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THE ATONEMENT

MODERN RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

IN

The Atonement
in

Modern Religious Thought

Theological Symposium

Third Edition

522913
iS.
London
5. S(

JAMES CLARKE &

CO., 13
1907

&

FLEET

ST.,

EX.

PUBLISHERS' NOTE
The
series of articles in this volume were contributed to The Christian World during the winter of 1899-1900, and afterwards ran through two editions in book form. The

intrinsic va^ue of the articles

and

their important bearing

upon the

theological developments of to-day lead the

publishers to believe that a

new

issue of the

volume

will

be welcome.

It

is

hardly needful to point oat that the

contributors include some of the most eminent theologians

in

Europe

of our time

and that

all

discuss their high

theme
tives,

quite

apart

from
is

controversy.

The

pecuUar

value of this symposium

that distinguished representa-

not only of different ecclesiastical communions and

of different nationalities, but of widely separated schools of religious thought, present careful statements of the

great truth of the view.

perfect

Atonement from

their several points of

is

No

one of them would claim that his exposition

and complete statement of the doctrine, but each may claim to have contributed light on some aspect of the many-sided truth. The whole purpose of this volume
is

to give the reader a large

and comprehensive view

lines

of

tixe

central doctrine of the Christian faith,

him the main considerations and

and to put before of argument on

be based.

which an enlightened personal beUef

may

CONTRIBUTORS
Frederic Godet, D.D. Adolf Harnack, D.D., Professor

of

Church Hiafory

ike University of Berlin.

AUGUSTB SaBATIER.

Lyman Abbott,

D.D.,

New

York.

Washington Gladden, D.D., Colunibus. T. T. Hunger, D.D., New Haven.

F.

W. Farrar, D.D. W. H. Fremantle, D.D., Dean Walter

R.
J.

of Ripon.

F.

Adeney,

D.D.,

Principal
'

of

Lancashire

College, Manchester.

Campbell, B.A., London.

ALifRED Cave, D.D.

Marctts Dods, D.D., Principal of New College, Ediijhurgh. P. T. Forsyth, D.D., Principal of Hackney College, London.
C.

Silvester Horne, M.A., London.

R. F. HoRTON, D.D., formerly Fellow of

Oxford.

New

College^

John Hunter, D.D., Glasgow. Bernard J. Snell, M.A., B.Sc,

Brixton.

BY ADOLF HARNACK,
Berlin.

D.D.,

Professor of Church History in the University of

The

Christian reKgion revolves round two focal

points

Holiness and Forgiveness.

is

Its simplest

expression

naturally the confession of Alas

mighty
includes

God

the
it

Father,

but even this

within

the
life

obligation

and

the
of

power to lead a holy

forgivenesw.

and the assurance

Christianity

is

the religion of redemption

because
petition,

it is

the religion of forgiveness.

The

" Forgive us our trespasses/' answers

to the certain behef that Grod really forgives

trespasses.

In the

forgiveness

of

sins

the

Christian recognises redemption.

Luther,

who
and

in his " Smaller Catechism " wrote, " Wherever

forgiveness
of sins
is,

there also
first

is

life

blessedness," was not the

It

to declare this.

was the Lord Himself, who in that Gospel

of His in outline

the

parable of the Prodigal

right of the son to his
forgiveness.

Son

showed how the

house

father's

followed

The

The Atonement

in

newly-found son participates in

possesses
tion.
If,
;

all his

father

in forgiveness he has found redemp-

however, one looks upon the Christianity

it

of

to-day,

would

appear

as

though the
its

belief in

redemption had

lost

certitude.

There are thousands who hold to monotheism

and the ethics of Christianity who

nothing of redemption.
has no actuahty
conception, or,
;

will

hear

To such the
is

idea of it

it

merely an historical
a cause
of passing

at best,

emotion.

To bring the

idea of redemption into

connection with the person of Christ appears

to

them an

impossibility.

They think that

For

they can satisfy themselves with a Christianity

without redemption and without Christ.

the same reason they also set aside the Church's

conception of Christianity, in which redemption

through Christ

is

the cardinal doctrine.

attitude.

There

are various grounds for this

Some

say they do not feel any necessity for redemption;

others

see in the

doctrine

something

weak and feminine,

virile ethics;

at variance with serious,

others, again,

recognise indeed

MoDEEN Religious Thought.

the necessity of redemption, but think that the
teaching of the Church on this point
neous, and that a person who
lived
is

erro-

eighteen

hundred years ago

redeemer for to-day.

cannot

possibly
all,

be

They are

however,

more or

less

moved by the

conviction that our

modern knowledge
of redemption.
picture of

of the world, of

man and

of history, does not permit us to retain the idea

Psychology has given us a new

investigations regarding

man; the
of

the

origin

morality

have

altered

our

notions of sin ; historical science has given us

an

historical

Jesus in

place of

the ecclesi-

astical

Christ; critical philosophy has drawn

with firm lines the boundaries of the possible

and the

real

^what

room

is

there,

therefore,

for the conceptions of redemption

and of a

redeemer ?

In

reality,

while

modern knowledge has

rudely shaken the form of the doctrine in which

earlier generations laid

down

their belief in

redemption and in the Redeemer, the thing

itself

has

not

been

shaken.

'*

Mankind

is

always progressing, but

man

remains always

The Atonement
the

in

same,"

says

Goethe

somewhere.
it

This

deliverance might seem pessimistic, but

its

has

noble side.

Man
is

does not remain the same

only in that which

bad and low, but

also in

those higher necessities which soar above the

world of the earthly.

*^

St.

Augustine's saying,

Thou, Lord, hast made us for Thyself, and

is

our heart

not at rest until

it

finds peace in

Thee,"

will find

a response in
lives

human

hearts as

long as mankind

on

this

earth, nor will

the message of redemption and of a Eedeemer

ever be
lost.

In what follows, certain points of

it
is

view are set forth, in which

concisely to
justify

attempted
belief

the
is

Christian

in

redemption.
to

My

object

rather to bring facts

remembrance than to prove any particular

Those who profess to find in themselves
either deceive

position.
I.

no need for redemption

selves, or

them-

they are thinking of only one par-

ticular kind.

The need

is

a universal one. I do

not mean the common desire for the bettering

of one's
feeling

own
^the

position, but rather that deeper

wish to be freed from the

life

Modern Eeligious Thought.

which surrounds
higher existence.
eyes to
us,

and to win a new and

have only to open our
redeemers
offering

We

see hundreds of

themselves and promising redemption to the

eager multitudes

who surround them.

Eedemption
votaries.
is

There

are devilish redeemers like intoxication

and

wild voluptuousness.

promised

by art and science to their

those

There are
and

who put

their trust in writers, poets

philosophers,

and announce that they have

and messiahs
so.

found through them the way of redemption.

The world

is full

of prophets

they are, of course, no longer called

But

that which they will not let die, that which

they

always

reawaken

is

a noble aspiring.
the desire to soar
they
it

Everywhere amongst men

is

above the stream of the commonplace;

will

not remain for ever submerged in

they yearn
ceaselessly

and

lost;

for

deliverance
life.

from

their servitude into a nobler

form of

n. But
he more

this longing after redemption

may

definitely described.

Wherever the

Christian religion has come, wherever the faintest

beam

of it has been kindled, the idea gains

The Atonement

in

possession of the soul that righteousness

is

the
evil.
is

highest good and that guilt

is

the deepest

To be pure and
word
to a

to possess inward peace^ that

the longing of longings.

Only speak the right

his soul,

man, search out the way to

and you
died out
heart.

will find that this longing

has not yet

to possess good thoughts

and a pure

It is not true that the majority of

men

are so sunk in the ordinary egoistical business

of life as to have quite lost the feeling for

that which that

is

holy and pure, nor

science

is it

true to

modem

has
If it

the

power

extinguish this sense.

the scientific

be granted that

movement has with many induced

it. No may have

a somewhat lower view of the human inner

life,

yet

it

has not radically changed

sensibilities
it

matter how our moral

been acquired, even though

may be

pointed

out that we were once a higher order of beasts,

even though
is

it

may be

established that there

still

no such thing as absolute freedom, yet

perceive

we

that

our responsibility towards

good and

evil is

a sort of natural law, and no

science can take

away from us

for long the

MoDEEN

Religtotts Thought.

nobility of this responsibility.

What though

we show the

butterfly that at one time it could

fly
;

only crawl and not

that does not alter the

fact that it is to-day

no longer a

caterpillar

but a butterfly.

Mankind has experienced a

somewhat

similar metamorphosis.

When
But

that

mighty change began no one knows.

lies

Its origin
its

beyond the range of history.

results are gloriously in

view in the time of

of
it

the

Hebrew prophets and

Still

Socrates

and

Plato.

more

clearly

was

manifested to

the

whole

Helleno-Roman world by Jesus

Regarded from the
little;

Christ and His disciples.

outside, history
it is
still filled

seems to have altered

with war and bloodshed, with

the conflict for worldly possessions.

there was something new.
it,

And

yet

Goethe remarked

and the penetrating eye of the historian

confirms the fact.

for nearly

The

real

theme of

history

two thousand years has been the

struggle between belief and unbelief, the battle

for

God and

for

redemption.

Mankind

is

wrestling, aided

by the powers of the moral

from the
service of tran-

and

holy, to be freed

10
eitory things.

The Atoitement
There are some

in

modem

writers
is

of history

who would persuade us

still

that this

an

illusion,
is

and that the theme of the world's

the struggle to possess that

history

which
taken.

is

of the earth earthy.

They are misare thouall

If it were necessary there

sands and thousands who would relinquish

their earthly possessions,

who

for the sake of

^n

ideal,

even of an erroneous ideal, would part

with

life itself.

They know

of a higher exist-

ence than that of sensual life, and they struggle

towards
it.

III. If this

be true, we have at once the con-

-ception

of " Eedemption." In the highest sense

redemption can only be the power which helps

us to a holy, pure

life,

and strengthens the

is

conviction within us that the boon

not a

mere variety of earthly

existence, but a

new

and abiding

life.

There can be, moreover, no

is

redemption for us which

side our spirit.

consummated out-

The

greatest events

may have
assist-

been accomplished on earth, or between earth

and heaven, but these cannot afford us

ance so long as they have no relation to that

Modern

Eeligiotjs Thought.
experience.

11

which we ourselves
the question
is

And when
is

of the
life,

power and certainty of

a holy and abiding

and there

the know-

ledge that mere worldly possessions can effect

nothing towards this

life, it is

impossible to

believe that redemption

and the Eedeemer can

is

spring from that which

therefore, that only

earthly.

It follows,

God Himself can be

the

Eedeemer.

The prophets and the

^'

singers of

the Psalms knew this ; they did not look to a

human

redeemer, but to God.

Whom have I
is

in heaven but Thee ?

And

there

none upon
flesh

earth that I desire beside Thee.

My

and

my heart faileth, but God my heart and my portion

other
experience
after
real

is

the strength of

for ever."

There

has never been, down to our

own

day,

any
have

amongst those
redemption.

who

sought

They have

sought God and have besought

Him

to grant

them a pure heart and a right

have prayed that God might
their

spirit.

They

forgive

them

trespasses

and find entrance to their

hearts.

! It would seem from this as though a

The Atonement

in
It does not

human redeemer were

only seem so;
it is so.

impossible.

God

only is the Redeemer,

mysterious bond unites each

it is

man

with God,

and

only

when he

feels this personal

bond

and enters into inward intercourse with God

that he can be redeemed.

And

yet Christen-

dom

calls

Jesus Christ

its

Redeemer.

How

is

this contradiction to be got rid of ?

There are
position
is

people

whose

religious

predis-

so powerful that they are able, with-

out help, to find

God and

to live in

Him

but

the history of religion shows that such persons

are rare, and that the great majority of our

race has

no part in their experience.

beheld

The
His

prophets

God, heard

Him,

felt

presence, and in these experiences they had

the most certain knowledge of His existence.

Eeligious history also demonstrates that such

persons have a great task to perform for others

^they

proclaim

God

to

their fellows,

and

strengthen their weak consciousness of God.

In most human beings this consciousness

is

not

so strong that it can exist without this help.

As

in the case of Art, so here.

We

have

all

Modern

Eeligiotjs Thought.

13
only

certain predisposition for art,

but

it is

with the help of the artists

disposition
is

that this preartist kindles

strengthened.

One

the other, and one prophet anoints the other.

We

have here historical adjustment and an

chain.

historical

Full

independence,
result of

liberty

and power are always the

and education.
It

dependence

was the greatest event in the history of

religion

when God was no longer sought

but in the proclamations of
It

in the

beams

of the sun, in tempests, in magical con-

trivances,

holy

men

like the prophets.

was only then that

life

religion

became a part of the inward

united

with morality.

Mankind did not unlearn the

but they looked to the

awe with which they regarded the government

of

God

in

creation,

prophets with a higher kind of awe, for in

their spirit

and word the Divinity was revealed.

in

Mankind now learned that only

man

could

the highest and truest revelation of

revealed, for

God be

God

is

the Holy One, and holiness

cannot reveal

itself in

Nature.

This was

why

the prophets were honoured, and

why

so unique

14

The Atonement

in

a position was conceded to them.

tliat

It

was

felt

without them mankind would have re-

mained stationary in the ancient bondage.

believing in

By

and following the prophets, that

men.
is

which they had experienced was taken hold of

by the

souls of

In this sense they were

to
say,

redeemers, that
mediators.
It

messengers
fire

and

was not their own

souls,

which

they used to inflame

torches.

but they were the

certain

The hearer who could not be

his

of
ity

God by

own

original religious individual-

was enabled to apprehend

Him by following
into the Divine

the prophet,
fellowship.

who drew him

V. Jesus Christ was a prophet.

One must

begin with this conception of His person and

work.

He who

is

incapable of comprehending

the prophets and their mission in history cannot

comprehend Jesus

Christ.

Christendom, how-

ever, does not only call

Him

a prophet, but dis-

tinguishes

asserts that

Him from aU He is *^ the

other prophets, and

Redeemer."

How is

this assertion to be vindicated ?

The

simplest

way seems

to

be to refer

Modern Religious Thought.

to Christ's

15

own

evidence regarding Himself^

There can be no doubt that

He

distinguished

between Himself and the prophets, claiming for

Himself an altogether peculiar position.
to maintain this

But
could

would not help us

if

we

not at the same time perceive the justice of His

claim.

Blind acquiescence has no moral worth..

Jesus Christ was a prophet, but

last prophet.

Those

He was the who came after Him were^

either false prophets, or they have confessed

that they have drawn their grace from His-

abundance.

And

therefore

justified in calling those great

we are no longer men of God who

AugusJesus
other

succeeded

Him

prophets

Paul, John,
the
rest.

tine, Francis,

Luther and

Christ was a prophet, but while

the

prophets drew only small

circles

around them.
the
entire

He

has become the prophet for

race.

human

Jesus Christ was a prophet, but

while the earlier prophets possessed only an imperfect knowledge

correcting the other.
revelation of
of

God, one

of

them

He

has given the fullest

God

in His proclamation of

God

as the Father.

Jesus Christ was a prophet, but;

16
while the
life

The Atonement
and

in

calling of the earlier prophets

were at variance, the sharpest eye could detect no difference between what

He

practised
of

and

what

He

preached.

The Word

God His
These are
facts it is

Father was His meat and drink.

historical facts,

and because of these

our right and our sacred duty to regard Jesus

Christ not as a prophet like the others.

We

must

raise

Him

above their number, rendering

Him

special gratitude,

and honouring
called

Him with
He was
led

special reverence.

He

Himself " the Son

of God,"
entitled to

and we understand that

call

Himself

this.

He

His

disciples to the Father,

and to-day His Gospel

stiU leads
affairs to

men from

the bondage of transitory

the glorious liberty of the children of

God.
with

He

promotes us to inward communion

us.

God who redeems

is

VI. But that

not aU.

We do not think of
title

censuring or of refusing the

to those
apostolic

of Christians

who go no

further than this.

The

announcement has, however, a much

First, in it Jesus Christ is

wider signification.
called the Eeconciler.

It teaches that

He

died

MoDEKN Religious Thought.

for sin.

17

Secondly,

it affirms
fills

that Jesus Christ

dwells

in the faithful,

them, guides and

governs them.

"It

is

not I

who

live,

but

Christ which liveth in me."

I shall not dwell here

upon the second point

viz.,

that

He who

has become our prophet,

of

guide,
us.

and master, takes inward possession

not a paradox,
it is

It is

a fact.
that

But that
which
ig

which

lies

behind this

fact,

expressed in the confession

" Christ

lives in
life
is

me," the conviction, namely, of the eternal

of Christ, the power and the glory of
it

this

a secret

of faith

which

is

not

capable

ol

demonstration.

The

first

point,

however,

demands
our sins?

closer consideration.

Christ died foi

Christ has reconciled

God ?
Is

How ?
God not
sins,

Did God require a

reconciliation ?

Love?

Does the God who forgives

the

God

of mercy, require

an indemnity ?

Did the

Father in the parable of the lost son demand

expiation before he forgave his son ?

Was

it

not said of
to

him who prayed, " God be merciful

^'

me

a sinner,"

This

man went down

to his

house justified ?

"

18

The Atonement
Yes,
it is

in

certainly so.

God

is

Love.
so.

He
The

has always been Love, and will remain

consolation of the

Grospel of Jesus consists,

indeed, in this

that

He

has revealed unto u&

God
love,

as eternal Love.

Far be the thought from

to

us that

God has been turned from wrath

order that
this

and that something had to be paid or

sacrificed in

He might

love

and

forgive.

But with
is

acknowledgment the

matter

not exhausted.
is

For there

an inner law that compels the upon God as a wrathful judge^

of

sinner to look
It is
this

conception

God which

is

the

hardest and the most real punishment inflicted

on

sin.

It tears the heart of

man, transforms

his thoughts of

God

into terror, robs

him of
for

peace and drives him to despair.

tion of
it is

This concepfalse,

God

is

a false one, and yet not

the necessary consequence of man's

is

sin-

that

to say, of his godlessness.

How can this

Not by
the Holy

conception

of

God be overcome?

words, but by deeds.

When
He

One

descends to sinners,

when He

lives

with them

and walks with tbem, when

does not count

Modern EELiaious
them
as unworthy, but calls
serves

Thotjght.

19

them His brethren,

and

when He

them and

dies for them, then

their terror of the awful judge melts away,

they believe that the Holy

that there
is

One

is

Love, and

something mightier

still

than Justice

Mercy,
It
is

in relation to these

human

conceptions

that

we have
His

specially to regard the death of

Christ.

death

is

thus the culminating

point of the service which

sinners during His mission.

He

rendered for

This service had

the single object of convincing sinners that

forgiving Love
is

mightier than the Justice

If they believe
this

before which they tremble.

this they are reconciled,

and in

manner

is

the

God of punitive justice reconciled. They now kaow God as their Eedeemer, but they also
Jesus Christ as their Keconciler.
is

know

This

the fundamental form of the ChrisI would avoid

tian belief of the atonement.

alleging that every Christian must think so.

But

this

I know, that Jesus Christ has not

called the righteous to Himself, but those

who

trembled before Eighteousness, and that the

20

The Atonement

in Eeligiotjs Thought.

deepest and most earnest Christians embrace

Jesus Christ, not only as the Prophet, but as

the Keconciler.
satisfied

They do

not, however, rest

with seeing the atonement only in the

life-work of Christ.

They consider

also

His
can

passion and His death as vicarious.

How

they do otherwise ?

If they, the sinners, have

escaped justice, and He, the Holy One, has

suffered death,

why

shall they not

acknowledge

that that which

He

has suffered was what they

should have
Cross

suffered?
feeling,

In presence of the

no other

no other note,
it is

is

possible.

And
To
is

for this reason

little

use

speculating on the " saving value " of Christ's

sufferings.

begin, in this region, to cast

up

reckonings

to lose the whole sacred impres-

sion of this divine fact

upon the

soul.

Let us

rather, with reverential reticence, gaze

upon
shines

the Cross of Christ from which

forth as the Infinite Love.
It
is

God

a holy secret

Qot understood of the profane, and yet " the power of God and the wisdom of God " I

n.

BY

F.

W. FARRAR,
of Canterbury.

D.D.

Dean

All

clergjrmen

who do not

live in

a dreamland
really cog-

of religious unrealities,

but

are

nisant of the tone of thought which prevails

in the wide Christian world,

must be aware
which
the

that

there
of

are

methods of presenting the

doctrine
terrible

the

Atonement
in

put

a
of

stumbling-block

path

thousands of those

who think and

feel for

themselves, and are not

content to take at

eecond-hand what
as

may be

presented to them

"the

scheme of salvation."

Many

able

and

intellectual

men, entirely discontent with

the placid and autocratic shibboleths of very

imperfectly
-

equipped

teachers,

have

as

a
ii

distinguished
to

me

" thought

pubHc man once expressed

out the fundamental truths

of religion for th^nselves, and are content to

let

the clergy talk."

Others,

and not unsouls,

frequently
feel a

women

of sincere

and tender

shock to their moral sense from many

23

24
statements

The Atonement
which
profess

in

to

explain

the

necessity for the death

of Christ.

Thej are
deputy

shocked at the notion of a justice by which

" a criminal

can suffer

penalty by

and have sentence

substitute.""^

executed

upon

him by
something'

With a

feeling of

like anguish, they find themselves so completely

in

disaccord with
as

what they hear from the

pulpit,

even to have an agonising doubt

whether they are not forced to regard themselves as "heretics."

If I

am

not mistaken

the survival of doctrinal crudities, no longer

tenable with the truths brought

home
is

to

us

by the
if it

light of advancing knowledge,

sole,

chief,

be not the

cause on the one hand for

widespread disbelief, and on the

that aloofness

other

for

from the work and worship of

Christ,

the

Church of

which

is

one of the

ominous features of our age.

It

wiU

be, of course, impossible in one brief

paper to go to the root of this vast question, on

which, in almost every age, so
folios

many ponderous
all,

have been written.

It will, above

be

Mozley, University Sermons, p. 184.


Modern Eeligious Thought.
impossible to examine
all

25

the texts and every

metaphor on which have been built the vast

inverted pyramids of theological error

and

pre-

sumption.

This,

however, we may
St.

say at once.

According to the wise rule of

**

Augustine,
is

8criptura est sensus 8cripturce

"

Scripture

w] lat Scripture means.

It is futile, in treating of

such a subject as the Atonement, to rely only on

*'

the ever-widening spiral ergo from the narrow

;

aperture of single texts "

endless inferences

especially when our

directly

from those texts run

counter to the plain teaching of other texts,

and

to the general revelation of

God

in

Holy
of

Scripture, and by His

Spirit to the souls

men.
sort

It is especially pernicious to press, to all of remote logical consequences, metaphors

which were only intended to touch on one

aspect of the truth, and to illustrate
its

bearing

upon a
follow

single point.

In the remarks which

has again and

we
since

shall see that this

again been done.

that,

It is well for us to
is

remember
finite

God

infinite

and man

God to reveal to us the plan of salvation in dialectics "

since
it

"

has not pleased Almighty

26

The Atonement
it is

in

often an idle and misleading effort to

present the great fact of man's salvation in

systems of theological scholasticism.

We may
little

at once sweep aside as utterly false not a

of

what has been dogmatically

of
it

announced
preachers,

thousands
as

times

by
the

popular
only
it

though

were

"orthodoxy,"

and as -though to disbeheve

atheism

were wicked

For instance,
I.

We

reject as utterly false,

and absolutely

contrary to the whole teaching of Scripture,

those presentations of the Atonement which

represent

God the Father

as full of wrath

and

vengeance, which was only

tenderness of

averted

by the
of

God the

Son.

The language

the Augsburgh Conference, that Christ died

*'

ut reconciliarei nobis

Patrem" and of our own

Father wnto
rightly

Fourih Article, that

dead, and buried,

"He suffered, was crucified,

of
not

to reconcile the

us" may be capable

plained.
Scripture,

being
the

exof

But

this

is

language

which invariably says that Christ

died ^^to reconcile (not God to us, but) us to


MoDEEN Reiiiious Thought.
<jrod."^

27

When we

read such lines as those of

Sir

Henry Wotton:
One rosy drop from
Jesu's teart,
ire,

Was

worlds of seas to quench God's

:

or as those of Dr. Watts

Rich were the drops of Jesu's blood That calmed God's frowning face, That sprinkled o'er tlie burning throne. And turned the wrath to grace
:

or when we read such ghastly and revolting

anthropomorphism

as

the

phrase

of

Dr.

umming,

that Jesus

"wiped away the red

anger-spot from the brow of

Professor Partes, that

God "

or

of

"God drew

His sword

upon Calvary, and slew His only Son " ;-or of Mr. Spurgeon, that " Christ took the cup in
both His hands, and at one tremendous draught
of love drank damnation dry "
;

or that
also

" the

fevd between

God and

the poor soul need not be

it

continued," because "

lay the sin

would be injustice to

upon the substitute and

say,

upon

the

sinner"; when, I

we read such

* 2 Cor. V. 18, 19, " Of God, who reconciled us to Himself " " God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." {Comp. Eom. v. 10, 11 ; Col. i. 21.)

The Atonement
phrases,

in

thej
if

seem
be

to

be

absolutely
side
is

deside

plorable

thej

placed
that

by

with

the

revelation

" God

Love,"
in

or with such passages as

"I

trust

the

MERCY
by

of

God

for ever

and ever."

An

Ameri-

can murderer,

fortified in this coarse travesty

his prison chaplain, said to the multitude

scaffold,

from the
between

"1

hold up Christ's blood

me and

the flaming face of God."

says

"The
effect,

Scriptures,"

Dr.

Campbell,
to

*^do

not represent the love of

God

man
as

as the

and the Atonement as the cause^ hut

:

just the contrary

the love of

God

the cause

and

the Atonement as the effect."

" God's whole

^^is

nature," said Archbishop Magee,

one great

impulse to what

is

best."

Even

as far back as

the fifth century the Pope, St. Leo the Great,

in contradistinction from the crudities of

many
and
Son

modern preachers, with

wisdom, said of the
^'

far deeper truth

Father and the

One

is

the kindness of their mercy as the

of
their justice

sentence

nor

is
is

there

any

division in action

where there

no

diversity

in wiU."

Much, perhaps, of the

error

which I

Modern Religious Thought.

29

am

combating

fold-repeated
Christ's sake."

may be due to the phrase that God forgives

myriadus
*'^for

But although a true meaning

it is

may be

attached to that expression,

not

the expression of St. Paul,

who

uses the far

in Christ

deeper and true phrase that

forgave us."*

"God

The statement that God did

That God in Christ saves
is

anything /or Christ's sake does not once occur in

the

New

Testament.

us, according to

His mercy,

a very different

conception.

n.

Again,

although

volumes

have

been

written to support the theory or inference of

''

vicarious punishment,*'

many forms

in

which

that theory has been stated are dishonouring to

God, and revolt the unsophisticated conscience

'^ The doctrine of the Atonement," says " Mozley, rises altogether to another level ; it

of

man.

parts

company with the gross and

and

irrational

conception of mere naked material substitution

of one person for another,
it

takes

its

stand

Eph. iv. 32. The proper rendering of I John ii. 12 is On account of His name," which has quite a different meaning. {Comp. John xx. 31.)

80

The Atonement

in

upon the power of love/'

subdituted to suffer for us

That Christ was

offer,

in order to
reconcile

so

to speak, a mechanical equivalent for the guilty

human

race,

and so to

(?)

God'&

justice with

His mercy, as though justice and

mercy were at intemeciae war with each other

in the

mind

of

God

is

a view which contra-

dicts the

whole teaching of Scripture.

The
The

Bible never represents the Atonement as effect-

ing any change in the mind of God.

doctrine of Scripture
is

that of free forgiveness,

not vicarious 'punishment.

St.

In Gal.
the

iii.

13,

14,

Paul, using

one

of

many

different

expressions in which he tried to set forth the

trutiis of

man's reconciliation to G<>d in Christ,

says that

He " became

a curse for us " ; but

xxi. 23,

he expressly omits the words of Deut.

''

a curse of
riMst

words

God" which would have been the required by the theory that God was

requiring Christ to bear a penalty in our stead.

Are those who preach these crude views to

ignore the fact that neither
*^
^^

vicarious" nor
'^

auhstitution" nor " satisfaction" nor

^'

expia-

tion" nor

imputed righteousness " so

much

as

MoDEEN Eeligious Thought.

once occur in the

31
tlie

New

Testament ?

Even

word "imputed " does not occur in the Revised

Version.
Is it

an insignificant fact that the

would be required by the

word avTL

^which

theory of vicarious substitution

is

never used

of Christ's death for us, but always virkp or irepl

" on our behalf " ?^

Is it nothing that

it

not once stated in the

New

Testament that
penalty
''

Christ "saved us from the

sins

of

our

"

or that His death was

is

a penalty " at
the

all?

There

only one chapter of

Old

Testament which, even in the way of metaphor

can be pressed into the conception that Christ
died as our substituted equivalent.f

berg says that this

Hengsten" chapter sounds through the

Yet, so
it is

whole

New

Testament " in this sense.

case, that

far is this

from being the by

where

directly referred to

St.

Matthew

the

one

Evangelist

who

dwells most systematically

on

Messianic prophecy

he

is

so far

from underEvangelical
it

standing the language of

^^the

Prophet" in

this sense,

that he quotes

a*

having been directly

*

fulfilled

by
f

Christ's worJe
Is. liii. 4, 6.

On

Matt. XX. 28, see infra,

32
'healing

The Atonement

in

of

mercy, which showed that by His

sympathy

He

shared our sorrows.

For, after

telling of the deliverance of

many demoniacs
that
it

and sick people he expressly adds, "

he fulfilled

might
the

which

was spohen

hy

Isaiah

Prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities

hare our diseases."
III.

and

Nor again

is it

right to interpret the

Death of Christ as the exact counterpart to

the

Mosaic

sacrifices of

the old Dispensation.

It has

been assumed that the victims offered

altar

on the Jewish

were

looked

upon as
the death
;

reconciling the offender to

of the innocent

God by

on behaK of the guilty

yet

a deeply reverent and careful theologian says

ritual there is no trace " if no such idea attached of such an idea," and

"in the whole Jewish

to the symbol,

we may be
to

very sure no such

to

idea

attaches

the

reality

which

the

symbol pointed."^

The Jewish

sacrifices

were
p. 129.

* Archdeacon Norris, " Eudiments of Theology,"

sacrifices " there is

Similarly, Bishop Westcott says that in the Prse Mosaic

no trace of the idea of vicarious substitu' Hon, nor of propitiation {comp. Mic. vi. 7)/' Epistle to the

Hebrews,

p. 287.

Modern Eeligious
offered as
sin-offerings,

Thottght.

33

burnt offerings and

latter

peace-offerings;

the

two

represented

the conceptions of self-surrender and thanksgiving;

oblation,

and the sin-offering

or

symbolised the
(^^})
of,

carrying

away

defileis

ment.

Just as avrl ''in the place

of"

not

used in the

New
for

Testament to support any

Trepl, so

theory of substitution, but vTrep and

the
is

Hebrew word
never

"instead of"

(tachath)

used

in
;

the

Old

Testament

of

the

offered victim

and, although Christ is in the

called ^^the

New
it is

Testament

Lamb

of God,"

to this day disputed whether the reference

be to the Paschal lamb, or to the figure of

the lamb
patience
in
Isaiah,

or

type

of

Divine
of
St.

and

suffering.

The words

Peter, again
carried

which
no

should be rendered "

He

up our

sins in

His own body on to the

sense, as the

tree"

have
And

sacrifical

verb

dvrjvyKv has in

James

ii.

21

for the notion

of

" offering up sins as a

if

sacrifice

"

is

simply

absurd.

the sin-offerings had been rethe offender,

garded as substitutes for

how

could they possibly have been eaten, as they

84

The Atonement
That
single

in

were?

fact

shatters

the whole

false theory.

The Jewish

sin-offerings

were

not even intended to atone for sin in general,

but only for certain specified sins

and

if

they

had possessed the

would not

sort

of

validity

which

modern inferences have attributed

they

to them,

have

been

so

sweepingly

disparaged by the almost unanimous voice of

the Prophets.*
sacrifice

"I

will

have mercy and not

our

"

is

the favourite quotation of

Lord.f

But, as has been said by a Jewish

theologian. Prof. Israel Abrahams, " Vicarious-

ness

is

a conception utterly

foreign to the

Pentateuch."
lY. Entirely mistaken notions have probably

been created in the minds, especially of Western theologians, by the

many

references to the

saving effects of ^^the Blood of Christ."

The

expression has often been glibly expanded into

endless inferences
writers,

by preachers

and hymn-

who had not

the remotest conception

*
i.

11.

Sam. XV. 22; Psalms H. 16; Amos V. 21, 22. Hosea vi. 6.
ix. 13.
J

1.

8,

9, 14, 23.
vi. 6-8,

Isaiah
feo.

Micah

t Matt.

xii. 7.

MoDEEN
that
*'

Eeligioxjs Thought.

35

the

sacred

connotations

of

the

word

Blood "

antithesis

among the Jews were the of those which we attach to

'*

absolute
it.

The

Blood of Christ " cleanses our consciences from

dead works to serve a living God

14),

(Heb
is

ix.

because "the Blood of Christ"

the

symbol, not of His death, but of His Eternal

Life.
ix. 4,

The Blood, we
" is the Life."^

read, as far back as Gen.

The Blood of Christ '*

is

" not simply the price by which the redeemed

were purchased, but the power by which they were quickened so as to be capable of belonging
to God."

" It

is

Christ that died," says St.

Paul, " Yea, rather, that was raised from the

dead,

who
viii.

also
34).

maketh

intercession for

us"

(Rom.

The

lessons

of sacrifice in

the Old Testament were not those of substitution of innocent for guilty,

but of " service,

* See Deut. xii. 23, Lev. xvii. 11, "the life" (nephesh **80ul") of the flesh is in the blood. The Blood atones through the Life. " It will be evident," says Bishop Westcott (on 1 John i. 7), "that while the thought of Christ's blood (as shed) includes all that is involved in Christ^s death, the Death of Christ, on the other hand expresses only the initial part of the whole conception of Christs's Blood. The Blood always includes the thought of the life preserved and active beyond death.'*
. .

36

The Atonement

in

cleansing, consecration, fellowship."

The

sin-

offerings did not even deal with serious

moral

offences

at

all,

but

simply

with

ceremonial

pollutions,

some of ignorance, and

;

a
vi. 1,

few
7
;

specified offences (Lev. iv. Iff

v.

15

ff

xix 20).
offerer,

They were^

as a rule, killed

by the

not by the priest, and " no stress was

stress

laid

on death or suffering." The

sprinJcling of

was

laid

on the

the blood, because the blood

essential
life."^

was regarded as the

When we

are told that " in the blood of Jesus we have

boldness to enter into the holy place " (Heb. x.

19) the

meaning is that the Life

of Christ, shared
Spirit,

by us and imparted to us by the

has

given us consecration and ratified an eternal

covenant.

Hence the New Testament dwells

far more on the blood of Christ, which repre*

sents the energy of His true

human

life,

than

on the death which was necessary to

that blood available for our salvation.

make

v. But

it will

perhaps be said that whatever

attach to the other sacrifices,

significance
* " It

may

is

the blood that maketh atonement for the

soul.**

(Lev. xvii. 11.)

Modern

Eeligioijs Thought.

37

at any rate the ceremonies of the

Day of AtoneI will

ment point
ceremonies

to vicarious

substitution.

not here enter into the question whether those

were

any

part of

the

original

Mosaic Law, or whether they only originated

after the Exile
;

but in any case the fact that

there

is

not a single allusion to them in a

it

thousand years of Jewish history must make

very doubtful whether they could have had this

significance.

But, apart from this,

how

is

the

conception of " vicarious substitution " compatible

with the fact that the high priest of that

day " made an atonement " for the holy place,

and the tabernacle, and

Jewish authorities
tell

the altar?

High
in the

us that the dismissal of

the scapegoat to the evil

wilderness

demon Azazel

meant no more than what Micah

said,
^*

meant wlien he

Thou

will cast all

our

sins into the depths of the sea."

The ordinary
offered,

sin

offerings

had already been

and

" there was no

notion of physically transferring

the guilt of the nation on to the head of the

scapegoat."

VI, Another

common

mistake, which

has

38

The Atonement

in

been indeed habitual for centuries,

is

to place

the death of Christ in a wrong perspective by

isolating it

from His

life,

and speaking of

it

far

too exclusively as the cause of our redemption,

'^

Christ's death," says the late Dr. Littledale,

'*

in ancient Christian theology did not pervade

so

by any means
single

much

space as

it

has done for

several centuries past, but it

was regarded as a
importance

incident

of

transcendent
still

and value indeed, but

only a single incident

Incar-

in the great chain of events from the

nation to the

Ascension."

''

Non Mors
says

sed
St.

voluntas placuit,

sponte morientis,"

Bernard.
of

If

we

are guided by the teaching

Christ

Himself,

He
did or

says,

" The words

which I speak unto you,

they are
life."

they are spirit

and

He

not speak by any

exclusively,
it

means
death,
of,

habitually,

of

His

but
in

always represented

as a part
of.

and

one sense

the

culmination

His voluntary

self-sacrifice.

The

instincts of

the unsophisticated Christian heart have fixed

upon the Parable

of

the

Prodigal

Son as

one of the divinest revelations uttered

by the

MoDEEN Eeligious Thought.

lips of love
;

39

and in ihe Parable of the Prodigal Son what allusion is there to " imputed merits '* or *^ vicarious satisfaction " and " forensic
accommodations "
?

It

is

remarkable

that

while Christ was all in

Christians

all

to the primitive

while He

was their glory and joy

and crown of rejoicing

five centuries

they

never for four or

represented the Cross or passion

or on
it

in

their catacombs

their

sarcophagi.

Partly they regarded

irreverence to do so,

as a positive

and daring

and partly their thoughts

glorified,

were absorbed in the Ever-living, the

the Eternal, the Ever-present Christ.

As was

the case with the Christians of the Apostolic

age, " the fellowship with Christ's sufferings,'

was transfigured into the

exultation {ayaXXiacrc^)

over His triumph, and the brief agonies of

crucifixion

were only contemplated in the light

of the session at the right

sort

hand of God. That " deification of paia," which has of morbid

entered so largely into the religion of external-

ism and formal superstition, has no place in the

New

Testament or in Scriptual and primitive

Christianity.

The

early Christians were rather

40

The Atonement

in

pervaded by the realisation of joy, and

felt

the

force of the repeated exhortation of St. Paul,

^Rejoice evermore."

Crucifixes

and stigmata,

emotional weeping over the five wounds, and

kneeling
before

the

Stations
to

of

the Cross,

and elaborate attempts

physical agonies

recall

our Lord's

on the Cross

to

which
the

all

the foiir

Gospels only allude in

thirst"

single

word,

"I

are

the product, not of

primitive Christianity, but of mediaeval superstition.

YII. It

is

a reflection at once strange and

theologians have not been
Christ's

sad that, because content to

accept
fact,

atonement as
in
it,

transcendent
fallen

they

have

all

ages

into

error

respecting

and

have

tried to represent it as a juridical transaction.

It
is

not

revelation which

we can
varying

ex-

plain in systematically logical forms, because

it is

mainly

presented

in

meta-

phors, which admit of varying interpretations,

and those metaphors indicate

regards us

its

results

as

men and

our salvation, not the inof

its

comprehensible

mystery

relation

to

Modern Religious Thought.

God.^

41

Much

as

The Epistle

to the

Hebrews

dwells on Christ's sacrifice, yet, on its eternal

and transcendental
to say

side the writer has nothing

more than

in the
it

most general terms

fitting that

that " it hecame God,

was

God

in

bringing

many

sons to

glory,

should

make

the author of their salvation perfect through

sufferings "

(Heb.

ii.

10)

and
offers

again, that
gifts

because
sacrifices,

every high

priest

and

" it

is necessary that this

High

Priest

also

have somewhat to

offer

" (Heb.

viii. 3).

YIII.

One
us

of the

four metaphors

under

which the
sented to

effects of Christ's
is

death are repreXvTpcoa-L<i,

ransom
45, 1

(Xyrpov,

Matt. XX. 28,

ieyopd^ecvf
13, iv.
5,

Mark x.
Cor.
v.

Tim.

ii.

6; dyopd^eiv,
22,

vi.

20,
xiv.

vii.

Gal.

iii.

Eev.

9,

3).

The words
effects

"ransom," "redemption" express the

of
Christ's

work
sin, of

in

delivering us

from the

bondage of

Satan and spiritual death.

'^

This was " achieved " or

purchased " for us

either to

* " Definite statements respecting the relation of Christ God or man are but human figures transferred to a subject which is beyond speech or thought." Jowfctt,

Romans

II., 482.

42

The Atonement
metaphor
is

in

the
as
in

derived from the purchase

of slaves

by

the Kfe and death of Christ just

the analogous

Hebrew words

are applied

the Old Testament to the deliverance of

Israel

from Egypt.

of giving His

life as

Our Lord when He spoke "a ransom for many "*

and death

simply expresses the truth that we were the

slaves of sin,

and that by His

us

life

He

delivered

from that bondage.

The

tendency to systematise led Irenseus to suggest the question " to whom was the ransom paid ? "

and to answer that

it

was paid to the Devil

the grossest

This false conception, involving

anthropomoi^hism, was elaborated by Origen

and continued dominant

nearly a thousand years.
St.

in
It

the Church for

was exploded by

Anselm, who, in his Cur Deus Homo, ex-

posed the monstrous notion that

God

could be

under a formal obligation

claims
of

to

recognise

the

the Devil.

St.

Anselm, however,
to

holding that the ransom was paid by Christ

* \vTpou avrl iroWwv, Matt. XX. 28 ; but that the word has no exceptional significance is shown by the fact that, when St. Paul refers to the metaphor, he uses inr^p
kvT\

<1 Tim.

ii.

6).

Modern Eeligious Thought.

43

God, elaborated the hardly less erroneous conception of a juristic transaction, and of an

exact substituted equivalent, which in various

forms has lasted tiU the present day, although

the idea
is

only deduced by the unlimited ex-

pansion of general metaphors.

Christ died for us

We know that
to

men and
bring us
the

for our salvation,

"that

He might
to

God.""^

Any
and

attempt

explain

exact

nature

method
sion
is

of this transcendently Divine compas-

a futile endeavour to be wise above

written,

what

is

and to translate the language

of emotion into the rigidity of syllogisms, and

of rapturous thanksgiving into that of rigid
scholasticism.

Scripture in
;

its

various elements

resembles a mosaic

and as far back as the

it

second century

St. Irenseus said that

was
of a

always possible to break up the mosaic

king,

and reconstruct
fox.

it

into the semblance of a

dog or of a
IX.

Two

other substantives are used of the

Atonement,
rendered

one

is

/caTaWayrj,
in

which

was

"Atonement"
Eom.
V. 6-8
;

the
iii.

Authorised

1 Pet.

18.

44
Version, but

The Atonement

in

since
''

it

was no longer universally

recognised that atonement means at-one-meiit

is

rendered
It

reconciliation

"

in the

Eevised
xi.

Version.

occurs in Horn. v. 11,

15,

2 Cor. V. 18, 19.

It explains itself, if only

it is

we

bear in mind, that

not a reconciliation of

God

to usy

but of us
'^

to

God.
{l\aa-/jLo<;)
ii.

X. The word

propitiation"

is

used by St. John alone in 1 John

2, iv.

10,
ii.

and the verb "to propitiate" only

be propitiated
13).

in

Heb.

17, except in the prayer of the publican,

he

merciful

(lit.

')

to

"God me the

sinner" (Luke
Christ
'^

xviii.

In this passage

is

represented as a faithful high priest

'

to propitiate (not

God,' but) the sins of the

people."

It is noticeable that the verb does

not refer to a single act but to a continuous

process,

and that " the propitiation

acts on that

which alienates God and not on God, whose love

is

unchanged throughout."

