PART SECOND.

THE WORK OF CHRIST.

INTRODUCTION.

F it cannot be said that the doctrine of the

Atonement is now claiming the attention

of as many writers as are discussing the doctrine of the Person of Christ, it can be said without hesitation that it still holds a central place in the hearts of Christians, and in the body of truth taught by the Word of God. A renewed examination of it, therefore, if made in a spirit of loyalty to Christ, must be welcome to those who love the Gospel for what it is, and not for the notice which is taken of it.

Besides, it can hardly be doubted that the doctrine of the Atonement, as it lies on the face of the Sacred Record and is related to the Person of Christ, is the chief though hidden spring of the attention which is given to the other doctrine named. The battle rages, and will never cease to rage, about the questions of Inspiration and the

Person of Christ; not, however, because they are questions which rise above the sphere of human science and have to do with the supernatural, thus enlisting curiosity and provoking doubt, but because the doctrine of atonement and reconciliation with God depends upon them. Dissolve their connection in human thought with this great spiritual interest of mankind, and they will soon lose their hold on the minds of the people. But so long as and the gift of

it is felt that the pardon of sin eternal life may rest in the death of Christ, so long will the doctrines of his Person and of the Record which makes it known to us be matters of deep solicitude and inquiry.

The vital importance of our subject will therefore be conceded by all. And within a few years several writers have investigated it in works of considerable extent; some of them attempting to set this great doctrine in the moulds of human reason, that it may shine by its own light and commend itself fully to the mind of man, and others attempting to exhibit anew, in more convincing form, the scriptural evidence on which it rests, as held by them; but no one of these writers has so united spiritual insight and constructive imagination with reverence for the Word of God and a sound interpretation of its language, as to produce a work in all respects satisfactory. Most of them belong to the former class. Their aim has

been to set forth a philosophy of the Atonement, or, in other words, to show that it rests on clear foundations of reason; but, in their anxiety to accomplish this perhaps desirable end, they have done violence, we fear, in some instances, to the obvious meaning of the Sacred Text. And if so,

their fault is radical; for the Atonement is strictly a truth of revelation. Whether there is little or much analogous to it in the providential government of the world, as seen by us in the present life, we are made acquainted with the Atonement as a reality by the Word of God, and must receive it as described by that Word or reject it as unworthy of credence. No modification of the biblical doctrine, in however beautiful a theory it may result, is worthy of a moment's serious thought, for it must be without any solid basis.

But recent speculation has modified, as we believe, the biblical doctrine of the Atonement; and, for the most part, in one direction, by denying its relation to God and admitting only its relation to man, by affirming that it removes no obstacle in the divine mind to the forgiveness of sin in case of repentance, but simply operates on the sinner's heart and leads him to repent and believe. It does not reconcile God to the sinner, but only the sinner to God. Now this is a very imperfect view of the Atonement revealed by the Scriptures, and by its imperfection it forbids us to look upon the work

of Christ as that in consideration of which our sins are forgiven. It bids us look upon his death as having simply a manward efficacy, as being nothing but an argument for repentance, a moral influence on the sinful soul; while the doctrine of justification by faith, as preached by the reformers, is rejected as an absurd error. Our first task must therefore be to show that the Atonement of Christ has a relation to the mind of God, and conditions the forgiveness of sin in case of repentance. Having established this fact, which is now frequently denied, it will be easy for us to show that the Atonement has also a relation to men, revealing to them the moral nature of God, and so, through the Spirit, drawing them to Christ.

Yet we do not give the first place to the effect which the Atonement has upon the mind and action of God, simply because this part of the biblical doctrine has been set aside by able writers, and is therefore more likely than any other to be called in question at the present time, but also because we hold it to be logically antecedent to the effect which the Atonement has upon the hearts of men, and indeed a principal cause of that effect. This might be made to appear, we believe, even though it were true that absolutely nothing but a revelation of the love of God can be used by the Holy Spirit in renewing and sanctifying the hearts of