Atonement, III

ATONEMENT. BY PRESIDENT JOHN G. M'QUARRIE, OF THE EASTERN STATES MISSION. III. We are apparently drawing near that sacred, mysterious, inner court where reason reverently stops to listen, to receive and obey, rather than to intrude, question, or ask the why and how. Nor do I intend to rush into the "holy of holies, where angels fear to tread," asking the curious multitude to follow me. On the contrary, I stand with bowed head and reverent thought, beside the chamber, realizing my own unworthiness to draw the curtain aside, and to explain the plans of God. Nor shall I seek to penetrate the inner mysteries, but rather try to make plain the outward and manifest beauty and completeness of the atonement, and its relationship to the other principles of the gospel. First, then, it was necessary that Christ should forfeit his life to complete his example. It was the only way that he could show us that we should love principle more than life. Secondly, he came as a witness for God, bearing a message and a testimony to man, and was authorized to make a covenant with him. In giving his life, as he did, he placed the seal of honesty on his testimony, and made it binding upon us. Thirdly, one grand object of his ministry was to stimulate men to nobler action. To do this, he had first to deal with the common-place things of life, for there is an immense value and reserved power in common-place, but no stimulus. Man must have the stimulus of heroic, definite action. For instance, as Americans, we are patriotic, we love our country; but such feelings have their roots in the heroic acts, striking deeds,

472 IMPROVEMENT ERA. and noble sacrifices of the revolutionary fathers. Then we measure the value of our liberty by the price paid for it, even though that price was paid by others. The soil in which our feelings grow would be sterile, indeed, if we bad no occasion to keep such a memorial as the Fourth of July. The sacrifices of our fathers stand out like bright stars, attracting and holding the attention of their natural, as well as their adopted, children; and, as they gaze, they see not only the heroic examples, which we are expected to emulate when a great crisis comes, but also the common-place examples, which will be of service to us in every-day life. So in regard to Jesus Christ, we see him in the light of his wonderful sacrifice, and feel bound to him more by his death than by his birth. Birth proves relationship, but sacrifice proves love; and it is the cords of love that bind us together. Attention has been called to these reasons to show the relationship of Christ's death to the great and necessary example. We will now try to discern its association with other principles, such as law, sin, penalty, justice and mercy, and see if it does not form the keystone which binds them all together, forming an arch as brilliant in its glittering lustre, as perfect in its sweep, and as complete in its covering of the .race, as the dome of blue aboveus. In order to get our bearings, and to understand our premises, let us first define the terms we have been using. We will first ask, what is law? Hooker's couplet expresses beautifully the idea wanted here: "Of law no less can be acknowledged, than that her voice is the harmony of the world. " The necessity of law is selfevident. Sin is the breaking of law, as explained by both prophets and statesmen. Then, sin is the discord of the world, and must be avoided before harmony can prevail. Sin has an outward ' and an inward effect; the inward affecting the life of the actor, and the outward affecting the life of his fellow man. Penalty isthe natural consequence endured by the person breaking the law, or the specified price he must pay to compensate the injury done to others. Atonement signifies to make restitution, to pay the penalty, to bring into accord; and, in the sense in which we are using it, it

ATONEMENT. 473 indicates vicarious work; the act of the strong upholding the weak, the innocent relieving the guilty, the wise sustaining the foolish, the intelligent enlightening the ignorant. If we study the relationship between law, penalty and restitution, we shall find them equally just, charitable and necessary. Laws are the finger-boards directing us on the pathway that leads to harmony, liberty and mutual enjoyment. Penalty warns us that we are out of the true course; its effect is to force us back before the final crash comes that would destroy our lives, and wreck the lives of others. It is the agency which enables us to measure the importance of the law we have run counter to. By it we can determine the distance we are from the path we should follow; but when this result has been accomplished, penalty has served its main purpose, no matter who has paid it. The object of justice is to restore order and happiness, but justice could not accomplish this worthy end simply with the operation of law and penalty, for penalty, with its two- fold effect, soon places the persistent law breaker in a helpless condition, a condition in which he is unable to repair the injury he has done either to himself or to others; he might be annihilated, but annihilation would not restore the happiness of the being annihilated, nor heal the wounds of his victims. Law and penalty operating alone would defeat themselves. But no principle is true in itself; it is true only as it is truly related to other things. Justice would not be justice taken alone ; only when associated with mercy can justice accomplish its purpose. Conversely, mercy without justice would cease to be mercv, for if an individual could not demand the payment of a debt, he could not manifest mercy in forgiving it. If law and penalty did not force the evildoer to the very end of his resources, he might never realize his true condition; but when he is brought to a realization of his utter dependence and helplessness, and the obligation he is under to the injured, — when he realizes that the course he has been following has led him ta the very antipodes of the desired condition of happiness, justice has accomplished all that is possible, working along this line; she has brought the individual to realize his dependence, a condition

