.  Especially  is  the  effort  made  to 
popularize  them,  to  present  them  in  such  attractive 
guise  as  to  win  the  ear  and  gain  the  mind  of  the 
public.  The  situation  reminds  one  of  a  witticism 
of  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  In  the  hall  of  the  Twin 
Mountain  House  in  the  White  Mountains,  where  he 
spent  his  vacations,  he  observed  a  painting  which 
represented  a  huge  mastiff  asleep,  with  a  fine  piece  of 
meat  between  his  paws,  which  an  agile  little  cur  was 
quietly  and  dexterously  getting  away  with.  "  This 
scene,"  said  Beecher,  "  fitly  represents  the  conserva 
tives  and  the  radicals  in  religion.  While  the  mas 
sive  watch-dogs  of  orthodoxy  are  securely  asleep,  the 
vigilant  poodles  of  destructive  thought  are  stealing 
away  the  faith  from  the  hearts  of  the  people."  Still 
there  is  no  peril  if  we  but  do  our  duty,  for  God  is 
on  the  side  of  Zion  and  its  loyal  servants.  But 
the  holy  treasure  of  our  faith  can  only  be  preserved 
by  the  fidelity,  the  learning,  the  mental  effort  and 
activity  of  its  defenders.  Christians  must  be  awake 


32   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

to  the  emergency.  They  must  think,  must  read, 
must  have  an  intelligent  acquaintance  with  the 
questions  of  issue,  and  must  be  quite  as  able  to 
repel  as  others  are  to  assail.  They  must  call  for 
and  liberally  support  evangelical  publications.  It 
is  but  by  thus  "  contending  earnestly  for  the  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints  "  that  it  can  be  main 
tained  inviolate.  And  evincing  this  vigilance  and 
"  putting  on  the  whole  panoply  of  God,"  no  one 
need  have  the  least  doubt  or  tremor  as  to  the  final 
issue.  The  Bible,  Christianity,  and  the  Church  will 
come  forth  from  this  crisis  triumphant  as  from, 
every  other. 

"  The  consideration  of  these  questions  we  need 
not  approach  with  the  feeling  of  alarm  that  Holy 
Scriptures  will  be  discredited  or  Christianity  be 
overthrown  by  the  revolutionary  methods  noticed 
in  this  volume.  Christ  still  lives,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  no  less  active  in  the  twentieth  than  He 
was  in  the  first  century.  Wave  after  wave  rises, 
lifts  its  crest  on  high,  and  breaks  into  thousands  of 
fragments  upon  the  rock  on  which  the  Church  is 
built."* 

*  Dr.  Henry  H.    Jacobs   in  Introduction   to   Haas's  Biblical 
Criticism. 


CHAPTER  II. 

VITAL   NATURE   OK   THE    ATONEMENT. 

THAT  the  need  of  atonement  is  one  of  the  most 
primary  and  deeply  seated  convictions  of  the  human 
race  is  shown  from  its  universality.  It  is  witnessed 
to,  not  alone  by  revealed,  but  as  well  by  natural  re 
ligion.  That  man  is  fallen,  that  this  has  alienated 
him  from  the  Deity,  and  that  his  sins  must  be  atoned 
for  before  he  can  approach  the  throne  of  infinite 
justice  is  recognized  even  by  the  u  religions  growing 
wild."  Thus  writes  Harnack  :  "That  blood  sacri 
fices  are  based  on  a  deep  religious  idea  is  proved  by 
the  extent  to  which  they  existed  among  so  many  na 
tions,  and  they  are  not,  therefore,  to  be  judged 
from  the  point  of  view  of  cold  and  blind  ration 
alism,  but  from  that  of  vivid  emotion.  It  is  ob 
vious  that  they  respond  to  a  deep  religious  need.'v" 

For  this  cause  have  altars  everywhere  reeked 
with  blood,  have  living  victims  been  offered  up 
or  caused  to  pass  through  supposed  expiatory  fires, 

*  What  is  Christianity?  p.   157. 
3  (33) 


34   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

have  men  voluntarily  lacerated  their  bodies,  and 
has  the  smoke  of  countless  sacrifices  ascended  to 
the  court  on  high.  Eloquent  testimony  do  these 
sacrificial  rites  and  the  prayers  and  rituals  of  all 
heathen  religions  bear  to  the  supreme  import  this 
conviction  has  had  for  the  race. 

But  what  is  thus  vividly  but  often  grotesquely 
shadowed  forth  in  the  heathen  cults  finds  its  com 
plete  and  final  expression  in  Christianity.  No  truth 
is  more  emphatically  revealed  in  the  Scriptures, 
none  centres  more  directly  in  the  person  of  Christ, 
and  none  is  more  integral  to  the  Christian  system. 

What  however  differentiates  Christianity  from 
the  nature  religions  is  the  unique  feature  that  man, 
being  impotent  in  his  sin  and  fall  to  make  atone 
ment  for  himself,  the  propitiation  proceeds  from  the 
divine  side  and  is  made  by  the  Son  of  God.  It  is 
as  Shakespeare  puts  it : 

"  He  who  best  the  vantage  might  have  taken, 
Himself  found  out  the  remedy." 

That  this  is  the  New  Testament  teaching,  the 
Unitarian  theologian,  Martineau,  admits  :  "  One 
thing  is  certain  to  Paul :  man,  as  he  is,  can  answer 
no  appeal  for  self-redemption,  his  present  nature 


VITAL    NATURE   OF   THE    ATONEMENT.          35 

has  long  enough  been  tried  and  found  wanting. 
The  evils  of  his  case  arise  from  his  constitution, 
and  will  never  cease  till  he  is  reconstituted.  Now 
that  he  has  lost  his  Paradise,  it  is  as  vain  to  call 
for  repentance  as  to  cry,  k  Turn  ye,  turn  ye,'  to 
the  fallen  angels  flung  from  heaven !  He  can  no 
more  lift  himself  than  the  bird  can  fly  without  an 
atmosphere.  Nothing  short  of  a  re-creation  of  him 
will  be  of  any  avail.  The  rescue,  therefore,  must 
come  from  superhuman  power,  the  initiative  must 
be  with  heaven,  there  must  provision  be  made  for 
the  fresh  departure."* 

Hence  to  effect  this  redemptive  work  is  the 
prime  motive  for  which  Deity  becomes  incarnate. 
"  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,"f 
affirms  the  great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles.  It  is  that 
one  far-off  event  to  which  the  whole  creation  moves. 
As  writes  Fairbairn  :  "  But  the  incarnation  had  a 
function,  and  so  we  must  ask,  Cur  Deits  Homo? 
(Why  did  God  become  man  ?)  Whatever  its  func 
tion  might  have  been  in  a  sinless  world,  its  pur 
pose  in  ours  was  to  save  the  soul  from  personal 
and  the  race  from  collective  sin."J 

*  Seat  of  Authority  in  Religion,  p.  476.  f  i  Tim.  i.  15. 

J  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Theology,  p.  479. 


36   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Occupying  this  vital  place  in  the  body  of  Chris 
tian  truth,  it  naturally  is  selected  as  a  principal 
target  of  attack.  So  we  find  that  against  perhaps 
no  other  doctrine  confessed  by  the  whole  Christian 
Church  is  there  such  a  concert  of  hostile  criticism 
as  is  now  experienced  by  this  one.  It  is  either 
openly  denied  or  so  stated  as  to  deprive  it  of  any 
positive  significance. 

Now,  as  the  atonement  wrought  out  by  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  directly  concerns 
each  one's  personal  salvation,  the  interest  attaching 
to  it  is  not  to  be  computed.  The  realization  of  the 
significance  of  the  atonement  is  the  most  tre 
mendous  thing  for  every  immortal  soul. 

And  when  so  powerful  and  persistent  an  attempt 
is  being  made  to  tear  from  the  Christian  this  great 
foundation  of  his  faith,  his  peace  and  his  hope, 
should  he  not  give  it  his  earnest  thought,  his  anx 
ious  study  and  his  strongest  defense?  With  this 
end  in  view,  the  present  volume  is  written,  and 
for  this  purpose  is  the  reader  invited  to  the  fol 
lowing  inquiry  into  this  vital  Christian  doctrine. 
Christianity  is  not  an  evolved,  but  a  revealed  re 
ligion.  It  is  not  the  full-blown  flower  of  the  ethical 
faculty,  but  the  appearance  in  the  fullness  of  time 


VITAL   NATURE   OF   THE   ATONEMENT.          37 

of  the  divine  scheme  of  redemption.  It  is  super- 
historical,  having  been  intervened  by  a  supernatural 
series  of  events  upon  the  course  of  history.  These 
events  constitute  a  revelation.  The  record  of  them 
is  given  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  To  these  alone 
then  can  we  go  to  ascertain  the  doctrines  of 
the  Christian  religion.  There  is  110  other  source 
or  norm  of  Christian  theology.  Friend  and  foe 
alike  admit  these  premises.  And  in  the  interpre 
tation  of  Holy  Scriptures  we  must  be  giiided  by 
sound  and  sane  canons  of  critical  exegesis.  We 
cannot  reject  a  text  as  uninspired  or  interpolated 
merely  because  it  refuses  to  fit  our  preconceived 
theory.  Nor  can  we  rear  a  mountain  of  conclusion 
on  a  single  text  presenting  an  incidental  phase  of  a 
doctrine,  and  then  reject  a  hundred  texts  which 
give  the  primary  and  larger  sense  of  the  doctrine. 
Following  these  axiomatic  principles,  there  is  but 
one  way  for  a  Christian  to  ascertain  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  the  atonement,  and  that  is  to  go  to  the 
Scriptures, 


CHAPTER  III. 

SCRIPTURAL  PRESENTATION   OF    THE   ATONEMENT. 

No  doctrine  of  Christianity  is  capable  of  more 
precise  statement  than  the  atonement.  As  the  in 
spired  writers  regarded  it  as  the  central  truth  of  the 
system,  so  it  is  shot  in  golden  threads  through  the 
entire  woof  of  revelation.  It  is  presented  in  such 
varied  forms  and  in  such  diversified  phraseology  as 
to  develop  it  in  broadest  and  minutest  outline.  It 
appears  in  the  Old  Testament  under  the  figure  of 
the  ram  which  God  provided  as  a  substitute  for 
Isaac  in  the  scapegoat ;  and  in  the  bloody  and  burnt 
offerings  which  Jehovah  says  "  shall  be  accepted  for 
the  transgressor  to  make  atonement  for  him."* 
The  whole  Levitical  ritual  is  founded  on  the  idea 
of  sacrifice — shadowing  forth  in  type  the  one  great 
sacrifice  to  come. 

The  chief  Old  Testament  word  used  for  this  pur 
pose  is  "is?3  (kipper)  rendered  by  Gesenius  "  literally 
to  cover  over,  with  the  purpose  of  hiding,  blotting 
out — expiation,  ransom,  redemption." 

*  Lev.  i.  4. 

(38) 


SCRIPTURAL    PRESENTATION.  39 

The  various  words  employed  in  the  New  Testa 
ment  to  set  forth  the  doctrine  are : 

Sacrifice  (Ovaia),  the  thing  sacrificed,  the  victim. 
"  Jesus  offered  up  once  for  all  himself  a  sacrifice 
for  sin "  (Heb.  vii.  27).  "  But  now  once  in  the 
end  of  the  world  hath  he  appeared  to  put  away  sin 
by  the  sacrifice  of  himself  "  (Heb.  ix.  26),  literally 
Sia  T??9  Bwias  avrov,  i.  e.,  by  means  of  His  sacrifice. 
"For  even  Christ  our  passover  (/.  e.,  our  paschal 
lamb,  with  whose  sacrificial  killing  the  passover 
began)  is  sacrificed  for  us  "  (i  Cor.  v.  7). 

The  idea  in  this  term  sacrifice  is  that  of  Jesus 
Christ  the  great  High  Priest  of  the  human  race  sub 
mitting  Himself  to  suffering  and  death  as  an  atone 
ment  for  sin,  and  as  an  acceptable  substitute  to  God 
the  Judge,  that  guilty  man  might  escape. 

Offering  (rpoa^opd^  the  general  term  of  which 
Ovo-ia  is  the  specific.  u  Christ  also  hath  loved  us,  and 
hath  given  himself  for  us  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice 
to  God  for  a  sweet-smelling  savor  "  (Ephes.  v.  2). 

Ransom  (Avrpov).  "  Even  as  the  Son  of  man  came 
to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many "  (Matt.  xx. 
28).  "Who  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all"  (i 
Tim.  ii.  6).  On  the  meaning  of  \vrpov,  Alford 
says :  "  Payment  as  equivalent  for  a  life  de~ 


40   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

stroyed ; "  and  Meyer  remarks  that  "  the  use  of  dvrt, 
before  it  clearly  marks  the  sense  of  \vrpov  to  be 
that  of  substitution  and  not  of  compensation  only." 

Propitiation  (iXao-^o?).  "Jesus  Christ  the  righteous 
is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins "  (i  John  ii.  2). 
"  God  loved  us,  and  sent  his  Son  to  be  a  propitia 
tion  for  our  sins"  (i  John  iv.  10).  The  idea  in 
volved  in  propitiation  is  a  sacrifice  offered  to  the 
divinity  displeased  and  offended  by  sin,  which  averts 
His  displeasure  and  disposes  Him  to  graciousness 
toward  the  offender.  How  could  that  be  called  a 
propitiatory  offering  which  did  not  propitiate,  which 
did  not  ascend  as  a  sweet-smelling  savor,  which 
produced  no  impression,  effected  no  change  in  the 
attitude  of  the  eternal  Judge  toward  the  sinner? 

Redemption  (ATroXvTpaxriv).  That  is,  deliverance 
effected  by  purchase.  Redemption  from  judgment 
entailed.  Satisfaction  made  for  our  sin.  "  In 
whom  we  have  redemption  through  his  blood,  even 
the  forgiveness  of  sins  "  (Col.  i.  14). 

Reconciliation  (tXacrtfecrtfat),  to  expiate  the  sin,  and 
thereby  make  God  propitious  to  the  sinner.  Christ 
was  "the  high  priest  to  make  reconciliation  for 
the  sins  of  the  people"  (Heb.  ii.  17).  That  is,  the 
high  priest,  by  sprinkling  the  mercy-seat  with  the 


SCRIPTURAL    PRESENTATION.  41 

blood  of  the  sacrifices,  made  expiation  for  the  guilt 
of  the  people.  But  the  great  high  priest,  Jesus 
Christ,  did  this  more  effectually  by  the  sprinkling 
of  man's  conscience  with  His  own  blood. 

Atonement.  This  word  is  found  but  once  in  the 
New  Testament  (Rom.  v.  n).  u  Our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  by  whom  we  have  received  the  atonement." 
But  it  is  not  a  literal  rendering  of  the  Greek  word 
here  used,  viz.  (fcaTaXXayfjv),  which  answers  to  the 
Hebrew  "is?  (kipper),  occurring  very  frequently  in 
the  Old  Testament  in  the  sense  of  expiation.  Thus 
it  is  used  (Lev.  v.  16) :  "  If  the  soul  commit  a  tres 
pass,  the  priest  shall  make  an  atonement  for  him." 
Atonement,  or  at-one-ment,  means  to  bring  two  who 
were  alienated  together,  to  make  them  one  again. 
This  rather  expresses  the  effect  of  Christ's  work 
than  defines  its  nature.  Satisfaction  would  be  a 
more  comprehensive  word  to  characterize  Christ's 
whole  redemptive  work.  But  atonement  has  come 
to  be  the  generic  term  in  use,  and  what  it  lacks  in 
direct  significance  has  been  supplied  by  custom, 
so  that  it  is  not  only  popular,  but  fitly  expressive. 

Such  are  salient  words  portraying  the  Scriptural 
doctrine.  These  terms  occur  and  re-occur  in  a  host 
of  passages,  ever  accentuating  and  giving  fuller 


42   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

emphasis  to  their  leading  thought.  Focusing  them 
on  one  point,  we  have  the  great  Scriptural  truth  of 
the  atonement.  It  is  that  our  L,ord  Jesus  Christ 
suffered,  shed  His  blood,  died  on  the  cross  as  an 
offering  by  means  of  which  expiation  was  made  for 
our  sins,  and  a  free  and  full  atonement  was  pur 
chased  for  us. 

So  reiteratively  and  cumulatively,  then,  is  this 
doctrine  taught  and  urged  in  the  Scriptures  that 
its  sense  is  absolutely  unmistakable.  He  that  runs 
can  read  it. 

The  inspired  writers  were  in  no  uncertainty  as  to 
that  of  which  they  wrote.  The  doctrine  had  been 
given  them  as  an  integral  part  of  their  message. 
It  was  as  simple  and  clear  in  outline  as  it  was  vast 
and  far-reaching  in  significance.  It  filled  their 
minds  with  holy  amazement.  It  thrilled  their 
hearts  with  loving  gratitude.  It  humbled  and  re 
proved  their  consciences.  And  with  the  strong 
energy  of  conviction,  they — one  and  all — set  it 
forth  with  such  clearness,  fullness,  and  harmony,  as 
to  leave  no  room  for  doubt  or  misconception  of 
their  meaning. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

CHRIST'S   TEACHING   AND   THE    ATONEMENT. 

THE  Lord's  death  on  the  malefactor's  cross  was 
a  fact  that  He  knew  well  the  apostles  were  not  pre 
pared  to  receive.  Only  gently  did  He  disclose  it 
to  them  as  the  dark  shadows  began  to  fall.  And 
when  He  did  forecast  it,  "  Peter  rebuked  him,  say 
ing,  Be  it  far  from  thee,  Lord."*  It  was  one  of 
those  paradoxes  of  His  person  and  work  which 
they  u  could  not  bear  now,"  but  were  "  to  know 
hereafter."  Then  the  Holy  Ghost  was  to  lead 
them,  as  He  did  lead  Paul  and  Peter  and  John  in 
their  writings  to  look  into  far  depths,  hitherto  hidden 
to  them,  of  His  redemptive  death. 

Nevertheless,  Jesus  taught  His  sacrificial  death 
both  indirectly  and  directly.  Indirectly,  in  that  He 
declared  Himself  to  be  the  Messiah  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  that  He  specifically  applied  to  Him 
self  those  prophetic  delineations  of  the  Messiah 
which  declared  that  He  should  be  the  Suffering 

*  Matt.  xvi.  22. 

(43) 


44   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

One,  and  be  killed.  So  far  from  repudiating  the 
Hebrew  Christ  as  depicted  by  their  holy  seers,  He 
declared  that  He  fulfilled  their  predictions  of  Mes 
siah's  sacrificial  death.  Said  He  :  "  All  things  must 
be  fulfilled  which  were  written  in  the  law  of 
Moses,  and  in  the  prophets,  and  in  the  psalms  con 
cerning  me.  Thus  it  behooved  Christ  to  suffer, 
that  remission  of  sins  should  be  preached  in  His 
name.'"  And  no  doubt  He  specifically  expounded 
to  them  Isaiah  liii.,  that  "Golden  Passional  of  the 
Old  Testament,"  as  setting  forth  His  propitiatory 
death,  for  such  direct  exposition  must  have  induced 
John  to  say  of  it :  "  These  things  said  Isaiah  when 
he  saw  Christ's  glory  and  spoke  of  him."| 

But  Jesus  taught  His  atoning  death  directly. 
Matthew  and  Mark  both  give  the  passage  :  "  Even 
as  the  Son  of  man  came  to  give  his  life  a  ransom 
(\vrpov)  for  many."!  On  the  signification  of  "ran 
som,"  Dr.  Driver  says  :  "  Ransom  is  a  propitiatory 
gift,  but  restricted  by  usage  to  a  gift  offered  to  pro 
pitiate  or  satisfy  the  avenger  of  blood,  and  so  the 
satisfaction  offered  by  a  life."§  Says  Prof.  Denny: 

*  Luke  xxiv.  46.  f  John  xii.  41. 

J  Matt.  xx.  28  ;  Mark  x.  45. 

$  Hasting's  Bible  Dictionary,  vol.  iv.,  128. 


CHRIST'S  TEACHING  AND  THE   ATONEMENT.       45 

"  A  ransom  means  unambiguously  that  the  forfeited 
lives  of  many  are  liberated  by  the  surrender  of 
Christ's  life."*  Here  Christ  declares  unambigu 
ously  and  emphatically  that  His  death  was  substitu- 
tional.  As  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  He 
did  not  mean  what  He  said,  His  declaration  is  final. 

But  in  the  strongest  objective  manner  that  lan 
guage  and  picture  could  exhibit  it  did  He  also  set 
forth  the  same  idea  in  the  institution  of  the  Holy 
Sacrament.  Of  the  fourfold  iteration  and  identity 
of  the  solemn  sacramental  formula  :  "  This  is  my 
body  given,  my  blood  shed  for  the  remission  of  sins," 
Dean  Stanley  says :  "  These  famous  words  thus 
form  the  most  incontestable  and  authentic  speech 
of  the  Founder  of  our  religion,  "f  No  subterfuge 
of  interpolation,  no  loose  theory  of  inspiration,  and 
no  extreme  method  of  the  higher  criticism  can  in 
validate  their  force. 

But  two  thrilling  confirmations  yet  remain.  When 
His  soul  was  troubled  by  the  near  approach  of  His 
passion,  and  He  prayed,  "  Father,  save  me  from  this 
hour,"  He  checked  the  prayer  with  the  reply, 
"  But  for  this  cause  came  I  unto  this  hour."J  That 

*  Death  of  Christ,  p.  45. 

t  Christian  Institutions,  p.  95.  J  John  xii.  27. 


46   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

is,  the  great  redemptive  deed  effected  by  His  death 
was  the  secret  of  His  incarnation.  And  so  sharp 
was  His  struggle  to  meet  this  impending  baptism 
that  "  His  sweat  was,  as  it  were,  great  drops  of  blood 
falling  down  to  the  ground.'"  But  can  we  conceive 
that  Jesus  was  so  appalled  at  the  mere  thought  of 
physical  death  ?  If  so,  many  a  tender  maiden,  dy 
ing  with  unshaken  bravery  during  the  primitive 
persecutions,  would  have  been  superior  to  Him, 
who  was  to  teach  mankind  how  to  live  and  how  to 
die,  and  of  whom  Rousseau  says:  "If  Socrates  died 
like  a  man,  Jesus  died  like  a  god  !  "  How  many  a 
mere  man,  before  and  after  Him,  has  met  death  in  its 
most  excruciating  forms  without  such  an  exhibition 
of  weakness  !  But  it  was  not  the  fear  of  physical 
pain.  The  agony  in  Gethsemane  was  a  moral  one. 
It  was  the  consciousness  in  the  Son  of  man  that 
He  was  delivered  up  for  our  offenses,  that  He  was 
suffering  the  penalty  due  our  sin.  "It  was  not  the 
mere  bodily  death  that  He  conquered — that  death 
had  no  sting.  It  was  this  spiritual  death  which  He 
conquered,  so  that  at  last  it  should  be  swallowed  up 
— mark  the  word — not  in  life,  but  in  victory. "f 

*  Luke  xxii.42. 

t  Ruskin,  Seven  Lamps  of  Architecture — Sacrifice. 


CHRIST'S  TEACHING  AND  THE  ATONEMENT.     47 

The  other  seal  is  the  awful  cry  of  agony,  to  the 
verge  of  despair,  on  the  cross :  "  My  God  !  My 
God !  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  "  There  are  but 
two  ways  of  explaining  this  most  dreadful  outcry 
of  horror  that  ever  broke  from  human  lips.  One  is 
that  the  crucified  One  was  a  deceiver  or  self-de 
ceived,  and  that  now  the  veil  is  torn  off,  His  de 
lusion  is  exposed,  and  He  finds  His  life  and  mission 
a  failure.  The  other  is,  that  in  identifying  Himself 
with  our  fallen  human  nature,  and  making  Himself 
an  offering  that  the  guilty  world  might  escape,  the 
Father  juridically  holds  Him — the  sinless  One — as 
if  guilty,  and  hides  His  face  from  Him.  And  under 
the  awful  sense  of  this  alienation  from  His  Father 
there  burst  from  Him  this  cry  of  infinite  woe. 

This  is  the  New  Testament  and  Christian  ex 
planation  of  it,  as  defined  by  Paul  in  Galatians : 
"  Christ  hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law, 
being  made  a  curse  for  us."* 

Every  word  and  act,  then,  of  our  L,ord  relating 
to  His  death  depict  it  as  that  sacrificial  offering  to 
which  John  the  Baptist,  with  His  sanction,  bore 
witness,  saying  :  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  which 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world. "f 

*  Gal.  iii.  13.  f  John  i.  28. 


CHAPTER   V. 

VICARIOUSNESS   OF   THE   ATONEMENT. 

A  PLAIN  reader  of  the  New  Testament,  whose 
simple  object  was  to  get  at  the  natural,  grammati 
cal  sense  of  the  words,  could  reach  no  other  conclu 
sion  than  that  the  principle  of  vicariousness  lay  at 
the  heart  of  the  Gospel. 

Thus  we  read  :  "  Whom  God  hath  set  forth  to  be 
a  propitiation  through  faith  in  his  blood."* 

"  Christ  also  hath  once  suffered  for  sins,  the  just 
for  the  unjust."f  "  For  I  delivered  unto  you  first 
of  all  that  which  I  also  received,  how  that  Christ 
died  for  our  sins."!  "  The  Son  of  man  gave  his 
life  a  ransom  for  many.  "§ 

In  the  above  passages  the  following  prepositions 
are  used  ;  &a,  signifying  "  because  of,  on  account 
of  ;  "  vTrep,  "  in  behalf  of,  for  the  sake  of  ;  "  azm, 
"  in  the  place  of,  instead  of  ;  "  vrepl,  u  because  of, 
for  the  sake  of." 


Romans  iii.  25.  f  i  Peter  iii.   18. 

i  Cor.    xv.  3.  #  Matt.  xx.  28. 

(48) 


VICARIOUSNESS   OF   THE    ATONEMENT.          49 

These  particles  are  employed  in  order  to  express 
by  all  possible  shades  of  language  the  idea  of  sub 
stitution.  They  and  the  context  in  which  they 
appear  show  that  by  no  jugglery  of  words  can 
the  point  be  evaded  that  Christ's  passion  was 
vicarious, 

Exegesis  is  here  the  greatest  difficulty  of  those 
who  oppose.  The  Bible  is  so  full  of  a  substitu- 
tionary  atonement  that  the  reader  comes  upon  it 
everywhere.  The  texts  which  teach  it  are  not  rare 
and  isolated  expressions ;  they  assemble  in  multi 
tudes  ;  they  rush  in  troops  ;  they  occupy  every  hill 
and  valley.  "  Without  the  shedding  of  blood  there 
is  no  remission  of  sin,"  is  the  constant  Scriptural 
teaching.  In  the  Old  Testament  it  was  "  the  blood 
of  goats  and  calves,"  but  in  the  New  Testament,. 
Christ,  the  High  Priest,  "  by  His  own  blood  entered 
in  once  into  the  holy  place,  having  obtained  eternal 
redemption  for  us."* 

For  this  purpose  the  eternal  Son  of  God  became 
incarnate.  It  was  that  He  should  assume  our 
human  nature  that  He  might  identify  Himself  with 
the  race.  Thus  He  was  able  to  stand  as  their  repre 
sentative,  to  take  their  sins  upon  Himself,  and  in 
*  Hebrews  ix.  12. 

4 


50   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

their  stead  to  present  an  infinitely  acceptable  offer 
ing,  to  make  a  full  atonement. 

"As  the  work  of  one  so  constituted  and  represen 
tative  of  God  and  man  the  atonement  is  in  its 
nature  stibstitutionary.  By  setting  forth  Christ 
Jesus  as  propitiatory,  through  faith  in  His  blood, 
God  has  shown  forth  His  righteousness  in  the  remis 
sion  of  sins,  and  proved  Himself  just,  while  the 
justifier  of  him  who  is  of  the  faith  of  Jesus."* 

So  also  writes  Kuyper :  "In  all  this  He  acted  as 
our  substitute.  His  burdening  Himself  with  our 
sins  was  a  high-priestly  act,  performed  vicariously. 
Christ  did  not  redeem  us  by  His  sufferings  alone, 
but  His  passion  was  made  effectual  to  our  redemp 
tion  by  His  life  and  voluntary  obedience.  That  is, 
His  passive  and  active  satisf  action,  "f  And  says 
Hodge  :  "  It  is  as  clear  as  the  sun  that  Christ  suf 
fered  and  died  as  our  substitute,  in  order  that  we 
need  not  suffer  what  we  deserved  and  in  order  that 
we,  instead  of  dying,  should  be  partakers  of  the  life 
secured  by  His  vicarious  death.  "J 


*  Fairbairn's  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Christian  Theology, 
p.  486. 

f  The  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Passion  of  Christ,  p.  85. 
J  Systematic  Theology,  vol.  ii.,  p.  543. 


VICARIOUSNESS   OF   THE    ATONEMENT.          51 

This  is  the  absolutely  unique  and  transcendent 
feature  in  Christ's  great  sacrifice  that  it  is  expiatory. 
In  the  Zend-Avesta  ;  in  the  teachings  of  Confucius ; 
in  the  doctrines  of  Buddha ;  and  in  the  liturgic 
hymns  of  the  Rig  Veda,  u  mortify  the  body  ;  crucify 
the  desires ;  thyself  must  expiate  thine  own  sins," 
is  the  best  and  utterly  impotent  advice  that  can  be 
given  the  sin-smitten,  guilt-burdened  soul.  But  that 
Christ  takes  our  place  and  renders  that  satisfaction 
which  was  beyond  our  power,  and  that  God,  for  the 
sake  of  this  incalculable  offering,  holds  our  expia 
tion  fully  made,  is  the  great  distinctive  characteristic 
of  the  atonement. 

The  Passover  was  a  typical  sacrifice  in  the  realm 
of  the  natural,  and  Christ  is  a  true  sacrifice  in  the 
realm  of  the  supernatural.  "  It  is  the  sacrifice  of 
the  Lord's  Passover"  (Ex.  xii.  27).  "Christ  our 
Passover  is  sacrificed  for  tts"  "  Christ  hath  given 
himself  for  us,  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice  to  God  " 
(Ephes.  v.  2).  "  When  He  said  :  Sacrifice  and  offer 
ings,  and  burnt  offerings,  and  offerings  for  sin,  thou 
wouldst  not,  neither  hadst  pleasure  therein  ;  which 
are  offered  by  the  law ;  then  said  He,  '  L,o,  I  come 
to  do  thy  will,  O  God ! '  He  taketh  away  the 
first  that  He  may  establish  the  second.  By  the 


52   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

which  will  we  are  sanctified  through  the  offering 
of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  once  for  all."* 

The  attempt  to  interpret  these  passages  in 
a  figurative  manner  is  entirely  without  warrant, 
and,  even  if  legitimate,  could  not  invalidate  their 
meaning.  For  types  and  symbols  are  signs  of 
realities.  And  what  could  these  symbols  of  sacri 
fice  signify  if  they  did  not  all  point  to  one  great, 
veritable,  and  all-sufficient  sacrifice?  If  the  Bib 
lical  terms  are  at  all  to  be  interpreted  according  to 
the  laws  and  usages  and  common  intent  of  lan 
guage,  then  they  unmistakably  set  forth  the  vicari- 
ousness  of  Christ's  offering. 

*  Heb.  x.  8-10. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

OBJECTIVE   EFFICACY  OF  THE  ATONEMENT. 

A  MARKED  feature  of  modern  Christian  thought 
is  the  effort  made  to  depict  the  atonement  as 
merely  subjective,  that  is,  as  a  portrayal  of  divine 
love  and  compassion  in  so  powerful  a  manner  as  to 
convict  the  conscience  of  sin  and  thrill  it  so  deeply 
with  the  sense  of  the  divine  goodness  as  to  lead  by 
a  purely  natural  internal  discipline  to  sin's  removal. 
No  objective  atonement,  however,  is  made,  no  real 
substitution,  no  taking  the  sinner's  place  and  bear 
ing  his  load,  is  effected. 

But  this  view  altogether  underestimates  the  New 
Testament  teaching  and  empties  it  of  its  chief  con 
tent.  It  entirely  displaces  that  representative,  vica 
rious  element  which  is  its  distinctive  feature.  This 
view,  indeed,  has  had  its  advocates,  sporadically 
appearing  from  time  to  time,  but  orthodox  Chris 
tianity  has  always  held  them  to  be  heretical. 
Wrote  the  great  church  historian,  Neander :  "  From 
the  time  of  Anselm  two  opposing  views  of  redemp- 

(53) 


54   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

tion  were  developed  ;  the  one  viewed  its  method 
as  objectively  necessary,  and  derived  its  efficiency 
from  this  necessity  ;  the  other  assigned  rather  a 
subjective  connection  to  the  two,  as  if  it  had  been 
merely  the  pleasure  of  God  to  connect  the  price  of 
redemption  with  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  because 
these  were  best  adapted  to  effect  the  moral  trans 
formation  of  man."* 

The  atonement  offered  by  Christ  was  objective. 
It  was  a  genuine  substitution.  It  was  a  veritable 
ransom.  It  was  not  visionary,  but  real.  It  was 
not  a  picture,  but  a  drama.  It  was  not  shadow, 
but  substance. 

It  was  a  true  bearing  of  that  load  which  bore 
man  down  to  a  depth  from  which  he  could  not  of 
himself  rise. 

Not  alone  Christ's  specific  teaching,  but  His  whole 
bearing  and  demeanor,  whenever  He  touched  upon 
the  theme,  are  irreconcilable  with  any  other  theory. 
It  was  that  "  He  who  knew  no  sin  was  made  sin  for 
us."f  It  was  that  He  felt  Himself  as  a  substitute  for 
sin,  exposed  to  its  measureless  penalty.  It  was  that 
"  the  Lord  had  laid  upon  Him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."J 

*  Hagenbach's  History  of  Doctrines,  vol.  ii.,  p.  46. 
f  2  Cor.  v.  21.  J  Isa.  liii.  6. 


