The living atonement

Front matter

II ;, r ■ ii i e Living Atonement

Champion ih > ii,

I ■ I ■

Foreword

Vast, infinitely vast and equally deep is the ocean of truth. Whether great or small, there is no sea which is not somewhere breaking into waves. It may be that beyond the narrow bounds of our present horizon the ocean of truth lies restful in a glassy calm. Here, at least, it breaks into the billows of human thinking. Waves do not wear out the sea. Book may follow book as wave follows wave ; but the old ocean of truth is as full and boundless as ever. Along the shores of time the wavelets of our thinking die; but the majestic deep of divine truth rolls on as before.

An age characterized by increasing regard for the word of God cannot fail to be one of religious progress; and the present is peerlessly prolific in books on the Bible. Never will the Scriptures be classed with effete literature, for more of God is in them than in any other book. Man cannot outgrow the means of his growth ; and the Book of books is necessary to his religious development. Advance is never away from it, but into it. The altar fires of earth blaze up and die down ; but the same sun that greeted the wondering eyes of the first man shines on undimmed in the heavens. So we have the flick-

vii viii Foretvord

ering rays of religious books ; and we have the sun of literature, the Bible. New books are constantly replacing those whose light has waned. There is but one book, the light of which has never failed us. All others tend to embers and ashes.

In the nature of the case the word of God must be our standard of authority on the subject of the atonement. It is in God's light that we see his light ; and he who is the Light of the world has left us the light of his word. The faces of all the Christian centuries have been agleam from the unconsumed burning on Calvary ; but each age has had to catch its own reflection of this light of redemption. To reflect the rays of the atonement is to be transfigured by them; to interpret Christ's work of salvation is to impart therewith one's own personality. The more important thing, however, is not the form of the reflecting face ; it is this light divine. Soon we disappear into the silent, lone, mysterious darkness, and others replace us. There are new reflections from new faces, but the light is ever the same. The greatest service possible in a book on the atonement is in furnishing men with the incentive to behold for themselves the living light.

Any one tracing through the last century the discussions on the subject of the atonement, finds that the farther back he goes the less are they in touch with the thought of to-day. Because we are not living in the summer-time in which these flowers blossomed, we see not the beauty in which

Foreword ix

they bloomed; and fail to catch the perfume which they then distilled. The thistle blossoms of this year are more fragrant by far than the dried roses of last year. The thorniest book of present-day discussion has power of contact with this age, which is wanting in the best books of bygone days. The dead past and the living present are separatedby a continual burial process. Even the leaves of the theological tree reach their autumn. They would not die and silently flutter down, if their work were not done ; yet it may not all be done when they fall. They may turn to mould, and their elements enter again into the life of this mighty mangrove tree, and bud forth anew in numberless, verdant, breathing fronds.

For a long time no statement of the atonement has met with general acceptance; nevertheless, a new treatment of the subject, adapted to our own day, is confidently expected. At a recent religious congress one of the subjects discussed was: "The Doctrine of the Atonement in Terms of Modern Thought."

A report of the discussion said :

" For all the rest (eight of the nine speakers) the old terms had lost all meaning or been modified out of all resemblance to their historic significance. . . The new way of thinking is gathering an impulse, an intensity, a passion of its own. We are no longer to be content with saying, ' The atonement is too large for us ; we have no theory of it ; we can have none.' A new doctrine, ethical, psychological, socix Foreword

ological, biological, and all the rest — still looming shadowy in the mist — but looming large and drawing rapidly near, begins to be discernible. To whatever else they were indifferent, no one of these speakers was indifferent to Christ. He commandb not less, but ever more completely the love and allegiance of his disciples. We can only wait and hope." 1

It is due to say that the material of this book came and took form after years of wandering in a jungle. The attempt to hew a way through the forest of the theories of the atonement was of no avail. Utterly lost in the heart of this vast continent, much time was spent traveling in a circle. At length a clear path was discovered. Its direction is as follows:

JESUS CHRIST MADE ATONEMENT BY HIS DEATH IN THAT HIS DEATH MADE HIM ATONEMENT.