The

propitiation,
say, is the

as St. Chrysostom

and other Fathers

reconciliation of us to
sins
;

God by purging away our

and in fact " to sanctify," " to cleanse "

propitiate " are all three used in the

and " to

Modern

Eeligioits Thought.

45

Greek version as translations of the Hebrew

equivalent Kip^pur,

Bishop Westcott points

^'

out that in classical Greek the verb

pitiate"
is

to pro-

used with the accusative of

;

the

person propitiated
it is

but in the

New

Testament

used with the dative of the person, and the

!

accusative of the sin

" It contains the notion

which interposes

not of appeasing one often in anger, but of alter-

ing the character of that

.
.

an inevitable obstacle to fellowship.

The

propitiation,

when

ifc

is

appHed to the
viii.

sinner, neutralises the

ii.

sin" (Luke

13,

Heb.

17).

The author of The

3pistle to the Hebrews

uses TO Ikaa-rrjpiov ^'the propitiatory" as the

representative of the

covering or mercy-seat over the Ark.

Hebrew Kapporeth, the Even on

in the

Uom.

iii.

25 some commentators, from Origen

down

to Dr.

Vaughan, take the word

It

sense of "mercy-seat."

wiU be seen at once

how

far

removed are these conceptions from the

inferences which have been

drawn from

this

almost isolated word. The Atonement is the true

mercy-seat

the angel-guarded covering

The

of the

broken tables of the Law.

glory-cloud of

46

The Atonement

in

the Divine Presence rests

stretched wings of
is

between the outit

its

golden cherubim, and

ever sprinkled with the cleansing blood which

typifies the

new and Divine

effects of

life.

XI. The

the Atonement are alsa

sometimes represented as the discharge of a

debt, as in Gal. v. 3, 2 Cor. v. 21, Tit.
1 Pet.
iii.

ii.

14,

18; but this conception cannot be

represented in a single word.

XII.

We come,

then, to the general conclu-

sion that the metaphors of Scripture describe

the Atonement in
selves
;

its

effects

as regards

our-

not in
of

its essence,

which surpasses our

cognos-

powers
citur.

understanding. Ignorando

" Scripture," says Bishop Butler, "has

matter of the satisfaction of Christ
it it

left

this

mysterious, left somewhat in

unrevealed," sa

that "

all

conjectures about

must

be, if not

evidently

absurd,

at

least

uncertain."

The
rigid

three great creeds

of Christendom carefully
it

avoid

all

attempts to express
explanation.

by any

formula of
figurative

They do not build

solid
edifices

illustrations

into

of

dog:matic theology.

They

are

content to in-

Modern Eeligious Thought.

dicate, as

47

" after a

we should be content to know, that certain admirable manner " but how

we

are unable to define

perfect

it

was in

its effects,

full,

and

sufficient

redemption, propitia-

tion

and

satisfaction for all the sins of the

whole world, both original

there
is

and

actual,
sin

and

none other satisfaction for

but that

alone."

And

in this sense,
it

we may say with

Hooker, " Let

be counted folly or fury or

it is

frenzy or whatsoever,

our wisdom and our

comfort; we

care for

no knowledge in the

world but

hath suffered; that

sin of

man hath sinned and God God hath made Himself the men, and that men are made the rightthis, that

eousness of God.""'^

* 2 Cor.

V. 21.

Hooker Serm.

II. 6.

UL.

BY

P.

T.

F0R5YTH
Cambridge.

M.A.,

D.D.,

I.

^Negative,
is

'^

Back

to Christ "

a most necessary move-

ment

in every unsettled age ; but the Reformers'

it is

version of

the true one.

it

If the

word

is

taken in spiritual earnest

means "back to

the Cross," and back to the Cross means not

only back to the moral principle of sacrifice,

but back to the religious principle of expiation.

Moreover, to go back to a principle which
really the act of a person is to
is

go back to a

power.

And

the one power the Church needs

is

to have revived

that power of personal faith

reality

which gathers about the

perience

and
is

the ex-

of justification.

There

no

real

revival of the
that.

Church which does not revive

It is impossible in this

region to separate

religion

from theology.
so separated,
51

religion of
it is

symnot,

pathy

may be

but then

62
strictly

The A-tonement
speaking, a
religion.

in
It

might be

Positivism, or

some other

fraternity.

But a

religion of forgiveness

must be a

religion of

theology.

It is our answer, not to a

human
new

need, but to a Divine revelation.

If the faith of the

Church

is

take a

departure

it

must proceed from a new and

;

practical grasp of revelation

and of the revecentral

lation

which

deals with the

situation of sin

human
It

situation
is

the

and

guilt.

a faith and revelation which are concen-

trated in an Atonement.

The mind and

this

soul of the

Church returns to

perennial interest.
its

The Church must

But
in

always adjust
so returning

compass at the Cross.

it

does not simply retrace the steps

or tread the round of those that have gone

before.

There

is

deepening

evolution

of

hinnan thought in this regard.

The

efforts

to pluck the heart from its mystery are not a

series

of

assaults

renewed with blind and

dogged courage

on

an

impregnable

hold.

They form the

stages of a long spiritual moveof arduous illumination

ment

of slow battle,

Modern Eeligious Thought.

and severe conquest.
through the
'

53
e.g.,

We

have

gone,

moral theory/ and come out at

the other side, not where

we went
is

in.

To

this

movement
the

little

or nothing
of

contributed by

human thought or knowledge. The revelation of God in the Cross of Christ is its own reforming principle and its own cleansing light. Nothing gained
inferior branches

in

anthropology,

psychology, or

philosophy

can really do more than remove the misconceptions which they themselves created in their
first

interpreter,

The Cross is its own own reformer, and its own It is its own principle, its own sanctifier. corrective, its own deliverer from misconstruction rational or irrational. It is its own evidence
blundering stages.

and

its

to our moral need.

No

conclusions of anthropofall,

logy, for instance, about a historic

or the

connection of sin and physical death, affect the

matter.

The need

of

Atonement does not

on the

rest

on an

historic fall, but

reality of pre-

sent and corporate guilt.

rests

And
real

the fact of
as any
Tlie

it

on an experience as
basis

which

forms the

of

science.

Christian

64
mind,

The Atonement
moved
no
nor

in

and lightened by the

Holy
the

Ghost, does not rotate but march.

progress
is

And

less sure
direct.

because

it is

neither
to

continuous

We

have much

drop on the route as a condition of getting

home.

We
it

have to save truth by losing

soul.

it,

though

seem part of our

We

shed

the husk to grow the tree.

of

And
clearly

in this matter
clearly

Atonement some things are

some are as

learnt

to be wrong,

found to be

true as
1.

we move from

faith to faith.

We have outgrown the idea that God has to be reconciled. We see, as we never did We know before, how unscriptural that is.
that the satisfaction

made by

Christ,

no

less

than the

sacrifices of

the old law, flowed from

it.

the grace of God, and did not go to procure

2.

We

have outgrown the idea that Redemp-

tion cost the Father nothing, that

He had
more

only

to receive the payment, or even the

sacrifice,

which the Son made.

We

realise

clearly

that the Son could not suffer without the Father

suffering.
tiiat it

We realise that forgiveness did cost,

was not a matter of course to paternal

Modern Eeligious Thought.

indulgence, that
it

55

involved conditions of sorrow

wMch

were not confined either to Christ or to

man, that a forgiveness which cost the forgiver

nothing would lack too

much

in moral value or

dignity to be worthy of holy love or rich in

spiritual effect.
3.

We

have outgrown the idea that Christ

took our punishment in the quantitative sense

of the word.
equivalent.

What He

offered

was not an

So also there can be no imputation

of

as

transfer

quantitative

merit.

We
Him

are

agreeing to see that what

fell

upon

was

not the equivalent punishment of

sin,

but the

due judgment of

it, its

condemnation.

But we

are also returning to see that

sin's

what He bore was

condemnation, and not a mere sympathetic

suffering.

He

did not indeed bear our guilt in

the sense of a vicarious repentance.

That

foi

His holiness was impossible.

sin for us could never be

He who was made

sinful, nor, being

made

made a
yet

curse for us, was

He

accursed.

But

what He bore was much more than the

the

Weltschmerz,

human

travail;
flesh.

it

was the

condemnation of sin in the

56

The Atonement

in

4.

We

are

only

just

escaping

from

the

modern and sentimental idea

found no
difficulty

of love

which

placed by the holy law of

It is

God's nature in His way of forgiveness.

an immoral love which has no moral hesitation

about mercy.

There are conditions to be met

not in man, but in the very nature
so

which
of

reside,

God Himself, and

to the

of

human

dignity.

The key
lies

whole situation on this question

in

some words I have already quoted in

public.

" The dignity of

if

man would

be better assured

he were shattered on the inviolability of this

if

holy law than

for his

mere happy existence

it

were ignored."
T hope that

we

are beyond the idea that

punishment

is

an arbitrary ordinance of God,

is

that the conjunction of sin and suffering

result of a

the
will

mere decree, and that the same

it

which decreed
pleasure.

can dissolve

it

at His kind

We

realise, in

our moral progress

under the Christian revelation, that the law

which

iniins

the sinner

is

as eternal and holy

in the nature of

God

as the passion to

make

Modern Eeligious Thought.

him a
saint.

57

And we

have in the whole

New
is

Testament a standard of Divine love which

truer than those domestic analogues so dear to

a theology

popularised
life

among

great classes

with no interest in
tions.

higher than the affec-

There are some to whose experience the

parable of the prodigal means more than the

death of Christ.
5.

We have outgrown
God
till

also the other extreme

^that

forgiveness cost so

much

that

it

was

impossible to

justice

was appeased and

mercy
6.

set free

by the blood of Christ.

left

We
the

have further
satisfaction

the idea behind

that

of

Christ

was made

either to

God's wounded honour or to His

punitive justice.

And we

see
it

with growing

and united

clearness that

was made by
There
is

obedience rather than by suffering.

a vast difference between suffering as a condition

of

Atonement

and
in

suffering
it,

as

the
it

thing of positive worth

its value.

what

gives

We

are beyond the idea that there

was any saving value in the mere act of

dying, apart from the spiritual

manner

of

it.

58
It
is

The Atonement

in

not a mere fact, but the person in

it,

that can mediate between soul and soul.

is

It

true the effect would not

Christianity

have been won

in the Ser-

if

had been complete

mon on

Mount and Christ had passed to heaven from the Mount of Transfiguration
the
;

but not because

He

would not have paid the

vital

death penalty, but only because a

terminal portion of

and

human

experience would

have been

excluded from

acknowledging in

Him
a

the righteousness of God.

The saving

value both of His sorrow and death came from

holy obedience, owning, in His most intense

actuality
of life

and extreme

viz.,

agony
broken

and death
law.

the

righteousness

of the

The law was a law of hungering

sacrifice

holiness,

and the submission and

mere clamant

were not to

justice or Divine wrath.

The wrath

of

God, we

all

must ageee,

could not fall in this form of displeasure on

His beloved Son.

There can be no talk of

placation or mollifying.

And by

the wrath of

God we mean, and

see that the Bible means,

the judgment of a holy

God upon

sin

even

MoDEEN Eeligious
more than the
sinner.
7.

Thotjght.

59

disposition of

God towards the

Christ's

We

can

no

longer

separate

life

of obedience

from His expiatory death.

not simply in death, but
this

He was
unto

obedient,

death.

But

means not a tuning

down
life.

of His death, but a tuning

It

up of His

means that His whole person was

its

expiatory in

ultimate function and supreme

this

work.

It

was on
His

ground that

He

forgave

sin during

life.

Each miracle
an expiation.
in

cost,

and
sor-

was preceded by, a small Passion.

rowful existence was
sufferings

His

All His

were

death

advance,

deaths

manifold, chastisements of sin, and in their

nature expiatory.
often before
8.

He was

inwardly in deaths

He

died the outward death.

We

are, I hope, all giving

up the ten-

dency to twist Scripture into support of our

theories,

orthodox or hberaP

In particular,

scholarship
pels

more and more unanimously comgive

us

to

up the Roman idea that means making

just

justifying in St. Paul

and

not declaring just;

or that "the righteous-

60
ness of

The Atonement

in

God" means

the ethical attribute of

God conveyed to God as a status

unite.

us, rather

than the

gift

of

conferred on us.

On

such

points the old theology and the

new

exegesis
of

The

finality

of Paul's

authority,

course, is a separate question, but his

meaning

should not be longer in dispute.

By

justification

Paul at least meant somefiat

thing more forensic than ethical, a

more

than a verdict of God, something more creative

than appreciative, more synthetic than analytic.
It

was most original and wonderful, a new

morality more moral than any natural ethic,

and high removed from the judgment of the

natural traditional conscience.
9.

We are leaving

behind

us, to all appear-

ance, the hazy idea that we have the fact of

the Atonement and

that no theory need

be

sought or can be found.

The

fact

of

the

Crucifixion does not depend on theory, but a

fact like the

Atonement can be separated from

theory of

some kind only by a suffusion of

sentiment on the brain, some ethical anaemia,

or a scepticism of the spiritual intelligence.

Modern Religious Thought.

10.

61

We

are abandoning the idea that any-

adequate treatment of this great and solemn

theme can
sonal

rest

on the basis of a merely per-

experience.

Amateur

and
is,

dilettanti
its

theologising, however devout,

by

very

individualism, disqualified for

any very valuable

verdict on such a universal theme.

The

history

of the question in the

Church

is

as little to be

despised as

it is

to be idolised.
is

If

we

fall

back

on experience the question

single experience,

too vast for any

is

and what we must use

the

experience of the Church.

final.

Yet even that is not

save us

The Bible must

still

from the

Church.

And

I hope

we have outgrown the

of truth

idea that anything so subjective as the Christian consciousness can be the test

which, in

its

very nature as a saving power,

first

must be in the

place

objective.

Our
is

forgiveness has an objective

ground, and

inseparable from the death of Christ, and from

that death considered as something more than

the source of a

new type

of experience.
it

11. Expiation
said, are

and forgiveness,

has been

mutually exclusive.

If a sin has

been


62

The Atonement
is

in

expiated the account

cleared; theie is then

no need of forgiveness or question of Grace.

This was the criticism of Socinius on Ansekn.

May we
tive
is

hope that we are beyond that, that

it is

seen to miss the

mark

as soon as the quantita-

and equivalent theory of Christ's suffering

given up ?

Of

course,

an expiatory amount

of penalty purges the offence; and, the debt

being paid, the culprit

for his open door.

is

beholden to no grace

But

if

we

say that God,

sinner,

who

had a right

to destroy

each

offers

pardon to those who really own in the Cross

the kind (not the amount)
their
sin

of penalty

which

deserved,

then
still

the

contradiction

vanishes,

Grace
It
is

is

sovereign, free

and

unbought.

grace in
is

God

to accept

an

Atonement which
ledgment in

not an equivalent but a

practical, adequate,

and superhuman acknowthe awful debt foregone.

man of
II.

Positive.
texts
texts

12.

We

must go beyond even the

subject.

bearing on this

The

classic

have for the present been well-nigh exhausted.

Modern
The separation

Eeligiotjs Thought.

63

of Biblical

from dogmatic theoit

logy has left the Church free as

never was

before to recognise where the value of texts

ceases

and to abstain from pressing them ta

their hurt.

And

I come

now

to

the more

positive part of

my work when

I say that

we

must

start

from the actual

spiritual situation of

our day, and begin with the ruling contem-

porary idea to which the Spirit has led us in

His teaching and unteaching of His Church,

That ruling idea

is

revelation.

Jesus Christ

makes the claim

He

does upon the world not as

as
is

being a religious genius, but

Eevelation of God.
the

being the
involved in

What,

then,

way

of

Atonement or Expiation in the

Christian revelation of the love of

God

in

God

not simply as the Father, but as the Father

of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and
crucified ?

Him

mean by the
Is it

Christian Revelation

the revelation that Christ effected, and not only

what

He

taught.

a revelation of such

love as includes in itseK, in its

necessity, the
it

own

spiritual

judgment upon

sin,

and includes

not as a mere principle, but as an accom-

64

The Atonement

in

plished and exhibited moral fact?

revelation of love which

Have we a
also

not

only produces

repentance by

its effect

upon man, but

includes vdthin itself the actual judgment and

destruction of sin; and includes

necessity probable in

it

not as a

human

thought, but as
Is it

an active constituent of the revelation?

possible to

have any adequate sense of the

actual love of
real sense of

God

in Christ without an equally

His actual condemnation of sin ?

act, note,

its

condemnation in

not not

its

mere
our

hatred;

and

its

condemnation,

in

experience but in Christ's.

able

Is revelation separit

from judgment,

as

an actual element of

and not merely as a coming corollary?

Can

there be any assertion oi forgiving love without

an

assertion,

equally

actual

and adequate, and

its

of the moral majesty

difference

of that love,
?

from

mere kindness
not a
its

"Was

the

revelation of

holy love

equally and at
revelation

once,
sin,

in

the

same

fact,

of

a developing of sin to
to its
final

utmost
is

crisis,

and

judgment?

"God

Love"

has in the

New

Testament no meaning apart

Modern Eeligious Thought.

66

from the equally prominent idea of righteousness, of

God
is

as the author

and guardian of
principle

the moral holy law.

of pardon

The Christian

not forgiveness to repentance (no

forgives a real

strong

man

wrong on a thin
but to

repentance,

mere

attrition),

due

repentance.

And
but

a due repentance means a

repentance not only sincere (and certainly not

equivalent),

containing

some

adequate

sense of the evil done.

And

that means an
of

adequate

recognition

in

experience

the

majesty and inviolability of the law of holiness.

But such a recognition

sinful soul or race.

is

not possible to a

It could only be
its

made by
yet

a conscience unblunted in
because sinless in
identified
its

moral perceptions
obedience,

moral

in

sympathy with the

sinful race.

It is this practical

and experienced recognition

It
is

that

is

the Atonement or Expiation.

ratifying

by act

and

experience,

by assent
on
but
are

which was response and by a response which

was
sin.
it is

lived

and

died, God's death sentence

It is not repentance in Christ's case,

the source of repentance in us

who

C6
joined with

The Atonement
Him.

in

And

the two polar experi-

encesj joined in one spiritual

and organic act

of mystic union,

form the complete type of

Christian faith.

The repentance
judgment

is

ours alone
not.

the penalty

is

not, the

is

The The

penal judgment or consequence or curse of sin

did fall on Christ, the penitential did not.

sting of guilt was never His, the cry on the

cross

was no

wail of
of

conscience.
guilt
it.

But the
His.

awful
entered

atmosphere
it,

was

He

and died of

Our chastisement

was on Him, but God never chastised Him.

The penalty was His, the repentance remains

ours.

His expiation does not dispense with

ours, but evokes

and enables

it.

Our saving

repentance

is

not due to our terror of the judg-

ment

to fall on us, but to our horror of the

judgment we brought on Him.

recognition of the

The due
ours

wounded law was His, but

the sense of having inflicted the

alone.

wound
we

is

Yet not possibly ours

till

are acted
is

on by what was His.

penitence.

The truth

of penalty

The end and

intent of the judgof ourselves in

ment on Him was our judgment

Modern Religious Thought.

Him.

67

The use

of penalty
all

is

to rouse the true

punishment in
guilt

penalty, viz., the

sense

of
is

and personal repentance.

Eepentance

never regarded in Christianity as a thing possible

by

itself,

or a condition effectual by itself

without God, but only as that part or action of

the complete work of Christ which takes effect

through

us.

It

is

the form assumed by the

work of

Christ, the

judgment on

Christ, as it

enters our atmosphere of personal guilt.

The question
culty lie that

really

is.

Where

did the

diffi-

was to be overcome by Redempin forgiving the penitent, or in

tion ?

Was
it

it

producing the penitence that could be forgiven ?

Was

in

science or

God or in man, in the Divine conthe human ? Where did Christ feel

that the obstacle lay with which

deal ?

He had

to

Was

the objective of the Cross

our

human impenitence
Did

or something superhuman ?

He

close

with something which had no

right,

right,

or something which had every

with

human

hostility or Divine claim?

Was

He

dealing with a

human

attitude or with

a Divine relation?

Was He

engrossed with

68

The Atonement

in

what He was doing toward men or toward

God? If we
it

select

one of these ways of putting

difficulty lay in

and ask whether the

pro-

ducing forgiveness or

f orgiveableness,

we must

answer that

it

was both.

The

antithesis is but

on the surface.

They unite below. That which

in

really produces forgiveable penitence

is

man

the expiation to law which bore

first

on God.

It

was to the law that produces penitence that

forgiving grace
of the Cross on

had

to die.
is

The moral

effect

man

due to a nature in

man

continuous with the moral nature of God.

Love's awful moving cost in satisfying the

broken law and maintaining

violable honour,
is

its

holy and in-

the only means of produc-

ing such a sense of guilt as

God can
is

forgive.

The

difficulty of true

repenting

the difficulty

of realising that

His holiness so

God took the broken law of much to heart that it entailed

the obedience in agony and death of the Holy

One.

Without the death of Christ the sinner

he
;

feels that

is

pursued only by an unexhausted

judgment

and the end of that may be panic.

MoDEKN Religious Thought.

but not penitence.
its

69

It is the exhaustion of

judgment and not

remission that produces

is

the penitence which

forgiveably

sensible

both of the goodness and the severity of God.

It
is

the

impossibility of remitting
possible
is

judg-

ment that makes

sin.

the remission of the creation

of

The holy law

not
it

God but His nature, and

as less than inviolate

cannot be treated
eternal, it

and

cannot

be denied or simply annulled unless

false to Himself.

He seem

If a play on

words^ be per-

mitted in such a connection, the self-denial

of Christ was there

because

God

could not

deny Himself.
I
repeat, the
itself

form in which the question

is

presents
is

to-day

whether Redemption

a constituent element of Revelation or only

it
;

a consequence of

and whether

it is so,

both

in a theological analysis of the idea,

and as an and
act,

interpretation
Christ, in

of the

spiritual
totality.

fact

His historic

We

may mark

these stages

at

which

my

space will only allow

me

to hint.

I take shelter under Matt. xvi. 25.

70

The Atonement
(1)

in
of

Redemption
is

is

part

Revelation.
effectual,

Revelation
i.e., till

not Revelation

till it is

it

come home
is

as such.

revelation

merely displayed
till

none.

It is not revelation
soul.

it

strike

light

on the

The very

first

revelation involved the creation of a

man

to receive it;

Revelation and Creation were

one

act.

So the second and greater Revelation

was not mere illumination or mere impression.

It

was Redemption.

It involved the recreation

it

of the soul to take

facto

in.

Revealing was ipso

remaking, as a great and original genius

has slowly to create the taste to appreciate

him.

The

act which reveals his soul

If only

his world.

makes we could grasp the idea of

revelation as something done instead of some-

thing shown, as creation instead of exhibition,

as renovation instead of innovation, as resur
rection instead of communication.
(2)

Atonement

is

a constituent of Redempare to be redeemed from

guilt.

tion.
is

The thing we

not chiefly ignorance or pain, but

to

The thing
address

which revelation

has

first

to

itself is guilt.

The

love of

God can

Modern Religious Thought.

only be revealed to sinful

71

men

as in primary
guilt.

relation not to lovelessness

but to

It

can only appear as atoning love in some form

of judgment.

We are to be
God.
there

redeemed by judgment some-

where from condemnation, from the wrath of

There
is is

no question of placation, but

of

expiation, of
holiest

owning the
sacrifice
is

holiest

law

by

the
grief.

and
question

the
of

humblest

There

that law which to recognise as co-eternal with

love is the sign
virility.

of religious earnestness and

Salvation must be salvation not from

Christ did not

judgment, but by judgment.

simply pronounce

jugment,

but

effected

it.

And He

gave

it

effect in

His own person and

experience.

He bore
the

the infinite judgment

of

He
in

pronounced.

The prophet

woe becomes
of

few

chapters
XXV.,

victim

woe

(Matt.

xxiv.,

xxvi.).

The agent of judgment

becomes the object of judgment, and so becomes

the agent of salvation.
earth,
as the
is

As Judge

of all the

Conscience of the

conscience,

Christ

absolute in His judgment, unsparing

72

The Atonement
final in

in

and

His condemnation.
of

But as the
attracts,

second

Adam and Man

;

men He

accepts and

absorbs in Himself His

own
for

holy

judgment
tiie

and

He

bears, in

man and
guilt.

man,

double

crisis

and agony of His own two-

edged vision of purity and

purity has

He whose
and
realise

the sole right to

judge has by the

feel

same purity the only power to

such

judgment.

power for
Saviour.
(3)
is

Him
it

And His And duty.

love

made

that
their

so

He was

Need

be said that Atonement for us

as impossible

by us as
is

it

is

necessary to
;

holiness ?

Amendment

not reparation
to the

and

repentance even cannot

lift itself

measure

of the broken law or gauge

how

great the fault

has been.

If

made, the reparation must be

made by God Himself.

case of altering
relations with

The

sacrifice flows

from

grace and does not produce grace.

It

is

not a

God's

disposition

but

His

man, of enabling

Him

to treat

man
that

as

He

feels.

It is persistently overlooked

it is

an act of grace and not of debt on

God's part to accept even the satisfaction and

Modern Eeligious Thought.

atonement of Chris
fc

78

for

human

forgiveness.

We must never use the word

of Christ's sacrifice, in

satisfaction, even

any way which would

suggest equivalence, and constitute mere claim

on God, any more than mere exemption for

us.

Atonement

is

substitutionary, else it

is

none.

Let us not denounce or renounce such words,

but interpret them.
to

They came
necessity,

into existence

meet a

spiritual

and to sweep

them away
worse.

is spiritual

wastefulness, to say no

We may replace the

or

word substitution
but the

by

representation

identification,

thing

remains.

Christ not

only

represents

God

to

any to

man to God. Is it possible for represent man before Holy God without man
but

identifying himself in some guiltless

way with

human

sin,

without receiving in some

sin ?

way

th

judgment of

Could the second

Adam

be

utterly untouched
if

by the second death ?

it

Yet

the Sinless was judged

was not His own

It

judgment

He

bore,

but

ours.

was not

simply on our behalf, but in our stead

quantitatively, but
centrally.

yet not

Representation

apart from substitution implies a foregone con-

74
sent

The Atonement

in

and election by the represented, which

all.

is

not Christ's relation to humanity at

us only be careful that

Let

we do not
That

so construe

the idea as to treat the sufferings of Christ as

in real parity with
ours.
is

a moral
said,

impossibility,

and lands

us, as has

been

in all the anomalies of an equivalent theology

which

it

is

the

merit

of

Socinus

to

have

destroyed.

The

principle of a vicarious Atone-

ment

is

bound up with the very idea of Eevelaemerging into

guilt.
;

tion, of love

There

is

an

atoning substitution and a penal

tential there is not.
(4)

but a peni-

1 can only here say a closing

last

word on

this

distinction.

I do not see

why we

should avoid describing the suffering of Christ

as penal.

Nor do

I see

punished by suffering.

how we can. Sin is And it was because

It

of the world's sin that Christ suffered.

was

the

punishment of

sin

that

fell

on Him.

He came

deliberately under that part of the

call

moral order which we may

universal Nemesis.
least as

the Divine and

Christ loved

loved hoKness at
willing

much

as

He

man; and the

Modern Religious Thought.

penalty of the Holy

76
in

One was the only form

which wounded holiness

could be honoured,
sin.

and love be revealed as in earnest with

It

was, moreover,
or

the

only

way
its

in

which
of

penalty

law

could
so

produce

fruit

repentance,
piation
is if

and
the

of

reconciliation.

Ex-

condition
if

of
its

reconciliation.

Penalty,

not vicarious,

source do not

also suffer, only hardens

and
it

alienates.

The
the

suffering

was penal in that

sin.

was due

in

moral order to
personality, to

It

was penal to Christ's

His consciousness, but not to

It

His conscience.

was not

penitential.
it.

There

was no self-accusation in
that

He

never felt
it

God was punishing Him, though

was
was
sin.

penalty, sin's Nemesis that

He

bore.

It

the consequence of

sin,

though not of His

And
sin
It

it

was the consequence attached by God to

penalty
;

sin's

and

He

so recognised

it.

was judgment, and therefore penalty, and

trial.

not mere pain or

Suffering does not

repair sin; only penalty does, working to re-

pentance.

But

it

was
is

not

substitutionary
thins: in

punishment.

There

no such

the

76

The Atonement

in

moral world. The worst punishment is to see the

penalty
it

we brought on Christ

whether

we

see

with faith in a saving way, or without faith

to our deeper condemnation.

To the question what the worth was which

God saw

in the

work of
it

Christ,

and what the

delectation

which gave

saving value to His

eye of grace, the answer can here be but in

useless brevity.
First, the practical

and ade-

quate recognition of a broken law in a holy

and universal

life is

an end in itself, and thereSecond, the effect

sacrifice

fore a Divine satisfaction.

of that vicarious

and loving

on men

must bring them

ciliation

to a repentance

and recon-

which was the one thing that God's

gracious love required for restored

communion

and complete forgiveness.

with them as

He

could

now

deal

He had
of

felt

from before the

foundation of the world.

It satisfied the claim

and harmony
satisfied the

His

holy

nature,

and

it

redemptive passion of His gracious

that effect on

heart.

Thirdly,

men

is

due

to the satisfaction of God's

moral nature in
in Christ

the constitution of man.

God was

Modern Religious Thought.

reconciling the world by the sacrifice
faction of Himself.

77
satis-

and

Human
original

illustrations are

more useful for imin

pression than for explanation

a case so

and
less

unique as Christ's, yet I

may

close

with one

common than

some.

Schamyl was the great

leader of the Caucasus
baffled the

religious

and military

who

for thirty years

advance of Russia in that region,

lives,

and, after the most adventurous of

1871.

died in

At one time

bribery and corruption had

become so prevalent about him, that he was

driven to severe measures, and he announced

that in every case discovered the punishment

would be one hundred

culprit

lashes.

Before long a

was discovered.

It

was his o?vn mother.

He

shut himself up in his tent for two days

vdthout food or water, sunk in prayer.

third day he gathered the people,
corpse,

On

the

and pale as a

commanded the

executioner to inflict

the punishment, which was done.

fifth
!

But at the " stroke he called "Halt had his mother

back;,

removed, bared his own

official to lay

and ordered the

on him the other ninety-five, with

78

The Atonement

in Eeligious Thought.

the severest threats

full

if

he did not give him the

weight of each blow.

is

This

a case where his penalty sanctified

her punishment both to herself and to the

awestruck people.

Every remission imperils the sanctity of law

unless he

who

remits suffers something in the

;

penalty foregone

and such atoning suffering is

which
is

essential to the revelation of love

to

remain great, high and holy.

Finally, if the Cross be penal

we have not
it
;

only to admit that

is

it is so,

but to urge

for it

of the essence of its value for the soul, and

the real secret of the Church's action on the

world.

IV.

BY LYMAN ABBOTT,

D.D.

"

Agamemnon has taken

of

as

prize

in

war

Chryseis, the daughter of Chryses, the priest

Phoebus,

and has

refused

to

allow her

father to ransom her.

In consequence Phoebus
the Greek camp,

has sent a pestilence into

and the people are perishing.

angry god,
Ulysses
is

To appease the
to

sent

return

the

captured daughter to her father.

to her father

Leading her
fat beeves as

and bringing the

a gift to the angry god, " the wise Ulysses

speaks thus

O Chryses Agamemnon, King of men, Sends me in haste to bring this maid to thee And offer up this hallowed hecatomb To Phoebus, for the Greeks that so the god Whose wrath afflicts us sore may be appeased.
! ;

The Apostle John,

of Jesus Christ, says
:

interpreting the sacrifice

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
These two quotations, one from
81

Homer
Q

the

82

The Atonement

in

greatest of the Greek poets,

the other from

John, the beloved

interpret
fice.
tv?^o

of the

Twelve Apostles,

contrasted conceptions of sacriis

In these conceptions there

a three-

fold difference.

In the pagan conception God

in the Christian conception

is

wrathful;

God

is is

Love.
wise, usually

In the pagan conception

wiser

man

than

the

god

whose

stern

mood he

softens; in the Christian conception

man

ia

destroying himself by
sin.

his ignorance

and his

In the
offered

pagan

conception

the

sacrifice

is

by man
peril

to appease the wrath of the

god ; the

comes from the god, the salva;

tion from " wise Ulysses "

in the Christian

conception the sacrifice

give life to

is

made by God

to

man; the

peril

comes to

man from
Church
of the

himself, the salvation from God.

The
in the

history of sacrifice in the Jewish

Old

Testament

is

a history

gradual process by which the pagan conception

was transformed into the Christian conception.

Nor

will it

seem strange

to us that the process

Modern Eeligious Thought.

was a very gradual one,
if

83

we consider what

moral as well as intellectual transformation

was required.

Before the Christian conception

it

of sacrifice could supplant the pagan,

was

necessary that
reverence for

man

should have such a spiritual

God

as would lead

him

to be

more

susceptible to the love of

God than

to fear of

His wrath

that he should have such humility

as to regard himself never as the inspirer of

God^s mercy, but wholly as the subject of a

mercy unpurchased and unpurchasable

and

that he should have such a sense of sey-sacrifice as

would lead him to comprehend

the

sacrifice offered

by the injured for the

injurer,

not by the injurer to the injured.

tion in thought was so great that

The
it

revolu-

has not yet

of

been

fully

accomplished,
is

and in much
an attempt to

modern theology there

inter-

mingle the pagan and the Christian conceptions

of sacrifice
;

to conceive of as

God

as angry

to

conceive of

man

by his repentance and acceptsacrifice securing

ance of a vicarious

the Divine
itself as

favour; to conceive of the sacrifice

offered

by one Divine Person to appease the

84

The Atonement

in

wrath and

satisfy the justice or fulfil the

law of

another Divine Person.

But

in fact

no concep-

tion of sacrifice corresponds with the teaching

of the

New

Testament, with the

life

of Christ,

or with the interpretation of that life by Paul,

or, indeed,

with the highest phases of Christian

expressed,

experience as

not

in

volumes of

theology, but in the most spiritual

hymns

of

the Christian Church, which does not in these

three respects

embody the Christian conception

In
the
Christian

and disregard or practically deny the pagan

conception.
sacrifice is
it is

conception

wholly an expression of Divine love

seZ/'-sacrifice,

wholly
life

and

its

object

is

to

impart

by God the Life-giver to man the

perishing.

There
this

is

not space in so brief an article as

to trace the

must be

Old Testament

his-

tory of this transformation.

In that history

the pagan and the Christian conceptions are

seen in conflict
:

the pagan
all

is

the popular one,

and
it

it is

supported, as in

ages of the world

It
is

has been, by the hierarchy.

most

clearly seen in the Levitical code,

though even

Modern Eeligious Thought.

85

there greatly modified from the earlier pagan

forms.

The Christian

or spiritual conception

underlies the

prophetic teaching, and grows

clear as the

more and more

spiritual

nation grows in
in

development, imtil

Isaiah

it

is

almost as clearly enunciated as in Paul himself.

That

sacrifice

proceeds

from God to

man, not from

man to

God,
is

is

implied even in

the Levitical code.

This

recognised by the

most orthodox
Barry,
'*

divines.

Says Rev.
Bible

Alfred

B.D.,

in

Smith's

Dictionary,
of
their

Whereas the heathen conceived

gods as alienated in jealousy or anger, to be

sought after, and to be appeased by the unaided action of man, sacrifice represents

God

Himself as approaching man, as pointing out

and sanctioning the way by which the broken

covenant should be restored."
It is

made

to appear also in the Levitical

code, scarcely less clearly, that the value

of

the sacrifice

is

not in any imagined effect on

as an expression of the

God, but in

its efficacy

mind and heart

portance
is

of the worshipper.

No

im-

attached to the intrinsic value of

86

The Atonement
;

in

the thing sacrificed

it

may be
;

a heifer, a pair

of doves, a sheaf of wheat

is

human

sacrifice

forbidden; great hecatombs are no longer

;

offered

attempts to appease
are

God by

costly

offerings

unknown;

sacrifice is

not com;

pulsory, it
its

must be a

freewill offering
it

and in
an

three chief forms

represents, never

attempt to appease the Divine wrath or win the

Divine favour, but an attempt to express a
divinely inspired experience
sin-offering,

penitence

by the

gratitude by the thank-offering,

consecration

by the burnt-offering.

Yet

still

the prophets see a danger of recurrence to the

pagan conception and constantly warn against

it.

So that

it is

not too

much

to say that the

is

whole Old Testament teaching

the

words

of

the

fifty-first

summed up in Psalm, " Thou

it
;

desirest not sacrifice, else

would I give

thou

delightest not in burnt-offering.

The

sacrifices

of

God
The

are a broken

spirit;

a broken and a

contrite heart,

God, Thou wilt not despise.**

third point in the Christian sacrifice,

se{/*-

that
for

it is

sacrifice offered

by God Himself
it is

man,

is

not

so clear.

Yet

hinted at

Modern Religious Thought.

87

even in the earliest teachings, as in the story

miscalled in
Isaac," in

common parlance " The Sacrifice of which God intervenes to forbid the
son by Abraham, and Himself

sacrifice of his

provides a sacrifice which

Abraham may
and

use as

an expression of
tion
;

his gratitude

self-dedica-

it is

implied in the teachings of Hosea,

whose mercy toward his apostate wife serves as

a parable of the unbought mercy of

God
life
;

seek-

ing to call back an apostate nation to

it is

and

explicit in the teachings

of the

second

Isaiah concerning the Suffering Servant of

God

who was "despised and

It

rejected of men, a

man

of sorrows and acquainted with grief."

would imply extraordinary self-conceit to

attempt to furnish in an article what I would

not venture to attempt in a treatise
theory
of

a complete
is

the

Atonement.

But the three

safely applied

principles indicated above

may be

to any theory
I.

on which our judgment

asked.

No

theory of the Atonemeat can be corit

rect

which represents

as a

method of appeas-

ing God's wrath, or satisfying His justice, or

meeting the requirements of His law, or de-

The Atonement
vised as a

in

substitute for punishment due to

infraction of that law.

in

This
*^

is

to

substitute

what Luther

called the

Little

Gospel,"

quoted from John above, for the thought of

God's love

" God

so

loved

the world," the

thought of His wrath or justice or law.

The

Atonement proceeds not from God's law or

justice or wrath,

but from His

is

love.

What
of
satis-

makes

it

necessary

not the

necessity

inflicting penalty

on lawbreakers, or of

fying justice, or of appeasing wrath;

what

makes
love

it

necessary

is

God's love, "the great

us,

wherewith

He

loved

even when we
It

were dead in trespasses and sins."

not

was

man

in Christ suffering

on behalf of

man
was
to

who God
II.

reconciled
in Christ

the world to

God

it

who

reconciled the

world

Himself.

No theory
offered

of the

Atonement can be

cor-

rect
it is

which implies,

directly or indirectly, that

by man or on behalf of man

sacrifice

to

God.
offered

Whether the
by
of

be a hecatomb
or

"wise
the

CFlysses,"

bloodless

sacrifice

Mass

offered

by a Roman

Modern Eeligious Thought.

Catholic priest, or an imitation of such
offered

89

Mass
a
of

by an AngKcan Catholic

priest, or

demand that the worshipper by an

faith
if

act

make the

sacrifice of Christ his

is

own

the sacrifice

conceived as offered by or
to God,

on behalf of

man

and

its

object to

produce an effect on the mind and heart of

God

it is

so far pagan, not Christian.

Christian offering was conceived by

The God and

signifi-

proceeds from God.

It is not

without

cance that Paul never says Christ died in the

stead of

man, but always on behalf of man,

It

(never avTt anti, but always vwep huper).

is

not without significance that John declares

that

God

sent

His Son to be the propitiation

for our sins.

The

propitiation comes
;

from the

One

to be propitiated
is

it is

self -propitiation.

The Atonement
love for
love.

the expression of Divine

man, not the means of winning that

" God commendeth His love toward us

in that, while

we were yet

sinners, Christ died

for us."
III.

No

theory of the Atonement, therefore,

can be correct which represents the object of

90

The Atonement

in

the Atonement to exert an influence by

man me

upon God

it is,

on the contrary, God's method

of exerting an influence

upon man.
all theories

Let

not be misunderstood.

Of

of the

Atonement, that which represents the crucifixion

of

Christ as a dramatic spectacle, devised to

produce an emotional effect upon a world of

spectators, appears to

me

the least deserving of

intellectual or spiritural effect.

Let

it

once be a " plan

effect,
;

understood that this

sacrifice is part of

of salvation " gotten up for emotional

and

it

will

have no

emotional

effect

as

the mother

who

sheds tears to influence her

boy, simply disgusts

him and the preacher who

;

affects tears in his preaching produces amuse-

ment

in his auditors.
is

But the object of the

Atonement

not an appeal by, or on behalf of

it is

man

God for mercy; mercy by God to man.

to It costs

a free grant of

Self-sacrifice is the

Divine method of life-giving.

something to the doctor to heal a

for a scholar to teach

patient;

more

an ignor-

amus

most

of all for a holy soul to cleanse

life

an unholy one and give

to

one that

is

Modern Eeliqious Thought.

dead.
his

91
for

An

unsuffering patriot can do

crisis
;

little

country in a

an unsuffering be-

liever
its

nothing for his church in the time of

;

moral peril

an unsuffering mother cannot

child

recover a

wayward

from

his sins;

and

an unsuffering God
ing world.

could not redeem a perishof

The passien
sin
is,

Christ tells the

world what

for it

tells

how a
tells

sinful

world treats perfect love.

love
is
is,

It

us

what
love

for

it

tells

us

what the Divine

willing to suffer for a sinful world.

The

object of the

Atonement

is

not to enable

man
sin.

to escape penalty, it is to

redeem him from

If the reader will take his Bible,

and examine

with care the passages most frequently quoted

in support of the doctrine of the Atonement, he
will find that

not one of them connects sacrifice

;

with the remission of penalty

it

they

all

connect

with deliverance from sin

" The Lord hath

laid

on

Him
sin"

the iniquity of us all"; '*The

blood of Jesus Christ His

Son cleanseth us

from
the

all

these

two passages, one from

the
other

Gospel

of

Isaiah,

from the

Gospel of John, are typical of the teaching of

The Atonement
both the Old and the
subject.

in

New

Testaments on this

The doctrine
hold logically

of the

Atonement which we
and

carries with it a corresponding

conception

of

forgiveness

sacrifice

as

between

imitators of
this

man and man. We are bidden to be God as dear children. What does mean? If He never forgives without
if it is

exacting a penalty,

necessary that some

one should suffer vicariously for the sinner

before

God can pardon him, then

we, too, as

imitators of God, will demand, before

we

for-

give

him who has sinned against

some one

us, either that

he

suffer or that

suffer in his stead.

if

If God, that

He may

forgive, suffers,

He

endures self-sacrifice in the person of His Son,

that

He may redeem from their own undoing those who have done Him wrong, then in imitation of His example

and as participators in His

love

we

shall gladly offer self-sacrifice, if

self-inflicted

by

it

we can redeem from

What, then, I have

penalty the

one who has wronged us.

tried to say in this article,
is
all

which I have purposely made simple,

Modern Eeligious Thought.

summed up
object of the
in these

93

three propositions:
is

The

Atonement

the purification of
;

man, not the appeasement of God

the Atone-

ment

is

made by God, not by man, nor by any

one acting for or in place of

inspiration of the

man

and the

Atonement

is

the love of God,

not His law. His justice or His wrath.

BY

R.

J.

CAMPBELL,
Brighton.

B.A.

I.

Persistence op the Doctrine.

is

Christ

our Saviour from everything that

fear,

humanity has cause to

and our Saviour to

everything for which humanity ought to hope.

The work
a

of Christ in relation to

human

ill is

redemption.
as

Eedemption has a general as well

In
its

particular meaning.
it

particular

meaning

may be

held to comprise the work of

in its generic sense
in relation to

Christ in relation to sin;

it

includes the
evil,

work of Christ
that
is,

cosmical

the putting
creation
relation

right of

everything

that
of

afflicts

and man.
to
sin
is

The work
ment.

