His offering was a _free will_ one. He came down from Heaven to redeem
men. "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life
that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it
down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take
it again." (John x. 17, 18.) Although His human will recoiled from the
prospect of humiliation and death, yet He submitted it to the Divine
Will, "Not Mine, but Thine be done."
It was _complete_, and fulfilled all the requirements of justice. None
but God Himself could offer a complete and perfect atonement for the
mass of transgressions committed against God.
2. By His Sacrifice for sin, our Lord Jesus Christ has _redeemed_ us
from sin, taken away from us the stain of sin. "Jesus Christ ... Who
loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." (Rev. i.
5.) Consequently our sins are no more imputed to us. They have been
cancelled. We are no more under wrath, but are children of God. He has
_delivered us from the power of sin_. He that committeth sin is the
servant of sin. (John viii. 34.) He has delivered us from the power of
sin. Sin hath no more dominion over us. We are no longer under sin,
but under grace. By nature we were in bondage to Satan, who held men
in hard servitude, with no power of escape from it, but by Christ's
redemption we have been brought out of the Egypt of bondage, and set in
the glorious liberty of the children of God. We are, as S. Paul says,
"made free from sin." We are, by the merits of Christ's atonement,
placed in the same position in which Adam was before he fell. And if we
fall after we have been placed in a state of grace, we fall by our own
fault.
_He has delivered us from the chastisement due for our sins._ All sin
entails punishment. But Christ has not only taken from us the guilt
of sin, but also to a large extent the suffering due as a penalty for
sin. Not indeed wholly, as it is necessary for our education that we
should still feel pain if we transgress a law, but He has removed all
save what is necessary for our discipline. Sin indeed deserved eternal
separation from God, as it was an alienation from God, it must have
led further and further away from Him into outer darkness and eternal
death. But Christ has delivered us from this. He is always ready to
restore us to our former position in the way of salvation.
3. By the Sacrifice of Christ's death, the expiation is _universal_.
That is to say, Christ made atonement for the sins of the whole world.
He did all that was necessary to redeem the souls of those already
dead, of those then alive, but also of all those who should live in
ages to come. He did not die for the Jews only, or for the Gentiles
only, or for only a few elect, but for all mankind, that all mankind
might be saved.
How is it then that some are lost? It is because all will not accept
His redemption; they refuse the benefits He offers, reject His precious
blood, and will have nothing to do with His salvation. Brought, may be,
out of darkness into light, they go back into thraldom to the Evil One,
trample on God's mercy, and wilfully resist Him. Grace and pardon are
offered to all, but all will not receive.
No man, not even the heathen, is lost eternally, except by wilful
opposition to what he knows to be the truth. Some may have little
light, others have more, but whosoever will follow his light as far
as it shines, he will not have his shortcomings imputed to him, but
through the abounding mercy and merits of Jesus Christ will be saved.
[Illustration]
Easter Eve.
_THE APPLICATION OF THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST._
1. Having seen how Christ made a full, perfect, and sufficient
sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, we will now see how we can
apply the merits of His Sacrifice to our own souls, to _cleanse_ them
from dead works, and to _strengthen_ them for obedience in His service.
2. The _atoning blood of Christ is applied in the Sacraments_. First,
in the Sacrament of Baptism the blood of Christ is the efficient cause
of the neophyte passing out of the bondage of Satan into the Kingdom of
God. By that blood we obtain remission of original sin.
But we sin after Baptism. How is past baptismal sin to be effaced?
(_a_) There must be a _right disposition_ on our part. We must _come
to a knowledge_ of our sinful state; then we must _bitterly grieve_
over our transgression, and we must then _resolve not to sin again_;
in other words, knowing our sin we must acknowledge it, be contrite,
and have full purpose of amendment. These three elements go to make up
_true repentance_. And without true repentance there can be no pardon
accorded us.
(_b_) When there is this right disposition, then we must _plead the
Sacrifice of Christ's death_. This we do in the way Christ Himself
appointed, by the oblation of the Holy Eucharist. In this we show
forth the Lord's death till He come. In this we offer up before God
the atoning blood of Christ in expiation for our offences. Then we
go before the Throne of the Eternal Father, and righteous Judge; we
show that we are ourselves in the right disposition, _i.e._, truly
repentant, we acknowledge our offences, show Him that we bewail
them, earnestly entreat for grace to amend, and then plead that
all-prevailing Sacrifice, through which alone our repentance can be
accepted.
(_c_) But all prayer is an echo of the great Eucharistic Sacrifice, for
all prayer is offered through the name, the merits, and mediation of
Jesus Christ. Prayer is availing, because we have access to the Father
through Christ.
3. _The Sacrifice of Christ obtains for us strength_, and this is
distributed to us in the Sacraments. At the Lord's table we are
strengthened and refreshed with the Body and Blood of Christ, enabled
through Him to resist temptation, overcome natural weakness, grow
strong in His grace, and attain to the likeness of Christ. We should
have no help from above were it not that Christ has won it for us by
His Sacrifice.
Thus through Jesus Christ, we who were sometime aliens are brought nigh
to God, made the children of God, and perfected unto the Day of the
Lord.
[Illustration]
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
The illustrations indicated at the end of each chapter are small, black
Maltese-style crosses.
Obvious printer's errors corrected.
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
possible, including obsolete and variant spellings, inconsistent
hyphenation, unclear grammatical usage, and other inconsistencies.