In acknowledging help received in the preparation of this book, it is difficult to know where to begin or where to end. The list of authors, teachers, and friends to whom unpayable debt is owed, would; fill the book itself. In the literary revision of the text the assistance of a lifelong friend, William T. Daley, of 26 Broadway, New York City, and of, another friend, Rev. Charles H. Emerson, M. A., of Brantford, Ontario, must be mentioned. While " Words pay no debts," one does owe the acknowledgment that back of his efforts are the hidden props of many God-given friends. t b c

» W. B. Matteson, D. D., Baptist Congress 1908. (New York "Examiner.")

Chapter Four. Positive Theology and the Atonement 51

The Present Need of a Positive Theology. I. The Meaning of Positive Theology. II. Christ the Center and Substance of its Thought. III. The Atonement its Central Doctrine, Because of its Practical Nature. IV. Preparation for its Study.

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Pages

Chapter Sixteen. The Resurrection and the Atonement 263

Their Relation to Each Other. I. The Fact of the Physical. II. The Service of the Resurrection. III. The Transcendent and the Immanent.

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Pages Chapter Seventeen. The Law of the Atonement

in Human Experience 281

The Experiential Essential to the Ethical. I. The Meaning of Law. II. The Subjective-objective Nature of Experience.

Chapter Eighteen. Atonement for the Wrong to God 295

The Spheres of the Atonement in its Mediation. I. Faith. II. Realization of the Wrong. III. The Cleansing from Sin. IV. The Satisfaction to God.

Chapter Nineteen. Atonement for the Wrong to Fellow-man 309

The General Effect of the Wrong of Sin. I. The New Relation in Christ. II. Faith in Atonement. III. A Full Atonement. IV. Righting the Social Wrongs.

Chapter Twenty. Atonement in Moral Character

and Spiritual Life 323

Righteousness in Moral Character and its Relations. I. The Salvation of Character. II. The Harmonizing Within. III. Perfect Personality, its Life and Freedom.

Chapter Twenty-one. Summary and Conclusion.. 335 Positive Theology Grounded in Religious Experience. The Atonement a Doctrine of Christian Life. The Deity of Christ. Progress in Statement of the Atonement. The Personal Theory. Conclusion.

Our Father! while our hearts unlearn The creeds that wrong thy name,

Still let our hallowed altars burn With faith's undying flame.

If mid the gathering storms of doubt

Our hearts grow faint and cold, The strength we cannot live without Thy love will not withhold.

— Oliver Wendell Holmes.

The most distinctive and determinative element in modern theology is what we may term a new feeling for Christ. By this feeling its specific character is at once defined and expressed. . . Now, how has this new feeling for Christ affected constructive Christian theology? We have just seen that historical inquiry raises questions that belong to the philosophy of history, which is but the most concrete form of the philosophy alike of nature and man. We cannot conceive and describe the supreme historical Person without coming face to face with the profoundest of all the problems in theology; but then we may come to them from an entirely changed point of view, through the Person that is to be interpreted, rather than through the interpretations of his person. When this change is effected, theology ceases to be scholastic, and becomes historical ; and this precisely represents the change which it has undergone or is undergoing. The speculative counterpart of the new feeling for Christ is the rejuvenescence of theology.

— Principal A. M. Fairbairn, D. D.

Chapter One

In the beginning God made the world, and the beginning of the world was in him. God, in its origin, was the sure promise of God in its development. The divine immanence is the condition and the pledge of progress. God in the world and the world in God move ever on to greater good. The world is on the upward way. The whole universe throbs with a divine movement. God is the Soul of its progress, the Companion of its evolution. All creation is striving to keep step with its Maker. God and his worlds march on together. The face of each realm is forward; its stride is onward. God leads on.

