THE ATONEMENT A SUBJECTIVE

FACT.

"And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement."-Romans v. 11.

THE word "atonement καταλλαγή-occurs no where else in the New Testament, and here it means not what conventional theology propounds as a doctrine by that name, but a moral state of mind. It means, as the margin has it, and as it is three times translated elsewhere, reconciliation, and this is really the old English meaning of the word atonement,-AT-ONEMENT. Thus Shakespeare used it:

"He seeks to make atonement between the Duke of Glo'ster and our brothers."

We learn from this short text

scious. It is one thing for man to have an atonement in his theology, discuss it with great learning and ability, and defend it with enthusiasm, and another thing for him to have it in his own soul as a matter of blessed consciousness. (1.) As a mere doctrine it often makes a man an arrogant bigot; but as a feeling, always an humble saint. (2.) As a mere doctrine it may light men to hell, and in the nether regions may aggravate their misery. As a feeling it will conduct them to heaven, and encircle them with the light of immortality. Do we feel the at-one-ment in our hearts? Are we conscious of reconciliation to the Great Author of our being? We learn

II. That the atonement is

A CONSCIOUS POSSESSION OF THE

SOUL IMPARTED BY CHRIST.— "Through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement." In whatever soul it exists, there is a conscious feeling that it has been introduced by the intervention and agency of Christ. He is the Great, the only, Reconciler of the soul to God. "God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." Mark the expression. Not reconciling God unto the world. Such a reconciliation

is-(1.) Impossible. (2.) Unnecessary. He need not change. He could never become more placable and merciful.* How does Christ reconcile man to his Creator? In the only way in which reconciliation could be effected. By affording the strongest possible demonstration of Divine love. "God so loved the world," &c. Legislation, philosophy, ethics, religion, civilization, poetry-none, nor all of these, can bring this at-one-ment into the soul. This is the exclusive work of Christ.

III. That the atonement is A CONSCIOUS POSSESSION OF THE SOUL, INSPIRING IT WITH JOY IN THE ETERNAL.-"We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The joy springs from the assurance that the Almighty is once more our friend. This joy may include three elements

First: Thanksgiving. Gratitude is an element of joy. It inspires the songs of immortality; the reconciled soul traces its atonement to the free, tender, boundless love of God through Jesus Christ.

Secondly: Security. The sense of security is an element of joy. If God is our friend, His love is unchangeable, His power almighty, His resources illimitable. And what a sense of security must His friendship inspire!

*See Homilist, Second Series, vol. ii., page 688.

Thirdly: Adoration. Had we a friend that bestowed upon us the highest favours, inspiring our gratitude, and whose promises and capacities assured us of our security, if he were imperfect in moral character, we could not heartily rejoice in his friendship. Moral admiration is the highest element of joy; and this requires moral excellence in the object. God has this in an infinite degree. Thus, if He is our friend, we may well rejoice in Him, with the most ecstatic rapture and triumphant delight.

CONCLUSION.-Learn the paramount necessity of human nature-ATONEMENT with God. Learn to appreciate the intervention of Christ, by Whom alone it can be effected. No system of belief, no code of morality, can accomplish it. To the Gospel men must look. Learn the test of genuine religion-joy "in God." The world has joy in creatures and in worthless things-the joy of the truly good is joy in God Himself.

A PROBLEM OVER A CRADLE. "What manner of child shall this be?"-Luke i. 66. THIS question concerning John the Baptist, when he was only eight days old, was asked by those who were present at his circumcision, and who heard that his father, who had been struck speechless by the communication of the angel, brake forth in language of prophecy

and praise. The text is the type of a question which has been asked, perhaps, over the cradle of most children since the world began; and we offer two or three remarks concerning it

I. It is a question suggesting the PECULIARITY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. There is something so peculiar, so idiosyncratic in the mental constitution of every human being, that we can never be certain as to all the minute particulars of its development. Not so with vegetable life. All the seeds of the same species in plant life take the same general shape and hue. All the habits of the irrational creature agree with those of all the members of his species. But it is not exactly so with the human being. Each has some distinctive peculiarity, if not in the kind, certainly in the proportion of their faculties. So that, looking at an infant, you cannot predicate what, in a mental and moral sense, it will be when it has reached the maturation of its earthly life. It may be idiotic or rational, stupid or sprightly, weak or strong. It may be practical or theoretic, metaphysical or poetic, constructive or destructive, analytic or synthetic. It may be a Napoleon or a Howard, a Shakespeare or a Butler, a blasphemer or a saint. "What manner of a child shall this be?" No one can tell. (1.) As to his intellectual character;

(2.) as to his spiritual history; (3.) as to his worldly experience; (4.) as to his social influence.

II. It is a question of UNIVERSAL IMPORTANCE. The child is the father of the man. The condition of the next age, aye, of ages to come, depend upon what the infants of this age shall grow to. This question is

the

First: Important to family. Deeply important is it to the father, the mother, the brothers and sisters.

Secondly: To the nation. The political freedom, the social order, the material progress, the advancing civilization of kingdoms, depend upon this.

Thirdly: To the Church. Shall there be a Church at all in the future? If so, shall it be of a higher or a lower type, more enlightened or more ignorant, more selfish or more generous, more carnal or more spiritual, than the past or the present—all depends upon the children of this age.

III. It is a question WHOSE

SOLUTION MAINLY RESTS WITH

GUARDIANS. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." What is training? Not mere teaching. A child may be taught the art of reading and writing, and the elements of general knowledge, and yet be untrained. Instruction is one thing, education is