Christ

in

exhibited in the Christian doctrine of Atone-

We

are all familiar with certain ideas

it,

included in

ideas expressed

by the words

expiation, reconciliation, propitiation, ransom,

satisfaction.

Each

of these aspects contains a

is

certain truth,

and the one doctrine which

^

The Atonement
held to include them
all
is

in

the doctrine

of

Atonement.
If

we could regard the

as a

doctrine of Atone-

ment

term of convenience to include the

cognate ideas just stated, we could understand

the significant place
tian
history.
it

has occupied in Chris-

The

word

atonement
but the
are
of

can
ideas

hardly

be

called
its

Scriptural,

which
or

form

constituents

present

suggested

on

every

page

the

New
in a

Testament.
of

No

one will deny that the doctrine

Atonement has always been associated

special

way with the

sufferings

and death
Christian
their

of

Christ.

In every one of the

centuries

Christians, in speaking about

Master, have held that by His sufferings and

death in some mysterious way a remedy has

been provided for human

sin.

This statement
it is

may
from

be challenged, but surely

sufficiently

true to be apparent to every one.

it

We

note

that though theories of the Atonement

have come and gone, belief in the fact has persisted

and continues to
persists for

persist.

But any idea

which

a long period of time in

Modern Eeligious Thought.

99

human human
need.

history

must be

said to have value in

experience,

and must somewhere or

other contain a truth which answers to

human
that

Before we try to show what

it is

in the doctrine of

Atonement has

persisted
it

throughout the Christian centuries,

may be

worth our while to look at some of the ways in

which men have stated that doctrine in days

gone by.

To attempt here an adequate survey

Christian doctrine df

of the history of the

Atonement

is

a task too great.

it

The

subject

is

so vast that

is

almost

a presumption to
,

attempt to deal with

requisite, however, that

it at all.

It is almost

we should touch upon

some

of the theories that have been propounded

to Christians in past ages as an explanation of

the

means

whereby their redemption was

effected.

In the

first place,

we

are in possession of the

New
ciples

Testament writings, the most important

first dis-

source of information as t what the

thought about the work of Christ in

relation to sin.
fication

We need not attempt

classi-

of the various passages wherein the

100
doctrine of
defined.

The Atonement
Atonement
is

in

suggested

if

not

That work has been done over and

Every Nonconformist must be

over

again.

familiar with the forcible

is

presented in

way in which the case Dr. Dale's magnum opus, or by

Here we

Dr. Crawford or Macleod Campbell.

may

content ourselves with the general stateof the Atone-

ment that whatever our theory

ment may
go
to

be

the

Pauline,
full of

Petrine,

and

Johannine Epistles are

statements which
belief

show

that

in

the

of

the

primitive Church the sufferings

and death of

our Lord had an immediate bearing upon the

forgiveness of sins.

how anyone can read

come
to

the

am at New

a loss to

know
the

Testament and

any

other

conclusion.

For

moment,

therefore,

we need

seek to establish

no more than

this, that

the work of Christ in

relation to sin as set forth within the pages of

the

New
this

Testament has been closely associated

with His suffering and death.

We are
we
It

not told

how

came
it

to be the case,

are simply
is

assured that

was the

case.

not a

question of theory, but of fact.

Modern Religious Thought.

101

After the apostolic period there ensues a

time of darkness in the history of the naseent

Christian
society.

We

cannot say

that

we

know much
that period.

of what was happening during

But from the sub-apostoKc age

case
is

onward
broadly

the

different.

Speaking

we may say that the

consciousness of
is

the nascent Christian Church

fairly

well

interpreted by the writings of the Fathers from

Clement of

Rome

to

Bernard of

Clairvaux.

The ante-Nicene

writers,

speaking generally,

avoid giving any theory of the Atonement at

all
;

they content themselves with stating the

fact.

Two

exceptions

may be

cited

Origen

and

Irenseus.

These two

thinkers,

though far

apart in their spheres of labour, came near

together in their theory

of

the

redemptive

work of Jesus

Christ.

According to their view

man was

held

to

have

fallen

under the

dominion of Satan, and the Son of God by His

sufferings paid a

ransom to Satan

in order that

mankind should be freed from

his power.

The

post-Nicene Fathers, for the most part, seem

to have adopted this view without attempting

102
to justify

The Atonement
it.

in

Amongst

their

statements

we
ex-

find the ideas that the

Atonement was a ransom

God.

to Satan

and yet a
is

sacrifice to

No

planation

offered of either

ransom or

sacrifice.

Augustine anticipated the Christian thought of

later times

by suggesting that
of

Christ's Atone-

ment was part

Anselm, with

an eternal purpose.
in Christian thought

The next great name

is

said to begin.

whom Scholasticism may He rejected the ransom

be
to

Satan theory, saying as we should say

now

that Satan had no rights over humanity, and

in place of this notion of

he advanced the idea

an

infinite satisfaction for

an

infinite debt.

He
of

maintained that by man's sin the majesty

God had been

offended,

and yet that man

offer

was unable of himself to

satisfaction for the offence.

an adequate
in answer

Hence
?

to the question Cur

Deus homo

Anselm de-

clared that the

Son of God became man in

offer the only satisfaction

order that

He might

that could be considered adequate.

God the
sin

Father, he contended, could not pardon

without such an atonement.

Modern

Eeligiotjs Thought.

103

Later mediaeval opinion was divided as to the

worth of Anselm's theory.

its

The

greatest of

critics

was Abelard, who asked the very

reasonable question

how

the guilt of mankind

could be atoned for by the addition to that

guilt

which was

involved in putting Christ

St.

to death.

Even Abelard's famous opponent,

necessitated in such wise that

Bernard, repudiated Ansehn's contention that

God was
fell

He

could not pardon sin without atonement, and

back upon the pre-Anselmic theory of a

satisfaction to Satan.

To

us,

nowadays, these explanations of a

great article of Christian belief seem imsatisfactory, but it

ought to be remembered that

held them were intellectually

the

men who

equal to the best that can be produced to-day.

Their theories have failed because our habit of

mind has changed.

the kernel of truth
theories

Theories are only husks;

lies

within.

All

these

had a common basis, or rather, a common thought underlay them, namely, that human guilt is so real that its removal requires

more than the mere

declaration that

man

is

104

The Atonement
It

in

forgiven on repentance.
reality of

was

felt that

the

moral

evil

is

so intractable that in

some mysterious way

its

removal could only be

purchased by the Passion of Deity.

When we come
emphasis.

to the period of the

Reforma-

tion the doctrine of

Atonement

receives a

new

Roman

Catholic doctrine

on the

subject agrees in the

gelical theology.

main with modern evanof the Reformers, on

Most

the other hand, held and taught the doctrine

of the total depravity of

human
Against

nature, and

introduced the idea that Christ bore the penal

sufferings

of

sinners.

this

view

Socinianism and allied systems of thought protested,

but did so by going to the opposite

extreme and declaring that in the Passion of

Christ

God enacted a drama,

as

it

were, in the

presence of humanity, and strove to win men's

love

by the exhibition of a suffering Saviour.

all

Modern thought has played around

Atonement has
either been

these

positions with the result that the doctrine of

pushed into the

background altogether or has been presented in

categories

which

the

modern mind

rejects.

Modern Eeligious
One kind

Thoitght.

105-

of evangelical theology seems to say

that Christ died to save

mankind from the

is

penalty of sin.

Salvation

regarded as the

deliverance from the consequences of misdoing,

and, while

it

would be hardly
Christianity as

fair to say that

evangelical

a whole

is

comit is

mitted to this crude and one-sided view,

certainly not too

the hearers of

much to say that many evangelical

this is

what

appeals are

given to understand.

larger view of salvation has led

many

evangelical

teachers
as of

to

regard

the fact of

Atonement
theory.

more importance than the

Butler, in the Analogy,

makes

this

statement.

Dr. Dale, in his preface to the

doctrine, says

work on the

substantially the

same thing, and appeals to experience as confirmation of the

undoubted truth

that the

preaching of Christ crucified has set

men

free

from the thraldom of

life possible.

sin

and made a holy

is

Another view

that presented

by such mystical thinkers as William Law, who

in his "Serious Call to a

Devout and Holy

Life," tells us that

"to have a true idea of

106
Christianity

The Atonement
we must not

in

consider our blessed

stead,

Lord as suffering in our

representative,

but as

our
witli

acting in our

name, and

sucb particular merit as to

with

make our
preachers
bolder

joining

Him

acceptable unto God."

in

From this position some own day have taken the

Atonement
altogether,

our
of

course

omitting the objective side of the doctrine of

and we are
hesitation,

all

familiar

with the amount

of

doubt,

and

bewilderment characteristic of honest religious

teachers,

who can

find

no place for the doctrine

faithful declar-

at

all,

and who think that the

of

ation

the need

of

repentance

and the

certainty of God's pardoning love is suflS.cient

for everyone.

Yet history should count

is

for

something.

Christian experience

cumulative,

but surely aught that has exercised a strong

formative
influence

upon Christian character

through long periods of time has some claim to

recognition and reverence.

Common

to all the

foregoing statements of the doctrine of Atone-

ment

is

some fact of experience.

it is.

We should

try to discover what

Modern

Eeligiotjs Thought.

107

When we
the
is it

say that the Christian doctrine of

Atonement has persisted through the

very
natural
inquiry
succeeds,

ages

What
that

that has persisted?

What
first

is it

saints

and theologians, from the

felt in

century to
as to the

the nineteenth, have

common
of

need of a great work wrought by the Son of

Ood

for the doing

away

seems to

me

that this

human sin? common element is

of guilt
is

It

the

sense of guilt.
logical fact

The sense

a psycho-

which emerges at a certain stage of

It is not the
guilty.

self-consciousness.

worst

men

who

feel the

most

A work of Christ is
is

going on in the soul which

contrite sorrow for sin.

conscious of

Many

of the noblest

of the saints have passed through a period of

anguish, self-reproach, and humiliation, at the

beginning

of their spiritual life.

Men

like

Augustine, Cyprian, Bunyan,

and Spurgeon

have known this experience; their very holiness was the result of
it.

The

sense of guilt,

though not a universal

one, and

fact, is

a very general

we

are justified in thinking that it

has been a preliminary note of saintship in


108
every age.

The Atonement

in

It is this sense of guilt

which has

awakened men to the need of Atonement, and

it is

the discovery that the preaching of the

fact of
relief to

Atonement has the power

the sense of guilt that has
doctrine.

to

bring

made men
of

cling to the

Some explanation

the doctrine, therefore, based on the recognition that

it

comes as a

relief to the sense of guilt

and as a means of separation between a man

and

his evil past is the one

we

are waiting for.

II.

Suggestions toward a Theory.

We ought to note, in the first place, that with

the appearance of Christ in the world there
coincident
is

the

emergence of

a great

spiri-

tual need, the need of relief to the sense of

guilt

when

experienced.
it

It is not easy to say

just where

begins or

who has

felt it

and who

has not.

In some persons self-blame scarcely

all
;

seems to awaken at

in others

it is

fitful

and incomplete, sometimes weaker, sometimes

stronger, as
the case

may

be.

In others

it

exhibits itself as a tendency to lay stress on

Modern Eeligious Thought.

ome
evil

109

deed or moral event in a life-history

it

while in others, again,

takes the form of

sorrow for one's whole moral condition.

less

The

important experiences

may be
not,

passed over,
for,

but the deeper ones

may
is

paradox

though

it

may

seem, the very sense of short-

coming or demerit which

noblene&s,
unrelieved,
feel

a condition of true
holiness,
is,

a move toward a
fatal

if

barrier
is

from
be

oneself

guilty
Hfe,

to

both. To made capable

of

higher

and
above

yet

imless
sense

one
of

can
guilt

somehow

rise

that

the higher
is

life is

for ever impossible.

Here

the psychological fact

that

the doctrine

of Atonement has in past ages successfully met,

and the
ought

insistent

need for the sake of which

to-day.

it

to

be

preached

I think

we
the

might quite legitimately say that unless the

need has awakened in the soul of any
doctrine will do

man

him but
;

little

good and may

be safely neglected

but

if,

on the other hand,

there should be even one man, and only one in

the whole world,

who has passed through the

guilt, I

deep experience of personal

should say

110
that for

The Atonement
him there ought

in

to be a doctrine of

Atonement

to preach, otherwise his sense of

guilt is a sentence of

condemnation

he must

remain where he

is,

without hope of attaining

to the experience of holiness.

This statement

may

be objected

to.

On

the

one hand

it is

often maintained that for any sin,

however great, the word of forgiveness and

reconciliation is

enough

a man needs no more;

it

while on the other hand

is

averred that the

deed once done can never be imdone, that the

sinner

must bear the consequences

is

of his sin,

and, what

more

terrible,

remain for ever

associated with the crippUng

memory

of

it.

Let us look at these two assertions a

little

more
and

closely.

Is

the

word of

forgiveness

enough for any sin?

see.

Take the grosser ones

to be a murderer, or
liar,

Suppose a

man

a thief on a large scale, or a

whose

lies

have affected the peace and happiness of other

people in an appalling degree, and suppose that

man

to be capable at

some stage of

his

moral

history of realising the enormity of his crimes.

What

should

we say about

his

chances

of

Modern Religious Thought.

newness of
life ?

Ill

His sense of guilt ought to

;

lead to genuine penitence

his genuine penitence

ought to assure him of God's forgiveness, but,

as

matter

of

fact,

does

it ?

If it were

possible for that

man
rise

to kneel

down

in

some

quiet

comer and

again rejoicing that

the past

God

had forgiven him

think

for all

we should not

much

of the sincerity of his conversion.

We should feel that his

easily

repentance was inade-

quate, and that he ought not to be absolved so

from responsibility for

all

that he had

been and done.

What

about the victims of his

ruthless rapacity or imholy lust ?

What

about

the havoc he has wrought in happy homes and

innocent Hves ?

What

about the long entail of

misery, the far-reaching consequences of his

wickedness

consequences
forgiveness
is

that

will

continue
t^

long after the wretch feels himself forgiven

For such a case as

this, then, evidently

the

word

of

not enough.

If the

culprit could convince

himseK that such was

the case his repentance would not be genuine.

By " not enough "

mean

that even though his

contrition be sincere something

more

is

needed

112
to liberate

The Atonement
him from

in

1
own

association with his

sinful past.

Nevertheless what are

<jharacter
desire,
if

we

to say to such a

in

better

moments he

should

not to escape punishment, but to put

I

things right again ?

know the answer

that

some might
bear his

give.

The sinner would be

like a

told to

own burden
free

man, and not to

or divine, can
his
all

expect that any person,

set

human

him

from responsibility for

own
that

anoral history.

But the sinner knows

told.

without

being

So

does

anyone

by

watching the ordinary sequence of conduct and

penalty
;

but to

tell

a sinner to bear the conseto ask

quences of his sin

thing beyond
his
is

is

him

to do somechief
first

power.
sin,

One

conse-

quence of sin
of

more

and the

thought
to

many

erring

ones

who

are exhorted
is

change

their

mode

of life

the desperately

hopeless one that by sin they are already com-

mitted to sin and must go on in the dreary,

dismal course that leads to further woe.
sides this the consequences of

Be-

many a

selfish

-deed are vaster

and deeper and proceed

farthei

Modern Religious Thought.

113

than the sinner who committed the deed ever

foresaw, and
it

is

beyond his power to cope

considerations
as

with

them.

Such

these

condemn many a man

life,

to a degraded, unholy to bear

who would be glad

if

any amount of

pain

by so doing he could prevent the conse-

quences of his sin from taking effect on other

people.

Relief from the sense of guilt

is

therefore by

no means
little 1.

so simple as it seems.

Examine a

further the content of the sense of guilt.

In the

first place, if

man

feels himself
his

to

be really guilty he feels that in some way

under condemnation.

soul is

Some would

aver

that this is the

same thing as to say that the

sinner feels himself to be under the wrath of

God, but I do not think such a feeling

present in every case of contrition.
better to say the

is

It were

wrongdoer
is

feels

that the

general Tightness of things

against him.

For
it

man

to persist in
is

wrong when he knows

being.

to

be wrong

to be

condemned by the mysterious

inner law of his

own

He may

not stay

to analyse his feelings,

but he knows perfectly

114

The Atonement

in

well that the obligation to do right brings with

it

certain sanctions
their
;

and penalties which do not

defer

whole operation to some future

period

they set to work at once and compel

the sinner to feel that the general rightness of

things, the voice of
life,

conscience, the

law of

the worth of progress, the sweet accents

of love, the holy will of God, are all against

him.
2.

In addition to this there

at,

is

the fact already

hinted
self to

namely, that every sinner feels himpermanently associated with his own

he

evil deeds.

Suppose that a

man

has committed
as the betrayal

a great

sin, such, for instance,

of a trust.

If that sin

becomes known to

society the sinner will be punished, not only

by

the censures of his fellows, but by their remem-

brance of his action.

at as the

He

will

always be pointed

man who
know

did such and such things in

such and such a year.

does not

Even though the world

of the misdeed his experience

different.

ought not to be much

his

He

will carry

heU about with him.

He

will

be prevented

from undertaking many a worthy enterprise

Modern Religious Thought.

because of his
disqualifies

115

own

association with, a deed that

him

for

work that he would have

undertaken quite willingly had his history been

pure.

He wiU

be, as it were, chained to the

past,

corpse of his
strained

own

and in consequence
activity in

re-

from forms of

which he

would be otherwise qualified to shine.

3.

Of more moment

is it,

however, to think
is

that not only activity but character

robbed

by the
of sin

association with sin.

The chief penalty

is vnhibition from good.

is

To the man who

The

has fallen holiness

a forbidden land.

dreadfulness of the sinner's lot consists not so

much

in the fact that he

must be punished for

off

his sin as that

he must be for ever shut

from experiences that he deems possible to

others.
If,
it

for instance, a

man

has been a

convict

would be out of character for him to

seek to be the leader, counsellor, and giiide of

a great society or a great nation.

The

experi-

ence which made him a convict acts as an inhibition.

He

can never come to feel as the

trusted and revered masters of

men

do.

Society

wiU have none

of him,

and even

if it

would he

116

The Atonement

in

can never

hrmg

himself to try to feel as a

sin.

man

would who has not sinned his

4.

fourth note of the sense of

to

guilt is

man's inability

atone for his sin.

He

cannot

put things right again, however much he

may

desire to do so, for the consequences of every

sinful act lie

beyond the control of the sinner.

all his

A man may

repent with

might

he may

be quite willing to bear in his

penalty appropriate to his

own person a own misdoing, but

what he cannot do
people's cliaracters

is

to

remove from other

and fortunes the influences

Mark,
is
is
it is

that he has set going.

of punishment that
this

not the fear

the chief

element in
of

experience,

it

simply the feeling

inability

to gather

up the consequences and

person.
this connection

bear them in his

own
to

We ought also
that
it is

remark in

not only deeds but thoughts, feelings,

and disposition that have far-reaching consequences.

It

were

fitting

that

some men

should repent of what they are rather than of

what they have done.

These
notes
of

the

sense

of

guilt

put

Modern Religious Thought.

117

together form, a very real experience, an experience which becomes

clamant.

What

is

asked for

is

the severance of the entail between

If the Gospel of Christ canthis,

man and
order of

his sin.

not provide a remedy for

then there
for

is

one

human

experience

which that

Grospel is inadequate.

It is noteworthy that the sense of guilt as

we have now
precisely like
influence.

stated

it is

the product of the

influence of Jesus Christ in the world.

it is

Nothing

to be
is

found apart from that

There

a great difference in the

tone of mind exhibited by the Psalmists and

the

Christian

saints

respectively.

The

Psalmists lay stress upon deeds rather than

dispositions,

and deep as
it

is

their feeling of

personal demerit

lacks

something

of

the

contrite sorrow for sin

which expresses

itself in

charity toward others and severity toward self.

t have no wish to underrate the force

and

beauty of the language of contrition contained

in the Psalms, but

what I am desirous

to

advance

is

that the contrition caused by the

personal influence of Jesus Christ in the world

118

The Atonement

in

strikes a deeper note

and contains an ingredient

not previously present in any age.

But

to say

that Jesus deepened the self-consciousness of

the race in such a way as to add a

new element

to contrition, without contributing any higher

hope of rescue,

is

to

say that His influence

caused the emergence of a

providing a satisfaction

new need without for it. As Professor

Van Dyke

says

^'

It

was Jesus of Nazareth who

illuminated the moral evil in the world most

deeply and clearly.

secret

He
The
unless

showed

its

spring, its

workings, and the power

it.
.

which

lies

behind

sinlessness
it

of Jesus

comforts us

little

has some remedial

bearing upon our sins." The Christian doctrine

of

Atonement

is

the only remedy which has

ever been propounded to the world to deal with

the psychological fact of guilt.

It satisfies a

Christ-awakened need.

The key

to a theory of the doctrine seems to

me

to be supplied, firstly,

by acceptance of the
evil is

hypothesis that the origin of moral

in

God, and, secondly, by the Christian doctrine of the Person of Christ.

If Christ be the Eternal

Modern

EELiGiotrs Thought.

119

Son of God, that side of the Divine nature

which has gone forth in creation^ if
humanity, and
article of
is

He

contains
act

present in every

and

human

experience, then, indeed,

we
For

have a light
Jesus
is

upon the fact of redemption.

thus seen to be associated with the

existence of the primordial evil which has its

origin in God.
evil

Without acquaintance with

man

could never have

known
is

good, while
clearly seen

submission to evil after the good

becomes

sin.

We

may

say there would be no

sin if there

were no

evil bias, yet

without that

evil bias holiness

is

were impossible, for innocence

it is

not holiness,

good unrealised.
sake
of

Evil

is

an experience for the

holiness it

the

far-off

makes
with

possible.

The

eternal Son,

the going-forth
associated

of God,

must therefore be
for

responsibility

the

bias

without which neither guilt nor sainthood could

have come into being.

fore,

He, and He only, there-

can sever the entail between

man and

his

responsibility for personal sin.

Christ has not

sinned in

man, but takes

responsibility for that

is

experience of evil into which humanity

bom.

120

The Atonement

in

and the yielding to

the
first

whicli constitutes sin.

Thus

link in the entail of guilt becomes

broken.
But,
it

may be

advanced,

if

this is so

would it
to

not have been

revealed
it

enough

for

Christ

have

to the world, and, assuming responsi-

bility for the origin of

moral evil, have remitted

forgiveness ?
tell

the sins of
it

all

who sought

Would

not have been enough to

men

the truth,

and by the

telling set them free ?

The answer to
what Christ
"

this inquiry is that this is precisely

usually did in the days of His flesh.

Thy

sins

be forgiven thee,"

"Go

in peace

and

sin

no

more," were expressions often upon His

lips.

Neither did He explain the mystery of His own

sufferings for sin, but His references to

His

Passion, and the deep and solemn meaning that

He evidently attached to

it,

the institution of the

Lord's Supper and the agony of Gethsemane,

though unexplained are evidences of a deeper

work necessitated by the

work that man
feels

fact of

human
it is

guilt.

And, as we have just tried to show,

no need
of.

not a

Many men

feel not only that they

want

to be forgiven, but

Modern Religious Thought.

121

that the consequences of misdoing are somehow

gathered up in the purposes of

with.

God and
suffers

dealt

So they

are, for Christ

them.

He
of

not only knows but feels and shares the

the
world.

woe
in

The

going-forth

of

God

creation

may be

explained in two ways.

He
The
is

goes forth to suffer and suffers in

creates evil that

man; He

man may know

good.

Eternal Son in

Whom humanity is
of

contained

therefore a sufferer since creation began.

This

mysterious Passion
until redemption is

must continue consummated and humanity

Deity

restored to

God.

Thus

every

consequence

of

Jmman
single

ill is felt

in the experience of Christ,

No

human being can endure more

fall to his lot for

of those

consequences than
discipline
is
:

the sake of

Christ endures

them

all.

Calvary
this great

the point at which

In.

we can touch
in

mystery.

the

life

of the historical Jesus, in

the garden of Gethsemane,

the

cross

of

Christ, the clouds parted, as it were,

and the

world obtained a glimpse of a great experience

that lies behind.

By taking

responsibihty for

the origin of moral evil Christ severs the entail

122

The Atonement

in

between the penitent and his

guilt, frees

him

from

association with

it,

removes the barrier or

good, and makes

inhibition between

him and

holiness possible, while at the

same time His

Passion, a mystery
crossj contains all
sin.

we can

only touch at the

the consequences of

human
life

Christ

is

the circumference of the

is

of in

humanity.

Part of His Passion

lived

every suffering child of man, but a deeper part

is

lived

beyond and beneath the range of any

individual

sequences

human experience. All of human wrong-doing

the
are

concon-

summated and wrought out in His experience. " Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried
our

sorrows

the chastisement of our peace

stripes

was upon Him, and with His

healed."
It is not only the result of
also

we

are

human

deeds, but
is is

the result of

human

character that

present in the experience of Christ.

There

a very good Buddhist term that stands for the

iotal result of the life

and character of any

is

individual

man.

That term

harma.

It

means

substantially the result of a man's life

Modern Eeligious Thought.

taken as a whole.
every deed
If

123

we can suppose that

gathered up,

we have

done, every thought that

is

has passed through our minds

and that the sum

world

total of our influence in the

continues even after

it,

we have passed
It is

beyond

we may

say that our karma necessi-

tates the Passion of Christ.

harma that

the sinner dreads

it is

the evil in his karma

it is

that he desires to get rid of, and

evil that

just this

no repentance can

delete.

The most
is

glorious fact in the

fact

Christian system
contains

the

that

Christ,

Who

humanity,

permits the karma to work

its full effect

upon

Him, and by

so doing purifies, not the indivi-

dual only, but in the fulness of time the race

in such wise that the higher experience of good

remains while the guilt of sin

is

is

destroyed.

It

in this sense that

we can understand the

mystical text, "

for

He

hath made

Him

to be sin

us

Who knew

no

sin,

that

we might

become the righteousness of God in Him."

VI.

BY

R. F.

HORTON,
of

M.A., D.D.,
College, Oxford.

Formerly Fellow

New

"Christ died
Scriptures."
Bible.
died,

for our sins according to the-

That sentence sums up the whole

The four Gospels teach us that Christ

rest of the

and the

New
And

Testament that

He
i.e.,

died for our sins.

the Scriptures
in

the

Old

Testament

were

some-

mysterious fashion, hj type, by allegory,

ethical

hj
to-

and

spiritual

teaching,

designed

prepare the
the

human

race for the truth which in

New

Testament was revealed, that Christ

If,

died for our sins.

therefore,

by the word

Atonement we understand,

as

is

usually under-

stood, the death of Christ for our sins, there

is

one decisive argument against the omission

preach
it.

to

The preacher

in that case has

to shut his eyes

to the most decisive factor

which gives unity to the whole Bible ; he has

to
deliberately

overlook,

or

to

ingeniously

explain away, not only a few texts, which

may

be easy, but the vertebral backbone of the Bible>

127

128

The Atonement
is

in

which

his authority for preaching

is

and the
is

commission that he
very
serious

to preach.

This

matter.

Small wonder

that a

Christian minister,
culties,

who from

intellectual diffi-

or

from lack of

spiritual experience,

ignores the Atonement, becomes either nerveless

and ineffectual or eccentric and sensational.

His

message
his

is

gone ; he

is

an ambassador without

credentials.

Consequently he either loses

or, if

heart and becomes altogether dull,

he

is

a man of ability, he

strikes out

and endeavours,
But from the

by his own study or ingenuity or speculation, to

supply the gap which
is

made.

nature of the case his ministry must cease to be

fruitful.

He

may, by the omission of the great

mystery, smooth
logical thought,

down the

difficulties of

theo-

and

so give a

temporary rest to

distracted minds.
sions,

He

may, by ethical discus-

by

social reforms,

by

historical subjects,

and

even

by the recasting of theological

interest
if

formulae,

awaken a keen
But

and draw a

large congregation.

by

fruit is under-

stood the conversion of souls, the changing of

bad men

into good, inroads into the vast un-

Modern Religious Thought.

christly world,

129

and extension of the Kingdom

it will

through the world,

ministry
It
is
is

be found that his

no longer

fruitful.

was from a deep conviction that the Gospel

an Atonement,

essentially the preaching of

and yet from a feeling that no thinker had succeeded in giving a satisfactory rationale of the

Atonement, that,
noticed book,
''

six years ago, in that little-

Faith and Criticism,*' I argued

that the fact of the

Atonement may reasonably

subject of preaching,

be believed and

made the

even though we are admittedly unable to give any

thorough explanation of it.

subject
little

I write again on the

to advance a I feel

now because

am bound

beyond the position then taken.

myself convinced by the argument of Rev. John

Scott Lidgett, in his Fernley Lecture, "
Spiritual

The
It
esti-

Principle of

the

Atonement."

would be presumptuous of

me

to give

an

mate of the book.

impertinence
;

To

praise it would be an
least say that it has

but I

may at

moved me forward from the

position which I " defended in Faith and Criticism," and I trust

it

may move forward any

readers

who were

en-

130

The Atonement

in

couraged by

my

essay to remain in that proIt

visional position.

seems to

me

that Mr.

Lidgett makes out a strong case on two points.

He shows

that

we may hope

to arrive at the

theory, or at least the Spiritual Principle, of the

Atonement, and that the warring theories which

have been suggested

may be

regarded as contri-

butions from different sides, which in their

totality

may
This

bring us to a complete and final

is

view.

an original mode of treatment

difficulties

which meets many of the

six years ago.

which I

felt

For instance, I purposely ab-

stained from advancing

my own

theory of the

Atonement, because I regarded the whole field of

inquiry as strewn with the shreds of shattered
systems.

"True," says Mr. Lidgett in

is

effect,

" the field

theories
;

strewn with the shreds of shattered

out of these shreds

we may hope
this

to

construct the true theory." But the other point,

which

is

even of more importance,

first

is

Mr.

Lidgett has for the

time made clear to

my
the

mind the

vital tnith that the principle of spiritual.

Atonement must be

For example, in

discussing: the int*rpretation

which the Psalmists

Modern Religious Thought.

and Prophets put on the
:

131

sacrificial

system of the
:

Law Mr. Lidgett says ^* To sum up The testimony of the Prophets and the Psalmists demands
that the principle of the Atonement shall be
truly spiritual,

and

shall stand in vital relation

to the spiritual
for

and

ethical condition of those

whom

it is effected.

Suffering unconnected

with conduct, even though the sufferer be Divine,

vicarious sacrifice, if unrelated to the spiritual
life

of those for

whom

it

is

offered,

would be

out of harmony with

they have laid

all

the principles which

down."
on this
last point for
first.

Let

me

insist

moment
in

before reverting to the

The Atonement

must be

spiritual.

It

must be a transaction

the realm of spirit, which, however it

may be
is

manifested

in

visible

act or suffering,

essentially in another

sphere.

While we

lay

the stress on a certain empirical event, a crucifixion,

a shedding of blood, a quid pro quo

it still

we

are regarding
of
bulls

in the light of the blood

and rams,

those carnal
sins.

ordinances

which can never take away

But when

we follow the work of Psalmists and Prophets,

132
in

The Atonement
getting
at the
spiritual

in

principle

which

underlay the material

sacrifices,

we

are obliged,

with the writer to the Hebrews, to treat the

sacrifice of Christ in

the same way.

Through

the eternal Spirit

He

offered Himself.

The
There

cross, the spear, the nails, the

crown of thorns

are details, accidents of the situation.

can be no qualitative relation between such

things and the forgiveness of sins.

But that
that vast

inward

and

spiritual

transaction,

drama that was enacted

of

in the spirit of Christ,

which we gain

sufficient

though momentary

glimpses in His utterances on the cross,

easily be a deed of such quality

may
sin

and moment

that

it

touches the whole body of

is spiritual),

human

(which also
rate,

and

potentially, at

any

bears

it

away.
is

Evidently a spiritual

transaction, which

not in space or time,

is

incommensurate with things which are in space

and time.

A spiritual transaction, which

may

is

not

of the size or weight of a hair, a

mere word

or thought,

overbalance, and outweigh,

Illustration is

the whole material universe.

difficult,

and may only divert us

from the

MoDEEN Religious Thought.

thought.

133

But suppose we grasp the truth

that by the

Word

of

God

the heavens were

spiritual

made

that

is

to say, that
fiat

by a

energy

expressed in a brief
into existence

the cosmic order came

then we

may

faintly

apprehend

that by a brief

spiritual

utterance like the

agony of the

cross, a

mystery of psychological

acting and suffering into

which the angels

for-

desire to look, the sins of the world were

given and taken away.

in pressing this thought

am

conscious that

we

find relief

from

many

of the troubles which have beset our

doctrine of Atonement.

Why

should
in

it

be

thought a thing incredible that

a three

hours' agony of the spirit of such an one as

Jesus something

should

have
all

been

effected

which would

apply to

time,

even retro-

spectively, to all the

human

race with which

He was
which
it

connected, to the whole creation in

took place ?

It is the fixed habit of

ignoring the spiritual, and materialising our

religious

ideas that has occasioned the

just

diffi-

culty

the

habit

against

which the

Psalmists and Prophets protested

the habit of

134

The Atonement

in

regarding the hecatombs of the Temple altar

as in

some way a

substitute for the sacrifices

heart.

of a contrite

and believing

Just the

same habit drove the unthinking materialism

of the Catholic

Church to lay increasing

cross,

stress

on the bloody sufferings of the

to ex-

aggerate the physical horrors of the crown of

thorns, the scourging

and the

nails, until

no

attention was paid to the

movement within

the soul of the Sufferer, the cup which

deliberately

He was
sacrifice

drinking,

the

spiritual

He was offering, the eternal victory which He was winning. And before passing from this point we may
which
observe that the spiritual
principle

of

this
^first,

Atonement turns on these two

which enabled

factors

the solidarity of Christ with the

human

race,

Him

to offer in His person

what

was, in idea, an offering of the Eace; and

second, the offering being that of obedience to

the wiU of God, an utter, undeviating obedience,

as

we

should put

it,

even unto death.

These factors are, of course, not brought out by

Mr. Lidgett for the

first

time; but

fchey

are

Modern Religious Thofght,

135

brought out with peculiar force in connection

with his central idea.

Thus, while

we

are

considering the sacrifice as carnal or physical,

the solidarity of the

us, because

human

race does not help

we

are not connected by physical

nerves with our fellow-men ; our physical pains

are borne
necessarily
offering
alone.

But when we
spirit,

conceive
spiritual

the

as

in the

the

solidarity

of

the
it is

race becomes an

illuminating idea, for

conceive

not

difficult

to

how

every spiritual

struggle,

pain,

achievement, of every

human being

affects all
spirit-

the rest, to remotest generations.

The

ual nerves do run through all the spiritual

organism of humanity.

And

so,

that thought

which

is

made prominent

in the

New

Testa-

ment, that the offering of our Lord was one

of
obedience, taken in

connection with the

spiritual solidarity of the race,

becomes

intel-

lectually satisfying, in proportion as

we

realise

that

it is

man's disobedience which constitutes

the Fall, and

perpetuates
it.

an

alienation

of

heart

that

Where
member

the representp.tive man,

of the whole

as the linked

human

136
family, offers

The Atonement

in

up a perfect obedience

to God,

there

we can

well understand that the breach

is,

between
healed.

man and God

we

at least potentially,

And

as

dwell upon the nature, the signifi-

cance, the wide ramifications, of this central

spiritual
offering, in the person of Christ,

we

can see that such a transaction, and, indeed,

that particular transaction and no other, was
indispensable to the Divine pardon of sin and

the salvation of the world.

But

to revert to the first point,

which makes

the distinctive value of Mr. Lidgett's treat-

ment.

Instead of regarding the theories of

Atonement which began with Anselm, and

which, for the present, end with Eitschl, as
conflicting

and mutually

exclusive,

he sees in

each one a definite contribution to a complete

account of the
"Spiritual
Principle
of the

Atonement."

Without going

so far as to say

that this complete account can

now be

given,

he certainly

feels that the contributions of the

all

great thinkers

have their assigned place.

The period

of the general Councils, roughly

Modern Religious Thought.

speaking,
succeeded,

137
after

nine

centuries

Christ, in defining the Person of Christ and

His

relation to

the Godhead.
to

As the nine
an end, the

centuries since

Anselm draw

Church may succeed in defining the nature and

doctrine of the Atonement.

A few

words may

make

plain

in

what way the Ecumenical

Council of the Centuries has been in silent

conclave on the matter working out the true
doctrine of Atonement.

The

first

great thinker

on the

subject, Anselm, in the

Cur Deus Homo,

established once for all the notion that

God

Himself was concerned, in order to perfect His

work
also

in creation, to deal with sin.

He showed
make a
without
it

how man

could not of himself

satisfaction for sin, or get rid of

weakening the sense of

it.

This was the main

thought contributed before the Reformation.

Calvinism added the notion that our Lord's
life

was a necessary preparation for His atoning

sacrifice,

that

we

are in abiding relationship

with Him, and His incarnation brought

Him

into the experience of the consequences of sin.

To

this Grotius contributed the

thought that

138

The Atonement
sacrifice

in

by the

of Christ the moral govern-

ment

of the universe

was vindicated, and the

Divine judgment on sin

was expressed.

In

modern times Dr. Dale has the

ing out the conception
of

credit of bring-

righteousness as

something quite distinct

will

from the arbitrary

even of God, and the further credit of

ill-desert of

showing that God must mark the

sin

by suffering, so that the sufferings of Christ

Dr.

are a necessary element in Atonement.

McLeod Campbell

laid

a strong

stress

on the

spiritual nature of the

Atonement, and on the

need of entering into the mind of God concerning sin.

Maurice added the notion that the

the true
life

Lord

fulfils

of humanity,

and
In

becomes the root of a

Bishop Westcott there
that
it

sinless

humanity.

is

a contributory touch,

was part of the Lord's work to be made

which evolved His

perfect through suffering,

highest capabilities.

Bushnell brought out the

connection between Love

and

Sacrifice,

and

showed how Christ entered into the

Finally, Ritschl has insisted

curse.

on the

vital

bond
truth

of love between

God and man, and on the

Modern Religious Thought.

that the essence of Atonement
relations.
is

139

in ethical

Thus, the great truth has been brought out

in the process of the ages.

And
all

if

the master-

mind which can gather up

truth and twist

the strands of

them

into one cord has not yet

appeared,

we may be thankful

for the

mind

that has shown us these strands in the process

perhaps of combination.

We need

not despair

of understanding the nature of the Atonement,

and so gaining power and freshness in our

preaching of the fact.
that
it is

And though

it

be true
it

the fact and not the explanation of

that saves, and

the Divine fact, even

we should and must proclaim when our explanations

we are

are unsatisfactory even to ourselves, yet

all

aware that the proclamation of the fact

will

come with a
age

force as of

new
have

revelation

this

when

preachers
it,

obtained

satisfying rationale of

and when

Heart and mind agreeing well, Shall make one music as before.

vn.

BY WALTER
Professor of
Criticism,

F.

ADENEY,

M.A.,

New Testament Exegesis, History and New College, London.

Perplexed by the theses

of the schools

and

tired of interminable discussions,

many

people

are settling

down
all

to the conclusion that, while

they accept the fact of the Atonement, they

must abandon
concerning
Dr. Dale
of fact
is
it.

hope of arriving at any theory

of the late

The high authority

pleaded in defence of this separation

and theory, although that great theo-

logian was not content to rest in any half-way

house himself, and proceeded to work out a

most elaborate
hypothesis.
position

argument in the region of

I venture to say that the popular

is little

better than a refuge for intel-

lectual indolence,

and cannot be taken as a

final

settlement

of

the momentous question with

which

it is

concerned.

At

best

it is

but a prodecaying

visional

halting-place

between

the

systems of the past and the ideas that must be

faced in the days to come,
if

religion

is

to have

that grip on the

mind which unthinking pietism

144

The Atonement
to.

in

can never attain

We

have to be on our

guard against the

illusions of language.

The
But

word "fact" has a tempting sound

Englishman
of
Philistine

for the

proclivities.

what does
spiritual

it

mean

in that region where the

in re-

work of our Lord Jesus Christ

conciling souls with

God
what

is

carried

on?

We

need not confine

to

it

to

is visible

or tangible,

mere matters of sense perception; inward

experiences such as joy, love, hope, fear, are

also legitimately reckoned facts.

But here we

are concerned with a region above

all

and beyond
of

experience.

The

life
;

and

death

the

Saviour

we take

to be facts
lives of

the recovery of

men
in

and women from

shame and
But the

folly as far

as this can be observed

may

also be set

down
a

the category

of facts.

connection
vast

between

these

two

series

traverses

expanse of theory.

At

all

events,

when we
moving

are
in

discussing this connection

we

are

that borderland of ideas where fact passes over

insensibly into theory.

Here a well-established
one
less

truth

is

counted a

fact, while

clearly

determined goes into the category of

tlieory, so

Modern Religious Thought.

that one man's
faxit

145

may

be but theory to

another man.

Is not this the case with regard

it is

to the Atonement, which, while to

solid fact

some of

us, is

reckoned by not a few people

to belong wholly to the realm of speculation ?

Indeed,

it is

very

difficult

to say
if

what we mean

by the fact of

the Atonement

we

leave every-

thing of a theoretical nature out of account.

But another objection must be raised to

this

easy popular solution of a theological difficulty by

accepting the fact and disregarding the theory.

In course of time the fact that

is

treated in this

way, isolated from thought, detached from any

system of related facts, unexplained and unjustified,

must gradually fade out of considera-

tion

and sink into neglect, leaving the bare

it, if

affirmation of

that

is

still

repeated, as no

better than the statement

of a dead
it

dogma.

Custom and
a
little

tradition

may keep

with us for

while, but only as a relic of antiquity,

and

it will

surely wither

and perish of

intellec-

tual starvation.
affects the

Every truth that permanently

heart, even

mind and

though
10

it

be

encircled with mysteries

and beset with

difficul-

146
ties,

The Atonement
must link
itself

in

on to our general concep-

tion of the universe,

intellect

must

in

some way

satisfy

and conscience.

If our belief in the

belief is

Atonement cannot do this, that

and the

doomed,

doctrine, as far as it is specific in its

connection with the Cross of Christ, will have

to be lopped off the tree of fruitful beliefs as a
useless dead branch.

To judge by the
on the subject,
it

silence of

some preachers

would appear that as far as

they are concerned this result has already been

attained.

We

have only to compare the pro-

minence given to the doctrine of the Atonement

in the sermons of the earlier evangelicals with

the meagre references to

it

in

much modern

preaching by

men who

are willing to declare

that they accept the fact without attempting

any theory, to see that

fact

this

admission of the

amounts

to very little.
it

But there are some

of us to

whom

seems that such a result can

disaster.

be nothing
of the

less

than a
shows

The
all

history

Church

that in

ages the

winning power of the Gospel has gone with a

passionate preaching of redemption through the

Modern Eeligious Thought.

Cross of Christ.

147

The Fatherhood

of God, the

Brotherhood of Jesus, the ethics of the Serrooii

on the Mount, our Lord's magnificent conception of the

kingdom

of heaven

great

truths
day,

that have come

to the front in our

own

and for the clearer vision of which we may well

be thankful

have

none of them evinced the

evangelising efficacy,

missionary energy, the

that have been found to accompany the preach-

ing of salvation through the Cross.

told to look to facts.
nificance

We

are

This

is

a fact, the sig-

of

which cannot be gainsaid.

step further.

But
this

now we must go a

Wherever

preaching of redemption through the crucified

Christ has gone forth with the pathos

and

the passion without which

it

it is

not effective,

has

been accompanied

by what must be

designated a theory of the Atonement^ often

crude, narrow,
illogical,

not

seldom revoltcritical

ing

and preposterous to the calm,

of a later age,

mind

but

still

at

the time
soul

intellectually
is

satisfying.

