sufferings endured by the good here, Solomon uses as an argument for the certainty of the greater sufferings that must be endured by the wicked. "Much more the wicked and the sinner." The argument is à fortiori-if God visits the sins of his people here with punishment, much more will He visit the sins of the wicked. "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear ?" (No. LXXV.) GOOD AND EVIL. "Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth_reproof is brutish. A good man obtaineth favour of the Lord: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn. A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved."-Prov. xii. 1-3. GOOD and evil are presented in three aspects. I. IN RELATION ΤΟ INTELLIGENCE. First, the good loves intelligence. "Whoso loveth instruction, loveth knowledge." A truly good man is a truth-seeker. The constant cry of his soul is for more light. Secondly, the evil hates intelligence. "He that hateth reproof is brutish." Reproof is a form of intelligence. It shows to a sinner in the light of great principles, either the imprudence or immorality or both of his conduct. He hates this, and is thus "brutish." He who does not desire to have his faults exposed to him in the light of law and love is brutish. "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. (Jer. xxxi. 18.) Good and evil are here presented, II. IN RELATION ΤΟ DIVINE JUDGMENT. First, the good secures the favour of God. "A good man obtaineth favour of the Lord." Heaven smiles upon the righteous. 'Thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou com pass him as with a shield." (Psa. v. 12.) To obtain the favour of God is the highest object of life. "Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him." (2 Cor. v. 9.) Secondly, the evil incurs his condemnation. "A man of wicked devices will he condemn." The frown of eternal justice shadows the path of the wicked. "He that believeth not is condemned already." Good and evil are here presented, III. IN RELATION ΤΟ THEIR STANDING. First, the evil have no stability. "A man shall not be established by wickedness." How insecure are the wicked! They are in slippery places. (Psa. lxxiii. 18.) They live in a house whose foundation is sand. Secondly, the good are firmly established. "The root of the righteous shall not be moved." "God is their refuge and strength," &c. Like the monarch of the forest, whose roots strike wide and deep into the heart of the earth, it stands secure amidst storms that wreck the fleets of nations and level cities in the dust. Theological Notes and Queries. OPEN COUNCIL. [The utmost freedom of honest thought is permitted in this department. The reader must therefore use his own discriminating faculties, and the Editor must be allowed to claim freedom from responsibility.] THE GREAT PROPITIATION. Article XII.-(Continued.) Replicant.-In answer to Querist No. 16, p. 352, Vol. XVII., and continued from p. 356, Vol. XIX: On some popular Theories of the Atonement of Christ, proposed to Explain its mode of Operation. This theory of the Christian atonement does effectively for mankind what the Hegelian philosophy tried in vain to do in another way. It delivers all men from the influence of the idea of a personal God. Guillaume Marr said that "the true road to liberty, equality, and happiness was atheism," or the freeing of the human mind from the restraint imposed upon it by a belief in personal responsibility to God; but the debt theory of the work of Christ gets rid of all sense of responsibility, while it retains in its creed the existence of God as an article of belief. Every man, for whom Christ died, owes the Deity neither reverence nor obedience, nor is he liable to any punishment for sin, as the Atoner by his atonement has paid the whole of his debt-discharged his obligations, and endured his punishment. 4. According to this theory, there is no such thing as the forgiveness of sin, or salvation by grace. If a debt be paid, no matter how, or by whom, if it be paid, it is not forgiven. Payment and forgiveness are contradictions. If our Lord has endured our punishment has suffered the just consequences of our sins, then sin is not forgiven. It has had its own course, and produced its own evil. If at any future time the sinner were punished, then would the same crime be twice punished, which would be unjust. If Christ has met for us the demands of justice, by obeying the law and suffering the consequences of transgression, then is salvation-freedom from evil and the reward of obedience, no more of grace but of justice. True, Christ was kind and gracious in doing what He did for us, but God gives nothing for which He is not paid; therefore is our salvation an act of grace on the part of Christ, but an act of mere justice on the part of God. 5. This theory seems to me to be a libel on the Divine character. It represents God as exacting, not giving; as demanding, not bestowing; as punishing, not pardoning; as being just, but not gracious. He shows no favour, but requires and gets his due. Christ suffers and gives, but God demands and has the uttermost farthing. If, then, God has all He requires-no matter who pays Him, whether the original debtor or his surety, if he be paid-no thanks are due to Him for what He gives or does. If man is saved, no thanks to God, for He was fully paid for it by another. All thanks are, therefore, due to this other. St. Paul's triumphant | shout of victory must be altered from, "Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ," to "No thanks to God, for He gives us no victory -gives us nothing; but thanks to Christ, who purchased our victory for us!" Such is the nature of this theory of the atonement-a theory which was, alas! identified with the Gospel by the Puritans, and is still thought to be a fair representation of the truth. But it falls to the ground at every point. It requires at the beginning, what the Word of God will not allow, the separation of God and Christ, each being regarded as a distinct conscious being or person. The Bible everywhere shows it to be the duty of all men, Christians and unconverted people, to obey God, and emphatically declares that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die;" but this theory is destructive of all moral obligation. Great prominence is given in the Scriptures to the doctrine of the forgiveness of sin. We pray for forgiveness, according to the examples of pious men, "Pardon my iniquity, for it is great," and according to the instruction of the Saviour himself, "Forgive us our trespasses ;" and the Divine Being is repeatedly said to forgive men their sins. But the debt theory of the work of Christ shows that all the Bible's teaching about forgiveness