THOUGHTS ON THE ATONEMENT.
By E. B. Saunders
1. THE atonement is made for sin and has respect to the law of God which is violated. It was typified under the old covenant by the work of the high priest, in the most holy place in the sanctuary, on the tenth day of the seventh month. Lev. xvi. It was accomplished in the type by the sprinkling of blood upon and before the mercy seat, beneath which rest the tables of the law, which had been broken. The ten commandments was the law that convicted of sin under that covenant, if not now, and was the law written on the tables beneath the mercy seat; but let us bring other proof. Moses told Israel that God spake the law to prove them, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. Ex. xx, 20. He rehearses the law to Israel thirty-nine years after, and says also, "And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God." Deut. vi, 25. Offerings were brought, if a soul sinned through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord, &c. See Lev. iv, 2, 13, 22, 27. But the New Testament is very plain on this point. See Rom. vii, 7; iii, 20; v, 13; James. ii, 8–12; 1 John iii, 4. Thus we understand that the atonement is made on account of the transgression of the ten commandments. 2. The atonement was not real in the type, for those sacrifices could not take away sin (Heb. x, 4), but only prefigured the great sin offering. Consequently, one object of our Lord's death was to redeem some of the transgressors of the law under the old covenant, Heb. ix, 15. But the law transgressed was the ten commandments, and our Lord died to redeem them from its penalty, which is death. Rom. vi, 23. 3. The effect of the atonement will be felt in eternity, and not in this life. It redeems from eternal death beyond the first resurrection; hence disobedience to the ten commandments, if unatoned for, causes eternal death; and if, as some teach, the law was imperfect, unjust, and contrary to us, we must come to the wicked conclusion that God inflicts eternal death on some, because they failed to keep an imperfect and unjust law. But if the law is holy, just, and good, we cannot thus charge God foolishly. 4. The atonement is designed to remove the sins of some, to prepare them for eternal life, hence disobedience to the ten commandments, if unatoned for, will disqualify for heaven. The qualifications of a candidate for eternal life must be a loving obedience to every known duty. This is the grand test to which we are to be subjected in the judgment; but the stern demands of the law will be tempered by certain kinds of ignorance in the sinner, and the cheerfulness with which he performs all that he knows is required. But the qualifications for eternal life are such as the redeemed will be required to perform. The qualifications for a lawyer will not fit one to be a general; a general must be qualified to perform the duties of a general, and those duties must be made a test of his capacity. So with the candidate for eternal life. He must be tested by those duties he will be required to perform during that life. But the test under the old covenant, at least, was the ten commandments; hence the duties enjoined in these commandments will be required of some in heaven. Now, if, as some contend, Christians are tested by a different law, it follows that they will obey a different law in heaven; and if this be true there will be different and opposing laws in heaven, which would make it a kingdom divided against itself. This conclusion is false because the premises are false; hence we must conclude that Christians are not tested by a different law, and that there is but one moral law in heaven. We have before proved that the ten commandments will be kept by some in that state, it follows that this is the law of heaven which all the redeemed will obey; hence it was not abolished at the cross. 5. The law of ten commandments demands the life of the sinner. These demands were acknowledged to be just by the sinner when he offered the life of the innocent victim instead of his own. But Jesus makes the real atonement: hence, when he gave his life for the sins of the world, he virtually acknowledged the law that required it to be holy, just, and good; and by yielding to its claims he honored and respected it as well as magnified its importance. Those Christians who despise the law of God while they exalt the gospel, are virtually doing the same things; they acknowledge the justice of the law when they confess their sins, and lay hold on Christ's death, through the gospel ordinances, yet with their lips will deny the obligation of the very law they ask Jesus to honor for them. But they do it ignorantly, in unbelief; the time was when God winked at such ignorance, but will he do so now when men boast of their light and knowledge? 6. The death of Christ for sin shows that the law that had been transgressed was perfect. Certainly if fault could have been found with the law, it would have been done to save so honorable a victim as the Son of God. The Father would not have suffered his beloved Son to die to honor an unholy, unjust, and imperfect law, that was contrary to man and against the will of God. From this we conclude that the law, for which the Son of God was willing to die, to fulfill its claims, and to honor which, the Father was willing to sacrifice his lovely Son, must be unchangeable in its nature, and its requirements just and good. 7. A law is never abolished by the execution of its penalty. Jesus came to suffer the penalty of the law, and not to abolish it. If the Jewish sacrifices pointed forward to one who was to abolish the law that condemned sinners, it follows that the ancient worthies will be justified because the law that condemned them has been repealed, and in the judgment no law is found against them, for "sin is not imputed when there is no law." But those that sin in the law will be judged by the law, which is positive evidence that the law exists in the judgment. Hence we are led to conclude that the Jewish sacrifices did not point to one who was to abolish the moral law. If the law was abolished at our Lord's death, it will not appear against any in the judgment; hence, all sinners under the law will be justified, which doctrine is the worst form of Universalism. There are other points worthy of mention, but this is already long enough for the present. Eagle Harbor, N. Y., March 24, 1862.