The principles above stated are not arbitrarily assumed ; they are not deductions from any d priori maxims or axioms ; they are not the constituent elements of a humanly constructed theory : they are not even the mere obiter dicta of inspired men ; they arc the principles which the sacred writers not only announce as true, but on which they argue, and which they employ in the construc- tion of that system of doctrine which they present as the object of faith and ground of hope to fallen men. The only legitimate wav therefore of combating these principles, is to prove, not that thev fail to satisfy the reason, the feelings, or the imagination, or that they are incumbered with this or that difficulty ; but that they ar'- not Scriptural. If the sacred writers do announce and embrace them, then they are true, or we have no solid ground on which to rest our hopes for eternity.
The Scriptural character of these principles being the only ques- tion of real importance, appeal must be made at once to the Word of God. Throughout the Scriptures, the immutability of the di- vine law ; the necessity of its demands being satisfied ; the impos- sibility of sinners making that satisfaction for themselves ; the possi- bility of its being rendered by substitution ; and that a wonderfully constituted person, could and would, and in fact has, accomplislied this work in our behalf, are the great constituent principles of the religion of the Bible. As the revelation contained in the Scrip- tures has been made in a progressive form, wo find all these prin- ciples culminating in their full development in the later writings of the New Testament. In St. Paul's epistle to the Romans, for example, the following positions are assumed and established: (1.) The law must be fulfilled. (2.) It demands perfect obedi- ence ; and, in case of transgression, the penalty of death. (3.) No fallen man can fulfil those conditions, or satisfy the demands of the
so.] PROOF OF THE DOCTRINE. 495
law. (4.) Christ, t"ne Eternal Son of God, clotlied in our nature, has made this satisfaction to law for us. (5.) We are thus freed from the law. We are not under law, but under grace. (6.) All that is now required of us is faith in Christ. To those who are in Him there is no condemnation. (7.) By his obedience we are constituted righteous, and, being thus reconciled to God, we be- come partakers of the holy and immortal life of Christ, and are delivered not only from the penalty, but from the power of sin, and made the sons and heirs of God. (8.) The great condemning sin of men under the gospel, is rejecting the righteousness and Sj;irit of Christ, and insisting either that they need no Saviour, or that they can in some way save themselves ; that they can satisfy all God's just demands, and deliver themselves from the power of sin. If the foregoing principles are eliminated from the Pauline epistles, their whole life and power are gone. And Paul assures us that he received his doctrines, not from men, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is against this rock, — the substitution of Christ in the place of sinners ; his making a full satisfaction to the justice and law of God, thus working out for us a perfect righteousness, by which we may be justified, — that the assaults of philosophy, falsely so called, and of lieresy in all its forms have been directed from the becrinniuCT. This it is that the Gnostics and New Platonists in the first centuries; the Scotists and Franciscans during the Middle Ages ; the Socinians and Remonstrants at, and after the Reforma- tion ; and Rationalists and the speculative philosophy of our own age, have striven to overthrow. But it remains, what it ever has been, the foundation of the faith, hope, and life of the Church.
§ 6. Proof of the Doctrine.
The Scriptural evidence in support of this great doctrine, as far as it can well be presented within reasonable limits, has already, in great measure, been exhibited, in the statement and vindication of the several elements which it includes.
It has been shown, (1.) That the work of Christ for our salva- tion, was a real satisfaction of infinite inherent dignity and worth. (2.) That it was a satisfaction not to commutative justice (aa paying a sum of money would be), nor to the rectoral justice or benevolence of God, but to his distributive and vindicatory justice which renders necessary the punishment of sin ; and (3.) That it was a satisfaction to the law of God, meeting its demands of a per- fect righteousness for the justification of sinners. If these points be admitted, the Church doctrine concerning the satisfaction, or
490 PART m. Ch. VU. — satisfaction of CHRIST.
atonement of Christ, is admitted in all that is essential to its integ- rity. It remains, therefore, only to refer to certain classes of pas- sages and modes of representation pervading the Scriptures, which assume or assert the truth of all the principles above stated.
Christ saves us as our Priest.
Christ is said to save men as a priest. It is not by the mere ex- ercise of power, nor by instruction and mental illumination ; nor by any objective, persuasive, moral influence ; nor by any subjective operation, whether natural or supernatural, whether intelligible or mystical, but by acting for them the part of a representative, sub- stitute, propitiator, and intercessor. It was in the Old Testament foretold that the Messiah was to be both priest and king ; that he was to be a priest after the order of Melchisedec. In the New Testament, and especially in the Epistle to the Hebrews, which is devoted almost exclusively to the exhibition of the priestly char- acter and work of Christ, it is taught, —
1. That a priest is a substitute or representative, appointed to do for sinners what they could not do for themselves. Their guilt and pollution forbid their access to God. Some one, therefore, must be authorized to appear before God in their behalf, and ejffect a reconcihation of God to sinners.
2. That this reconciliation can only be effected by means of an expiation for sin. The guilt of sin can be removed in no other way. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. A priest, therefore, is one appointed for men (i. e., to act in their be- half), to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin.
3. Tiiat this expiation was effected by the substitution of a vic- tim in the place of the sinner, to die in his stead, i. e., in Scriptural language, "to bear his sins." " Guilt," says Ebrard, in a passage already quoted, " can be removed only by being actually punished, i. e., expiated. Either the sinner himself must bear the punish- ment, or a substitute must be found, which can assume the guilt, bear the penalty, and give the freedom from guilt or righteousness thus secured, to the offender."^ This he gives as the fundamental idea of the epistle to the Hebrews.
4. Such being the nature of the priesthood and the way in which a priest saves those for whom he acts, the Apostle shows, first, with regard to the priests under the old economy, that such was the method, ordained by God, by which the remission of ceremonial sins and restoration to the privileges of the theocracy, were to be
1 Dogmatik, ii., iii. 1, § 401. Konigsberg, 1852, vol. ii. p. 159.