^ After the sins of the past have been blotted out, is it necessary to the perpetuity of atoning grace that others shall perpetually take their place ? A simple illustration may perhaps show the unreasonableness of this thought. Sins spring from sin, as the eruptions on the skin of a patient suffering from measles or scarlet fever spring from the disease. Now suppose the eruption on the surface were soothed and relieved by medical skill, would this be full healing, even should it be continually repeated and perfectly performed ? Surely not. While caring for the effects of the disease, true medical science always aims, as we know, at counteracting the exciting cause of the illness ; so our Lord's atoning work, while making provision for the putting away of sins in forgiveness as fast as they appear and are presented to Him in true repentance by the sin-sick Christian, aims at the healing of the disease, and the raising up of a perfectly healthy organism.^
3. Might live unto righteousness. — The New Testament writers are full of salvation as a realized, personal experience. They
1 Prebendary Webb-Peploe in The Keswick WeeJc, 1899, p. 86. ^ Helen B. Harris, Heart Purity, 62.
I PETER II. 24 113
are men who have met Christ, and to whom He has made all the difference. The moral and spiritual change they have experienced is so great that it baffles description. Out of his own experience St. Paul says : " If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation ; the old things are passed away; behold they are become new." They try to describe it by striking metaphors, as a passing from bondage to freedom, from darkness to light, from death to life. And they rightly attribute it to Christ — especially to His death, or rather not so much to His death as to Him dying — Christ crucified.
^ It is one thing to tell men that Christ died ; it is quite another to preach, as St. Peter did, the Death of Christ. It is one thing to declare that by His Cross He taught His brethren and inspired to suffer and to die ; it is quite another to proclaim with St. Paul that " while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." It is one thing for the shepherd to be ready, if need so require, to bleed for the flock ; it is quite another to say, " I am the good shepherd : the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." That, and that alone, is the secret of a life not only like Christ, but in Christ. The Christian life — I cannot begin it unless I am buried with Him by baptism unto death ; I cannot continue it unless each closing day it is brought beneath the covering of His finished work, to be within Himself made pure ; I cannot end it save as the chief of sinners, pleading not my righteousness, but His, who will put into my story what He did. But when my faith looks up to my crucified Saviour, I begin to be a disciple and in my mouth He puts this new song : " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." And I follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.^
* J. G. Simpson, Christian Ideals, 111,
JAS.-JUDE-
Depths of Mercy.
ns
Literature.
Arnot (W.), The Anchor of the Soul, 197.
Bro\\Ti (C), Trial and Triumph, 123,
Butcher (C, H.), The Sou7id of a Voice that is Still, 71.
Carroll (B. H.), Sermons, 366.
Carter (T. T.), Meditations on the Suffering Life of our Lord, 148.
Cox (S.), Expositions, ii. 444.
Evans (T. S.), in The Anglican Pulpit of To-day, 440.
Eyton (R.), The Apostles' Creed, 71.
Gibbon (J. M.), Evangelical Heterodoxy, 79.
Gibson (E. C. S.), in Sermons for the People, 251.
Gregory (J. R.), Scripture Truths made Simple, 149.
Gurney (T. A.), The Living Lord and the Opened Gi'ave, 37.
Hicks (E.), The Life Hereafter, 34.
Horton (R. F.), The Hidden God, 81.
How (W. W.), Plain Words, ii. 187.
Kendrick (A. C), The Moral Conflict of Humanity, 253.
Mackarness (C. C), Sermons for the People, New Ser., iii. 249.
Meyer (F. B.), Tried by Fire, 135, 141.
Parker (J.), Hidden Springs, 115.
Plumptre (E. H.), The Spirits in Prison, 3, 111.
Price (A. C), Fifty Sermons, ii. 73 ; ix. 361.
Simpson (J. G.), The Spirit and the Bride, 233.
Thomas (J.), The Mysteries of Grace, 103.
„ (W. H. G.), The Apostle Peter, 210. Wnberforce (B.), Feeling after Him, 183.
„ „ Sermons in Westminster Abbey, 164.
Wilson (J. H.), The Gospel and its Fruits, 99. Christian World Pulpit, xiv. 179 (Wagstaflf); xlviii. 42 (Thompson);^
Ixvii. 216 (Body) ; Ixxiii. 317 (Gore) ; Ixxvii. 307 (Roberts). Clmrch of England Magazine, Ii. 113 (Lester) ; Ivii. 240 (Bryan). Church of England Pulpit, xlvii. 256 (Silvester) ; 1. 98 (Wilberforce). Churchman's Pulpit : Good Friday and Easter Even : vii. 175 (Reichel),
178 (Pinder). Kesidck Week, 1899, p. 84 (Webb-Peploe).
Ji6
^ Depths of Mercy.
Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the un- righteous, that he might bring us to God ; ... he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, . . . who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven ; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. — I Pet. iii. 18-22.