it is plain as the sun in the heavens that the death -of Christ did remove all legal obstacles out of the way of God’s saving any man he pleases. In this sense, if you please, Christ did make the salvation of all men indif- ferently possible, a parte Dei. He can apply it to any, whomsoever he will; but since his will never changes, there can be no distinction between his present will and his eternal design.
5. The question does not relate to the ACTUAL APPLI- CATION of the saving benefits of Christ’s work to each and every man. All who stop short of maintaining universal salvation agree with us that all those who do not cordially accept and appropriate the salvation freely offered to them in the gospel must be lost. The doc- trine of universal redemption cannot be shown, after all their parade of its superior liberality, to extend the real benefits of redemption to one single soul beyond those embraced by a definite Atonement. We believe that Christ died with the intention of saving all those whom he actually does save. They hold that the large majority of those whose salvation Christ designed to effect by his death finally perish. This certainly fails to convey any advantage to those that perish, while it materially de- tracts from the value of Christ’s death and from the efficacy of his purpose to save.
4. The question does not relate to the UNIVERSAL OFFER in perfect good faith of a saving interest im Christ's work on the condition of faith. This is ad- mitted by all. Since, then, the work of Christ is exactly adapted to the legal relations and need of each; and since it is abundantly sufficient for all; and since, in perfect good faith, it is offered to all men indiscrimi- nately,—it necessarily follows that whosoever believes on him, non-elect (if that were subjectively possible) just as - truly as the elect, would find a perfect atonement and
STATEMENT OF DOCTRINE. 331
cordial welcome ready for him when he comes. In this cuaprzz sense we joyfully acknowledge that not only is the sal- _“ vation of each and every sinner rendered legally and morally possible to God, af he wills, but the Atonement
of Christ is itself objectively most certainly and freely available to each and every sinner to whom it is offered,
upon condition that he believes.
5. Nor does the question relate to the DESIGN OF CHRIST IN'DYING as it stands related to all the benefits secured to mankind by his death. It is very plain that any plan — designed to secure the salvation of an elect portion of a race propagated by generation, and living in association, as is the case with mankind, cannot secure its end with- out greatly affecting, for better or worse, the character and destiny of all the rest of the race not elected. In- deed it is impossible for us to know what would have happened to Adam and Eve if that gracious system, the meritorious ground of which is the Atonement of Christ, had not been introduced. The instant damnation of the heads of the race, or the introduction of a scheme of redemption, appears to be the only possible alternative. But the scheme of redemption is conditioned exclusively upon the expiatory work of Christ. Hence all that happens to the human race other than that which is in- cidental to the instant damnation of Adam and Eve is part of the consequences of Christ’s satisfaction as the second Adam. For aught we know the propagation of the race in all of its successive generations may be in consequence of that work. The entire history of the human race, from the apostasy to the final judgment, is, as Candlish says, “a dispensation of forbearance” in re- spect to the reprobate, in which many blessings, physical and moral, affecting their characters and destinies for ever, accrue even to the heathen, and many more to the educated and refined citizens of Christian communities,
CHAPTER II.
The ques- tion stat- ed posi- tively.
332 THE DESIGN OF THE ATONEMENT.
These come to them through the mediation of Christ, and coming to them now, they must have been designed for them from the beginning.* We maintain the simple and apparently self-evident proposition, that Christ, in dying, designed to effect by his death all in every par- ticular which he has actually accomplished. If he be God, there can be no discrepancy between his design and | his accomplishment. He must accomplish precisely that which he designed, and he must have designed to effect precisely that which in fact he does effect.