of the generosity and heroism of an innocent being, to secure a public execution-an execution, however, which leaves the claims of public justice untouched, and the virtuous subjects in a state of jeopardy. These two assumptions having failed, it is evident that the others fall to the ground also, as they are built upon these. The claims of justice are disregarded, and the salvation of man, according to the theory of expediency, reflects no honour on the government of God. Of all the theories considered, this now discussed is the least satisfactory, because the least logical. The theory of debt, in its Calvinistic aspect, as set forth in the writings of Dr. Owen and President Edwards, is the most logical; only it reduces the divine benevolence to a minimum; renders the love of God much less than that of ordinary men, and makes salvation of justice, and not of grace. The expedient theory, moreover, gives too prominent a place to fear as a motive to obedience. One of the principal objects of a public execution is to benefit the virtuous community by terrifying those who might be prone to commit acts of violence, and thus prevent the recurrence of crime. The death of Christ is supposed thus to act upon the intelligent creation. But experience in connection with public executions has abundantly shown that fear is one of the weakest motives of virtue; and experience has proved, on the other hand, that the mightiest motive to holy deeds is the manifestation of disinterested benevolence. If, therefore, enmity against God, or want of love to Him, be the fountain of which sin is but the stream, it follows that the shortest and safest way of preventing sin is to destroy exist ing hatred. Love alone engenders love, and, therefore, whatever shows the love of God, supplies the strongest motive of obedience. The theory of expediency, after all, fails to supply great fear as a motive of holy life; for fear arises in proportion to the certainty of punishment, and not its severity. This is proved most abundantly by the history of crime in our own country.. But does the death of our Lord, according to the theory of expediency, show it probable that, in case of future sin, the sinner shall be surely punished? Not in the least. In the case of human sin the sinner is not punished, but a make-believe of severity is shown by the suffering of an innocent person, and the sinner who escapes is not required to take any part in the finding of a substitute, but all things are arranged without his aid. It is not wise to generalize from a single case, but as far as this case goes to prove anything, the natural inference is, that if any other race of beings should sin-should venture upon rebellion-the punishment will fall upon some sinless substitute, and not upon the transgressors, and this will be found for them by the king, so that they need not be in trouble. I do not mention the death of Christ as proving anything in relation to the treatment of future sinners, but simply say, that if it does prove anything, as is assumed by theorists, it proves the non-probability of the punishment of actual sinners, and thus encourages rebellion rather than obedience. But if the sinner escapes punishment only on condition that he passes through the painful process of repentancehates sin and loves holiness so intensely that to sin becomes an impossibility, and to do good a necessity, then is the heinousness of sin and the sublimity of obedi ence recognised in the most forcible manner. Such an acknowledgment of the misery of sin, and the advantages of a holy life by one whose experience embraced both, would be a real discouragement to evil, as well as an incentive to good. An incident of recent occurrence bears very forcibly on the subject which is now being discussed. A young woman, belonging to the higher rank of life, under the influence of malice, committed murder. Suspicion fell on others, but the real culprit escaped the hand of justice, and lived in apparent peace. Years passed away, and the crime was well nigh forgotten. But the guilty conscience found no rest. Night and day the agonies of that solitary heart were far beyond conception. She felt truly sorry for her sin, and so terrible did the hideous deed appear to her, that life itself became a burden. As a fearful crime had been committed, and some suspicion still clung to those who were innocent of the crime, she felt that in justice to these the crime should be acknowledged, and that for the honour of her country, whose laws punished murder by death, she ought to die the felon's death. Under the influence of such motives she made a full confession and wished to die. But her death was thought to be unnecessary by the government of the land. It was felt by all that public justice had been satisfied, though not in the letter, yet in the spirit. Such sorrow for sin, such free confession of personal guilt, such recognition of the blessedness of virtue and the misery of wrongdoing, reflected the highest honour on her country's laws, and furnished the most forcible inducements to a life of virtue, and met really the claims of public justice far more effectively and fully than her death beneath the gallows would have done. The pardon of sin, under similar conditions would seem to be more to the honour of God as the Governor of the universe than the punishment of impenitence would be; for in the punishment of sin there is no acknowledgment of its evil or disadvantages, on the part of the criminal, nor is there, on his part, any recognition of the superiority of obedience. V. The atonement of Christ at explained by other theories. Many other theories of the atonement have been proposed, some of which are probably unknown to me, but upon the whole I find them to be very unsatisfactory. Mr. McLeod Campbell has proposed a species of representative theory. The Rev. Baldwin Brown in "The Divine Life" seems to accept that theory as satisfactory, and Dr. Bushnell works it out more fully. The theory seems to have been suggested by an expression of President Edwards, who says, That to satisfy divine justice there must be "either an equivalent punishment, or an equivalent sorrow and repentance." Edwards accepts the equivalent punishment, and be lieves a punishment to have been inflicted upon Christ equivalent to that deserved by all the elect Campbell rejects the theory of Edwards and accepts the alternstive supposition of equivalent sorrow and repentance, and be lieves that our Lord, as a ma, Borrowed and repented for sin in stead of all men, and in virtue of his divine nature this sorrow and repentance were sufficiently intense to satisfy the demands of divine justice. The chief, and as I think fatal, objection to this theory is, that it is a mere assumption or hypothesis. Our Saviour is never represented s repenting for men; besides, His wn innocence rendered repentance impossible, for repentance is possible only to the guilty. This theory seems to me scarcely to deserve any notice at all. Like the others, it requires the separation of Christ and