The aw^akened
the

not

found to be

brought into

new

life

by the bare presentation of the fact that

148

The Atonement

in

somehow, we do not know how, the death of

Christ secures his forgiveness.

He
chasm

in

some
by

way

sees, or thinks

he

sees, the

cleft

his sin

between him and God bridged over, by

either the appeasing of the Divine wrath, or

the satisfying of justice, or the settlement of

legal

claims,

or

some other

definite

process.

We may object to each and all of these conceptions

;

we cannot deny that such have been the we hold they were

invariable accompaniments of fruitful evangelisation.

If

errors, illusions,

excrescences, accompanying but not assisting

the course of events,

we must

give

up our

appeal to experience as a testimony to the

importance of the Atonement.

What,

then,

remains ?
is

The testimony

of Scripture.

Here

a truth repeatedly appearing in the Bible

liii.

from Isaiah

to 1

John and the Eevelation.

But considering the present-day ideas on the

subject of inspiration, and in view of

modern

methods of

critical study, does

anybody suppose

that a profoundly mysterious doctrine, which

is

neither intellectually appropriated nor conits

firmed by experience, will hold

ground as an

Modern Religious Thought.

important
truth
of
religion

149

simply

on the

authority of textual assertions ?

There
rises

is

quite another consideration

that

up to rebuke the current indolent treatof the subject.

If it be in

ment

any sense true

that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our

sakes, the transcendent importance of such

an

action in our personal relations with our Lord

Himself, the

sense of gratitude,
it

of love, of

boundless devotion

should

call forth,

ought to

outweigh
fill

all

other thoughts and feelings, and

our heavens from zenith to horizon.

if it

Such

a truth,
life

be a truth at
;

all,

is

ths truth of
it is

and religion
to

it is

as ungrateful as
it
it,

unreasonable

relegate

to

a secondary
in

place, rarely alluding to frigid

and then only

deference
to

generalities

out

of

an

accepted creed from which the interest has

evaporated.
It is necessary, then,

on more accounts than

gird
ourselves
this

one, that
difficult

we should
of

to

the

task

grasping

great truth

which we designate by the name " Atonement."

And

in doing so it will be important to guard

150

The Atonemert

in

against the danger of being led off on sideissues.

One

of

the

weightiest
is

recent pro-

nouncements on the subject

to be

seen in

Archdeacon Wilson's Hulsean Lectures on " The

Gospel of the Atonement," the author of which

shows the
life

real

importance of that factor in the

;

of the present day

its

and yet he does so by

dwelling on

influence

upon us

in bringing

us back to right relations with God.

Now

the

truth and value of this influence cannot be

denied; and yet experience shows that

it

is

most powerfully

felt

when

it

is

based on a

belief in another aspect of the

belief that Christ has

Atonement, a

done something for us in

is

the direction of God, and what

subjective effect of

called the

the Atonement

is

found to

be most pronounced just in proportion as there

is

faith in its previous objective efficacy.

It is

contrary to experience

to suppose
its

that

the

former can be maintained in

old vigour

after the latter has been allowed to drop out of

notice, or even to

be repudiated as imreal.
concerning
the

The
whole

one

serious

question

subject lies here as to whether there

is

any

Modern Eeligious Thought.

objective
objective

151

element in element
is.

it,

and,

if

so,

what that

Now

it is

quite clear that the critical

work

of the earlier part of this century

was most was based

potent and

final, especially

when

it

on moral and
of

spiritual grounds, as in the case

McLeod Campbell.
of the

Each conception

of the

Atonement that has held possession of the

mind

Church at successive epochs has

interpreted itself in
ideas of the age.

harmony with the ruling

patristic

Thus the grotesque

notion of a bargain with the devil corresponded

to the

demonology that played so large a part

in early Christian thought ; Anselm's discussion

about the satisfaction of the personal rights of

God

as the

Suzerain Lord

of the

Universe

rested on the feudal conception of government

that was flourishing in his day

the Protestant

theology with
claims
or
of
of

its

conception of law, and the

justice

which

must be

satisfied,
if

the

debt

that must be paid,

else,

not

by the debtor, then by some one

ised

harmonlaw in

with

the

rise

of

international

the

writings

of

Grotius,

and the substitu-

152
tion

The Atonement
of

in

respect

for

law

for

the

assertion

of personal

rights,

which

was one

of

the

greatest changes

marking the transition from

of

mediseval to

modern methods

government;

while the commercial aspect of the doctrine

synchronised with the great extension of trade

that was seen in Europe during the sixteenth
century.

But with the abandonment

the

of the old

demonology,

decay

of

feudalism,

the

reluctance to admit the abstract claims of law

as

such,

the

feeling that

religion

must be

regarded
affair,

spiritually

and not

as

a business
is

every one of these theories

swept

away and
Or,
if

cast into the limbo of dead beliefs.

is

here and there a champion

found for

one or other of them,

is

we

feel that his

argument

purely academic.
it

It is impossible for

him

to

link

on

to the living ideas that

now

flourish

in our minds or

awaken a sympathetic response

people.

among thinking
the Atonement

Of course

it is

not to

be denied that the most crude conceptions of

still

linger

on and assert themcircles of

selves \vith considerable

life

vehemence in
by

that

are

untouched

movements of

Modern Eeligious Thought.

thought.

153
ele-

They

still

dominate an eager,

mentary evangelism.
is

But the

fact that there

this simple,

unthinking earnestness among

are

men and women who

practical

doing

great

work

lays

all

the greater obligation

on that part of the Church of Christ which

is

brought to
set

more

intellectual

grasp of
is

ideas to

them out

in

a fashion that

conceivable to thinking people, for

we must not

forget that even thinking people have souls to

be considered.
It

may seem

that

we

are called in this matter

to the task of Sisyphus.

Will the hill-top of

absolute truth ever be attained ?

Perhaps not
it

but meanwhile every attempt to reach

brings
is

out some phase or some relative truth that

of value

by the way.

Moreover, just in proportrying to shake ourselves

tion as
free

we

are

now

from

prejudices,

and

to apply for the first

time in the history of religion the same unfettered

methods of inquiry to religion that we

are accustomed to employ in other regions of

inquiry, there is

some hope that we may not go

In particular.

egregiously wide of the mark.

154

The Atonement
is

in

since historical exegesis

bringing out the

genuine meaning of Scripture with an accuracy

that was not attainable under earlier methods,
it is

easier for us

than

it

was for people in any

other age to understand what the Scriptures

teach on the subject of the Atonement, and to
trace the development of that teaching through

the Old Testament and the

New, dividing out

it

the several ideas concerning

in prophets

as they appear

and

apostles, as they are seen in

Isaiah, or Paul, or John.

It is in accordance with the
results of this

exegesis

that any
is

intelligent

conception

of

the Atonement
events,

likely to be reached,

at all

by those who are willing to look for

guidance in these teachers.

I fear I

have already exceeded

my

limits.

It

would be vain for

me

to attempt to set forth

the actual lines on which the theory of the

Atonement may be worked out

But

in our

own

days.

in concluding I may, perhaps, indicate

what

appears to

me

to be the direction in

which our

thoughts on this subject

tolerate

may be

led.

We

can

no theory that

limits the

freedom of


Modern Eeligious Thought.
God's forgiveness, or
fails to

155

recognise that our

redemption springs from His Fatherly love ; no

theory that juggles with truth in the
justice,

name

of

calling

white black that

it

may

call

black white ; and, on ihe other hand, no theory

that treats sin lightly and the avrful severance
it

creates between the soul

and God as of
of guilt
is

little

account.

Wherever the sense

deep

and agonising, conscience cries out for some

effectual

atonement.

Now,

is

it

not

very

significant that

both

St. Paul, in his

weighty

words recorded in the second chapter of the

Epistle to the Philippians,

and the author of

the Epistle to the Hebrews, in his elaborate

discussion of the cleansing effect of the death
cf Christ, where he repudiates sacrifices
offerings

and
the

as of no

value,

lay

stress

on

obedience of Christ consummated in death

His being obedient unto death

value in the sight of

as

of

supreme

God?

The

sacrificial

imagery may

fall off

as a

mere form of Jewish

thought, but the essential idea of the surrender

of the will

must remain as the heart and

all

essence

of

religion.

That

Chrifit

faced

156 Th<^ Atonement in Eehgious Thought. death when

it

came
is

in

His way rather than

desert His task

plainly a proof,

we may

say

the crowning proof, of His absolute submission

to

His Father.

And

if

it

be asked.
Christ

How

can

this

perfect obedience of

be of any

advantage to us ? we have at least the analogy

of intercessory prayer.

Why

should a mother

pray for her son except that the devotion of

one soul

may

bring blessing to a kindred soul?

goes
further
in in

But

St.

Paul

profound
Christ
is

mysticism, teaching that faith

union with Christ, and never dissociating the

work of Christ for us from the

in us.

life

of Christ

vm.
BY THE HON. W.
Dean
H.

FREMANTLE,

D.D.,

of Ripon.

The

great convictions which form the basis

life,

of onr Christian

though

in essence they

remain the same, yet change in their aspect

and their enunciation ;

tain,

like
it

some grand moundifferent points

which, as

we

see

from

of view, appears

now

as

a pyramid,

now

as

square-topped, sloping or precipitous, a mass or

a cluster.
is

And, when such a change of aspect

it

put into words,

usually begets controversy,

which, however, undergoes the

ence of time:

healing influ-

the sides of the volcano are

clothed with verdure after a few years.

Some

forty years ago the doctrine of the

Atonement was the subject of such a controversy.

The
by

views

expressed
Jowett,

by

Frederic

Maurice,

Professor

Campbell, by Baldwin Brown and

startled the Christian mind,

by McLeod many others,

and were met by

ideas, often

vehement reassertions of the old

in

crude

and

repulsive

form.

whole

160

The Atonement

in

volume of University sermons by men so

dif-

ferent as Dr. Pusey and Bishop Baring was

published at Oxford in 1856

to

"in reference
Mr.
Jowett

the

views

published

by

and others."
asperities,

But time has softened these

reason more
calmly.

and we can

Mutual confidence grows, and we

criticisms

find
all

that that

and negations did not mean

was supposed.
of the

On

the question of the nature

of

Atonement we may put aside many

the explanations given in past times, yet preserve a fast hold on

Redemption through the

Such
representations
as

death

of

Christ.

Athanasius's that the corruption of humanity

through sin was done away by the death of

Christ,

since

all

died
Cor.

in
v.,

Him

(not in the

moral sense of
death)
;

but by physical
devil's

or that of

Origen that the

claims

on mankind
;

were
of

paid

off

by the

crucifixion
sacrifice

or

that
its

Anselm that the

righteousness

was by

excess of

a satisfaction or making up for the defects

of sinful

men

or the later theory that Christ

that, because

was punished instead of men, and

Modern Religious Thought.

161
let

He

was punished, sinners are pardoned or "

off,"

cannot but seem to us either puerile or

even
if

insufl&cient,

thej are not denounced as

couise,

immoral.

am

aware, of

that few

good men would have maintained these theories

ivithout modification
;

but brevity requires that

if

they should be stated in a direct, even

pulsive form.
sacrifice

a re-

On

the other hand, the fact that

is

and suffering for the sake of others

the law of

human

life,

and that by the death of

Christ the destructive power of s'n has been

done away with for

all

who

are attached to

Him

by

faith, gains fresh evidence for all

thoughtful

men.

The

lapse of time

and

its

healing effects

encourage the hope of a better presentment of

the doctrine.

A second factor
is

tending to the same result

a certain change which has come about in

sin.

our view of

Mr. Gladstone, some years ago,

deplored
it.

noticed this change and

But,

though

it

would be indeed deplorable

if it
it

im-

plied a laxity in regard to sin itself,

may

be only a truthful chastening of an exaggeration

:

it

may mean, and we may

trust general

162
ally does

The Atonement
mean

in
of God's

(1)

That the sense

Fatherhood,

which these forty years

have
stress

brought into prominence, makes us lay

on that aspect of

sin

which treats

it

as the

"ignorance" of
way,'*

"those who are out of the

the object of His compassion and not

;

only of His wrath

of the fall of

(2)

that

we leam

to think

man

as a stage in the progress

from innocent unconsciousness of good and evil, through the law which gives a " knowledge of sin " ("
sin revived

when the commandment came,

is also

and I died"), but which

schoolmaster leading us to the higher state of

faith
;

and

(3)

that

we

realise that the taking

is

away

of sin and condemnation

not the sole

or chief object of the redemptive process, but

that
'^

its final

aim

is

that given in the words,

to purge the conscience, that

we may

serve

the living God."

third factor of

modem

thought

is

the

doctrine of the

immanence

of God,

which Arch-

deacon Wilson has lately made the basis of his

Hulsean lectures on the Atonement; for

this

leads us to think not of a "transaction" by

Modern Eeligious Thought.

which a distant Being
is

163

induced to pardon us,

but of the Father through the Son and the

Spirit uniting

Himself with us and doing away

all its results

with our selfishness and

by the

overpowering influence of self-sacrificing love.

A fourth
central

tendency

is

that which makes the

Incarnation rather than the Atonement the

fact of

theology,

and which,

with

Bishop Westcott, prolongs the idea of Incarnation, so as to

lifting

make

it

the hallowing and up-

power
in

in humanity.

This tendency

is

seen

alike
in

men

like

Baur in

Germany,

and

more

recent

writers,

both

Roman
It is

Catholic and Anglican (see especially Oxenham's

" Catholic Doctrine of the Atonement

not God

").

who needed
was
:

to be propitiated, but m,n,

and

this

effected

by the whole manifestation

in Christ, reconciling the

of Christ

"

God was

world to Himself."

" The death of Christ,"

says Klee, as quoted by Baur (Versohnungslehre,

747), "
is

not the cause which moves God, but

the mediating cause in redemption.

favourable to us because Christ
Christ
is

God
is

is

not

ours,

but

ours because

God

is

favoura bie to us."

164

The Atonement

in

We may
of

refer in this connection to the pre-

sentation of the

Atonement

in the great

work

Ritschl

(Bechtfertigung

und

Versohnung),
:

which may be summed up thus

That the
is

object of the manifestation of Christ

the

establishment of the

Kingdom

of

God; that

each soul has

its

proper place in the

is

Kingdom

and that the Atonement

each one
tion
fco

the restoration of

its

proper place, involving justificaalso

is

and pardon, and

which

an impulse towards
essence
of

the goodness

the

the

kingdom.

We

may

recognise in

all

these tendencies, assign to them, a

whatever

weight we
for
reality.

may

demand

"Let us have done

with legal fictions,"

men seem
itself

to be saying,

" and let us see the Atonement as a moral

process

which commends

to our con-

sciences."

No
if

one can doubt the need of an Atonement

take the word according to
is

we

its

derivation,

which

another form of the older " onement,"

reconciliation, or bringing

and means simply

into

harmony

or

union

(see

Murray's Die-

Modern Eeligious Thought.

tionary).

165
heart

A
is

moral
that

reconciliation

of

and and
faith

will
it

which

every

man

needs;

includes the whole process

is

by which
soul,

first

engendered in

the

and

afterwards

man's

will

and

affections

and

his whole life

are " subdued

to the obedience

of Christ."

In what sense we may speak of

God

also as reconciled to us,

we

will discuss

later on.

We

cannot put this question aside,

for the fears

which have beset men's minds,

pacified

and have only been

by the doctrine of

the Atonement, have related primarily, not to

their disposition towards
disposition towards them.

God, but to God's

Nevertheless,
is

it is

a sound principle to begin with what

known

and
of

verifiable,
is

and thence to gain an estimate

Christ Himself taught us,

what

darker.

in this very matter, to speak first of earthly

things,

and then of their heavenly counterpart

11, 12, 14, 15).
effect of

(John

iii.

Now, while the

the work of Christ

felt to

on the mind of God has been

be so

hard to imderstand that Bishop Butler thought

it

presumptuous to attempt to define

it,

the

166
effect

The Atonement

in

on the mind of each believer

is

a matter

of distinct

and daily experience.

We

come

to

Him who
ours
it
;

assures us that

God
we

is

His Father and

we

recognise His teaching as having on

;

the stamp of divinity

see in His life

and

person the image of righteousness sublimated

into love, of love passing into self-sacrifice
;

and

His death
its

is

both the culmination of this and

conclusive test.
all

By

the whole process, but

most of

by His death, we are humbled, awed,

filled

attracted,

and
if

with a longing to be like

Him.
draw
of

" I,
all

I be lifted up from the earth, will

men unto Me."

human
the

This

is

the process
its

Atonement or
the side of

reconciliation

from

earthly

side,

experience.

It is fully

recognised in

New

Testament.

Indeed,

there are but few passages, even in the Epistles

of St. Paul, relating to the
this effect

Atonement in which
life

on the heart and

of

men

is

not
that

clearly

brought out.
live

"He
Him

died for

all,

they

who

should not henceforth live unto

themselves, but unto

which died for them

and rose again."

Can we,

then,

say that this

is all

which

Modern Religious Thought.

Atonement
that
as
is

167

henceforth to

mean

to us,

and

we

are

no

longer

to

speak

of

God

becoming propitious and forgiving through

I do not think such

the sacrifice of Christ?

ideas or expressions will ever

become unreal.
the haunt-

The

self-condemning conscience,

ing sense of guilt, cannot be pacified by any

merely subjective process.

again.

It asks again

and

Can God

really forgive

me ?

and,

if this

question be not answered,

continually

men

are thrown back

upon some non-rational or nonIt

moral explanation.

may, seem, indeed, pre-

sumptuous, as Bishop Butler said, to attempt

to estimate the effect on the Divine
Christ's self-sacrifice;

mind

of

even Professor Jowett,

(lately

in his celebrated

Essay

reprinted in

the

new

edition of his

work on the Epistles

of St. Paul), said that on this point we must " fall back on mystery " and Dean
;

Farrar

is

content to rest where Butler rested.

But, as

McLeod Campbell pointed

if

out,

the

Scriptural writers do not hint at a mystery,

but write as

every reader would understand

of Christ being " a pro-

them when they speak

168

The Atonement
by God that

in

pitiation set forth

all

He might

justify

who

believe in

Him "
;

or of Christ's offering

Himself to God, and " putting away sin by the

sacrifice of

Himself "
sins

or of

God " remembering

no more our

and

iniquities."

Nor need
moral

we, in estimating this side of the

Atonement, depart from the plain ground of

convictions.
It is

true

that

God
;

is

without variableness or shadow of turning

is

He
But

unchangeable righteousness and

love.

the same righteousness and love which beams

upon the repentant and believing soul with

forgiveness and complacency cannot but wear

towards

the

rebellious,

unloving

spirit

the

aspect of displeasure.

Eepentance and faith

change for us the face of God.

And

thus

we

may

understand the passages which speak of

^'

this change.

God saw

their works, that they

turned from their evil ways, and

of the evil that

God repented

unto them, and

If,

He had said that He would do He did it not."

life

then, the death of Christ, viewed as the

of love,
is

culminating point of His

destined

the

means

of repentance for the whole

Modern Eeligious Thought.

world,

169

we may say,

also, that it is

the means of

securing the mercy and favour of God, of pro-

curing the forgiveness of sins.

sacrificial

And then

the

language of the apostolical epistles

becomes

full of

meaning

to us.

expression as that of

Hebrews

ix.

Take such an 23 " It was

:

necessary that the heavenly things themselves

should be cleansed with better sacrifices than

these."

The heavens and

all

that

is

in them,

the aspect of
till

God Himself,

are lurid and dark

they are purged for us by that sacrifice

which ensures alike our repentance and the

favour of God.

The

sacrifice is

not less real

because

it is

the sacrifice of

self.

the light of the Epistle to the Hebrews,

aside the

When, by we put

shadowy and unreal notions which

beset the idea of sacrifice,

sacrifice is that of

and
"

see that the true

the

man
God

himself

"Lo, I

come

to do

Thy

will,

we

can under-

stand that this return of

the Father, as
also
it

filial

obedience to

has power over us, has power

with

God.

*'The

satisfaction,"

says

McLeod Campbell, "was

rigid law, but

required

not by a

by a Father's heart."

170

The Atonement
difficulty,

in

A
that,

however, occurs to us in
first

this,

whereas we have pointed

death of Christ on

to the

efficacy of the

human

beings,

yet in the

common
first, if

conception, and at times in

Scripture, its efficacy

on the Divine nature

is

spoken of
I

not alone.

But

this difficulty,
sacrifice
;

think, can be explained.

The

of
its

Christ comes before

effects

its effects

on us
it,

and

on us are wrapped up in

so that

we

may

say without unreality that in the

is

self-

offering of Christ it

the

human

race itself

which

is

returning to God.

Christ stands for

mankind, and we have a right to believe that

God, because of Christ's
us
all.

self-sacrifice, forgives

We

have a right to preach

is

this,

and

the sinner

who

beginning to return to God

has a right to believe that through Christ's

righteousness, not his own, he
is

saved.
act,

It is
in-

true that faith

is

always a moral

and

volves a complete adherence of the moral

man

to its object.
realise this.

But the weak

believer cannot

He
and

can but say, " Help Thou mine

unbelief "
to

it is

an inexpressible comfort

him

to be able to stake everything, not on

Modern Eeligious
any moral
result in himself,

Thottght.

171

but upon the fact

that Jesus has lived and died for him.

Thus

we may

realise the value of

the old Gospel

message and retain the expressions which have

been dear to so

many

generations.

It is possible, indeed, that future generations

may
or

not need these explanations, and that the

sense of God's Fatherhood and His indwelling

immanence may become

so habitual to those

who have been brought up under the

of a truer

influence

and simpler Christianity, that mercy

will

and forgiveness
first,

be presupposed from the

and the whole

stress of the Christian life

be laid on the following of Christ.

hardly assume this.
centuries the
first

But we can

Through

all

these nineteen

great need of burdened souls

has been to know that God has pardoned them,

and to be assured of

this,

not by word, but by

It is

the sacrifice of the Cross.

to Christian teachers to

a great thing
that they can

know

preach the Cross without any misrepresentation

of the justice

and the love of God.

is

But there

one point more of the utmost

importance, to which the difficulty just stated

172
points us.

The Atonement
The
effect

in

of

the Atonement

is

not

primarily

to

save

men from
to

punishinto

ment and misery

happiness, but to

and
save

bring

them

them from
moral
the

alienation

and to bring them into

the
righteousness

union with
of

and

love

God.

(This has lately been insisted on very powerfully

by Professor Sabatier, of
driven

Paris.)

Those

who have been

doctrine of the

away from the Christian

profession by the crudeness with which the

Atonement has been preached,

of the statements of

are apt

to speak
if

the

apostles as

they implied that the object

eternal torments.
I

was to free

men from

remember going through a number of

which were put together as showing
it

texts

this,

and

was evident that in almost every case there

was no reference to the liberation from punishment, but from

of St. Peter
(1

sin.

Peter

i.

For instance, the words 19), " Redeemed with

Christ,"

the precious

blood of

were quoted

without seeing that the redemption spoken of

was

^^

from your vain conversation received by

from your fathers "
j

tradition

or

those

of

Modern Eeligious Thought.

Gal.
i.

173

4,

"Who
from

gave Himself for our sins,"

without noticing the words "that

deliver us
it

this present evil world."

He might And
to cling

must be admitted that men are apt

merely to the negative side of the redemptive

process and to stop at the forgiveness of sins,

whereas the teaching of the apostles always

points to, and almost always affirms, the positive
side,

and speaks of the Cross as the stimulus and love and devoted
service.
is

to righteousness

Perhaps the most pregnant text in the Bible

Heb.

ix. 14,

" The blood of Christ, who through

the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot

to God, shall purge your consciences

from dead
offering

works to serve the living God."

is

The

that of

self,

a moral act in contrast to the

;

sacrifice of

non-moral victims

its

value Ues
its

in its being pure

are, negatively,

and immaculate ;

results

to

purge the conscience and,

God.

positively, to lead us into the service of

And

this redemptive process

;

is

not merely

individual

it

extends to the race of mankind

and to the whole constitution of things in which

we

Uve.

"God

sent His Son

that

174

The Atonement
through

in Eeligious

Thought.
;

the world

Him might

be saved "

" By

Him

to reconcile all things to Himself, whether

they be things in earth or things in heaven."

The Atonement
national peace,
forces

is

the stimulus to every effort

for social regeneration, for freedom, for interfor

the bending of
to
their

all

the

of

Nature
in

proper

object
of
re-

the
Christ.

bringing

of

the

Kingdom
Peyton's

Let me

refer to

Mr.

markable

articles in

The Gontemporary Review

for April and

May on

" The Crucifixion as an

Evolutionary Force."

The more

this positive
is

and far-reaching aspect of the Atonement

dwelt upon the
less likely

we

shall be to fall

back into the puerile or immoral explanations

which have obscured

will
it

it,

and the more powerful

of

become for the work

Christian
is

expansion and Christian unity, which

t^sk of this generation.

the

IX
BY MARCU5 DOD5,
Professor of

D.D.,

New Testament

Exegesis In

New

College, Edinburgh.

It

is

remarkable that the death of Christ, on

all

which

Christians depend for salvation,

and

which might therefore be expected to be the

most

intelligible of all events, is actually

one of

the most obscure. because of

are so
its

But

it

is

obscure partly

universal

significance.

There
it

many
its

different aspects in

which

may
it is

be viewed, and so

many

various directions in
itself,

which

influence

applies

that

impossible to give any definition of

its signifiall,

cance comprehensive enough to

include

impossible to do more than recognise

its signifiis all

cance from one point of view.

This

that

can be attempted in this paper.

In speaking of the death of Christ

understood that this term
signify only that
is

it will

be

not intended to
cross,

which happened on the

the
obedience

but rather

all

and suffering

which led up to and were consimimated and

signalised

in

the

actual

crucifixion.
12

The

178
''

The Atonement
of
is

in

Death

Christ "

or

the

" Blood

of

Christ"

a convenient and significant for-

mula which includes and covers the whole

self-sacrifice,

humiliation,

and submission to

the Father's will which went to constitute the

Atonement.

That Christ's death

sins

is

the ground on which

catholic
is.

are

forgiven

is

the

faith

of

Christendom.
is it

The question
Is it

In what sense
Christ's

the ground ?
is

meant that

death
love,

the supreme manifestation of God's

definite proclamation of

and therefore the

His desire to forgive?

Christ's

Or

is

it

meant that

death

itself

removes

some obstacle

which prevented the Father from forgiving His

children,

and furnishes a ground on which God But

these
are

can

forgive?

not

mutually

exclusive

alternatives.

An

affirmative

answer

must be given
and in doing

to both.

The death

of Christ

achieves the reconciliation of

so

God and man,

becomes the supreme mani-

festation of the Father's love.

It will help us to perceive the bearing of
Christ's death

on our forgiveness

if

we

first

of

Modern Eeligious Thought.

all

179

apprehend that

it is

a manifestation of God's
Jesus claimed to be

love,

but not that merely.

the Messiah, the Christ, the chosen

representative of God.
significance
It

and anointed
which gave

was

this

and supreme
all

importance to His

death as to

He

did and said.

He
it

died as
is

Messiah or Christ.
merely the love of a

In His death

not
to

human
;

heart, of

man

man.

He

is

expressing

it is

the love of the

unseen Father manifesting

itself to

His children.
re-

Take away the Messiahship, put aside the

presentative character of all that Jesus said and

did, think of

Him

as a

mere man and not as

the revealer of God, and you destroy the radical

and

essential significance of

His death.

This

act has universal significance, a message to all

men, because
all

it is

the act of

Him

with

whom
It is

men have

to do.

It speaks to us of Divine
efficiency.

sympathy, of Divine love and

the supreme expression of the Divine nature

and of the Divine attitude towards

us.

Here

we

find God,

and

find

Him

in such an attitude

towards us that we are overwhelmed with contrition,

and at the same time have

all

hope and

180
life

The Atonement

in

renewed in us by the recognition of His

sufficiency.

But while the death

it this

of Christ carries with

grand result of revealing God's fatherly

sacrifice, this

compassion and

cannot be said

to be its primary object.

It does convince us

that
the

God

is

Love and to be depended upon to

but

uttermost;

had

it

been

contrived

solely for the purpose of

producing this perso.

suasion, manifestly
I

it

would not have done

understand and appreciate the devotion and

the

ajffection of

man who
he
seeks

steps in between

my
only
love

breast and a bayonet-thrust;

but I

am

bewildered
for

if

to

prove his

me
I

by

exposing

himseK
I need

needlessly

when

am
the

in

no danger.
self-sacrifice

no explana-

tion of

of

the

springs

into

the

water to rescue
if

man who me from

on land,

certain death, but

while I

am

safe

and

in order to prove his love for

me, he leaps
is lost,

into a torrent

no swimmer can stem and

I fail to perceive his sanity his useless act.

and can only lament

We
level

cannot lower the death of

of such superfluous and

Christ to

the

Modern Eeligious Thought.

irrelevant displays, but

181

must believe that there and that the love

was a need for the

in it

sacrifice,

was manifested by the recognition and

satisfaction of the need.

The questions remains,

then,

what was the

need and how did Christ's death satisfy it?

There was need of some such demonstration of

God's righteousness as would make
it

possible

and safe for

In order

Him

to forgive the unrighteous.

find

that

God's love might

free

expression in the forgiveness of His children

two things at
and

least

were necessary-^that they

should be penitent, and that they should be

actually

powerfully

impelled

towards
the
all,

righteousness.

Bare
of
free

forgiveness,

mere
could could could

proclamation

pardon

to

accomplish neither of these

ends.

It
it

not secure adequate repentance, and not secure righteousness.

secures both.
First,

The death

of Christ

Let us see how. In order to forgiveness

Repentance.

there

must be repentance, the keen sense that

sin is against

God and

separates from

Him,

and the earnest craving for reconcilement.

182

The Atonement
this there can be

in

Without

no forgiveness.

man

cannot be admitted into the favour of God

it.

without the earnest desire for

Forgiveness
into operation

means nothing, and cannot come

where impenitence continues.

But

if it

is

inconceivable that
it
is

God should

forgive the impenitent,

able that

equally inconceiv-

He
is

should not forgive the penitent.

" The Lord

nigh unto them that are of a

broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite

spirit."
all

It cannot

be otherwise.
is

The

object of

God's dealings

to

win us to
sin.

Himself and to separate us from

And

when the
However

sinner desires above

all

else to be

reconciled to

God his

return

is

eagerly welcomed.

seriously a person has

injured you,
is,

and however just and keen your resentment

you cannot cherish anger when you see him

truly penitent, crushed with shame, doing all

that

lies in his

power to compensate for the

wrong done.

Who is
To

Is not of

not with repentance satisfied heaven nor earth.

is

cherish resentment against the penitent^

Modern Eeligious Thought.

183

to cherish resentment against the dead, for the

disposition

which prompted the injury

It
is

is

now
is

non-existent.

another, a

new man

that

now

before you, a
did,

man who
To

hates what the old

man

and would spend himself in repairing

cherish resentment and
is

the wrong done.

withold forgiveness in such a case

devilish.

fatuous and
irresistible.

True penitence is_, in short,

It is the real solvent of past discord.

But apart from the Cross

those foreshadowings of
it

of Christ, or from in the Old Testasimilai

is

ment which produced the same or a

adequate repentance.

impression of God's righteousness, there

no

Repentance can never be

adequate until the perception of God's righteousness

is

adequate.

The

Cross,

exhibiting

at once the righteousness

is

and the love of God,

the supreme and perfect instrument for proIt can never be surpassed,

ducing repentance.
but stands to
for bringing to
of their
all

time as the

sufficient

means

men

the knowledge and hatred

own

evil.

Here men learn that God

by which righteousness can
therefore. His supreme

grudges no

sacrifice
;

be promoted

that

it is,

184
interest.

The Atonement

in

Here His righteousness and His

love

are seen to be inextricably intertwined, both

alike

prompting

Him

above

all else

to seek bj

righteous methods for the righteousness of men.

In point of

fact, it

is

only in Christendom
it is
it.

worthy repentance has been found, and

the Cross that Christians have found

at

By
the

being the source, then, of true and fruitful

penitence, the death of

Christ

removes

radical subjective obstacle in the

way

of for-

giveness.

Second, the death of Christ not only makes

forgiveness possible by producing the penitence

which alone can crave and accept

it,

but also

it

secures that forgiveness shall not be abused.

It

safeguards morality, law, righteousness.

question
is

The

not whether
it

God

desired to forgive,

but whether

was possible for

Him

to forgive

without at the same time introducing to men's

minds

deeper reverence for righteousness.

Constituted as

men

are,

mere impunity would

have led to further transgression, to disbelief

in the reality of law

and righteousness.

For-

giveness, in order to be safe

from abuse^ must

Modern Eeligious Thought.

reach

185

men

in such a

way

as shall

more deeply

impress them with the value of righteousness

than their own punishment would have done.

Proclamation of universal pardon without any

accompanying exhibition of the sacredness of

law must have resulted in a loweiing of all sense
of right.
It is not that

God

is

implacable and

must be
being
of

propitiated, but that the

moral wellbe
clearly

man

requires

that

it

exhibited that the

ness
is

demand

of perfect righteous-

not too severe, and that

human

blessed-

ness consists not in escaping but in acknowledg-

ing and possessing righteousness.

forgiven
at

We

can be

the foot of the Cross,

because

in the Cross

we

see the result of sin

and the

sacredness

of law.

We
of

there see what sin

in
its

actually does,

involving
best

misery

the

highest

and

beings.

We

can

be

pardoned because the Cross humbles

vinces us that righteousness
is

us, con-

supreme, and

binds us by every good bond to

Him who
God

makes His

Spirit ours.
it

Or

to

put

in a slightly different form,

cannot pass by our transgressions and treat us

186
as

The Atonement
if

in

we were His dear and

loyal

children,

without at the same time showing us that

does not

He
set

make

light of transgression nor

aside the law of righteousness

on which our
Forgiveness

purity

and

happiness

depend.

must come through a medium which safeguards

righteousness.

The

substitution

of

Christ's

death for our punishment answers this purpose.

It

more

effectually binds us to

God and

right-

eousness than our

done.
desires
It is
;

own punishment would have

not our physical suffering God our permanent establishment in

it

is

that holiness that unites to Himself and makes us sharers in His blessedness.
plishes

This

He

accom-

by Christ's interposition.
of

The two great ends homage

to law

punishment, the

and the reformation of the law-

breaker, are thus alike secured by the death of

Christ.

The

radical idea
is

and

essential element

in punishment

the establishment of law, the

is
is

impression conveyed that law

law and cannot

with impunity be broken.

of law or right that

It

on the

stability

human

happiness depends,

Dismiss the sanctity of law and you cut

human

Modern Eeligious Thought.

hope down at the root.
also

187

But punishment may

Rarely
it

reform

the

criminal.

does

it

accomplish this end indeed, but

may

legiti-

mately be hoped for and aimed

of Christ secures both ends

at.

The death
the
highest

in

degree.

The death

of Christ, then, has

it

made

forgive-

ness possible, because

enables

men

to repent
it

with an adequate penitence, and

magnifies righteousness and binds

because

men

to God.

We
of

have now to ask what

Christ

it

was in the death

these
ends.

which

accomplishes

What
to our

relation precisely

had Christ's suffering

own ?

What

is

the element in Christ's

it

suffering

which differentiates

from that of

other men and gives it saving significance ? This may be answered in a word it was its

voluntariness, or, which

is

the same thing,

its

representative character.

We

have recognised that

as

Messiah

or

Christ Jesus lived and acted as

sentative,

God's reprealso

but as Christ

He was
so not
all

man's

representative.
investiture,

He was

by any formal

but by being what

men ought

188
to

The Atonement

in

be and by becoming the source of a new

creation, a

new

life

and type of man.

He

claims that His death was a death for the race

His blood

is

shed for many.

This implies a

relation to the race not sustained

by ordinary

men.

It implies that in

some sense

He

repre-

sents the race.

Christ,

Coming

to the world as the to

satisfy

He
He

undertakes

on man's
it is

behalf the whole will of God.

capacity
dies.

And

in this

It is this

which explains His

anxiety and agony.

To compare His death

is

with that of Socrates

for himself alone; his
else,

absurd.

Socrates died

own

reputation, but little

depended on his firmness in dying.

Jesus

knew Himself
tive of all

to be the Christ, the representa-

men, and knew, therefore, that on

His constancy and submission in dying de-

pended

the hope of

mankind.

It

was

this

responsibility,

together

with the sense

that
*'

death was the fruit of sin and embodied

curse," that crushed

the

Him

with a burden

He

could scarcely sustain.

By submitting
without a

to all God's

appointments

murmur, by allowing the conse-

Modern Religious Thought.

quences of sin to find expression in His
life

189

own

and death,

He owned

God's righteousness

and magnified the law.

By assuming our place, by showing us that our sin strikes God Himself and involves in its consequences Him who best
loves us,

He humbles

us as nothing else can

humble
It
is

us,

and brings us to sincere repentance.

suffering that

the voluntariness of His

touches, softens
It

and

purifies.

may

further be asked, In

what sense can

punishment ?

we say that Christ

suffered our
it

We

can certainly say

suffering
sin.

in the sense that all

Christ's

was

the

consequence

of

human
result

His suffering was the inevitable

His
presence
in

of

an

evil

world.

Human
position

sin is

punished not by any direct interinfliction at

and

God's hand, but by

the natural consequences that result.

These

consequences

fell

on Christ, so that while we

cannot say that

this

can

He was punished, because would imply that He had sinned, we say that He suffered the punishment of
sin.

human

There are passages in the epistles of

St.

Paul

190
which,

The Atonement
when read by

in

themselves, seem to give

us the baldest and bluntest doctrine of substitution.

He

goes so far as to say that Christ

was made
for us.

sin for us, that

He became

a curse

Separated from the spiritual condition

and experience of him who used these expressions they appear repellent.

Even

so profound

and serious
exclaims
:

theologian as
is

Dr. Martineau

"

How

the alleged immorality of

letting off the sinner

mended by the added crime

Of what
thing be

of

penalty

crushing the sinless?

man

of

what angel

could

such a

reported without raising a cry of indignant

shame from the universal human heart ? What

should we think of a judge

who should
generous

dis-

charge the felons from

because

the prisons of a city

some

noble

and

citizen

offered himself

to the executioner instead?"

so easy a use of analogies

But we cannot by

dispose of Paul's statements.

In any case we
a perfectly sin-

have this fact to explain

less

that

person suffered and died an ignominious

death.

Here

also, at first sight,

we seem

to be
is

confronted with a flagrant injustice.

What

Modern Religious Thought.

its

191

explanation ?

Paul says

He

suffered in our

room.
Thisj like every other part of Paul's teaching, is

explained by the central fact of his

his

Christian experience,

union with Christ.

was, " I in

The motto

of

his Christian life

;

Christy Christ in me " there was no fact of which he was more certain than that he and

Christ were one, inextricably united.

arrived
detailed.

How
here

he
be

at

this

conviction

cannot

But that from

is

resulted

apparent.

it many consequences And one of these

consequences was that he

felt it to

be

tlie

most

natural thing in the world that

what Christ did

and suffered should be valid for him.

He could

not think of Christ as one person, and himself

as another.
Christ's.

His personality was embraced in

presuppositions substituthing.

With such

tion

becomes quite another

Besides,

when Dr. Martineau compares

room

Christ's substitu-

tion to the substitution of a noble citizen in the

of gaolfuls of felons, he excites a preju-

dice against the

Atonement by a

false analogy.

The noble

citizen has

no means of securing that

192

The Atonement

in Religious

Thought.

the felons acquitted should also be transformed

into virtuous citizens
;

but the very nerve of

Christ's substitution lies in this, that

able,

He was

and in thousands of instances has made

ability, to

good His

make new men

is

of those for
if

whom He
one
country

died.

Society
of

no doubt injured

citizen

capable

heroism,

which

his

may

urgently need at some

crisis of its

fortunes, be

sacrificed to give to a

troop of

worthless
for every

men

a liberty which they will abuse

purpose.

evil

But

this

bears

no

analogy to a substitution of which the

intended and actual result
is

main

to

make good
effect

men;
frees

a substitution which takes

and

from punishment only those who are thus

is

renewed, and which indeed

ever

the only agency

discovered

which

does

renew

large

numbers of men.
fied

Christ's substitution

is justi-

by the fact that

He was

able to secure that

it

greater moral results would from

accrue to

the race than could be reached by punishment

af

the sinner.

BY AUaUSTE 5ABATIER,
Dean
of the

Faculty of Protestant Theology of the University of Paris.

13

In the The

first

contribution wliich

appeared in
great
subject

Christian

World on this

Mr. Campbell very properly drew attention to

the prevalence of the doctrine of Expiation in the tradition of the Christian Church.

But

it

has not always been the same doctrine, at

so

least,

far as its expression

is

concerned.

The

doctors of the
justified
it

Middle Ages formulated and

in a fashion different

from that

followed by the Church Fathers, while

we

in

our turn conceive

the Middle Ages.

it

quite otherwise than did

To

exhibit this evolution

will not be to contradict

tion,

Mr. CampbelPs exposiIt will

not,

but to complete
affect

it.

more-

over,

the

doctrine
all

of any particular

Church, because while

established

the Churches have

certain

necessary

connection

between the death of Christ and the pardon of

sin,

none of them has introduced into

sanctioned
as

its credo,

or

an

article

of

faith,

any

196
precise
after

The Atonement
formula
of

in

expiation.

One theory

another

has

in turn been allowed to

this

prevail,

and modern orthodoxy has on

subject become distinctly broad and tolerant.

We may

therefore discuss with entire liberty

the successive ways in which theologians have

expounded the doctrine.

Their explanations arrange themselves under

two leading

types,

which are the expression of

According
to

two

radically

opposed views.

the one the death of Christ has procured the

pardon of

sins,

because

it

has influenced the

to
forgive.

mind

of

God and induced Him

its

Divine grace has here

primary cause in the

Accord-

expiation furnished by Jesus Christ.

ing to the other view. Divine grace, the mercy

of

God
it

from

whence pardon proceeds,

on
nothing
else

is

absolute,
itself
;

depending
remains the

than

all-sufficient

cause, the

primum movens
The death
rendered
Bay
that

of the redemption of sinners.

is

of Jesus

the outcome of grace,

is

the historical means by which redemption

effective.

In other words, either we

sinners

God

forgives

because the

Modern Eeligious Thought.

197

death of Christ has paid their debt to His

justice
;

or

we

reverse the relation,

and say that

will

Jesus died

as

the

result

of

God's

to

pardon.
reality

These two points of view imply in

different conceptions of Chris-

two very

tianity itself, the juridic

and

legalist concep-

tion which predominated in the Early Church,

and the
prevail in

ethical

conception which tends to

times.
It is in the
first, of

modern

slow
these

and painful movement from the

views to the other that the evolution of Christian thought

consist.
I.

upon

this subject niay be said to

As a

result of the Eucharist being under-

stood and celebrated from an early period as

an expiatory
in the

sacrifice,

the view of the faithful

Church of the

first

ages was directed to

the Cross as the centre both of worship and

of faith.

But the need of seeking and end was hardly

felt.

its

precise

significance

Gregory

Nazianzen (Orat. 33j regards the subject as

"a theme for free speculation." Accordingly, we find in the writings of the Fathers an
extraordinary
variety

and

fluctuation

of

198
opinion.
It

The Atonement
is

in

to be

observed

that the so-

called Apostle's

Creed does not establish any

relation

between the death of Christ and the

;

remission of sins

and that the Nicene-Conrests

stantinopolitan Creed

the

work

of re-

demption

at

once

on the

incarnation,

the

sufferings, the death,

and the resurrection of

the Son of God.

nevertheless,
is

The dominant conception,

that of a ransom paid to Satan,

and

it is

curious to observe how, in this theory,

is

the forensic idea

mixed up with a mythorelation-

logical representation of the Divine

ship to the devil.

Satan

has

taken

possession of

humanity,
it

which he holds captive.

He

has over

right of legitimate possession.

And God

does

not use violence to eject him from his claim.