474 IMPROVEMENT ERA. necessary to commence development; but justice must now allow mercy to do her work. Some strong person who has the love of God and humanity in his heart, and who has the power to do, is willing, for the glory of saving a soul, to undertake the task. He satisfies the demands of justice; he pays the penalty of the sins that the sinner has committed, that he may measure the laws he has broken by the price that has been paid. This vicarious work, this manifestation of real love, this great sacrifice of the stronger to help the weaker brother, is just as sure to kindle the flame of love in that heart as a mother's devotion is to kindle it in the heart of her child; and as the love commences to work in a regenerative way, and he realizes the sacrifice that has been made by his friend, his repentance will grow more sincere, his gratitude will deepen, his love increase. He will be bound to the one who has purchased and redeemed him, and with this hold, the redeemer can lead him by example into the realms of a higher life where they can meet as brethren. The one making such a sacrifice will find the blissful consciousness in the good accomplished, that will repay him for the pain endured in making the sacrifice; both the redeemed and the redeemer are thus truly blessed; there is a restitution of happiness; and when the weaker becomes strong, he can do for others what has been done for him; that is, assist in their uplifting. Such was the mission of Jesus Christ, and such was the condition of the world at the time of his advent. The dread disease of sin had spread its contagion to every soil, and there was no known cure for the moral leprosy. In the first chapter of Romans, which is usually designated as Paul's arraignment of the heathen world, there is a vivid description given of the sad mental and moral condition of the people, and he attributes this condition to the fact that they would not "retain God in their knowledge;" therefore God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do the things that are not convenient. Not only do the sacred writers testify to this sad condition, but profane writers attempt to draw a still darker picture; in fact, nearly every page of history adds emphasis to the familiar adage, "Man's inhumanity to man makes countless millions mourn."

ATONEMENT. 475 At this point something must be done, a healing balm must be poured into the ulcer of the world, a powerful leaven injected into the sodden lump. The accomplishment of this task would have to be an individual cleansing, for the public purity will ever depend upon private character. To prevent evil conditions, the causes leading to them must be understood. Thousands have been swept from the earth by the cholera, black plague, leprosy and other diseases, caused by 1;he filthy, festering conditions in which they lived. The people did not know the cause, did not even know that they were filthy or unclean; but when a knowledge of these conditions, and the source of the evils, were revealed to them, a cleansing took place, and the evils were averted. Thus many of the conditions which afflict humanity result from causes which are unobserved by those who suffer, and misunderstood by those whose duty it is to administer the remedy. When a great eruption shakes the body politic, we usually attribute it to anarchy, vice, drunkenness, infidelity, or to some of the glaring evils; but the majority of the people feel that they are not guilty of any such sins, and hence do not feel responsible for the seething mass of iniquity which pollutes the world and poisons the life-blood of the social system. But the greatest convulsion that ever occurred— that sin that sent its pain through the universe, that caused the angels to weep and men to blush for shame ; that wound that left its five points in the body of Christ, and its hideous scar on the world, was not the result of any of these glaring evils. The crime was effected by the supporters of law, by the exemplars of virtue, those who were ceremoniously clean and strictly temperate. This spasm, which swept up through the social system, and struck down the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the only member of the vast body that was free from disease, and that carried the panacea which would purify the system, started from the simple, common and universal malady we call selfishness. The germs of this disease is in everv human heart, unless it has been cleansed by the Great Physician. These germs sometimes lie dormant, while everything is moving in harmony with our will, but as we move on towards the sum-