I. Forefront in the advance of the universe is man. He in himself is a galaxy of worlds. Along various lines he has been steadily progressing. His mind is on the march of conquest in the realm of truth. Within this vast domain there is ample room for endless progress. The world of truth is one of perfect order and endless variety. Distinction may be made between truth of expression and truth of that expressed, between truth of mind and of morals, of heart and of life, of being and of becoming. The lowest order of truth is that of form, and the highest that of substance. The truth highest in form and in substance is to be found in personality. The mistake is often made of attempting to limit truth to the intellectual order. This, no doubt, occurs because of all other realms of truth having their counterpart in the intellectual.

Theology is a field of study. It is the study of truth in relation to God. It is the highest of all sciences. Theology is a science because enough of its truths and their relations are known to make an orderly presentation. It is a growing science because knowledge of its truths is on the increase. Theology, in its very nature, is an inexhaustible subject. It is not an independent study. All other sciences make contribution to it. Theology shares, therefore, in the general progress of human thought.

Scientific theology is not the only kind. There is a higher order. " The heart makes the theologian," we are told. There is a theology of the heart as well as of the head. The latter is an imperfect expression of the former. Scientific theology is compelled to make its statements in terms of the intellect. The highest order of theology, being the truth of life, cannot be reduced to mental terms without tremendous loss. The best theology is not found written upon the leaves of books; it is inscribed upon the pages of human life. The highest kind of theology is Living Theology.

II. A study of its history and phases reveals the fact that theology is subject to a law of evolution. The word evolution is here used in its best sense, as descriptive of the process of development. This term is not fitted to designate at the same time progress and primal origin. The theory of evolution has been much abused. This " Bucephalus " has been used as a cart-horse to the dump-heaps. Some day he will be restored to his place as snorting steed of battle; and upon him will mount some theological Alexander who will straightway conquer the world.

Theological evolution follows a natural order. Its advance may be marked in point of attention. Progress thus made is not peculiar to theology. It is found in all lines of study. Preaching may be taken as an example of it and of the naturalness of its order.

In the first stage, attention is centered upon the material of the sermon. The preacher may not know beforehand exactly what he will say. He thinks out his subject while speaking. Again, he may be endeavoring to recall what he did prepare ; or having his notes or manuscript before him, his attention is fixed thereon. He is sermon-conscious.

The second stage is reached when attention is fixed upon delivery. Equally important with having something to say, is knowing how to say it. The preacher, having mastered the material of his sermon, concentrates his attention upon the art of expression. He is then concerned with tone and inflection of voice, gesture, and posture. He is delivery-conscious.

In the third stage, attention is focused upon the audience. The preacher gives direct attention to his hearers. He is hearer-conscious. He now reaches the maximum of his power as a speaker. In the two former stages he had unconsciously held the attention of the congregation to the point of his own. They watched the doing of the thing, rather than listened for themselves. The speaker's attention, when centered upon the audience, directs their attention to themselves, and produces an atmosphere which is psychologically electric. Truth is then communicated by lightning flashes. Of course, the material of the sermon always limits the range of possible evolution. Should the preaching consist in the flash of empty fulmination, heat-lightning, and stage thunder, advance in power is impossible. Truth in substance must precede progress in the presenting of its form.

The art of the theologian is also largely the art of attention. The perfection of the art comes by perfecting the artist. There is no evolution of theology apart from evolution of the theologian. Here, also, higher objects of attention replace the lower. Attention is first fixed on system, then on truth, finally on Jesus Christ. Three types of theology result: the systematic, the critical, and the positive.

III. The young theologian in the first stage of his evolution adopts the ready-made system of a spiritual father or a beloved teacher. Youth naturally accepts without question the social, the political, and the ecclesiastical systems which it finds in vogue. It is natural for youth to accept also the theological system which charges the very atmosphere of home, school, and church. Once in possession of the individual, the system rules, schools, and molds him. Calvinism, Arminianism, or some other ism, is then lord of all it surveys on the little island of personality.

In this stage the system is everything. It alone is theology ; it alone is essential. The individual stands ready to defend it at any cost. He argues for it, battles for it, and lives for it. All truths are judged by their adaptability to it. Scripture itself receives no other interpretation than that which is in harmony with the system. The order of procedure is from the system to facts, and not the reverse. " The survival of the fittest," is determined by system-fitness.