The Just One

will,

in His dealing with

the

unjust, use the forms of justice.

He
;

proposes

therefore to the adversary a bargain

to

He

offers

him the

soul of the
souls,

Son
it

of
is

God
on

as a
this

ransom
account

for

human

and

that the Son dies and descends into Hades.

It is

not God's fault

if

Satan has not the power

Modern Religious Thought.

to detain

199
the

the

Redeemer

in

prison

^if

latter breaks the gates of hell

and destroys the

fool's

power of

its

king.

Satan has made a

bargain, but for that he has only himself to

blame.
the

He

has rightfully lost everything as

of
his

price

measureless

ambition
xii. 8.

(Irencens

Gregory

Ad Haer, V. of Nysm Or.

1. 1.

Origen in Matt.

Catech. 22-26 j.

This theory of Divine manoeuvre did not,

however,
universally
it.

satisfy.

Augvistine

is

scandalised with

But

he, while affirming

that Christ had paid the ransom of sinners to

the Divine justice, and not to the devil, did not
see very clearly tke necessity for this ransom.

He

declares in one place that

God was

free to

choose, in His grace, other

tion,

means of redempdeath of
that

and that
it is

Christ,

He has chosen the because He so willed, and

if

He

desired

to

win us by His lore (August, De

II.,

Agone Christi
It is with

De

Gatethiz 7).

Anselm of Canterbury,

at the end

of the eleventh century, in the famous treatise,

Cur Deus Homo, that the doctrine of Expiation

takes precise and definite form as a theory of

200

The Atonement

in

equivalent satisfaction given

by the Son of God

to Divine justice.

This theory has for basis

and point of departure the Germanic penal law.

Every offence demands a reparation, and this
reparation

may

be furnished either by the

punishment of the culprit or by a compensation

offered to the injured party equivalent to the

injury he has suffered.

Man

has,

by

his sin,

offended

the honour of

God.

This

honour

being

infinite,

the offence committed becomes

of infinite gravity, and can be repaired only by

infinit^e

and

eternal

pains

endured

by the

offender, unless

he can furnish to God an exact

reparation.
this

Man

would never be able to do

he
henceforth
perfectly

because,

were

obedient, he owes this obedience naturally to

God, and

consequently cannot

in

this

way
oft

obtain any excess of merit whereby to pay

the antecedent debt.

diably lost unless

Man

is,

then,

irreme-

God Himself come

also that this

to his aid.

Only a God could acquire an

it

infinite merit,

but

would be necessary

God should
a

at the

same time be man, because

is

it is

human
it

debt that

to be paid.

Thus, then, was

an

Modern Religious Thought.

absolute necessity that the Son of

201

God should

become

incarnate.
it is

It

is

further to be noted

here that

not by His virtues, by His active

Christ
acquires His

obedience,

that

merits

before God, for

He

owes this obedience to God

It is

on His own account.

by His

sufferings

and by His death.

Being without

sin,

He was He

under no obligation either to suffer or to die.

If,

then,

He

accepts suffering and death.

obtains thereby an excess of merit available for

the service of sinners.

for the sufferings
infinite value.

This merit

is infinite,

and death of a God have an

They more than cover the debt

justice is

of

man.

That debt to the Divine

now entirely liquidated; the reparation has been made by a satisfactory equivalent. Man may now be saved. Herein is revealed
accordingly

the double necessity for the incarnation and for

the death of the Son of God.

That

this theory, with the slight modification

it

brought to

by Thomas Aquinas, should have no way surprising.

become the orthodox one of the Roman Catholic

Church
is

in

Romanism
ita

found here the best possible support for

202

The Atonement

in

doctrine of the efficacy of the

practice of indulgences.

Mass and

for the

Nor need we wonder

of Divine grace

that this fashion of considering sin as a debt

to be paid,

and the application

as a credit transfer, should have satisfied the

superstitious piety

and the

inferior morality of

the

Middle Ages.

Anselm's theory, indeed,

marked a
Fathers.

real progress over that of the

Church

What
with

does astonish us

is

that the

Eeformers, Luther especially, should have received

it

suck eagerness^ and that the

of

Protestant

theologians

the
it,

seventeenth
in

century should have defended

an even

exaggerated form, with such tenacity.

They

were seduced, no doubt, by the awful emphasis

which the theory placed upon

impossibility

sin,

and the
it

of self-salvation to which

re-

duced the sinner.

it offered, serious

But the idea of

though
it

sin

which

was, stood quite

outside

man

himself.
is

Sin offends the Divine

its

honour, but there

no mention of

wounding,
Accord-

corrupting effect upon

ingly
it

human

nature.

leaves

no

logical

ground for repentance

enters

and

reconciliation.

The penalty alone

Modern Keliqious Thought.

into consideration.
all

203

This having been once for

endured by the Son of God, and the debt

paid,

man may

claim entrance into heaven, not

as a grace, hut as a rig] it, in the

name

of the

same
St.

justice that first of all

condemned him^

Paul would say, "

We

are here imder the

law, not under grace."

Anselm's theory

is,

in fact, irretrievably

com-

promised in the presence of modern religious

thought, and that
to the criticisms,
it is

so

is

owing not so much

weighty though they were,

Socinians,

urged

by

the

Arminians

and

Rationalists of the eighteenth century as to the

fact that
it is

absolutely contrary to the fundawell as to

It is

mental postulates of Scripture, as

those of the Christian conscience.
idea of grace itself that
is

the

here attacked.

The

more

strict

and

logical the

form in which the

is

penal law theory of equivalent satisfaction

presented,

the
it.

more

completely

is

grace

excluded from

Where a
can
be
creditor

satisfaction has

been offered
grace.

there

no
has
to

question

of

When

the

been
the

paid,

he

is

showing

no

grace

debtor

204
in

The Atonement
holding

in

him

free of obligation.

A God
and

who pardons because He has been

after

satisfied,

he has been
all.

satisfied,

does

not reallj

pardon at

In

fact, in this

theory the idea

of grace and of free pardon can only be pre-

served by saying that

God has paid

to Himself

the satisfaction which

This, however,

He demanded
is

of man.

from the
is

legal point of view

on

which the theory

a
trifling

constructed,
all

nonsense,
it

emptied of

reality.

When

has

reached this point the theory has contradicted

and destroyed

itself.

Both the word and the idea of

satisfaction,

thus understood, are foreign to the Bible.

In

the Scriptures man's salvation and the pardon

of his sin always proceed

from an

initial act of
is

pure mercy.

Their primary cause

a gracious
it is

decision of the Divine love, beyond which

impossible to go.
loves and

God pardons

because
Love.

He

He

loves because

He

is

It is

from

his

paternal

heart

that the work of

redemption has sprung.

In the Old Testament

everything proceeds from this free, sovereign,

and absolute grace

the

Covenant with

Israel,

Modern Religious Thought.

the promises
children,

205

made

to the fathers

and to the
the sins

the deliverances

granted,

forgotten or remitted. For the manifestation of

this
infinite

mercy no

other

condition

is

required than
their return to

the repentance of the people,

God, their confidence in the

grace of God.

When we
except

inquire closely

we
this

discover that the expiatory sacrifices themselves

have no

efficiency

in

virtue of

Divine mercy, and that they serve not so

for
satisfying

much
the
this

God

as

for

manifesting

repentance and
explains

faith

of

man.

And

why they remain without virtue, and, indeed, become obnoxious to God when they are offered by worshippers who have not
repented and whose hearts are hardened (Exod.
Deut.
v. 2, et seq. ;

xix. 4-6, xxxiv. 6, 10

V. 6, vi.
1.

Hosea
Isaiah

6
J

Micah

vi. vi.

6-16

Amos

v.

21

10-26

Jeremiah

20

Ps. xl. 6, 7, xlix. 7, 8,

li.

16-19, &c., &c.).

And

if

the free initiative of God's grace

is

seen in the beginning of the Old Covenant,

much more

is it visible

throughout the whole

course of the

New.

It

would be superfluous

206

The Atonement

in

to insist upon, or to prove that Jesus in

His
the

preaching makes the forgiveness of

sins,

publication of the good news of the kingdom,

and the salvation of sinners to

free

rest

upon the
Father.

and
is

gracious

decision

of

His

Nothing
lay

further from His thought than to

down

as a necessary condition of that grace

previously

demanded

satisfaction
;

on

the

part of God.

The Father pardons

He

opens

His arms to the prodigal simply because

He

is

God, and that

sinner, but
xi.

He

wills

not the death of a

life

His conversion and his

LuJce
vii.

(Matt.
12-32).

25,

et

seq.;

41-50; xv.

When

Jesus declares, in another place, that

life

He

" gives His

a ransom for many," the verj

form of

this partial declaration {dvrl moXkcjv)

and the context proves that what

speaks of
is

He

here

His

love,

which devotes

itself to

His brethren, and that the ransom

to

He

pays

is

His brethren, and not to God.

if

So in His
Covenant
is

words at the Last Supper,

is

the

New

to be sealed with His blood, this

Covenant

essentially a gift of Divine grace,

a gift not
tliat
is

evoked by the death of Christ, but

Modern Religious Thought.

207

by that death introduced and realised in human It is enough to note here the " royal history.
text " in this matter
:

" God so loved the world

{John in. 16),

that

He

gave His
is
;

Son"

The

death of Jesus
the love of

not the cause which moves

the love of

God

it is

God which

is

the cause of Christ's coming and of His death.

What,

too, of the idea of grace as presented

in the teaching of St. Paul ?

The

Epistles to

the Romans, to the

Galatians,

and to the

Ephesians might be cited entire to show that

the x^P''^
"^^^

^^^ brought

by Christ to

sinners,

whether considered as individuals, as nations,

or as humanity together, proceeds solely from

the Divine evhoKia (Eph.

i.

5, 6, Phil.
iv.

i.

28,

comp, John
is,

v. 36, xi.

42

John

9).

There

then, in

the

whole Christian

revelation

nothing more solidly based than

this.

Every-

thing in the Divine Dispensations for the salvation of

men

is
is

derived from the Divine grace,

itself

while that

underived.

It is not the
;

death of Christ which determines grace

it is

grace that determines and brings to pass the

death of Christ.

208
It

The Atonement

in

may be

objected that there are other and

very numerous declarations in the

New

Testa-

ment where the death

of Jesus

is

assimilated

to the expiatory sacrifices of the Old Testa-

ment; where the blood of Christ

sented as covering and effacing
Christ been
sin.

is

repre-

Has not
?

made

sin

and a curse for us

Has
?

He
i.

not borne our sins in His body on the tree

iii.

(Gal.

13; 2 Cor.

v.

21; Col
1

ii.
i.

14; 1 John
2,

7;
i.

Eeh. ix. 12-16;

5).

Peter

19, &c.;

Rev,
is

But

this second series of passages

first.

not necessarily contradictory of the

harmony can without

difficulty

be estab-

lished

between them, provided we are deter-

mined not to interpret the Christian revelation

according to certain Levitical texts, but rather
to study
these,

and

all

the comparisons

or

images drawn from them by the Apostles in

the spirit of the Christian revelation.

For

in-

stance, to touch only the essential point, it is

evident that in the parallel drawn between the

ancient sacrifices and that of Calvary, there

to be found

ie

always one

vital distinction.
is

In

the old sacrifices the victim

devoted to death

Modern Eeligious Thought.

contrary
to its will ;
it is

209

recalcitrant under the

knife of the sacrificer.

In the sacrifice
;

of

Calvary the Victim

Himself.

is

not devoted

He

devotes

His death
it
is

is

a manifestation of love
in
vrhat
consists

and

if

asked

the
is

superiority of Christ's
precisely in this

sacrifice the

answer
gift

act of love

in the

of

Himself.

This love constitutes the very es-

sence, the whole expiatory virtue, of

His death.

Take away in thought the

love

from that

death and we have in this bleeding, agonising

punishment no more expiatory virtue than in

the blood of bulls or of goats.
It follows

from

this that the physical suffering, the bloodshed,

have no other

role

than that of symbols, or

;

rather of vivid expressions

pathetic manifesta-

tions, of the love of Christ.

The greater the

suffering of Christ the

it

more are we moved by

because

it

shows to us how much he has

loved us.

But the death

of Christ, while, according to

is,

Scripture, a manifestation of ineffable love,

at the
sin.

same time, not

less

a condemnation of

The

sinner sees here his soul loved by

14

210
another,
salvation
;

The Atonement
who

in

gives Himself entirely for his

he finds also his sin made manifest

in all its murderous strength

bility.

and utter culpa-

He

is

then in a double sense associated

with the suffering of

Him who

is

at once the

Holy and the Loving One.

tion

Yet the condemna-

does not consist in the amount of the

suffering endured by the Redeemer, but in the

sense of the guilt of sin awakened in the heart

of the sinner.

The triumph
this,

of Divine justice

through love consists in

that the sin conis

demned
also

objectively

by the Cross
in

condemned
of

subjectively

the

conscience

the
to

Christian,

who by a profound inner return

Grod breaks with his

own

sin, dies to sin, to rise

vi.

unto newness of

life

(Romans

1-7).

We

need to enter into the Pauline idea

of the

mystical union of Christ with sinners by love,

aad of the mystical union of sinners with

Christ crucified by repentance and faith, to get

the true notion according to Paul of the justice

of God, a justice

which

is

not solely a power of

justifies,

punishment, but a justice that

that

is,

which triumphs over

evil in

the hearts even


Modern Religious Thought.
of evil doers,
(et?

211

to

eivai

Oeov hUaiov xal

hiKaiovvra rov

ex

TrtVreft)?.

Romans

iii.

26.)

The Pauline

Bi/caLoa-vvTj
is

%ou mediates between

the negative reaction of

the opyrj Seov, which

God

against sin, and the %/>t9 tov Beov, His

love of the sinner.

The

StKaLoavvT)

0eoO saves

the sinner, not by obtaining as satisfaction the

quantity of suffering merited by his
sin,

but by

destroying at once the guilt of sin and the sin

itself.
is

And

this

is

the true expiation.

For sin
is

only really expiated by reparation, that

to

say,

by being abolished.
principal points in the

To sum up here the

Scriptural

doctrine in contrast with that of

Anselm
1.

The idea

of a necessarily and preliminary

is

satisfaction, in Anselm's sense,

foreign to the

Bible,

and contrary to the Christian notion of the

absolute sovereign liberty of the grace of God.

2.

In the Bible

pitiless

judge

God is not presented as a who punishes and curses a

accepts the devotion of the

criminal in the person of Christ crucified, but

as a Father

who

Son of His

love.

212

The Atonement
The
distinction

in

3.

between

an

obedient ia

activa on the part of Christ, due from

Him

to

God, and an ohedientia passiva which would

secure for

Him

a surplus of merit with God

is

available for sinners,

absolutely foreign to
Christ's merits,"

the Bible.

The very words, "

in the mediaeval
ture.
4.

sense are contrary to Scrip-

The

idea of Christ's substitution for the

sinner,

and of the sinner's substitution for

is

Christ before God,

Biblical view
if

in conformity with the

it

we understand

not as a legal

fiction arbitrarily

imposed by a judge in a law

court, but as a moral reality created on the one

side

by the love of Christ in

its

union with

man, and on the other by the faith of the

believer

which associates

itself

with the sufferrising

ings and death of Christ,

"dying and

again with Him."

From

all this

it

results that the theory of

" satisfaction "

no

longer

remains

valid to

Christian thought.
If

now we

are asked to define the direction

has,

in which

modern theology

on

this subject.

Modern Religious Thought.

been moving for the last century

213

aim represented by
not
difficult.

its

the general endeavours the reply

is

The
its

capital

defect

of the old

theory lay in

legal character.

The Chris-

tian thought of our time has,

on the contrary,
to
lift

been

constantly

endeavouring

the

doctrine of expiation from the forensic to the

ethical point of view.

It has sought to substi-

tute in the processes of the

work of redemption
life for

the realities of the moral

fictions created

the abstract
of

by logic
it

in the

name

penal law.

Whether

be in dealing

human with God

Christian
it

Himself, or with the work of Christ, or with

the
justification

of

man,

the

conscience remains unsatisfied so long as

has

not discovered everywhere the living action of

the moral laws, until
tion
it

has transformed expiajuridical

from a metaphysical or

drama

into that moral action

which alone can have

expiation

any positive

efficacy.

To understand

in this true sense is to bring heaven to earth, to

weave the transcendental into the

history.

fibre of

human
work of

This

is

not to attenuate the

clear to us

Christ.

But

it

makes

what

214
is

The Atonement

in

the object of that work, whicl^

is

not to

appease

God and

to reconcile

Him

with men,

but to reconcile

man
in

with God.

In the dying

Christ God, according to the words of Paul, was

already
directly

present

all

His

love,

" working
Himself."

to reconcile

sinners with

(2 Cor. V. 19.)

One

of the results following from the adop-

tion of the ethical point of view is the disap-

pearance of the abstract conflict which obtained

in the old theory between God's justice and

His

love.

The Divine

justice

would be

inferior

to that of

man
it

if it

were purely negative and

its

punitory,

if

had not as
by good
;

ultimate end the

conquest of
penalty
analysis,

evil

in other words, if the

final

it inflicts

on sin had not, in the

an educative intention looking towards

moral elevation and salvation.

then, the justice of

On

this side,

God

is

already His love.

But a Divine love which was no more than a

simple indulgence, which suppressed pain while

not removing

sin,

would be inferior to the

genuine love of a

human

father,

who knows
would be

perfectly well that sparing his child

Modern Eeligious Thought.

quite different

215

from saving him, unless pardon

repentance and

had the

effect of causing his

amendment.
of

So that on the other side the love

It is accordingly

God

is

again His justice.

a pure legal fiction to oppose one to the other,

and to undertake the

task, at once superfluous

and impossible, of reconciling them. It was not

the object of Christ's death
to

modify the

Divine disposition, but to demonstrate on what

conditions God's pardon might be realised in

the conscience

by the condemnation, namely,

and consequently
sin.

of sin by the sinner himself,

the actual destruction of the

Another

fiction

possible

from

the

penal

point of view, but impossible from the ethical

one,
is

that

of

conceiving

the

penalty as

separable from the sin, or merit as an entity

transferable from one to another.

In the moral
of
sin's

order

the
is,

first

and most

serious

penalties

not external suffering or physical

the
inner consciousness
of
guilt,

death, but

that inward malediction which

sinner's

lives

in

the

conscience.

The moral
itself.

lapse

thus

carries its

punishment in

Hence not

216
only would
but,
it

The Atonement

in

be unjust to punish the innocent;

it is

what

is

more,

actually impossible, for

the

simple

reason

that an innocent person

cannot have the conscience of a guilty one.

Christ
tribunal
It

might
:

be

condemned

by a human

He

could not be condemned by God.

was possible for

Him
;

to suffer injustice in

the death of the Cross

for

but

it

was impossible

Him On the same ground

to bear suffering as a punishment.

it

would be

also

fiction to

regard a sin as really absolved by the

remission of the external suffering attached to

it,

while the guilt and tyranny of the sin

still

remained.

As long

as a

man
lies,

feels

himself

guilty he does not realise pardon.

Accordingly
not so
as

the emphasis of atonement

in the quantity of

much
the

pain

suffered

in

abolition

of

the guilt

itself.

In order that

there

may be no more
is

fiction in the Christian

pardon than there

felt after sin it is

in

the

sense

of guilt

not enough that Christ dies

for us
St.

it

is

also absolutely necessary that, as

Paul

says,

we

die with

Him, that our

faith
in our

and repentance make redemption actual

Modern Eeligious Thought.

conscience, effacing in us, as

217

by a death, the conus,

sequences of

sin,

and creating in

as

by a

kind of moral resurrection, a new

life.

The

atonement

is

to be understood as taking place

It is only

in us and not outside us.

on this

condition that

it

acquires an ethical character

and an ethical value.

The death of
but

Jesus, then,

is

not the metato pardon,

physical cause which disposes

it is

God

the essential historical condition with-

out which the plan of grace could not have

come

to realisation.

It is organically related

to sin as the effect to its cause.

is

But there

no need, in order to the understanding of

this relation, to attach to it

some transcendent

drama

in the Divine nature.

The

conditions of the moral development of

sufficiently explain the necessity for

humanity

the death

of

Jesus.
'^

To understand

that
suffer

word of His that

the Son of

Man must
it is

many
to

things and be put to death,"

enough

remember what He was and what was the

moral and social environment in which

lived.

He

The wisdom

of Plato had already seen

218

The Atonement
one

in

and said that

perfectly just

could not

appear amongst the senseless and the wicked without provoking a murderous hatred.
It is

a general law of history that no one can hope

to

accomplish
with

good

amongst men

without
special
lies

suffering

and for them.

life

The

element in the
the fact that

and work of Christ

in

He

accepted voluntarily, and con-

sidered as His mission, the bearing of the whole

weight of this burden cf

human
of

solidarity.

The hard and

solidarity

fatal

fact

this

organic

was in

Him

transformed by ConIt

science into a moral duty.

was His personal

love that consecrated in death the

bond besinners,
all

tween His holy

life

and the destiny of

a love which brought upon Himself

misery that weighed on them.
of His entire
sacrifice,
life

the

This love made

from beginning to end a

sacrifice

and

this

He

himself volun-

tarily offered,
it,

not to God,
devil,

not to the

who had no need of who had no right to it,

wished thus to
sin,

but to His brethren

deliver not merely

whom He
By His
love

from the penalty of

but

from the sin

itself.

He

has entered

MoDEEN Eeligious

Thottght.

219

into union with our sins that

we by repentance

and faith might have union with His righteousness.

To make
contrary,

expiation in this
is

way a work
it.

of the

love of Christ

not to annul
its

It

is,

on the
it

to

deepen

tragedy

while

heightens

its efficacy.

It is

no longer a matter

simply of the endurance of penalty, but of the

deliverance of the sinner and the annihilation
of his sin.

This transformation of the doctrine has for

one of

its

results the re-establishment of the

life

moral unity of Christ's

and work, a unity

which

the

old

theology,

by

its

distinction

between the passive and the active obedience,

had broken.
of Jesus

Passive obedience

Is not that a

contradiction in

terms?

When was
did
it

the soul

more

active,

when

display

more

of moral energy

and holy heroism than in the

and during the hours of
It is only

week

of the Passion

agony upon the Cross ?

fiction that

by a violent

His death can be isolated from the rest of His life, as though this last had not been
always the offering of Himself, as though

He

220

The Atonement

in

had not made of His death the supreme act of

His
life.

That

death

has,

no

doubt,

an

exceptional place and value, but solely because

it

concentrates and expresses within

definitive
life.

itself,

in a

manner

and absolute, the

sacrifice of

His whole

In the next place, expiation, regarded in this

way

as

an act essentially moral and human,

moral

relates itself to the universal law of the

world, a law that rules us all and always,

and

which determines that those who love

shall

suffer in themselves a part, greater or less, of

what
save.

is

suffered

by those

whom

they seek to

The world becomes

its sin

delivered

from the

burden of

and misery by the innocent

and devoted love of those who charge themselves

with

it.

The mother

suffers

for her
suffering.

erring son, and reclaims

him by that

That

is

the general law of redemption by love.

in

However supernatural and unique the way

which we represent
Jesus
is
it,

the expiatory work of

neither isolated nor incomprehensible.

It is related to the

law which
all

it

reveals

and
a

compels us to accept, that

love pays

Modern Keligious Thought.

ransom
devotion.

221

proportioned

to

its

intensity

and

The

sacrifice of Christ is the great

redeeming

sacrifice,

because, while this love

is

only partial amongst the best of other

full of reserves,

men and

His love was perfect and His

gift of

Himself absolute.

Jesus, then, remains the Chief in

tion, the
is

RedempBut

Conqueror of sin and death.

alone.
disciples

He

no longer
His true

He

associates in His

work

all

who have

learned of

Him
of

to love

and to devote themselves.

To each

them He has given His

cross,

cross to bear,
is

and every

in the Christ-sense,

a means of rethis

demption.

The

apostle

Paul expresses

idea in a passage the virile energy of which

gives

almost a shock to our cold faith

sufferings

"I

rejoice in the

which I endure for

thus in

your sakes (vwep

flesh

vfi&v), fulfilling

my
'*

what

is

lacking in the sufferings of Christ,

is

for
(Col.

His body's sake, which

i.

the Church

24).

Hence
Jesus

it is

not simply His teach-

ing

which

charges
;

His

followers

to

perpetuate in the world

it is

also

His neverIt
is

completed

suffering

and death.

not

222

The Atonement

in

simply the prophet Christ

who

lives
;

again in

the immortal body of His Church

it is also,

and above
sacrificial

all

(or at least

ought to

be),

the

Christ
in

who continues His

suffering

and death
in

His

disciples, offering to the end,

them and

for them, the holy Sacrament of

is

His love until the redemption of humanity

fulfilled.

We have now stated what seem the authentic

findings
subject.
if,

of the Christian conscience

If

on

this

we

are not disposed to stop here

going beyond the results of experience, we

inquire

further

whence comes that supreme

law of the moral world which imposes upon

love
this sacrifice of
self

as the price of re-

demption,

we have only to
we
find

recognise and confess

our incompetence.
metaphysics,

On this question of the higher

no reply that
satisfies us.

For my own

part I stop, I confess,

at the

point beyond which the solid ground slips from

under one's
so,

feet,

and

T reply with Jesus,

" Even

Father,

because so

has

it

seemed good
is,

in

Thy

sight."

The question

in

effect,

whether this law has not for end as much the

Modern Eeligious Thought.

development of the spiritual
life

223

as the punish-

ment

of

sin.

We

come

in

contact

here,

indeed, with the mystery of the Divine creation

itself.

It

would be rash in the extreme to draw

conclusions as to the constitutive laws of the

world from the experience that

Christian.

is specifically

Human

logic

is

too

narrow and
sound
critical

too superficial for this work.

theory of religious knowledge should lead us

above

all

things, to soberness

and to

distrust

of ourselves.
tations

Our anthropomorphic represenaction

of

God, of His

and

of His
easily

de&igns, are inadequate

and may very

become contradictory.

God's ways are not our

Before

ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts.

these mysteries the intellect of the most learned

as

much

as that of the humblest, stands baffled.

To us

all,

whether we be great or

little,

there

remains only the privilege of practical piety.

It is ours to contemplate the

work of Divine
into our hearts,

grace in history

to receive
it

it

and to recognise
gratitude.

as the object of our adoring

XI.

BY WASHINGTON GLADDEN,

D.D.

15

Spiritual death

is

the wages of
is

sin.

It is not

an arbitrary
quence.

infliction, it

a natural conse-

Spiritual death manifests itself in the

loss of spiritual insight,

the increasing insensi-

bihtj to

all

highest truth, the corruption of the

desires, the perversion of the affections

and a

progressive state of moral degradation.

The
his

man who
ing

refuses to

make

love for

God and

neighbour the supreme law of this

these consequences of
effect of

life is suffer-

his

disobedience.

The degrading
evil-doer is

selfishness
;

upon the
it

immediate and inevitable

can no

more be denied by any sane man than the law

of falling bodies can be denied.

A society
this

composed of individuals who are in

condition will be full of confusion and

Selfish

every evil work.

another,

and jealous of one

one
another,

hateful

and

hating

corrupt and defiling one another, the

of such a society,

members

by the

terrible reactions of

228
sin,

The Atonement

in

are continually driving one another on in

the

way

to ruin.
it is

Sin

when

finished brings forth complete

individual,

and remediless moral ruin in the

There
is is

and transforms the society of transgressors

into hell.
is

no reason

for believing
hell

that there
that which

any other kind of

thus produced.

than
hell

Such a

would be
answer
all

deep enough

and hot enough to

the demands of the most strenuous

orthodoxy.

From

this

condition of spiritual death the

deliver

Lord of Life seeks to

men.

It

was

because the gravitations of sin are so deadly

that
sin

He

came, not to set aside the law by which

brings death, but to give

men power
rise into

to

resist its

downward

pull,

and to

moral

health and newness of

life.

The work which

in the

He

does for us

is

described

New

Testament by a great variety of

phrases, some of which are boldly imaginative,

but

all of

which can be understood

if

we keep

in mind the end

He had

in view, the saving of

His people from their

sins.

Modern Eelioious Thought.

It is said
sin for us,

229

by one apostle that though

He

'^

was made
that

He knew no
.

sin,

we
in

might become the righteousness

of

God

Him

"

(2

Cor.

v.

21)

It is

not necessary to

interpret this, as Luther

and many others have

done, as meaning that Jesus actually became a

sinner.
if

Its full
it

meaning

is sufficiently set

forth

we

take

as expressing the complete identi-

fication of Christ

with humanity.

He is
24).

said by another apostle to have borne

(1

our sins in His own body on the tree

Peter

ii.

We

need not understand this as teaching

that our sins were imputed to

Him, but simply

the
It

that the sufferings which

cross were inflicted

He endured upon on Him by human sin.

was the jealousy and madness of men that caused

Him
in

to suffer.

Every taunt, every blow, was

a direct manifestation of

human

sin.

It is not

literal,

any forensic sense, but in a sense perfectly that He " bore our sins in His own body

on the tree."

He
(Gal.

is

also said to

have

^'

redeemed us from
curse for us

the curse of the law, being

iii.

made a

"

13).

What is the curse of

the law ?

It

230
is

The Atonement

in

the corporate wickedness and the corporate

It
is

woe of the world.

whose
dire

the spiritual death

in the indi-

work we have traced

It
is

vidual and in society.

its

seen nowhere in

complete results, for the redeeming grace

of

God
see

is

everywhere at work repairing

its

its

iTiins

and checking
enough of
it

worst tendencies, but

we

to be able to
it

form some

conception of

what

would be but for this

This inbred

redeeming and restraining grace.

evil,

working

itself

out everywhere in deceit

cruelty, is the curse of the
is

and corruption and

law.
Tlie

penalty of sin

sin.

The

curse
is

that falls on a

man when he

transgresses

the

strengthening of sin in him and the lessening

of his desire and his power to escape from
it.

He
The
as

that sows to the flesh reaps

society

corruption.
sinks,

composed of such individuals

seen,

we have

by the same law.

Evil

men

and seducers wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. " Iniquity unto iniquity,"
sin

upon

sin,

shame upon shame, hate upon

hate, a swift progression

downward

this

is

the

curse of the law.

The

sin

and moral disorder

Modern

Religiotts Thought.

231

of the world to-day are, therefore, not only a

cause but a consequence.

of the

They are the harvest

All this
false-

iniquity of former offences.

ingrained and organic wickedness, the

hood and impurity, and

selfishness

and

spite
sin.

and malice of the world, are the curse of

Jesus bore the curse.
of moral disorder

He came

into the scene

and madness and exposed

Himself to
tion
this

all its evil.

He
lot
;

sought no exemp-

from the common

violence

He

confronted

all

and hatred as men must, and

do,

suffered as

men

and

as

much more than

The work that He

men

suffer as

His nature was more sensitive

than that of the best of us.

sought to do

He

could not do unless

all

He became
if

one with us, encoimtering

quences of the world's
choose so to express
world's sin.
evil
it,

the dire conse-

enduring,

you

the penalty

of the

Thus

it

is

that Christ bore the

curse for us that curse of the law.

It
is

He might redeem

us from the

also said that

it

He

magnified the law and

xlii.

made

honourable (Isaiah

21).

These

words of Isaiah have no

reference to Christ, but

232

The Atonement

in

they may be applied to Him. For by the suffering

which

He endured He

honoured the law of God.

suffering
is

The law under which

law.

comes upon the

race as the result of sin

a good and righteous

is

The

curse of the law

sin in

a righteous retriall

bution.

The

which we are

involved

ought to bring to us

all

trouble and misery.

The
the

solidarity of the race is a

mighty fact ;
it,

all

good we hope for

is

bound up with
it

and we

cannot have the good which

exposing ourselves to the
evil

brings without
it entails.

which

When
own

Jesus refused to set aside this law on His

behalf,

He

honoured the law by a most im-

pressive testimony.

Not
law
it

only by enduring

its

penalty, but

by

perfectly obeying its precept

;

He

magnified the

and

still

more

gloriously has

He

honoured

by leading millions who were once disobeying

to love it

it

and keep

it.

Such interpretations may give us the deeper

spiritual

meaning contained
us that

in

the

phrases

which

tell

He
;

" bore our sins in His

that "

own body on the

tree "

He

suffered the

curse of the law, being

made a

curse for us "

Modern Religious Thought.

that

233
it

"He

magnified the

law and made

honourable."

His Atonement

is

the reconciliation of man to

is

God, and the method of reconciliation

tion.

revela-

He

revealed
to

man

to Himself,

and

He

revealed

God

man.

By His
self.

sufferings

He

revealed

men

to

Him-

It

was human bigotry and envy that

crucified

Him.

Thus the death of Christ

the depth of sin in his

revealed to

man

own

heart as

it

had never before been

revealed.

The

fact that perfect goodness in

crucified

His person

was hated and scorned and

by men

is

an object-lesson by which the pride of

all

man

in

ages has been humbled.

in

Not only
whole
life.

His sufferings, but also in His

reveals

He

God

to

men.

In Him,

says the beloved apostle, the life of

God was

manifested.

In His humility and gentleness,

in His lowly service, in in His

His works of healing,

sympathy with the sorrowful, in His

friendship for the despised and the degraded,

He

reveals

to

men

that

taught us to

call

Our Father.

God whom He has At the end of

234

The Atonement

in

this life of self-denying service, while all these

gracious ministries were fresh in the minds of

His

disciples,

one of them said to Him, " Show

it

us the Father and

sufficeth us.

Jesus said

unto him, Have I been so long time with you,

and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip

that hath seen

He

Me
is

hath seen the

Father."

How

should

we be

able rightly to interpret the

saying that
record of the

God
life

Love

if

we had not the

of Jesus Christ ?

God

loved

the world, but

how and how much ?

We

must

needs go back to the Gospels and read their

record.
life

of

And when we have studied again the Him who went about doing good when
;

we have brought again

to our

remembrance the

truth that this lowly Servant and Sufferer was

one who could say, ^^I and

My

Father are

one"; when we have witnessed again the

mighty love of One whose
their errands of mercy,
feet never rested

on

and the heroic patience

of

of

Him who

endured such contradiction

sinners against Himself, dying at last a victim

of their spite,

and conquering their enmity by

enduring

its

deadliest assault

then we are able

Modern Eeligious Thought.

to

235

put some meaning

into

those

wonderful

God so loved the world," '' herein is Love." And it is by this revelation that God has reconciled the world unto Himself,

words, and to say, "

subduing the enmity.

It

is

this

great

revelation of God's forgiveness which

to seek

moves us

" And

and accept His grace of forgiveness. if," says the apostle, " while we were

enemies we were reconciled to

of His Son,

God by the death much more, being reconciled, we

by His
life."

shall be saved

Alienation from
reconciliation

God
with
life.

results in spiritual

death,

Him

is

the return to the soul of spiritual

cut ofB and was

The branch that was

is

withering

reunited
life

to

the vine and lives

vine.

again in the

of the

That loving
which the

fellowship with the Highest into

revelation of
soul;

God

in Christ leads us restores the

we
;

are

made partakers

of the Divine
life in

nature

the law of the spirit of

Christ

Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and

death;

we

receive

of

His fulness and grace

upon grace, each

larger gift.

gift

making room

for

The natural consequences

of sin

286

The Atonement

in

are counteracted, and the ruin of sin

is

re-

paired by the restorative and remedial power

of the Divine
soul.
life,

thus communicated to the

The
is

soul that

is

thus reunited to
its

God by

faith

by love made one with

fellow men.

We

cannot, in any true sense, return to the Father

without entering into His thoughts concerning

our brethren.

As the

sin

that

separates us

from God weakens the

social

bond and gives us

the love that
the social

on earth the substance of

brings us

hell, so

back

to

God

restores

bond and gives us on earth the substance of

heaven.
All attempts to set forth in reasoned, philo-

sophic phrases the nature of that saving work

of

Christ

for

which the Christian believer

gives thanks to

God must needs be fragmentary

and inadequate.

How

incomplete this state-

ment

is
it.

no one knows better than he who has

made

One can

say but

little,

after

all,

about

the things that

mean most to him

the majesty
;

of moimtains, the glory of the sky

less

how much

can the whole content of Incarnation and

Modern Relichous Thought.

Redemption be
forms
!

237
logical

set forth in

any mere

Yet such attempts

it

must

needs

be

made, and

may be

that by means of these

imperfect words some troubled minds

able to gain

may

be

new glimpses

of that Mystery of

Godliness
look.

into

which the

angels

desire

to

xn.
BY ALFRED CAVE,
Principal of

B.A.,

D.D

Hackney College

Upon what

conditions can

God

forgive

sin?

Concerning one condition

repentance of the sinner.
the only condition,
it

all

are agreed

the
is

And

repentance

has sometimes,

if rarely, is

been said ; " the doctrine of Scripture

of free forgiveness.*'

that

If such be the case, a

method

of rule

is

supposed to answer in the

universe which does not succeed in any home,

or society, or nation.
is

What

further condition

there, then, of the Divine forgiveness of sins ?

The atoning death

reply of Scripture.

of Jesus

is

the remarkable

This atoning death

we

are

to strive to understand.

Presently I shall dare to enter upon

the

eminently venturous task of framing a theory

of the Atonement, but before doing so I think
it

desirable to say a

few words concerning a

common

misapprehension.
it

theory of the Atonement,

seems to me,

plaj's

very

little

part in the evangelistic work

16

242

The A.tonement

in

of the Churches.

Belief in the saving

work

of

Christ

is

of two kinds.

There

is

an assurance

born of experience, and a conviction born of

prolonged thought.

On

the one hand,

many

hold most firmly to the saving influence of

Jesus

who have never

studied with any care the

intellectual evidence for that saving influence.

Perhaps constitution, or possibly circumstance,

precludes
related

them from

collecting or weighing the

facts.

But a man

need

not be

theologian to be saved.

Without holding any

formal theory of the Atonement, a

rejoice in salvation

man may
The

by the death

of Jesus.

Christian's consciousness of the forgiveness of

sins

through the Cross of Christ

is

one of the

most

distinct of all spiritual intuitions,

all.

and

is

open to

Nor, though unreasoned,

is

this ex-

perimental belief irrational.

ledge
is

Such

initial

know-

sure, if inchoate,

and precious, though

of a

inexpressible.

Not by an intellectual grasp

is it

theory of Atonement

produced, but by the

direct testimony of the

Holy Ghost.

The Holy

Spirit uses some word of a preacher, or some

verse of a

hymn, or some

story of experience,

Modern Religious Thought.

or some

243

Scripture

phrase

or

passage, and,

working thereupon, brings sight to the blind,

or resurrection to the dead, or Gospel to the
poor.

In the innermost realms of

Spirit,

soul,

by the

power of the Holy

is

an indelible assm-ance
life.

bom

that Christ's death has become our

is

In a word, there

a belief in the saving power

of the death of Christ

faith.

which

is

the product of

Nevertheless, a theory of the Atonement,

also

it

seems to me,

is

of great force in

the

production of a robust Christianity.

useful part of the intellectual
tion of the Christian.

It is a

and moral educa-

If there is a religious

assurance concerning the Atonement open to

all,

there

is

a theological conviction thereupon

open to

all

who

will think.

It

is

possible to

argue as well as state our convictions concerning our salvation, to weigh

all

the related facts,

It is possible to
is

to express their exact tenour.

many a reason for drawn, it may be, from

give

the faith that

in us,

the pages of Scripture,

or the facts of experience, or the stores of

history, or the results of reasoning.

Now

this

244
belief,

The Atonement
which
is

in

the product of the Christian

It guides

intellect,

has a great staying power.

in personal or pastoral perplexity.

It imparts
It

a maturer

air to ihe teacher

its

and preacher.

has pleasures of

own

to bestow,

and healthi-

ness and support.

arrived at has
certainty.

Theological conviction
ripeness

when

the

of an ultimate

To a man conscious

of sin and anxious for

forgiveness, I should not present a carefully

thought-out theory of the Atonement, I should

present Christ
living Christ

the

dying Christ,

the ever-

as

the Gospels or as personal

experience have taught me.

The

living Christ,

I should trust, would, by the Spirit

He
of

sends,

demonstrate the saving power of His death.

Happily, entrance into the

Kingdom

God

is

not by examination in the theory of the Atone-

ment.

Entrance

is

by

practical
;

ways, not
that
is,

intellectual

by

following Christ

by

striving, with effort and prayer and self-denial,

to feel with Jesus

and act with Jesus and think

with

Jesus.

But the maturer follower of

Christ, in his prolonged struggle to think, as

Modern Religious
well as to feel

Thottght.

245
a

and act with Jesus,

will find

theory of the Atonement of incalculable value, strengthening his

own

belief

and imparting the

expert touch in dealing with souls.

Passing to the theory of

the Atonement,

any adequate theory, be

(1)

it

remembered, must
all

explain without strain

the Scriptural
its

references to the

Atonement

nature,

its

necessity, its objects, its effects

(2)

must

also

emphasize or correct

all

the

various

lessons

taught in the course of the thought of

turies
;

cen-

and

(3)

must

at the

same time respect

the suggestions of the Christian consciousness,

and

especially of the Christianised

moral sense.

No

theory can be considered adequate which

all

does not take note of

the facts, the teaching

of the Bible and of Christian experience and of

the history of Christian doctrine, the demands

of the heart
science.

and of the

intellect

and of the con-

Once, in this series of papers,

it

has been said

that the Biblical revelation upon the Atone-

ment cannot be expressed "in

systematically

logical form, because it is presented in varying

246

The Atonement

in

metaphors."

There cannot be a theory of the

has been said, because there
is

Atonement,

it

no

unity in the

mode

of

representation.

The

Biblical points of view are certainly numerous.

According to the Scriptures Christ

obtain eternal
life

died
15^
;

to
to

for

man

(John

iii.

secure the gift of the Spirit (Oal.

iii.

13, 14J
i.

to purchase the forgiveness of sin (Fphes. to abolish sin (Heh. ix. 26)
;

7)

to reconcile us to
iii.

God
26)
;

(Col.

i.

19, 20;

to justify us (Rom.
xiii.

24,

to sanctify us (Heh.

12;

to redeem

us from selfishness (2 Cor.

the death of Jesus

v. 15;.

Again, by

we

are told the love of

v. 8;

God
was

was manifested (Rom.

(Rom.
iii.

and His holiness

25, 26;, the obedience of Christ

vi. 38;,

declared (John
ii.

and His heroism

(Col.
ii.

(1 Pet,

21, 23;,

Satan was defeated

13-15;

a ransom was paid (Matt. xx. 28;, a

sacrifice

was offered (Heh.

x.

14;,

an atonement was

made

(1

John

ii.

2).

Yet again, in other forms

was

of speech,

it is

said that the death of Jesus

vii. 22;,

the death of a surety (Heh.

tute (Gal.
ii.

of a substi-

iii.

13;,

and of a representative (Heh,

Bible,

16, 17;.

Yet again, according to the

Modern Eeligious Thought.

the necessity for atonement
sin of
is

247

to be

found in the

man
iii.

(Heh.

ix. 26),

in the holiness of

God
ix.

(Rom,

26, 26), in the love of

God

(1

John

lOj, in the relationship of Christ to

God and

to

man
(Gal.

(Col.
ii.

i.

14-18J, in the love of Jesus for

man

20j.

And

yet again, the death of

Jesus

is

described in the

New

Testament as

voluntary (John x. 17, 18j, as obedient (Bom. v.

19), as altruistic (Heh.
ii.

9j, as vicarious (Matt.

XX. 28j, as a sinless death (2 Cor. v. 21j, as a

suffering death (1 Pet.
iii.

IBj, as

sacrificial

death (Ephes.
(Phil.
ii.

v. 2),

as the death of the

God-Man

6-8 j.