OBJECTIVE   EFFICACY   OF   THE   ATONEMENT.      55 

And  because  of  this  objectivity — because  it  was 
a  fact  and  not  a  seeming — has  the  substitutionary 
offering  of  Christ  positive  power.  It  relieves  the 
burdened  conscience.  It  extracts  the  sting  of  guilt. 
It  effects  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  It  brings,  as  St. 
Paul  says,  "  Peace  through  the  blood  of  the  cross."* 
The  atonement,  no  doubt,  has  a  subjective  side,  a 
potent,  indirect  influence  as  exhibiting  the  love  of 
God.  This  no  such  spectacle  could  fail  to  exert. 
But  this  is  merely  incidental  and  secondary.  The 
objective  is  the  primary  and  constitutive  element. 

The  efforts  of  advocates  of  so-called  modern 
thought  and  of  the  new  theology,  to  hold  to  the 
orthodox  terminology  respecting  the  atonement, 
while  emptying  these  terms  of  their  intended  sig 
nificance  by  denying  all  substitutionary  character, 
are  an  inexcusable  juggling  with  language.  Of  this 
character  are  such  statements  as  this  of  Professor 
Bowne : 

"  There  is,  then,  no  literal  substitution  of  one 
person  for  another,  no  literal  satisfaction  of  the 
claims  of  justice,  no  literal  payment  of  a  debt,  no 
literal  ransom  or  redemption,  but  a  work  of  grace 
on  our  behalf  which  may  be  more  or  less  well  de- 
*  Col.  i.  20. 


56   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

scribed  in  these  terms.  One  who  has  been  saved 
from  sin  and  restored  to  righteousness  and  the  divine 
favor  may  well  think  of  himself  as  redeemed  and 
ransomed,  or  as  freed  from  debts  he  could  never 
pay.  And  he  might  also  well  and  truly  think  of 
his  Saviour  as  having  offered  Himself  up  as  a  sacri 
fice  for  him,  as  having  died  for  him  and  redeemed 
him  by  His  blood.  But  this  is  the  language  of 
emotion  and  devotion  and  gratitude  and  disciple- 
ship.  It  is  the  language  of  the  Christian  heart 
and  life,  not  the  language  of  theological  theory."* 
A  doctrine  cannot  be  emotionally  true  while  it  is 
logically  and  actually  false.  The  laity  may  be  de 
ceived  by  glittering  generalities  that  are  used  to 
cloak  specific  denials  of  Christian  truths.  But 
champions  of  the  faith  should  unsparingly  expose 
such  equivocal  statements  as  being  quite  as  disre 
spectful  to  the  ordinary  Christian  mind  as  they  are 
disloyal  to  the  Scriptures. 

*  The  Atonement,  p.  31. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
WAS  IT  CHRIST'S  LIFE  OR  DEATH  THAT  ATONED? 

IT  is  a  modern  tendency  to  place  the  emphasis 
on  the  life  of  Christ,  and  to  minimize  His  death. 
This  is  a  reversal  of  the  New  Testament  presenta 
tion.  There  the  forgiveness  of  sins  is  never  con 
nected  with  Christ's  hunger,  weariness,  poverty, 
teaching,  or  any  experience  of  His  life,  but  is 
always  placed  in  juxtaposition  with  His  death. 
It  is  even  as  Paul  writes  :  u  For  I  delivered  unto 
yon,  first  of  all,  that  which  I  also  received,  how  that 
Christ  died  for  our  sins,  according  to  the  Scrip 
tures,"*  or,  "  Who  was  delivered  for  our  of 
fenses;'^  or  again,  "That  by  means  of  death  for 
the  redemption  of  transgressions.  "J 

Forrest,  writing  on  "The  Objective  Element  in 
the  Redemptive  Work  of  Christ,"  remarks  :  "  The 
unanimous  testimony  of  the  apostles  is,  that  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ  as  the  ground  of  our  forgiveness 
centres  itself  in  His  death.  It  is  needless  to  quote 

*   i  Cor.  xv.  3.  f  Rom.  iv.  25.  J  Heb.  ix.  15. 

(57) 


58   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

passages.  This  idea  is  fundamental  and  perva 
sive."*  And  says  Dale  on  the  Atonement :  "  The 
importance  of  this  conception  for  the  writers  of  the 
Epistles  is  not  to  be  measured  by  the  number  of 
times  in  which  it  is  directly  stated,  but  by  the  fact 
that  it  forms  the  presupposition  on  which  they 
argue  and  appeal,  and  that  its  displacement  would 
destroy  the  unity  and  coherence  of  their  teaching."! 

But  chiefly  significant  is  the  fact  that  Christ 
Himself  ever  laid  the  main  stress  upon  His  death, 
His  passion,  and  His  blood,  as  the  all-important 
thing  in  His  mission  as  the  atoning  Saviour.  He 
was  ever  pointing  the  reluctant  disciples  to  it,  and 
saying  of  it :  "  For  this  cause  came  I  unto  this 
hour."t 

That  Christ  assumed  our  humanity  and  illus 
trated  a  life  without  sin  does  not  lessen  or  remove 
man's  sin,  but  rather  accentuates  its  inexcusableness 
and  guilt,  and  the  more  justifies  God  in  its  condem 
nation.  Before,  then,  Christ  could  win  the  right  to 
offer  men  release  from  sin,  He  must  as  their  repre 
sentative  take  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself. 
Hence  "  the  apostles  specifically  ascribe  the  atone- 

*  P.  228.       f  On  the  Atonement,  chapters  iv.  and  v. 
\  John  xii.  27. 


WAS   IT   CHRIST'S    LIFE    OR    DEATH?  59 

ment  to  Christ's  death.  This  was  the  culminating 
point  of  the  offering,  the  final  test  of  its  complete 
ness,  the  signal  of  the  victory  over  Satan's  power, 
the  price  paid  for  salvation,  the  moment  which 
appeases  the  guilty  conscience."*  Christ  could  not 
save  the  world  by  thoughts,  by  truths,  by  teachings, 
by  example.  Mental  enlightenment  cannot  remove 
judgment,  cannot  take  away  the  sense  of  guilt,  can 
not  bring  freedom  and  peace.  It  only  gives  keener 
force  to  the  edge  of  conscience.  Christ  must  atone 
for  sin  by  His  sinless  offering. 

It  is  true,  however,  that  the  death  of  Christ  would 
have  been  meaningless  without  His  life.  Without 
His  foregoing  incarnation,  His  exemplification  of 
sinlessness,  and  His  illustration  of  sonship  with  God, 
as  our  representative,  His  death  in  our  stead  would 
have  been  void  of  efficacy.  u  It  came  therefore 
upon  Him,"  as  Ritschl  truly  puts  it,  "  in  the  fulfill 
ment  of  His  vocation,"  as  the  goal  of  His  life.  But 
to  accentuate  the  life  rather  than  the  death  is  a 
misinterpretation  of  the  Scriptural  record,  and  an 
evasion  of  the  reality  of  a  propitiatory  offering.  The 
emphasis  cannot  be  shifted  from  the  cross  to  the 
incarnation.  As  Dr.  Cremer,  of  the  University  of 

*  The  Lutheran  Cyclopedia,  p.  29. 


60   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Greifswald,  writes :  "It  is  not  the  life  which  Jesus 
lived,  but  the  death  which  He  suffered,  and  toward 
which  His  whole  life  pressed  that  saves  us."*  And 
Martineau  admits  of  the  Epistle  of  the  greatest  of 
the  apostles,  "  With  the  Pauline  theology,  the  bio 
graphy  (i.  e.,  life)  of  Jesus  is  wholly  subordinate, 
and  the  real  divine  economy  opens  with  Calvary 
and  concentrates  all  its  light  upon  the  cross,  "f 

*  Essence  of  Christianity,  p.  29. 

f  Seat  of  Authority  in  Religion,  p.  455. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    ATONING    BLOOD. 

THE  idea  of  sacrifice  was  a  chief  constituent  in 
the  religion  revealed  by  Jehovah  to  the  Jews  in  the 
Old  Testament.  And  this  idea  finds  its  cardinal 
expression  in  the  use  of  blood.  The  blood  of  the 
slain  animal  was  to  be  sprinkled  upon  the  impure 
person,  or  to  be  put  upon  the  horns  of  the  altar,  or, 
in  the  case  of  utmost  solemnity,  to  be  brought  into 
the  Holy  of  Holies  and  sprinkled  upon  the  Mercy- 
seat.  What  was  the  significance  of  blood  as  thus 
the  essential  feature  of  the  sacrifice  ?  This  is  ex 
plained  in  the  words  of  the  Lord,  thus :  "  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 ;  for  it  is  the  blood  that  maketh  an 
atonement  for  the  soul."*  The  principle  is  that 
man's  life  had  been  forfeited  by  his  sin,  and  that  it 
could  only  be  saved  by  the  substitution  of  another 
life.  And  as  the  life  is  bound  up  with  the  blood, 

*  Lev.  xvii.  n. 

(61) 


62   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

with  whose  shedding  the  life  goes  out,  so  blood 
must  be  offered — life  for  life.  "  It  was  the  blood,  as 
the  vehicle  of  the  soul,  which  possessed  expiatory 
virtue  ;  because  the  animal  soul  was  offered  to  God 
upon  the  altar  as  a  substitute  for  the  human  soul."* 

The  offering  had  to  be  without  fault  or  blemish, 
symbolizing  the  truth  that  the  perfectly  pure  could 
alone  atone  for  the  impure.  "  It  was  provided  that 
the  life  of  a  clean,  spotless  animal  should  be  vicari 
ously  surrendered  to  God,  and  its  blood,  still  quick 
and  instinct  with  its  soul,  offered  upon  the  altar. 
The  atoning  element  resided  in  the  blood,  "f 

The  word  commonly  used  in  the  Old  Testament 
to  describe  the  manner  in  which  the  blood  effects 
this  atonement  means  to  cover,  to  hide,  to  put  out 
of  sight.  Therefore,  the  blood  is  sprinkled  upon 
the  person,  or  altar,  that  the  guilt  may  be  covered 
over,  shut  out  of  God's  holy  sight,  and  His  great 
displeasure  thereby  allayed.  "  The  blood  of  sacri 
fice  has  thus  quite  a  specific  meaning.  In  it  the 
self-sacrifice  of  the  offerer  is  vicariously  accom 
plished.  Because  man's  incapability  to  enter 
directly  into  communion  with  God  appears  fresh  at 

*  Keil  and  Delitsch  on  Leviticus,  p.  410. 
f  Lutheran  Cyclopedia,  p.  27. 


THE    ATONING    BLOOD.  63 

every  offering,  therefore  every  complete  offering 
must  be  preceded  by  the  covering  of  the  atonement 
of  blood,  and,  therefore,  this  is  the  condition,  sine 
qua  non"*~ 

From  this  Old  Testament  usage  we  are  prepared 
for  the  emphasis  placed  upon  the  blood  of  Christ  in 
the  New  Covenant  of  grace,  and  its  meaning  and 
significance  at  once  appear.  The  paschal  lamb  of 
the  Jewish  passover  is  but  a  feeble  type  of  the 
sacrificial  Lamb  of  God.  "  Neither  by  the  blood  of 
goats  and  calves,  but  by  his  own  blood  he  entered 
in  once  into  the  holy  place,  having  obtained  eternal 
redemption  for  us."f  He  gives  His  holy  and  spot 
less  life  to  redeem  our  sinful  and  guilty  ones.  He 
pours  out  His  precious  life-blood  that  with  it  He 
may  cover  and  hide  our  sins  from  the  All-Holy  Eye. 
He  makes  peace  between  the  offended  God  and  con 
demned  man,  "through  the  blood  of  His  cross."]: 
This  blood  of  the  divine-human  offering  has  power 
to  relieve  from  the  whole  burden  and  penalty  of 
guilt.  "The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  his  Son, 
cleanseth  us  from  all  sin."§  It  not  only  reconciles 
God  to  us,  but  exerts  a  continuously  and  pro- 

*  Oehler's  Old  Testament  Theology,  p.  280. 

f  Heb.  ix.  12.  j  Col.  i.  20.  $   i  John  i.  7. 


64   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

gressively  cleansing  effect  upon  us,  as  it  chastens  us 
with  contrition  for  the  suffering  we  have  caused 
the  innocent  one.  It  is  by  means  of  this  costly 
blood  that  we  are  "bought  with  a  price,"*  and 
that  our  great  High  Priest  has  made  Himself  "  the 
propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world." 

All  through  the  New  Testament  runs  this  teach 
ing  of  the  atoning  blood  of  the  one  great  sacri 
fice.  And  the  closing  book  represents  a  great 
throng  approaching  the  throne  of  God  in  eternity, 
of  whom  it  is  said  that  they  have  "  washed  their 
robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb."t  "  Here  what  is  referred  to  is  evidently 
the  power  of  Christ's  death  to  sanctify  men — it  was 
the  power  of  His  passion,  descending  into  their 
hearts,  which  had  made  them  pure,  even  as  He  was 
pure."  t 

The  bloody  sacrifices  of  Paganism  are  no  true 
analogue  of  those  of  the  Old,  and  of  our  Lord's 
sacrificial  blood.  For  they  are  based  upon  a  con 
ception  of  the  caprice,  and  rapacity,  and  cruelty  of 
their  gods,  who  must  be  appeased  to  allay  their 
destructive  dispositions.  Still,  in  the  main,  they 

*  i  Cor.  vi.  20.  t  Rev.  vii.  14. 

J  Denny,  Death  of  Christ,  p.  247. 


THE   ATONING    BLOOD.  65 

confirm  the  truth  of  the  Christian  idea  of  substi 
tution.  The  serious-minded  among  the  heathen 
feel  that  their  guilt  has  alienated  them  from  God ; 
that  thereby  their  lives  are  forfeited,  and  that 
nothing  can  remove  this  alienation,  and  restore 
them  to  divine  favor,  save  another  life.  The  Pagan 
sacrifices,  then,  are  an  adumbration  of  the  sacrifice 
on  Calvary.  They  are  a  sub-conscious  seeking  for 
the  atoning  blood  of  the  Lamb.  They  are  the  tes 
timony  of  natural  to  revealed  religion.  They 
are  that  witness  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  St.  Paul 
tells  us  gives  some  dim  glimmerings  even  to  the 
natural  conscience  of  that  "true  Light  which 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world. " 

It  is,  then,  the  immeasurably  precious  blood  of 
the  divine-human  Saviour  in  which  lies  atoning, 
redemptive  power.  "Through  the  blood  of  the 
cross  He  made  peace  ;  on  the  cross  He  blotted  out 
the  hand-writing  which  testified  and  testifies  against 
us.  In  Jesus  Christ  we  have  forgiveness  of  sins 
through  His  blood."*  For  this  divine  balm  of 
peace  to  the  broken  spirit  and  wounded  conscience 
no  modern  ethical  substitute  can  ever  be  found. 

As  writes   President   Patton,   "  If    the   Christian 

*  Cremer,  Reply  to  Harnack  on  the  Essence  of  Christianity,  p.  21. 

5 


66   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

church  is  going  to  tie  her  fortunes  to  moral  philos 
ophy,  God  help  her.  We  must  go  back  to  the  relig 
ion  of  our  fathers,  to  the  atoning  blood,  or  go  on  to 
pessimism,  atheism,  and  despair."  Let  us  then  cling 
to  the  apostolic  teaching  :  u  Who  gave  himself  for 
us  (vTrep  rintov)  that  he  might  redeem  us  from  all 
iniquity,  and  purify  (/caOapiZa),  i.  e.,  cleanse  by  an 
expiatory  blood  offering)  us  unto  himself."*  It  is 
this  precious  blood  which  has  a  practical  power  to 
move  and  renew  the  hearts  of  men,  as  has  no  truth 
out  of  Scripture,  and  none  other  in  it. 

A  missionary  in  China  says :  "If  there  is  any 
thing  that  lays  hold  of  the  people  here,  it  is  the 
simple  story  of  the  crucifixion  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Not  His  miracles,  nor  even  His  wonderful 
sayings  or  teaching,  but  the  old,  old  story  of  the 
cross,  of  the  blood,  of  the  sacrifice,  of  the  satisfac 
tion  of  Christ  in  dying  for  sinners  on  the  tree — that 
is  the  power  for  good  in  touching  the  heart  and 
awakening  the  conscience." 

And  this  is  confirmed  by  the  experience  of  all 
Christian  workers,  whether  abroad  or  at  home. 

*  Titus  ii.  14. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

DID   CHRIST   SUFFER  THE  PUNISHMENT   OF  SIN? 

THE  question  is  often  raised  in  current  inquiry 
whether  Christ  bore  the  punishment  of  sin,  or,  in 
other  words,  "  Did  God  punish  Jesus  Christ  ?  " 

The  Scriptures  teach  that  Christ  bore  our  sins. 
"  The  Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."* 
"  Who  his  own  self  bare  our  sins  in  his  own  body 
on  the  tree."f  Now  there  are  only  two  ways  in 
which  this  could  be  done.  Namely,  by  bearing  the 
guilt  or  the  punishment.  But  one  involves  the 
other.  Guilt  entails  punishment.  Transgression 
carries  with  it,  as  an  inseparable  factor,  penalty. 
Guilt  and  punishment  grow  out  of  one  stem.  If 
then  we  say  that  Christ  bore  our  sins  in  the  sense 
that  He  took  upon  Himself  their  guilt,  it  is  none 
the  less  reasonable  to  affirm  that  He  endured  their 
punishment. 

And  the  Scripture  passages  directly  affirm  this  as  a 
part  of  the  atonement.  We  are  told  that  Christ  "  suf- 

*  Isa.  liii.  6.  f  i  Peter  ii.  24. 

(67) 


68   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

fered  for  us ; "  u  He  tasted  death  for  every  man,"* 
/'.  <?.,  the  sharpness  of  death  as  the  penalty  of  sin. 
That  He  was  u  wounded  for  our  transgressions,"  that 
"  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him," 
and  uby  whose  stripes,"  says  St.  Peter,  "we  were 
healed,  "f  When  then  Lyman  Abbott  says  that 
•"  we  can  adduce  no  passages  which  speak  of  Christ 
undergoing  the  punishment  of  sin,"  the  assertion  is 
in  the  teeth  of  the  facts.  And  if  he  is  willing  to 
admit  that  Christ  bore  the  guilt  of  sin,  this  is  the 
more  difficult  horn  of  the  dilemma,  since  to  suffer 
one's  punishment  is  far  more  conceivable  than,  be 
ing  innocent,  to  feel  his  guilt.  Yet  Christ  did  feel 
the  guilt  of  sin.  This  was  the  very  sword  that 
pierced  His  soul,  and  wrung  from  Him  the  awful 
cry  on  the  cross,  which  Canon  Gore  says  was  the 
"  trial  of  the  righteous  man  forsaken.  "J 

Christ  was  not  indeed  guilty,  yet  the  atonement 
could  have  had  no  value  had  He  not  voluntarily 
assumed  our  guilt.  And  thus  taking  our  place, 
God  had  to  hold  Him  as  if  guilty,  to  hide  His  face 
from  Him,  and  "  He  had  to  suffer  as  our  represen 
tative  the  penalty  of  God's  displeasure  at  human 

•*  Heb.  ii.  9.  f  I  Peter  ii.  24. 

%  Bampton  Lectures,  pp.  148,  149. 


DID   CHRIST   SUFFER    THE    PUNISHMENT?      69 

sin,  and  to  acknowledge  it  to  be  just."*  God  in 
His  justice  had  to  punish  the  sinner.  The  penalty 
for  the  violation  of  the  law  is  death.  The  sinner 
or  his  substitute  must  die.  Christ,  sinless  and 
guiltless,  yet  offered  to  bear  the  guilt  and  punish 
ment  of  sin,  and  thereby  became  the  great  atoning 
sacrifice.  "  We  are  bought  with  a  price."f  "  Pur 
chased  with  his  own  blood. "J 

"  It  seems  to  have  been  assumed  by  the  Chris 
tian  fathers  of  Anselm's  time  that  punishment  or 
suffering  in  some  form  constituted  the  inmost 
quality  of  the  offering  which  satisfied  the  justice 
of  God."§  So  Luther,  speaking  of  the  dark 
ness  and  agonized  outcry  of  forsakenness  at  the 
cross,  says :  "  It  is  punishment  which  God  here 
suffers  to  come  upon  His  Son.  The  Lamb  of  God 
bears  our  sins,  and  bearing  is  rightly  interpreted  as 
being  punished.  He  is  punished  just  because  He 
has  assumed  our  sins,  and  God,  on  the  other  hand, 
must,  therefore,  assume  toward  Him  the  attitude 
of  an  enemy. "|| 

And   Dr.   Hodge  writes :     "  The  satisfaction  of 

*  Forrest,  The  Christ  of  History  and  Experience,  p.  238, 
f  i  Cor.  vi.  20.  J  Acts  xx.  28. 

§  Allen's  Life  of  Matthew  Edwards. 
||  Commentary  on  Gal.  ii.  16. 


70   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Christ  was  penal.  What  the  church  teaches  when 
it  says  that  Christ  satisfied  divine  justice  for  the  sins 
of  men  is  that  what  He  suffered  was  a  real  adequate 
compensation  for  the  penalty  remitted  ;  He  satisfied 
justice.  But  He  did  not  suffer  either  in  kind  or 
degree  what  sinners  would  have  suffered.  In  value 
His  sufferings  infinitely  transcended  theirs.  The 
death  of  an  eminently  good  man  would  outweigh 
the  annihilation  of  a  universe  of  insects.  So  the 
sufferings  and  death  of  the  Son  of  God  immeas 
urably  transcended  in  worth  and  power  the  penalty 
which  a  world  of  sinners  would  have  endured."* 

*  Systematic  Theology,  vol.  ii.,  p.  471. 


CHAPTER  X. 

IS   GOD    RECONCILED    TO    US? 

ONE  of  the  most  common  methods  of  stating  the 
atonement  in  Scripture  is  by  the  term  "  reconcilia 
tion."  It  is  looked  at  from  the  standpoint  of  an 
estrangement  between  God  and  man,  which  the 
propitiation  of  Christ  removes  and  there  results  a 
blessed  reconciliation.  Thus  it  is  said  that  "  God 
was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself, 
not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto  them."*  Again: 
"  For  if  when  we  were  enemies  we  were  reconciled 
to  God  by  the  death  of  his  Son ;  much  more,  being 
reconciled,  we  shall  be  saved  by  his  life."f  So,  by 
pre-eminence  the  office  of  preaching  the  Gospel  is 
called  "  the  ministry  of  reconciliation."! 

Now,  it  is  often  contended  by  current  critics 
that  this  reconciliation  in  no  sense  affects  God, 
that  it  is  wholly  on  man's  part,  and  that  God  does 
not  need  to  be  reconciled  ;  that  His  attitude  to  the 
sinner  ever  remains  the  same.  But  the  Scriptures 
*  2  Cor.  v.  19.  f  Romans  iv.  10.  J  2  Cor.  v.  18. 

(71) 


72   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

represent  man  as  being,  in  his  fallen  state,  under 
the  curse  of  God.  "  Christ  hath  redeemed  us  from 
the  curse  of  the  law,  being  made  a  curse  for  us."* 
Again,  we  are  declared  to  be  under  the  wrath  of 
God  and  in  extreme  danger  from  it.  u  Being  now 
then  justified  by  his  blood,  we  shall  be  saved  from 
wrath  through  Him."f  We  thus  see  that  on  one 
side  the  sinner  is  steeped  in  guilt,  and  on  the  other 
God  is  wronged,  displeased,  and  threatens  judg 
ment.  His  law  has  been  violated  and  His  love  in 
jured.  Christ  thereupon  making  propitiation,  the 
sinner's  guilt  is  replaced  by  innocence,  and  the 
divine  displeasure  is  displaced  by  graciousness. 
The  reconciliation  hence  is  mutual.  It  is  not,  in 
deed,  that  God  has  changed  in  His  essential  nature, 
but  He  has  changed  in  this  that  His  love  is  able 
actively  to  assert  itself  instead  of  His  justice. 

When  a  son  falls  into  vice  and  his  father  refuses 
to  see  him,  if  the  son  then  returns  and  a  reconcilia 
tion  results,  we  do  not  properly  say  that  the  son  is 
reconciled  to  his  father,  but  the  son  has  changed 
morally,  has  repented,  while  it  is  the  father  who 
has  been  reconciled  through  the  repentance.  It 
may  be  true,  as  Bishop  Westcott  says,  that  "  such 

*  Gal.  iii.   13.  f  Romans  v.  9. 


IS   GOD    RECONCILED    TO    US?  73 

phrases  as  '  propitiating  God  '  and  ( God  being  rec 
onciled  '  are  foreign  to  the  language  of  the  New 
Testament."  Nevertheless,  these  New  Testament 
expressions  themselves  are  sufficiently  indicative  of 
their  meaning.  Propitiation  is  not  offered  to  the 
transgressor,  but  to  the  judge.  To  contend  that 
these  passages  mean  that  the  sinner  is  to  be  pro 
pitiated,  and  not  God,  is  the  absurdity  of  exegesis. 
So  also  it  is  the  injured  and  affronted  Father  who 
is  to  be  reconciled,  and  not  the  offending  prodigal 
who  is  graciously  to  regard  his  parent  again.  And 
the  means  of  this  reconciliation  is  the  propitiatory 
sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  emphasis,  of  course,  is  laid  upon  the  part  of 
man,  on  whose  side  are  the  wrong-doing  and  the 
needed  propitiation.  Hence  when  God  is  portrayed 
as  hiding,  then  showing  His  face  ;  as  launching  His 
curse,  then  exercising  His  mercy ;  as  insisting  on 
propitiation  before  there  can  be  peace  ;  we  see  that 
this  reconciliation  has  a  divine  as  well  as  a  human 
side. 

God  has  not,  indeed,  been  reluctantly  won  to 
mercy.  It  is  the  mercy  which  is  the  source  of  the 
propitiation,  not  the  propitiation  which  is  the  source 
of  the  mercy.  But  without  this  propitiation  God 


74   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

would  have  regarded  the  sinner  not  as  a  son,  but  as 
an  enemy,  and  there  could  have  been  no  reconcili 
ation.  u  We  believe  there  is  a  sense  in  which  God 
needed  to  be  reconciled  ;  not  that  His  anger  had  to 
be  appeased  or  placated,  as  if  He  were  resentful  or 
vindictive  ;  no,  no,  but  that  His  justice  had  been 
outraged,  His  righteous  laws  trampled  upon,  and 
therefore  satisfaction  had  to  be  rendered  before 
mercy  could  have  a  free  channel  in  which  to  flow 
down  to  man  the  sinner."* 

To  deny  this  divine  side  of  the  reconciliation  on 
the  plea  of  exalting  the  unchanging  love  of  God 
is  to  ignore  that  attribute  of  righteousness  which 
is  essential  to  His  moral  nature  and  to  His  perfect 
personality.  u  We  know,"  writes  Kuyper,  "  that 
this  is  called  the  juridical  conception,  and  that  in 
these  effeminate  days  men  desire  to  escape  from  the 
tension  of  the  right ;  therefore  the  ethical  concep 
tion  is  lauded  to  the  skies.  But  this  opposition  to 
the  juridical  conception  sets  God  at  naught  and 
grieves  Him.  The  ethical  idea  is  :  ( I  am  sick  ; 
how  can  I  become  well  ? '  The  juridical  idea  is  : 
4  How  can  God's  violated  rights  be  restored  ?  '  The 
latter  is  therefore  of  primary  importance.  I  must 

*  Dr.  L.  S.  Keyser. 


IS   GOD    RECONCILED   TO    US?  75 

first  acknowledge  the  living  God,  and  that  He  has 
righteous  claims  upon  me,  which  I  have  violated 
and  which  must  be  satisfied."* 

Where  there  is  this  deep  conception  of  sin,  not 
only  as  evil  in  the  sinner,  but  as  guilt,  as  wrong 
doing  to  God,  as  doing  Him  an  injury  which  turns 
Him  away  from  and  against  the  transgressor,  there 
will  be  the  conviction  that  God  must  first  be  recon 
ciled  by  an  atonement  before  the  repentant  sin 
ner  can  be  reconciled  to  Him. 

u  Because  God's  anger  is  a  holy  anger  it  requires 
that  atonement  shall  be  made  for  sin.  God,  accord 
ing  to  His  own  nature,  requires  a  satisfaction  to  be 
made  for  sin.  In  the  idea  of  atonement  for  sin  the 
willingness  of  God  to  pardon  the  sinner  must  be 
presupposed  as  already  existing.  God's  character 
requires,  not  that  this  willingness  shall  be  awak 
ened  by  the  atonement,  but  that  the  moral  possi 
bility  shall  be  presented  for  putting  it  intoeffect."t 

*  The  Work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  p.  270, 
f  Rothe's   Still  Hours,  p.  230. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE   CENTRAL   PLACE   OF   THE    ATONEMENT   IN 
CHRISTIANITY. 

IT  occupies  the  chief  place.  It  is  the  burden  of 
the  New  Testament.  It  is  the  heart  of  the  Gospel. 
It  is  the  keystone  of  the  Christian  system.  It  is 
the  central  truth  of  Christian  theology.  It  is  the 
corner-stone  of  redemption.  Remove  this  founda 
tion,  and  the  whole  edifice  crumbles  to  ruin.  There 
is  no  Scripture  truth  or  doctrine  of  Christian  the 
ology  which  does  not  bear  more  or  less  a  relation 
of  dependency  upon  it.  Everywhere  the  death  of 
Christ  is  the  most  intense  focus  of  His  life,  and  every 
other  feature  of  His  life  and  work  is  made  subsidiary 
to  the  fact  that  He  came  to  make  an  offering  unto 
death  for  sin.  "  Christianity,  which  God  consents 
to  offer  to  the  world,  is  the  forgiveness  of  sins  in 
the  blood  of  Christ."* 

First,  it  is  inseparably  interwoven  with  the  in 
carnation.  When  it  is  written :  "  For  as  much 

*  Cremer,  The  Essence  of  Christianity,  p.  266. 

(76) 


THE  CENTRAL  PLACE  OF  THE  ATONEMENT.   77 

as  ye  know  that  ye  were  redeemed  with  the  precious 
blood  of  Christ,  who  verily  was  foreordained  be 
fore  the  foundation  of  the  world/'*  we  learn  that 
the  purposes  of  incarnation  and  redemption  were 
cotemporaneous  in  the  divine  thought.  Evidently 
"  Christ  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  man,  that  he 
might  become  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death 
of  the  cross,  "f  In  all  probability  the  Son  of  God 
would  never  have  become  incarnate  had  it  not 
been  for  the  purpose  of  the  atonement.  And  it 
would  appear  that  the  very  creation  of  man  was 
conditional  upon  this  divine  idea.  God  would  not 
have  created  man  had  it  not  been  that,  foreseeing 
His  fall,  a  Saviour  was  foreordained,  to  counteract 
the  tragic  event.  The  great  wonder  of  the  incar 
nation  with  all  its  attendant  glories,  and  the  very 
creation  itself,  are  bound  up  in  the  atonement. 
All  belong  together  as  integral  parts  of  a  higher 
cycle  of  events  than  those  within  the  ordinary 
range  of  human  experience.  Whoever  has  believed 
and  experienced  that  inconceivable  miracle — the 
fact  of  our  redemption! — has  experienced  Jesus,  and 
lives  in  the  realization  that  He  is  ours,  and  belongs 
to  us  as  no  one  else  can  belong  to  us  ;  to  Him  the 
*  i  Peter  i.  20.  f  Phil.  ii.  7,  8. 


78   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

miracle  of  His  resurrection,  and  consequently  the 
wonder  also  of  His  incarnation,  is  not  too  great. 

The  atonement,  further,  is  the  correlative  of  the 
Scriptural  doctrine  of  sin.  Sin,  in  its  light,  is  seen 
as  that  desperate  reality  in  God's  world,  requiring  a 
supreme  and  mysterious  sacrifice  for  its  removal. 
What  would  Christian  theology  do  with  the  hideous 
factor  of  sin  were  it  not  for  the  justifying  blood  of 
Christ?  But  wherever  in  the  pages  of  the  New 
Testament  "  sin  reigns  unto  death,"  there  side  by 
side  "  grace  reigns  unto  eternal  life  by  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord."* 

God's  noblest  moral  attribute,  love,  depends  upon 
the  atonement  for  its  crowning  illustration.  With 
out  the  atonement,  the  brightest  lustre  of  infinite 
goodness  and  compassion  could  not  have  been  re 
vealed  to  the  wonder  and  adoration  of  men  and 
angels. 

The  divinity  of  our  Lord  is  conditioned  by  it. 
For,  to  render  a  satisfaction  which  humanity  was 
impotent  to  do,  there  must  be  an  offering  sinless 
and  of  infinitely  precious  worth.  This  involved 
the  sacrifice  of  one  who  was  divine,  and  whose  sacri 
fice  would,  therefore,  have  an  all-prevailing  potency. 

*  Rom.  v.  21. 


THE  CENTRAL,  PLACE  OF  THE  ATONEMENT.       79 

Again,  it  necessitates  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 
Without  this  mysterious  feature  in  the  secret  being 
of  the  Godhead,  the  atonement  would  be  incon 
ceivable.  As  it  was  God  who  must  be  propitiated, 
and  God  who  alone  could  make  the  propitiation, 
there  arises  the  necessity  for  the  persons  of  Father 
and  Son  in  the  undivided  divinity,  which  finds  its 
trinal  perfection  in  the  procession  of  the  third  per 
sonality,  the  Holy  Spirit,  without  whose  life-giving 
agency  there  could  be  no  application  of  the  pur 
chased  redemption  to  man  "  dead  in  trespasses  and 
in  sin." 

