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a miserable grub. Strongly does Paul show the truth of this "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully," &c., &c. (2 Cor. ix. 6-11.)

III. THE SOCIAL ESTIMATE OF BOTH.

"He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him; but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it." First, the people shall curse the avaricious. Who knows the imprecations that fall every day on the head of the avaricious and miserly man? "Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy," &c. (Amos viii. 4, 6.) Secondly, the people shall bless the generous. Hear Job's experience, "The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy." (Job xxix. 13.)

"The truly generous is the truly wise; And he who loves not others lives unblest."

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First: The one procureth favour. Favour with their own conscience; favour with society; favour with God. Secondly: The other disfavour. "It shall come unto him." He shall have what he deserves. his own conscience-the denunciation of society-the frown of God. "Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate."-Psa. vii. 14-16.

The disapprobation of

(No. LXXII.)

TRUSTING IN RICHES. "He that trusteth in his riches shall fall."-Prov. xi. 28.

I. HERE IS A COMMON TENDENCY. Nothing is more common than for wealthy men to trust in their wealth; to trust for happiness and honour to worldly possessions. Like the fool in the Gospel they say "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years." (Luke xii. 19-21.) Wealth as an object of trust is, first: Spiritually unsatisfactory. Secondly: Necessarily evanescent. Man's wealth cannot stay long with him. The connection is very brief.

II. HERE IS A TERRIBLE CATASTROPHE, "SHALL FALL." "Fall!" First: Whence? From all his hopes. Secondly: Whither? To disappointment and despair. Thirdly: When ? Whenever moral conviction seizes the soul, whether before or after death. Fourthly: Why? Because wealth was never a fit foundation for the soul. "Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness."-Psa. lii. 7.

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III. THAT THOSE WHO BREAK THE PEACE OF THEIR DOMESTIC CIRCLE ARE FOOLS. "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart." Two things show their folly. First: They get no good by it. "They reap wind." What if they gratify for a moment their vanity, their selfishness, their pride by it? Their gratification is but wind. Secondly: They get degradation by it. "The fool shall be servant to the wise of heart." The habitual disturber of the family circle soon by his folly sinks into a base servitude. The loving and the peaceful, by the wisdom of their conduct, rule him by a dignified despotism, which fills him with mortification.

(No. LXXIV.)

THE LIFE OF THE GOOD. "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner."-Prov. xi. 80, 31.

THESE verses suggest three things in relation to the life of the good on earth.

I. THE INVOLUNTARY INFLUENCE OF A GOOD MAN'S LIFE. The fruit

of a life is the involuntary and regular expression of what the man is in heart and soul. All actions are not the fruit of life, inasmuch as man in the exercise of his freedom, and indeed even by accident, performs actions that, instead of fully expressing, misrepresent his life. Hence says Christ, "By their fruit," not by their action, "ye shall know them." The regular flow of a man's general activity is the fruit, and this, in the case of a good man, is a "tree of life." It is so for three reasons. (1) It expresses real life. (2) It communicates real life. (3) It nourishes real life.

II. THE HIGHEST PURPOSE OF A GOOD MAN'S LIFE. "He that winneth souls is wise." This implies (1) That souls are lost. (2) That souls may be saved. (3) That souls may be saved by

man.

(4) That the man who suoceeds in saving souls is wise.*

III. THE INEVITABLE RETRIBUTION OF A GOOD MAN'S LIFE.

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Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth." The recompense here is supposed to refer rather to the suffering he experiences, in consequences of his remaining imperfections, than of the blessings he enjoys as a reward for the good that is in him. The sins of good men are punished on this earth. The

See HOMILIST, series iii., vol. v.,

p. 289.

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.

Goon and evil are presented in three aspects.

I. IN RELATION TO 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 compass 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,

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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 in slippery places. (Psa. lxxiii. 18.) They live in a house whose foundation is sand. condly, 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 re quires 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.)

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