Certainly the Biblical points of

view are diverse, very diverse.

tion
is

But the ques-

not their diversity, but their possible

Is
it

unity.

possible to bring all these variant

points of view under one consistent theory ?

believe
it is. it

But

is

not surprising that a satisfactory

theory was long in coming.

that crude
theories
of

Nor is
Such

it

wonderful

many

kinds preceded
is

more

satisfactory theories.

the

way
the
all

in matters of

human

thinking.

It took

thought of a thousand years even to realise

248

The Atonement

in

the conditions of the problem.

For centuries

attempts were
references to

made

to explain all the Biblical

Atonement by the idea

some

of ransom.

And

for centuries after,

single Biblical

metaphor was pushed to unwarrantable extremes.

The
forms,

story

may be

read in several

good books.

Eventually two great theories, in

developed
themselves,

many

each

passing through a remarkable and interesting

evolution from crudeness to delicacy,

and from

narrowness to breadth.
respectively

These two theories are

known

as the Moral

Theory and

the Substitutionary Theory.

According to the

Moral theory, not a

the death of Jesus
is

self-interpreting

name,

an atonement addressed

by God
goes,

to

man, and reconciling, as the phrase

to God.

man

According to the Substitu-

tionary theory, again neither a self-explanatory

nor good name,

the

death of Christ

is

an

Atonement addressed by man

ing, as the phrase goes, both

to God, reconcil.

God

to

man and

man

to God.

It is a

form of the

so-called Substitutionary

theory which has appealed to

me

with ever

MoDEKN Religious Thought.

more
clearness

249

and

force, since the conditions

of the

problem became evident to

me, and

since I first

began to write upon the question,

ago.

now more than twenty years conditions it may be desirable

in the first place,

Those

to tabulate

sharply, as far as I understand them.

Thus,

any theory of the Atonement

all

which

would

solve

the

phases

of

the

problem must not contradict any of the Biblical

points of view.

Secondly,

it

must harmonise

with the other great doctrines of Scripture, of

God and the

origin,

Trinity, of

man and

his Divine

of sin

and
its

its

awful consequences, of
Thirdly,
theories

Salvation and

pressing necessity.

the theory must

not

repeat

those

which

time

has

shown to

be

inadequate.

Fourthly, the theory must give due weight to

all

the positions which time has

credible.

made more
must
the moral

and more
not
sense

Fifthly, the theory

contradict
;

the intuitions

of

for instance, there

must be no talk of

the transfer of sin or guilt from the sinner to

the Saviour (neither punishment nor repentance

can be vicarious), or talk of the cancelling of

250

The Atonement

in

the sinner's sin by the suffering of the Saviour

(the sinner

of

must bear his own penalty), or talk God the Father being full of vengeance
fell

which

upon the Son (God

is

love), or of

Christ paying the very same penalty, or an

equivalent penalty, to that due to

all

the sins of

those

whom He
the

saves (for
is

if

some only are

saved

Atonement
and
if

limited

and not
is

universal,

all

are saved, salvation

universal and compulsory).

The theory which

me, as answering

has most commended

all

itself to
is

these conditions,
first

a maturer form of the

theory,
little

crudely stated by

Duns

Scotus, a

less

crudely

stated

by

Grotius,

more

cautiously stated

by the
most

earlier

New England
by

theologians,
writers

and

commonly held

upon the

Atonement amongst the

Nonconformists of England and the Protestants

of

Germany, and France;

the theory ^ too,

advocated in the
Gilbert and Dale.

Congregational lectures of

should

state

the

theory

somewhat

as

follows, simply indicating, however, the salient

points


Modern Eeligious Thought.
Created in the image of
nature, that
is

251
spiritual

God

with a
likeness.

and

therefore intelligent, free

and accountable, man's destiny was to grow

ever
flesh

more
and

into the Divine

spirit,

Man

innocent, sane in

frame and

mind though inexperienced

become
his nature, ever growing,

as a babe

was

to

holy, undying, cultured on all sides of

from father to son,

and from age to age, towards a more perfect

stature.

The main condition

and with God
all

of this

human

progress was continuous communion with God.

God

is
is

life,

is

Hfe.

God with

man

the condition of

healthy and genuine

progress.

When
death.
sin is

sin intervened, the very essence of sin

being man's withdrawal from God, sin involved

According to the law of the universe, followed by death. Man who " lives "

with God, " dies " without Him.

But the consequences

more
and
explicitly.

of sin should be put

as

They are twofold, and are

Sin affected

sure as any physical law.

sin affected

man
with

God.

Man

himself breaks the

fellowship

between

himself

and God,

252
results

The Atonement

in

upon both himself and God.

is

On

the

one hand normal development

interrupted.

The same influences

longer stream forth
death.
living

for

good and growth no

Sin

upon man.

works

Man
is

dies.

The

gigantic evolution of
its

without God,
death), has

with

various

phases
is

(which

commenced.

And man

part of a series.

One generation

influences the

generation

following.

As a righteous

race

would produce a race with a predisposition to

righteousness, a sinful race produces a race

with a predisposition to

sin.

On

the other

hand,

sin,

the

rejection
effects.

of

God, produces

another class of

God becomes morally

"wrath"
righteous
it

estranged. In Scriptural language, the

of

God

breaks
it is

forth.

Wrath
all

is

indignation;

energetic holiness;

is

the

pure anger of the King of

worlds at the
If sin

intrusion of sin into His holy dominion.

produces, by natural consequence,

"death"

in

man,

it is

because sin has

first

evoked " wrath "

in God.

Consider, therefore, the twofold conditions of

salvation

from

sin.

If the ravage of sin is to

"

Modern Religious Thought.

be stayed, and
is

253

man

is

to be rescued one thing to neutralise

clear.

Means must be found

death "

moral corruption, and to reintroduce " life

where

^*

reigns.

Evidently the de-

praving effects of sin upon

man may
vv^ith

be con-

quered by regeneration.

God

us again

means

life

eternal.
life

By

restored vital union

with God, by the

in us of the

Holy Ghost,
after us,

we may be
from the
through

saved,

and our children

which
is

corruption
lust.

in

the world
is

This side of the question Corruption

simple enough.

may
is

be mastered

by regeneration.

But there

another

side.

How

shall the

schism in the universe because

of sin be healed ?

How

shall the

moral disaster
rectified ?

in the sphere of holy

government be

Here comes in the gracious Gospel of God.

experience

As

shows,

and

as

careful

survey

accentuates, the holy wrath of

God
?

is

met by
This

the atoning death of Jesus, His only Son.

But how can such a death atone

the crux
of

is

the

whole.

The awful

conse-

quences of sin are the laws of God, instituted,

as

we must

believe

and can

see, for

the good of

264
the universe.
will in

The Atonement

in
of His holy

They are the ordering

all

view of the interests of

worlds.

Sin

must lead to death, and

the Infinite

so itself die out, says

Father and

Holy

Euler.

The

universe would ultimately be freed from sin by

the very law of

sinner.

sin,

by the death of every

But

is

the death of every sinner the

only

way

of terminating sin?

How

can the

death of Jesus break the awful chain of cause

and

effect, of sin

and death

Does not the answer come from the aim of

punishment?
holy rule.

Punishment

is

a
is

necessity of

The arm

of the law

inseparable

from righteous government.

But why ? Surely

all,

to secure righteous rule in the interests of

and to secure righteous

righteousness.
of Jesus
is

rule

by vindicating

As a matter

of fact, the death

a more

splendid

vindication
all

of

righteous rule than the death of

sinners

would be.
universe,

He

who, for the good of the entire

made the law that death should

from love of the whole universe
self to

follow

sin,

submits His sinless

death.

Who

could

say thenceforth, whether

man

or devil, that sin

Modern Religious Thought.

had been
lightly forgiven
?

255

and the

interests of

holy rule endangered

By His

death as man,

and

all its
it

inexplicable suffering, the

God-Man
God
to

made

possible to restore His life as

any sinners willing to

avail themselves thereof.

if

Man may become

alone
unjust,

regenerate

he

will,

not

because Christ died, the just for the

but because Christ ever

lives,

having
the

"the keys of death and Hades."

God-Man demonstrated
universe and
its

that

By dying He who made

the

laws does not lightly esteem

His own righteous nature and rule and man's

truest good therein, but will rather
suffer for

Himself

man's sake and God's.

As the heart
knows
after

feels instinctively

and the

intellect

thought, such a death suffices to open the

for all

way
more

who repent

to the regenerating life of

sacrifice

God.

By such a
by

moral law

is

vindicated than by the death of every sinner,

whilst,

so unexpected but so stupendous a

display of compassion, the Divine love touches

our hearts acutely.

Glory be to God, Father

and Son and

Spirit.
all

On

such a theory

the Bible statements

256 The Atonement in Eeligious Thought.

previously summarised and
all

the truth in the

place

history of doctrine receive

fitting

and

explanation.

By His death

Jesus destroyed

the empire of Satan.

Anselm's false idea of

is

honour as seen in chivalry,

rectified

by the

truer idea of honour as due to holy govern-

ment.

In the light of such a theory we see

is

why

Christ

the

High

Priest^

and

sacrifice,
all

and offering for

sin.

Upon such a
fall into

theory

the Old Testament figures

lucid place

We

see

why

the death of Jesus was a satisfac-

tion (satisfaction

having reference to the claims

of law),

and a

reconciliation (which has refer-

ence to estrangement), and an expiation (which

has reference to

sin),

and a propitiation (which

has reference to wrath).

XIII.

BY BERNARD

J.

5NELL,

M.A..

B.Sc.

17

" Owr Father who Name."

art in heaven,

hallowed he Thy

The
with

religions of the old world were

sacrifices.

bound up

Men

trembled

before God.

All the misfortunes which

came upon them

they deemed the visitation of the wrath of

Heaven, and by bloody offerings they sought

to gratify their deities

and to make amends for

correct

transgressions.

Whatever may be the

philosophic explanation of this fact, such was

the fact, the universal fact.

Our Lord's teaching was

for ever extinguished the

revolutionary.

He
He

unveiled the love of the Father, and thereby

ancient error.

bade

men

believe that with

grave misunder-

standing they had entirely misconceived the

Almighty.

The

priests

had been wrong, the

" God
spake

prophets had been right.

not

unto your fathers nor commanded them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices."

"Did

260

The Atonement

in

ye offer unto

Me

sacrifices

and

gifts in the

wilderness for forty years,

O House
?

of Israel ?

"

"When
(says

ye come to appear before Me, who

"
Sacrifice

hath required this at your hands

Dr.

G. A.

Smith) has never been the

Divine, the revealed element in the religion of

Jehovah.

Spiritual prophecy assigned not the

slightest value to sacrifices; all

the prophets
sacri-

from Amos to Jeremiah denounced the

ficial

system.

Divine favour and forgiveness

are the immediate consequence of repentance

of
sin.

Penitence

is

as

sure of pardon, as

sin is sure of punishment.

God
it.

delights to

forgive

He

needs no urging to

Nothing

is

more

central to the Gospel of Christ than this

^that

the redeeming mercy of

God

is

spon-

taneous, not prompted or purchased.

"

God

becomes the Saviour by the ethical necessities

of His nature."

Most

of the theories of

Atonement appear to

me

to

have

sprung from the age-long en-

deavour to graft the Eevelation of Jesus Christ

on to the old-world error of

tliat futile

sacrificialism.

In

attempt

men have been

driven to

Modern Eeligious TnouaHT.

say things
dreadfully

261
to

dishallowing

the

Father's

Name, and

to shape concerning the

death of Christ doctrines which contradict the

teaching of Christ.

In

the

early

Christians
it is

this

was more

pardonable than

in us.

They had been

it

accustomed

to

the sacrificial system;

was

integral with their thought, their feeling, their

language.

They could not suddenly cut themfrom

all

selves adrift

their past.

Our Lord's

teaching bewildered them; they could receive

the

new truth only

in the

modes of thought
employed

natural to them.

When

they tried to express

the truth of

Christ,

they

terms

borrowed from the old mistake, terms which

for us only obscure the simplicity that
Christ.
It

was in

was in that milieu that the old

doctrine of

Atonement

crystallised, in

minds

wherein Hebraic and Pagan ideas persisted.

We
of

make a mistake
we

if

we take

their symbols

of thought as equivalents of spiritual realities,

if

treat their sentences as propositions

from which we
corollaries.

may deduce

the

uttermost

Their figures are

illustrative,

not

262
definitive;

The Atonement
their

in

expressions

were forced on

them by

their past thought

and experience, and

are flung out towards truth as their best of approximating to

it.

means

Let

me

put

it still
:

more

plainly.

They had
slain.

lost their

Lord

He had

been

vilely

They had been used

to offer sacrifices, they

now

knew from Jesus

no more.

that they needed to sacrifice

Was

any thought more inevitable

than this

to their minds

that

Christ

had

been the all-satisfying victim, and that everything

which legal

sacrifices

and ceremonial

observances had effected the Saviour's death

had

wrought

for

all

for

ever?

So

was
sacri-

framed the theory of His propitiatory

fice,

theory

which

no

subtilty

can

co-

ordinate

with our Lord's

is

teaching

or with

the honour which

ever hallowed.

due to the Holy Father

But

that

theory

survives.

Luther

said,
fierce

"God's anger against the sinner was so

that

He

could be appeased only by the blood

;

of His

Son "
lays

and Article

II. of

the Church of
crucified

England

it

down that "Christ was

Modern Eeligious Thought.

to reconcile
sacrifice."

263

His Father to us and to be a

(The meaning of the words
is

so

unmistakable that no sophistication can blunt

their edge.)

But

if

Christ became our Saviour

by appeasing an angry god, then

that god
;

He

first

saved

such a theory ruins the character of

it

the god whose action

sets forth.

god

whose anger must be appeased by the blood of

the innocent
infamous.
is

a god

whom

to worship were

There

is

an occasional attempt

made

to

lessen the ghastliness of this appalling doctrine

by saying that our Lord's death was needed,

not to appease God's wrath, but to satisfy His
justice.

He was
it

wilKng, even anxious, to for-

give men, but

was not safe for

Him

to do so
sin.

until adequate penalty

was paid for

He

could not remit the penalty to the penitent

offender, but

was willing to transfer

it

to an

innocent substitute.

As

if

justice did not care

it

by

whom
!

the pain was suffered, so that

was

suffered

As

if

the integrity of the Divine

Government could be vindicated only by the

punishment of the innocent
!

As

if

in a God-

264

The Atonement

in

governed world an unjust act was necessary

before mercy could season justice!

We

dare

not admit such an idea into our moral nature

we dare not
Nor
is

assign such a principle of action

to the Father.
let

us confuse ourselves by saying, " It

above reason, but not contrary to reason."

is

That

an unintelligible phrase, to which we

can attach no meaning.

superstition.

By

that door enters

Let us go back to the plain teaching of

Jesus.

Therein

is

the corrective to
said or

all false

doctrine.

Our Lord never

the death

suggested

that the
suffering

Divine forgiveness waited on

of the Cross.

His
never

He

represented the Father

as unable or unready

to receive a repentant prodigal, or as requiring to

know

that

something had been done in

addition to repentance, or as demanding that

somebody

else suffered before

He was

justified

in forgiving.
filled

Dare any

of us say that a soul

with sorrow for sin can remain unpar-

doned of God ?
*'

But the parable of the prodigal does not

Modern Eelioious Thought.

contain
all

265

the truth

"

No

but in that parable

Jesus was explicitly showing the Divine method

of

recovery.
1

And

that

is

the

subject

in

question.

do not read in that story any

shadowed hint that God would need a suspension

of the moral laws of the universe in order to

forgive

to

me

it

seems as

if

His forgiveness

were the most natural thing in the world.

" Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them

that trespass

against us."

That

is

straight-

forward and comprehensible enough.

clysm
is

No

cata-

necessary to enable
;

God

to forgive

His

repentant children

nay, rather miracle were

needed to prevent God from pardoning the penitent.

The whole

difficulty is

not in inducing

or enabling

God

to pardon, but in

moving men

to abhor sin

and to want pardon.

We

ought

not to impeach the moral government of God

by presenting

Christ's death as
it

an expedient
possible for

introduced in order to render

God
it

to forgive sinners.

It

was no expedient

was a manifestation of the grace of God

It

which eternally abounds.

chanical
device,
it

was not a meappeal,

was

a moral

266
revelation

The Atonement
of

in

God

to

heart and

mind and

conscience.

And some
death
of

will say,

" You are making the

teaching
of
this

Christ less than the

Christ."

I do nothing of the kind.

it

By

way

of looking at
is

the message of the death

of Christ

made congruous with the teaching

of Christ.

And

I venture to add that

if

my

reader

is

a Christian in any real sense he has

no right to frame a theory of the death of

Christ which
tiie
is

contradicted throughout by

plain teaching of Christ again and again

rej^eated.

His teaching

is

simple, inescapable,

undeniable; your theories of

hopelessly confused

Atonement are
Unless
teaching

and contradictory.
with
Christ's

your theory
it

accords

stands condemned.

No amount

of

argument

can alter the plain fact that Christ taught us

that
it is

God's strong and passionate desire

children and to

to find His

make them one

of His

with Himself for ever.

The emphasis
sealed His

Gospel

lies

there

in
He

the redeeming love of

witness by

God and
His death.

to that

Modern Religious Thought.

267

And some
Christ said
is

will say,

"

We

agree that what

all

most

true,

but after

someis

thing more

is essential to the Gospel

than

found in Christ's teaching."

As

if

our Lord

did not preach the whole Gospel of Christ!

Surely he must be a bold

that they

man who

declares

who heard
preached.

Christ preach are to be

to

numbered among those

was
not

whom

the Gospel
did

The Gospel

not

begin to be in a.d. 33.

revelation, not a creation.

Christianity

was a

Would

there have

been no Gospel had not Christ died?

Were

His teachings

defective until they were ex-

panded and supplemented by the teachings of

St.

Paul and

St.

Augustine

I
:

am

aware that

Dr. Dale said (Biography, 665)

Epistles to the

" I find in the

manifestation

Romans and Ephesians a fuller of the mind of Christ than in the

Sermon on the Mount."

so fearless a

With

all

deference to

champion of Christian truth, I

shrink from such an assertion more than I care

to to
tell,

and regard

it

as expressive of the straits

which frank exponents of the old theory

Christ less evangelical than Paul

were driven,

268

The Atonement

in

Surely nothing perpetrated by the most daring

of " higher critics "
is

comparable with that.

is

Surely
all

He who

said, "

One

your Teacher and

ye are brethren," claimed for Himself as a

is

Teacher something more than

accorded to

Him on
Why,
Son
of

this theory.

then, did Christ die ?

Why
new

must the

Man

needs suffer

Not

to create a

new

fact in God, but to create a

fact in us;

not to change the disposition of God toward

men, but to change the disposition of men

toward God
cile
;

not

(as

the Article says) to recon-

God

to us, but to reconcile us to God.

Only by dying for the sheep could the Shepherd

make the sheep understand His

being
*^

love
all

only by

lifted up " could

He draw

men unto
?
^'

Him.

Am I not right when I say that this was

I,

our Lord's way of regarding His death

if

I be lifted

up from the

earth, will

draw

all

men

unto Me."

Therefore, that

bring His children

spared not His
for us all."

home

to

own Son, but

He might "God delivered Him up

His
feet,

Saith

Thomas a Kempis,

"When

Thou,

Modern Religious Thought.

269

my

God, wouldst show Thy love for the world,

it

Thou gavest

Thy
for

Son.

When Thou
in death,

wouldst

show Thy love

cross."

Thy Son, Thou

gavest

Him a

And while He hung

men said,

" If Thou be the Son of God, come down from

the cross," not discerning that
it

was because
the

He was
cross.

the Son of

God

that

He was on

Through the shadow of an agony Cometh Redemption.

There

is

a Divine appeal in suffering, an appeal

is

that needs no argument and

susceptible of

no explanation.
aries in

The

early

Moravian mission-

Greenland laboured for long years in

the inculcation of principles of truth and right,

and laboured
read the

fruitlessly,

but when one of them

Saviour's

story of

our
^'

death,
tell

his

hearers exclaimed,
this before?

Why
it

did you not

us
lies

Tell us

again."

Nothing

so close to the hearts of

His own as do our

Lord's sufferings.
Pre-eminent in one thing most of aU The Man of Sorrows and the Cross of Christ Is more to us than all His miracles.
;

Was

it

necessary?

In the world we

know

270
Yes.

The Atonement
Necessary,
is

in

not
it
is,

because

the

Divine

nature

what

but because

human

nature
unless

is

what

it is.

In the world we know,

Christ had suffered,

gained,
I

we should never
an adequate, but
devotion
of

have

say

not

an approximate, idea
love.

of His

and
His

That

was

the

culmination

lifelong obedience,
fidelity

the supreme proof of His

to the Father.

80

He
to do
;

finished the

work which was given

Him

the

mani-

festation of the love of

God
to

so

He became
sufferings.

the

Mediator,
will

perfect
of

through
the

Doing the

God

end
Cross

He made
was the
in

the complete

sacrifice.

His

climax of

lifelong

sacrifice,
it

and

the
is

light that streams

glorified.

from

Christ's Gospel

In the world we know

He would

have been

the world's greatest religious teacher, without

that final passion

come the world's

in the love of

He would not have beSaviour. Men did not believe

;

but

God

until the

Holy One died for

of Jesus was the

the love of God.

life of the world.

The death

In that sign Christ con-

Modern Beligious Thought.

quered the

271

human

heart,

and stands

for ever

in the glory of the Father.

Thou must

love

Me who

have died for thee.

And

I believe that

" God was in Christ recon-

ciling the world

unto Himself/' and that " God

hath shined in our hearts to give the light of

the knowledge of the glory of
of Jesus Christ."

God

in the face

XIV.

BY

C.

SILVESTER HORNE, M.A.

19

There

is

no doctrine that has

its

roots

more

clearly in the

Old Testament than the doctrine

It is a matter of great surprise

of Atonement. to

many

that

in

some of the best-known

little

treatises

on the doctrine

or nothing
in the

is

said about the place of

Atonement

Old

Testament.
statement

Yet much crude and dangerous

of

the

theory

has

arisen

from

pressing unduly the rough types and figures

of speech which

Old Testament

ritual set forth

for the instruction of a race in the religious

childhood

of

the

world.

It

is

quite

ti'ue,

doubtless, that

Truth embodied

in a tale,

May
But there
that
is is

enter in at lowly doors.

always the danger that a good deal

not truth

may

enter in with

it.

It is

weU to begin by recognising that acts of atonement belong to the religious history of man.
They
are not even characteristically Jewish or

276
Christian.

The Atonement
They belong
and the

in

to the religious history

of

man

f oirm of their expression is

sacrifices.

almost or quite universally in

analyse the motives

To
the

that inspired

even
is

rudest and most repulsive sacrifices

to

probably
lower

do

them

injustice.
all

Higher

and

motives, as

we

know, mingle frequently in

actions;

our most

religious

and even where

terror has been the ruling motive in sacrifice

we need not

dispute that there has often been

It is

a holier form of fear and respect.

worth

while to take clear note that alike in heathen-

ism and paganism

men have groped

their

way

to a position which has promise of the highest

in
it

that for

man

to

make

his peace with

God he must be prepared

to offer

God

his best.

He must
sacrifice.

be willing to make any and every

Tennyson gave us powerful repreof

sentation

that

in

"The

Victim."

The

plague was destroying the people, when

The priest in horror about his altar To Thor and Odin lifted his hand " Help us from famine And plague and strife, "What would you have of us P

Modern Religious Thought.

Human
Were Were
it
it

iJ77

life ?

our nearest. our dearest, (Answer, oh, answer !)

life."

We give you his

Here
is

the root idea of propitiation through

its

acts of

atonement ; a people making

peace

with

Godor,
at

more
peace
is

accurately,

seeking to

make God
sacrifice of
is

with

it

through

the

what

highest and dearest.

That

what we mean when we say that acts of

atonement belong to the religious history of

man.
Just here, however, a distinction emerges.

Such

acts of

atonement are not in

sin.

all

cases

connected with any sense of

Heathen and
beings,

Pagan

deities

were

very

arbitrary

moved by very human

cause they chose
tribe, it did

passions.

They were
Be-

spiteful, malicious, envious, mischievous.

to

persecute some race or

not follow that the people had done

it.

anything to deserve

It

was policy on the

part of the people to placate this persecuting

deity; but
itself

the

persecution

did
of

not connect

with

the consciousness

any

moral


278

The Atonement
After

in

defect in themselves.

all,

it

was the
emphasis
definitely fully

Hebrew
of

religion, with its magnificent

the

moral

nature,

that
sin

first
;

associated

sacrifice

and

that

recognised that that which moves the wrath of

God
Peace

is

wickedness

and that Atonement

be
sought

with

God

must
of

through

sacrifice,

because

broken law and the

condemnation that rests

breaks
it.

upon the man who

To confirm
point.

this, let

me

mention a further
of propitia-

The Heathen

or

Pagan deed
special

tion

was done when some

it.

emergency
and

demanded

If

all

went

smoothly

prosperously there was no act of atonement.

The gods were assumed

to be at peace with

men

and men had no inner conviction of sin

prompting them to seek God's mercy.

But the

Hebrew had
every year
:

his

solemn season of atonement

for whether the national fortunes

were good or bad, he knew that there was need

to entreat

the
sin.

mercy
All

of

God
people

for

cleansing

from

the

were

made

to recognise in this

way that

their sins

Modern RELiaious Thought.

ever

279
cover

demanded the mercy of God

to

them, and their hearts the power of God to

cleanse
guilt.

them from the

taint

and

stain of moral

It is of interest

and importance to note with

features
of

care

the

leading
so

the
carry

Day
to

of

Atonement,

that

we may

our

discussion of the Christian doctrine the various

Hebrew conceptions which entered

into the thought of Paul

so largely

and of the author of

Let us examine
point.

the Epistle to the Hebrews.

this impressive ritual point
1.

by

The

act of atonement was the

^the

work of

one man

High
of

Priest.

The High Priest

life

was never so solitary a figure in the

as on the

of Israel

Day

Atonement and the days

it.

immediately preceding

He
office

stood absolutely

and awfuUy
of
all,

alone.

His

was then, most

confess the sins

that of a mediator

^to

of the people to

God and
all

to affirm the
this

mercy

of

God

to the people.

For

work he was

separated from

men, even his own house-

hold, for seven days.

in contact with

He was

not to

come

any form of

evil,

or death, or

280
sin, lest

The Atonement

in

he should contract pollution.

For the

sake of the work of atonement he

^^

must be

separate from sinners."

2.

Let us observe the work of the

High

Priest.

After performing the ordinary rites of

his

the day in

ordinary

coloured robes, he

begins the special rites by assuming the white

robe.

This

is

the

emblem,

of

course,

of

absolute personal purity in the Mediator.

is

He

to do

what can only be done by one perfect in

innocency.
3.

In connection with the

sacrifices there

was

a certain notable order.

First, a sacrifice for

;

the priest and his household

sanctuary and
for
all

secondly, for the

it
;

contained in

and

thirdly,

the

people.

pure

ministry,

a pure

church, a pure people.

4.

To make atonement he entered

into the

Holy of Holies.
of

The impression on the mind

act of

the people was that the supreme

atonement required some special approach to

the Divine Presence.
It

was an act involving

a certain awful familiarity and intimacy with

Grod.

The atoning Person must come

forth

Modern Eeligious Thought.

from the immediate Presence to reveal a

281

re-

deeming grace.
5.

The

sacrifice for

the people was notable.

Out

of the public treasury, as signifying that

every person had share and lot in the transaction,

two goats were purchased. These two were

presented at the door of the Tabernacle, and

lots

were

cast.

Two

pieces of

boxwood were

put into an urn, one of which was marked " for

Jehovah," and the other " for Azazel."
the lot had been
cast,

When

the goat marked for

its

Jehovah

was

slain

and

blood

sprinkled

before the mercy- seat in token of Penitence

depending upon Mercy.

laid his

Then the High

confessed over

Priest

hands upon the head of the

for Azazel, and
it

goat
the

marked
sins

of the people.

This goat was then led

places."

away "into uninhabited

ing of Azazel
is

The mean-

disputed;
is clear.

but the symbolic

It

intent of the rite

was a

sacrifice

made
naent.

sin

for the

people;

enduring, as

the

awful penalty of

sin, exilo, alienation,

estrange-

Its absolute disappearance, too,

was to

indicate that as far

as

the east

is

from the

282

The Atonement

in

west so far hath

God removed

transgressions

from the people. Such was the Day of Atonement.

But one

more

fact

remains to be

noted.

certain
its

moral condition attached to participation in

privileges.
afflict

The people were commanded "to

This was surely to imply that

themselves," and to rest from worldly

all

occupations.

the work of the

High

Priest would not avail for

them

apai-t

from a certain moral preparedness.

in point of fact, innumerable
sin.

The Jews had,

rites for

putting away a

But

this

Day

of

Atonement assumed a
of sin

sinful nature,

and habits

which could not be atoned for by occaFinally,

sional penances.

we

note that

it

was
I

Atonement

for a race, or a whole people.

its

have said that

efficacy for

the individual

depended upon his personal attitude towards

the act.

But the act was done, not

all

for one or

two, but for

the people.

knit together by virtue of a

Men are strangely common sinful

all

nature

and there

is

an act of atonement for

of them.

Now

all

these points are seen to have great

Modern Religious Thought.

interest

283
to the

and importance when we turn

doctrine of

Atonement

in the

New

Testament.

It comes, indeed, to

many

persons as a surprise

to discover that the

word atonement does not Once it appeared

impossible to
is

occur in the

New

Testament.

in the old version,

though

it is

say-

why.

The word

so translated

simply the
is

word

reconciliation,

and the word atonement

used in

its philological

sense of at-one-ment.

It is a reconciling or bringing together of

two
This

existences
is,

which have become estranged.

of course, always the root idea of atonement.

effect of sin is to separate, alienate

The awful
agreed,

the soul from God.

is

Christ's work,
to

we

are all
it

to bring

men

God

and He does

by saving them from

It

their sins.

wiU be well to dismiss, very emphatically,

certain ideas which are quite unscriptural

and
Old

ought to have no place in any theology.

statements of the doctrine of atonement left

the impression, especially on young minds, that

God

the Father was always angry with us, and

waiting to punish us;

but Jesus sought to

wrath, took our
side.

appease His

Father's

284

The Atonement

in

pleaded our cause, and

when God's anger

could

be stayed in no other way, presented Himself to

the rod of the
Smiter, and the punishment
fell

which should have fallen on us

on Him.

So

He

died, the just for the unjust, that

He might
God and
Testaof

bring us to God.

Suffice it to say, that there is

no such antagonism between mercy

ment.
in Christ

justice in

anywhere in the

New

The supreme end and purpose

and work was
to incite
infinite love

Christ's mission

man-

kind to faith in the

and grace of
it

our Father-God, which our sins have made

difficult for

so

us to believe

in.

Take another common supposition.

to be

It used

more the custom than

it is

now

to dwell

in great detail

on the physical agonies endured

by Jesus.

It

was implied, and indeed asserted,

that these sufferings were laid upon the Holy

Son by the Father

might not have

so that

we, the

unholy,

to bear them.

It is absolutely

imperative that

we should be
vital
is

clear

in

our
in

minds that the

the

and
not

effectual factor

Atonement

the

sufferings

of

Christ, but the love

and holiness of Christ.

All

Modern Religious Thought.

that

285

He

endured

He

voluntarily endured be-

cause of the so great love wherewith

us.

He

loved

There

is

no possible clue to His Life-andthis

Death mystery but

God
loved
life

so

loved

that

He

suffered;

God

so

that

He

gave;

gave, as

Christ

said,

His

a ransom for

many.
Just one more
position.
It is

common but

groundless sup-

nowhere said in the

Christ.

New
It

Testais

ment that God punished

where said
that
Christ

no-

voluntarily

endured

punishment at His Father's hands instead of

us.

This was the crude presentation of certain

facts

we must look

at later.

He knew how wicked man had been, He knew that God must punish sin,
So, out of pity, Jesus said

He'd bear the punishment instead.

There

is

this false idea of a Father,

who must

punish out of justice, punishing an innocent

Son instead of the

guilty ones, because that

innocent Son was so pitiful that

He

interposed

Himself between the wrath and the sin that

had deserved the wrath.

The

justice is with

God; the mercy

is

with Jesus; and in the


286

The Atonement

in

thought of most people to-day, the justice be-

comes injustice because innocence

guilt escapes scot free.

suffers while

And now,
itself

in our examination of
shall

New
it

Testa-

ment teaching, we

find

that

groups

around certain leading words

Propitia-

tion, Reconciliation,

Redemption and a fourth

class of

words represented by the preposition

" for "

1.

For

us.

For our

sins.

Propitiation,
;

This

will

not

detain

us
for

long

but

it

must detain us long enough

us to disabuse our minds of any idea that the

old

Pagan conception has any

Jesus Christ
is

place in Chris-

tianity.

not offered to pro-

pitiate

God.

Jesus

is

represented as God's

own
to

offering to

propitiate

man and win back

God
self

the alienated heart, lost in the love of

and

sin.
is

This

easily

seen,

because the passages

where the word occurs are few in number. Rom, iii. 26, " Christ Jesus, whom God has
set

forth

to

be

propitiation

...

to

declare His righteousness for the remission of

sins."

Jesus

is set

forth both as a propitiation

Modern Religious Thought.

and a declaration.

287

Whatever the

propitiation
is is

means

it is

made by God.
and
it is

The word used

CKaarrjpiov,

the same word which

for

used
of

in

the

Septuagint
of

the

covering

the

Ark

the the

Covenant
blood
of

which
sacrifice,

was
by

sprinkled

with

token that the

sacrifice

life

of the people

was to be a

to

their

God.

In

the

same

way

Christ
(1)

is

regarded as the objective token that

of

The
of

life

God

is freely

outpoured for the

redemption and renewal of

life

men

and

(2)

The

man

is

to be freely offered in sacrifice

is

to God.

This

Paul's solitary mention of the

word "

propitiation."

His use
iv. 10,

is

confirmed by

John, who, in 1 Epistle

is

says,

" Herein
that

love,

not that

we loved God, but

10,

He

loved us,

and sent His Son to be a propitiation

;

for our sins "

and again, in
is

ii.

he repeats

the phrase.

Christ

sent of

God

to propitiate

not
2.

Himself surely, who needeth not to be

but
those

propitiated,

that

are

afar

off,

alienated from the covenant of promise.

The second leading word is Eeconciliation

a^rain there is

where

no manner of doubt as to

288

The Atonement

in

the plain, strong teaching of the

New

Testa-

ment.

I should take as a leading passage the

second chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians.

Christ's mission
is

described there

" that

He

might reconcile both (Jews and Gentiles) unto

God
is

in one body

by the Cross."

The point

that they need to be reconciled to God, not

to them.

God God

We

have the idea of a loving

life

entering into our

to break

down the
of

wall of partition

and win man to Himself and

Every use of the word
I give
in
is

His obedience.

precisely similar import.

them

briefly.

The

guiding
is

passage

reference
19,
to

to

the

Atonement

2 Cor.Y. 18

and

"All things
Himself by

are of God, who hath reconciled us

Jesus Christ,

and hath given

to
wit,

to us the ministry

of

reconciliation,

that

God was
.

in
.

Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.

We pray you in
to God."

Christ's stead, be ye reconciled

also occurs in fle6.
ii.

The word

17,

"That He might be a
High

merciful and faithful

Priest in things pertaining to God, to

reconciliation for the sins of the people."
is

make

The teaching

incontrovertible.

The

offering

Modern Religious Thought.

and
sacrifice are

on God's side to produce the

necessary effect on the heart of man, end the

old estrangement, and
3.

make man one with God.

word
is

The

third leading

Redemption, or

ransom.

Probably the passages in which the

used were suggested by Christ's own

word

is

saying, "
life

The Son

of

Man

is

come

to give His

a ransom for many."

I have always felt

in

that our Lord

may have had

(xiii.

His thoughts

the great words of Rosea

14),

where the
" I will
;

Lord God speaking for Israel

says,

ransom them from the power of the grave

will
is

I
it

redeem them from death."

For indeed

an Old Testament idea, this of the ransomed

Neither can we wonder when we

of the Lord.

remember how many times the Hebrews were

subject to slavery and
captivity,

and

what

sacred and inspiring thoughts were associated

with the idea of ransom.

Yet

this is the idea

revolt-

which has been responsible for the most

ing theory of atonement

namely,
Now

that Christ
devil,

was the price paid by God to the

return
for

in

which the devil released the en-

slaved soul

from

captivity.

let

us look at
19

290

The Atonement
is said.

in

what

Christ gives His life a ransom

{XvTpbv)
Isaiah's

for

the

many;

these

become,

in

phrase, the ransomed

is

of the Lord.

The idea

constant through the Old Testais

ment, where God

of His people.

pre-eminently the Redeemer

There are scores of passages in

this sense, the originality of the Jewish idea

lying in redemption without

money and

with-

out price.

This

is

the idea that Peter intro-

duces into Christian theology, " Ye were not

redeemed with corruptible things as

gold
;

silver or

but with the precious blood of Christ."

is

This thought of Christ as our Redeemer

forth

set

in five or six passages all bearing the

sense.

same

There

is

one passage that con-

tains a

In Gal. iii. somewhat different idea. " Christ redeemed us from the 13 we read,
;

curse of the law "

indicating deliverance from

the bondage of the law and the letter to the

freedom of the

spirit.

Connected with
vi.

this,

too, are such passages as 1 Cor.

20, vii. 23,

is

" Ye are bought with a price."

redemptive work of Christ ?

Now what

the plain meaning of such teaching as

to the

When we

read in

Modern Eeliqious Thought.

the Psalms,
destruction^"
love,

291

"Who

redeemeth thy

life

from

we understand that God by His

mercy,
saves

patience,

our

life

from

destruction,

and

thereby establishes a claim

it,

upon

it,

buying

redeeming

it,

for Himself.

But suppose you begin

logically.
if

to press the
life

argument

God keeps my

from destruction;

life is

bought, there must be a purchaser

and some one from

whom

it

is

purchased.

From whom
God.

is

my life
is

purchased
;

As
is

to the

Eedeemer, there

no question

He
is

the Lord

As
man.

to the captive, there

no question

he

is

But as

to the

power that holds the

is

soul of
question.
devil.

man

in actual

bond there

much
is
;

The

old

theology said: It

the
the

God must pay

was Christ

the devil his price

;

devil's price

Christ was paid, and

It

the soul of

so logical that

man redeemed thereby. men forgot it was

sounded

so immoral.

The

idea of the

New

Testament

is

not legal and

is
;

logical.

In

its

simplest form

it

this:

Thy

soul

is

being destroyed by thy sins

its

freedom

is lost,

and

its

power with

its

freedom; the

curse of slavery, the slavery of sin and the law.

292
is

The Atonement
it.

in

upon
;

Jesus Christ has come to redeem

you

but

how ?

By breaking
;

these bonds

by

saving you from your sins

the power of

by becoming to you

God unto

salvation.

And

since

this could only be

through His

sacrifice,

empty-

ing Himself, taking upon

Him

the form of a

servant and becoming obedient unto the death

of the Cross, that was the price

He

paid that

you might be reached, found, moved, raised

from the dead, enfranchised from the bondage

of sin

and the law.

You

are hereby bought

with a price, even the precious blood of Christ.

That
4.

is

not untliinkable nor incredible.

of

The fourth order

by

words consists of
" for."

those translated

our preposition

There are two Greek prepositions translated

"for":
and

virep,

dvTi,

which means "on behalf of"; which means " instead of."
is

(a)

vwep

one of the commonest words in

Its

the

New
who

Testament.

meaning may be

gathered from such a passage as "Pray for

those
despitef uUy use you," where, clearly,

you are to pray on their behalf. It cannot Now look at the possiblj' mean " instead of."

Modern Religious Thought.

passages in which this
refer to the

293

word

is

used which
6
:

Atonement.
i.e.,

Rom,

v.

" Christ
;

died /or the ungodly," 8

:

on their behalf

v.

"While we were yet

"

sinners Christ died /or

xiv.

us

on behalf of
iii.

us.

Rom.

15

" Destroy
died."
sins,

not with thy meat those /or

1 Peter

whom Christ

18

" Christ once suffered for

the Just for the unjust, that he might bring

us to God."

This should be read in connection

verse,

with the previous

where we are ad-

monished to

suffer on

behalf of righteousness,

because Jesus once suffered the Just on behalf

of the unjust.
V.

Take

as a last passage, 2 Cor.

14

" The love of Christ constraineth us,

all,

because we thus judge that One died for

therefore
this that
all

died."

It seems easy to interpret

all,

One

died instead of

so

all

are

counted to have died.

But an easy

interpreis

tation is often dangerous.

Paul's teaching

that Christ's love has such a wonderful power over us that as the result
to ourselves, but just as
others.
lutely

we begin

to live, not

He

lived, absolutely for

The

love of Christ

makes us

s absoall.

one with

Him

that

when He

dies/or

294

The Atonement
all,

in

to benefit and save

we

all die

with Ilim

unto
(fe)

self

and unto

sin.
is

But now there

the word

clvtl

which
This

has but one

meaning, ^'instead of."

meaning you can

clearly see in^ such a saying

of)

as the giving of a serpent for (instead

fish.

It is

the substitution of one thing for

another.

It is quite a

common word
is

in

the
sig-

New

Testament; but there

immense

nificance

in the fact that, with one possible

it is

exception,

never used in passages con-

nected with the doctrine of Atonement.

The

word meaning "on behalf of" is used; the word meaning " instead of " is not.

The one
already
life
^*
:

possible exception

is

a text quoted
to give His

^'

The Son

of

man

is

come

a ransom for many."

The word
is

translated
avrt,.

for " in Matthew and Mark

figure of speech here
slaves
is,

the word

The

of course, taken

from the ransom of

from their bondage.

is

And
lies

it

enables us to see what

all theories

the truth that

hidden in

of substitution

and

vicarious

sufi^ering.

Let

us

take

a
in

simple

human

illustration.

John Smith died

Deme-

Modern Eeligious Thought,

rara for the slaves.

295

He

died on their behalf

If they

but more, he died instead of them.

were redeemed from the curse and misery and

death of slavery,
it

was because John Smith

Just in the same

died, suffering in their stead.

way the freedmen

if

of

America to-day know that

they are not

still

enduring the curse of that

it
is

living

death of slavery,
all his

because John

Brown and
stead.

heroic followers died in their

voluntarily death

These

men endured

and shame ; and because they died other people

lived.

We read our way

by such
still

into the

meaning of

Christ's death
If

lesser deaths as these.

if

we

are not

in our sins,

we know any-

thing of deliverance from the curse and the

death of our trespasses,

giving His
life

it is

because

He

died,

a ransom for us.

In conclusion, two great truths stand out:

1.

God

will save at all costs to the

2.

man who

is

to be saved.

God

will save at all costs to

the Saviour.

As
death

to (1)

we

see that it

is

a huge mistake to

suppose that the consequence to us of Christ's

is

that

God

lets

us off the just punish-

296

The Atonement
of our ins.

in

ment

Where

are

we
;

told that?

We
*'

are told the exact opposite

Heh.

ii.

Every transgression and disobedience received

the just recompense of reward."

sin

No man

can

and not

suffer.

But

as to (2)

we have

to face the fact that

even the indignation of

fested in its immediate

God

against sin, mani-

and inevitable punish-

ment, does not alone

suffice to save.

One has

often said of some rake of a son. If he could

only look into his mother's heart, and see

it

bleeding and broken

if

he could see his sin in

best,

the one
sin has

who

loves

him most and

how

his

been her

crucifixion,

then he would be

overwhelmed
reformation.

in penitence

and shame and led to

If the world could look into its

Father's heart,

and see

its sins

borne by Him,
sin
is

then

it

would begin to hate

and come
surely the

broken-hearted to His love.

This

power of the Cross.

healed.

With His

stripes
is

we

are

The

story of the Gospel

this

God
see

will save at all costs to the Saviour.

We

Christ upon the cross, and

sins

we

realise

what our

contribute to the eternal passion.