It  bears  directly  upon  that  great  doctrine  upon 
which  Luther  built  the  Reformation,  and  which  he 
called  the  doctrine  of  a  standing  or  falling  Church 
— -Justification  by  Faith.  For  since  Christ  by  the 
sacrifice  of  Himself  has  paid  the  full  penalty  of  sin, 
there  needs  but  for  the  sinner  by  faith  to  make  this 
satisfaction  his  own,  and  his  debt  is  paid,  and  he 
stands  forth  justified  before  God. 

It  gives  us,  too,  the  only  satisfactory  solution  of 
the  death  of  Christ,  of  the  mystery  of  the  cross, 
of  the  suffering  of  the  Son  of  God,  which  else 
would  be  an  insoluble  enigma.  The  redemption 
of  men  turns  that  awful  hill  of  despair  and  dei- 


80   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

cide  into  the  highest  glory-crowned  mount  of 
time. 

It  points  also  to  the  resurrection  which  must 
needs  follow,  to  vindicate  with  power  the  atoning 
sufferer  as  divine. 

And  it  is  essential  to  the  Lord^s  Supper,  which 
owes  to  it  its  elements,  "  the  bread  broken  for  you,n 
and  the  "  blood  shed  for  the  remission  of  sins." 

And  this  necessitates  the  Church  with  its  word 
and  sacraments  as  means  of  grace,  whereby  the 
Holy  Spirit  works  to  the  efficacious  use  of  the  great 
salvation. 

The  essential  Christian  doctrine  then  is  that  of 
an  objective  atonement.  "  The  message  of  the 
apostles  proclaimed  to  the  world  finds  its  central 
thought  to  be  forgiveness  of  sins  through  a  cru 
cified,  divine  Saviour.  Paul  declares  that  he  will 
know  nothing  save  Jesus  the  crucified,  through 
whose  blood  we  have  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  John 
rejoices  that  the  blood  of  Christ  cleanseth  from  all 
sin.  Peter  says,  '  Ye  know  that  ye  were  redeemed 
with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ.'  This  is  their 
constant  insistence."*  So  writes  Dr.  Denny  in 
his  recent  book :  u  The  propitiatory  death  of 

*  Cremer,  Essence  of  Christianity,  p.  47. 


THE  CENTRAL  PLACE  OF  THE  ATONEMENT.   8 1 

Christ,  as  an  all-transcending  demonstration  of  love, 
evokes  in  sinful  souls  a  response  which  is  the  whole 
of  Christianity.  The  process  which  starts  with 
rejecting  the  objective  atonement  has  its  natural 
and  inevitable  issue  in  the  denial  that  Christ  has 
any  essential  part  in  the  Gospel.  We  can  only 
assent  to  such  a  view  by  renouncing  the  New  Tes 
tament  as  a  whole."*  Speaking  of  the  attempt  of 
some  to  substitute  for  it,  in  deference  to  modern 
critical  thought,  what  is  called  an  "  up-to-date  Gos 
pel,"  the  venerable  Dr.  Cuyler  says  :  "  This  age 
of  ours,  with  all  its  mighty  mechanical  inventions 
and  its  increasing  mammon-worship,  has  not  ad 
vanced  one  single  inch  beyond  its  indispensable 
need  of  the  atoning  blood  of  Jesus  and  the  convert 
ing  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  All  the  telegraphs 
and  the  telephones,  and  all  the  universities,  with 
their  boasted  achievements  in  scholarship,  have 
not  yet  outlawed  Calvary  and  Pentecost.  Human 
nature  has  not  changed ;  human  sinfulness  and 
sorrows  have  not  changed  ;  the  Word  of  God  has 
not  changed ;  the  precious  promises  have  not 
changed ;  and  what  fallen  man  needed  to  lift  him 

*  The  Death  of  Christ :     Its  Place  and  Interpretation  in  the 
New  Testament. 

6 


82   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Godward  nineteen  hundred  years  ago  he  needs 
to-day.  Stick  to  the  old  Gospel.  When  God  gives 
you  another,  preach  it,  but  not  before." 

The  atonement,  therefore,  is  the  heart  of  Chris 
tian  theology.  The  cross  is  the  centre  of  the 
universe.  It  is  the  point  around  which  all  the 
great  events  of  human  history  revolve.  Not  alone 
the  theologian,  but  the  philosopher  and  the  histo 
rian  must  take  their  points  of  view  from  Calvary. 
As  well  tear  the  bones  from  the  body,  or  pluck  the 
sun  from  the  solar  system,  as  to  ignore  or  strike  out 
the  atonement  from  Christianity. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

UNIVERSALITY   OF   THE   ATONEMENT. 

THE  Scriptures  represent  God  as  a  Father  loving- 
all  His  children.  When  Ephraim  goes  astray,  He 
calls  after  him  with  tender  compassion.  The  Par 
able  of  the  Prodigal  Son  shows  that  even  in  sin 
and  shame,  the  Father's  heart  still  holds  a  place 
for  the  erring  one.  So,  when  the  eternal  Father 
wills  to  send  His  Son  on  a  mission  of  redemption, 
its  purport  is  thus  denned  :  u  God  so  loved  the 
world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son."*  Again  : 
u  And  he  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins ;  and  not 
for  ours  only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world."t  "  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will 
draw  all  men  unto  me. "I  So  Paul  argues  that  the 
righteousness  of  Christ,  u  the  free  gift,  came  upon 
all  men  unto  justification  of  life."§  And  Peter 
tells  us  that  u  the  Lord  is  not  willing  that  any 
should  perish,  but  that  all  should  come  to  repent- 

*  John  iii.  16.  t  i  John  ii.  2. 

j  John  xii.  32.  \  Rom.  v.  18. 

(83) 


84   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

ance."*  In  Heb.  ii.  9  we  have  the  strong  expres 
sion,  "  Christ  tasted  death  for  every  man." 

These  passages  are  so  specific  that  we  cannot 
mistake  their  meaning.  They  show  that  the  divine 
scheme  of  redemption  was  comprehensive  and 
universal.  Christianity  was  no  longer  to  be  a 
national  religion,  like  that  of  the  Jews,  but  was  to 
embrace  all  nations  and  races.  Wide  as  sin  reigned 
and  wide  as  the  curse  prevailed,  salvation  was  to 
abound.  It  is  toward  man,  in  his  low  estate,  that 
the  heart  of  the  Infinite  moves  with  saving  love. 
The  atonement  is  universal. 

There  is  indeed  another  class  of  passages  which 
teach  the  doctrine  of  an  election  such  as  Ephes.  i. 
4,  5  :  "  Even  as  God  chose  us  in  Christ  before  the 
foundation  of  the  world — having  foreordained  us 
unto  adoption  of  sons  through  Jesus  Christ  unto 
himself,  according  to  the  good  pleasure  of  his 
will."  While  these  passages  must  be  recognized 
and  weighed  in  their  full  significance,  they  must 
not  be  so  construed  as  to  weaken  or  invalidate  the 
ones  previously  quoted.  But  both  must  be  ex 
plained  by  the  principle  of  the  analogy  of  faith,  so 
as  to  find  the  basal  truth  in  wrhich  they  harmonize. 
*  2  Pet.  iii.  9. 


UNIVERSALITY   OF   THE   ATONEMENT.  85 

Accordingly  neither  Calvinists,  who  base  this 
election  on  the  sovereign  decree  of  God,  nor  Luth 
erans,  who  base  it  on  the  prevision  of  faith,  deny 
the  universality  of  the  atoning  death  of  Christ. 
Thus  wrote  Dr.  Hodge:  " Augustinians  do  not 
deny  that  Christ  died  for  all  men.  What  they 
deny  is  that  He  died  equally  and  with  the  same 
design  for  all  men.  .  .  .  He  was  a  propitiation 
effectually  for  the  sins  of  His  people,  and  suffi 
ciently  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world."* 

And  writes  the  Lutheran,  Dr.  Jacobs:  "The 
Scriptural  doctrine  of  Predestination,  while  claim 
ing  for  God  the  sole  glory  and  making  Him  the 
sole  cause  of  man's  salvation,  is  most  carefully 
guarded  from  all  Fatalism,  since  every  elect  and 
regenerate  man  could  by  his  own  will  be  otherwise 
than  he  is,  while  it  is  alone  by  God's  will  that  he 
is  as  he  is."f 

Prof.  Edwards  A.  Park,  seeking  to  find  a  common 
ground  between  the  parties,  wrote  :  u  One  party 
contemplate  men  as  passive  receivers  of  sanctifying 
impressions  ;  and  their  question  is, i  How  many  did 
God  intend  by  regenerating  influence  to  make  par- 

*  Systematic  Theology,  vol.  ii.,  p.  558. 

t  Elements  of  Religion — God's  Eternal  Purpose,  p.  78. 


86   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

takers  of  the  benefits  of  the  atonement  ? '  The  an 
swer  is,  '  The  elect.1  And  so  say  we.  The  other 
party  contemplate  men  as  moral  agents  ;  and  their 
question  is,  '  How  many  did  God  intend  to  furnish 
with  a  means  of  pardon  which  they  should  be 
under  obligation  to  improve  for  their  everlasting 
good  ? '  The  answer  is,  '  All  who  hear  the  Gos 
pel.'  And  so  say  our  brethren."* 

We  touch  indeed  here  one  of  the  profoundest  of 
mysteries — the  reconciliation  of  human  freedom 
with  Divine  Sovereignty.  This  same  difficulty 
which  encounters  the  acutest  philosophical  thinkers 
in  their  endeavors  to  solve  the  riddle  of  the  spiritual 
universe  is  reflected  in  the  Scriptural  treatment  of 
the  theme,  where  man's  free  will  and  God's  initia 
tive  and  absolute  control  are  alike  emphasized. 
Seeking  to  solve  it,  we  are  like  Milton's  great  de 
bating  spirits  in  Paradise  Lost,  who 

"  Reason 'd  high 

Of  Providence,  Foreknowledge,  Will,  and  Fate  ; 
Fixed  Fate,  Free  Will,  Foreknowledge  absolute  ; 
And  found  no  end  in  wandering  mazes  lost." 

The  mystery  we  can  safely  leave  to   the    hour 

*  Extent  of  the  Atonement,  p.  252. 


UNIVERSALITY   OF   THE    ATONEMENT.  87 

when  we  shall  no  longer  "  see  as  through  a  glass 
darkly." 

For  us  it  is  but  to  hold  to  the  clear  and  emphatic 
teaching  of  Scripture  that  the  atonement  is  of  uni 
versal  application,  and  that  each  one  is  responsible 
if  he  fail  to  accept  the  offer  of  grace.  That  God 
has  so  loved  the  world  in  its  fall  and  guilt  and 
shame  as  to  resolve  to  save  it,  that  from  eternity 
there  issued  the  decree  which  was  to  circumvent 
sin  and  death,  and  that  all  are  called  upon  to  believe, 
repent,  and  be  saved  through  the  offering  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ — this  is  the  great  blessed  truth 
of  the  atonement. 

In  conclusion,  the  Scriptural  teaching  as  to  the 
universality  of  the  atonement,  as  expressed  in  the 
declaratory  statement  attached  to  the  Revised 
Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  is  one  that  we 
can  all  endorse  :  "  That,  concerning  those  who  are 
saved  in  Christ,  the  doctrine  of  God's  eternal  decree 
is  held  in  harmony  with  the  doctrine  of  His  love 
to  all  mankind,  His  gift  of  His  Son  to  be  the  pro 
pitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  and  His 
readiness  to  bestow  His  saving  grace  on  all  who  seek 
it.  That,  concerning  those  who  perish,  the  doctrine 
of  God's  eternal  decree  is  held  in  harmony  with  the 


88   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

doctrine  that  God  desires  not  the  death  of  any 
sinner,  but  has  provided  a  salvation  sufficient  for  all, 
adapted  to  all,  and  freely  offered  in  the  Gospel 
to  all ;  that  men  are  held  responsible  for  their 
treatment  of  God's  gracious  offer,  and  that  no  man 
is  condemned  except  on  the  ground  of  his  sins." 

All  then  can  join  in  Zinzendorf's  hymn  of  praise 
for  that  redeeming  love  provided  for  all,  offered  to 
all,  able  to  save  all : 

"  I^ord,  I  believe  were  sinners  more 
Than  sands  upon  the  ocean  shore, 
Thou  hast  for  all  a  ransom  paid, 
Thou  hast  a  full  atonement  made." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

NO   UNIVERSALISM    IN    THE    ATONEMENT. 

THE  universality  of  the  atonement,  the  efficacy 
of  the  satisfaction  rendered  by  Christ,  does  not  by 
any  means  prove  a  like  universality  in  its  practical 
effect.  The  free  salvation  it  provides  is  not  indeed 
limited,  but  that  is  a  very  different  thing  from  say 
ing  that  it  is  not  conditioned.  This  it,  indeed,  is 
everywhere.  The  atonement  demands  a  moral 
test.  It  is  not  a  magical  work,  transforming  the 
sinner  without  the  consent  of  his  will.  Nor  is  it 
to  be  mechanically  taken  hold  of  as  one  would 
appropriate  the  possession  of  a  fortune.  But  its 
reception  is  dependent  upon  a  certain  spiritual 
state.  "  Whosoever  belie veth  "  is  its  invariable 
condition.  There  must  be  a  voluntary  reception 
of  the  unspeakable  gift. 

And  where  this  is  refused,  where  men  deliberately 
turn  away  from  the  Crucified,  where  God's  sur 
passing  grace  is  rejected,  there  the  universal  salva 
tion  does  not  become  universally  effective.  "  He 

(89) 


90   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life  ;  and 
he  that  believeth  not  on  the  Son  shall  not  see  life."* 
The  sin  which  we  are  "  not  to  pray  for  ;  "  the  u  sin 
for  which  there  is  neither  forgiveness  in  this  world 
nor  in  the  world  to  come  ; 51  the  u  impassable  gulf  " 
fixed  between  the  two  future  states  ;  and  our  Lord's 
fateful  declaration  of  an  everlasting  punishment ; 
make  wholly  untenable,  from  any  Scriptural  stand 
point,  the  doctrine  of  universalism  as  involved  in, 
or  deducible  from,  the  universality  of  the  atonement. 
Universalism  as  a  denomination  is  a  total  failure. 
Its  numerical  adherents  are  utterly  insignificant  as 
compared  with  the  overwhelming  strength  of  the 
orthodox  churches.  This  meagre  outcome  is  prob 
ably  owing  to  the  general  conviction  as  to  the 
injurious  moral  results  of  a  teaching  devoid  of  a 
positive  moral  authority.  "  The  preaching  of  the 
Universalists,"  says  Baird's  Religion  in  America, 
u  positively  exercises  no  reforming  influence  on  the 
wicked,  and  what  worse  can  be  said  of  it?  "  Yet 
it  is  a  contention  of  the  Universalists  that  their 
doctrines  are  insidiously  growing  in  the  orthodox 
churches  among  many,  especially  ministers,  who 
decline  publicly  to  avow  them.  While  unsub- 

*  John  iii.  36. 


NO   UNIVERSALISM    IN   THE   ATONEMENT.       91 

stantiated  claims  of  this  character,  as  so  often  made, 
are,  as  a  rule,  unwarranted,  yet  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  the  arguments  of  many,  who,  like  Farrar,  place 
all  the  emphasis  on  the  love  of  God,  wrhile  quite 
ignoring  His  justice, — as  the  backbone  of  the  moral 
universe, — do  tend  strongly  in  that  direction. 

And  the  Scriptural  doctrine  of  the  atonement,  so 
far  from  countenancing  this  line  of  liberal  thought, 
is  the  most  irrefutable  disproof  of  it.  For,  if  the 
atonement  sets  in  a  most  surpassing  lustre  the 
divine  love,  not  a  whit  less  vividly  does  it  portray 
the  inexorability  of  the  divine  attribute  of  jus 
tice.  A  God,  who  from  His  regard  to  the  inflexible 
sovereignty  of  moral  law,  will  spare  not  His  only 
Son  from  the  shame  and  agony  of  the  cross,  when 
He  appears  as  a  substitute  for  sinners,  will  not 
either  spare  the  guilty,  who  reject  "  the  only  name 
under  heaven  given  among  men,  whereby  we  must 
be  saved."*  In  fact,  the  very  last  doctrine  in  the 
vScripture  in  which  universalism  can  find  any  sup 
port  is  that  of  the  atonement. 

*  Acts  iv.  12. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THEORIES  OF  THE  ATONEMENT. 

RELIGIOUS  truths  have  a  history  analagous  to 
physical  facts.  At  first,  as  these  are  discovered,  they 
exist  in  loose  disorder,  without  connection  or  ar 
rangement.  But  by  degrees,  as  their  qualities  and 
relations  are  labeled,  they  are  classified  in  their  true 
order,  and  form  a  science.  A  satisfactory  theory  of 
them  can  then  be  formulated.  Such  has  been  the 
procedure  with  religious  truths.  At  first  the  Chris 
tian  tenets  were  held  simply  as  isolated  facts. 
But  by  degrees  they  came  to  be  apprehended  in  a 
larger  view,  so  that  they  could  be  arranged  into  a 
grand  harmonious  system,  and  an  intelligent  theory 
of  them  be  formulated. 

By  this  process  has  issued  the  science  of  Biblical 
theology.  Such  has  been  the  evolution  of  all 
Christian  doctrine.  And  so  of  the  Atonement.  The 
early  Christians  and  church  fathers  held  it  posi 
tively,  without  any  attempt  to  state  it  in  formal 
terms.  The  first  definite  theory  of  it  was  that 

(92) 


THEORIES   OF   THE   ATONEMENT.  93 

originated  by  Anselm.  This  was,  that  when  man 
by  his  fall  had  broken  the  divine  law,  violated  the 
honor  of  God,  and  become  alienated  from  Him,  it 
was  necessary  that  Christ,  as  God-man,  by  volun 
tary  submission  to  the  penalty  of  death,  render  full 
satisfaction  to  the  requirements  of  divine  jus 
tice,  and,  thus  representing  the  guilty  human  race, 
effect  a  full  deliverance  for  it.  This  is  the  ortho 
dox  theory  of  the  atonement.  With  minor  modi 
fications  it  has  ever  since  been  the  view  held  by 
the  evangelical  church.  "  From  the  time  of  Anselm 
two  opposing  views  of  redemption  were  developed  ; 
the  one  viewed  its  method  as  objectively  necessary, 
and  derived  its  efficiency  from  this  necessity  ;  the 
other  assigned  rather  a  subjective  connection  to  the 
two,  as  if  it  had  been  merely  the  pleasure  of  God 
to  connect  the  price  of  redemption  with  the  suffer 
ings  of  Christ,  because  they  were  best  adapted  to 
effect  the  moral  transformation  of  man."* 

The  argument  of  Anselm  is  based  upon  the  recog 
nition  of  the  divine  necessity,  not  to  forgive,  but 
to  forgive  in  a  way,  which  shows  that  God  is 
irreconcilable  to  evil,  and  can  never  treat  it  as  other 
or  less  than  it  is.  And  it  is  the  recognition  of  this 

*  Neander,  History  of  Dogmas,  p.  521. 


94   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

divine  necessity,  or  the  failure  to  recognize  it, 
which  ultimately  divides  interpreters  of  Chris 
tianity  into  evangelical  and  non-evangelical,  those 
who  are  true  to  the  New  Testament  and  those 
who  cannot  receive  it.  In  the  Cur  Deus  Homo, 
where  Anselm  has  unfolded  the  evangelical  view, 
Professor  Denny  rightly  says  Christendom  has  the 
"  truest  and  greatest  book  on  the  atonement  that  has 
ever  been  written." 

One  of  these  opposing  views  is  that  called  the 
governmental  theory.  It  is  based  upon  the  abso 
lute  sovereignty  of  God.  That  He,  by  virtue  of 
His  supreme  will  alone,  can  freely  and  entirely 
remit  the  guilt  and  penalty  of  sin.  The  right  to 
relax  the  law's  demands  at  will  belongs  to  His  pre 
rogative  as  moral  governor.  But  lest  this  encour 
age  the  sinner  to  transgress  with  impunity,  Christ 
is  allowed  to  suffer  as  a  warning  that  sin  shall  not 
escape. 

Another  is  the  moral  theory  of  the  atonement. 
This  is,  that  the  sufferings  of  Christ  on  the  cross 
were  simply  a  transcendental  display  of  divine  love. 
That  Christ  by  His  death  made  so  complete  and 
effectual  a  display  of  God's  surpassing  love  for  sin 
ners  that  their  hearts  are  thereby  melted  and  they 


THEORIES   OF   THE    ATONEMENT.  95 

are  moved  to  forsake  their  sins.  This  moral 
influence  theory  was  first  propounded  by  the  ra 
tionalistic  thinker  Abelard,  later  by  the  Unitarian 
Socinus,  then  by  Frederick  D.  Maurice,  and,  in 
America,  by  Horace  Bushnell,  in  his  "  Vicarious 
Sacrifice."  It  is  the  most  widespread  of  all  the 
views  diverging  from  orthodoxy,  and  is  that  one 
probably  in  general  acceptance  in  current  circles 
of  liberal  thought. 

The  cardinal  defect  of  these  theories  is  that 
neither  one  makes  any  pretense  to  find  support  in 
Scripture.  The  governmental  theory  is  similar  to 
the  Mohammedan  conception  of  the  divine  arbi 
trary  sovereignty,  where  God  can  pardon  whom  He 
will  and  on  whatever  grounds,  and  hence  there 
would  be  no  need  of  an  atonement.  "  It  therefore 
constituted  a  great  advance  in  Latin  theology,  as 
also  an  evidence  of  its  immeasurable  superiority 
over  Mohammedanism,  when  Anselm  for  the  first 
time,  in  a  clear  and  emphatic  manner,  had  asserted 
an  inward  necessity  in  the  being  of  God  that  His 
justice  should  receive  satisfaction  for  the  affront 
which  had  been  offered  to  it  by  human  sinfulness."* 

The  moral  influence  theory  is  even  more  objec- 
*  Life  of  Jonathan  Edwards— Allen,  p.  88. 


96   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

tionable.  In  advocating  it,  Horace  Bushnell,  in  his 
Cambridge  address  on  "  God  in  Christ,"  objects  to 
"  the  double  ignominy,  first,  of  letting  the  guilty 
go,  and,  secondly,  of  accepting  the  suffering  of 
innocence."  Both  these  theories,  then,  reject  all 
idea  of  satisfaction ;  in  no  real  sense  regard  Christ 
as  a  vicarious  offering  for  sin  ;  look  upon  the  cross 
as  merely  a  moving  spectacular  drama ;  and  alto 
gether  contravene  the  cumulative  Scriptural  teach 
ing.  Nor  are  they  legitimately  entitled  to  be  styled 
theories  of  the  atonement.  Rather  should  they  be 
designated  schemes  by  which  to  minimize  and  evade 
the  atonement.  In  fact,  a  feature  of  our  day  is 
the  use  of  this  word  theory  as  a  plausible  cover  for 
emptying  a  Christian  doctrine  of  its  core  and 
substance. 

Others  again,  after  the  Ritschlian  manner,  oppose 
holding  any  theories  of  the  atonement,  on  the 
ground  that  it  is  practical  and  not  theoretical.  It 
is  argued  that  by  this  means  this  and  other  doc 
trines  are  deprived  of  their  Scriptural  simplicity 
and  vital  force.  But  Forrest  shows  that  the  pur 
pose  of  "  the  Church,  in  proceeding  carefully  to 
define  and  give  explicit  statement  to  its  doctrines, 
was  not  speculative  but  declaratory.  Its  aim  was 


THEORIES   OF   THE    ATONEMENT.  97 

to  conserve,  not  to  give  a  theological  form  to  the 
content  of  faith."  It  was  compelled  to  do  this 
through  the  vigorous  assaults  made  upon  the  doc 
trines.  They  had  then  to  be  denned  in  such  careful, 
intelligent,  and  systematic  form  that  they  could 
withstand  attack.  A  theory  is  only  a  rational 
explanation  of  a  thing.  If  we  believe  a  Christian 
truth,  we  must  believe  it  rationally,  and  be  able  to 
give  an  intelligent  explanation  of  the  manner  in 
which  we  hold  it.  That  is,  we  must  have  a  theory 
of  it. 

Wise  men  seek  to  go  to  the  bottom  of  all  ques 
tions,  for  they  know  that  only  this  is  really  practical. 
The  chief  cry  against  "theory,"  "theology,"  "phi 
losophy,"  and  so  on,  is  often  a  veritable  assertion  of 
the  all-sufficiency  of  shallowness  in  all  important 
problems  of  religion  and  society.  If  as  Christians 
we  believe  in  a  real  atonement,  we  will  have  no  diffi 
culty  in  framing  a  very  simple,  definite  theory  of  it 
in  our  minds.  We  will  take  the  Gospel  facts  and 
see  how  they  accord  with  the  law,  satisfy  the  divine 
justice,  and  at  the  same  time  relieve  the  dilemma 
of  the  sinner.  And  our  clearly  defined  theory  will 
greatly  strengthen  and  buttress  our  faith. 
7 


CHAPTER    XV. 

OBJECTIONS      TO      THE      ATONEMENT.       IS      GUILT 
TRANSFERABLE?      ETHICS    AND    SCIENCE. 

IT  is  remarkable  that  the  very  feature  of  the 
divine  redemptive  scheme  which  commends  it  most 
forcefully  to  many  as  peculiarly  displaying  the 
love,  the  wisdom,  and  the  glory  of  God  should 
make  it  the  most  offensive  to  others.  So  that  no 
teaching  of  the  Gospel  has  evoked  such  intense 
antagonism  and  such  bitter  hostility,  sometimes 
allied  to  contempt,  as  the  vicarious  feature  of  the 
atonement. 

These  objections  may  be  classed  under  three 
heads. 

I.     ETHICAL. 

It  is  claimed  that  the  vicarious  principle  is  im 
moral.  That  to  have  the  innocent  suffer  for  the 
guilty  inverts  the  moral  poles  of  the  universe. 
That  to  allow  the  guilty  to  escape,  and  the  punish 
ment  to  fall  upon  the  righteous,  encourages  'the 
transgressor  to  sin  with  impunity,  and  remits  that 

(98) 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   ATONEMENT.  99 

penalty  which  is  at  once  an  educational  and  re 
formatory  necessity  for  him.  On  this  line  Horace 
Bushnell  writes  on  the  vicarious  sacrifice :  "  No 
governmental  reasons  can  justify  even  the  admis 
sion  of  innocence  into  a  participation  of  frowns 
and  penal  distributions.  The  eternal,  unmitigable 
distinction  between  innocence  and  sin  makes  it  im 
possible  to  suffer  any  commutation,  or  any  the 
least  substitution  of  places  between  the  righteous 
and  the  guilty."  So  Martineau,  contending  that 
moral  accountability  is  a  something  that  cannot  be 
shifted  from  one  to  another,  says :  "  The  transfer 
ence  of  guilt  from  one  individual  to  another,  stand 
ing  on  the  same  plane,  involves  a  contradiction  of 
the  first  principle  of  morals."* 

Yet  plausible  and  weighty  as  these  reasonings 
appear,  they  arise  from  a  hasty  and  superficial 
view.  For  they  fail  to  reflect  upon  and  look  into 
the  deeper  ethical  facts  that  lie  at  the  heart  of 
things.  They  overlook  the  fact  that  the  unity  of 
the  human  race  is  moral  as  well  as  natural.  Hence 
it  is  often  a  most  difficult  thing  to  draw  precisely 
the  lines  which  define  our  personal  responsibility 
for  guilt.  Individual  moral  action  is  a  resultant  of 

*  Theories  of  the  Work  of  Jesus,  p.  479. 


100   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

many  influences.  In  any  particular  sin  the  guilt 
is  often  not  so  much  our  own  as  that  of  an  ances 
tor,  who,  yielding  to  the  temptation,  acquired  an 
habitual  bent  or  strain  which  was  bequeathed  to 
us.  Original  sin  is  wholly  not  our  own,  and  yet  it 
is  the  primal  source  of  all  our  sins.  The  sins  of 
the  fathers  visit  themselves  upon  the  children 
through  the  door  of  heredity.  Not  alone  is  this  a 
Biblical  truth,  but  it  had  a  profound  illustration  in 
that  doctrine  of  fate  among  the  Greeks,  portrayed 
with  so  much  dramatic  power  in  the  Oedipus 
Tyrannus  of  Sophocles,  the  finest  tragedy  of  an 
tiquity.  This  conception  was  that  the  sin  of  some 
ancestor,  of  which  the  descendant  was  entirely 
ignorant,  followed  him  like  an  inevitable  Nemesis, 
involving  him  and  his  family,  despite  every  effort, 
in  a  labyrinth  of  helpless  disasters.  Thus  Sopho 
cles  makes  the  unhappy  king  say  : 

"  For  thus  it  pleased  the  gods,  incensed  perhaps 
Against  my  father's  house,  for  guilt  of  old. 
For  as  regards  my  life  thou  couldst  not  find 
One  spot  of  guilt,  in  recompense  for  which 
I  sinned  these  sins  against  myself  and  mine." 

If,  then,  the  personal  and   racial  elements  com 
posing  the  temper  which  precipitates  into  sin  are 


OBJECTIONS   TO    THE    ATONEMENT.  IOI 

often  so  hard  to  separate,  and  if  thereby  the  guilt 
of  others  becomes  practically  transferred  to  us,  may 
it  not,  instead  of  being  unjust,  be  the  profoundest 
principle  of  equity,  that  someone  else  bear  the  re 
sponsibility  and  consequences  of  our  guilt  ?  That 
as  we  have  innocently  been  made  to  suffer  for  the 
sins  of  others,  and  that  as  their  guilty  natures  and 
deeds  have  been  transferred  to  us,  so  One  should  be 
found,  who,  innocent  of  our  sins,  yet  should  have 
our  guilty  natures  and  all  their  baleful  conse 
quences  transferred  to  him  ?  Or  that,  as  Paul  puts 
it,  as  "  through  one  man's  disobedience  many  were 
made  sinners,  so  through  the  obedience  of  one 
shall  many  be  made  righteous?"*  It  is  worthy 
of  note  here  that  "the  apostle  does  not  raise  the 
question  whether  it  is  possible  for  one  to  assume 
the  responsibilities  of  others  in  this  way  ;  he  as 
sumes  (and  the  assumption  is  common  to  all  the 
New  Testament  writers)  that  the  responsibilities 
of  sinful  men  have  been  taken  on  Himself  by  the 
sinless  Lamb  of  God.  This  is  not  a  theorem  he 
is  prepared  to  defend,  it  is  the  Gospel  he  has  been 
given  to  preach,  "f 

That  there  is  involved  here  a  deep  insoluble  mys- 

*  Romans  v.  19.  f  Denny,  Death  of  Christ,  p.  99. 


IO2   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

tery  it  were  irrational  to  deny,  but  that  is  no  reason 
why  it  may  not  be  true.  Mysteries  are  the  hull  of 
the  most  significant  and  precious  truths.  This  is 
constantly  verified  in  life  and  science,  and  naturally 
is  an  important  characteristic  of  divine  revelation. 
All  that  we  wish  to  show  is  the  superficiality  of 
that  reasoning  which  would  summarily  dismiss  the 
idea  of  the  transferability  of  guilt  as  unnatural,  im 
moral,  and  inconceivable. 

That  this  law  enters  into  the  ethical  constitution 
of  the  world  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  course  of 
nature  rests  upon  the  death  of  some  that  others 
may  live,  /.  c.,  upon  this  principle  of  substitution 
or  transference.  Writes  Drummond  :  u  There  is  no 
reproduction  in  plant,  animal,  or  man  which  does 
not  involve  sacrifice  for  others.  All  that  is  moral, 
and  social,  and  other-regarding  has  come  along  the 
line  of  this  function.  Sacrifice,  moreover,  as  these 
physiological  facts  disclose,  is  not  an  accident  nor 
an  accompaniment  of  reproduction,  but  an  inevi 
table  part  of  it.  It  is  the  universal  law  and  the 
universal  condition  of  life."* 

Passing  to  a  higher  scale,  we  find  that  the  pro 
gress  of  history  has  been  evolved  by  the  law  of 

*  Ascent  of  Man,  p.  190. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE    ATONEMENT.  103 

personal  sacrifice.  The  noblest  and  the  best  have 
given  themselves  for  the  good  of  others,  and  Mar 
cus  Curtius  leaps  full-armed  into  the  gulf  to  fulfill 
the  decree  of  the  soothsayers  that  only  by  the 
sacrifice  of  her  rarest  and  best  could  the  greatness 
of  Rome  be  made  eternal.  A  Socrates  drinks  the 
fatal  hemlock,  a  martyr  to  the  welfare  and  nobler 
aims  of  the  Athenian  youth  ;  and  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus  spills  his  blood  on  the  field  that  Protestantism 
may  live  and  religion  be  free.  The  strong  perish 
ing  for  the  weak  ;  the  noble  bearing  for  the  ignoble  ; 
the  father  sacrificing  to  rescue  the  erring  prodigal ; 
the  righteous  suffering  to  save  the  guilty  ;  such  is  the 
highest  law  we  see  illustrated  on  the  stage  of  life. 
And,  so  far  is  it  from  being  unethical,  that  it  has 
called  forth  the  finest  exhibitions  of  virtue,  been 
the  crucible  whence  has  issued  the  purest  charac 
ters,  and  the  source  of  the  most  powerful  influences 
for  unselfish  living  and  for  obedience  to  the  law  of 
love  that  have  uplifted  and  redeemed  mankind. 

