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THE GRACE OF GOD HAS APPEARED.

reality. Then allusion, and imagery, and doctrine, and declaration have all their ascertained dignity and worth. We have the master-key, which readily adjusts itself to every lock, and order and harmony are found to reign over departments of revelation which otherwise could only be matter of enigma and confusion.

I trust the limited scope of this paper will not be misunderstood. The doctrine of the Atonement is a simple, Scriptural doctrine, and stands or falls according to the authority of Holy Writ. I have adduced, in the most summary form, the Scriptural evidence for it; and for the rest, I have endeavoured to indicate that argument and analogy are not conclusive against this doctrine, but rather range themselves on its side. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, although it contains some sombre and awful truths, and is to some a savour of death unto death, is, nevertheless, emphatically, and above every thing else, the Gospel, that is, the Glad Tidings, of God. The earth is but one vast sepulchre, and from that sepulchre the stone is now rolled away. The grace of God, which bringeth salvation to all men, has appeared. There is no penalty which Justice can urge, which Justice has not received. who can best attain to an adequate notion of the awfulness of sin, of the holiness of God, of the inviolability of law, will most rejoice in a pardon that has not been obtained either by justice that has been evaded or by justice that has been trampled down.

He

"IN THIS OVERCOME."

129

How earnestly should we seek to make this great salvation our own! We think of the words of the Latin hymn, that made our own stern moralist, Johnson, burst into tears:

In the vision of the New Atlantis, Bacon, setting forth his ideal city, tells how anciently, when St. James brought Christianity to the people of Renfusa, there was discerned a luminous pillar, "and on the top of it was seen a large cross of light, more bright and resplendent than the body of the pillar.” The Roman emperor saw, or thought he saw, amid the crimsoned clouds of evening, the cross, with the legend, "In this overcome." Both the philosopher and the emperor meant the same thing. They meant the healing, quickening, regenerating power of the cross of Christ. In that cross we overcome; its legend is still for us, ev ToÚT víka. In the cross we may overcome the temptations of an alluring world, and the danger of a selfish and ignoble life; may overcome the dark whispers of the evil heart of unbelief; may overcome the natural fear of death which so deeply shades most human spirits. If a legal righteousness could alone be ours; if our only hope of attaining to heaven rested on our freedom from sin, and our discharge of duty,-not alone would the vast arrearage of dues disquiet me, but I should

K

130

THE BLESSEDNESS OF REDEMPTION.

have no absolute security that in the future I should not deeply fail. Some few men there may be who flatter themselves with the notion of absolute or comparative sinlessness; but these are not the most tried, nor yet the most honest, of mankind. What we need is not a religion that will satisfy an infinitesimal minority of moral philosophers, but the multitudes who are conscious of the bitterness of evil passions and wayward wills, who feel no security against their own relapses into error, and know that their trust must be, not in themselves, but in One almighty to compassionate and save. When that great burden is rolled away at the foot of the cross which none of us have been able to bear, then with cheerfulness and alacrity of soul, out of exceeding gratitude, we may aim at the Christ-like life which the law was powerless to prompt, and which, unaided, we could never have attempted. Oh, the happiness of one who realises that forgiveness is fully his; that he goes forth a freed man into the world, to live henceforth in the holiness taught by love; that this forgiveness has the imperial sanction of the justice of God; that in the pardon secured by the cross the perfections of infinite justice are vindicated; and that this justice itself is pledged to his future happiness! When we have done all, we are still unprofitable servants. still cling, with the desperate tenacity of men within the real peril of the precipice, to the atoning work of the Saviour. We still plead His precious death; we

We

still rely solely on that blood of Christ which is the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. When the destroying angel went through the land of Egypt by night, he spared all those who, with simple obedience and faith, had spread the blood upon the lintels of the doorways. With such a faith, with such an obedience, let us plead that precious blood. It is our hope. Without it we are lost. The destroying angel will pass us by. Our names will be in the In that wailing, passionate

Lamb's book of life.

cry, in which for ages Christendom has rested her all in the Redeemer :

"O LAMB OF GOD, THOU THAT TAKEST AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD, HAVE MERCY UPON US.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE CIRCLE OF DOCTRINE.

THOSE who take up the study of religion in a careful and thoughtful spirit, finding in it not only a duty, but a study and a delight, will seek to grow familiar with the mind of the Spirit as revealed in Holy Writ, to view it in those multiplied aspects in which it is susceptible of being viewed, and to systematise its teachings for their own minds. It will be remembered how the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews exhorts us that, leaving the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, we should grow on to perfection, not laying again the foundation. It is an ill sign

when we are content to dwell for ever in these first principles, and are loth to remember that we must not only grow in grace, but in knowledge. It is not sufficient that we should dwell on the central truths of religion; we should seek to embrace, so far as we can, the whole circle of doctrine. We shall best learn if we seek to learn as little children, and are content, in an attitude of humble, submissive thoughtfulness, to listen to Him who spake as never man spake. The Scriptures themselves tell us how we must seek tɔ