We

Modern RELiatous Thought.

learn

297

thus that righteousness

is

is

something
cost of
It is

which

worth

all

this

incalculable

sorrow and suffering, pain and discipline.

not mere hate and horror of

sin that

we

learn

from the disclosure of the heart of God in

Christ ;
it is

love of righteousness

and

holiness.
until

We
This

are not

made

at one with
fire

God

we

are possessed by this sacred

is

of holy love.

the consummation of Atonement,

God

in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.

XV.

BY JOHN HUNTER,
Qlasgow.

D.D.,

'

That they

all

may

he one; as Thou, Father, art in

Me and I in
glory which

Thee, that they also

may

be one in us.

Thou

gavest

Me I have

given them."

John

The

XVII. 21, 22.

" What we call Christianity is a vast ocean, into which various flow a number of spiritual currents of distant and What is specific in it is Jesus the religious origin.

consciousness of Jesus."

Frederic H. Amiel.

It

is

ever of supreme and vital momenfc to bring

our religious ideas into harmony with the truth

and nature of things.

Atonement, although
Christianity,
it

The
is

doctrine of the

of the essence of

has

undergone

constant

and

radical modification

from age to age.

its

It has

only to be traced through

to see

successive phases evolution.

progressive
is

moral

The

evolution

not yet finished.

it,

Popular repre-

sentations of

if

they no longer shock our

notions of justice and

iniluence,

have a
relations

demoralising
to

make man's

God

too

strained and artificial.

Its generally accepted

302

The Atonement

in

form belongs
culture that

to a stage of ethical
is

and

religious

passing away, and will have no

place in the purer and

of the future.

more

spiritual religion

The profound
is

idea of Reconciliation, which

the heart of the doctrine, has been obscured

interpretations
little

bj

and theories

that

have
local

allowed too

for the temporal

and

conditions under which the apostles lived and

thought; and by language which

has come

through a Christian medium, but not from a

Christian source, and in changing
also
is

its skies

has

changed

its

significance

language
gets

which

not the natural and just expression of our

spiritual experience,

and not in accord with our

It

mental and moral habit.

more and

more

difficult

for

an increasing

number of

serious-minded people to find in the

mode
out

of

representation and style of illustration, which

were acceptable

to

persons

passing

of

Judaism and Paganism into Christianity, the

prototypes

and adequate

symbols

of

their

Christian faith at the close of the nineteenth

century of the era of Christ.

They are " faded

Modern Religious Thought.

303

metaphors" which no longer answer to their

sense of truth.

Not

On

all the blood of beasts Jewish altars slain

can commend the Atonement to their reason

or imagination.
its

The ancient symbolism has

and

place in the history of the Christian teaching,

it is

but

now more

calculated to mislead

to confuse than to suggest the real truth.

The

new wine
and
final

is

bursting the old bottles.

ideas of Christianity

The great

are escaping

from their long burden of tradition and dogma,

and

from the

Jewish

forms

which

they

originally bore, into

new and more

universal

forms.

Let those, who honestly can, continue

to use the archaic

and Hebraistic language of

;

the early teachers of our religion

but playing

with words in the exposition of serious and

lofty

themes often comes dangerously near to

grieving the Spirit of Truth.

Dante speaks of

being obliged to give the words he used a

significance

which they never had before, but

is

a like exercise of imaginative genius

a some-

what perilous experiment when made by the

804-

The Atonement
who

in

teacher

to-day seeks to interpret religion.

tradition

To keep phrases hallowed by

associations of worship,

and the

and then to explain

them away by terms which make them mean

something entirely
is

dijfferent, is

a practice that

breeding a profound and fatal distrust of the

pulpit.

modem
lieved,

Casuistry, obscurantism,
is

and

pretending to believe what

not actually be-

ought to find

no favour among the

disciples of

Him who

said, "

He

that

is

of the

truth heareth

My
we

voice."

We

ought to love

truth more than

tion,

fear departure from tradi-

and not be too slow and afraid to separate

the Christian ideas from their incidents, accidents,

and imperfect products.

God hath made

its

us ministers of the
letter

New
spirit.

Testament, not of the

but of the

The present has

claims as well as the past.

Religion, like every-

thing

else, is

subject to the laws of developits

ment, and the canon of

never closed.

Holy Scriptures

is

God

is

eternal

and unchangeable,
is

but the revelation of His character and wiU

continuous and progressive, and
child of growth.

man

is

the

In the interpretation of the

Modern Religious Thought.

relation of

305
children,

God to His

creation

and His

immense progress has been made.

thought the physical and spiritual
have both been reconstructed.

To our
universe
are ap-

We

proaching the view of God as a Being essentially

life

united with the universe, the immanent

of all things while transcending all things,

requiring no device to bring

Him

back to a

harmony from which He has never departed,

revealing Himself in the order of the world,

and not by occasional interruptions or breaks

in

that

order.

The conception

of

natural
vital

law

law as a principle and method of action has taken the place of juridical
tion.

law

into which past ages ran the idea of redemp-

The Church has

its

also

grown

in

grace
It

and the knowledge of and mighty

Lord and Saviour.

has rediscovered the secret of Jesus

trust in

the

large

God

as eternal

and invin-

cible Goodness,

which Jesus quickened in the

consciousness of mankind.
of

The

reafiirmation
of

the

universal

Fatherhood

God

in

modem
and

days has led to a renaissance of faith,

to a reinterpretation of the entire theology

20


The Atonement

306

in
in Christ,

of Christendom.

We
is

see

God

and
this

know God by

Christ, as never before,

and

Divine knowledge

making

all life

things new.

The whole range

of

human

and thought
level.

has risen to a higher moral and spiritual

The

doctrine of the

Atonement must share

must be put
in a

in

this uplifting and transfiguration of thought

and faith and

that

life.

It

way
and

meets

and

satisfies

our spiritual

intellectual needs,

and while doing no violence

of the world

to

what

else

we know

and

life,

correspond to the truth of Christianity, at least

in its simplest expression in the personal

mes-

sage of Jesus Christ.

In the past

it

has been

narrowed down to mean one particular thing,

and been

identified

too exclusively with one

or event. It
is

great historical transaction

passing out of this limited significance into a

larger

meaning which holds

all

that

is

true in

ancient doctrine and infinitely more.

I.

The Nature and Need op Atonement.

go behind
itself
its

When we

technical sense

we

find in the word

a suggestion of the true

Modern Religions Thought.

and
final

307

form of the idea of the Atonement.

is

To be one with God

the Atonement which

is

the profound and vital need of humanity, and

the making of humanity one with

God

the
the

process of realising the Divine ideal

is

work of Atonement.

Not

to be

at one with

God

is

for

man

to be at

war with himself, and

relations with all other

in imperfect

and wrong
things.

beings and

Only

in

moral oneness
final perfec-

with God can he find his

tion

full

and

and peace.
is

Atonement thus considered

the supreme

idea and ultimate purpose of all real religion.

In the highest form which religion has reached

historically, it receives,
its

both in word and

life,

perfect expression.
all

In the prayer of Jesus,

one,

" That they

may be

even as Thou

Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also

may be one
its

in us," the idea of

Atonement
In the

finds

most

spiritual

utterance.

life

of
it

Jesus,
is

we

see, as in

visible parable,

what
is

for

man

to be one

with God.

He

the

historical representative of that perfect union

of the

human and Divine

of which the consti-

308
tution

The Atonement
and experience
of

in

man

have always been

the prophecy.

The

essential unity of

God and man

rest.

is

the

only fomidation on which any adequate conception of the

Atonement can

It

is

the

truth of truths concerning this subject.

But

the tendency of religion in

its

cruder forms

has ever been to emphasize and magnify the

distance between

God and man, and

out of the

attempt to reduce that separation have come

the gross ideas of sacrifice which, passing over
into

Christian thought, have gathered about

it

the Cross and put

to

an open shame.

We
his

must learn to think of God as in man and

life,

and not as outward, separate and remote,

coming near only by arbitrary miracle and

related

only

by

artificial

conjunction.

The

idea of union with

of

God

is

involved in the idea

man.

The genealogy

of

man

as

man
is

has no
is

zoological root.

His childhood to God

the

most radical fact of his being.

offspring,

He

God's

begotten,

not

made.

Deity

and

humanity are not two

natiu'e.

alien natures, but one

The

essential Ufe of man is akin to the

Modern Religious Thought.

essential life of
justice, truth,

309

God.

Reason, thought, feeling,

mercy, and love are kindred in

God and man.

seen in
its

The Divine

is

but the human

''

source and perfection.

is

I and

My

Father are one "

in idea true of all

;

humanity.
fulfil-

God and man

ment

are in idea one

is

but the

of that ideal

the long and slow work of

God and man " labouring

cession of ages.

together " in the suc-

Not

see the ideal relation

realised.

man do we between God and man

in any first
afiirmation
of

The
seer,
is

sublime

the

Hebrew
image,"

"God made man

in His

own

prophecy, not history

the

end seen

from the beginning.

first

It is the last

and not the

Adam

that bears the image of the heavenly.

of the sons of

The manifestation
sons of
goal of
of the

men
is

as the

God human

is

not the starting-point, but the

progress.

History

the story
;

making

reveals

of man in the Divine image it man becoming less animal and more

spiritual,

climbing up from low estate to the

true life of a son of

God

to

sit

with Christ on

His

throne.

In

Jesus

Christ

we

see

the

Messiah of the spiritual evolution, the mark of

310

The Atonement

in

our high calling, showing us what we realise

slowly, the type

and promise of our ultimate

perfection and destiny.

What
dition.

the Atonement means

is

a matter to be

determined by the facts of our nature and conIt is clearly not a lost unity that has to

be restored.

Man

cannot have departed from

a type which he has never realised, fallen away

from a standard he has never reached.

with

Union

God

is

a moral relation to be attained,

not preserved.

The

race of

mankind has never

it is

been more one with God than

In Adam's fall "We sinned all
is

to-day.

theory, not fact.

is

The Christian

doctrine of

Atonement
scientific
rise,

not bound up with any such unpositions.

and unhistorical
fall,

It is the

not the

of

man

with which the study

of history
it is true,

makes us acquainted.

The advance,

has been painfully slow and gradual,

;

and not without reversions

at history.

but looking largely

We see the

Since time began steady gain of man.

Modern Eeligious Thought.

There
is

811

a Divine order which no disorders

falls

can disturb, and to which

evolution.

are but stages of

We are

living in a growing, not in

a blasted world, under God's love and blessing,

not under God's wrath and curse.
is

Imperfection

no proof of depravity. from

Tendencies must be

distinguished

results,

and powers and

passions, good in their right degree, be separated

in thought from their misdirection

version. It
is

and per-

from an outworn view of human

nature there has come the idea that the natural

development of

man must
is

inevitably be that of

constant and chronic enmity against goodness

and God. Growth

sense of sin
is

the law of the world.

The

not the sign of degeneration, but

It
is,

of a moral uprising.

as Carlyle says,
until it is

^Hhe beginning of aU progress," and

awakened,

man is little more than an animal. What we see, when we look back, is man rising through many struggles to his true life, seeking
God by a law
of his being.
till

" Nearer,

my

God,

to Thee," " Restless,

I rest in Thee," are

words which interpret the conscious and unconscious aspiration

and movement of man*s whole

312
life
is

The Atonement
upon
this earth.

in

Because

man

is

what he

he cannot remain

satisfied in the outer circles

of being, or endure to be far

away from Him

who

is

the Beginning and the

End

of his

life.

Toward and

into that inner circle of

unity

between Father and Son he must press and

enter, if his life is to be

anything but a living

death.

From
is

this point of view, the

Atone-

mdlit that

a vital

human
It
is

need,

is

no making

up

of a previous strife, but the fulfilment of the

effected through self-

Divine idea of man.

development and self-realisation.

to

Man

comes

God

as

he comes to himself ; and to come to

himself he must come to God.

Atonement

is,

further, the reconciliation of

life

the whole man, and his whole

and world, to

God.

To be one with God

is

to be one with the

entire truth

and order of things with which

together, have to do.

man and God, working

The
life

physical, intellectual, moral

and

spiritual

of

man,

his personal

and

social life in all

their relations

and

aspects, are one life in the

Divine idea, and have to be brought into conformity with the Divine purpose and
will.

Modern Religious Thought.

high and noble reconciliation
is

313
be-

possible

tween the lower and higher elements of human

nature,

and on

it

depend our inward peace and

outward power and progress.

Good and

evil

within us are not separate powers and passions,

but degrees of the same thing, the right use

good, the abuse only
evil.

The union

of the
tlie

mind

of

man

with the Absolute Mind,

correspondence of his thought with fact and

truth,
is

the aspect which the Atonement takes

life.

in the region of the intellectual

Thinking
the aliena-

as

we

please, believing as

we
we

like, is

tion of the
of
all

mind from God.

that

It is the teaching

experience
as well as

are

conditioned

morally,

physically,

and can only

develop healthily as

we

follow certain lines

which, though implicated in our nature and

revealed
in our experience, are

no more the

creation of experience than are the laws which

keep and guide the stars in their courses.

Divine
clearly

The
is

order for

men

in

social relations
;

meant to be that of a family

and working together

and we

are only in our right, or righteous, state

when

we

are living

fraternally.

314

The Atoi<ement
cannot be one with

in

We

God

until

we

are one

with our fellows, cannot be within the circle of

right universal relations until
relations with

we

are in right

those

who

are nearest to us.

The
God.

self-regardful

type of

life is

enmity against

Reconciliation to the laws of justice,

is

love and brotherhood

reconciliation to God.

The laws which

munion
and
less

regulate the immediate com-

of the soul with

God

are

more

subtle

capable of exact expression than those

social life
;

which regulate our physical and

there
ness,
is

yet

a Divine order here without variableis

an order which

revealed and confirmed

It is the

by

all religious

experience.
;

pure in

heart
love

who
calls

see

God

it

is
;

he who dwelleth in

who

dwelleth in

God

and
filial

it

is

what

St.

John
in

" the Son," the

mind and
with

spirit

man, that brings him to the Father.

Reconciliation to our earthly
lot,
all its
is

fixed

and inevitable conditions and

issues,

another aspect of the Christian idea of Atone-

ment.

To be

at peace with
all

God

is

to be at

peace with things, with

the things which

discipline
;

God has ordained

for our

human

at

Modern Religious Thought.

315

peace with the laws of labour and struggle and

change, with the laws of

it is

life

and death.

And

just in proportion as

man

brings himself,

or

is

brought, into conformity and

laws
that
control

harmony
guide
his

with the
destiny,

and

and with the whole idea and order

life,

of his being and

that union with

is

God

becomes a

reality,

reconciliation
practically

effected

and

the
is

Atonement

completed.

There
the

no other way of Atonement than

of

way

obedience

every

man's

free

obedience to the Divine laws of his being and

Hfe.

But who
the

is

thus at one with

God?

It is
will

selfish will

and order, not the Divine

is

and

order,

which

more or

less

universally
is

followed and obeyed.

Man

everywhere
is

in

conflict with himself because he

in conflict

with the Divine

will,

because he

is

at strife
for

with the order which

God has ordained

him and

his

life,

because his powers and affec-

tions are estranged

from God and are from Him.

restless

in their departure
figure

It is only

by a

of

speech

we can speak

of breaking

316
God's laws.

The Atonement
"We
fail to

in

obey them, set our-

selves against

them, and they break us.

The

moral order requires no special and external

vindication of
to
its

majesty.

God

does not need

fail

be appeased, for His laws never

to

punish sin in their

own good time and way.

but his

But compensation He does not exact or need.

It is not the suffering of the sinner,

restoration to goodness

and a

life

of conscious

harmony with the Divine

holy and righteous God.
tion,

will that satisfies the

Propitiation, expiainter-

and substitution, in their current

pretations

and forms, are as

little

in accord

with what we see to be the order of things in

the universe as they are with the tone and

tendency of the teaching of Jesus and the real

and profound needs of the enlightened

II.

soul.

The Work op God

in the

Woeld

is

the

Work

op Atonement.

Creatorhood and Fatherhood have their obligations and duties as well as creaturehood and

childhood.

The Creator cannot

leave His creato be

tion unfinished.

The Father must seek

Modern Religious Thought.

317

one with His children and to bring them to

perfection.

We had no choice of existence,

whom we
came,
if

but

He

from

only to satisfy

Himself, will have regard to the work of His

hands and respord to the appeal, " I

save me."
chiefly,

am
be

Thine,
all,

The movement

will not

or

on the side of man.

It is the essential

nature of love to seek and to save.

eousness and blessedness of
to God.

The

right-

man
is

are necessary

The work
work.

of

Atonement
conceive

God's eternal
of

We

cannot

the

Divine

Goodness as ever being insensate and passive,

or as other than ceaselessly compassionate
helpful.

and

The

life of sacrifice is

the law of love

is love,

for heaven as for earth. to create is to suffer,

Because God
call

and to

mankind

into

being

is

to be afflicted in its afflictions.

Wholly
;

outside His world

God has never been

It

He

has

been always in

it,

bearing the sins and carry-

ing the sorrows of our race.

was not a new

and strange work the Beloved Son of God came

to do, but the

work which He saw His Father

domg

continuously.

The Divine mission of

318
Jesus
in
is

The Atonement
not so

in

much an

isolated interpolation

human

history as the reflection and revela-

tion of the universal

and eternal labour, passion

and

sacrifice of

God.

Without Jesus the world

was for thousands of years, but not without the

merciful, gracious,

and redeeming God.

"His
so

goings forth have been of old and from everlasting."

The whole economy

of things

is

ordered as to bring
contact with God.

men
This

at every point into

is

the final meaning

and end of
life.

all

the forces that enter into

human
and

By

all

the natural processes and experi-

ences of
toil,

life,

by the

discipline of hardship

joy and sorrow, by the retribution that

warns us back to right, and the moral purpose

that
is

in all events,

God from

the beginning

has been reducing and destroying the separation between Himself

and His children.

is

But the work

of

God on man

not so

much

a forcing process from without as an inducing

process from within.
is

Influence, not coercion,

the Divine method.

Immanent

in all

men,

He

co-operates with the aspiration and effort of

every

man toward

light

and goodness, and

Modern Religious Thought.

therefore with the universal
race.

319
of the

movement

He

is

the ultimate Cause of progress and

all

the Unseen Source and inspiration of

our

human

strivings to

draw near unto

Him even
Him.

of those very strivings

which in our ignorance

to reconcile

we make with a view

seek

We
spirit

Him

because

He

first
is

seeks us.
Spirit,

The

of truth

and goodness

His

and what

we

find of that spirit in ourselves

and in others,

in this age

and in

all ages,

proves that

God

is

ever nigh to our humanity, giving an atoning

energy and
sacrifice.

effect to

all

noble striving and

The Divine action on man

as immediate

is

mediate as well

through men, whom

inspires,

God

raises
lives

up, endows

and

and

in

whom He

and

suffers,

and by

whom He makes known

His

character and

will,

and reconciles the world

taken part in this
before,

unto Himself.
Divine

Many have

ministry of

reconciliation

as

after, the

Advent of the Son of God.

the

Revela-

tion

is

especially

means of Atonement,
clearer

revelation that has

age,
as

grown

from age to
developed

men have become more


320
morally

The Atonement
and more
sensitive

in

and

receptive

spiritually.

God must be known

for

men

to

become one with Him.

A
is

true knowledge of

God removes
and quickens
faith

the fear that

in

born of ignorance,
that spirit of

human

souls

which

is

the strength and salvation of

humanity.
III.

The Work

of Atonement Specialised

IN Jesus Christ.

The

most

remarkable

and

characteristic

thing about Jesus, and that which gives the

keynote to His place and mission in the world,

is

His absolute renoimcement of the idea that

said or did anything of Himself.

He
but

" Not

I,

my

Father,"

is

the

sum and substance

enters.

of

His teaching concerning Himself.

Father's

It is the
It is

work

into

which the Son

not Christ apart from God, but God in Christ,

said the apostle,

who

is

reconciling the world

to Himself.

The

entire manifestation of the

Son of God, was and

of Jesus

and not merely the death on the

is

cross,
life

the power of Atonement in the

Modern Religious Thought.

Christ.

321

With Him

there entered a
history.

new and

Divine power into

human

Those who

are unable to separate the Incarnation from the

normal processes of human

see in it the climax

life,

nevertheless

and crown of a vast upward

movement which
Divine revelation.

in all its great stages

was a

Whatever prophecies there

of

may have been

humanity
it

the

Divine Sonship of

in the experience of

men

in the past,

came forth

into clear

ness for the

first

and complete conscioustime in Him who said, " I and

It is this perfect realisa-

My Father
tion of

are one."

filial

union and communion with God

that

is

the central fact of our Christian faith.

of Sonship to

The consciousness

God

is

also the
all

distinctively Christian experience.

By

the

methods of personal influence Christ quickens

in

human

souls prepared to receive it

filial

His own

sense of
spirits.

relationship to the Father of

into
spiritual

Drawn by sympathy
intimacy

intimacy with Him, they are drawn by

into
filial

Him
" As

with
to

His Father.

many
to

as received

Him

them gave He power

Further,
it
is

become sons of God."

the

21

322

The Atonement
spirit

in

filial

that
is

Christ

quickens in
of our

human
makes

hearts that

the

medium

communion
it

with God, and, when fully attained,

God and man at one and at peace.

in

It is this

experience of sonship produced and perfected

man, and not an external

historical trans-

action, that is pre-eminently

and peculiarly the

(It is in

atonmg work
Gospel of
St.

of Jesus Christ.

the

John we

find the

Atonement

presented as a fact of consciousness or experience.

The Johannean Atonement has been

set

over against the Pauline Atonement, but the

contradiction
is is

not so inward and radical as

it

often represented to be.

When

St.

Paul

gets clear of Judaistic,

and other entanglements,

and
his

rises into the pure air of absolute truth,

word

is

not essentially different from that

of the apostle of spiritual religion.)

The whole ministry

ning
tion
to its close,

of Christ, from its beginreconcilia-

was a ministry of

a power of Atonement.
said,

By what He was,
did.

what He

and what

He

He

sought to

make God known,

to save

men from

those false

ideas of the Divine character

and ways which

Modern Eeligious Thought.

set

323

human thought and

realise that

feeling wrong, to expel

suspicion and fear from their hearts,

and to

make them
children,

they were His Father's

and had no right therefore to despise

themselves or despair of themselves.

They saw

in His compassion the Divine compassion, in

His love the revelation and assurance of the

Divine love, in His forgiveness the type and

promise of the Divine forgiveness.

Coming

to
is

know God
pathies

as

He

is

revealed in Jesus Christ

to trust and

rejoice in

God and

to have

sym-

and harmonies created where previously

dwelt antipathies and antagonisms.

earth our Lord also sought to

When
life

on

make men

in all

the relations and provinces of their

at one

with

the

Divine

Will.

He

fought against
ail

disease, ignorance, injustice, hate and

forms

of selfishness as the enemies of

God and man.

suffered

The great burden

Kingdom, God's

of His

message was God's

order,

and

He

and

died daily to reconcile

of their
life.

men
it

to the Divine order

The

Cross, although

embodied no principle
life,

that was not illustrated in His

was yet

324

The Atonement

in

the crowning manifestation of the principle,

of the law, purpose,

and

spirit of

His

life.

It

was the sign and symbol of the perfect

cation of Himself with

identifi-

man and

with God.

It

was no wonder that in a strain of prophecy

He

looked forward to the Cross as the means of

raising

Him

above

all

the mists and clouds of

prejudice,

mortal

misunderstanding,

and

hatred, to a moral height where

He

would be

seen in

all

the glory of His Divine obedience

and

charity,

and from which

love

He

would draw to

HimseK the

and loyalty of mankind.

expresses

No word sums up and

Atonement.

more

fully

the influence of Jesus Christ than the word

By what He was and

spirit

said

and did

by the power of His

quickens.

and the

affections

He

He makes

men, to-day as yesterday,

at one with God, at one with their fellows, at

one with themselves, and at one with

its

life

in all

larger and deeper meanings

and ends.
is

The

history of the religion of Jesus

a history of

Atonement.

That short

life,

to all appearatice,

crushed and ended on the Cross, has expanded

into the
life

of

Christendom,

and been an


Modern Eeligious Thought.
endless power of progress.

325
spirit

The

faith

and

of Christ, wherever they go, subdue discords, heal alienations, harmonise differences, and so

make
IV.

peace.

The Atonement an Unfinished, Continuous AND Progressive Work.

The Atonement was not completed when

Jesus finished His work on earth.

In

Him

it

found and finds

its ideal fulfilment,

but not

its

actual completion.

The

isolation of

His work

from the universal work of God in the world

and from the work of the Church

Christian part of humanity)
is

(that

is,

the

wholly without

warrant

in

the

New

Testament.

Both in

Gospel and Epistle, and with endless richness

of appeal,

men

are called to be what Jesus was

and to do what
attributed to

He did. All the great things Him are expected and demanded
It is

of His followers.
results of

one of the unspeakable

His influence on

men
is

that they are

moved
Cross,

to follow in
fill

His footsteps, take up His

behind of His
sharers in that

up that which
and become

sufferings

active

326

The Atonement

in

Divine, eternal sacrifice by which the world

is

being

delivered

from

its

evil.

It is not
;

by
not

imputing, but

imparting righteousness

by substituting His obedience for

by inspiring us to obey
;

ours, but

not by displacing, but

reinforcing our personal will and activity, Jesus

Christ

is

the power of

God and
facts

the wisdom of
life,

God.

The outward

of His

the

Crucifixion and Resurrection especially, only

gain their real and highest meaning when they

are translated into moral and spiritual experiences,

and we are able to say with

crucified

St. Paul,

"I am

with Christ";
is

"I am

risen

with Christ." It

not by any outward reliance

on what Jesus was and what

is

He

did the world

to be saved, but

by men, who, through the

have been brought into

power of His

Spirit,

moral union with God, and are inspired by the

passion of the Cross, entering into the work of

Christ and prolonging and repeating His sacrifice in their

own

Lives.

They are the hidingAs Thou hast sent

place of His power, and His ever-renewed and

ever-growing body.

^^

Me

into the world, so have I sent

them

into the

Modern Religious Thought.

world."

327

" The glory which Thou gavest

Me

have given them."

Bearing the sorrows and

iniquities of the world, taking

away

its

sin

by
it

the sacrifice of Himself, helping to reconcile

to

God

this

is

what every man

is

doing

who
and

bears worthily the

lives

name

of the Crucified,

and burns in His fellowship.

is

Every Simday in thousands of churches God thanked for " the redemption of the world

by our Lord Jesus Christ." That thanksgiving,

when thoughtfully offered, is inspired by faith and hope. For what we see around us is not
a world really redeemed, but only a world that
is

being redeemed.

The

actual

redemption

of

humanity

is

coincident with its moral

and

spiritual progress,

and can only be accomplished

by the slow and constant operation of the Spirit

and Power of God.

But the Divine power

power

is

no abstraction, and the Divine Spirit no wandering ghost.

The unit

of

is

not

God nor

man in
it

isolation.

God

in the world, reconciling

to Himself,

means God and man working

Divine

together,

the

power
lives,

and

Spirit

in

human

hearts

and

permeating

and

328

The Atonement

in Eeligious Thought.

quickening them as the infusion of a higher

life.

The Atonement

is still

in process of
is

com-

pletion.

Into the Son's work, which

also the

Father's,

we

are called to enter; called

to

hasten, by our life and labour,

the time of the

great Reconciliation,

when man's moral being

and

shall be received into the unity of creation,

things in heaven and on earth shall be one, and

God, that

is

Good, be

all

in all

Dear Father of the human heart, The whole wide world atone What Thou hast been to us, impart

To

all

make

all

Thine own.

XVI.

BY FREDERIC QODET.
Neuchiitel,

D.D.,

Switzerland.

I BELIEVE that all the writers

who up

to

now
The

have taken part

Christian

in

the symposium in
this

World on

central

question of

Christianity are agreed in rejecting the notion of Expiation in the

pagan sense; the

sense,

that

is,

according to which the

man who had

offended a divinity must, in order to appease

his resentment

and recover his favour, pay the

equivalent of his trespass either by a sacrifice

offered or

by some form of suffering undergone.

is

This pagan idea

not

that of

the

Bible.

There, not only in the

already in the Old,
it
is

New

Testament, but

God, the offended God

Himself,

who

takes the initiative in His

;

own

reconciliation with the sinful world

who

deter-

mines the conditions of

the means for
laid
all
its

and who provides " The Lord hath realisation.

it,

on

Him

(His servant) the iniquity of us

"

{Tsa. liii.).

" Blessed

is

he whose sin

is

covered and to

whom

the Lord imputeth not

"

332

The A.tonement
xxxii.).

in

iniquity " {Psa.

" God so loved the

world that
(Jb^n
iii.).

He

gave His only begotten Son"

"All things are of God, who hath

reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ

(2 Cor.Y.).

"Ye
.
.

have been redeemed by the

precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without

blemish.

fore-ordained from before the

(1 Pet. i.).

foundation of the world"

These and

similar passages teach that the redemption of

the world by Christ

is

due absolutely to the

Divine love.

But

this being so, it

may seem

a misnomer

to speak

of

God's

reconciliation with

man,

since

He who

decides on, and accomplishes the

reconciliation can hardly be regarded as need-

ing to be Himself reconciled.

loves sufficiently to take such

The

love that

an action towards

the offender
regained.
entirely

is

surely in no need of being itseK

We
still

must then, say some, eliminate

from Christianity the notion of expiamore, of substitution, preserving

tion and,

only the idea of the Heavenly Father, ever

ready to pardon without any other condition

than that of man's faith in His love

faith

Modern Eeligious Thought.

by which
the
sinner
finds

333
really

himself

reconciled with the

God whom
This
is,

before he had
in appearance,

regarded as his enemy.

an important simplification of the Christian

doctrine,

and in support of

it,

it is

usual to cite

the parable of the prodigal son.

It has, however, to

be observed that the forms

New

Testament
times
as

offers to us in various

verb,

sometimes as substantive

some

term which

it is difficult

to reconcile with this

point of view.

Five times do

we meet there
(Luke
ii.

the Greek term which signifies the placating,

or rendering favourable, of God.
xviii.
2,

13; Rom,
iv. 10.)

iii.

24; Heh.
it

ii.

17

John

and

This, while

does not exactly imply

the destruction of a feeling of enmity in God,

supposes nevertheless a favourable change to

be produced in

Him

towards the sinner.

Paul

indeed goes so far as to speak of " indignation," of

" wrath," which he attributes to God against those who " obey unrighteousness "
(Rom.
ii.

8).

He

further (in Eph.

ii.

3) calls all

men

in their natural condition, "children of

wrath."

According to this there

is

room

for

334

The Atonement

in

the idea that the term

" reconciliation " may

apply not only to man, but also to God.

When

Paul {Rom.
''

xi.

28) calls

the Jews " enemies,"

as touching the Gospel,"

and " for your sake,"

but on the other hand declares them " beloved

for the fathers' sake," it
is

clear that the

word
God,

"loved" can only

relate to the love of

and that consequently the word '^enemies"

in this connection

means

also the

(momentary)

enmity of God towards these same Jews.

in

So

Bom, v. 9, 10, where we find the same word " enemy " used directly after the phrase " the
it is

wrath of God,"

impossible to confine the

term entirely to the enmity of

God.

man

towards

The

apostle

is

evidently thinking at the

sinful

same time of God's enmity against

man.

The work

of reconciliation, then, while, as all

Scripture says, having

nevertheless,
it

God

as its author, has

appears, a certain bearing upon

the Divine mind, and the idea of a propitiation

which occurs so often in the

New

Testament,

and applying, as

it

must, to an effect produced

difficult it

upon God, however

with the fact that

may be

to accord
its

God

is

at the

same time

Modern Religious Thought.

author, finds yet
Christian dogma.
its

335

right to a place in the

To understand how
necessary,
first

that

is

possible it is

of

all,

to

distinguish between

the love which gives and the love which pardons.

Both are indeed the same

is

love,

but their

action

governed by difEerent conditions.

The

former has nothing to do but to yield

its

itself to

feeling of free benevolence, and to simply

;

scatter its gifts

but the

latter, at

the

moment
These
dis-

of action, finds two obstacles in its way.

are,

on the one hand, the sentiment of

offended
party,

pleasure in the

and on the
effects

other, the disastrous

and wide-spreading

which would follow from a pardon pure and

simple,

and granting, as

it

would seem, the

love

right of existence to evil.

The

which par-

dons can, then, only be exercised on two conditions that are

unknown

to the love

which

gives.

The

first is

the breaking

down

of the repulsion,

the alienation of heart, the revolt which the

offence produces in the offended party.

And
the

when
good

the offended one

is

is

God, to

whom

not, as with us, a something apart from

336
or above

The Atonement
Him, but who
is

in

Himself Goodness in

Person, what a supreme gravity belongs, then,

to the offence
!

The
less

revolt of

man

against

God

becomes nothing
that
is

than a negation of God,

to say, of the good, and

react against
self.

what amounts

to a denial of

God cannot but Himan

From

the perfect holiness which consti-

tutes His essence there results, therefore,

active indignation

which
is,

is

opposed to pardon.

The second obstacle

danger

as

we have

said,

the

lest sin, unless it

meet with an adequate

chastisement as the opposer of good, be not in

some way, as
it

it

were, legitimised.

To pardon
it

unconditionally would be to yield

life

an en-

during place in the

It is to these

of humanity.

two exigences that an expiation,

in the Christian sense of the word,

It is true that

must respond.

Paul does not apply the term

to

" reconciliation "

say that
world, but that "

God

Himself.

He does not

God has reconciled Himself to the God has reconciled the world
first

to Himself through Christ" (2 Cor. v. 18, 19).

Did he shrink from employing the

sion, as

expres-

though

it

might seem

to suggest

an

Modern Eeligious Thought.

imputation against the Divine Majesty
ever that
?

337

How-

may

be,

he himself

calls

Christ " the

means of
iii.

propitiation set forth

in 2 Cor, v. 20, 21,

by God " {Bom,

he
justifies

25),

and

the

invitation to be reconciled to

God which the

preachers of the Gospel are to address to

men

by

this motive

Him

" For God has made sin for us who knew no sin " ; in other words '* Be
: :

ye reconciled with God, since

God Himself has

become reconciled
relation to

to

you ; since

He

has done in

His own nature what was necessary

for that end."

But does not

this idea suppose a

change in

the Divine mind incompatible with the Divine

immutability?

We
man

may

grant

the

change.
over the

But

if

we admit that God

evil,

rejoices

spectacle of a

devoted to goodness and

opposing

that His heart goes out to such

an one, and that His power co-operates with

him

and

if,

on the other hand,

it is

certain

that the heart of

God

is

grieved, alienated, out-

raged, at the view of a

evil,

man

obstinately bent on

how can

it

be otherwise than that when a

change

shall in either of these cases take place

22

338

The Atonement
evil,

in

towards good or
shall

a corresponding change

be produced in the mind of God ?

changes,
if

When

the

man

the Divine sentiment did

not also change in relation to him, that would

be really to say that God was changeable.

Love

of good and hatred of evil form the invariable

law of His being, and from this

each instant
infinite

it results

that

changes take place in the

mind

of

God

in

accordance with the moral

creatures.

condition of His

We

must not

represent to ourselves the Divine immutability

as though
it

were

like that of a stone

it is

comparable rather to that of

column

of

mercury, which, in constant obedience to the

same physical law,

rises or falls in the

tube in

perfect accord with each change in the atmosphere.

As a friend once
most
afar

said to me,

God

is,

of all beings, the

sensitive.

delicately
sees

and

infinitely

From

He

and

rejoices over

the

first

movement

of a heart that turns towards

good; and

equally

does

He

perceive and

is

grieved by, the faintest drawing of the

soul

towards

evil.
is

Precisely because the Divine love

so per-

Modern Religious Thought.

fectly free is it able to take

339

on

differing forms.

Of these I

single out

two which have a special

God's love

bearing on our subject.

itself as

may show
its object.

a love of compassion or as a love of

satisfaction

and of complaisance in

The

love of compassion reveals itself in

God

as

a necessity for consoling, for saving.

It is

perfectly compatible with hatred of evil,

and
it.

with indignation against one

who commits

One may

say, indeed, that the greater

God's

indignation, the

more profound the compassion

condition of the
is

He

feels for the evil

it.

man who
God HimIt is

causes

For

man

miserable to the extent

;

in which he displeases
self well

God and

that

knows.
of

Hence His

pity.

from

this

love

compassion

that

the

design
love

proceeds of saving the sinful world.

of
satisfaction

The

or

of

complacency,

on the
fills

contrary, results

from the joy which

the

heart of

God

at seeing the realisation of good

in His creature,
full

whom He

can now lead into

communion with Himself, a communion

is

which
of
his

man's supreme good, the

fiinal

object

existence.

The

transition

from

the

340
first

The Atonement
of these

in

forms of
naturally,

Divine love to
result

the

second

can,

only
it,

from a

transformation in the object of

and that by
to a good

an inner movement from an

will.

evil

What,

then,

will

be the condition under

which the perfect love of God, the love of

satisfaction

and of communion, can replace

compassion?

the love, as yet incomplete, of

This result will necessarily depend on a change.

in the moral condition of the world
itself,

in a

turning from sin to goodness.

this be brought about ?

But how can

To

this question, the

spirit

gravest with which the

confronted, the

human

can be

Gospel contains the answer.

The whole
holiness

life

of Jesus

was a manifestation of

and of communion with God, calculated

by its exquisite beauty to awaken on the part of

all

who were
similar

its

witnesses the aspiration for

perfection.

But

if

this

homage

rendered
exert in

to

the

majesty of goodness could

it

human

hearts a hunger for holiness,

was not

sufficient to repair the

outrage offered

to the Divine authority

by human disobedience.

Modern RELiaious Thought.

341

Against this disobedience, flaunting itseK so

shamelessly in the world, there was need of a
further protest than this simple example of a
perfectly

holy

life;

there

needed a definite

repudiation of this revolt of the creature, one

which should constitute a solemn disassociation

from

it

of the

human
sin

will.

This decisive con-

demnation of

could alone restore to the

Divine holiness

the glory

which

had been had been

obscured
disowned.

and the authority that

This was the work accomplished,

first

of

all,

in the inner consciousness of Jesus.

As the

Jewish high priest who, in the holy of holies,

before the Ark, symbol of the Divine throne,

confessed the sins of the whole people personified in

him

so Jesus, in

communion with the

had, by the fact of

human
His

family of which

He

birth,

become a member, Jesus, the only

righteous, the only

One whose

conscience was

at the height of the Divine holiness, in the

deepest depth of His being, condemned

sin, as

human

God condemned

it.

By an unfathom-

able prodigy of love

He

entered into the horror

342

The Atonement

in

of the sins of which as though

He

was each day witness,

He had
;

Himself been the responsible

author of them

and in the perfect union of His

Divine holiness, in this

conscience with the

rencontre intime between

God and Himself, He

to

pronounced

the

condemnation

death

of

human
later

sin,

a sentence destined to be ratified

all

by the united conscience of

been judged by

humanity.
in this

Sin, then, has

man

one typical, normal conscience, as God Himself

judges
it

in

Heaven

not this or that

sin,

but

sin in itself,

which Jesus bore before God as

the sole sinner upon earth.

though

He had been

There took place there, in the conscience of

Christ,
sin,

between the Divine holiness and human

St.

an encounter the mystery of which

Peter compares to an abyss of which the angels

themselves cannot sound the depths, but of

which we

may

get some idea in listening to

that cry of Jesus, " My God,

My

God,

why hast
to

Thou forsaken
which God

Me?"

The abandonment
This

delivers over the sinner had at that

moment become His

portion.

is

what

Paul describes in other terms when he says:

Modern Eeligious Thought.

" God hath made
cry of anguish, of

343
This

Him

to be sin for us."

immense sorrow, which broke

from the heart of Jesus into the ear of God,

brought appeasement; for that
sense of the
is

the exact

word which the Scripture uses to

place
in

designate what took

the heart of

God.

Here was the reparation, the true exby which the offender himself

piation in the Christian sense of the word.

It
is

the

a<jt

condemns
so far as

his sin,

and by that condemnation,

on himself, makes
it

depends

to

utterly disappear.
It is true that it

was in one conscience alone

that this judgment of the world's sin, the echo

of that which
place.

God pronounces
is

in heaven, took

But

as there

only one rationality in

is

all intelligent

minds, so in reality there

only

one and
beings
;

the

same conscience in
it is

all

moral

and thus

that the cry of suffering

which came from that one perfectly normal

conscience
is

yet to re-echo in

all

other
this

human
solemn

consciences.

There

was

in

meeting between the Most Holy and the typal

representative
of humanity

the

dawn, as

it

344
were, of a
replace

The Atonement new world

condition

in

yet to appear and to

of revolt

that

which

has

reigned from the time of the Fall.

Just as a

change in the mode of existence and of action

of the magnetic pole would be

enough

to bring

about a movement and a transformation in the

magnetic state of the whole world, so this

transformation in the relation of
of which the heart of Christ was

man

to

God

at once the

operator and the theatre, in restoring

God and

man
in

to their true place, has sufficed to bring

into immediate prospect a

similar revolution

the

human

conscience,

and,

it

may

be,

everywhere

where

beings exist possessed of

this Divine organ.

And

it

is

this

mighty and sacred reaction,

given by the con-

the signal for which was

science of the
its

Head

of

humanity, that, with

willed,

happy consequences, foreseen and

has formed the decisive fact whose action has

so

wrought upon God, transforming His love

of compassion, as author of redemption, into

a yet nobler

love,

that of satisfaction, of a
full of tenderness.

communion with humanity

MoDEEN
whence
Spirit.

Eeligiotjs Thought.

345

results

the

communication of

His

At the same time

lished in

this reparation

accomp-

the conscience of Jesus could not

fact,

remain as a simple interior

known only

to

God

it

must be made manifest

its

externally, in

order that
entire

action

might extend over the

human

family.

The Moral Substitution

the very
to,

which we have just been describing needed

undoubtedly to come
soul
of,
first;

for

it is

and gives
reparation.

its

whole value

the

external

But the death of the

it,

Cross required to be added to

reveal to all eyes the
serious
it

in order to

reality

of

the

moral work, and that

object of faith.
It is a

might become the

law derived from the

suffering, interior

Divine

holiness,

that

or
sin.

exterior, is the inevitable

consequence of

This law
since
it

is is

the safeguard of the sinner himself,

by penalty alone that he

necessity

is

made
Jesus

to feel

the

of

repentance.

accepted the application of this law to Himself

under the most rigorous of forms.

But the

element of reparation in the death of the Cross

346

The Atonement

ii

did not consist in the unspeakable sufferings

which accompanied

it.

That lay in the

with

silent

and

absolute

submission
It is

which

they

were endured.

not a suffering merely

;

undergone which reconciles

it is

a suffering
child

accepted^ recognised as just.

revolts against its

The

who

punishment has offered no

reparation

at

all.

The

Cross,

accepted by

Jesus without resistance or murmur, was the

striking manifestation of

that interior judg-

ment which He had

just

pronounced before
St.

God upon the

(Galatians
for us,
iii.

sin of

humanity.

Paul said

13) that Jesus

was made a curse

and

this

by having hung upon the

the saying,
the tree."
^^

cross, according to

Cursed

is

he

who hangeth on
substitution
is

This

exterior

at once the consequence

and the

complement of the moral substitution described

above.
It is

on

this double substitution

^the

moral

and the exterior

rests.
is

And now

that the Christian Atonement our questionWhat

it is

last

needed that each separate human being

shall

participate in the

"Divine appeasement" of

Modern Religious Thought.

347

which the Scriptures speak, and in that return

to grace

which

is

the consequence ?

One thing.

He who
self

aspires to salvation

must

associate him-

by faith in that

travail

of soul accom-

plished in the heart of Christ

when He
;

con-

sented to be "

made

sin for us

'*

he must look
;

upon

his sin

with the same sense of reprobation

unite himself with the sorrowing confession of

Jesus, with His

humble appeal

to the Divine

mercy when, before His Father,

as

He

judged sin
sentence
it.