And  shall  we  then  deem  it  unethical  and  im 
moral  that,  in  a  plan  emanating  from  the  eternal 
throne,  and  breathing  the  ethical  spirit  of  Deity, 
this  great  natural  law  of  substitution — of  love  suf 
fering  for  others,  of  truth  sacrificed  for  ignorance, 


104   TH^  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

of  innocence  bearing  the  sins  of  guilt,  should  find 
place  ?  Or,  rather,  is  it  not  what  might  have  been 
expected  that  in  this  highest  sphere  this  great  law 
of  atonement  should  have  its  fullest  and  sublimest 
illustration  ?  That  in  the  just  suffering  for  the  un 
just,  the  sinless  One  bearing  the  sins  of  the  world, 
the  holy  victim  cleansing  the  guilty  by  His  spotless 
blood,  we  should  see  not  a  perversion  of  right,  but 
the  climacteric  of  goodness  and  moral  excellence  ? 
One  cannot  indeed  be  guilty  instead  of  another. 
But  he  can  bear  the  punishment  of  another's  sin. 
He  can  become  one  with  him  in  sympathy  and 
mutual  aid.  He  can  stand  as  his  representative  in 
meeting  the  righteous  demands  of  the  law.  The 
right  relation  to  another,  after  it  is  disturbed,  may  be 
restored  independently  of  the  violator  by  a  third  per 
son.  The  question  is  not  how  the  right  relation  was 
restored,  but  whether  it  agrees  again  with  God's 
sovereign  will.  He  who  delivers  a  debtor  from  im 
prisonment  by  paying  his  debts  restores  him  to  his 
right  relation  to  his  former  creditors,  even  though 
the  prisoner  himself  did  not  pay  a  farthing  of  the 
debt.  Because  righteousness  has  reference  to  mutual 
relations,  the  right  is  satisfied  as  soon  as  the  dis 
turbed  relation  is  restored  and  the  lost  position  re- 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   ATONEMENT.  105 

covered.  How  it  was  accomplished  is  immaterial. 
And  this  is  what  Jesus  did.  He  did  not  Himself 
become  guilty,  but  by  very  virtue  of  His  sinlessness 
was  He  able  to  become  the  efficacious  offering  for 
sin. 

If  the  atonement  be  immoral,  then  the  holding 
of  such  a  false  ideal  would  have  lowered  and  de 
based  the  morals  of  those  persons  and  peoples 
receiving  it.  But  will  the  objector  contend  that 
such  has  been  the  case  ?  He  would  not  dare  to 
maintain  that  the  doctrine  of  a  substitutionary 
atonement  has  produced  immorality  wherever  it 
has  been  proclaimed.  He  does  not  venture  to  test 
his  charge  by  an  appeal  to  history.  The  appeal 
would  be  fatal.  For  nineteen  hundred  years  the 
only  great  moral  advances  of  the  human  race  have 
been  brought  about  by  the  preaching  of  a  substi 
tutionary  atonement.  A  spring  is  known  by  its 
waters.  It  is  impossible  that  a  doctrine  essentially 
immoral  should  be  the  cause  of  the  purest  morality 
among  men. 

2.    RATIONALISTIC    OR   SCIENTIFIC. 

Of  this  nature  is  the  objection,  that  our  world  oc 
cupies  too  insignificant  a  place  among  the  mighty 


106   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

and  countless  worlds  of  the  universe  for  the  Creator 
of  all  to  stoop  so  low  as  to  give  His  Son  to  die  for 
the  souls  inhabiting  it.  That  recent  revelations  of 
science  have  so  opened  up  the  depths  of  infinity  and 
so  vastly  enlarged  our  conceptions  of  the  boundless 
ness  of  space,  that  it  is  inconceivable  that  our  little 
planet  should  have  been  singled  out  as  the  theatre 
for  such  an  extraordinary  scene  as  that  of  the  re 
demption. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  with  all  our  discov 
eries,  how  little  do  we  really  know  of  the  uni 
verse  or  the  stellar  worlds !  After  all,  the  only 
sure  knowledge  we  have  is  of  our  own.  And  Wal 
lace,  the  rival  of  Darwin,  in  a  recent  very  able 
paper  contends  that  our  solar  system  is  a  stellar 
globe,  occupying  a  central  position  in  the  plane  of 
the  milky  way,  and  that  "  our  sun  is  in  all  proba 
bility  in  the  centre  of  the  whole  material  universe." 
And,  further,  that  "all  the  evidence  at  our  com 
mand  goes  to  assure  us  that  our  earth  alone  in  the 
solar  system  has  been  from  its  very  origin  adapted 
to  be  the  theatre  for  the  development  of  organized 
and  intelligent  life." 

These  facts  Wallace  applies  to  our  very  point 
as  weighty  arguments,  refuting  those  who  assert 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE    ATONEMENT.  IO/ 

the  irrationality  and  absurdity  of  supposing  that 
the  Creator  of  all  this  unimaginable  vastness  of 
suns  and  systems  should  have  any  special  in 
terest  in  so  pitiable  a  creature  as  man.  And 
that  He  should  have  selected  this  little  world 
for  the  scene  of  the  tremendous  and  necessarily 
unique  sacrifice  of  His  Son,  in  order  to  save  "  poor 
sinners  from  the  natural  consequences  of  their 
sins,  is  in  their  view  a  crowning  absurdity  too  in 
credible  to  be  believed  by  any  rational  being. "^ 

When  so  great  a  scientist  can  make  so  effective  a 
reply,  we  may  well  leave  rationalistic  scientists  to 
fight  out  their  own  doubts,  leaving  religion  and 
revelation  to  attend  to  their  own  distinctive  spheres. 
L,et  us  not  doubt  or  wonder  because  the  Almighty 
doeth  strange  and  wondrous  things.  He  with  whom 
is  "  the  hiding  of  power,"  who  chooses  "  the  weak 
things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  things  that  are 
mighty,"  and  whose  secret  laboratory  u  the  angels 
desire  to  look  into,"  must  not  surprise  us  if  His 
ways  are  not  as  our  ways,  or  His  thoughts  as  our 
thoughts.  "  What  kind  of  a  revelation,"  cries 
Lessing,  "  would  that  be  which  reveals  nothing  ?  " 
The  latest  word  of  science  is  that  the  furthermost 
*  Man's  Place  in  the  Universe,  p.  473. 


108   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

bounds  of  discovery  all  reach  a  dark  profound, 
an  abyss  of  mystery,  a  deep  where  further  sight  is 
lost.  Why,  then,  should  not  religion  have  her 
mysteries?  Said  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena,  "This 
is  what  to  me  proves  religion  to  be  divine,  that  she 
courageously  faces  those  mysteries  which  no  human 
system  can  undertake  to  solve." 

3.  THEOLOGICAL. 

To  this  class  belongs  the  objection  that  our 
doctrine  represents  God  as  making  atonement 
to  Himself,  and  that  this  is  contradictory  and 
impossible.  This  objection  is  thus  graphically 
voiced  by  Channing  :  "  Did  I  believe  that  not  the 
least  transgression,  not  even  the  first  sign  of  the 
dawning  mind  of  the  child,  could  be  remitted  with 
out  an  infinite  expiation,  I  should  feel  myself  living 
under  a  legislation  unspeakably  dreadful,  under 
laws  written,  like  Draco's,  in  blood  ;  and  instead  of 
thanking  the  sovereign  for  providing  an  infinite 
substitute,  I  should  shudder  at  the  attributes  which 
render  such  expedient  necessary.  Do  you  mean 
that  the  great  God,  who  never  changes,  whose  hap 
piness  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever, 
that  this  eternal  Being  really  bore  the  penalty  of 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE    ATONEMENT.  IOQ 

my  sins,  really  suffered  and  died  ?  Did  God  take 
into  union  with  Himself  our  nature,  /.  e.,  a  human 
body  and  soul,  and  did  these  bear  the  sufferings 
for  our  sins,  and  through  His  union  with 
these  God  may  be  said  to  have  borne  them  Him 
self?" 

But  while  it  is  admitted  that  there  is  a  mystery 
here,  yet  the  explanation  is  plainly  indicated  in  the 
doctrine  of  the  trinity  of  persons  in  the  Godhead. 
While  the  Godhead  is  one  and  could  make  no 
atonement  to  itself,  the  persons  are  divided,  and  the 
Son  can  present  Himself  as  an  offering  to  the  Father. 
If  this  be  a  mystery,  it  is  no  more  one  than  is  the 
Trinity,  or  the  Incarnation,  or  any  of  the  great 
Christian  doctrines. 

The  theological  objection  is  further  urged  that 
the  sacrificial  system  is  Jewish,  and,  therefore, 
opposed  to  the  Christian.  But  Christianity  is  not 
a  contrasted  religion  with  Judaism,  but  a  develop 
ment  from  it.  And  the  sacrificial  system  of 
Judaism  was  not  to  find  its  contradiction  but  its 
fulfillment  in  that  one  great  sacrifice,  who  did  away 
with  those  preceding  it,  as  substance  takes  the  place 
of  shadow,  or  as  the  glory  of  the  sun  pales  out  of 
view  the  heralding  morning  star. 


110   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

It  is  objected  that  the  ethical  standards  of  our  age 
have  outgrown  so  immoral  a  doctrine  as  that  of  our 
redemption  by  the  passion  of  the  Son  of  God,  and 
that  we  must  modify  or  eliminate  it,  or  Christianity 
is  doomed. 

The  reply  is  that  the  moral  sentiment  of  our 
age  is  no  more  opposed  to  it  than  was  the  Pagan 
one.  When  the  apostles  set  about  to  proclaim  this- 
doctrine  they  experienced  this  identical  opposition  : 
"  We  preach  Christ  crucified,  unto  the  Jew  a  stum 
bling-block,  and  unto  the  Greeks  foolishness ;  but 
unto  them  which  are  called,  both  Jews  and  Greeks, 
Christ  the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God."* 
Paul  was  not  alarmed  at  the  prophecies  of  failure 
in  offering  to  the  highly  cultured  Pagan  world 
a  Gospel  that  ran  so  counter  to  current  thought. 
But  he  had  sounded  some  of  the  depths  of  the 
spiritual  life,  and  he  thereby  knew  that  many  things 
that  seemed  paradoxical  in  the  scheme  of  grace,  only 
were  hidings  of  a  divine  wisdom,  far  overtopping  hu 
man  wisdom.  So  he  gives  this  explanation  of  this 
opposition  :  "  But  the  natural  man  receive th  not  the 
things  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  for  they  are  foolishness 

*  i  Cor.  i.  23,  24. 


OBJECTIONS  TO   THE   ATONEMENT.  Ill 

unto  him  ;  neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they 
.are  spiritually  discerned."* 

So,  though  a  Festus  declared  his  preaching  of  the 
cross  a  madness,  and  though  to  a  Celsus  against 
Origen,  and  to  a  Porphyry  against  Eusebius,  it 
seemed  irrational  and  repellent,  these  great  Chris 
tian  leaders  kept  right  on,  not  modifying  one  whit 
their  unpopular  message,  believing  it  not  to  be 
foolishness,  but  the  super-rational  wisdom  of  God ; 
and  the  result  vindicated  both  their  piety  and  wis 
dom.  The  cross  conquered. 

But  we  have  more  advanced  ethical  standards 
now  !  So  thought  Bauer  and  his  great  co-rationalists 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  who  in  their  day  carried 
all  before  them,  and  so  thought  Voltaire  when  he 
predicted  that  in  a  decade  Christ  would  be  de 
throned.  But  they  and  their  age  passed,  and  yet 
the  Christian  faith  abides  unchanged.  It  is  to  be 
remembered,  too,  that  the  ethical  standards  of  our 
time  are  the  product  of  Christianity.  And  if  these 
standards  are  higher  than  in  any  past  era,  how 
could  it  be  possible  that  that  which  produced  them 
had  as  the  deepest  centre  and  spring  of  its  life  a 

*  i  Cor.  ii.  14. 


112   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

"  moral  monstrosity  ?  "  This  is  inconceivable.  And 
so  Christianity  need  not  fear  that  those  ethical 
standards  which  have  grown  up  under  the  propia- 
tory  arms  of  the  cross,  and  which  Professor  Huxley 
tells  us  are  the  noblest  ideals  to  which  the  race  has 
attained,  will  turn  against  her  bosom  and  strike 
her  to  the  heart. 

Even  then,  quite  aside  from  the  authority  of 
revelation,  no  doctrine  rests  upon  a  surer  ethical 
basis  than  that  of  redemption.  It  is  sustained  by 
the  analogies  of  nature  ;  by  the  crucial  facts  of  his 
tory  ;  by  the  vicarious  principle  woven  throughout 
the  whole  social  fabric  ;  by  that  deep  ethical  law 
which  makes  sacrifice  the  last  test  of  love,  and 
which,  therefore,  should  find  its  highest  illustration 
in  a  divine  sacrifice, — viz.,  that  God,  who  is  love, 
should  Himself  give  the  extremest  instance  of  sac 
rifice  for  others. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

GROSS     REPRESENTATIONS    OF     THE    ATONEMENT. 

IT  is  a  current  charge  against  this  doctrine  that 
it  is  capable  of  great  abuse.  And  that  the  manner 
in  which  it  is  frequently  set  forth  is  coarse,  jar 
ring  to  good  taste  and  offensive  to  dignity  and 
reverence.  That  the  appeals  to  the  sufferings  of 
Christ  and  the  delineations  of  His  bodily  agonies, 
are  simply  a  harrowing  excitement  of  the  feelings, 
with  no  beneficial  or  elevating  result.  That  the 
tendency  of  the  doctrine  is  to  encourage  the  belief 
in  a  magical  effect  wrought  in  the  soul,  without 
any  real  personal  change,  penitence,  or  transforma 
tion  of  character. 

It  is  contended,  also,  that  it  is  presented  in 
a  form  which  shifts  the  responsibility  of  sin 
from  the  transgressor  to  another,  and  thus  falsely 
relieves  his  conscience  and  offers  him  an  escape 
without  that  remorse  and  sharp  moral  fight 
which  are  necessary  to  his  spiritual  discipline. 
And  it  is  asserted,  further,  that  these  coarse  repre- 
8  (113) 


114   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

sentations  of  the  atonement  are  revolting  to  per 
sons  of  cultured  thoughts  and  refined  feelings,  and 
that  they  are  thereby  repelled  from  the  acceptance 
of  Christianity. 

Such  critics  call  it  "a  theology  of  blood,"  "  a 
religion  of  gore,"  and  similar  epithets.  A  pamphlet 
of  this  sort  is  before  me,  with  these  headlines  : 
u  No  blood  sacrifice  to  appease  an  angry  Deity. 
Salvation  by  love,  not  by  blood.  All  references  to 
blood-sacrifice  should  be  discarded  from  our  devo 
tional  books  and  sacred  hymns.  They  are  relics  of 
a  barbarous  and  superstitious  age  and  revolting  to 
every  intelligent  man  who  believes  that  God  is 
love.  " 

It  may  be  that  the  tenet  of  a  vicarious  sacrifice 
is  somewhat  naturally  adapted  to  perversions  and 
extravagances.  In  the  mouths  of  weak  and  hypo 
critical  men  holy  mysteries  are  apt  to  receive  indis 
crete  and  hurtful  treatment.  In  the  middle  ages, 
when  deep  ignorance  was  the  rule,  very  crass  ideas 
of  the  atoning  work  of  Christ  prevailed.  An  ignor 
ant  and  immoral  priesthood  accentuated  this  condi 
tion,  and  took  advantage  of  it  for  selfish  pur 
poses.  Especially  was  it  claimed  that  the  Church 
possessed  an  exclusive  right  to  the  excessive  merits 


GROSS    REPRESENTATIONS.  115 

of  Christ's  sufferings,  and  the  supposed  store  of  His 
cleansing  blood  was  bartered  out  as  a  thing  of  ex 
change  for  money  needed  to  prosecute  hierarchical 
purposes.  A  well-known  instance  of  this  was  the 
irreverent  and  profane  campaign  of  Tetzel,  who, 
setting  up  a  great  red  cross,  decorated  with  the 
papal  arms,  cried  out  to  the  ignorant  crowds : 
"  This  cross  has  as  much  efficacy  as  the  blood  of 
Christ.  An  indulgence  issued,  with  its  authority, 
can  remit  any  sin,  no  matter  how  heinous.  If  I 
take  down  that  cross  I  will  close  the  gate  of  heaven, 
and  put  out  the  sun  of  grace  which  shines  before 
your  eyes." 

But  it  was  unnecessary  for  skeptics  to  point  out 
the  superstition  and  blasphemy  of  these  utterances. 
Luther,  hearing  of  them  in  the  confessional,  was 
shocked,  and  sounded  the  tocsin  of  protest,  which 
issued  in  the  Reformation.  But  such  a  monstrous 
abuse  did  not  abate  Luther's  whole-hearted  belief 
in  the  atoning  efficacy  of  Christ's  blood  to  the 
penitent  believer. 

The  mystics,  while  a  noble  class  of  devout  souls, 
yet,  through  a  suppression  of  the  reason  to  the 
emotional  sense  and  the  imaginative  faculty,  were 
disposed  to  visionary  experiences,  and  hence  dwelt 


1 1 6   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

in  a  one-sided  way  on  the  vicarious  work  of  Christ. 
Their  habit  was  to  exaggerate  His  physical  suffer 
ings  rather  than  his  spiritual  agony  over  the  bur 
den  of  sin,  and  to  indulge  in  sensuous  expressions 
as  to  the  saving  power  of  His  blood.  Thus  Suso 
often  uses  such  expressions  "  as  the  blood  of  Jesus, 
full  of  love,"  and  "red  like  a  rose,"  etc.  So  when 
General  Booth  in  his  addresses  employs  such  utter 
ances  as  :  "  Friends,  Jesus  shed  His  blood  to  pay  the 
price,  and  He  bought  from  God  enough  salvation 
to  go  around,"  we  feel  that  sacred  things  are  so 
coarsely  handled  as  to  wound  Christians  and  repel 
thinking  unbelievers. 

The  cross,  too,  as  the  natural  and  appropriate  sym- 
"bol  of  our  Lord's  passion,  has,  doubtless,  at  times 
l>een  made  an  object  of  superstitious  reverence, 
amounting  to  practical  idolatry,  and  earnest  evan 
gelists,  lacking  the  intelligence  and  spiritual  in 
sight  to  discern  the  deeper  meaning  of  the  atone 
ment,  and  with  judgment  overbalanced  by  im 
moderate  emotion,  have  no  doubt  at  times  preached 
this  doctrine  with  a  coarseness  unpleasant  and 
hurtful. 

So  that  we  may  well  ask  :  Is  there  not  a  real 
danger  in  so  presenting  even  this  central  doctrine  of 


GROSS    REPRESENTATIONS. 

Christianity, — the  atonement  itself, — affecting  as  it 
is  and  ought  to  be,  as  to  miss  the  moral  convictions 
of  men,  to  strike  a  note  of  unreality  and  disgust 
hearers,  although  we  are  trying  to  win  them  ? 
Feeling  and  sentiment  have  their  true  place  in 
preaching ;  but  the  sentimental,  the  mawkish, 
weak,  and  hysterical  have  no  place. 

But  suppose  such  injudicious  methods  and  gro 
tesque  figures  are  at  times  resorted  to  ?  Is  that  a 
legitimate  argument  against  the  thing  itself  ? 
What  cause  is  not  liable  to  abuse  in  the  hands 
of  intemperate  advocates?  What  truth  has 
not  been  perverted  by  champions  either  not  able 
to  grasp  it,  or  employing  it  for  self-seeking 
ends  ? 

And  religion  from  its  high  and  holy  nature  is 
peculiarly  liable  to  such  caricatures.  Especially  is 
this  the  case  with  Christianity,  for,  being  the  ex 
pression  of  religion  in  its  highest  form,  its  tenets 
are  more  of  a  supernatural  nature,  and  more  likely 
to  be  misconstrued  by  the  human  reason.  A  notable 
instance  is  the  L,ord's  Supper.  The  uniqueness 
and  efficacy  of  that  sacrament  depend  upon  the 
supernatural  character  impressed  upon  it  by  Christ's 
words  of  institution.  When,  therefore,  the  Pagans 


Il8   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

observed  the  reverence  with  which  the  primitive 
Christians  celebrated  it,  they  charged  them  with 
worshiping  a  "  Bread  God,"  with  "carrying  about 
their  God  in  a  wafer,"  etc.  And  the  doctrine  of 
the  incarnation  itself  was  ridiculed  and  travestied 
in  the  most  jeering  terms. 

No  one  should  wonder,  then,  if  the  atonement 
be  sometimes  .set  forth  in  crass  form  and  sensuous 
language,  and  if  it  furnish  a  favorite  target  for  the 
attack  of  unbelievers.  That  is  no  legitimate  argu 
ment  against  its  truth,  its  divinity,  or  its  power, 
rightly  presented,  to  show  the  love  and  the  justice 
of  God  in  so  vivid  a  manner  as  to  bring  men  to 
salvation. 

As  matter  of  fact,  the  writer  has  not  observed 
that  many  advocates  of  Christianity  or  preachers 
have  erred  greatly  in  the  direction  charged.  Very 
seldom  has  he  heard  such  statements  of  the  atone 
ment  as  have  been  offensive  to  religious  taste,  or  as 
he  thought  would  mislead  and  harm.  Far  more 
frequently  has  he  been  offended  by  those  who, 
while  professing  to  preach  Christ  crucified,  as  the 
only  ransom  for  sin  and  uncleanness,  yet  have  been 
so  vague  and  evasive  on  this  vital  truth  that  they 
have  in  no  real  or  adequate  sense  held  up  Jesus  on 


GROSS    REPRESENTATIONS.  119 

the  cross  as  the  atoning  Lamb  of  God,  to  whom 
the  soul,  stung  to  death  by  the  serpent  of  sin,  must 
look  for  healing,  salvation,  and  life. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

DID   GOD    SUFFER    IN    THE    ATONEMENT? 

"L,iFE,"  writes  Hamilton  Wright  Mabie,  uis 
encircled  by  mysteries."  Every  investigation  of 
science  at  last  leads  to  a  cause  that  cannot  be 
explained,  to  a  problem  that  cannot  be  solved, 
to  a  profound  where  baffled  inquiry  must  halt.  It 
is  not  strange,  then,  that  insoluble  wonders  should 
meet  us  in  such  a  sphere  as  the  incarnation.  The 
apostle  was  able  to  see  with  the  ken  of  inspiration, 
yet,  lost  in  a  maze,  he  cries :  "  Without  contro 
versy  great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness  ;  God  was 
manifest  in  the  flesh."'  But  the  deepest,  darkest 
abyss  of  this  mystery  lies  at  the  foot  of  the 
cross.  When  the  great  luminary  of  da}',  expressing 
the  secret  bond  of  the  natural  with  the  spiritual, 
hid  His  face  as  the  agonized  cry  of  the  Crucified 
rent  the  air,  must  not  the  human  mind  feel  its 
powers  veiled  as  it  endeavors  to  interpret  the 
scene  ? 

*  i  Tim.  iii.  16. 
(1 20) 


DID   GOD   SUFFER   IN   THE   ATONEMENT?      121 

And  one  of  the  profounded  questions  that  con 
fronts  us  here  is  :  u  Did  God  suffer  in  the  work  of 
redemption?"  We  say:  "Christ  suffered,"  but 
what  do  we  mean  by  this  ?  Do  we  mean  that  only 
Jesus  Christ, — the  man, — suffered?  No,  we  mean 
that  Jesus  Christ, — the  Son  of  God, — suffered.  But 
the  Son  is  the  second  person  in  the  Trinity ;  the 
Son  is  God,  and  if  He  suffered  then  God  suffered. 

This  brings  up  the  question  of  the  union  of 
natures  in  the  person  of  Christ.  Were  there  two 
Christs,  one  a  human,  and  the  other  a  divine, 
Christ?  Can  we,  in  the  acts  of  Jesus,  or  in  His 
sufferings,  or  in  any  of  His  earthly  conditions,  draw 
a  line  between  these  natures,  and  affirm  that  this 
was  done  or  suffered  by  the  man,  and  that  by  the 
God-Christ?  No,  we  cannot  ;  Christ  was  not  two 
persons,  but  one  person.  He  was  God  and  man, 
so  joined  in  union  as  to  constitute  the  God-Man. 

Theology,  in  investigating  this  mysterious  union, 
has  applied  to  it  what  it  calls  the  communicatio 
idiomatum,  i.  e.,  the  mutual  interchange  of  proper 
ties.  "  The  common  participation  of  properties, 
the  doctrine  that  the  properties  of  the  divine  and 
human  natures  are  actually  the  properties  of  the 
whole  person  of  Christ,  and  are  exercised  by  Him 


122   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

in  the  unity  of  His  person."*  By  virtue  of  this 
principle,  we  must  say  that  whatever  Christ  did  or 
underwent  was  not  the  act  of  either  nature  sepa 
rately,  but  of  both  natures  united  in  one  person. 
When  a  miracle  was  performed,  it  was  done  indeed 
by  the  power  of  the  divine  nature,  but  the  voice  or 
hand  that  mediately  did  it  was  endued  from  the 
divine  side  with  its  almighty  power.  So  when  a 
privation  or  suffering  was  endured,  the  experience 
was  made  possible  by  the  human  infirmity,  but  the 
divine,  through  its  inseparable  union,  shared  in  it. 
It  would  not  be  correct  indeed  to  say  that  the 
divine  nature  suffered  of  itself,  for  as  such  it  is 
perfectly  happy  and  incapable  of  suffering  ;  nor 
would  it  be  proper  to  say  that  the  human  nature 
of  itself  wrought  miracles,  arose  from  the  dead, 
etc.,  for  of  itself  it  is  incapable  of  omnipotence,  but 
by  means  of  their  union  in  the  one  resultant  person 
ality  of  Jesus,  each  shared  in  the  properties  of  the 
other. 

Thus  writes  the  great  theologian  Quenstedt : 
"  The  proposition,  '  God  suffered,'  is  thus  explained  : 
As  when  a  wound  is  inflicted  upon  the  flesh  of 

*  The  Conservative  Reformation  and  its  Theology — Krauth, 
P-  477- 


DID    GOD   SUFFER   IN   THE   ATONEMENT?       123 

Peter,  not  alone  the  flesh  of  Peter  is  said  to 
have  been  wounded,  but  Peter,  or  the  person  of 
Peter,  has  been  truly  wounded,  although  his  soul 
cannot  be  wounded  ;  so,  when  the  Son  of  God  suf 
fers  according  to  the  flesh,  the  flesh  or  His  human 
nature  does  not  suffer  alone,  but  the  Son  of  God, 
or  the  person  of  the  Son  of  God,  truly  suffers, 
although  the  divine  nature  is  incapable  of  suffer 
ing.  While,  therefore,  we  cannot  say  that  the 
divine  nature  sheds  blood,  suffers,  dies,  yet  by 
means  of  the  personal  union  these  actions  or  suffer 
ings  of  the  human  nature  are  so  appropriated  by 
the  divine  that  we  can  say,  '  God  sheds  His  blood, 
suffers,  dies.'  "* 

Startling,  then,  as  the  expression  seems,  and  un 
fathomable  and  awe-compelling  as  is  the  mystery, 
it  is  yet  correct  to  say  that  God  suffered  in  the 
atonement.  God  shared  in  the  humiliation  of 
Jesus.  God  endured  the  privations  of  the  lowly 
Nazarene.  God  tabernacled  with  men.  God  was 
made  flesh.  God  felt  the  agonies  of  the  cross. 
God  bore  upon  Himself,  by  means  of  the  suffering 
flesh,  the  guilt  of  the  world.  And  only  because  of 
this  union  of  the  divine  with  the  human,  and  only 

*  Schmidt's  Dogmatics,  p.  106. 


124   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

because  God  "  was  thus  made  in  the  likeness  of 
men,  and  humbled  Himself,  and  became  obedient 
unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross,"*  was  it 
that  the  propitiation  offered  was  such  as  no  mere 
Christ,  the  man,  could  have  offered,  but  had  so 
divine,  infinite,  and  all-potent  a  value  that  it  could 
avail  as  a  ransom  for  the  sin  of  the  whole  world. 

Fairbairn  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  even 
God  the  Father  was  involved  in  the  suffering  of 
the  great  atoning  sacrifice.  He  says  :  "  Theology 
has  no  falser  idea  than  that  of  the  impassibilty  of 
God.  If  He  is  capable  of  sorrow,  He  is  capable  of 
suffering ;  and  were  He  without  the  capacity  for 
either,  He  would  be  without  any  feeling  of  the 
evil  of  sin  or  the  misery  of  man.  The  being  of 
evil  in  the  universe  was  to  His  moral  nature  an 
offense  and  a  pain,  and  through  His  pity  the  misery 
of  man  became  His  sorrow.  Through  the  suffering 
of  the  eternal  Son,  He  calls  all  men  to  behold  the 
suffering  it  cost  the  eternal  Father."f 

And  this  is  in  strict  harmony  with  Biblical  teach 
ing.  When  it  is  written :  "  God  so  loved  the 
world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son ;  "J 

*  Phil.  ii.  7.      |  The  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Theology,  p.  484. 
t  John  iii.  16. 


DID   GOD   SUFFER   IN   THE    ATONEMENT?       125 

"  He  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him 
up  for  us  all,"*  such  passages  either  signify  noth 
ing  or  they  mean  that  God  illustrated  His  love  by 
giving  up  what  cost  Him  pain,  /'.  e.y  by  sacrifice. 
And  what  is  sacrifice  but  suffering?  "These 
Scriptures  by  necessity  imply  that  He,  the  eternal 
God,  had  bound  Himself  to  suffer  death  from  men 
and  for  them."t 

The  incarnation,  then,  and  its  climax  in  the 
atonement,  was  an  act  of  sacrifice  in  which  God 
the  Father  suffered  in  the  surrender  to  humiliation 
and  death  of  His  Son,  and  in  which  God  suffered 
through  His  union  with  the  flesh  in  the  person  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  not  mere  Man  who 
was  nailed  on  the  cross,  but  they  "  crucified  the 
Lord  of  glory."f  Well,  then,  may  our  minds  be 
subdued  in  holy  awe,  and  our  hearts  be  moved  to 
their  deepest  centre,  when  we  look  at  what  trans 
pired  in  the  mission  of  God's  eternal  Son  to  our 
fallen  world !  And  shall  we  wonder  that  at  the 
darkest  depth  of  the  scene  on  Calvary  the  sun  hid 
his  face  in  troubled  fear? 

And  do  we   not  find   in  this  suffering  on  God's 

*  Romans  viii.  32. 

f  Cremer,  The  Work  of  Jesus,  p.  239.  \  i  Cor.  ii.  8. 


126   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

part,  in  order  to  effect  the  redemption  of  man  from 
the  curse  of  the  fall,  conclusive  proof  that  this  suf 
fering  was  vicarious,  that  it  was  endured  to  release 
us  from  the  penalty?  Only  love  could  have  in 
duced  such  sacrifice  by  the  Deity  to  whom  pertains 
infinite  happiness,  and  where  would  there  have 
been  an  adequate  motive,  except  this  supreme  one, 
that  it  rendered  that  satisfaction  to  infinite  justice 
without  which  guilt-weighted  man  would  have  been 
doomed  to  eternal  death  ? 

If,  in  the  tragic  deed  that  precipitated  the  fall,  as 
Milton  has  it  : 

"  Earth  felt  the  wound,  and  nature  from  her  seat, 
Sighing,  through  all  her  works  gave  signs  of  woe 
That  all  was  lost," 

then  the  divine  redemptive  act  that  restored  the  lost 
creation  could  not  have  been  effected  without  a  vi 
bration  of  pain  passing  through  the  very  centre  of 
the  spiritual  universe,  /.  e.,  felt  by  the  heart  of  God. 
And  it  is  when  we  contemplate  the  atonement  in 
the  light  of  this  revelation  as  to  what  it  cost  a 
long-suffering  God — who  could  not  give  up  His 
children  to  irreparable  loss — that  we  must  feel  the 
immeasurable  debt  of  love  we  owe.  Verily,  the 


DID   GOD   SUFFER   IN   THE   ATONEMENT?      127 

grateful  songs  of  the  redeemed,  on  the  glorified 
Mount  of  Zion,  as  they  recount  the  holy  won 
der  through  eternal  ages,  will  not  exhaust  the 
theme. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

MODERN   VIEWS   OF   SIN   AND   THE   ATONEMENT. 

SIN  and  the  atonement  are  correlatives.  One 
affects  and  determines  the  other.  They  stand  or 
fall  together.  Accordingly  one  is  the  measure  of 
the  other.  A  correct  conception  of  sin  is  essential 
to  any  right  understanding  of  the  Scriptural  doc 
trine  of  the  atonement.  A  vivid  sense  of  sin  pre 
pares  for  the  divine  necessity  of  a  vicarious  re 
demption.  So,  where  the  atonement  is  held  to 
but  lightly,  there  will  be  a  correspondingly  weak 
and  inadequate  estimate  of  sin.  The  naturalistic 
conceptions  as  to  the  origin  of  the  universe  prevalent 
in  large  circles  of  modern  thought  tend  to  mini 
mize,  if  not  destroy,  the  sinfulness  of  sin. 

The  theory  of  evolution  considers  sin  merely  a 
feature  of  man's  natural  development.  It  is  a 
remnant  in  him  of  his  brute  stage,  a  persistence 
of  his  animal  instincts.  Hence  it  is  necessary  and 
unavoidable,  an  orderly  step  in  his  upward  progress. 
Good  and  evil  are  simply  parts  of  a  great  whole. 

(128) 


MODERN  VIEWS  OF  SIN  AND  THE  ATONEMENT.       129 

All  things  are  linked  together  inevitably  in  the 
chain  of  cause  and  effect.  Nothing  that  happens, 
or  is  done,  or  left  undone,  could  have  been  avoided. 
Whatever  is,  is  right.  Evil,  according  to  this  view, 
becomes  no  more  than  the  shadow  of  good,  and 
good  is  the  flower  of  evil.  This  view  radically 
changes  the  character  of  sin.  It  is  not  essentially 
immoral,  and  our  consciences  are  relieved  of  re 
sponsibility  for  it. 

