imaginable appeal to the religious nature of man. This attitude of his Maker towards him is inexpressibly moving. It will do all that moral influence can do to melt the stubborn spirit of rebellion, and lead the sinner to cry for pardon. There is a deep meaning in the apostle's words: "We love him because he first loved us;" for it is the tendency of love to beget love; and, if any truth could by its own proper influence originate spiritual life in a sinful soul, it would be the truth, so often repeated in the New Testament, that Christ suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God; for this truth presents the highest instance, the crowning manifestation of divine love to men. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"

And if it is but too evident, that no amount of light, even though it reveal infinite love as well as holiness in God, will of itself, without the renewing action of the Spirit, lead a sinner to repentance, still it is to be remembered that the fault is not in the light, nor in the character of God which it reveals, but in the sinner's evil heart and stubborn will. What if the soul must be made sensitive to the light by the Spirit, yet it is the light which, poured in upon the soul, originates the image of Christ, the new life of faith and love. If it is the

direct action of the Spirit which prepares the plate, it is the direct influence of truth which brings out the picture. And there is no light so clear, no truth so potent for this wondrous work, as that which beams from the cross. Besides, it should never be forgotten, that while the death of Christ, as made known to us by the Scriptures, conveys to the heart the most precious and subduing truth of religion, it also procures the action of the Holy Spirit in the heart to prepare it for the working of truth. Thus all grace flows from the cross, and the Godward efficacy of the Atonement increases its manward efficacy. No wonder, then, that it has been the chief theme of the greatest preachers in every age! No wonder that from Apollos to Spurgeon it has filled the hearts and kindled the eloquence of faithful men! No human intellect is large enough to comprehend the spiritual good which has emanated from the suffering of Gethsemane and Calvary.

II. EXTENT OF THE ATONEMENT.

We have spoken more than once of the "manward or moral" influence of the Atonement, as if these two adjectives were nearly equivalent, at least for the purposes of the present discussion. In one respect, however, this is by no means the

case. For, as the phrase is commonly used, the moral influence of the Atonement is limited to those who have some knowledge of Christ's death, such knowledge being the only channel by which, in the form of moral influence, his love and compassion are brought to bear upon their spiritual state. But the manward influence of the Atonement is far more extensive. It comprises all the good which reaches men in any way as the fruit of the Saviour's death. And this good includes the renovating and sanctifying work of the Spirit, without which the moral power of the Redeemer's suffering would fail of bringing a single soul to God. It also includes the salvation of all the elect who, dying in infancy, are regenerated by the simple action of the Holy Spirit, without a knowledge of Christian truth. And it probably includes all the blessings which the non-elect enjoy on earth. The relation of the Atonement to man is therefore far more extensive than its moral influence.

But this wider reach or relation can be ascribed to its manward efficacy only on the ground of its Godward efficacy. For if it has no influence on the mind or government of God, it cannot condition the work of his Spirit; and then, what remains but simply the moral influence of Christ's life moving men to repentance? An influence which is restricted, by the nature of the case, to those who

have the Gospel! An influence which does not touch those who die in infancy, nor those who may have believed in God, without a knowledge of Christ and him crucified! How many there have been of the latter class we know not; but if any of the ancient Israelites were led to faith in God, by the concurrent action of his Spirit on their hearts, of the Mosaic law convicting them of sin, and of the Levitical sacrifices teaching them God's mercy, their salvation, according to this view, was due in no respect to the death of Christ; for the story of his dying love was unknown to them, and could not, therefore, in the way of moral influence, lead them to God. His name is not the name, his work is not the work, by which they were saved. But we have shown that the Atonement has a most important effect on the divine mind and government, a Godward influence of the highest moment, and it is therefore logical as well as scriptural to trace all the good which men have in this life to the work of Christ. Especially must we trace to that work the agency of the Holy Spirit in forming the heart anew and preparing it for holy action. Hence the manward efficacy of the Atonement is far more extensive than its direct moral influence; and it is so, because the Atonement has also a Godward power and working.

Looking, then, at the extent of the Atonement

as related to men, we may say, in the first place, that it was intended to secure the salvation of all the elect. For while it removed an obstacle, in the divine mind, to their forgiveness upon repentance, it also procured for them the Holy Spirit to work in their hearts that repentance. The whole economy of grace rests manifestly on the vicarious death of Christ, and therefore all divine influences, whether directly or indirectly from the Spirit, are results of that death. But these influences are such as will bring all the elect into spiritual union with Christ, and, by keeping alive their faith in him, preserve them to eternal glory. For the language of Bernard is not too strong: "Believers are in Christ, so as to be partakers in all that he does, and has, and is. They died with him, and rose with him, and live with him, and in him are seated in heavenly places. When the eye of God looks on them, they are found in Christ, and there is no condemnation to them that are in him, and they are righteous in his righteousness, and loved with the love which rests on him, and are sons of God in his sonship, and heirs with him of his inheritance, and are soon to be glorified with him in his glory. And this standing which they have in Christ, and the present and future portion which it secures, are contemplated in eternal counsels,