God. It moreover requires the genuine repentance of an innocent person, which is impossible, and it assumes that for the repentance of one many others are accepted, which seems to me equally absurd. It will be observed by the thoughtful reader, that I have carefully abstained from proposing any theory. My object has been to show that the various theories which have been proposed have been erroneous, believing that the first step in attaining to the truth is to re move all error. My aim has been negative and destructive. What I have written has been written not to support any theory, but rather to show thoughtful men that the subject of the atonement of Christ requires, on the part of Christian people, reconsideration. All preceding theories must be abandoned, and the whole subject must be studied de novo. It remains for me only to show, by an examination of particular texts, that the theories referred to are unscriptural, to complete the demonstration of the common errors of Evangelical Churches, and to clear the ground for the positive and constructive part of the subject. GALILEO. (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, THE GREAT POSSESSION. BY RICHARD BELL. Conference Office, City-road. London: Wesleyan THE two truths sought to be established in this volume are, that every human being possesses a soul-a percipient, rational, and voluntary spirit additional to his body; and that the glorious Gospel of Christ imparts to it intelligent satisfaction and hope. These truths, which are confessedly important, lack the charm of freshness. They have been discussed a thousand times, and they are widely acknowledged, yet they are so vital to every human being that they cannot be urged with too much frequency and force upon the attention of men. The work is divided into six chapters, the subjects of which are--the exisence, nature, greatness, aspirations, immortality, perfectibility, and claims of the human soul. Under these various heads a very large number of subjects is embraced. The opinions of some of our abler philosophers and theological writers are examined in their relation to the subjects discussed, and the examination shows in keenness and breadth of soul that the author is a match for some of our highest thinkers. The book abounds with profound thoughts, vigorously expressed. The spirit is at once scientific and Christian. The late eminent Sir C. B. Brodie urged the printing of this work, and expressed his approval of the treatment of the subject. We endorse his opinion, and heartily commend the volume to all who desire to see the greatest truths discussed by a Christian philosopher. SHORT ARGUMENTS ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM. By B. C. YoUNG. London: Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster-row, E.C. PRE-MILLENARIANISM and Ritualism: which are the greater evils in connection with Christianity? The former prevails amongst what are called the "Evangelicals" in the Church, the latter amongst the “Tractarian" section. But the former is not confined to the Episcopal Church; it is co-extensive with Plymouth Brethrenism. It is gaining ground even amongst Nonconformist ministers. For ourselves, we are not only deeply convinced of its unscripturalness, but of its baneful influence. Like Ritualism, it grows amongst the sensuous in religion, and, therefore, we fear that arguments, however cogent and conclusive, will do but little execution amongst its votaries. However, such works as the one before us, demonstrating that the coming of Christ will not be pre-millennial, and that His reign on earth will not be personal, we heartily welcome as antidotes to a pernicious popular error. The work is evidently written by one who has earnestly and diligently studied the question, and has attained strong convictions as to the unscripturalness of the doctrine against which he sets his arguments. THE COMPLETE WORKS OF THOMAS BROOKS. Edited, and with Memoir. By REV. ALEXANDER GROSART. Vol. V. Edinburgh: James Nichol. London: James Nisbet and Co. HERE is a fifth volume from Brooks, whom we regard as one of the best of the old divines. We have already frequently referred to him and commended his works. Those old preachers said about their contemporary brethren what would be pronounced most uncharitable for modern preachers to say. Here, for example, is a specimen. "Some preachers in our day are like Heraclitus, who was called the dark doctor, because he affected dark speeches, so they affect sublime notions, obscure expressions, uncouth phrases, making plain truths difficult, and easy truths hard, &c. They 'darken counsel by words without know ledge.' Job xxxviii. 2. Men of abstract conceits and wise speculations are but wise fools; like the lark that soareth on high, peering and peering, but at last falleth into the net of the fowler. Such persons commonly are as censorious as they are curious and do Christ and his Church but very little service in this world." AN EXPOSITION. With Notes Unfolded and Applied on John xviii. By GEORGE NEWTON. Edinburgh: James Nichol. London: James Nisbet. THE author of this volume was born in Devonshire, 1602, entered Exeter College, Oxford, 1616, took his degree of M.A., 1624, and was ordained by Laud, then Bishop of Bath and Wells, to the perpetual curacy of Hill Bishop. Upon the breaking out of the rebellion, he sided with the Presbyterians, and in 1662 was numbered twenty-three among the ejected. He died in 1681, and was buried in the chancel of his older church in Taunton. Calamy says cf him that his preaching was plain, practical, and successful, and that he was eminent for his meekness and prudence. He was by no means an eminent man in comparison with some of the Puritans. This exposition does not appear to us to have much value. THE PREACHER'S COUNSELLOR. By ATHANASE COQUEREL. Translated by the REV. R. A. BERTRAM. London: Elliot Stock, 62, Pater noster-row. THE author of this work is one of the most eloquent pulpit orators of this century. Whilst we reject some of his theological opinions we thankfully accept most of his homiletic rules. The work treats of a large variety of subjects in connection with preachers and preaching. It exposes many of those vices and absurdities connected with the pulpit which have tended wondrously to degrade the institution in the estimation of thinking men. It points cut the path by which a pulpit excellence may be reached. It abounds with many striking anecdotes bearing on the subject. It is in every way a work worthy the thoughtful perusal of preachers. WORDS OF COMFORT FOR PARENTS BEREAVED OF LITTLE CHILDREN. Edited by WILLIAM LOGAN. London: James Nisbet, Berners Street. This is a work that we have already noticed, and that has reached its third edition. We need scarcely do more than mention that it is composed of a selection of passages from a variety of religious writers, relating to the death of children. Though some of the selections are not, perhaps, of the first-class, yet many are excellent, and admirably adapted to the end intended. |