Akin  to  this  is  the  theory  that  sin  is  wholly  a 
matter  of  heredity.  We  have  derived  it  from  our 
ancestors.  It  is  the  sum  of  the  past  experiences  of 
the  race,  expending  its  force  upon  us.  Impulses 
and  tendencies  thus  derived  are  beyond  our  con 
trol.  The  transgressor,  the  criminal,  the  vicious,  is 
what  he  is  because  of  inherited  propensities  of 
overmastering  power.  The  differences  in  conduct 
between  the  virtuous  and  vicious  are  not  moral, 
but  natural,  not  the  result  of  free  choice,  but  of 
necessity.  As  Prof.  John  Fiske  describes  it :  "  W7e 
do  not  find  that  evil  has  been  interpolated  into  the 
universe  from  without ;  we  find  that,  on  the  con 
trary,  it  is  an  indispensable  part  of  a  dramatic 
whole.  As  we  survey  the  course  of  the  wonderful 
evolution,  it  begins  to  become  manifest  that  moral 
9 


130   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

evil  is  simply  the  characteristic  of  the  lower  state 
of  living  as  looked  at  from  the  higher." 

Any  of  these  naturalistic  theories  quite  inval 
idates  the  true  character  and  real  turpitude  of  sin. 
And,  of  course,  where  such  superficial  views  of  sin 
are  entertained,  there  will  be  no  need  felt  of  an 
atonement,  of  a  divine  interposition  to  deliver 
from  it. 

The  Scripture  teaching  and  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church  conceive  of  sin  in  a  radically  different  way. 
It  is  an  unnatural  thing,  introduced  as  an  alien  in 
the  natural  order  of  the  universe.  It  mars  the 
harmony  of  the  creation.  It  is  caused  by  the  de 
liberate  fall  of  man  from  his  state  of  original  right 
eousness.  It  is  a  violation  of  the  moral  faculty  be 
stowed  upon  man  as  his  divinest  prerogative.  It 
appears  as  a  rebel  against  the  will  of  the  Supreme 
Governor.  It  is  a  blow  aimed  at  the  justice  and 
sanctity  of  His  throne.  It,  therefore,  arouses  His 
just  anger.  He  wrill  not  tolerate  it,  and  hurls 
against  it  His  infinite  curse.  "  The  soul  that  sin- 
neth,  it  shall  die."  Evil  passions,  hate,  strife,  war, 
sickness,  sorrow,  remorse,  pain  and  death,  are  its 
inevitable  wages.  Aye !  even  an  everlasting  ex 
clusion  from  the  presence  of  God  and  the  joys  of 


MODERN  VIEWS  OK  SIN  AND  THE  ATONEMENT.       131 

heaven, — death,  spiritual  and  eternal, — is  its  woeful 
entail. 

We  find,  accordingly,  that  the  purest  saints  and 
noblest  personalities  have  felt  and  mourned  the 
dreadful  fact  of  sin  in  their  own  personal  experi 
ences.  David  has  given  expression  to  this  agonized 
conviction  in  the  unrivaled  spiritual  pathos  of  the 
Psalms.  Paul  is  driven  to  cry  out :  "  O  wretched 
man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the 
body  of  this  death  ?  "*  Augustine  in  his  Confessions 
bewails  it  in  cries  that  uncover  the  lowest  deeps  of 
the  human  soul,  and  might  move  a  conscience  of 
stone.  Says  Suso,  the  Mystic  of  the  Middle  Ages  : 
"  Sin  is  a  crime  against  nature.  It  despoils  the 
image  of  Deity  stamped  upon  it.  It  is,  therefore,  a 
disorder  of  the  soul,  for  everything  is  at  harmony 
only  as  it  keeps  its  natural  place  and  state.  Sin  is 
an  unrest  of  the  heart,  for,  as  St.  Augustine  says, 
'  Thou  hast  made  us  for  Thyself,  and  we  can  only 
find  rest  in  Thee.'  Finally,  sin  is  a  dying  of  the 
soul,  for  it  separates  from  God,  in  which  separa 
tion  is  death." 

This  message,  then,  of  the  awful  reality  of  sin,  is 
the  one  needed  to  counteract  the  misleading  ten- 

*  Romans  vii.  24. 


132   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

dencies  of  much  modern  thought  and  of  science, 
falsely  so  called.  We  need  to  remember  that  the 
largest,  blackest  fact  this  side  of  heaven  is  the  fact  of 
sin.  Over  against  this  awful,  deadly  fact,  higher  than 
the  Sierras  and  deeper  than  the  sea,  is  the  mightier, 
more  majestic  fact  of  the  grace  of  God  in  redemp 
tion.  No  man  can  understand  the  atonement  who 
has  not  truly  seen  sin.  No  man  knows  the  mean 
ing  of  Calvary  except  in  the  lurid  light  of  Sinai. 
No  man  can  even  try  to  measure  the  grace  of  God 
in  his  own  heart  except  as  against  the  awful  back 
ground  of  sin  and  death  and  hell. 

The  natural  mind,  of  course,  has  and  can  have 
no  realistic  sense  of  the  fact  of  sin.  The  world 
about  us  goes  on  its  course  quite  unconscious  of 
the  deadly  malady  which  afflicts  it.  One  of  the 
worst  features  of  the  disease  is  the  moral  paralysis 
which  prevents  the  victim  from  suspecting  his  con 
dition.  Hence,  until  the  Holy  Spirit  has  convicted 
the  conscience,  and  the  soul  gets  a  new  view  of  its 
relation  to  God  and  His  righteous  laws,  an  adequate 
conception  of  sin  is  impossible. 

More  than  all  else,  then,  does  our  age  need  the 
understanding  and  conviction  of  sin.  Hence,  in 
stead  of  avoiding  it,  because  distasteful  and  un- 


MODERN  VIEWS  OF  SIN  AND  THE  ATONEMENT.       133 

popular,  upon  its  presentation  rather,  both  in  the 
exposition  of  the  Scriptures  and  in  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel,  should  be  laid  the  chief  em 
phasis. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  ATONEMENT  AND  THE  HEATHEN. 

IF  the  atonement  be  grounded  upon  an  eternal 
divine  necessity,  in  that  God  cannot  overlook  sin 
with  impunity,  and  that  He  cannot  be  the  justifier 
of  the  sinner  without  a  just  regard  to  the  broken 
law,  what  then  are  we  going  to  do  with  the  heathen  ? 
In  what  sort  of  dilemma  does  this  leave  them, 
since  they  cannot  be  saved  without  the  one  all- 
atoning  sacrifice,  and  yet  have  had  no  opportunity 
to  know  of  it  ?  This  is  a  real  difficulty,  and  a  real 
moral  bar,  if  valid,  to  the  atonement.  For  it 
will  not  do  to  say  that  God  can  simply  will  to  save 
the  heathen,  without  a  Mediator.  For  if,  waiving 
His  attribute  of  justice,  He  could  do  this  with 
them.  He  could  do  it  with  all  men.  Then  it  was 
not  necessary  that  Christ  should  suffer,  and  thus 
the  whole  redemptive  scheme  falls. 

The  difficulty,  then,  is  one  that  must  be  met. 
The  only  solution  of  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  Scrip 
tures, — the  source  of  all  Christian  belief.  These 

(134) 


THE  ATONEMENT  AND  THE  HEATHEN.   135 

teach  that  all  have  sinned,  that  all  are  under  con 
demnation,  and  that  all  can  be  saved  through  Christ 
alone.  "  For  there  is  none  other  name  under 
heaven  given  among  men  whereby  we  must  be 
saved."*  This  certainly  includes  the  heathen,  and 
would,  if  unmodified  by  other  Scriptures,  inexorably 
shut  them  out  from  the  kingdom  of  God.  But 
other  passages  assert  the  exact  and  equal-handed 
justice  of  God  and  His  impartial  Fatherhood  to  all 
His  children,  as  :  "  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons, 
but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth  Him  and  work- 
eth  righteousness  is  accepted  of  Him."f  And  still 
others  declare  that  the  will  of  God,  to  save  by  free 
grace,  extends  to  the  whole  human  race.  How 
are  these  apparently  conflicting  Scriptural  state 
ments  to  the  reconciled  ? 

This  leads  us  to  a  third  class  of  passages,  which 
suggest  the  necessary  bridge  between  the  two.  Of 
these  there  are  three  remarkable  ones :  one  which 
tells  how  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  while  His  body  lay 
in  the  grave,  descended  to  Hades  and  u  preached  to 
the  spirits  in  prison, "J — the  transgressing  peoples 
of  the  antediluvian  world  ; — the  second,  "  For  this 

*  Acts  iv.  12.  f  Acts  x.  34. 

t  i  Peter  iii.  20. 


136   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

cause  was  the  Gospel  preached  to  them  that  are 
dead;"*  and  the  third,  "which  describes  a  tree 
whose  leaves  are  for  the  healing  of  the  nations,  "f 
located  not  in  time,  but  in  eternity.  To  this  must 
be  added  the  postponement  of  the  General  Judgment 
to  the  close  of  time,  intimating  that  the  particular 
judgment  at  death  may  not,  in  every  case,  be 
irrevocable. 

May  we  not  here,  then,  find  the  key  of  this  dim- 
cult  problem?  While  the  Scriptures  teach  that, 
without  the  atonement  provided  by  Christ,  none 
can  be  saved,  yet,  if  in  this  intermediate  state,  the 
heathen  should  have  the  saving  way  proclaimed  to 
them  ;  and  while  the  Scriptures  teach  that  there  is 
no  second  probation,  yet  if  a  first  probation  be 
thus  given  to  those  denied  it  in  time  ;  may  we  not 
find  here  a  solution  of  the  dark  problem  ? 

But  is  not  Christian  orthodoxy  bound  to  the 
view  of  the  eternal  loss  of  the  heathen  ?  This  is 
perhaps  generally  supposed,  and  is  often  regarded 
as  the  strongest  motive  for  the  prosecution  of 
Christian  missions.  And  the  writer  holds  ortho 
doxy  in  the  highest  regard,  so  that  he  would  risk 
not  the  slightest  departure  from  the  safe  inclosure 

*  i  Peter  iv.  6.  t  Rev.  xxii.  2. 


THE  ATONEMENT  AND  THE  HEATHEN.   137 

of  the  common  faith  of  Christendom.  But  the 
Christian  Fathers  do  not  teach  that  it  is  impossible 
that  the  heathen  be  saved.  The  orthodox  Chrys- 
ostom  says :  "  The  eunuch  of  Ethiopia  God  over 
looked  not.  It  is  not  the  case  that  any  naturally 
religious  man  ever  was  overlooked."  Clement,  of 
Alexandria,  writes :  "If  the  Lord  descended  to 
Hades  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  prisoners,  then 
all  who  believe  shall  be  saved,  as  making  their 
profession  there.  For  it  is  not  right  that  these 
should  be  condemned  without  trial,  and  that  those 
who  lived  after  the  Advent  should  have  the  ad 
vantage."*  Wrote  the  late  Dr.  Schaff :  "The 
modern  German  Protestant  opinion  in  its  evan 
gelical  form  maintains  that  Christ  will  ultimately 
be  revealed  to  all  human  beings — that  there  is 
therefore  a  possibility  of  pardon  and  salvation  in 
the  state  between  death  and  the  resurrection  for 
heathen  and  all  others  who  die  innocently  ignorant 
of  Christ,  "f 

While  it  would  be  alike  unwise  and  irreverent  to 
dogmatize  on  so  mysterious  a  problem,  it  may 
be  that  we  here  find  the  golden  via  media.  It 
avoids  that  heretical  liberalism  which  would  teach 

*  Stomata.  f  Commentary  on  Matt.  xii.  32. 


138   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

that  men  can  be  saved  by  reason  and  the  light  of 
nature  alone,  thereby  making  needless  the  great 
scheme  of  the  atonement,  discrowning  Christ  and 
making  useless  Gospel  missions.  Equally  it  avoids 
that  harsh  extreme, — the  doom  to  eternal  misery  of 
millions  dying  unenlightened  without  their  own 
fault — a  position  not  only  repugnant  to  God  as  an 
ethical  and  paternal  Being,  but  directly  opposed  to 
the  Scriptural  presentations  of  Him,  and  to  the 
declared  universality  of  the  offer  of  grace.  The 
atonement  then  extends  to  the  heathen  ;  it  reaches 
back  to  those  who  were  before  Christ's  day ;  it  is 
coeval  with  time  and  co-extensive  with  the  crea 
tion.  It  embraces  to  the  uttermost  all  those  who  by 
faith  seek  and  accept  its  gracious  offer. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  HERESIES. 

As  that  "  Jesus  died  for  our  sins  according  to 
the  Scriptures "  is  the  pivotal  and  all-regulative 
principle  of  New  Testament  truth,  so  it  becomes 
the  touchstone  of  all  sound  teaching  and  orthodox 
doctrine.  The  one  who  is  fixed  on  this  central 
truth  will  be  evangelical  to  the  core.  It  will  put 
him  at  right  relations  with  all  other  articles  of  the 
Christian  faith.  It  will  keep  him  from  holding 
false,  one-sided,  and  distorted  views  of  any  portion 
of  Christian  doctrine. 

Contrariwise,  if  we  examine  the  tenets  of  any  sect 
claiming  the  Christian  name,  we  can  safely  test  its 
soundness  or  heresy  by  its  attitude  to  the  atone 
ment.  If  its  views  cannot  be  reconciled  with  this 
fundamental  article,  or  minimize  or  practically  ex 
clude  it,  then  we  may  know  that  its  system  is  at 
heart  non  or  anti-Christian. 

Rationalism  is  that  temper  which  makes  reason, 
as  opposed  to  revelation,  the  seat  of  authority  in 
religion.  Kahnis  thus  characterizes  it : 


140   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

u  In  general,  Rationalism  is  that  tendency  which, 
in  matters  of  faith,  makes  reason  the  measure 
and  rule  of  truth.  It  is  distinguished  from  Theism 
or  Naturalism  chiefly  by  connecting  its  own  ra 
tionalistic  belief  with  the  faith  and  doctrine  of  the 
Church,  and  by  the  opinion  that  in  so  doing  they 
have  laid  hold  of  the  substance  of  it." : 

Rationalism  is  at  once  the  most  ancient  as  well 
as  the  most  modern  of  heresies.  In  the  Middle 
Ages,  Abelard  stands  forth  as  its  great  representa 
tive  in  his  querulous  disputations  with  the  saintly 
Bernard.  In  our  time  the  higher  critics  largely 
evince  its  spirit.  The  atonement  is  the  last  dis 
covery  that  could  have  been  made  by  the  human 
reason.  Hence  where  it,  over  against  revela 
tion,  is  made  the  test  of  what  God  did,  or  could 
have  done,  in  the  work  of  redemption,  the  atone 
ment  is  dismissed  with  curt  tolerance.  The  iden 
tical  canons  of  investigation  which  the  Ration 
alists  applied  to  the  Faith  and  its  theology,  the 
higher  critics  apply  to  their  analysis  of  the  Scrip 
tures — the  Rule  of  Faith.  And  just  as  Kahnis 
shows  how,  when  "  Rationalism  stood  in  the  pulpit 
a  victor,  the  churches  were  emptied,"  so  disastrous 

*  History  of  Protestantism — Illuminism,  p.  168. 


THE   ATONEMENT   AND    MODERN    HERESIES.       141 

to  practical  Christianity  and  the  Church  would  be 
the  victory  of  these  champions  of  modern  Ration 
alism. 

Thus  with  Universalism.  Placing  undue  em 
phasis  on  the  love  of  God,  so  as  to  ignore  the  legiti 
mate  sphere  of  His  attribute  of  justice,  there  is  no 
wrath  from  which  the  sinner  needs  to  be  delivered, 
and  hence  no  occasion  for  a  vicarious  Redeemer. 

Unitarianism,  which  though  a  small  body,  yet 
exerts  so  large  a  religious  influence,  owing  to  the 
intelligence  and  high  character  of  its  advocates, 
does  not  claim  to  be  orthodox,  but  rejoices  in  what 
it  deems  the  freedom  of  its  liberal  thought  from  the 
fetters  of  traditional  and  historical  belief.  Deny 
ing,  as  it  does,  the  true  divinity  of  Christ,  however 
else  it  may  do  Him  homage,  it  must  deny  the  atone 
ment,  for,  if  Christ  be  but  man,  how  can  He  be 
a  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  men  any  more  than 
they  could  be  such  for  themselves  ?  Accordingly, 
one  of  the  ablest  and  noblest-minded  of  this  sect, 
Martineau,  writes  :  "  The  apostle  in  his  statement, 
'  Him  that  knew  no  sin,  God  made  to  be  sin  for 
us,  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God 
in  Him,'*  means  that  through  the  cross  and  resur- 

*  2  Cor.  iii.  9. 


142   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

rection  there  is  a  change  of  places  between  us  and 
Christ ;  He  taking  our  penalty,  and  we  becoming 
invested  with  His  righteousness.  That  the  apostle 
did  not  shrink  from  this  conception  of  vicarious 
sin  and  retribution  seems  strange  to  us,  schooled  as 
we  are  in  individualism  and  lonely  responsibility. 
.  .  .  The  mythology  of  redemption  here  assumed 
its  most  consistent  and  intelligible  shape.  The 
subsequent  change  in  the  mediaeval  period,  resolv 
ing  the  whole  transaction  into  a  juggle  between  con 
flicting  attributes  of  the  infinite  Perfection,  did  but 
replace  a  childish  forensic  fiction  by  a  monstrous 
moral  enormity."*  No  more  positive  and  peremp 
tory  rejection  of  the  atonement  could  be  found  than 
in  these  strong  words.  Our  Unitarian  friends  cer 
tainly  do  not  regard  Christ  as  the  Saviour  in  the 
same  sense  in  which  we  do. 

The  strangest  of  heresies  is  the  irrational  delu 
sion  which  assumes  the  appellative,  Christian  Sci 
ence.  It  starts  with  the  denial  of  sin.  Writes  its 
founder,  Mrs.  Eddy  :  "  Soul  cannot  sin.  Man  is 
incapable  of  sin,  sickness,  or  death, "f  thus  directly 
denying  Scripture,  which  declares  :  "  The  soul  that 

*  Seat  of  Authority  in  Religion,  pp.  479  and  485. 
f  Science  and  Health,  p.  464. 


THE   ATONEMENT   AND    MODERN    HERESIES.       143 

sinneth,  it  shall  die,"  and  "  The  wages  of  sin  is 
death."*  The  next  step  in  this  fallacious  argu 
ment  is  strictly  logical.  If  there  be  no  sin,  there 
can  be  no  sense  of  guilt.  So  the  founder  of  this 
cult  writes  further  :  "  You  had  better  be  exposed 
to  every  plague  on  earth  than  to  endure  the  cu 
mulative  effects  of  a  guilty  conscience.  The  abid 
ing  consciousness  of  wrong-doing  tends  to  destroy 
the  ability  to  do  right,  "f  According  to  this  we 
are  to  silence  those  protests  of  conscience,  to  refuse 
those  penitential  contritions,  and  to  hush  that  sense 
of  moral  accountability,  which  the  Word  of  God 
ever  seeks  to  arouse  and  quicken  in  us,  as  a  "  godly 
sorrow  that  worketh  a  repentance  unto  salvation 
not  to  be  repented  of."J 

Further,  no  one  is  in  any  danger  of  divine  punish 
ment  :  "  In  common  justice  we  must  admit  that 
God  will  not  punish  man  for  doing  what  He  cre 
ated  him  capable  of  doing." §  Certainly,  if  as  we  are 
here  taught,  there  be  no  sin,  no  sense  of  guilt,  and 
no  punishment  to  be  averted,  then  there  can  be  no 
need  of  or  place  for  a  Saviour,  and  the  whole  scheme 
of  the  atonement  falls  to  the  ground.  So  we  are 

*  Rom.  vi.  23.  t  Science  and  Health,  p.  402. 

J  2  Cor.  vii.  10.  $  Science  and  Health,  p.  302. 


144   TH^  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

not  surprised  to  read  from  the  same  authoress : 
"  Deliverance  from  error  is  not  reached  by  pinning 
one's  faith  to  another's  vicarious  effort."*  Again, 
we  are  oracularly  told  that  "  the  material  blood  of 
Jesus  was  no  more  efficacious  to  cleanse  from  sin 
when  it  was  shed  on  the  accursed  tree,  than 
when  it  was  flowing  in  His  veins  as  He  went  daily 
about  His  Father's  business."  It  is  doubtful  if 
Christ  suffered  at  all,  though  nailed  on  the  cross ; 
and  if  He  did  suffer,  the  cause  assigned  for  it  is 
one  altogether  out  of  the  natural  order  of  cause  and 
effect,  as  it  is  also  divorced  from  the  logical  process 
of  thought.  According  to  Mrs.  Eddy  it  is  this  : 
"  If  Jesus  suffered,  it  must  have  been  through  the 
mentality  of  others."  Surely  here  we  have  an 
illustration  of  the  errorist  whom  the  apostle  re 
bukes  as  one, "who  hath  trodden  under  foot  the 
Son  of  God,  and  hath  counted  the  blood  of  the 
covenant  wherewith  he  was  sanctified  an  unholy 
thing,  and  hath  done  despite  unto  the  spirit  of 

grace."f 

Modern  Therosophy,  a  heathen  importation  from 
India,  a  reproduction  of  the  heresy  of  gnosticism 
which  Paul   and  the  Primitive  Christian  Fathers 
*  Ibid.,  p.  427.  f  Heb.  x.  29. 


THE   ATONEMENT   AND    MODERN   HERESIES.       145 

found  a  dangerous  enemy,  likewise  denies  the 
atonement.  Its  chief  exponent  in  this  country, 
from  whom  Mrs.  Kddy  has  drawn  the  leading 
articles  of  her  system,  often  copying  her  very 
words,  writes  :  "A  vicarious  actor,  whether  God  or 
man,  is  most  revolting  and  most  degrading  to 
human  dignity."  Again,  "  That  is  a  dangerous 
doctrine  which  teaches  that  if  we  have  committed 
trespasses  against  the  laws  of  God  and  of  man,  no 
matter  how  enormous,  we  have  but  to  believe  in 
the  self-sacrifice  of  Jesus  for  the  salvation  of  man 
kind,  and  His  blood  will  wash  out  every  stain." 

We  observe  here  the  similarity  of  method  em 
ployed  by  modern  and  ancient  paganism,  viz., 
misrepresentation  and  ridicule.  Christianity,  all 
know,  demands  repentance,  purity,  and  spiritual 
renewal  as  the  concomitant  of  faith.  A  mere 
mental  faith,  such  as  is  here  described,  without 
regeneration  of  heart  and  holiness  of  life,  is  a  cari 
cature  of  the  faith  insisted  on  in  the  Gospel.  It  is 
that  which  the  New  Testament  repudiates  in 
the  expressive  phrase :  "  The  devils  believe  and 
tremble." 

Theosophy    makes   very    large    pretensions.      It 

claims  to  teach  the  generic  truth  of  all  religions, 
10 


146   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

and  invites  those  of  any  religious  faith  whatever  to 
take  shelter  under  its  ample  folds.  Its  tolerance  is 
great  enough  to  shelter  all  forms  of  religious  error. 
Knowing  nothing  of  justification  by  faith,  preaching 
a  salvation  by  works,  and  welcoming  all  manner  of 
views,  it  is  one  of  the  subtlest  foes  of  Christianity. 
Such  travesties  of  the  truth  show  into  what  dan 
gerous  heresies  those  fall,  who  let  go  their  hold  upon 
that  great  trunk  of  the  Christian  tree — the  atone 
ment.  v/Ittch  upholds  all  the  branches  and  binds  them 
tcgether.  And  by  this  test  can  the  plainest  Christian 
detect  any  one  of  these  flagrant  heresies  which  so 
abound  in  our  day  and  which  are  a  temptation  and 
a  snare,  leading  the  souls  of  the  simple  and  unwary 
to  "  perdition  and  destruction."  Of  any  would-be 
teacher  who  is  unsettled  and  gives  an  uncertain 
sound  on  this  fundamental  point,  we  must  beware. 
For  such  a  one  utterly  misconceives  the  Gospel 
and  deranges  its  whole  structure.  He  has  no 
adequate  conception  of  Christianity.  And  if  he 
profess  to  have  built  up  a  system,  it  is  not  only 
non,  but  positively  anti-Christian.  For  whoever 
uses  the  name  of  Christ  to  give  authority  to  a  cult 
that  offers  righteousness  and  salvation  in  any  other 
way  than  that  of  the  one  all-atoning  sacrifice  is 


THE   ATONEMENT   AND   MODERN   HERESIES.       147 

guilty  of  the  denial  of  Christ  and  of  the  attempt  to 
rob  Him  of  His  redemptive  crown. 

That  an  age  should  be  so  prolific  in  heresies  as 
is  ours  should  not  distress  or  alarm  us.  For  the 
times  of  the  hottest  controversy  with  the  enemies 
of  truth  have  always  been  the  richest  for  the  gain 
of  positive  truth  in  the  Christian  confession.  The 
central  doctrines  of  the  faith  have  obtained  their  def 
inite  form  and  their  clearest  brightness  in  the  fiery 
crucible  of  assault  and  defense.  u  The  King  has  cast 
His  Church  into  the  midst  of  warfare  and  trouble ; 
He  has  not  permitted  it  to  confess  His  name  in  an 
unmanly  and  indolent  manner,  but  from  age  to  age 
He  has  compelled  it  to  defend  that  confession  against 
error,  misunderstanding,  and  hostility.  It  is  only  in 
this  warfare  that  it  has  learned,  gradually,  to  ex 
hibit  every  part  of  its  glorious  inheritance  of  truth. 
God  shall  judge  heretics ;  but,  besides  much  mis 
chief,  they  have  rendered  the  Church  this  excellent 
service  of  compelling  it  to  wake  up  from  slumber 
ing  upon  its  gold-mines,  to  explore  them,  and  to 
open  the  hidden  treasure." 

The  apotheosis  of  heresy  is  a  characteristic  of 
the  present.  We  often  hear  the  remark,  and  many 
receive  it  as  an  approved  fact :  "  The  heretics  of 


148   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

yesterday  are  the  orthodox  leaders  of  to-day."  No 
falser  apothegm  was  ever  uttered.  A  resume  of  the 
whole  field  of  history  presents  its  constant  and  em 
phatic  refutation. 

Were  the  conspicuous  heretics  of  the  past,  such 
as  Celsus,  Pelagius,  Arius,  Abelard,  Carlstadt,  and 
Socinus,  to  return  in  the  flesh,  they  would  find 
their  names  forgotten,  or  recorded  but  as  a  beacon 
of  warning. 

Whereas  the  names  of  those  who  respectively 
contended  against  these  arch-heretics,  Origen, 
Augustine,  Athanasius,  St.  Bernard,  L,uther  and 
Calvin  are  only  brightening  with  lapsing  time ; 
their  memories  are  increasingly  venerated  ;  and  from 
their  immemorial  thrones  they  are  still  formulating 
the  theology  and  moulding  the  faith  and  conduct, 
and  swaying  the  destinies  of  our  modern  age. 

And  could  these  great  orthodox  leaders  reappear, 
theologians  and  materialists,  kings  and  thinkers, 
the  heads  of  the  Church,  and  the  masses  of  the 
people,  would  rise  up  to  give  them  an  ovation  of 
welcome  such  as  this  world  has  never  witnessed. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

THE   NEGATIVE   HIGHER   CRITICISM    AND   THE 
ATONEMENT. 

CHARACTERISTIC  of  our  day  is  the  activity,  dogma 
tism,  and  predominance  in  large  circles  of  what  is 
called  the  higher  criticism.  This  is  the  critical 
analysis  of  the  origin,  date,  authorship,  canonicity, 
contents,  etc.,  of  the  books  of  the  Bible.  It  is  deter 
mined  largely  by  subjective  conceptions  based  upon 
internal  evidence.  It  is  called  higher  as  distinct 
from  lower,  which  has  to  do  with  fixing  the  pure, 
original  text  of  Scriptures. 

Legitimately  the  higher  criticism  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  character  of  Scriptural  doctrines.  How 
then  has  it  any  bearing  on  the  tenet  of  the  atone 
ment  ?  It  should  have  none.  Yet  the  point  that 
concerns  us  is  that,  whether  logically  or  not, 
the  higher  criticism  authorities  and  those  who 
defer  to  them  are  inclined  to  take  a  low  view 
of  the  sacrificial  death  of  Christ,  if  not  to 
discountenance  it  altogether.  No  article  of  our 


150   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Christian  faith  seems  more  to  incite  their  antag 
onism. 

As  illustrative  of  this,  let  us  cite  a  few  represen 
tative  witnesses.  One  of  the  foremost  of  the  higher 
critics,  Cheyne,  says  :  u  There  is  no  doctrine  of  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ  in  the  New  Testament,  as  there 
may  be  said  to  be  doctrines  of  redemption  or  justi 
fication.  In  describing  the  death  of  Christ  as  a 
sacrifice,  the  Ne\v  Testament  writers  are  using 
figurative  language.  Some  modern  theologians, 
indeed,  still  affirm  that  the  apostles  held  it  to 
be  a  sacrifice  in  the  literal  sense,  but  such  writ 
ers  do  not  expect  us  to  take  their  literal  liter 
ally."* 

Harnack  expresses  himself  thus  :  "  Now  if  we 
were  to  consider  the  conception  attaching  to  the 
words  '  expiatory  death  '  in  the  alien  realm  of 
speculation,  we  should  soon  find  ourselves  in  a 
blind  alley.  We  should  be  absolutely  at  the  end 
of  our  tether,  if  we  were  to  indulge  in  speculating 
as  to  the  necessity  which  can  have  compelled  God 
to  require  such  a  sacrificial  death.  No  reflection 
of  the  reason  will  ever  be  able  to  expunge  from  the 
moral  ideas  of  mankind  the  conviction  that  injustice 

*  Encyclopedia  Biblica,  p.  4232. 


THE  NEGATIVE   HIGHER   CRITICISM.  151 

and  sin  deserve  to  be  punished,  and  that  every 
where  that  the  just  man  suffers,  an  atonement  is 
made  which  puts  us  to  shame  and  purifies  us.'^ 
It  is  evident  that  the  atonement  here  viewed  is 
simply  such  a  one  as  all  good  men  make  when 
they  die  for  a  righteous  cause.  But  there  is  a 
bridgeless  chasm  between  the  atonement  which 
we  make  for  another  and  that  which  Christ  made 
for  us. 

Ritschl  is  much  bolder  :  "  It  need  not  be  said 
that  he  rejects  absolutely  the  ordinary  satisfaction 
theory  of  the  death  of  Christ.  There  are  no  prem 
ises  in  his  system  from  which  such  a  theory,  or  any 
modification  of  it,  could  be  deduced.  There  is  no 
principle  in  the  character  of  God  demanding  pun 
ishment  for  its  own  sake ;  no  wrath  of  God  against 
sin  ;  no  objective  condemnation  resting  on  the  race 
—the  Pauline  KaraKpi^a — from  which,  as  a  first 
step  in  his  salvation,  the  sinner  needs  deliverance. 
The  sole  obstacle  to  his  reconciliation  is  his  own 
guilt-consciousness  and  the  distrust  of  God  which 
this  engenders.  For  the  removal  of  this  is  needed 
no  such  atonement  for  sins  as  the  ordinary  theory 

*  What  is  Christianity  ?  pp.  156-159. 


152   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

supposes,  but  only  the  revelation  of  the  forgiving 
grace  of  God."* 

As  an  evidence  of  the  current  attitude  of  those 
who  accept  the  extreme  results  of  modern  Biblical 
criticism,  we  may  take  the  following  from  a  late 
editorial  in  the  New  York  Independent  : 

"  Christ  died  on  the  cross.  This  is  a  very  im 
portant  fact  and  very  useful  to  Christianity,  and 
yet  Christianity  would  exist  if  Christ  had  ascended 
without  dying.  God  would  still  have  been  a  loving 
Father,  and  could  have  forgiven  prodigals  just  the 
same.  Christianity  does  not  require  us  to  look  on 
the  death  of  Christ  as  propitiating  the  Father,  who 
needs  nobody  to  excite  or  encourage  His  love.  No 
expiatory  sacrifice  is  needed,  for  God  is  abundantly 
able  to  forgive,  out  of  His  own  store  of  love. 
Christ's  death  is  the  crown  of  His  life,  teaching,  and 
example.  It  proves  His  genuineness  and  is  a 
power  to  draw  us  into  a  life  like  His ;  but  it  is  not 
an  expiatory  sacrifice." 

These  citations  have  an  instructive  significance. 
The  alleged  aims  of  the  teachers  and  advocates  of 
the  higher  criticism  are  to  conserve  the  Scriptures, 
and  to  add  to  their  authority  by  shedding  light  and 

*  Orr  on  the  Ritschlian  Theology,  p.  149. 


THE  NEGATIVE  HIGHER   CRITICISM.  153 

intelligibility  upon  them.  Yet  here  we  find  them 
employing  their  instruments  of  scientific  criticism  to 
impair  and  even  quite  invalidate  the  central  fact 
and  doctrine  of  the  New  Testament. 

"  Their  treatment  of  the  Old  Testament  makes  a 
revolution  in  Hebrew  history.  Abraham  was  a 
mythical  figure.  Moses  wrote  no  laws  nor  history  ; 
David  >  wrote  no  psalms ;  Solomon  no  proverbs. 
The  pillar  of  fire  did  not  precede  the  journeying 
Israelite.  The  Lord  did  not  command  the  con 
struction  of  a  tabernacle.  There  is  no  trace  of  sin 
and  guilt  offerings  in  the  Old  Testament  before 
Ezekiel.  The  divine  and  supernatural  is  eliminated 
according  to  the  radical  school  of  critics.  If  these 
things  be  so,  it  follows  that  the  promise  and 
doctrine  of  redemption  are  not  the  substance,  and 
the  sole  reason  of  existence  for  the  Old  Testa 
ment."* 

Is  not  the  conclusion  just  that  a  system  which 
reaches  such  destructive  results  is  characterized  by 
a  false  internal  principle  ?  Either  that  its  aims  are 
destitute  of  that  faith  and  reverence  which  are 
essential  to  a  safe  Biblical  critic?  Or  that  its 
methods  are  unscientific  and  unreliable  ?  In  either 
*  The  Higher  Criticism,  Dr.  T.  E.  Schruauk,  p.  n. 