is but mere empty talk, as God forgives no man a sin, but is fully paid for each by our surety! The talk about forgiveness is a mere show of benevolence and nothing but a show; for in reality nothing is given without payment to the full! The Bible everywhere speaks of our salvation as being of God's grace. God saves by or through Christ, but never on account of Christ. God is the efficient cause of our salvation, and Christ is the instrumental cause or mediummediator-of His grace. The absolute Deity reaches us in a special form assumed, and by a special revelation given-which is Christ; so that we owe all we have, or may possess, or be, to God, who made his love known to us in the Christ-form-in Christ. According to the Gospel, God gives us all we have-yes, gives and forgives all our sins-forgives; but according to the debt theory, God gives nothing, and forgives nothing, as everything which comes through His hand is purchased at a full price. The conclusion of the matter seems to me to be this: we can accept either the accuracy of the Bible, as the Word of God, or the puritanic notion of the Atonement, as the payment of debt by a surety; but to accept both as true is impossible. They are diametrically opposed to each other, as opposed as light and darkness are. One must be rejected as untrue, for the one is destructive of the other. I, for one, would rather sacrifice a theory than sacrifice the Word of God; for the former is the invention of man, the latter is the production of God. GALILEO, B.A. (To be continued.) Literary Notices. [We hold it to be the duty of an Editor either to give an early notice of the books sent to him for remark, or to return them at once to the Publisher. It is unjust to praise worthless books, it is robbery to retain unnoticed ones.] THE REVIEWER'S CANON In every work regard the author's end, Since none can compass more than they intend. THE WORKS OF HENRY SMITH; with Life of the Author. By THOMAS FULLER, B.D. Vol. I. Edinburgh: James Nichol. London: James Nisbet and Co. BUT little is known of this old divine. "What is true of the river Nilus,” says Thomas Fuller, his quaint biographer, “that its fountain is hid and obscure, but its fall or influx into the midland sea eminently known, is applicable to many learned men, the places of whose birth generally are either wholly concealed, or at the best uncertain, whilst the place of their death is made remarkable. For as few did take notice of their coming out of their attiring-house, so their well acting on the stage commanded all eyes to observe their returning thereunto." It appears, however, that our author was born at Withcok, Leicestershire, and that he was of gentle extraction and born to affluence. He was educated in the University of Oxford, and there filled himself with that learning which in due time he poured out to others. Having finished his education, he accepted a lectureship at St. Clement Danes, without Temple Bar. Although his judgment was far from going with all pertaining to the Anglican Church, he loved peace, and united in affection with those from whom in opinion he dissented. In his day he was called the silver-tongued preacher, and chimed with the melody of speech similar to that of St. Chrysostom. His church was always crowded, and he played upon his congregation as a master musician upon his harp. He died of consumption about the year 1600. He was a voluminous author. Many of his discourses were printed surreptiiously from shorthand notes. These, however, in self defence and for the sake of his literary reputation, he afterwards published himself. It is stated that his public sermons became a family book in his own day. Judging from the discourses in this volume, he appears to have been remarkably free from the affectations that greatly disfigured the pulpit productions of his own time. He was too earnest to play the punster or the polemic. If he had not the logic of Goodwin or the pathos of Brookes, he had a spiritual insight into truth as piercing as either, and a power of presenting what he saw with remarkable vivid ness and effect. We class this volume amongst the best sermonic productions of the preachers of olden times. By A COMMENTARY ON THE WHOLE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. WILLIAM GOUGE, D.D. Vol. II. Edinburgh: James NicholLondon: James Nisbet and Co. Dublin: G. Herbert. In the last volume of the HOMILIST, page 238, our readers will find a brief sketch of the author of this volume and our judgment upon his productions. This volume completes his work on the Hebrews, which was his masterpiece, and which is considered to contain the substance of his public ministry, which was one of great brilliancy and influence. Critically, of course, these volumes are below the mark. Since the author's days, nay, within the last twenty years, biblical criticism and Jewish archæology have made wondrous advances. But in the power of seizing and lucidly exhibiting in condense suggestiveness the great ideas of a text the work is equal to most of the best of modern times. It is strictly a homiletic exposition. On every page there are seeds of sermons. ST. PAUL: HIS LIFE AND MINISTRY TO THE END OF HIS THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY. By T. BINNEY. London: James Nisbet and Co., 21, Berners Street. THIS volume contains a course of lectures, which the distinguished author delivered to the young men of his congregation. In matter they are not exhaustive, but suggestive; in style they are not rhetoric, but conversational; and in effect upon the reader, they are interesting, refreshing, and stimulating in the highest degree. Though the author goes not as minutely into the circumstances of Paul's adventurous life, nor as critically into the phraseologies, either of himself, his biographer, of his friends, or of his foes, as Conybeare and Howson, he, nevertheless, sketches the incidents with a remarkable accuracy, hits out the meaning of utterances with a stroke, seizes the leading idea, disrobes it of its old costume, detaches it from its old relations, and holds it forth a powerfully living lesson to modern men. Indeed no book has ever brought Paul so near to English intelligence and consciousness. SIMPLE TRUTH: Spoken to Working Men. By NORMAN MACLECD, D.D. Alexander Strahan, 56, Ludgate-hill, London. THIS is a small volume of sermons, the subjects are "The Wonder of Indifference not Saved," "Publicans and Sinners hearing Christ," "The Love of Christ for Sinners," "The Story of the Prodigal Son," "The Gadarene Demoniac," "The Home Mission Work of Christians," "Prayer," Principles of Christian Toleration," "The End of the Year." We need scarcely characterize the author's treatment of 66 |