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VOL. LXXXVII. RICHMO
The Testimony To Tt
By The History And 1
"Even as the Hon of Man came nut to be min
uttered unto, but to minister, and to yive His life a
ransom for many."?Matthew 20:28.
One of the greatest theologians since the .Reformation,
Francis Turretin, speaking of the doctrine
of the Atonement, says: "It is the chief part of
our salvation, the anchor of faith, the refuge of
hope, the rule of charity, the true foundation of
ihe Christian religion, and the richest treasure oi
the Christian Church. So long as this doctrine is
maintained in its integrity, Christianity itself, and
J LI J * A ill
uie peace auu uiesseuness 01 an wno Deiieve in
Christ are beyond the reach of danger; but if it is
rejected, or in any way impaired, the whole structure
of the Christian faith must sink into decay
and ruin."
That he is not mistaken in his estimate of the
importance of this question is proved by the fact
that an erroneous view of this fundamental doctrine
of the Christian Church opens the door for
numerous other errors in related doctrines, so that
it is not too much to assert that our reception or
rejection of it determines our whole conception of
the divine character, man's nature, the fall, sin,
the method of redemption, the office and work of
flip Snvinnv artrl nf fVin TTaIv finiinl an*
V MUI?W?? uuu \J I VUV Xiv/ij nuu UU1 tlClliUl
destiny. "Tt is hardly possible to resist the conviction
. . . that those who receive (the
atonement) and those who reject it worship different
Gods, and belong to forms of religion which,
in their fundamental principles and essential
spirit, are mutually antagonistic and destructive."
Dale, Atonement, 162.
Hence the vital importance of clear and valid
views with regard to this doctrine. It is one of
such immense range and scope that it would bo
neither possible nor desirable to attempt to dis
vubs ii in h11 us Hearings wunin tne limits oi a
single discourse. The present discussion will,
therefore, be confined to one single line of thought,
viz: the testimony to the atonement borne by the
history and teaching of our I/nrd Jesus Christ.
There is another good Teason for confining ourselves
within these limits. In the present day that
form of the doctrine which has secured the allegiance
of the vast majority of the members of
the Church universal for nearly nineteen hundred
years is often impugned on the ground that it
found no place in the preaching of our liord Himself,
but that it is a later creation of His followers,
based on a misapprehension of the purpose andmeaning
of His life and death: that. it. io elaborated
in detail by the Apoetle Paul alone, the only one
of the apostles who did not company with the
Master in the days of His flesh, and hence would
1* more liable than any of the other apostles to
form erratic views of His person and work. The
whole theory of expiation is supposed by many to
have evolved from the speculative intellect of the
only one of the apostles trained in the schools of
Jerusalem. It is sufficient for those of us who he
ND. NEV ' \NS, ATLANTA. OCT
re Atonemei. -' Borne ?
eaching of Our Lord R
Ili'W 111 flip nmni rutinii nf ?ht> Sinrintiii-<u t?* rutili
j- vvr (
tliut we cannot discriminate between apostolic ]
Leaching and the teaching of Jesus Mimseii, that j
both were indwelt and illuminated by the same j
Spirit of Truth, and that lor us authentic apos- t
tolic letters and the ipsisaima verba of our .Lord, >
since they proceed from the same source, have ?
equal value, and are enforced by the same divine ]
authority; so that even if the doctrine were only |
found in the sermons and writings of the apostles, ]
it would not be invalidated. But we are perfectly j
willing to meet those who cannot see eye to eye j
with us in this matter on their own ground, and |
to prove from the history and language of Jesus i
of .Nazareth that lie held precisely the same views <
with regard to the significance and object o? His I
death which were afterwards taught and pro
claimed by the apostles. "l.et the gospels stand <
alone, let the testimony of the epistles be com- <
pletely suppressed," let every reference in the i
Acts of the Apostles and the itevelation be elim- i
inated, and "the strong foundations of that con- 1
ception of the death of Christ which has been the
refuge of penitents and the joy of saints for eigh- i
teen hundred years will remain unshaken.'1 The i
hostory and the words of Christ alone are a suf- <
iicient vindication of the ancient faith of the i
Church.