154   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

case,  the  destructive  crucible  in  which  the  higher 
criticism  casts  so  precious  and  vital  a  Christian 
article  as  that  of  the  atonement  is  sufficient  to  put 
the  believer  carefully  on  his  guard  in  accepting 
many  of  its  rash  hypotheses  and  unwarranted  con 
clusions. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

THE   ATONEMENT   AND   CHRISTIAN    HISTORY. 

WE  live  in  an  age  which  discountenances  autho 
rity.  Liberty  and  progress  are  its  watchwords.  The 
tendency  is  to  idolize  the  present  and  to  slight  the 
past  as  effete  and  exploded.  The  old  is  worthless ; 
the  new  is  the  horizon  that  glows  with  promise, 
truth  and  life.  We  must  break  away  from  the  fet 
ters  of  authority,  and  bask  in  a  freedom  with  no 
limits  but  those  of  capricious  individualism.  But, 
while  this  is  the  cry  on  so  many  lips,  it  does  not 
represent  those  deeper  thinkers  who,  after  all,  con 
serve  and  mould  the  world's  progress.  They  recog 
nize  it  as  but  superficial,  unwise  and  unsafe.  They 
know  that  there  is  a  moral  unity  in  the  ages,  and 
that  the  individual  thought  of  one  time  must  align 
itself  with  the  universal  thought  of  all  times.  Past, 
present,  and  future  must  all  bear  their  part  in  that 
belief,  in  that  consciousness,  in  that  thought,  in  that 
conclusion,  which  is  the  right  and  final  one.  The 
true  is  the  universal ;  the  universal  alone  is  the  eternal. 

(155) 


156   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

As  Ruskin  puts  it,  "  men  are  not  working  as  isolated 
units,  independent  of  each  other's  efforts,  but  the 
successive  generations  all  together  are  rolling  one 
mighty,  ever-gathering  snow-ball  up  the  Alpine 
heights  of  mental  power." 

Hence  it  is  not  the  conception  which  any  one  relig 
ious  teacher  or  spiritual  genius  has  of  a  Scriptural 
doctrine  which,  as  a  rule,  is  the  reliable  one,  but 
that  interpretation  reached  by  the  common  Christian 
sense — that  doctrine  affirmed  by  the  Christian  con 
sensus  of  all  times — that  which  bears  the  imprint  of 
universal  Christendom.  This  test  of  universality, 
like  all  principles,  is  subject  to  misconception  and 
abuse,  but  it  still  remains  the  most  judicious  and  safe 
for  human  guidance.  The  formula  of  Vincent,  Quod 
semper,  quodubique,  quod  ab  omnibus  ere 'ditum  est — 
"  that  which  has  been  believed  always,  everywhere, 
and  by  all " — although  often  perverted  to  prop  up 
outworn  error  and  to  defend  spiritual  tyranny,  yet 
can  never  lose  its  genuine  application  and  its  com 
manding  influence  with  sensible  men.  We  must 
think  for  ourselves ;  but  he  is  a  rash  thinker,  and 
will  soon  wander  in  misleading  fallacies,  who  will 
not  temper  his  single  judgment  by  the  accordant 
judgment  of  millions  in  diverse  ages. 


THE   ATONEMENT   AND   CHRISTIAN    HISTORY.       157 

Now,  if  this  axiom  have  application  anywhere, 
it  is  to  the  atonement.  Upon  no  other  article  of 
Christianity  has  there  been  such  a  constant  and 
unanimous  agreement.  Apostolic,  Mediaeval,  and 
Modern  Christendom,  the  Eastern,  the  Roman,  and 
the  Protestant  Church  here  are  all  one.  Scarcely,  in 
deed,  have  any  heresies  within  the  Church  arisen 
with  respect  to  it  as  about  other  Christian  doctrines. 

A  resume  of  Christian  opinion  makes  this  mani 
fest. 

Of  the  apostolical  fathers,  Clement,  the  co-laborer 
of  St.  Pa,ul,  whose  name  he  tells  us  (Phil.  iv.  3)  "  is 
in  the  book  of  life,"  writes :  "  Christ  bore  our  in 
iquities  and  suffered  for  our  sakes.  He  was  wounded 
for  our  transgressions  and  bruised  for  our  sins."* 
Ignatius  (A.  D.  70) — "  Jesus  Christ  died  for  us,  in 
order  that,  by  believing  in  His  death,  we  might  be 
made  partakers  in  His  resurrection,  "f  Justin 
Martyr  (A.  D.  130) — "  Christ  endured  the  passion  of 
the  cross,  cleansing  by  His  blood  those  who  believe 
in  Him.  For  this  blood  was  not  of  human  seed, 
but  of  divine  power.  "J  Irenseus  (A.  D.  160) — 

*  First  Epistle  of  Clement,  chapter  xvi. 
|  Epistle  to  the  Trollians,  chapter  ii. 
J  First  Apology,  chapter  xxxii. 


158   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

"  The  death  of  Christ  was  the  crown  of  His  re 
demptive  work." 

The  great  representative  fathers  of  the  Greek  and 
Latin  Primitive  Churches  write  respectively :  Chry- 
sostom  (380  A.  D.) — "  There  is  but  one  sacrifice. 
The  blood  of  Christ  has  cleansed  all  men.  This 
blood  flowed  not,  as  in  the  Old  Testament,  from  the 
bodies  of  irrational  animals,  but  from  the  body  of 
Christ,  prepared  by  the  Spirit."*  Augustine  (400 
A.  D.) — "  Christ  assumed  our  flesh  that  He  might 
offer  a  sacrifice  for  our  justification.  Death  itself, 
although  the  punishment  of  sin,  was  submitted  to 
by  Him  for  our  sakes,  who  was  without  sin.  For 
He  was  able  to  expiate  our  sins  by  dying  for  us."f 
In  the  Middle  Ages,  Suso,  representing  the  mystics, 
who  bathed  so  deeply  in  the  ocean  of  divine  love, 
writes :  "  Lord  Jesus,  I  will  deserve  Thy  paradise,  not 
through  any  merits  of  my  own,  but  through  the 
power  of  Thy  blessed  passion,  by  which  Thou  dost 
redeem  me,  a  poor  sinner,  at  the  price  of  Thy  pre 
cious  blood." 

And  so  on  down  through  the  Reformation  and 
to  this  modern  age.  Not  a  note  of  dissent  is  to  be 

*  Homilies  on  Hebrews, 
f  City  of  God,  chapter  xxv. 


THE   ATONEMENT   AND   CHRISTIAN    HISTORY.      159 

heard  in  the  universal  diapason  of  the  Christian 
witness.  The  atonement  is  so  shot  through  the 
whole  Christian  system  that  it  could  not  be  elimi 
nated  without  the  latter  falling  to  pieces.  It  is  the 
corner-stone  of  every  Evangelical  Confession.  It 
forms  the  fibre  of  all  the  historic  liturgies.  It  is  the 
sweetest  and  richest  theme  running  through  our 
hymnology.  In  short,  to  eradicate  it  would  require 
so  radical  a  revolution  and  so  destructive  a  process 
that  the  beating  heart  of  Christianity  would  be  re 
moved  and  nothing  left  but  its  lifeless  corpse. 

To  the  unanimity  of  the  testimony  let  us  cite  a 
few  representative  historical  authors  :  Hagen- 
bach — "From  the  very  beginning,  on  the  basis  of 
Apostolic  Christianity,  the  redeeming  element  was 
put  chiefly  in  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ. 
The  first  teachers  of  the  Church  regarded  this  death 
as  a  sacrifice  and  ransom,  and,  therefore,  ascribed  to 
the  blood  of  Jesus  the  power  of  cleansing  from  sin 
and  guilt."*  Hodge — "  It  is  no  less  certain  that 
the  whole  Christian  world  has  ever  regarded  the 
sacrifice  for  sin  to  be  expiatory.  Such  is  the  faith 
of  the  Latin,  of  the  Lutheran,  and  of  the  Reformed 
Churches,  all  the  great  historical  bodies  which  make 

*  History  of  Doctrines,  vol.  i.,  p.  179. 


160   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

up  the  sum  of  professing  Christians ;  such  is  the 
world-wide  belief,  the  concurrent  judgment  of  the 
Christian  Church  in  all  ages  and  places."*  Jack 
son — "  The  common  church  doctrine,  although  so 
often  and  severely  assailed,  is  sustained  by  the  sac 
rificial  system  of  the  Old  Testament,  by  the  express 
teachings  of  our  Lord  and  His  apostles,  by  the 
moral  nature  of  man,  and  by  the  experience  of  be 
lievers  of  all  ages."t  And  even  Harnack,  in  spite  of 
his  prepossessions,  is  constrained  to  admit :  "  The 
ideas  which  from  the  beginning  onward  have  been 
roused  by  Christ's  death,  and  have,  as  it  were, 
played  around  it,  leave  no  reason  to  doubt  the  fact 
how  the  death  and  the  shame  of  the  cross  came  to 
take  the  central  place.  "J 

Yet  the  claim  has  been  put  forth  that  the  doctrine 
of  a  vicarious  atonement  is  a  "  changeling,"  ap 
pearing  at  a  later  date  as  a  substitute  for  the  primi 
tive  belief.  And  the  ground  alleged  for  this  is  that 
the  Scriptural  facts  were  first  marshalled  into  a 
definite  theory  by  Anselm.  But,  in  reaching  this 
precise  definition,  it  simply  followed  the  natural 

*  Systematic  Theology,  vol.  ii.,  p.  500. 

t  Dictionary  of  Religious  Knowledge,  p.  62. 

J  What  is  Christianity  ?  p.  160. 


THE    ATONEMENT   AND   CHRISTIAN    HISTORY.       l6l 

processes  of  thought.  None  of  the  great  doctrines 
of  the  Church  appeared  at  once  in  theological  form. 
They  lay  like  loose  stones  in  the  quarry,  not  as  yet 
cut  and  fitted  into  the  edifice.  Even  the  Deity  of 
Christ  was  not  formally  defined  until  the  time  of 
the  Nicene  symbol,  while  the  articles  on  Justifica 
tion  by  Faith  and  the  Person  of  Christ  were  only 
theologically  stated  as  late  as  the  Reformation  era. 

But  how  groundless  to  hold  that  these  essential 
doctrines  were  not  received  and  confessed  during  all 
the  foregoing  time !  The  fact  is  that  they  were 
universally  held  during  the  preceding  ages.  It  was 
only  when  there  arose  some  to  question  them  that, 
for  an  apologetic  purpose,  Christian  thinkers  found 
it  desirable  to  give  them  logical  statement,  accord 
ing  to  the  necessary  laws  of  thought.  Therefore, 
they  were  set  in  a  theological  system  and  correlated 
with  the  other  Christian  doctrines,  so  as  to  form  a 
scientific  unity.  To  style  this  a  change  of  substance 
is  as  incorrect  as  to  say  that  gold  taken  from  the 
mine,  minted  and  stamped,  is  no  longer  identical 
with  the  mineral  in  its  rough  state  of  ore.  The 
assumption  that  the  formulation  of  Scripture  doc 
trines  into  a  logical  system  is  a  repudiation  of  them, 

would  end   all    building   upon  the    foundation  of 
ii 


1 62   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

truth,  would  make  a  scientific  theology  impossible, 
and  would  forever  fix  the  Christian  doctrines  in  a 
Procrustean  form,  just  as  they  were  announced  nine 
teen  centuries  ago.  This  would  be  the  stiffest  anti- 
progressive  conservatism  conceivable. 

Never,  then,  has  the  Church  changed  as  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  vicarious  atonement.  Practically  it 
is  that  one  doctrine  as  to  which  there  has  been  un 
broken  unanimity.  The  Christian  writings  of  all 
ages  are  steeped  in  it.  All  have  felt  its  denial  tan 
tamount  to  an  abandonment  of  the  integral  prin 
ciple  of  Christianity. 

Such  an  unbroken  verdict  of  Christian  history  as 
this  is  not  likely  to  be  discarded.  It  cannot  but 
have  a  convincing  force  for  the  believer.  If  all  the 
Christian  world  has  believed  in  a  substitutionary 
atonement ;  if  the  first  century  and  the  twentieth 
century  agree  in  this ;  if  all  the  historic  creeds, 
liturgies,  prayers,  and  hymns  are  based  upon  it ;  if 
the  great  historic  systems  of  theology  enshrine  it  as 
the  very  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  as  the  Holy  of  Holies  ; 
is  it  not  chimerical  to  regard  it  as  a  delusion  and  an 
error  ?  Is  it  not  rather  the  rational  conclusion  that 
all  these  interpretations  are  the  true  one,  and  that 
the  only  solution  of  this  united  testimony  of  the 


THE   ATONEMENT   AND   CHRISTIAN   HISTORY.      163 

ages  is  that  the  orthodox  theory  of  the  atonement 
is  so  plainly  and  irresistibly  set  forth  in  the  Scrip 
tures  that  he  who  runs  must  read  in  it  God's  plan 
for  saving  the  world  ? 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  LUTHERAN  VIEW  OF  THE  ATONEMENT. 

THIS  treatise  has  been  prepared  with  no  denomi 
national  interest.  It  is  written  in  defense  of  our 
common  Christianity.  Happily,  on  the  essential 
tenets  of  our  faith,  the  evangelical  denominations 
are  at  one.  The  primary  truths  we  all  receive  ; 
those  that  divide  ns  are  secondary.  And  while,  as 
Lessing  says,  "  the  smallest  particle  of  truth  is  God- 
given  and  possesses  an  infinite  value,"  still  our 
differences  on  relatively  minor  aspects  of  doctrine 
are  insignificant  as  compared  with  our  unity  on  the 
great  fundamentals.  And  in  this  day,  when  the 
very  citadel  of  the  faith  is  assailed  on  so  many  sides, 
and  so  many  professed  friends  are  found  to  be  weak 
ening,  the  great  evangelical  denominations  should 
feel  more  closely  drawn  together  than  ever  by  their 
unity  in  the  cardinal  principles  of  their  belief.  And 
from  the  pre-eminence  held  by  the  atonement,  it  is 
natural  that  on  it,  even  more  than  on  any  other  arti 
cle,  there  should  be  manifest  this  mutual  agreement. 


THE   LUTHERAN   VIEW   OF   THE   ATONEMENT.     165 

So  it  is  matter  of  profound  congratulation  that  in 
respect  to  this  doctrine  the  leading  Christian 
Churches  stand  together  with  largely  unbroken 
front. 

Yet,  as  the  author  is  one  of  its  office-bearers,  it  is 
proper  that  he  should  bear  witness  as  to  the  position 
on  this  question  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church.  Its  attitude  here  is  remarkably  unshaken, 
positive,  and  clear.  There  are  several  features  in 
its  doctrinal  character  which  contribute  to  this  even 
in  an  exceptionable  degree. 

One  of  these  is  the  clearly  denned  attitude  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  to  the  Scriptures.  It  holds  un 
waveringly  to  them  as  the  record  of  a  genuine  reve 
lation,  believing  that  they  were  given  through  a 
supernatural  inspiration,  and  hence  have  absolute 
authority  as  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and 
practice.  Hence  the  Scriptural  teachings  are  not  to 
be  explained  according  to  the  subjective  views  of 
the  reader,  but  to  be  taken  in  their  natural,  gram 
matical,  evident  sense.  But,  as  the  Scriptures 
everywhere  so  pre-eminently  set  forth  the  sacrificial 
plan  of  man's  redemption,  the  Church  that  does  not, 
in  the  face  of  the  fierce  assault  upon  them,  compro 
mise  her  loyalty  in  the  least  to  their  authority,  can- 


1 66   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

not  either  weaken  her  stand  on  this  point  as  to  their 
testimony. 

Again,  the  Lutheran  Church  places  special  em 
phasis  on  the  fact  of  sin.  It  was  the  bitter  expe 
rience  of  it  in  his  soul,  as  alienating  from  God, 
rendering  morally  helpless,  and  incurring  eternal 
penalty,  which  drove  Luther  in  the  cloister  to  find 
his  deliverance  alone  in  an  infinite  remedy.  Where 
sin  is  realized  in  its  full  enormity,  and  is  not  mini 
mized  and  evaded  by  any  theory  of  easy-going 
modern  Pelagian  sentiment,  there  special  stress  must 
be  laid  upon  the  necessity  of  the  divine  plan  of 
atonement.  Thus  writes  Gerhard,  that  prince  of 
Lutheran  theologians :  "It  was  the  infinite  God 
that  was  offended  by  sin  ;  and  because  sin  is  an 
offense,  wrong,  and  crime  against  the  infinite  God, 
and,  so  to  speak,  is  Deicide,  it  has  an  infinite  evil, 
and  deserves  infinite  punishment,  and,  therefore,  re 
quired  an  infinite  price  of  satisfaction,  which  Christ 
alone  could  have  afforded."* 

Further,  the  Lutheran  Church  elevates  to  the 
first  place  in  the  divine  perfections  the  attribute  of 
Love.  Love  with  her  is  the  key  that  unlocks  the 

*  III.,  579.     Schmid's  Doctrinal  Theology  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  p.  374. 


THE    LUTHERAN    VIEW   OF   THE    ATONEMENT.      167 

mysteries  of  the  Scriptures,  and  sheds  light  upon 
the  dark,  strange  problems  of  life  and  Providence. 
The  love  of  God  is  the  corner-stone  and  constructive 
principle  of  her  theology.  It  is  the  prominence 
given  this  attribute  in  the  divine  perfections  which 
explains  the  hearty  joyousness,  and  the  sunny, 
genial  type  of  piety  which  characterize  the  Luth 
eran  peoples  of  all  lands.  And  as  no  article  in  the 
Christian  faith  so  displays  the  love  of  God  and  so  in 
tensely  reveals  the  glory  of  the  divine  tenderness  and 
compassion  as  does  the  cross,  with  its  blood-and- 
agony-purchased  redemption,  so  does  the  atonement 
peculiarly  harmonize  with  the  spirit  of  this  Church. 
Again,  the  Lutheran  Church  is  Christo-centric. 
The  Scriptures,  for  her  pre-eminently,  testify  of 
Christ.  They  are  to  be  explained  in  the  light  of 
His  incarnation.  The  keystone  of  the  Word  is  that 
it  sets  forth  Christ,  finds  its  fulfillment  in  Him, 
bears  the  imprint  of  His  spirit.  Lutheran  theology 
is  built  upon  the  God-Man.  He  is  the  central  Sun 
about  which  it  revolves.  The  theologians  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  have  meditated  most  deeply  over 
questions  of  Christology.  Perhaps  the  most  notable 
contribution  to  theology  since  the  Reformation 
era  has  been  made  by  Lutheran  thinkers  in  the  de- 


1 68   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

velopment  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Person  of  Christ. 
God  in  Christ,  in  the  Lutheran  Church,  is  the  begin 
ning,  middle,  and  end  of  theology. 

And  once  more,  with  the  Lutheran  Church,  the 
chief  Christian  article  is  that  of  Justification  by 
Faith.  This  is  the  all-regulative,  determining 
principle.  Every  other  article  of  Christian  doctrine 
in  her  theological  system  must  be  tested  and 
adjusted  by  it. 

The  doctrines  of  the  Word  of  God  form  an  har 
monious  whole.  They  are  all  parts  which,  fitted 
together,  constitute  one  great  unity.  Their  full 
and  accurate  statement  issues  in  a  perfect  system  of 
truth.  And  as  the  chief  pillar  in  this  edifice  of 
Christian  doctrine  is  that  of  justification  by  faith, 
so  no  interpretation  of  Scripture  can  be  true  which 
conflicts  with  it. 

Luther  thus  called  the  Article  of  Justification 
u  the  master,  the  prince,  the  lord,  the  ruler,  the 
judge  overall  kinds  of  doctrine,"  which  governs  all 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church.  "This  is  the  most 
important  article  of  Christian  faith.  When  this 
knowledge  of  justification  is  lost,  at  the  same  time 
Christ  and  life  and  the  Church  are  lost."* 

*  Koestlin,  Theology  of  Luther,  vol.  ii.,  p.  212. 


THE    LUTHERAN   VIEW   OF   THE    ATONEMENT.      169 

No  good  works  of  our  own,  no  bitterness  of  re 
pentance,  no  agonizing  throes  of  feeling  justify 
the  sinner  ;  but  solely  the  atoning  merits  of  Christ, 
given  on  condition  of  faith  alone.  This  faith  is  the 
gift  of  God  to  those  who  do  not  resist  the  movings 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  open  their  hearts  to  the 
Means  of  Grace.  But  if  salvation  is  thus  not 
merely  of  God's  sovereign  pleasure,  irrespective  of 
the  satisfaction  due  to  His  broken  law  and  offended 
justice,  nor  of  any  works  of  righteousness  which  we 
have  done,  but  by  faith  alone  in  the  crucified  One, 
then  surely  Christ  must  have  paid  the  whole  debt, 
then  His  blood  must  wash  every  stain  of  guilt 
away,  then  there  must  have  been  a  truly  vicarious 
atonement. 

Such  are  distinguishing  traits  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  which  tend  to  give  the  atonement  a  high 
place  in  her  theology,  in  her  affections,  and  in  its 
regulative  power  in  her  Christian  life.  Thus  says 
the  Augsburg  Confession  :  "  Christ  truly  suffered 
and  was  crucified  that  He  might  reconcile  the  Father 
to  us  and  be  a  sacrifice,  not  only  for  original  sin,  but 
also  for  all  actual  sins  of  men ;"  and  the  Form  of 
Concord  completes  the  statement :  "So  that  on 
account  of  this  complete  obedience,  which  by  deed 


IJO   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

and  in  suffering,  in  life  and  in  death,  He  rendered 
His  heavenly  Father  for  us,  God  forgives  our  sins, 
regards  us  godly  and  righteous,  and  eternally  loves 
us."* 

While,  as  we  have  said,  the  other  denominations, 
as  such,  still  hold  to  the  atonement,  yet  it  is  to  be 
deplored  that  in  many  quarters  the  tendency  of  cur 
rent  Christian  thought  is  to  a  dangerous  weakening 
on  this  vital  point.  In  the  recent  volume  of  Dr. 
Karl  Hermann  Wirth  on  "  The  Doctrine  of  Merit  in 
the  Christian  Church,"  he  truly  says  :  "  The  doctrine 
of  human  merit  is  one  which,  even  to-day,  is  not 
only  of  most  far-reaching  importance  for  the  Roman 
church,  but  also  rules,  or  at  least  dims,  the  views  of 
numerous  evangelical  Christians."  And,  because 
the  Lutheran  Church  has  so  absolutely  rejected 
human  merit,  and  ascribed  all  merit  to  the  atone 
ment,  laying  its  chief  emphasis,  on  man's  side,  on 
justification  by  faith  alone,  she  has  been  charged 
with  indifference  to  immorality  and  holiness,  "  let 
ting  her  adherents  go  to  heaven  on  flowery  beds  of 
ease."  But  she  can  well  bear  these  misrepresenta 
tions  in  the  consciousness  of  her  pure  confession  of 
this  vital  truth  of  the  Gospel. 

*  Jacobs' s  Lutheran  Confessions,  p.  572. 


THE  LUTHERAN  VIEW  OF  THE  ATONEMENT.   IJI 

And  it  is  certainly  cause  for  rejoicing  and  assur 
ance  that,  whatever  misgivings  and  uncertainties 
may  disturb  other  evangelical  communions  respect 
ing  changing  views  in  regard  to  the  atonement, 
there  are  none  such  in  the  Mother  Church  of  the 
Reformation — the  one  universally  distributed  over 
the  globe,  teaching  the  Gospel  in  all  languages,  and 
numbering  70,000,000  members,  a  number,  per 
haps,  equal  to  that  of  all  other  Protestants  com 
bined. 

Not  only  are  her  confessions  and  her  theology 
evangelical  on  the  atonement,  but  her  pulpits  like 
wise.  No  mere  ethical  preaching,  no  gospel  of 
moral  reform  or  self-help,  is  heard  from  any  of  her 
ministers.  Not  the  approval  of  the  spirit  of  the 
age,  not  the  applause  of  the  light  literature  of  the 
time,  not  worldly  popularity  and  numbers  do  her 
pulpits  seek  after  ;  but  conversions,  new-born  souls, 
smitten  consciences  led  from  sin  to  righteousness 
and  from  death  to  life ;  and  so  she  holds  up  Jesus 
on  the  cross,  and,  through  faith  in  Him  alone,  justi 
fication  unto  life. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  SINNER'S  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH. 

ALLUSION  in  general  terms  has  often  been  made 
in  the  foregoing  chapters — and  especially  in  the 
preceding  one — to  Justification  by  Faith.  This 
term — justification — holds  so  integral  a  place  in 
the  Scriptural  presentation  of  the  Atonement  as 
to  demand  a  special  treatment  in  any  thorough 
consideration  of  the  doctrine. 

The  first  step  in  the  sinner's  reconciliation  to 
God — to  be  followed  by  his  inner,  growing,  per 
sonal  renewal — is  his  justification.  He  must  be 
held  juridically  righteous.  There  must  be  a  read 
justment  of  his  moral  relations  to  the  righteous 
Judge.  He  must  appear  before  God,  no  longer  as 
dyed  in  sin  and  guilt,  but  as  cleansed,  as  having 
his  iniquities  covered,  as  clothed  in  the  wedding 
robe  of  spotless  righteousness.  Only  when  he  occu 
pies  this  position,  when  he  can  be  regarded  as  a 
cleansed  moral  creature,  can  God  have  aught  to  do 
with  him,  recognize  him  as  His  child,  and  can  the 


THE  SINNER'S  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH.     173 

recreative  spiritual  process  go  forward  in  him  in  all 
its  freedom,  fullness,  and  power. 

And  the  Scripture  further  teaches  that  this  justi 
fication  is  all  of  divine  grace,  not  of  human  works. 
No  moral  effort  of  man,  no  self-reformation,  no 
agonizing  penitential  experiences,  no  force  or 
power  of  self-determination  can  effect  it.  Left  to 
himself  and  his  best  efforts,  man  can  never  be  any 
thing  but  an  alien  from,  and  an  enemy  to,  his  God. 
For  the  Holy  One  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold 
iniquity,  and,  do  the  most  he  can,  the  sinner  will 
.still  stand  amenable  to  the  curse  of  the  broken 
law. 

But  in  this  helpless  dilemma  the  Son  of  God 
meets  the  exigency.  He  presents  Himself  in  the 
sinner's  stead,  and  renders  up  a  sacrifice  of  all- 
availing  power.  He  offers  a  full  and  perfect  atone 
ment  for  his  sins,  no  matter  how  manifold,  grievous, 
and  inexcusable :  "  And  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ, 
his  Son,  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin."  "While  we 
were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us." 

But  while  the  provision  is  thus  amply  made  by 
the  gracious  goodness  of  God,  how  shall  the  guilt- 
burdened  sinner  avail  himself  of  the  remedy  ?  How 
shall  he  apply  to  himself  the  healing  grace  ?  How 


174   THK  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

shall  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  be  made  his  own  ? 
How  shall  the  costly  price  be  transferred  to  effect 
his  ransom  ?  How  shall  he  wash  in  the  fountain 
provided  for  the  cleansing  of  every  moral  stain  ? 
The  answer  of  the  Gospel  is — by  Faith :  "  Being 
therefore  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."*  "  All  that  be 
lieve  are  justified  from  all  things,  from  which  ye 
could  not  be  justified  by  the  law."f  "  To  him 
that  believeth  on  him  that  justifieth  the  un- 
godly.»J 

The  distinction  is  further  made  that  this  justifi 
cation  is  by  faith  alone,  and  not  by  the  sinner's 
good  works  :  "A  man  is  justified  by  faith  without 
the  deeds  of  the  law  ;  "§  "  Knowing  that  a  man  is 
not  justified  by  the  works  of  the  law,  but  only 
through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ."  || 

This  faith,  generically,  is  in  the  divinity  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  whole  Gospel.  But, 
specifically,  it  is  faith  in  the  death  of  Christ,  in  His 
suffering  on  the  cross,  in  the  offering  which  He  made 
for  sin.  "  Thus  being  justified  freely  by  his  grace 
through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus  \ 

*  Rom.  v.  i.          f  Acts  xiii.  39.          J  Rom.  iv.  5. 
3  Rom.  iii.  28.        II  Gal.  ii.  16. 


THE  SINNER'S  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH.     175 

whom  God  hath  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation, 
through  faith,  by  his  blood"*  Again  :  "  Much 
more  then,  being  now  justified  by  his  blood r."f 

These  passages,  collated,  set  forth  the  Scriptural 
doctrine  in  all  its  breadth,  fullness  and  distinctness. 
They  show  that  the  death  of  Christ  was  vicarious  ; 
that  it  was  the  sinless  One  taking  the  place  of  the 
guilty ;  and  that  this  vicarious  offering  is  the  sole 
ground  of  the  sinner's  justification.  And  they  just 
as  clearly  and  positively  teach  that  the  means  by 
which  the  righteousness  of  Christ  becomes  the 
righteousness  of  the  sinner,  is  faith.  Not  merely 
an  intellectual  conviction  of  the  divinity  of  Jesus, 
but  a  heart  conviction  of  the  power  of  His  atoning 
death  to  relieve  the  burdened  conscience.  This 
faith  is  the  condition  of  justification.  The  means 
by  which  the  merits  of  Christ  are  appropriated. 
The  organ  by  which  the  righteousness  of  Christ 
is  transferred  to  the  sinner. 

The  doctrine  of  Justification  by  Faith  is  thus 
defined  by  Dorner  :  "  The  free  and  full  forgiveness 
of  sins  (effected  by  justification)  is  an  objective  gift, 
— a  discovery  of  the  gracious  counsel  of  the  love  of 
God,  who  within  Himself,  before  His  inward 

*  Rom.  iii.  24,  25.  f  Rom.  v.  9. 


176   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

tribunal,  has  for  Christ's  sake  forgiven  man, — pre 
sented  to  him,  not  because  he  repents  and  believes, 
but  in  order  that  he  may  believe.  .  .  .  .  By 
faith  man  becomes  personally  a  partaker  of  the 
grace  of  God,  and,  before  all,  of  the  forgiveness  of 
sins.  It  is  indeed  an  act  of  man,  but  it  is  an  act 
induced  or  wrought  by  means  of  the  love  of  God 
revealed  in  Christ,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit  proceed 
ing  from  Him."* 

Justification  is  thus  distinguished  from  sanctifica- 
tion  in  that  the  former  is  a  divine  act  exterior  to, 
and  for  man,  whereas  the  latter  is  a  divine  work  in 
man. 

Such  is  the  great  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith,  as  originally  proclaimed  in  the  Gospel,  and  as 
rediscovered  and  republished  in  the  Reformation. 
It  is  stated  with  an  insistence  from  which  there  is 
no  escape.  It  is  God's  way,  and  His  only  way,  of 
justifying  and  saving  the  sinner. 

In  the  face  of  this  cumulative  Scripture  testimony 
how  shall  we  view  that  tendency  of  so  many  profess 
edly  evangelical  teachers  to  minimize  faith,  and  to 
place  almost  the  entire  emphasis  upon  good  works  and 
life  as  the  means  of  fallen  man's  justification  before 

*  History  of  Protestant  Theology,  pp.  228-230. 


THE  SINNER'S  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH.     177 

his  Maker  ?  Surely  this  is  little  less  than  a  denial 
of  the  fundamental  content  of  the  Gospel,  and  a 
betrayal  of  the  solemn  trust  to  bear  faithful  witness 
to  it! 

When  we  come  to  examine  it  closely,  the  earnest 
student  of  God's  Word,  the  thoughtful  observer  of 
faith,  and  the  searcher  of  the  deep  things  of  the  spir 
itual  life,  will  find  that  there  is  a  profound  rationale 
in  this  scheme  of  the  Gospel.  Three  great  reasons 
appear  why  justification  should  be  effected  by  faith 
in  Christ,  and  by  that  means  alone.  These,  as 
Luther  saw  them  in  his  profound  study  and  per 
sonal  experience,  were : 

First,  he  who  believes  in  Christ  so  clings  to, 
rests,  and  reposes  in  Him  that  all  Christ  has  becomes 
the  soul's  own,  and  all  the  soul  has — its  sin  and 
guilt — becomes  Christ's.  But  Christ  is  God  and 
man,  without  sin,  and  His  righteousness  and  holi 
ness  are  spotless  and  infinite.  And  inasmuch  as 
He  now  makes  the  sins  of  the  one  who  believes  on 
Him  His  own — suffering,  dying,  and  descending 
into  hell  for  them — they  are  all  swallowed  up  and 
effaced  in  Him.  This  is  because  His  righteousness 
is  stronger  than  all  sins  ;  His  life  mightier  than  all 
death  ;  His  eternal  happiness  more  unconquerable 

12 


178   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

than  all  evil,  pain,  and  sorrow.  And  this  infinite 
treasure  now  avails  for  the  sinner.  This  is  the 
supreme  reason. 

The  second  reason  why  faith  justifies  is,  that 
when  God  gives  His  word  and  sends  His  Son  as  a 
ransom  for  man,  nothing  so  honors,  pleases,  and 
glorifies  Him  as  faith  in  His  graciousness,  whereas 
nothing  so  displeases  and  dishonors  Him  as  for 
men  to  turn  from  Him  in  doubt  and  hardness  of 
heart.  Hence  He  inclines  in  love  and  mercy  to 
the  one  who  believes. 

