or degree of our Lord's suflferings was a matter of indiffeience. We ai'e not autliorized to say, as has so often been said, that one drop of his blood would have been sufficient to redeem the world. This may express a pious sentiment, but not a Scriptural truth. He would not have suffered as He did, nor to the degree He did, unless there had been an adequate reason for it. There must be some proportion between the evil endured, and the benefit to be secured. If a man were saved from death or bondage by a prince's paying a shilling, it would be absurd to call that either a satisfac- tion or a ransom. There must be enough of self-sacrifice and suffering to give dignity and inherent value to the proffered atone- ment. While, therefore, the value of Christ's sufferings is due mainly to the dignity of his person, their character and intensity are essential elements in their worth. Nevertheless, their character as penal depends not on their nature, but on their design.
Viearious.
By vicarious suffering or punishment is not meant merely suffer- ings endured for the benefit of others. The sufferings of martyrs, patriots, and philanthropists, although endured for the good of the Church, the country, or of mankind, are not vicarious. That w^ord, according to its signification and usage, includes the idea of substitution. Vicarious suffering is suffering endured by one per- son in the stead of another, i. e., in his place. It necessarily sup- poses the exemption of the party in whose place the suffering is endured. A vicar is a substitute, one who takes the place of an- other, and acts in his stead. In this sense, the Pope assumes to be the vicar of Christ on earth. He claims and assumes to exercise Christ's prerogatives. What a substitute does for the person whose place he fills, is vicarious, and absolves that person from the neces- sity of doing or suffering the same thing.^ When, therefore, it is said that the sufferings of Christ were vicarious, the meaning is that He suffered in the place of sinners. He was their substitute. He assumed their obligation to satisfy justice. What He did and suffered precluded the necessity of their fulfilling the demands of the law in their own persons. This idea of substitution, and of vicarious obedience and suffering, pervades all the religions of the world ; which proves that it has its foundation in the nature of man. It is sanctioned in the Word of God, and incorporated in
1 Even in medicine the word retains its proper meaning. " A vicarious secretion, is a secretion from one part instead of another." It ceases to be vicarious when the former faili to stop the latter.
476 PART ni. Ch. VI.— priestly office.
the doctrines therein revealed. And this proves that the idea is not merely human, but divine ; that it is in accordance, not only with the reason of man, but with the reason of God. It is an un- fairness to use words in a sense inconsistent with their established meaning ; to say, for example, that the sufFerings of Christ were vicarious, when nothing more is meant than that his sufferings inured to the good of mankind. This may be said of any suffering for the public good ; even of the sufferings of criminals ; and of the finally impenitent. Christ's sufferings were vicarious in the sense in wiiich the death of one man is vicarious who dies in the place of another to save him from a deserved penalty ; in the sense in which the death of the Old Testament sacrifice, which was taken in lieu of the death of the transgressor, was vicarious. And this is the sense in which we are bound to use the word.
Gruilt.
The word guilt, as has been repeatedly remarked, expresses the relation which sin bears to justice, or, as the older theologians said, to the penalty of the law. This relation, however, is twofold. First, that which is expressed by the words criminality and ill- desert, or demerit. This is inseparable from sin. It can belong to no one who is not personally a sinner, and it permanently at- taches to all who have sinned. It is not removed by justification, much less by pardon. It cannot be transferred from one person to the other. But secondly, guilt means the obligation to satisfy justice. This may be removed by the satisfaction of justice per- sonally or vicariously. It may be transferred from one person to another, or assumed by one person for another. When a man steals or commits any other offence to which a specific penalty is attached by the law of the land, if he submit to the penalty, his guilt in this latter sense is removed. It is not only proper that he should remain without further molestation by the state for that offence, but justice demands his exemption from any further pun- ishment. It is in this sense that it is said that the guilt of Adam's sin is imputed to us ; that Christ assumed the guilt of our sins ; and that his blood cleanses from guilt. This is very different from de- merit or personal ill-desert. The ordinary theological sense of the word guilt is well expressed by the German word Schuld, which means the responsibility for some wrong, or injury, or loss ; or, the obligation to make satisfaction. It, therefore, includes the mean- ing of our words guilt and debt. " Ich bin nicht schuldig," means, I am not answerable. I am not bound to make satisfaction. "Des