476 IMPROVEMENT ERA. mit of power and success, if anyone runs counter to our personal ambitions, we grow delirious with the fever of passion, and are lost in a dream of power; we strike out madly at all who stand in the way. No person can become pure in thought and noble in character until he has been cleansed from selfishness. He could never be endowed with the knowledge, power and freedom, so essential to happiness and reconciliation with God, with this disease staining his soul. Sympathy is the standard by which greatness is measured, and selfishness is the line by which we sound the depth of depravity. A man can never do anything truly great until he loves something bigger than himself. How were we to know the fearful effect and prevalence of this sin. When selfishness met selfishness, when ambition ran counter to ambition, and one party was vanquished and the other triumphed, the eyes of the world followed the victor, and they saw a virtue in his strength and a glory in his power. He had not broken any law; he' had adhered to the law of self-preservation, something necessary to existence, something to be cultivated rather than destroyed. If we were all black, a white man would have to come among us before we would discover the fact of our color. If we were all filthy, we would not discern our own uncleanliness, until we should come in contact with those who were clean. Where all were affected to some degree with selfishness, a character that was wholly unselfish was necessary to reveal the condition. Christ the Lord came like a Lamb among wolves, and when he was torn asunder without mercy, the beastly nature of the latter was discovered, and we saw, too, that this nature was something that all were tainted with, and under like circumstances and conditions, the disease in us would manifest similar symptoms. Although the atonement was foreordained, and was a part of the plan of redemption, still the death of Jesus Christ was the natural effect of the condition of the world; a penalty that he voluntarily met, because he did not use his powers to avert it, and it is a penalty that each of us would have to meet if we persisted in fighting our way to an equality with selfish systems dominating the world.

ATONEMENT. 477 In the life of Christ, we see the beauty of love and truth, and in his death we witness the terrible effect of sin. The prime object of penalty is to enable us to measure the law which has been broken, understand our own position, and determine how far we are from the true course of life, but if we can realize our condition by sensing the sufferings of another, if we are filled with a desire to get back into the true orbit of life, and are willing to make the necessary effort, so far as we are concerned, the object of penalty has been attained, and God, whose laws we have broken, can justly forgive, without the price being paid in pain by us; instead, we pay the price in love and gratitude to the one who has opened our eyes and led us into a better realm of life. It might help us to understand why the actions and the sacrifice of one can assist and apply to another, if we remember that we are not separate, independent beings, but like the sun, moon, and stars, we form part of a system, as Pope says: "All are but parts of one stupendous whole, whose body nature is, and God the soul." The linking together, this idea of mutual dependence, this provision in justice that we can do for each other what we cannot do for ourselves, is a glorious thought, a wise provision, a conception in harmony with the oldest ideas in religion, and the newest facts in science. The temporal and spiritual salvation of the race depends upon it. Without vicarious work, we could have neither the church, the government, nor the home; and with the justice of it admitted, we have no reason to question the ministry of Jesus Christ. Now let us summarize the principles we have found operating in God"s plan of redemption: The experience of six thousand years has proved human agencies ineffectual in lifting mankind to a state of happiness. We may begin, therefore, by acknowledging our own weakness and dependence, a condition necessary to development; Jesus Christ, on his part, has fixed a true ideal, set a perfect example revealed the mystery of life and death, established in the minds of men the idea that they are related to a higher order of beings; has given us a definite rule of action to perfect us individually, and a perfect social system to unite us as a community; has made a sacri-

478 IMPROVEMENT ERA. flee that should touch every heart, and awaken within it the flame of love and gratitude. It is not claimed by revelation that the life and death of Jesus Christ has redeemed the world, in the sense that it has saved man from the consequences of his own actions; it has simply made redemption possible. We may safely take our stand on the side of revelation, and rely on the hope it gives us; for, has not the experience of the world, which we have been recounting, proved that the operation of these rules and principles will save and uplift the fallen, and bridge that gulf which stretches between our lower and higher selves? There is no other set of rules, or principles, made clear to us by experience that will accomplish the same result; therefore, there is a justification, an apparent necessity, for the atonement, and its effect on the world is manifest. Justice may not have demanded it, but mercy pleaded for it, love was willing to undertake it, and experience has proved that it has been efficacious. Our object was not to solve the mysteries of the atonement, but to find within the realm of reason and experience sufficient justification for it. I believe with Emanuel Kent, "That our pure thought, our reason proper, can reveal to us no theoretical, demonstrable, absolute verity about the nature of things, but can only show us, on the one hand, what, as rational beings, we are bound practically to assume as true, not as a matter of knowledge but of faith." In science as well as in religion, there is an easy limit to absolute knowledge, — a realm bounded by our experiences, but ever floating above it is a necessary sphere of rational faith, acting as a magnet and lifting us into higher degrees of life, and as we ascend, our mental vision enlarges, and the boundaries of our experiences break awav into ever-widening circles. (the end.) New York, N. Y.