The  third  reason  is  that  faith  is  the  disposition 
that  melts  the  heart,  that  powerfully  moves  it  at 
the  display  of  divine  love,  and  hence  inclines  to  re 
pentance  and  the  new  life.  Nothing  so  intensely 
impresses  man  with  a  conviction  of  his  unworthi- 
ness  and  fills  him  with  such  a  horror  of  sin  as  when 
he  believingly  sees  what  it  has  cost  the  Son  of  God. 
And  when  he  beholds  this  unspeakable  love,  exer 
cised  toward  him  while  yet  in  his  sin  and  shame, 
he  feels  that  he  owes  his  life,  his  faculties,  his  all  to 
Him  who  has  redeemed  him  by  such  immeasurable 
grace.  And  it  is  in  this  manner  that,  by  the  ener 
gizing  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  faith  becomes  the 
source  of  good  works.  It  is  the  one  who  believes 


THE  SINNER'S  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH.     179 

that  Christ  has  borne  the  guilt  and  punishment  of 
his  sins,  who  also  believes  that,  living  or  dying,  he 
belongs,  body  and  soul,  to  his  Redeemer.  Hence 
the  first  question  of  faith  is  :  "  What  shall  I  do  for 
Him,  and  how  shall  I  actively  serve  Him,  who  has 
given  His  all  for  me  ?  "  Faith  thus  becomes  the 
inspiration  and  motive  power  to  a  holy  life — the 
root  of  the  tree  of  good  works — the  spring  and 
fountain  of  all  Christian  fruits  and  graces.  Thus 
is  faith,  as  the  means  of  justification,  vindicated  in 
the  philosophy  of  the  Christian  life,  and  in  the  his 
tory  of  Christian  experience. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  results  to  be  drawn  from 
a  Scriptural  study  and  restatement  of  the  evangelical 
doctrine  of  the  Atonement  will  be  to  restore  to  FAITH 
that  supreme  place  in  the  religious  life  which  belongs 
to  it,  and  from  which  modern  thought  seeks  to  dis 
place  it.  And  assuredly  it  is  time  for  the  disciples  of 
faith  to  make  a  stand.  Faith  is  a  term  which,  in 
our  day,  we  scarcely  hear  even  mentioned  in  large 
intellectual  circles.  In  solving  our  gravest  prob 
lems  it  is  to  have  no  place. 

And  we  cannot  but  observe  the  tendency  of  many 
orthodox  Christian  thinkers  to  yield  too  compla- 


l8o   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

cently  to  these  illogical  assumptions.  Let  us  bear 
in  mind,  then,  the  paramount  nature  of  the  issue. 
The  dearest  interests  of  mankind  are  bound  up  with 
faith.  If  we  abandon  this  faculty,  and  the  spiritual 
sphere,  the  perception  of  which  belongs  to  it,  we 
surrender  the  last  bulwark  by  which  absolute  certi 
tude  of  any  kind,  but  especially  of  the  truths  of 
religion,  can  be  assured. 

The  Holy  Scriptures  are  full  of  faith,  and  exalt 
it  to  the  highest  place,  while  reason  is  not  largely 
dwelt  upon.  Faith,  indeed,  must  be  rational,  but 
no  less  must  reason  be  believing.  Christianity, 
— the  unique  religion,  the  one  ever-growing  and 
universal  religion — is  built  upon  faith.  Jesus 
Christ  made  it  the  corner-stone  of  His  religious 
system.  And  all  efforts  by  so-called  progressive 
Christian  thinkers  to  invert  its  headship  for  a  su 
premacy  of  reason  are  negative  and  destructive. 

Jesus  made  knowledge,  salvation,  and  eternal  life 
dependent  upon  faith ;  precisely  the  opposite  of 
the  Pagan  teaching  of  our  time,  which  runs : 
"  Attend  to  your  life,  and  your  beliefs  are  a  matter  of 
indifference."  Paul  and  the  other  inspired  writers 
all  developed  and  emphasized  the  same  thought. 
And  so  with  the  Christian  Fathers  and  great  spir- 


THE  SINNER'S  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH.     181 

itual  leaders  of  the  epochal  periods  of  Christianity. 
Augustine,  failing  with  philosophy,  saved  the  col 
lapsing  structure  of  ancient  civilization  by  the  Gos 
pel  of  faith.  Luther  and  his  fellow-reformers,  re 
jecting  all  other  weapons  but  faith,  brought  about 
an  historic  revolution  second  only  to  the  birth  of 
Christianity,  and  opened  the  door  for  the  advent 
of  the  modern  age. 

The  triumphs  of  men  who  have  prevailed  by  in 
tellect  and  force  have  ended  with  their  death,  and 
been  followed  by  reaction.  But  the  great  captains 
of  faith,  even  from  their  graves,  have  moulded  the 
thought  and  life  of  the  race,  and  have  lived  on  in 
ever-widening  circles  of  influence. 

Let  us  then  stand  for  the  rights  and  supremacy 
of  faith.  Not  alone  will  it  solve  for  us  the  true 
meaning  of  the  atonement,  but  it  will  guide  us 
into  the  right  interpretation  and  mutual  relation  of 
all  the  Scriptural  doctrines. 

And,  as  in  the  past,  so  in  the  future,  will  faith  be 
the  vital  nerve  and  the  conquering  arm  of  religion. 
Let  reason  and  science  have  their  sphere  in  the 
region  of  nature  ;  to  faith  belongs  the  higher  realm 
of  the  spiritual,  the  supernatural,  the  invisible, 
and  eternal.  This  is  her  legitimate  sphere,  and 


l82   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

it    can    neither    be    abdicated    nor   transferred    to 
another. 

Let  us,  then,  as  Christians  in  these  troubled  days, 
when  so  many  are  asking  whether  the  sands  under 
their  feet  are  shifting  or  no,  re-light  the  fires  of  faith 
in  God,  in  religion,  in  Holy  Scripture,  and  in  spir 
itual  realities.  Reason  suffices  to  guide  the  mind  of 
man  in  his  narrow  sail  along  the  shore,  but  once 
out  on  the  great  ocean  of  truth,  with  every  bound 
lost  to  the  horizon,  faith  alone  can  take  the  helm 
and  guide  his  frail  bark  until,  with  unerring  course, 
it  reaches  the  eternal  haven. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE   MIRACLE   OF    THE   CROSS. 

A  MARKED  characteristic  of  modern  thought  is 
antipathy  to  miracles.  The  disposition  is  to  rele 
gate  the  miracle  to  the  "  child  age  of  the  world."  It 
is  looked  upon  as  belonging  to  the  era  of  myth, 
legend  and  fable,  when  the  exuberant  imagination 
of  the  race  had  not  yet  been  subdued  by  the  sharp 
discipline  of  reason.  Science,  resting  on  the  un 
broken  continuity  of  the  order  of  nature  and  the 
fixed  relation  between  cause  and  effect,  has  no 
place  for  the  miracle. 

Still  the  boast  of  Haeckel,  that  "  science  has 
traced  the  unbroken,  causal-mechanical  connection 
in  the  sphere  of  the  natural,"  is  repudiated  by  the 
first  scientists  of  our  times.  Science,  according  to 
Du  Bois  Raymond,  Virchow,  Wundt,  Lord  Kelvin, 
and  even  Spencer,  in  his  last  word,  has  utterly  failed 
to  account  for  the  beginnings  of  life,  consciousness, 
and  thought. 

If  then  miracles  must  be  admitted  for  the  origins 


184   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

of  physical  and  mental  forces,  why  may  not  the 
divine  creative  might  appear  in  miraculous  form 
along  the  course  of  the  subsequent  history  ? 
Clearly,  then,  miracles  are  possible.  Huxley 
admits  their  possibility,  declaring  the  issue  to 
be  merely  one  of  testimony.  The  only  question  is  : 
"  Has  God  chosen,  for  any  purpose,  to  use  the 
miracle  ? "  Time  was,  when,  by  any  who  called 
themselves  Christians,  the  answer  to  this  was  uni 
versally  in  the  affirmative.  The  great  Rationalists 
of  the  eighteenth  century  did  not  profess  to  receive 
the  divine  revelation.  Assuming  as  an  indisputable 
fact  that  the  Bible  history  is  interwoven  with  pro 
fessed  miracles,  and  that  Christ  claimed  to  perform 
miracles,  and  that  the  apostles  fully  believed  this 
claim,  and  urged  their  evidential  force  for  His 
divinity,  the  Rationalists,  in  rejecting  miracles, 
consistently  rejected  the  supernatural  authority  of 
the  Bible  and  the  tenets  of  orthodox  Christianity. 
But  the  attitude  of  modern  so-called  Christian 
thought  is  different.  It  is  far  less  manly  and 
honest,  as  it  is  far  less  logical.  It  claims  to  reject 
the  miracles,  but  to  receive  the  Bible.  It  contends 
that  the  miracles  are  altogether  unnecessary.  They 
have  little,  if  any,  evidential  value.  They  are  a 


THE   MIRACLE   OF   THE   CROSS.  185 

burden  to  be  carried,  rather  than  an  aid  to  faith. 
The  best  course  is  to  dispense  with  them.  So  a  Har 
nack,  while  claiming  to  be  a  foremost  Christian 
theologian,  can  say  :  "  We  are  fully  convinced  that 
whatever  occurs  in  time  and  space  is  subject  to  the 
universal  laws  of  motion,  and  that,  therefore,  in  the 
sense  of  being  an  interruption  of  the  continuity  of 
nature,  there  can  be  no  miracle.  That  a  storm  at 
sea  was  calmed  by  a  single  word  of  command,  we 
do  not  believe,  and  never  again  will  believe." 
Therefore,  the  Bible  of  Harnack  is  not  a  super 
natural  book  ;  his  gospel  is  a  gospel  without  mir 
acles.  And  he  who  holds  with  him  must  state, 
like  Harnack,  that  Jesus  does  not  belong  to  the 
Gospel. 

We  hold  that  this  position  is  irrational,  unscien 
tific,  and  unchristian.  The  miracle  belongs  to  the 
origin  of  things.  The  natural  to  its  after-history. 
When  God  determined  to  create  the  world,  and 
again  to  cross  the  bar  from  dead  matter  to  life,  and 
again  to  breathe  into  man  a  rational  soul,  He  inter 
rupted  the  regular  order  of  the  universe  by  the 
exercise  of  the  miracle. 

And  shall  we  wonder,  then,  that  when  God  saw 
the  fall  and  ruin  of  the  soul,  the  wreck  of  the  moral 


1 86   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

universe,  and  determined  upon  its  redemption,  He 
should  again  call  into  play  the  miracle?  The  re 
creation  demanded  a  no  less  exceptional  exercise  of 
power  than  did  the  original  creation.  To  effect 
redemption  there  must  be  a  break  in  the  continuity 
of  the  moral  order  of  the  universe.  There  must  be 
an  incarnation.  Hence  there  is  demanded  a  super 
natural  nativity.  There  must  be  a  supernatural 
personality — and  we  have  the  miracle  of  the  two 
natures — the  God-Man.  The  Christ  must  be  sin 
less — another  moral  miracle.  He  must,  too,  be  a 
miracle-worker,  clothed  with  power  over  nature. 
And,  finally,  there  must  be  the  miracle  of  the  resur 
rection — He  must  be  the  first  one  to  triumph  over 
death  and  break  the  age-long  victory  of  the 
grave. 

From  this  we  see  that  the  miracle  is  not  a  mere 
incident  of  the  divine  plan  of  redemption,  to  be 
cast  aside  without  harm,  but  that  it  lies  at  the  very 
centre  of  the  scheme,  and  is  inseparably  bound  up 
with  it.  To  eliminate  the  miraculous  would  tear 
the  very  heart  from  the  revelation.  The  miracles 
prove  the  divinity  of  the  Gospel,  because  the  whole 
fabric  of  revelation  is  reared  upon  the  almighty 
power  of  God  intervening  in  the  history  of  the 


THE    MIRACLE   OF   THE   CROSS.  187 

race,  to  bring  that  about  which  to  the  natural  order 
was  impossible. 

But  the  very  centre  of  this  supernatural  inter 
position  comes  to  pass  in  the  atonement.  That 
sin  involves  an  ever-increasing  servitude,  an  ever- 
tightening  and  unescapable  chain,  is  the  inevitable 
moral  law.  That  every  man  shall  die  for  his  own  sin 
is  the  natural  order.  That  guilt  cannot  be  trans 
ferred  to  another  is  a  primary  law  of  ethics.  But  in 
the  death  of  Christ  to  atone  for  the  sins  of  the  world, 
in  the  sinless  One — the  All-Holy — bearing  in  His 
body  and  soul  the  guilt  of  the  transgressors,  the  in 
finite  Judge  breaks  in  upon  and  suspends  the  univer 
sal  moral  order.  Hence  the  cross  becomes  the  miracle 
of  miracles.  The  height  and  depth  of  the  mystery 
of  godliness  appear  in  this,  that  u  God  might  be  just, 
and  the  justifier  of  him  who  believeth  in  Jesus, 
whom  God  hath  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation, 
through  faith  by  his  blood."*  "I  do  not  know 
whether  or  not  the  universal  laws  of  motion  are 
thereby  violated ;  but  I  do  know  that  the  greatest 
of  miracles  is  here  performed.  An  unbreakable 
continuity  of  sin  held  us  captive,  and  no  moral 
strength  of  ours  succeeded  in  setting  us  free,  but 

*  Rom.  iii.  25,  26. 


1 88   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

even  against  our  will  we  were  compelled  to  serve 
sin.  Our  salvation,  therefore,  depends  on  a  miracle 
in  the  sense  of  an  interruption  of  the  continuity 
of  nature ;  and,  behold,  the  miracle  is  performed 
when  we  reach  the  assurance  of  reconciliation  with 
God  and  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin  at  the  cross  of 
Christ.  Immediately  our  troubled  conscience  is 
stilled,  our  enslaved  will  is  liberated  from  the 
dominion  of  sin — the  continuity  of  nature  with 
respect  to  sin  is  interrupted,  suspended,  broken, 
and  this  is  the  MIRACLE  OF  MIRACLES."* 

Thus  does  the  atonement  become  the  centre  of 
that  miraculous  divine  power  put  forth  to  inaugur 
ate  and  carry  into  effect  the  plan  of  redemption. 
And  thus  does  the  cross — that  darkest  scene  of 
time — which  otherwise  would  seem  to  contradict 
reason  and  justice,  manifest  the  deepest  wisdom 
and  beneficence  of  Him  who  is  at  once  our  Creator, 
our  Judge,  and  our  Father. 

And  rejoicing  in  the  unwonted  power  of  this 
blessed  miracle  of  grace  to  heal  our  sore  malady 
of  sin,  to  bring  peace  to  our  distressed  con 
sciences  and  strength  to  our  enfeebled  wills,  we 

*  Dr.  S.  W.  Hunzinger,  of  Rostock,  Lutheran  Church  Review, 
vol.  xxii.,p.  641. 


THE   MIRACLE   OF  THE   CROSS.  189 

are  ready  to  receive  all  the  other  miracles  of  reve 
lation. 

The  miracle  of  the  cross  is  only  the  centre  and 
height  of  that  series  of  supernatural  wonders  which 
began  with  the  origin  in  time  of  the  scheme  of 
redemption,  and  whose  history  is  recorded  in  the 
Bible. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

THE  HOLY  SPIRIT    IN  THE  PASSION   AND   ATONING 
WORK   OF  CHRIST. 

THE  third  person  in  the  Trinity — the  Holy 
Spirit — should  not  be  passed  over  in  a  consideration 
of  the  Scriptural  doctrine  of  the  atonement.  This 
we  are  tempted  to  do,  on  account  of  the  great 
prominence  of  the  Father  in  the  promise  and 
covenant  of  grace,  and  of  the  Son — the  central 
figure  in  its  execution  in  time.  But  most  interest 
ing  and  important  is  the  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  this  great  redemptive  work. 

The  Holy  Spirit,  we  know,  was  active  in  the 
Incarnation.  The  conception  of  Jesus  was  by  the 
agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  before  the  divine 
child  was  born,  Elizabeth,  on  meeting  His  mother, 
Mary,  was  inspired  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  pour  forth 
those  strains  of  the  Magnificat  which  so  marvelously 
portrayed  the  blessed  things  which  the  coming 
Saviour  was  to  confer  on  the  race.  The  Holy 
Spirit  brooded  over  the  childhood  of  Jesus,  and  as 

(190) 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  IN  THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST.       191 

by  means  of  Him  the  child,  John  the  Baptist,  waxed 
strong  in  spirit,  so,  no  doubt,  through  His  influence 
the  boy,  "  Jesus,  increased  in  wisdom  and  stature, 
and  in  favor  with  God  and  man."' 

The  Holy  Spirit  had  been  given,  in  large  degree, 
to  the  prophets  of  old,  and  by  means  of  this  endow 
ment  they  had  done  mighty  works,  and  made  great 
revelations  of  truth  through  the  gift  of  inspiration. 
But  their  endowment  was  one  of  limits  and  degrees. 
The  supreme  distinction  of  Christ,  however,  was 
that  there  was  no  limit  to  the  fullness  of  the  Spirit's 
indwelling  in  Him.  "  For  God  giveth  not  the 
Spirit  by  measure  to  him."f  And  at  His  baptism, 
when  perchance  the  consciousness  of  His  eternal 
Sonship  and  Messianic  mission  was  realized  by 
Him  in  all  its  fullness,  the  Holy  Ghost  was  out 
poured  in  visible  form  upon  His  head. 

We  should  expect,  then,  that  when  Christ  came 
to  the  culminating  act  of  His  incarnation,  when 
the  supreme  hour  had  arrived  for  which  He  had 
chiefly  come  into  the  world — when  He  was  to  offer 
Himself  a  ransom  to  redeem  man  from  the  curse, 
and  to  restore  to  him  his  forfeited  heritage  of  eternal 

*  Luke  ii.  52. 
.    f  John  iii.  34. 


THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

life — the  Holy  Spirit  should  have  been  an  active 
participant.  ' 

And  that  such  a  sphere  was  assigned  Him  is 
shown  by  a  remarkable  passage  in  Hebrews. 
There,  when  the  inspired  writer  is  speaking  of  the 
cleansing  power  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  he  tells  us 
that  it  was  "  through  the  eternal  Spirit  that  He 
offered  himself  without  spot  to  God."*  While  the 
term  used  is  not  the  Holy,  but  the  Eternal  Spirit, 
yet  we  regard  the  view  correct  that  u  the  term  Eter 
nal  Spirit  was  chosen  to  indicate  that  the  divine 
human  person  of  Christ  entered  into  such  indis 
soluble  fellowship  with  the  Holy  Spirit  as  even 
eternal  death  could  not  break.  .  .  .  The  Son 
was  willing  so  to  empty  Himself  that  it  would  be 
possible  for  His  human  nature  to  pass  through 
eternal  death  ;  and  to  this  end  He  let  it  be  filled 
with  all  the  mightiness  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Thus 
the  Son  of  God  offered  Himself  through  the  Eternal 

Spirif't 

If  this  exposition  be  the  true  one,  the  Holy 
Spirit,  entering  into  closest  fellowship  with  the 

*  Heb.  ix.  14. 

f  Kuyper,  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Passion  of  Christ,  pp.  104,. 
105. 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  IN  THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST.       193 

God-Man,  strengthened  Him  for  the  extreme  trial, 
when  on  the  cross  He  was  to  be  so  alienated  from 
the  Father  as  to  be  held  as  the  representative  of 
the  guilty  race,  bearing  in  His  person  the  righteous 
judgment  of  God  upon  sin. 

We  know  that,  in  Gethsemane,  Christ  shrank 
from  this  awful  ordeal,  in  which  He  should  realize 
the  pain  and  chill  of  spiritual  death.  And  as  we 
in  our  temptations,  trials  and  crucial  provings,  are 
"strengthened  with  might  by  his  Spirit  in  the 
inner  man,"*  and  as  we  read  of  Christ  that  "  in  the 
days  of  his  flesh,  when  he  had  offered  up  prayers 
and  supplications  with  strong  crying  and  tears  unto 
Him  that  was  able  to  save  Him  from  death, "f  so 
did  the  Holy  Spirit  by  an  angel  appear  to  the 
Redeemer  in  the  agony  of  His  Passion  in  the 
garden,  "  strengthening  Him  "  for  the  suffering  of 
the  cross,  so  that  He  could  calmly  say  :  "  Neverthe 
less,  not  my  will,  but  thine  be  done."J 

The  Holy  Spirit,  further,  was  the  agent  of  the 
Resurrection,  as  we  read :  "  Christ  being  put  to 
death  in  the  flesh,  but  quickened  by  the  Spirit. "§ 
Again,  Paul  says  that  "  Jesus  was  declared  to  be  the 

*  Ephes.  iii.  16.  f  Heb.  v.  7. 

J  Luke  xxii.  42.  \  i  Pet.  iii.  18. 

13 


194   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Son  of  God  by  the  Spirit  of  Holiness  with  power, 
by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead."*  He  founded 
the  Church  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  He  is  the 
author  of  the  new  spiritual  life  of  the  soul  in  regen 
eration.  He  is  the  source  of  the  efficacy  of  the 
Means  of  Grace. 

By  Him  alone,  therefore,  it  is  that  man,  dead  and 
impotent  in  trespasses  and  sins,  is  enabled  to  exer 
cise  that  faith  by  which  the  salvation  purchased  by 
the  offering  of  Jesus  can  be  individually  appro 
priated.  And  as  we  live  under  the  dispensation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  so  is  He  the  chief  agent  in  the 
economy  of  redemption,  by  which  the  application 
of  its  cleansing  and  renewing  power,  through  all 
time,  is  made  to  the  saved. 

In  the  chapter,  "  Did  God  Suffer  in  the  Atone 
ment?"  we  have  noted  that  it  was  the  Father  as 
well  as  the  Son  who  endured  sacrifice  and  exhibited 
suffering  love  in  order  to  work  out  human  redemp 
tion.  And  must  not  the  same  fact  be  predicated  of 
the  part  assigned  to  the  Holy  Spirit?  In  His 
taking  the  place  on  earth  vacated  by  the  ascending 
Saviour  ;  in  His  arousing  the  morally  burdened 
conscience  of  man  to  a  sense  of  his  guilt  ;  and  in 

*  Rom.  i.  4. 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  IN  THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST.       195 

striving  with  him  to  repent  and  be  uplifted  to 
newness  of  ideal  and  life,  is  there  no  sacrifice  to 
be  endured,  no  patience  to  be  tried,  no  divine 
love  to  be  pained  ?  What  else  than  this  is  the 
meaning  of  those  passages  which  reprove  for 
"  doing  despite  to  the  Spirit  of  Grace  ;  "  for  "  sin 
ning  against  the  Holy  Ghost;"  for  "grieving  the 
Spirit ; "  and  for  hardening  our  hearts  "  against 
Him,  as  in  the  provocation  and  temptation  of  God 
in  the  wilderness  ?  "* 

No  task  is  more  trying,  and  more  severely  taxes 
every  power  and  sympathy  of  our  being,  than  the 
disheartenments  and  rebuffs  encountered  in  trying 
to  reclaim  one  who  has  fallen  under  the  control  of 
some  demoralizing  and  disgraceful  vice.  And  this 
may  give  us  a  figure  of  what  it  costs  "  the  Spirit  of 
Holiness,"  the  spirit  of  pure  life  and  of  holy  and 
heavenly  thoughts  and  desires,  to  wrestle  with 
guilt-soiled  man,  to  seek  to  raise  him  from  the 
mire,  and  lead  him,  ever  falling  back  into  his  old 
pollution,  to  be  cleansed  in  the  atoning  blood,  and 
to  be  "  recreated  after  God  in  true  righteousness 
and  holiness." 

But  as  specifically  related    to  the    passion    and 


196   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

atoning  work  of  Christ,  the  agency  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  was  that  we  have  stated,  viz.:  to  strengthen 
Christ  for  the  supreme  moment  of  His  great  bodily 
and  spiritual  offering.  Hence  the  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  scheme  of  redemption  did  not 
begin  only  at  Pentecost,  but  the  same  Holy  Spirit 
who  in  creation  animates  all  life,  upholds  and  qual 
ifies  our  human  nature,  and  through  Israel  and  the 
prophets  wrought  the  work  of  revelation,  also  pre 
pared  the  body  of  Christ,  adorned  His  human 
nature  with  gracious  gifts,  put  these  gifts  into 
operation,  installed  Him  into  His  office,  led  Him 
into  temptation,  made  Him  victor  over  the  same, 
and  finally  enabled  Him  to  finish  that  eternal  work 
of  satisfaction  whereby  our  souls  are  redeemed. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

THE      ATONEMENT,     THE      EVANGELICAL     PULPIT, 
AND    CHRISTIAN     EXPERIENCE. 

CHRISTIANITY  is  the  divine  scheme  for  bringing 
relief  to  man  in  his  dire  soul  distress  and  danger. 
That  in  it  therefore  which  is  most  effective  to  this 
end  will  reveal  its  essential  truth.  That  Christian 
doctrine  which  brings  the  conscience  peace,  which 
binds  up  the  broken  heart,  and  which  heals  the 
wounds  that  sin  has  made,  will  ever  appeal  to  the 
believer  with  the  most  decisive  power. 

And  this  is  the  strongest  argument  for  the  atone 
ment,  that  it  has  just  this  practical  outcome.  The 
Christian  needs  concern  himself  with  no  arguments 
or  theories  about  it.  To  him  it  is  a  fact,  verified 
in  the  innermost  depths  of  his  personal  experience. 
In  the  offer  of  forgiveness  through  the  Lamb  of 
God  who  "  has  borne  in  his  own  body  his  sins  on 
the  tree,"  he  finds  the  only  remedy  for  his  troubled 
spirit.  In  the  love  of  God  displayed  in  that  suffer 
ing  unto  death,  and  in  the  infinite  efficacy  of  that 

(197) 


198   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

sacrifice,  he  feels  that  his  load  of  guilt  is  re 
moved,  that  his  fear  of  judgment  is  gone,  that  he 
can  with  boldness  approach  God,  no  longer  as 
an  injured  Judge,  but  as  a  loving  Father,  wel 
coming  the.  returning  prodigal  as  a  son  to  His 
arms. 

By  its  means  he  finds  himself  not  only  "  reconciled 
to  God,"  but  led  into  the  blessed  mystical  union 
with  his  suffering  Saviour.  As  Pascal  beautifully 
says  :  "  Jesus  let  only  His  wounds  be  touched  after 
His  resurrection.  Hereby  I  perceive  that  we  can 
now  be  united  to  Christ  only  through  His  sufferings. 
Yes,  now,  only  through  His  atonement  which  these 
sufferings  have  purchased/' 

Hence  it  is  the  Atonement,  the  cross,  the  passion 
of  Christ,  His  suffering,  propiatory  love,  which  is 
the  chief  source  of  evangelical  power.  He  who 
would  convert  men,  who  would  overcome  the 
sinner,  who  would  draw  souls  from  the  world  to 
Christ,  must  point  to  the  cross — must  hold  up  the 
atoning  death.  The  apostles  realized  this,  and 
while  they  urged  many  other  features  of  Chris 
tianity,  yet  when  they  would  characterize  the  con 
tents  of  their  Gospel  message  by  its  chief  feature, 
they  say :  "  We  preach  Christ  and  Him  cruci- 


THE   PULPIT   AND   CHRISTIAN   EXPERIENCE.       199 

fied."*  This  truth  has  ever  been  the  secret  of  the 
power  of  the  Gospel.  Says  Amiel :  "  The  religion 
of  sin,  of  repentance  and  reconciliation — the  reli 
gion  of  the  new  birth  and  the  eternal  life — is  not  a 
religion  to  be  ashamed  of.  In  spite  of  all  the  aber 
rations  of  fanaticism,  all  the  superstitions  of  formal 
ism,  all  the  fantastic  puerilities  of  theology,  the 
Gospel  has  modified  the  world  and  consoled  man 
kind.'^ 

A  Gospel  devoid  of  atonement  fails  to  meet 
human  needs.  Christianity  without  the  cross  is 
Christianity  minus  the  Christ.  It  may  be  gratify 
ing  to  intellectual  pride  and  to  the  aesthetic  sensi 
bilities,  but  it  does  not  satisfy  the  deep  cravings  of 
the  religious  nature.  The  moral  theory  leaves  the 
deepest  longings  of  the  sin-smitten  soul  unsatisfied. 
Not  a  "  white  marble  Christ,"  but  a  suffering 
Saviour  is  the  one  that  moves  and  saves.  "  I,  if  I 
be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto 
me."J  "Christ,"  says  Jean  Paul  Richter,  "with 
His  pierced  hands,  lifted  the  gates  of  empires  from 
their  hinges  and  changed  the  currents  of  history." 

The  lack  of  this  doctrine  will  enervate  any  pre- 

*  i  Cor.  ii.  2.  f  Journal  Intime,  p.  140. 

J  John  xii.  32. 


200   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

tended  Christian  scheme.  The  rationalist  Bauer, 
in  the  time  when  unbelief  rilled  the  theological 
chairs,  complained  that  you  had  but  to  mention  to 
the  multitude  the  name  of  Jesus  and  hold  up  the 
cross,  and  all  the  learned  doubts  of  great  critical 
masters  proved  ineffectual  and  vain.  Horace  Bush- 
nell,  some  time  after  announcing  his  subjective 
theory  of  the  atonement, — denying  a  true  satisfac 
tion,  and  making  the  cross  little  else  than  a  power 
of  influence  and  example, — admitted  that  "  his 
system  utterly  lacked  efficiency  unless  clothed  in 
the  altar-terms  which  belong  to  the  orthodox 
system."  And  Kuenen,  a  foremost  representative 
of  the  radical  higher  criticism,  lately  complained 
that  "  no  student  could  procure  a  congregation  if  it 
were  known  that  he  had  graduated  at  the  theo 
logical  seminary  where  these  views  were  taught." 
Those  who  are  seeking  the  bread  of  life  for  their 
spiritual  needs  and  comfort  for  their  troubled  con 
sciences,  know  too  well  that  they  cannot  be  fed 
upon  ethical  husks. 

So  this  truth  has  ever  lain  at  the  root  of  all 
spiritual  power,  of  all  successful  work  for  the  cause 
of  religion.  The  doctrine  of  a  vicarious  atonement 
for  the  sins  of  men  has  been  in  all  history  the 


THE   PULPIT   AND   CHRISTIAN    EXPERIENCE.       2OI 

intensest  incentive  to  evangelizing  effort.  It  has 
made  the  missionary  and  the  martyr.  It  has  been 
the  unvarying  impulse  to  the  most  self-denying 
labors  in  behalf  of  others.  It  has  always  begotten  a 
spirit  of  self-sacrifice  in  those  who  have  believed  it. 

"  By  their  fruits  shall  ye  know  them."*  'Every 
other  idea  of  atonement  has  resulted  in  a  paralysis  of 
earnest  and  persistent  effort  toward  the  evangeliz 
ation  of  the  world.  Neither  missionary  nor  martyr 
are  its  fruits.  It  has  no  victorious  power.  The 
great  doctrine  of  the  atonement  needs  peculiarly  to 
be  studied  in  the  light  of  its  triumphant  achieve 
ment  and  its  rare  fruitage.  The  world  may  have 
advanced  wonderfully  in  scientific  achievement,  in 
learning,  and  in  material  arts,  but  never  can  it 
safely  get  away  from  the  cross.  That  would  be  no 
progress,  but  a  retrogression  to  the  dark  ages. 
Never,  while  sin  and  conscience  and  death  last, 
will  the  great  redeeming  sacrifice  lose  its  power. 
The  experience  of  mankind  will  ever  cling  to  it  as  the 
hope  and  anchor  of  the  sin-burdened,  storm-tossed 
spirit,  and  as  the  fructifying  seed  of  spiritual  life. 

There  is  too  much  reason  to  fear  that  in  our 
time  many  pulpits  are  getting  away  from  the  sim- 

*  Matt.  vii.  20. 


2O2   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

plicity  of  the  Gospel.  The  literary,  the  historical, 
the  critical,  or  ethical  element  predominates  over 
the  doctrines  of  sin  and  grace.  There  must  be  a 
return  of  emphasis  on  the  old  truths  that  have 
always  been  the  mighty  ones  in  raising  men  out  of 
the  death  in  trespasses  and  sins,  and  rousing  the 
Church  to  a  deeper  sense  of  responsibility  for  a  world 
lying  in  wickedness.  The  doctrines  of  sin,  atone 
ment,  retribution,  and  justification  by  faith — as  the 
God-appointed  way  of  salvation — must  be  preached 
if  men  are  to  be  convicted,  converted,  and  saved. 

These  doctrines  are  the  levers  to  lift  the  world 
and  the  Church  toward  God.  Of  Charles  G.  Finney 
it  was  said,  his  power  to  reach  men — leading 
men,  professional  men,  physicians,  lawyers,  teach 
ers — has  seldom  been  equaled  ;  and  in  reaching 
them  he  preached  wrath  and  condemnation  on  the 
one  side,  and  a  free  and  full  justification  by  faith  on 
the  other  side.  It  was  this  kind  of  preaching  with 
which  Luther  shook  the  world,  and  which  has  been 
the  source  of  power  in  all  the  great  preachers  who 
have  ever  lived. 

It  was  the  lack  of  the  atonement  in  his  conviction 
and  public  speech  which  made  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  with  all  his  genius  and  accomplishments, 


THE   PULPIT   AND   CHRISTIAN    EXPERIENCE.       203 

simply  the  greatest  of  platform  lecturers,  while  it 
was  insistence  on  this  heart  of  the  Gospel  which 
made  Spurgeon,  with  his  limited  original  endow 
ment  and  want  of  oratorical  graces,  still  the  great 
est  preacher  of  modern  times. 