This paftfcuWen chosen because it
is the one passage in the NcW Testament in which
our Saviojmtxplains the significance of His death
in connection with a definite personal prediction
thereof; and because in one striking phrase it
summarizes not only His own, but the subsequent
more fully developed teaching of the apostles on
the subject. It bears the same relation to the
wVama iU- ~ 1 il i. xl Tk
f/i vryibiaiuij pin?: ui uic aivueiueiu uuu me rrotevangelium
of Gen. 3:16 bears to the whole
scheme of redemption, i. e., it contains in germ all
that was unfolded and explained by later teaching
and the providential development of the plan of
salvation. Everything is implicitly taught here
that is elaborated by Paul in his exhaustive treatment
of the subject in Romans. What, in the history
and preaching of the Redeemer, enables us to
affirm this?
I. His early education. Our first argument is
based udoii the earlv education and training of
Jesus. Here we shall probably be met by the objection
that scarcely any details of the life of our
Jjord up to the age of thirty have been handed down
to us in the gospels, and that they are silent also as
to the methods of education in vogue among the
Jews at that time. Fortunately we have ample
information from contemporary sources as to the
latter subject. Infcrentially, we may also gather
from the records l>equeathed us, that in whatever
particular the wonderful Boy of Nazareth may
have resembled or differed from the ordinary Jewish
child, there is absolutely no doubt of one thing,
and that is, that from a child He was thoroughly
il Presbyter/an tr
hef&j p*?sbyt&pjat(
OBER 8. 1913. - NO. 40- f-/
By
ev. Geo. Hudson, of China
conversant with the Old Testament Scriptures.
In the Jewish schools of this period, the text-book
from the fifth or sixth to the tenth years was the
iJible exclusively. It is a very significant fact that
he first book studied was Leviticus, the volume
vhich most fully taught Old Testament saints how
'inners might be just with God, and maintain comnunion
with Him, the Primer, in other words for
lie doctrine of justification and sanctification.
Leviticus is also the one book which describes in
fullest detail the various sacrifices and offerings of
the ancient economy. It is hardly necessary to say
that the fundamental idea underlying all the sacrifices
of the Mosaic ritual was that without shedling
of blood there could be no remission of sins,
that the life of an innocent victim was offered indead
of the life of the sinner, and accepted by
Clod as a vicarious propitiation. This, then, was the
earliest religious idea implanted in the mind of
the young Jewish pupil. The prescriptive teaching
was reinforced by the pictorial representation
of the idea of propitiation through blood continuously
enacted in His presence, but more
norvooi oll\f in /vvAAi a!
i oj/v-v,iuhj iii txiv gicai auuuui icasi ui mu I
over and the awe inspiring and extensive ritual
of the day of atonement Every Israelite understood
that the blood sprinkled on the doorposts
and lintels of the houses on the Passover night
not only commemorated the great national deliverance
from Egyptian bondage, but also typified
the higher redemption of God's people from the
bondage of sin; and that thus the paschal lamb
typified the future Redeemer through whom this
was to be actually accomplished.
If possible, the ceremonies of the dav of atone
* ' *J ?
ment (Lev. 16) yet more strikingly portrayed
and emphasized the idea of vicarious atonement.
On that great day all the sins of the nation were
publicly confessed and atoned for. Every detail of
the ritual was calculated to impress the imagination
and carry home to the heart a sense of guilt
and nnworthiness, and yet to send the 9inner away
with a sweet conscientiousness of foririven sin.
0 Before
the high priest could act on behalf of the
people, he must first present the bullock of the
sin offering, and make atonement for himself and
for his house (G) as equally guilty, and equally in
need of cleansing, in the 9ight of Jehovah, as the
people. Only when this had been done with the
fullest detail was he fit to represent the people be
lore tne uoa wnose wratli th ;V Imcl incurred.
Tlien, and then only, might he kill the goat of the
sin offering and bring His blood within the veil,
. . . and sprinkle it upon t'no mercy seat, and
before the mercy seat, to make atonement for the
holy place, because of the uncleannefis of the
children of Israel, and because of their transgressions,
even all their sins. (15-16) Then the.
blood must be sprinkled upon the horns of the
altar seven times (19), and after that, Aaron*s
hands laid upon the head of the live goat and a