(3) Rctributiun is to the character rather than to the act, and is autoniatic. 'Every act rewards itself, or, in other words, integrates itself, in a two- fold manner ; first, in the thing, or in real nature ; and secondly, in the circumstance, or in apparent nature. Men call the circumstance the retribu- tion. The causal retribution is in the thing, and is seen by the soul' (Emerson, Essay on ' Compensa- tion '). The truth is seen most clearly in the Fourth Gospel. Life is the result of faith in Christ and of the knowledge of God (3is 5-* 17^). Judgment is innnediate, the self-inflicted result of wilful blindness, and of the rejection of the mes- sage of life (3'" 8-^ \'2*^). At the same time this is no purely abstract law ; behind it is the personal Goil, and the Son to whom judgment is committed (5--) ; see Westcott, St. John, p. xlviii. So in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, ' the gulf ' is the character * which has been foriried on earth and is unalterable. The spiritual condition of the two cannot be altered by a mere change of jjlace. In the parables of the Talents and the Pounds, neglect of oi^portunity brings unfitness for trust ; use of opportunity automatically opens the door to the reward of greater opportunity. The cutting down of the hg-tree is the inevitable doom of its barrenness (Lk 13''; cf. Mk 11'^ and the teaching of the Baptist, Mt 3'"). The same principle is seen in the blindness men bring on themselves (Mt 6-'- 13'-'), and if the blind le.ad the blind, they must fall into the ditch (IS''*). The measure we receive is in the nature of things the counterjiart of that which we give to others (7^), the judgment the counterpart of our judgment, God's forgiveness of our forgiveness (&*). The house must stand or fall according to the foundation on which it is built (7-^-2^).
Accordingly, acts have their results rather than their rewards, and the idea of ' the punisher ' tends to disappear.
' It is well to remember that infliction from without, by another, so far from being an essential element in all thought of punish- ment, tends more and more completely to disappear, as having no longer even an accidental i)lace, in those deeper realities of punishment which human punishments do but outwardly symbolize. The more we discern their process and character, the more profoundly do we recognize that the punishments of (!od are what we should call self-acting. There is nothing in them that is arbitrary, imposed, or in any strict propriety of the word, inflicted. As <Ieath is the natural consummation of mortal disease, not as an arbitrary consequence inflicted by one who resented the mortal disease, but as its own inherent and inevitable climax ; .so what is called the judgment of God upon sin is but the gradual necessary development, in the consistent sinner, of what sin inherently is' (Moberly, Atonement and PeriionaUty, p. 15).
It is from this point of view alone that we can harmonize the fact of forrfiveness with that of judgment or retribution. So long as we look on tlie latter as the inevitable result of ar^.? considered each on its merits, there can be no room for for- giveness, or at least it appears as an arbitrarj-
* The name ' Lazarus ' (' God has helped ')^the only name given in a parable — nuist be intended to be significant of character, no less than the names in the Pi/gn'in's frogress.
interference with law. As soon as we realize that both have to do with character, the ditticulty largely disappears. Our retribution depends on character. Forgiveness attects the character, being bountl up with /meTdvoia, the change of character. The dying thief may have lived a life of sin ; under the attraction of the grace of Christ, his whole self experiences a change, and so his future can be changed too. The woman who loves nmch finds tlie sins of her j)ast forgiven because she has be- come a new creature. The unmerciful servant Hnds his old debt back upon him, because the con- ditional forgiveness of his master has not touched his character.*
(4) Christ spiritualized the conception of reivard and punishment. — Reward consists not in having certain things, but in seeing God. It is the re.sult of character and the fruition of character. Punish- ment is the leaving of the self to be identified with sin, and so to depart from Christ into the outer darkness which is separation from God. Again we refer to the Johannine conception of life (17^). In the Synoptics, hajjpiness is connected with the Kingdom, as particularly in the Beatitudes ; it consists of treasure in heaven (Mt 6'-^", Mk 10^'). Specially significant is Lk 10-" ; the main cause of rejoicing to the disciples is not the possession of exceptional powers, but the knowledge that their names are written in heaven. All centres round the personal relation of the believer to Christ (Mt 25, Lk 12'^). And this happiness is enjoyed even now; the believer has life (Jn 3^" etc.). He enjoys the good things of this life, not as specific rewards for good actions, but as gifts of the love of God which he has fitted himself to use (Mt 6^*). There can indeed be no thought of a claim against God (Lk 17" 6^^). We cannot appear as litigants before His judgment-seat.