This  is  the  Gospel  adapted  alike  to  the  ignorant 
and  the  learned  Christian,  for  it  is  adapted  to  that 
spiritual  experience  which  is  common  to  every  sin- 
burdened  soul.  The  Christian  knows  it  to  be  the 
very  essence  of  the  Gospel,  for  it  has  approved 
itself  to  his  needs  with  a  power  that  nothing  else 
can  bring.  It  has  justified  itself  to  the  inmost 
depths  of  his  soul.  Living  or  dying,  in  joy  or  in 
sorrow,  in  light  and  in  darkness,  it  is  his  strength, 
his  solace,  his  guide  and  his  hope.  Trusting  in  a 
crucified  Saviour  alone,  he  can  win  his  moral  fight, 
conquer  every  doubt,  quiet  every  sting  of  con 
science,  overcome  the  fear  of  death,  and  enter  into 
life.  His  humble  yet  confident  cry  is  : 

11  Nothing  in  my  hand  I  bring, 
Simply  to  Thy  cross  I  cling  ; 
Naked,  come  to  Thee  for  dress  ; 
Helpless,  look  to  Thee  for  grace  ; 
Foul,  I  to  the  Fountain  fi.y, 
Wash  me,  Saviour,  or  I  die." 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

THE  ATONEMENT  IN  THE  ETERNITIES — PAST  AND 
TO  COME. 

So  pre-eminent  was  the  redemptive  work  of 
Christ  that  it  was  by  no  means  confined  to  time. 
It  touched  the  two  eternities — that  past  and  that 
to  come.  Its  root  was  in  the  one,  its  flower  in  the 
other.  Time  was  but  the  drama  of  its  execution. 
Its  purpose  was  conceived  in  the  eternity  of  old, 
and  its  blissful  fruition  is  attained  in  heaven. 

Peter,  in  his  sermon  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
made  the  declaration  :  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  being 
delivered  by  the  determinate  counsel  and  fore 
knowledge  of  God,  ye  have  taken,  and  by  wicked 
hands  have  crucified  and  slain."*  Here  we  learn 
that  the  crucifixion  was  a  definite  part  of  the 
divine  purpose.  Christ  was  u  delivered "  to  the 
cross  "  by  the  determinate  counsel  and  foreknowl 
edge  of  God."  In  the  Epistles  of  Peter  this  eternal 
decree  is  shown  to  extend  to  the  purifying  power 

*  Acts  ii.  23. 

(204) 


THE  ATONEMENT  IN  THE  ETERNITIES.       205 

of  the  suffering  sacrifice,  thus,  "  Elect,  according  to 
the  foreknowledge  of  God  the  Father  through  the 
sprinkling  of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ."* 

On  this  striking  passage  Alford  comments :  "  It 
is  in  the  mind  of  the  apostle  that  the  death  of  Christ 
is  not  only,  as  looking  back  on  the  past,  a  propitiation 
for  sin,  thereby  removing  the  obstacle  which  stood 
in  the  way  of  God's  gracious  purpose  toward  man — 
but  also,  as  looking  forward  to  the  future,  a  capaci 
tating  of  us  for  the  participation  in  God's  salva 
tion.'^  In  Peter  we  are  further  told  when  in  the 
past  eternity  this  divine  decree  originated.  For 
when  there  it  is  asserted  that  we  are  ''redeemed 
not  with  corruptible  things,  but  with  the  precious 
blood  of  Christ,"  the  apostle  adds  the  important 
statement  revealed  to  him  by  inspiration  of  the 
Holy  Ghost :  "  Who  verily  was  foreordained  indeed 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  but  was  mani 
fest  in  these  last  times  for  you."*  Here  the  decla 
ration  is  made  that  before  the  foundation  stone 
•of  the  creation  was  laid,  it  had  been  ordained  that 
the  precious  blood  of  atonement  should  be  shed. 

The  brilliant  French  preacher,  Masillon,  in  one 

*  i  Peter  i.  2.  f  Greek  Testament,  vol.  iv.,  p.  332. 

\  i  Peter  i.  20. 


206   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

of  his  eloquent  and  thoughtful  sermons,  says :  "If 
someone  would  have  told  us  beforehand  that  God 
would  create  a  world  wherein  would  come  to  pass 
sin,  and  sorrow,  and  misery  and  death,  and  all  the 
wrongs,  heartaches  and  tragedies  of  time,  we 
would  have  said,  '  That  would  be  impossible  to  a 
being  of  infinite  goodness  and  love.  But  now  that 
we  see  such  a  creation  as  an  actual  fact,  we  learn 
that  it  was  possible.'  "*  And  so  with  many  other 
facts,  mysteries  to  us,  but  clear  to  the  divine 
wisdom  and  holiness. 

But  in  this  eternal  decree  for  human  redemption 
we  doubtless  see  an  explanation  of  one  of  these 
greatest  apparent  inconsistencies.  When  God  con 
ceived  the  glorious  thought  of  the  creation  of  man, 
made  in  His  image  by  the  moral  faculty  and  by 
the  prerogative  of  free-will,  He  foresaw  the  fall  and 
all  its  fateful  issues.  And  to  counteract  these,  He,  at 
once,  coeval  with  the  creative  concept,  decreed  the 
sending  of  His  Son,  and  permitted  the  dark  acts  of 
His  passion,  that,  by  this  mysterious  means,  not 
only  should  the  dire  evils  of  sin  and  death  be 
counteracted,  but  overruled  to  the  highest  good  of 
the  creature  and  to  the  brightest  glory  of  the 

*  Sermons,  vol.  ii.,  p.  319. 


THE  ATONEMENT  IN  THE  ETERNITIES.       207 

Creator.  And  what  a  lesson  do  we  not  learn,  from 
this  revelation,  of  faith  and  reverence  toward  Him 
with  u  whom  there  is  the  hiding  of  power,"  and  of 
whom  the  Psalmist  in  adoring  humility  says : 
"  Thy  way  is  in  the  sea,  and  thy  path  in  the  great 
waters,  and  thy  footsteps  are  not  known."* 

The  wondrous  revelation  does  not,  however,  by 
any  means  end  here.  That  scheme  which  occupied 
the  divine  thought  in  the  councils  of  ancient 
eternity,  and  which  had  its  fulfillment  in  time,  is 
carried  over  in  scene  and  blessed  effect  to  the 
eternity  to  come.  As  Moses  and  Elijah  conversed 
with  the  Lord  on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration 
respecting  the  holy  wonders  of  His  decease,  and  as 
"  the  angels  desire  to  look  into  "  "  the  sufferings  of 
Christ  and  the  glory  that  should  follow,"f  so  will 
the  future  world  unveil  many  of  the  now  hidden 
mysteries  of  redemptive  grace.  For  here  we  but 
"see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but  then  face  to 
face."t  As 

"  On  earth  the  broken  arcs  ; 
In  heaven  the  perfect  round," 

so  will  the  eternity  to  come  reveal  the  glory  of  the 
cross  as  it  cannot  now  be  conceived. 
*  Ps.  Ixxvii.  19.        f  i  Peter  i.  n,  12.        J  i  Cor.  xiii.  12. 


208   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Foregleams  of  this  are  cast  in  the  Scriptures, 
In  the  visions  of  the  Apocalypse  "  the  Lamb 
slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  "*  is  a  fre 
quent  figure.  The  explanation  of  this  symbol  is 
no  doubt  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  as  Jesus, 
when  He  appeared  in  His  resurrection  body,  bore 
the  wounds  of  His  crucifixion,  so  He  ascended 
bearing  these  redemptive  marks  to  His  heavenly 
state  as  the  glorified  Son  of  man,  to  wear  them  as 
signs  of  honor  throughout  eternity. 

When,  therefore,  the  redeemed  saints  behold 
their  Lord  in  His  divine  majesty,  yet  marked  by 
the  traces  of  the  love  that  purchased  their  souls 
with  His  blood,  He  fulfills  to  their  adoring  gaze 
the  type  of  the  Lamb  of  God  slain  for  the  sin  of 
the  world.  And  so  the  highest  point  in  the  visions 
of  the  Apocalypse,  and  the  climax  of  the  rapturous 
worship  of  heaven,  is  reached  when  the  "four 
living  ones  and  the  twenty  elders  fall  down  before 
the  Lamb,"  and  all  the  saints  join  their  prayers,  and 
"They  sing  a  new  song,  saying,  Thou  art  worthy, 
for  thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God 
by  thy  blood  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and 
people,  and  nation,  "f 

*  Rev.  xiii.  8  and  xvii.  8.  f  Rev-  v.  9. 


THE  ATONEMENT  IN  THE  ETERNITIES.       209 

The  atonement  then  stretches  over  two  eternities. 
That  which  God  conceived  before  time  began  shall 
not  disappear  when  time  shall  be  no  more.  The 
crowning  work  of  the  highest  attribute  of  divinity 
— love — shall  never  be  erased  from  the  records  of 
eternity.  Never  shall  the  saints  forget  the  precious 
blood  by  which  they  were  redeemed.  Never  shall 
the  note  of  gratitude  to  the  slain  Lamb,  foreordained 
from  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  cease  to 
inspire  the  deepest  theme  of  their  praise,  as  they 
stand  on  the  sea  of  glass  before  the  throne,  bearing 
the  harps  of  God,  and  sing  the  old,  but  ever  new 
song  of  redemption. 
14 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

CONCLUSION. 

THE  atonement  is  the  most  precious,  blood-red 
jewel  sparkling  in  the  coronet  of  the  Christian 
faith.  It  is  dear  to  the  heart,  because  it  speaks  the 
infinite  worth  and  power  of  a  Saviour  to  ransom 
from  the  nameless  evil  of  sin.  It  is  precious, 
because  it  reveals  the  measureless  depth  and  height 
of  that  divine  love  which  could  undergo  so  mighty 
a  sacrifice  for  the  redemption  of  the  lost  creature. 
"  The  Atonement,"  says  Fairbairn,  "  in  the  degree 
that  it  exhibits  God  as  a  being  who  does  not  need 
to  be  moved  to  mercy,  but  who  suffers  imto  sacrifice 
that  He  may  save,  exalts  in  the  eyes  of  all  created 
intelligences  His  character  and  mercy."*  It  is 
vital,  moreover,  because  it  is  that  one  supreme 
motive  which  awakens  the  sleeping  conscience,  and 
which,  through  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in 
the  new  birth  of  love,  becomes  the  source  of  that 
spiritual  life  to  which  the  Church  owes  all  her 

*  The  Atonement,  p.  487. 
(210) 


CONCLUSION.  211 

evangelical  ardor,   missionary  zeal,  and  passionate 
fire  for  souls. 

Hence  the  purpose  of  this  volume  is  to  enforce 
the  duty  of  fidelity  to  this  fundamental  doctrine, 
and  the  urgent  need  of  its  positive  presentation. 
Let  us  never  imagine  that  we  can  strengthen  Chris 
tianity  by  leaving  out  the  great  doctrines  which 
have  given  it  joy  and  power.  Faith  is  not  the 
mere  indulgence  of  the  emotions.  It  is  the  accept 
ance  of  truth, — positive,  unchanging,  revealed  truth, 
— in  regard  to  God  and  the  world,  Christ  and  the 
soul,  duty  and  immortality.  The  human  spirit 
still  thirsts  for  God.  Men  will  not  be  drawn  to 
Christianity  by  ethical  addresses,  or  appeals  to 
sociability  and  brotherhood,  or  by  vague  and 
misty  human  opinions.  They  hunger  for  the 
divine.  They  want  to  hear  religion.  They  yearn 
for  the  eternal  and  invisible.  Their  guilt  cries  out 
for  a  divine  and  all-potent  Saviour.  The  finite  in 
them  calls  for  the  infinite.  The  creature  spirit  feels 
a  void  which  none  but  its  Creator  can  fill.  The 
human  can  find  rest  alone  in  God — the  sum 
of  all  being,  perfection  and  power.  What  is 
required  is  to  give  strong  and  sturdy  reafiirmation 
to  the  really  great  themes  of  our  holy  religion. 


212   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

The  mission  of  every  Christian,  then,  high  or 
low,  is  to  bear  testimony  to  this  great  evangelical 
doctrine,  and  to  hold  it  up  inviolate,  as  the  saving 
need  of  every  age,  and  especially  of  our  own.  And 
that  much  is  being  done  in  our  day  to  weaken  its 
import,  and  to  render  men  more  or  less  indifferent 
to  it,  who  can  fail  to  see  ? 

In  a  late  issue  of  the  North  American  Review, 
commenting  upon  the  indiscriminate  praise  heaped 
upon  Emerson  by  many  representative  American 
thinkers  at  the  recent  centennial  of  his  birth,  the 
remark  is  made  :  "  It  must  be  admitted  that  Emer 
son  deliberately  shunned  the  darker  aspects  of  life. 
He  did  not  face  the  problem  of  sin.  Christians 
may  still  claim  that  theirs  is  the  only  religion  that 
has  effectually  measured  its  strength  with  sin, 
sorrow  and  death."*  It  does  this, by  means  of  the 
atonement,  and  the  love  which  this  surpassing 
divine  love  unto  sacrifice  awakens.  The  soul, 
relieved  of  its  intolerable  burden,  is  uplifted  and 
inspired  with  new  spiritual  life  and  power,  by  the 
same  love  which  has  redeemed  it. 

To  surrender,  compromise,  or  in  any  degree  im 
pair  its  confession  of  the  atonement,  is  for  Chris- 

*  Vol.  176,  p.  685. 


CONCLUSION.  213 

tianity  to  abnegate  its  life.  The  struggle  is  one 
touching  its  very  essence.  This  the  opponents  of 
Christianity,  whether  open  or  hidden,  whether  claim 
ing  to  be  foe  or  friend,  well  understand.  Hence  it 
is  this  central,  evangelical  doctrine  which  evokes 
the  deadliest  fire.  It  is  still,  as  of  old,  the  offense  of 
the  cross.  Natural  reason,  human  pride,  the  worldly 
spirit,  will  have  none  of  a  vicarious  redemption. 

Let  us  not  think  it  strange,  then,  that  every 
artifice  and  resource  of  opposition  should  seek  to 
subvert  this  very  citadel  of  our  evangelical  con 
fession.  And  let  Christendom  everywhere  stand 
for  it  with  columns  unwavering  and  undaunted. 
Never  has  the  Church  universal  been  willing  to 
waive  a  jot  or  tittle  of  this  her  cardinal  belief.  And 
Christ  the  Rock,  immovable  by  all  the  powers  of 
darkness,  underlies  His  church  to-day  just  as  in  all 
the  ages  of  the  past. 

Deceived  and  misled,  then,  by  none,  let  every 
Christian  bow  before  the  cross,  and  adore  the  Son 
of  God  suffering  for  the  sake  of  the  world,  proclaim 
His  blood  as  the  only  ransom  for  sin  to  fallen  and 
lost  souls,  and,  by  faith  in  His  all-availing  sacrifice, 
conquer  all  the  forces  of  unbelief,  overcome  death, 
and  gain  the  life  eternal. 


214   THE  ATONEMENT  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

' '  Jesus,  all  our  thoughts  excelling, 
For  Thy  love  and  grief  a  dwelling 
Pure  and  holy  make  in  me  ; 
Let  me  know  Thy  crucifying  ; 
Let  me  feel  the  pains  of  dying 
Thou  didst  suffer  on  the  tree. 

"  Let  my  heart  with  Thine  be  riven  ; 

Let  Thy  cup  to  me  be  given  ; 

Let  me  of  its  depths  partake  ; 

And  still  flaming  thus  with  fervor 
Let  me  find  Thee  my  Preserver, 

When  the  Judgment  Day  shall  break. 

"  Through  Thy  cross  redemption  send  me  ; 
Let  Thy  death  from  sin  defend  me  ; 
Save  me  by  Thy  tender  love. 

When  this  mortal  flesh  shall  perish, 

Evermore  my  spirit  cherish 
In  Thy  Paradise  above." 
—Stabat  Mater  Dolorosa  (Thirteenth  Century). 


INDEX. 


Abelard,  the  first  rationalist,  95. 

Age,  temper  of  the  modern,  19. 

Alford,  on  the  atonement  in  the  eternities,  205. 

Amiel,  on  power  of  Christian  religion,  199. 

Anselm,  on  Christ  suffering  punishment  of  sin,  69  ;  his  theory  of  the 
atonement,  93  ;  its  superiority  to  Mohammedanism,  95  ;  Jonathan 
Edwards  on,  95  ;  his  argument  never  overthrown,  158. 

Apocalypse,  symbolism  of,   points  to  the  atonement,  64. 

Atonement,  vital  nature  of,  33  ;  persistent  attack  upon,  36  ;  Scriptural 
teaching  of,  38  ;  the  term  not  found  literally  in  Scripture,  but 
sanctioned  by  general  use,  41  ;  vicariousness  of,  48  ;  central  place 
of,  76  ;  universality  of,  83  ;  no  universalism  in,  89  ;  theories  of, 
92 ;  objections  to,  98  ;  effect  of  atonement  on  morals,  105  ;  gross 
representation  of,  113;  did  God  suffer  in?  120;  relation  of, 
to  sin,  128  ;  and  the  heathen,  134  ;  and  modern  heresies,  139  ;  and 
higher  criticism,  149;  Lutheran  view  of,  164;  miraculous  char 
acter  of,  1 86  ;  and  the  Christian  pulpit,  197  ;  source  of  evangeli 
cal  power,  198  ;  in  the  eternities,  204. 

Augsburg  Confession,  167. 

Augustine,  on  unrest  of  sin,  131  ;  on  expiatory  value  of  Christ's  death, 
156  ;  on  faith  vs.  philosophy,  181. 


B 

Baird's  Religion  in  America,  cited  on  universalism,  90. 
Bauer,  failure  of  his  attack  on  Gospels,  1 1 1  and  200. 

(215) 


2l6  INDEX. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  on  the  apathy  of  conservatism,  31  ;  a  lecturer 

rather  than  preacher,  202. 
Bible,  the  battle-ground,  20. 
Blood  sacrifices,  their  place  in  Judaism  and  Christianity,  34  ;  the  atoning 

blood,  6 1  ;  blood  the  symbol  of  the  life,  61  ;  coarse  and  revolting 

conceptions  of,  113. 

Booth,  General,  unguarded  statement  of  the  atonement,  116. 
Bowne,  Professor,  divests  atonement  of  its  substance,  55. 
Bushnell,  Horace,  his  "  Vicarious  Sacrifice,"  95  ;  his  "  God  in  Christ," 

96  ;  on  governmental  theory  of  the  atonement,  99  ;  failure  of  his 

system,  200. 


Calvinistic  view  of  the  atonement,  85. 

Channing,  ethical  argument  of,  against  the  atonement,  108. 

Cheyne,  his  higher  criticism  views,  150. 

Christian  Science,  its  false  teaching,  142. 

Christianity,  general  questioning  of,  20. 

Christ's  teaching  on  the  atonement,  43  ;  His  agony  in  the  garden,  46 ; 
significance  of  His  shed  blood,  63. 

Chrysostom,  on  salvability  of  heathen,  137  ;  on  Christ's  blood,  156. 

Church,  the,  and  the  atonement,  80. 

Clement,  of  Alexandria,  on  salvability  of  heathen,  137. 

Clement,  apostolical  father,  on  blood  of  Christ,  155. 

Coleridge  and  the  Bible,  23. 

Communicatio  idiomatum,  in  the  God-man,  121. 

Confucius,  taught  self-redemption  alone,  51. 

Conservatism,  the  basis  of  progress,  25. 

Cremer,  Professor,  on  life  and  death  of  Christ  as  touching  the  atone 
ment,  60  ;  on  the  blood  of  the  cross,  65  ;  on  essence  of  Christi 
anity,  76  ;  on  the  apostolic  message,  80  ;  on  the  work  of  Jesus,  125. 

Criticism,  attacks  of  modern,  on  the  Bible,  29. 

Cross,  the  cry  on,  explained,  47  ;  the  suffering  on,  sacrificial,  47  ;  mira 
cle  of,  183. 

Cur  Deus  flomo,  of  Anselm,  94. 

Cuyler,  on  the  Old  Gospel,  81. 


INDEX.  2 1  7 

D 

Dale,  cited  on  the  atonement,  58. 

Death  of  Christ,  meaningless  without  His  life,  59  ;  Denny,  on  Paul's 
conception  of,  101. 

Delitzsch,  on  Old  Testament  sacrifices,  62. 

Denny,  on  New  Testament  sense  of  "Ransom,"  45  ;  on  Anselm's 
theory  of  the  atonement,  94  ;  on  sanctifying  power  of  Christ's 
death,  64;  on  atonement  as  central  to  the  Gospel,  81  ;  on  inno 
cence  bearing  the  punishment  of  guilt,  101. 

Divinity  of  Christ,  conditioned  by  views  of  the  atonement,  78. 

Dorner,  on  justification  by  faith,  175. 

Driver,  on  meaning  of  "Ransom,"  44. 

Drummond,  on  the  vicarious  principle  in  nature,  IO2. 

DuBois  Reymond,  on  origin  of  life,  183. 


E 

Earth,  our,  as  the  stage  of  redemption,  106  ;  Wallace,  on  its  unique 
ness  among  stellar  worlds,  106. 

Eddy,  Mary  Baker,  rejects  atonement,  142. 

Edwards,  Matthew,  on  inmost  quality  of  Christ's  punitive  offering,  69. 

Election,  doctrine  of,  and  universality  of  the  atonement,  84. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  lacks  idea  of  sin,  212. 

Eternity,  atonement  in,  204. 

Ethical  vs.  juridical  conception  of  Christ's  satisfaction,  75  >  objections 
to  the  atonement,  98  ;  constitution  of  the  natural  world,  102. 

Evil,  evolution's  false  view  of,  129. 

Evolution,  a  process  of,  in  Christian  doctrine,  92  ;  false  view  of  sin 
held  by  modern  evolutionary  science,  128. 

Exegesis,  true  principles  of  scriptural,  37  ;  the  chief  difficulty  of  critics 
of  the  atonement,  49. 


Fairbairn,  on  purpose  of  the  atonement,  35  ;  on  substitutionary  char 
acter  of  Christ's  death,  50  ;  on  suffering  of  God  in  the  atonement, 
124  ;  on  love  as  shown  in  redemption,  210. 


2l8  INDEX. 

Faith,  as  related  to  justification,  174  ;  decried  in  our  time,  179. 

Finney,  Charles  G.,  his  power  as  a  preacher,  202. 

Fiske,  defends  evil  as  a  necessity,  129. 

Forrest,  on  the  objectivity  of  the  atonement,  57  ;  on  Christ  enduring 
penalty  of  sin,  69  ;  defines  purpose  of  the  church  in  credal  testi 
monies,  96. 


Gethsemane,  agony  in,  spiritual,  46. 

God,  suffers  in  atoning  sacrifice,  123. 

Gore,  Canon,  on  Christ's  cry  on  the  cross,  68. 

Governmental  theory  of  the  atonement,  94. 

Guilt,  can  it  be  transferred  from  the  righteous  to  the  innocent  ?  100. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  a  martyr  for  Protestantism,  103. 


H 

Haas,  President,  on  Professor  Henry  Preserved  Smith,  24. 

Hagenbach,  on  history  of  atonement,  54  ;  on  importance  of  Christ's 
death,  159. 

Harnack,  on  blood  sacrifices,  33  ;  on  place  of  Christ's  death  in  history, 
58  ;  on  Christ's  expiatory  death,  149  ;  rejects  miracles,  185. 

Harper,  President,  on  growing  skepticism  in  the  universities,  21. 

Heathen,  how  affected  by  the  atonement,  134  ;  salvability  of,  137. 

Heredity,  sin  not  a  mere  matter  of,   129. 

Heresies,  modern,  139,  etc.;  their  seductive  guise,  146. 

Heretics,  their  rejection  by  history,  147. 

Higher  criticism,  148,  etc. 

History,  exhibits  the  law  of  personal  sacrifice,  102. 

Hodge,  on  vicariousness  of  Christ's  offering,  50;  on  penal  nature  of 
sufferings  of  Christ,  70  ;  on  Augustinianism  and  universality  of 
the  atonement,  85  ;  influence  of  Christ's  death  on  history,  159. 

Holy  Spirit,  in  passion  of  Christ,  190. 

Hunzinger,  Professor,  on  miracle  of  the  cross,  88. 

Huxley,  his  tribute  to  Christianity,  112;  admits  possibility  of  mira 
cles,  184. 


INDEX.  219 


Ignatius,  on  death  of  Christ,  157. 

Incarnation,  dependent   on  the    atonement,  76  ;    and  the  Holy  Spirit, 

190. 

Irenseus,  on  Christ's  atoning  blood,  155. 
Isaiah,  his  prophetical  testimony  of  the  atonement,  44. 

J 

Jackson,  on  Christ's  death  in  history,  158. 
Jacobs,   on  destructive  methods  of  modern  Biblical  criticism,  32  ;  on 

Lutheranism  and  universality  of  the  atonement,  85. 
Justification  by  faith,  as  related  to  the  atonement,  79  ;  definition  of,  172;. 

Dorner  on,  175  ;  Luther  on,  179. 
Justin  Martyr,  on  blood  of  Christ,  157. 

K 

Kahnis,  on  rationalism,  140. 

Keil  and  Delitzsch,  on  bloody  sacrifices  of  Old  Testament,  62. 
Kelvin,  Lord,  183. 

Krauth,   on  the  person  of  Christ,  121. 
Kuenen,  admits  failure  of  rationalistic  preaching,  200. 
Kuyper,  on  the  satisfaction  made  by  Christ,  50  ;  on  ethical  and  juridi 
cal  conception  of,  75  ;  on  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  atonement,  192. 


Lessing,  cited  on  revelation,  107  ;  on  value  of  truth,  162. 

Liberalism,  its  lax  view  of  salvation,  137. 

Life  or  death  of  Christ  that  atoned?  57. 

Lord's  Supper  sets  forth  Christ's  sacrificial  death,  45. 

Love,  Christian  doctrine  of,  dependent  on  the  atonement,  78. 

Luther,  on  Christ  bearing  sin's  punishment,  69  ;  protests  against  Romish 
indulgences,  115  |  on  justification  by  faith,  168  and  179* 

Lutheran  Church  and  Scriptures,  165;  sin,  166  ;  love  of  God,  166  ; 
Christo-centric,  167  ;  justification  by  faith,  168  ;  evangelical  teach 
ing  in  the  pulpit,  171. 


220  INDEX. 

Lutheran  Cyclopedia,  on  the  death  of  Christ,  59  ;  on  bloody  sacrifices 

of  the  Old  Testament,  62. 
Lutheranism  and  universality  of  the  atonement,  85. 


M 

Mabie,  Hamilton  Wright,  on  conservatism  essential  to  progress,  27  ; 
on  mysteries,  120. 

Man's  place  in  the  universe,  107. 

Martineau,  on  sacrifice  as  taught  in  the  Pauline  epistles,  34  ;  criticises 
the  principle  of  vicarious  sacrifice,  99  ;  admits  Scripture  teaching 
on  orthodox  idea  of  redemption,  42  ;  heretical  view  of  atone 
ment,  142. 

Massilon,  on  creation  of  evil,  205. 

Maurice,  Frederick  D. ,  advocates  moral  influence  theory,  95. 

Miracles  and  science,  183  ;  and  revelation,  184. 

Missions,  and  orthodox  view  of  the  atonement,  136. 

Modern  thought  and  Christian  truth,  24  ;  modern  views  of  sin,  128. 

Moral  theory  of  the  atonement,  94. 

Mystery,  no  less  in  nature  and  science  than  in  religion,  102  ;  the  mys 
tery  in  the  atonement,  109. 

Mystics,  visionary  experiences  of,  115. 


N 

Napoleon,  on  supernaturalism  of  Christianity,  108. 
Nature  religions  and  blood  sacrifices,  33. 
Neander,  on  Anselm's  theory  of  the  atonement,  93. 
North  American  Review,  on  present  indifference  to  sin,  212. 


Objections  to  the  atonement,  98. 

GLdipus  Tyrannus  of  Sophocles  on  inevitable  sequence  of  guilt,  100. 

Oehler,  on  the  covering  of  the  atonement  of  blood,  63. 

Offering,  as  used  in  the  New  Testament,  39. 

Orthodox  terminology,  used  as  cover  for  heterodox  views,  55. 


INDEX.  221 


Paganism  and  blood  sacrifices,  64. 

Passover,  typical  of  the  great  Christian  sacrifice,  51. 

Park,  Prof.  Edwards  A. ,  on  universality  of  the  atonement,  85. 

Pascal,  on  the  atonement,  198. 

Patton,  President,   on  modern  thought  and  the  supernatural,  24 ;  on 

religious  emptiness  of  modern  philosophy,  66. 
Paul,  preaches  a  Gospel  antagonistic  to  pagan  cultured  mind,  no. 
Permanent  and  changeable  in  religion,  26. 
Person  of  Christ,  union  of  natures  in,  122. 

Perversions  of  statement  respecting  the  sacrificial  blood  of  Christ,  113. 
Prepositions  used  in  New  Testament  to  show  vicariousness  of  Christ's 

death,  48. 

Progress,  made  possible  by  conservatism,  Hamilton  Wright  Mabie,  27. 
Propitiation,  sense  of,  in  New  Testament,  40  ;  to  whom  offered,  73. 
Pulpit,  the  Christian,  and  the  atonement,  197. 
Punishment  of  sin.     Did  Christ  suffer  it  ?  67  ;  Anselm  and  Luther  on, 

69  ;  innocent  may  bear  punishment  of  guilty,  104. 

Q 

Quenstedt,  on  union  of  natures  in  the  person  of  Christ,  122. 


R 

Ransom,  Christ' s  use  of  the  term,  39  ;  literal  significance  of,  44. 

Rationalism,  within  the  Church,  28  ;  characterized,  139  ;  and  miracles, 
184. 

Rationalistic  objections  to  the  atonement,  105. 

Reason,  as  related  to  faith,  182  ;  unduly  projected  into  the  religious 
sphere,  21. 

Reconciliation,  sense  of,  as  used  in  New  Testament,  40 ;  is  it  of  God 
or  man  ?  71  ;  Bishop  Westcott  on,  J2. 

Redemption,  literal  meaning  of,  40. 

Religion,  not  losing  its  interest  in  our  time,  20;  liability  of,  to  mis 
representation,  117  ;  yearning  for,  in  our  age,  211. 

Resurrection  and  the  atonement,  80. 


222  INDEX. 

Richter,  Jean  Paul,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  193  ;  on  the  cross,  199. 
Ritschl,  on  significance  of  Christ's  death,  59;    opposes  its  expiatory 

character,  150. 

Rothe,  on  Christian  idea  of  satisfaction,  75. 
Rousseau,  on  the  death  of  Jesus,  46. 
Ruskin,  on  unity  of  race  in  mental  effort,  156. 


Sacrifice,  its  place  in  Christianity,  34  ;  New  Testament  teachings  of, 
39  ;  the  Passover  and  Old  Testament  sacrifices  typical  of  it,  51  ; 
illustrated  in  vegetable  and  animal  world,  102  ;  history  evolved 
from  personal  sacrifice,  102. 

Sacrificial  system  of  Judaism  typical  of  the  Christian,  109. 

Sanctification,  distinguished  from  justification,  176. 

Satisfaction,  Rothe  on,  75. 

Schaff,  on  salvability  of  heathen,  137. 

Schmauk,  on  the  higher  criticism,  153. 

Schmidt's  dogmatics,  on  person  of  Christ,  123. 

Science,  its  scope  defined,  22. 

Scientific  objections  to  the  atonement,  105. 

Scriptures,  true  exegesis  of,  37  ;  and  the  Lutheran  Church,  163. 

Sin,  as  related  to  the  atonement,  78;  Scriptural  ™.  evolutionary  theory 
of,  130;  an  awful  reality,  131  ;  modern  lax  views  of,  132;  and 
the  Lutheran  Church,  164. 

Smith,  Henry  Preserved,  cited,  23. 

Socinus,  his  heretical  view  of  the  atonement,  95. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  on  origin  of  life,  183. 

Spurgeon,  secret  of  his  pulpit  power,  203. 

Stabat  Mater  Dolorosa,  214. 

Stanley,  Dean,  on  the  sacramental  formula,  45. 

Substitution,  illustrated  in  nature  and  history,  102,  103. 

Suffering,  of  God,  the  P'ather,  in  redemption,  120  ;  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
194. 

Supernatural,  modern  denial  of,  24. 

Suso,  the  mystic,  on  the  blood  of  Christ,  116  ;  on  sin,  131  ;  on  expia 
tion,  156. 

Symbols,  Biblical,  signs  of  realities,  53. 


INDEX.  223 


Tetzel,  his  abuse  of  the  doctrine  of  a  blood  atonement,  115. 

Theology,  to  be  restated,  but  not  essentially  changed,  26. 

Theological  objections  to  the  atonement,  108. 

Theories  of  the  atonement,  92  ;  fallacy  of  the  cry  against  theory,  97. 

Theosophy,  its  false  claims,  144. 

Trinity,  as  related  to  the  atonement,  79. 

U 
Unitarianism,  141. 

Universalism,  not  taught  in  the  Scriptures,  89  ;  its  failure  as  a  denom 
ination,  90  ;  its  doctrines  not  taught  by  God's  love  in  the  atone 
ment,  91  ;  its  heretical  character,  141. 


Vicariousness,  essential  to  a   real  atonement,  48  ;  the  vicarious  prin 
ciple  illustrated  in  nature,  102. 
Vigilance,  required  for  defense  of  religion,  28. 
Vincent,  his  formula  a  true  test  of  heresy,  156. 
Virchow,  183. 
Voltaire,  predicts  overthrow  of  Christianity,  ill. 


W 

Wallace,  on  position  of  our  globe  in  the  universe,  106. 

Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  Revised,  cited  on  universality  of  the 

atonement,  87. 

Wirth,  Dr.  Karl  Hermann,  on  doctrine  of  merit  in  Protestantism,  170. 
Wundt,  cited,  183. 


Zend-Avesta,  knows  nothing  of  divine  redemption,  51. 
Zinzendorf,  on  universal  atonement,  88. 
Zoroaster,  compared  with  Christ,  23.