God judges

it,

and pronounced

its

of death as

God Himself pronounces

This

personal association with the sacred act of which

the soul of Jesus had been the theatre was

mysteriously wrought
in

the

heart of that

savage Bechuana who, on hearing the story of the Cross,

deeply moved, exclaimed,
!

''Jesus

away from there

tains indeed the

That

is

my

place

"
!

Jesus Himself used an

image which con-

same thought when

He

says,
life

"I am come
the captive

to serve,

and to give ransom

is

My

ransom for many."

paid

for

whom

it is

desired to liberate, for

deliver

the criminal

we would

from punish-

348
ment.

The Atonement
That
is

in

the service Jesus came to render

to humanity, once slave

and criminal, the slave

condemnation.

of

sin

and

worthy

of

To

accomplish this double redemption

offer the sacrifice of

He

did not

some personal good that

He
own
the

might have enjoyed;

life.

He

offered

up His

His very person, body and soul ; He,

consenting
to

innocent One,

be

made

responsible before

God for
so
say,

the sin of the world,

and to be treated as such before the eyes of

world.
If

may

He

descended into

the gloomy prison-house where

we

lay,

and in

entering left open the door behind Him, that

each captive

who recognised
his release

in

Him his ransom

might secure

and enjoy once more

the pure outside air; that each

figure

to

drop the

might

seize

with the hand of faith, the

goods, peace with God,

greatest of

all

life's

and the re-establishment of communion with

Him.

The work
by the

of deliverance

which Jesus wrought

offering

up of Himself did not end with

the death of the Cross.

Glorified

As the Risen and

it

One He continues

in the heavenly

Modern Religious Thought.

life

349

by His work of intercession before God,

says
St.
ii.

as
(1

Paul

{Eom.
is

viii.

34)

and John

John

1),

and as

vividly set forth in the

vii.

Epistle to the

Hebrews {Heh.

25),

"Who
The

ever liveth to

make

intercession for us."

work of expiation accomplished here below was

the point of departure for this heavenly intercession which
is its

simple continuation.
faith's assimilation, the

Every time that, by

" for us " becomes

a " for me," at once a

sorrowful and joyous "for me," in the heart

of

man, and that to

this

" He for

me "

there

comes as answer in the heart a grateful " I for

Him," that heart

object of

is

henceforth not only the

God's compassionate love, but also

is

of that love of His which

adopts, which

satisfied,

which

communes.

The

guilty child is

folded in the arms of the Father.

He

has

found grace.
I

He was
that

dead and

is alive

again.
in

suppose

The

Christian

World,

seeking the views of so large a

number of

Christian writers on this supreme topic, has not

so

much wished

for profound dissertations

as

for a personal profession of faith, with

more or

350
less of the

The Atonement
grounds of
it.

in

Well, this

is

mine.

The
'^

^*

For me," understood as in the sense of

place,"
it is
is,

in

my

in

my

eyes, the centre of the

life.

Gospel, as

the nerve of the Christian

Christianity deprived of this becomes nothing

more than a sword with

its

edge blunted,

powerless in the hands both of the missionary

who

seeks to strike

down

other religions, and in

that of the private Christian to deal a mortal

blow at the heart of

tyrannous

the old man,

of
self.

at the

domination

The Christ

who became my
in

substitute on the Cross has

alone the right and the power to be substitute

my

heart.

"For the

love of Christ con-

straineth us, because

we thus judge
;

that

if

one

died for
all

all,

therefore all died

and

He

died for

that they which live should no longer live

unto themselves, but unto

Him who
So

for their

sakes died and rose again."

(2 Cot, v. 14, 16).

says

Paul

Jesus, praying in Gethsemane, at the

moment

when He
possible "

penetrated to the depths of our dark

prison, cried " Father, with

;

Thee

all

things are

as

though

He

Himself no longer

Modern Religious Thought.

saw
clearly

351
to

the

necessity,

in order

the

world's

salvation,

of

all

that

was awaiting

Him.

Nevertheless,

He

submitted.

And

for

ourselves,
is

who

are

still,

in part, in the twilight,

not this light, though imperfect, yet enough

for our belief

and obedience ?
any degree missed

If in these lines I have in

the truth,

may

Grod pardon me.

During the

sixty years that I have meditated this question

I have found nothing better.

'*

She hath done

what she could."

XVII.

BY

T.

T.

MUNGER,

D.D.

If an

intelligent

man, having
the

laid aside all

preconceptions

of

Atonement,
the
first

were

to

begin the study of

it afresh,
it

thing he

would notice
through

is

that

has not only passed

many

phases,
it

but

that

mutually

excluding theories of

have been held, and

its

that these theories bear each the impress of

age and often of

environing social
this

its

region,

and

reflect

the

institutions.

Having made
all

discovery,

he begins to suspect

the

theories,

and

is

ready either for utter denial,

or to say that there

must be a

reality

behind

each which the theory beclouds and perverts.

As he continues
theory
is

his study he finds that each

sub-divided by minor or qualifying

theories,

and that these often bear the impress

His

of

some individual mind or some school of

distrust
it

philosophy.

returns,

and

with

dismay he asks, Is

possible that the truth

is

on
a

which hangs the salvation of the world

856

The Atonement
first

in

matter to be defined,

by one
finally

set of

men,

and then by another, and

Is it fiied

by one man ?

by some age, or some

intellect

civilisation, or

some strong

with a peculiar experience

of
all, is it e.g.,

or temperament ?
as to
its
fit

Worst

shaped so
limited in

in with other doctrines,

extent because required by a doctrine of

decrees ?

At

this point

he

is

again tempted to throw

up the subject
it

in disgust at the
it

way in which
buried under

has been handled, and leave

the contradictions and absurdities heaped upon

it.

But he again

restrains himself, reflecting

that only some great reality could provoke such

diversity of

thought and outlive so rough usage.

He
is

will

not infer that each theory contains

its

some truth of

own, nor
is

will

he say that

it

a great mystery, and

sides,

capable of showing

many

with others yet to be revealed.

Tell that to

any

man

of real thought, he says,

infidel of

and straightway you make an

It is

him.

one of those pious sophistries by which

seek to add to the glory of God, in dis''

men

regard of Luther's warning

to abstain

from

MoDEEN Religious Thought.

the curious teaching of God's majesty."

357

The

world

is

not saved by a mystery, but by a

revelation.

In some sense, indeed, truth grows

it

ever brighter, but to involve

in one's

own

ignorance and

call it

a mystery

is

not to glorify

God, nor to define truth.

More and more does

our seeker become convinced that the theories

simply neutralise one another, and that, so far
as throwing any light

upon the truth

left

itself is

concerned, they
milestones to

may be

by the wayside as
distance from the

mark

their

generic fact out of which they sprang.

For
it,

that he begins to search, and he finds

course, in Christ Himself.

of

One thing he has

it is,

gained, and an
rid of

immense gain

he has got

theory and dogma, and come into the

presence of a Life.

The Atonement
dogmas that are
these

as

dogma,

in

all

its

various theories, rests upon a basis of other

fast

disappearing.
created

Indeed,
various

fading

dogmas
fall in

the

theories.

The

Adam,

federal headship,
all

the consequent total apostasy and guilt of

mankind, the curse of God pronounced upon

358
all,

The Atonement

in

election to salvation or destruction

these
of

dogmas demanded and shaped the Atonement

according to
interpreted.
election

the

way

in

which they were

doctrine

A
As

thorough-going

and

reprobation
its rigidity

created

limited

Atonement.

yielded, the Atoneuniversal.

ment
every

was

declared

to

he

Thus
some

new phase

of the doctrine reflected

new phase
factor

of the dogmas.

But the dominating

was not the Atonement, but some dogma and as these were always changrefined

of depravity, or Divine sovereignty, or justice,

or sacrifice
ing,

the Atonement was

in order to

secure

harmony

in the system.
last
all
;

Thus, what

was

first

was made

and what should have

shaped and directed

theology became what

the prevailing notions chanced to

make

it.

It

would be

idle to refer to these past

phases of the

doctrine that go along with Ptolemaism and

medisevalism, as of like standing,

if

they did

not linger
tion to

still,

and

if

there were not a disposi-

recur to them, or to something like

them.
creed,

dogma becomes entrenched

is

in

and the creed

entrenched in an ecclesi-

Modern Religious Thought.

asticism,

369

which again
of

is

entrenched in the love

of

and veneration

multitudes
it

men and
and
it

women.

To

dislodge

is
is

both

difficult

dangerous, and often

it

better to leave

to

the eradicating force of growing intelligence

and to the upheavals which cannot be repressed.

The Presbyterian Church

in

America

is

in a

chronic state of unrest and threatening dis-

ruption because, along with other differences, a

part read Genesis literally and
expiatory

hold to

the

view

of
it

the

Atonement,

while

another part read

criticism

in the light of

modem

and

incline to the governmental view,

or leave the doctrine untouched.

necessity,

But while waiting may sometimes be a no opportunity should be lost to

carry the doctrine back

past

all

creeds and

churches and systems, even to the ignoring of

history,

and lay

it

down where only

It

it

belongs,

namely, upon the

is

life of

Christ Himself.
its

He
its

the doctrine.

had

beginning,

development and
as the

its

fulfilment in

Him, because

Son of God

He

represents the eternal

humanity in God the Father.

He

did not leave

; ;

360

The Atonement

in

the truth, which was the heart of His work,

half taught.
to do.
It

He

6nished the work given

Him

was complete because

He summed up
from which no was
left out.

in Himself the life of humanity,

teaching essential to

its

salvation

So much we must
to

say, unless

we

relegate Christ

the level of a mere Teacher, and put His

Church over instead of under Him.

Now, who was Christ

what did He teach
in
;

where did

He

stand

how came He
questions,
to

to die,

and
in

what manner, and with what thoughts

His mind?

large
all,

which

only

briefest answers can here be attempted.

First of

Christ was in the line of the

If it be said

prophets, and not of the priests.

that

He

is

our Priest as

weU

as Prophet, the

priest is to

be interpreted by the Prophet.

No

priest appeared
tion.

on the Mount of Transfigura-

He

asserted that His

fulfilment of

death was the " the Scriptures of the prophets,"

not of the priests, though the Old Testament

was

fuU

of

sacrificial

ritual.

The ancient

antagonism did not die out, but lived on in

Him

because the prophet had superseded the priest

Modern Religious Thought.

the
life

861

takes the place of the sacrifice; the

man
self,

himself becomes the altar and the offering.

Thus, by the very place in which Christ put Him-

He shut off those

definition of

theories of the

Atonement

that wear the priestly cast.

But, in spite of His

it

own

His work,

was early transpriestly in

ferred to the other

camp and became

is

form and

spirit.

Christ

made an oblation and

His blood atones. This interpretation puts

Him

where

He

refused to stand.

An
is

altar is put in

place of the cross

He

endured and laid on every

man's shoulder, and blood

made
priestly

to do the

work of obedience.
fell

The prophetic element

and the
it

into abeyance,

came

to

the front, so hard was

to rid the

mind

of

magical conceptions of religion and to realise

the force of moral laws.

Nothing
in

is

plainer than that Christ

starting
and His

the

prophetic

established
which

another order

than the

priestly, into

He

put Himself,

His teaching. His conduct. His

death

life,

namely,
its

the order of Fatherhood and

corollary of Brotherhood.
life.

Sonship with

It

was the order of universal human

He

362

The Atonement

in

knew nothing
tion.

of a fall, or a curse, or of federal

headship, or of decrees of election and reproba-

He

recognised only that

of the Father,
to

and that

He was the Son He was in the world

of

turn that relation into a Gospel of good

salvation.
all

news and
dominated

The Fatherhood

God

in Christ, and embraced all in

Him and
found
Christ,

in His work.

Whatever cannot be
cannot

in

Fatherhood

be

found

in

nor in anything done by Him, or that

proceeds

from

Him.

Absolute
this is the

Fatherhood

and absolute Sonship,

the Gospel ;
it

good news of

it is

the religion

of

humanity
eternal.

makes Christianity universal and

Fatherhood and Sonship always have been and

always will be
ages and
laws,
all
;

they are everywhere ; in

;

all

nations

they create society, make

;

establish

customs

they form the

all-

embracing law or fact of the world, and probably of the universe.

It is

here that the

Atonement has
is

full expression.

Whatever

it

and

does,

it

simply carries out the relation

of Father and Son.

Nothing
it.

alien in spirit or

idea must enter into

No

mysterious neces-

Modern Eeligious Thought.

sity,

863

no governmental exigency, no expiation of

guilt or propitiation of wrath, or satisfaction

of justice can be found in

it,

unless found in

the heart of fatherhood and in the relation of

father and son.
universal.

Everything
son obeys;

is

simple, natural,

if

he disobeys he
spirit

incurs suffering
if

and misery in body and

he
is

he

repents

forgiven and restored.

Christ thus put the process of recovery from

sin into the parable of the lost son.

To omit
it is

from
trifle

it

the very thing that constitutes

it

to
it

with

as a teaching.

To supplement
to

by making addenda of expiatory

governmental necessity
that
is

sacrifice or

remind Christ

He

forgot to include them.

The prodigal

has come back to the Father's house, humble

and penitent, and

is

forgiven out of the fuhiess

of paternal love, in

order that he

may

once

more

enter into sonship.

This parable was

Christ's

supreme teaching upon the restoration

between father and son,
i.e.,

of lost relations

between God and man.

forgiveness,
fication,

It involves repentance,

acceptance, justification,

sancti-

and other things that enter into

salva-


The Atonement
;

364
tion

in

for to be a father

and to be a son

is

to

stand in complex relations, but whatever there

is

of these will be
spirit

germane
;

to the relation both

will

in

and form

and they

be far

re-

moved from the dogmatic forms in which they

have been clothed.
are
natural,

Under our conception they

and
self-explaining

universal,

under the other conception they are restricted

by the legalism of a nation and an age, by a

ritualism that
guilt
is

Hebraic, and by conceptions of

and desert drawn from data that no

longer exist.

But Fatherhood and Sonship imply Brotherhood.

Here are three cosmic

sole foundation of

facts

^the ideal

and the

human

society.

The
gave

justification of Christ's divinity is that

He

His

life

even unto death to the

this

full revelation

and enforcement of

threefold

relation.

What was
ship.

His method?
is

Being a Son of the

Father, His work

to bring all

men

into Son-

Nothing can go beyond

fall

this,

and

He

must not
it.

short of

it.

His task was to

all

effect

How? By

drawing

men unto Him

not merely to be forgiven at the foot of His

Modern Eeligious Thought.

cross,

365
(for

but to undergo a far larger process

man is
to be

something more than a

of His

sinner)
life

namely,
and death

made a partaker

own

one with Him in His obedience and sacrificial If He can make a man one with Himself, love. He has saved him from his sins and made him
a son of

God along with

is

Himself.

Thus the
in

end of creation

served.
it is

God made man

His own image, and

ship.

brought out by sonnor in

But

this process is not complete

efficacious, until Christ

any degree
the

has brought

man

to die unto his

own

sins

and to give

himself in self-sacrificing love to his fellow men.

Thus the

trilogy of Fatherhood, Sonship

is

and

Brotherhood
art in

carried out

" as Thou, Father,

Me, and

I in Thee, that they also

this simple

may be

one in us."

Now,

and natural, but

stupendous process does not wear the cast of

expiation, with its obvious suggestion that a

debt being paid, or an impediment removed,

man

is

somehow

relieved of

some danger, or

from some obligation to pay a debt that Christ

has paid, with the further suggestion of safety

a view that eliminates grace

and forgiveness

366

The Atonement

in

as unnecessary
restful ease

and

its

accompanying snare of

and

inaction, with brotherhood left

out except in some formal sense.

The Atonethis.

ment

is

not to be found in such a world as

Instead, Christ takes us into a world that contradicts

it.

The

subject of redemption

is

reis

deemed by himself becoming a redeemer, nor

he redeemed except as he thus
Christ's redeeming life.
If this confounds
tinctions, so

enters

into

accepted theological disChrist saved the world not

life.

be

it.

by theology but by a
untheological ;

It is not, however,

nothing

in

theology

has

sounder basis than that Christ saved the world

by Himself becoming a redeemer

that

is,

by

passing through those moral processes that in

themselves constitute salvation.

It follows as

day the night that the process must be the

same for every man.

sacrifice

If,

in the Epistles, the

off

of Christ runs
it

into

Hebraic or

mystical expression,

continually returns to

the only

norm
its

of sonship

and obedience, for here

It

law or nature can be found.

life

may

be spread out so as to touch

at

many

points.

Modern Religious Thought.

but
it

367

is

at heart the living obedience of the

It covers sin,
is

Son to the Father.

as

but

it

covers
in life

much more
sin.

of life as there
is

more
out

than

It

difficult

to

get

of the

dogmatic

circle,

and harder

still

to escape the
;

narrowing

effect of

words and phrases

hardest

of all to put due

meaning into the universal

and eternal truths and forces that made up the

life

of Christ as the revelation of the Father.

of Christ
is

The Atonement
of
its

the reconcilement

humanity

in all the length

and breadth

of

complex duties and experiences.

Hence He

summons every man

to a fellowship with His

own
is

life

not only to follow Him, but to become

At no point and
in no

one with Him.

moment

He

without humanity at His side, in fellowit,

fehip

with

in order that

it

may
as

pass through
is it

His experience with Him.

Thus only

that

men

become one with

Him

He and

the

Father are one.

eternal

Thus

all

are acting under one

love,

and universal law of

and are

achieving the reconcilement of

God and man.

It is foreign to the whole matter of Christ's

life

and work to put into

it

anything that does

368

The Atonement

in

not normally belong to the

life

of every man.
so far forth,

To do

this

would be to exclude

it,

from the order of humanity, and to break up

the unity

which

He came

to

ratify.

He

became the redeemer of the world by making

every

man

a redeemer.
all

In His

life

and death

He draws
Him, they
ness.

unto

HimseK where, one with

and
live

die unto evil

unto righteous-

Every

man must go

into the wilderness

suffer-

of temptation,

and put himself into the

ings and under the burdens of the

common

humanity, and bear witness to the truth even

at the cost of
all.

Each has

his cross

bear-

ing which he follows the Master and so gains

salvation, because
it is

in itself a saving process.

It

is

in this region of thought that Bushnell

foimd his leading idea on the subject, and from

which he never departed, namely, ^'vicarious

sacrifice

grounded in principles

of universal

obligation," a phrase that

resists all

counter

argument.

It leads into the very heart

and to

the very end of the Atonement.

Christ did not

die for certain specific ends, but in fulfilment

of His life in all the relations in

which

He

Modern Religious Thought.

found Himself.

369
to die,

" He is not here simply

but dies because

He
in

is

here."

He
with

fills

out the

relations of Sonship,

which can only be done

conflict
evil.

by

self-sacrifice

Thus
this

only can
is

He
of

reveal the Father,

and when

done, even unto death,

He

has disclosed the

relation
it will

reality,

the all-comprehending

what

it is,

what

it

requires,

and what

do.

It is thus that

men become

true sons of God,

by a faith

in Christ that

makes them one with

Him.

Now this
cast

is

a natural process.

It wears the

of

universality.

Wherever there are

suffer-

fathers,

and

sons,

and disobedience, and

ing love, and repentance, and returning obedience, the

work

of Christ is unquestioned.
is

Its

very simplicity

a hindrance to
the

its
is

reception,
to

but the duty

of

preacher

show

how

great simple things are, and to teach

life

men

that the highest problems of

and destiny

are solved in the relations in which they find

themselves as

human

beings.

Life

is

explained

by

life itself.

Let us not be tempted to think that the

24

re-

370

The Atonement
is

in

demption of the world

sometliing apart from

the eternal laws bedded in humanity, or that

what

is

for all nations,

and

all ages,

and

all

grades of

men

is

limited by judicial notions

of

that wear the cast

or that
it is

some nation or age,

a fulfilment of

Hebrew

ritual.

This

series

of papers will add

something

to clearing the doctrine of its localism

and
will

provincialism

and

superstition,
it

but

it

not

be wholly clear until

cultivated

undergoes the

criticism of
all

and devout minds in

will

nations.

The world
until
it

not accept the a

it

Atonement
wide

has

received

world-

interpretation;

and for that

must
main

go to the play of human nature in

relations.

its

Whatever Christ
the

said

upon the subject bears

Everything
is

mark

of this universality.

natural,

and
to

in the natural order.

He

uttered
for-

no word

show that between love and

is

giveness there

some hindrance to pardon.

it.

Christ dies not to create grace, but to reveal

He

lives to

make

manifest, to bear witness and

obey, and dies because

He

obeys.

Such

is

the

Modern

Eeligiotjs Thought.

371

order of true and eternal

life.

It is all love

and the obedience of

love.

Its saving

power

consists in the absoluteness of the revelation

it is

God's love in

human

life.

St. Paul uses expiatory phrases, but

it is

an

uncertain

exegesis

which

claims

that

these carry his meaning.

That

is

found in the

trend of his thought and in those passages

where in one way and another he indicates that

Christ
dies

for

men
and
is

that
live

they themselves

may
ness
;

die unto

sin

unto

righteous-

his root idea

not vicariousness with a

view to bearing a penalty,

fellowship of
life.

but to securing

This view of the Atonement

several
closing.
1. It is

is

discredited in
in

ways

some of which wiU be noticed

;

said that it has but slight, if any,

historical recognition

and that

it

lacks some-

thing that has always been regarded as essential.

As

to the first point, it is admitted that

it

it

has no full dogmatic recognition, but

has

had a better recognition

saints in

in the experience of

aU

ages.

The dogmatic utterances

872
conflict

The Atonement

in

one
As
is

drives out another

but the ex-

perience that makes believers true followers of

Christ does not change, nor does

dispute.

it

awaken

to the

second point, the someis

thing that

regarded as essential

the very

thing that varies from age to age.

it is

In one age

a ransom from the claims of Satan; in

it
is

another

expiation of original sin, sub-

divided into numberless distinctions, and each

held as essential ; in another the governmental

theory

prevails,

and Christ

dies

to

main-

tain the moral government of God by honouring

the law.

But

if

the Anselmic and the Grotian

theory each denies the central meaning of the

other,

what

is

their historical value ? All theories

and

all

thought maintain the vicariousness, for

based on and consists in
it.

life itself is

But

what thought to-day binds itseK by historic

precedent?

None but

that of the Church;

its

and there

it is

the source of

chief troubles

the dead past and the living present cannot

agree.

There are great Churches whose

in-

heritance of

dogma and

ritual

hang

like mill-

stones about their necks.


Modern Religious Thought.
2. It is

873

discredited because it

is

claimed to
its

shut out the mystery of the Cross and

possible

meanings.

It is

enough to
is

say in

answer that the Cross of Christ

of a mystery,

the reverse
;

because

it is

a revelation

it

makes

all

things clear and luminous, and sets

is visible,

them

in

an order that

and

is

no more
love.

a mystery than the family and

human

Not

until it is obscured

by making Christ an

expiating victim or a factor in a governmental

system

does
it

it

become

mystery.

Then,

indeed, does

lapse into obscurity

and furnish
and beits

occasion for all sorts of conjecture,

come a mystery that deprives

meaning and power.
mystery of His
life

it

of

full

Christ Himself makes no

or works or death beyond

what

is

contained in the universal truth that to

it.

lose the life in love is to save

3.
is

But the chief reason

why

it is

discredited

that the immense significance of the facts

that
is

make

it

up

few

and simple as they are

;

not yet fully apprehended

is

and the reason

for this
in

that the doctrine has been involved

such

complexity

metaphysical,

forensic,

374
exegefcical
it

The Atonement

in

that

it

is

not easy to think of

clear

as a plain

and natural things as

It

and

simple as love.

may be

said, is this all?

Do you
stitutes

say that the natural outplay of God's

love as manifest in the life of His

Son con-

that

great

saving

the Atonement?
these facts

Yes, but

work known as we also say that

of God, the Son-

the Fatherhood
the

ship of Christ, the Brotherhood of

man

are

not yet realised in

immensity of their

meaning
life

as containing in themselves the whole

and work and destiny of man in the world.

Their power to change and uplift and redeem

and

save

is

still

unrealised.

They have a
rituals,

nominal place in the creeds and the

but

no Church and no theology have yet given

them

their due place as factors in the redemp-

tion of the world.

Both hold a vague theory

;

that this

is

their function

but they are not so

defined and used as to do the saving

work

of

the Church.

They are hung up

as signs

and
tri-

wrought into symbols and turned into a

logistic phrase,

but in a feeble degree only are

they changed into reality and made the measure

Modern Beligious Thought.

of faith

375

and the

rule of conduct.

Christ did
life,

make them a

reality

and the law of

and so

saves the world.

When, passing by the dogmatic

the Atonement, the Church fixes
Christ as
life,

theories of

its

eye upon

He

fulfills

these

human

relations in
life,

and in death as included in

it will
it

know how He

saves the world, because

sees

the very process in operation.

Signs of this

are seen in the change of emphasis,

on,

now going

from the Atonement to the Incarnation.

the Incarnation
is

By
of

not meant anything of

an ontological nature, but simply the oneness

God and humanity.

Christianity

This

is

the central
of its

truth of
doctrines
life

and the source

It

and

duties.

carries us into the

its

of Christ where

in

ongoing

we

see

the

way

in whicji

man comes

into his oneness

is

with God.

Thus the Atonement

merged

into the Incarnation as the

factor.

more comprehensive

The mark

of this transition

of thought
it is

is

its universality.

In this respect

putting

itself

into accord

with the world's thought^


376 The Atonement in Religious Thought.

which
if it

is like

the cloud that moveth altogether

all.

move

at

The world
day.

is

fast

becoming
it.

one,

and thought widens to comprehend

its
is

Provincialism has had

Human

nature,
front.

with

its

eternal laws,

coming to the

Under
and

its

language the Babel of conflicting

local creeds is passing

away, and

men can

speak in the

common language
is

of their hearts

and passions.

The problem before the Church

the problem of mis-

in the opening century

sions.

It

is

the logic of the unfolding world.

will not evangelise the nations

But Christianity

on the strength of an inspired Bible and a

doctrine of the

Atonement struck through with

and construed by mediaeval
that have turned out to be

Hebrew
logic

ritualism,
facts

from

composite legends.
Spirit
;

But Father, Son, and Holy

Righteousness

Love,

Forgiveness,

these in their simple and direct form are at

home

the world over, and are full of God's

power because

He

hath made of one blood

is

all

nations of men, and

the Father of

all.

W. Speaight i

S<yns, Printers,

Fetter Lane, London.

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6 8

28

JAIVIES

CLAKKE AND
of

CO.'S

Index
Abbey
Mill,

Titles
PAGE
Christian World Pulpit, The . Christianity and Social Prob-

The

.17
16 4
21
.

PAGE

Adrift on the Black Wild Tide . . America in the East

lems
Chrystabel

Ancient Musical Instruments Angels of God, The .

Animal Fun Animal Gambols Animal Playtime

. . .

.
.

Writers, Apocalyptical Messages of the . Apostles, The Messages of the Art of Living Alone, The . Atonement and Progress
. .

.20 .23 .22 .22 The .11

11

Christianity in
.

....
.
.

6
6

Common Speech
10,

26
17

Church and Modem Life . Church and the Kingdom, The Ministry Church, and Sacraments in the New Testa-

7
21

ment
Cinderella

.
,

.
.

.
.
.

3,

20
1

Comforts of God, The

.21
.

17

Atonement in Modern Thought, The .26 Aunt Agatha Ann Authority & the Light Within 16 25 Awe of the New Century, The 14 . Baptist Handbook, The
. .
.

.7

Common Life, The Common -sense Christianity

.

8 18

26 Conquered World, The 20, .12 Conquering Prayer . Courage of the Coward, The 8
.

Crucible of Experience,
.

The

18

Barrow, Henry, Separatist Beads of Tasmar, The . Between Two Loves

.

.10 .10 Bible Definition of Religion, .25 The Bible Story, The: Retold for .15 Young People
.
. . .

Daughter of Fife, A 10, 17, Debt of the Damorals, The

.

27
17

Divine Satisfaction, The Do We Need a New Theology 7 Dutch in the Medway, The . Early Pupils of the Spirit . Earlier Prophets, The Messages of the . . .
.
.

25 22
10 16
11

Bishop and the Caterpillar. The 25 17 4, Black Familiars, The . .10 Border Shepherdess, A . Bow of Orange Ribbon, The
10. 17,

Earliest Christian

Hymn, The
,

Emilia's Inheritance

England's Danger Episcopacy .

.
.

.
.

.17 ,26 .11

.

16

Britain's

Hope

.19
.

27
17 19

Epistle to the Galatians,

.

The

Brudenells of Brude, Burning Questions

The
.

9,

Esther Wynne . 10, Eternal Religion, The Evolution of Old Testament

.

17

8
7
5

Canonbury Holt
Cartoons of
Challenge,
St.

Mark

The

Changing Creeds and Social

. Struggles . . Character through Inspiration
_

...
.
. .
. .
.

.17
6 13
9

Religion, The Ezekiel, The Book of

.
.

.2
.
.

20

Chata with

Women on Every.18 day Subjects .21 Children's Pace, The 13 Christ of the Children, The 5 Christ of the Heart, The 9 Christ that is To Be, The Christ, The Private Relation.
. .

Faith and Verification . Faith and Form . . Faith the Beginning. Self-Surrender the Fulfilment, of the Spiritual Life . 20, Family Prayers for Morning

.18
26
9

Use Father Fabian

Feet of

aay

.....17
.
.

.
. . .

.10
.

ships of. Christ Within,

Christ's

.20 The Pathway to the Cross

.

.5
1

Fireside Fairy Tale=i First Christiana, The Flower-o'-t he-Corn Forgotten Sheaf, The

22
8 17

,
.
.

3,

Christian Baptism Christian Life, The

.19

Fortune's Favourite Fortunes of Cyril Denham. The

17,

.19 .17
27

20,

26

CATALOGUE OP BOOKS
Fragments of Thought Friard* Lautera
.

20

PAO
Jesus
J esus.
:

Seven Questions

7
11

The Messages of. Accord.

Friend Olivia

Gain or Loss ? Gamble with Life, Garcia, G. H. R.

:

A
.

.
. .

.9
. .

22
9

ing to the Synoptists Joan Carisbroke . .

10,
.

17

Job and His Comforters Joshua, The Book of

Judges,

.
,

Garrisoned Soul, The

22
9

The Book

or, Our Talks Gloria Patri . about the Trinity . Glonoua Company of the Apostles, The . . God's Greater Britain .

Kid McGhie

.16
9
7

Golden Truths for Young Folk 23 .16 Good New Times, The .
Gospel of Grace, The
.

Kingdom of the Lord Jesus, The .20, 26 Kit Kennedy Country Boy 3, 17 Lady Clarissa .17 Last of the MacAllisters, The 10 Later Prophets, The Messages
.
. : . . .

....
of
. .

.3 ,3
3

14

. .

Grey and Gold Grey House at Endlestone Growing Revelation, The

10,
.
.

17 17 6

of the . Leaves for Quiet

Hours
.

Let us Pray

Haromi

A New Zealand Story

. .

Harvest Gleanings Health and Home Nursing Health in the Home Life Heart of Jessie Laurie, The Heartsease in the Family
Heirs of Errington,
.

.14

Letters of Christ. The . Liberty and Religion . , Life and Letters of Alexander

.13 .19 .18

13
.

11

.
.

23 12 4 12

Mackennal, The
Lifted Veil,

4
.

4
23
17

.12 Helen Bury 24 Helps to Health and Beauty 8 Higher on the Hill 10, 17 His Next of Kin 9 Wife Rustic His 2 History of the United States, A 27 Holy Christian Empire .18 Holy Spirit, The 10 . Household of McNeil, The .17 House of Bondage, The
. .

The

.17
.
.

Louis Wain's Animal Show Loves of Miss Anne, The 3, Lynch, Rev. T, T. A Memoir Lyrics of the Soul .
:

.12
20 6

...
.
. . .
.

Making Making Manual

of an Apostle, The . of Personality, The . Free Church for Minis-

ters,

. .

Margaret Torrington .17 Martineau's Study of Religion

20,

.22
26

How How

Become Like Christ Read the Bible Husbands and Wives

to to
.

Ideals for Girls Immanence of Christ in Modem

Life,

...
.
. . .

.17

20 23
16

Maud Bolingbroke Max Hereford's Dream Messages of Hope

Messages of the Bible, The Millicent Kendrick 10. Miss Devereux, Spinster .
.

...
. . . .

.12 .26
7 11 17 17

The

.12
6
.

Incarnation of the Lord. The Industrial Explorings in and

around London
Infinite Affection,

The
.

.12
of
.
.

Infoldings and Unfoldings

the Divine Genius

20
18
8

Inspiration in Common Life . Invisible Companion

Model Prayer, The .16 More Tasty Dishes .24 Morning and Evening Cries 14 Mist, Morning A .17 Morning, Noon, and Night 24 Mornington Lecture, The 6 Mr. Montmorency's Money 10, 17 .16 My Baptism . .
.
.

.
.

.18
.

My Belief My Neighbour and God

.....13
7
.

Inward Light, The

Israel's

Law

Givers,
. .

The
.
.

Messages of

.11
.

Jan Vedder's Wife Jealousy of God, The Jesus and His Teaching

17,
,

27 20
7

New Evangel, The .12 New Mrs. Lascelles, The 17 New Points to Old Texts 10 New Testament in Modern
.
.
.

Speech, The . Nineteen Hundred

.14 .10

30

JAMES CLARKE AND

T. Bom

CO.'S

XT 1,1 Nobly

PAGE
.

Nonconformist Church Build*

10
.

17
J6

Rehgion and Experience

Religion of Jesus, The . ' Rehgion that will Wear, A ' Resultant Greek Testament',

^^^
Oliver

Old Pictures in Modern Frames Ohver Cromwell

.

20
24
ig ik 5 5

9^

Our City of God Our Girls' Cookery

On Seeing Angels . Ordeal of Faith, The

.

Weatwood

',

,
.

* *

in
27
oi
17

Rights of Man, The Rise of Philip Barrett,

1
16 io

*
*

Ourselves and the Universe 8.* Outlme Text Lessons for Junior Classes
.

Overdale

10,

Ruhng Ideas of the Present Age

School H3rmna . 19 School of Life, The * Sceptre Without a Sword, The Scourge of God. The Seven PuzzUng Bible Books 5, bhe Loved a Sailor . Ship of the Soul, The 20' . Ship's Engines, The . Short Devotional Services * bidehghts on Religion . * Simple Cookery * Simple Things of the Christiai
' . ' .

Robert Wreford's Daughter Rogers, J. Guinness . Rome from the Inside . Rosebud Aimual, The C* Rose of a Hundred Leaves,
' .

The

4,
.

94
10

.'

4
6
0-7

* Paul and Christina * The Messages of Paxton Hood: Poet and Preacher Pearl Divers of Roncador

Passion for Souls, The

ig in
ii

fl

Paul,

25 f?
19 ia

Reef, The Personality of Jesus,

Pilot,

...
The
.
.'

*
1

9
1

2n |g
21 7 i ,-

The

Popular History of the Free

Chiu-ches, . . 4, Practical Lay Preaching and' Speaking to Men . Practical Points in Popular

Poems. By Mme. Guyon Polychrome Bible. The 2 Popular Argument for the Unity of Isaiah, A .
.

H
15 14 13
i

13
3

Life Sin^lehurst
Sissie
.

.
.*

Manor
.

10',

2q'

}; ,_
17

Sister to Eeau, A . * lo' Small Books on Great Subject^

Proverbs
^''^ye^
.

.
.

.
.
.

Social Salvation . Social Worship an

^^'

^2
Ofi

Everlasting

Preaching to the Times

Problems of Living Prophetical and Priestly His,

Price of Priestcraft, The Pnde of the Family, The

]
.
*

18 9

Necessity

22
17 g
11 11

of Sandal Side, The 10.' Beetha's . 10 17 Storehouse for Preachers and leachers .
St.

SqmVe

20

;
o.

ij

The Messages of Psalmists The Messages of the Purpose of the Cross, The .
torians,

Stories of Old . Story of Congregationaiismin

.'

j3 a 17
L

16
10

Surrey, The . Story of the English Baptists*

.

My Study Raoe and Religion .21 Reasonable View of Life, A 18 Reasons Why for Congrega"Preachers in
.
.
.'

Quickening of Caliban, The Quiet Hints to Growing

,

^" . Stoiy of Penelope, The Studies of the Soul

. .

'
*

Sunday Afternoon Song Book

Sunday Morning Talks wfth Boys and Girls Sunny Memories of Australasii Supreme Argument for Christiamty. The . , ^
.

^^
,4
1

tionalista

Reasons

men
Reform

Why for Free Church.

Reconsiderations forcements
in

and
.
.

.18 .22 Rein.20

,

gO
ok Sj

Sunday
.

School
,

Teaching

19

Tale of a Telephone, A . Talks to Little Folks Taste of Death and the Life
Grace,

The

o*f

20.

2S

CATALOGUE OF BOOKS
PAGK
Tasty Dishes
, .
.

81

PAOB
Vida; or. The Daughter
Iron Kinc's
.

24
16 6 6 12 27
7

Ten Commandments, The Theology and Truth

Thinga Moat Surely Believed
.

Theophiliis Trinal, Memorials of

.

Violet Vaughan . Voice from China, A

10, 17,
,

27 8
17

Thomycroft Hall 17, Thoughts for Life's Journey . Through Science to Faith . Tools and the Man or. On Town Romance, A
.
;

Warleigh'g Trust

,
.
.

Way
Web
What

of Life,

The

4 6
17 19

Wayside Angels

20 24

of Circumstance, Shall this Child

?
.

London Stones Trial and Triumph

Types
of Christian Life
.

The Be
.

4
16 18 14 18 19
17

. .

Who Wrote the Bible WhyWeBeUeve

Woman's
Patience,

20
14 19 27 17

Undertones of the Nineteenth Century Ungilded Gold . 13, Unique Class Chart a nd
Register Unknown to Herself

Wideness of God's Mercy, The William Jeflery . .

Women Women

and their Saviour and their Work Words by the Wayside Working Woman's Life, A Woven of Love and Glory
.

22

19

21
7

10
14

Value of the Apocrypha, The Value of the Old Testament

IS

16

Yomig Man's

Religion,

Index of Authors
Abbott, Adeney,

Lyman W. F.

. .
.

4,

Aitchison, George Aked. C. F.

6 23 21
9 21 9 17

Carman,

Bliss
.
.

ft

8*,

AlUn, T.

Andom, R.

Cleal,E. E. . Clifford, Dr. Collins, B. a. Coulton, G. G. Crockett, S. R.

Cubitt,
Cuff,

20.
. .

7 26
1( 1 17 la 19

3,

Andrews, C. C. . Antram, C. E. P. Armstrong, Richard A.

.

James
.

20.
17,

22 26
27 16
11

W.

Barr, Amelia E. Barrett, G. S.

4,

10.

.
.

Darlow, F. H. Davidson, Gladys Dods, Marcus

Ellis, J.

19 23 20
21.

Barrows, C. H. Becke, Louis Bennett, Rev. W. H. Benvie, Andrew

.

Betts, C. H. Blake, J. M.

.
. .
.

9 3 6 9 18
17
6.
7,
8,

Evans, H.

23 22

Farningham, Marianne
7,

10,

12.
. .

19.

Bloundelle-Burton, J. Bradford, Amory H. Brieriey, H. E.

.

Finlayson, T. Campbell
Fiske, J.
Fraser. J.
.

Brieriey, J. . BrigcB, C. A.
.

8,

i
.

20 22 27 6
15

Forsyth, P. T.
.

20, 2e.

22 26 2 27
11

Furness, H. H.

2
16 17

Brock, W. Brooke. Stopford A.

Brown,

C.

.
.

20, 18,

26 19
J!4

Gibbon,
Gladden,

J.

Morgan
18,
19.

Giberne, Agnes

Burford. W. K. Burgin, J. .

Washmgton
6,
6,

4
.

7,

21

Glover, R.

21
J.
14,
.

Campbell, R..J.
Carlile. J. C.

20 24

Greenhough,

G. Griffith- Jonos. E,

6.

18.

20 20

B2

JAMES CLARKE AND

PAGE
WiUiara EUiot
.
.

CO.'S

CATALOGUE
PAQB
.
.
.

Griffis,

4
12.

Gnibb, E. Gtinn, E. H. Mayo Guyon, Madame

Haupt, P. . Haweis, H. R.
Haycraft, Mrs. Heddle, E. F.

16 27
11

CD.. Moore, G.
Michael,
F.

Metealfe. R. D. Meyer, F. B.

26
18 13
3
.

2 16
9 17 9 9 9

Henderson, J. G. Henson, Canon Hensley Hocking, S. K. Horder, W. Garrett

. .

Morgan, G. Campbell Morten, Honnor Mountain, J. Munger, T. T. Notewell, Nicholas

.

15

. .

18 12 16

20
16
7 19

20
1

Orchard, W. E. . Peake. A. S. Pharmaceutical Chemist,

Picton, J.

Home,

24
16 2

C. Silvester
4.

AUanson
.

14.

5.

18,

19

Powicke, F. J.
Pulsford,

Horton, Dr. R. F.
5.
7.

John
.

20
15
9,

18.

S>4,

25,

Hunter, John

26 20 24

"J.

B." of World .
.
.

The
.

Ch ristian
11
.

Jefferson, C. E.
Jeffs,

J.

H. M. G.

U,
is!

16 9
8

Rees, F. A. Rickett, J. Ridette, J. Robarts, F. Roberts, J. Rogers, Dr.

Compton
H. H.
.
. .

10

26 27 14
19

E. Guinness
.
.

. .

Rudge, C.

John, Griffith Jones, J. D. Jowett, J. H.

Russell, F. A.

2 19 18
11

7,

12,

1 6.

22
18

Sanders, Frank KJnight

Schrenk, Erich von

Scottish Presbyterian,
Sinclair,

Kane, James J. Kaye, Bannerman Kennedy, H. A. Kennedy, John

Kent. C. F. Konyon, E. C.
Lansfeldt, L. Lee. W. T.
.

26.

16 4 27 15
11

A
.

Archdeacon

20 ,

Smyth, Dr. Newman Snell, Bernard J. .

Stevenson. J. G.
Sutter, Julie Swan, F. R. . Swetenham, L.
.

.18
.

23 26 4 22
13 19 12

18
17 13 18 19 15

12

Lewis, E. W. Llewellyn, D. J.
Lyall,

Thomas, H. Arnold Toy. Rev. C. H.

.

20 2
14 5
.

David

4.

Trotter, Mrs. E.

LyaU, Edna . Lynch, T. T. Lynd, William

Macfadyen, D. Macfarland, 0. 8.

26
.

Tymms,

T. V.
.

6 21
6
.

Tytler. S.

17
.

12
10
.

Varley. H. . Veitch. R. . Vcn Schrenk, E.

11.
.
. .
.

18 8 7

Macfarlane, Charles

Wain. Louis
Walford, L. B. Warschauer, J. Waters, N. McG.
.

22,
.

23 ,
4
,

26
17 12 14 18 18 14 4 5

Mackennal, Alexander Manners, Mary E. Marchant, B.

Marshall, J. T. Marshall, N. H.
.
.
.

20,

26 25
17

.7

,
.

14
6*.

Martineau, James Mason, E. A. Mather, Lea;<els Mather, Z. . Matheson, George Maver, J. S. . Meade. L. T.

20,

16 26 26 23
6

Watkinson, W. L. Watson, W. Weymouth. R. F. . White, William

.

. .

Whitley,

W.

T.

7,

L3,

2l',

25
21 17

Whiton, J. M. 9, 10, 16. 20 , Williams, T. R. Wilson, Philip Whitwell Worboise, Emma J. 10, 12, 17
.
.

25 20
13 27

W. Speaiaht *

Sotw, Printers, Fetter Lone, London, E.C,

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