The doctrine of vicarious atonement is found in some form in most
religions, and it is the body and soul of ours. The idea is not a
Christian invention. It caused the Carthaginians to put to death their
handsomest prisoners if a battle were won, the most promising children
of their own nobility if it were lost. They were offerings to appease
the gods.
In old times there were peoples who believed that if a chief was guilty
of a misdemeanor it was just to punish or enslave any one of his tribe.
That was their idea of liberty and justice. If a father committed
a crime it could be expiated by the murder of his son. That was the
doctrine of vicarious atonement in all its pristine glory. So they
adopted that style of justice in our religion, and condemned the
whole lot of us to the eternal wrath of God on account of that little
indiscretion attributed to Eve. It seems a very little thing for anybody
to get so angry at us all about and stay angry so long! It doesn't seem
to me that if one of you were to eat every apple I had in my orchard, I
should want to murder and eternally damn all the folks that live in Asia
Minor. Do you think you would?
In the 11th verse of the 12th chapter of the second book of Samuel it is
claimed that God said he was going to be revenged for the crimes of some
men by a vile punishment of their wives.
Only a short time ago a man tried that same style of justice in one of
our Western towns. He claimed that Smith had alienated the affections of
his wife, so he went over to Smith's house and _whipped Mrs. Smith!_ And
do you know that the judge who tried that case (not being a good Bible
student) actually sent that good, pious man to the house of correction
--that man who not only believed in his Bible, but lived by it! And just
as likely as not that judge will be elected again. Truly we have fallen
on degenerate times!
Legal minds outgrew the idea of vicarious punishment long ago. Physical
liberty came to have a new meaning, and punishment was awarded more
nearly where it was due. But the religious mind never outgrows anything.
It is born as big as it ever gets. Development is its terror. It abhors
a change. It forces you to sin by proxy, to be redeemed by proxy; and
the only thing it does permit you to receive at first hand is Hell. That
is the only one thing you can't delegate to somebody else.
If you commit no sin, you are responsible for the sins of other people
--dead people, too, that you can't look after. If you are good and true
and noble--even if you are a Christian--you don't get any credit for it.
If there is any one thing above another that God detests it is to have
a man try to be grand and noble and true, and then get the credit of
it. "To Christ belongs all the honor, the praise, and the glory--world
without end, Amen."
But when it comes to the punishment, the vicarious notion doesn't seem
to work. There is the one point where you are welcome to your own, and
no discount allowed to heavy takers. Hell is always at par and no bail
permitted. Even ignorance of the requirements is no excuse. If you did
not know any better, somebody else did, and you've got to pay for it.
Now if the vicarious principle is not big enough to go clear round, I'll
leave my share off at the other end. If the Church wants to take my hell
(vicariously) it is welcome to it. I will let it go cheap.
Awhile ago a man stayed some time at a hotel in New York, and when
the time came for him to pay his bill he hadn't the money. Well, the
proprietor felt sorry for him and said, "I tell you what I'll do about
that bill, I'll throw off half." His guest was overwhelmed by this
liberality, and with tears of gratitude said, "I cannot permit you to
outdo me in generosity; I'll throw off the other half and we'll call it
square."
So if the Church desires all the credit, it is also welcome to all the
blame. I cannot permit it to outdo me in generosity. But I'd rather be
responsible for just my own sins, and then I can regulate them better,
and I can take care of my own reward when I get it. I shall not want
to deposit it with the clergy. A profit and loss system that is chiefly
loss will not pay me.
The doctrines of vicarious atonement and original or inherited sin are
the most infamously unjust dogmas that ever clouded the brain of man.