Growth in this period is marked by the refining and modifying of the master-system, or the exchanging of it for some other system. The training in this stage is a good one. The system instinct is divine; but it has its limitations. Feeding upon system alone, the theologian becomes spiritually dwarfed. Some day dissatisfaction with the resulting sickening stagnation arises. This revulsion is the promise of an evolution. Perhaps some startling fact throws its searchlight glare upon the defects and deformities of the beloved system. The discovery is made that systems are but the tentative arrangement of human thought, rather than the truth itself. Because of this revulsion the hasty conclusion is now reached that all systems of man's thought are but elaborate methods of sandbank building upon the shores of time where soon the wind and waves in ruthless sport toss into oblivion the toil of a lifetime.

Passing out of the system chamber, which has been for some time the home of his mind, the young theologian discovers that its little window, which has been light itself to him, is not light, but only one of its dim inlets. Blinking in the brightness of broad daylight, he sees before him a well-trod path leading to an imposing structure with broad windows and radiant skylights. Entering, he finds the building everywhere stored with scientific paraphernalia. He is now in the laboratory of truth. He has reached the second stage of his theological development.

IV. The critical period is now entered, and attention is forthwith centered upon truth, but upon intellectual truth only. The second stage usually answers to the college and seminary period. It is not, however, confined to this time. The tremendous advance of education in our day has brought about an unnatural lengthening of the ordinary time spent in this stage. It has also induced some theologians to settle down in it for the rest of their lives; but this, of course, is an abnormal condition. When there will have come an advance in religious life equal to that in education, the theology of the second stage will no longer predominate. There may be cycles in which each of the three types of theology in turn predominate. The nature of the foremost movement of general progress accounts for this; and determines also which of the three types of theology may be in the ascendency at any given time.

Much good results from the second period, notwithstanding many passing through it become sadly upset by the breaking up of the venerated systems and the plowing up of time-worn paths of thought. Many have their dignity ruffled by being dragged bodily out of old-time ruts. The sophomore critics never fail to haze the poor freshmen who are slow in readjustment. As college and seminary days are appreciated in a larger and saner way long after they are over, so with the days of critical thought and unrest. Their incidental unpleasantnesses are finally forgotten, and their services remembered.

The second stage is not marked by constructiveness. The first period could not be so accused ; but in it the theologian was not overcareful in the selection of his building material. In the first stage it is the relating, and in the second the verifying of truth, which is of primary interest. One tends io The Living Atonement

to be oversystematic, and the other overcritical. Americans say of themselves, " We first overdo, then do." Mortals everywhere are prone to extremes. We had our bicycle craze. Those who can afford it, have now the motor-car craze. The critical craze all may afford. Even crazes, however, have an educative power not to be despised.

The subject-matter of religion includes far more than the intellectual, and criticism of its material cannot proceed upon an exclusively intellectual basis without leading to endless vagaries. The growing critic becomes some day thoroughly dissatisfied with the narrow line which intellectual criticism affords. There is an evolution of criticism itself, which naturally advances from the intellectual into the broader criticism of heart and experience. It was to the latter kind that Jesus ever invited men. The third stage of theological evolution is not far off when the scope and method of criticism are thus enlarged.

V. In the third period of the evolution of theology, the critical is replaced by the positive. In the first stage, the question asked was : " Does this help the system?" In the second, the challenge was: "Is this true ? " In the third, the inquiry is : " Does this help the spiritual life ? " In the first period, there was sought the positive to a chosen system of thought; in the second, the positive to intellectual truth; and in the third, the positive to religious life. Being the science of a life, instead of the intellectual fraction

Theological Evolution n

thereof, it is the theology of the whole soul. In it all the powers of personality share in the same experience and combine in the same testimony, the established certainty of that experience and life.

When the third stage in the evolution of the sermon was reached, its material was not discounted in value, nor the worth of good delivery discredited. The place to which their worth entitled them, was accorded. So, when the third stage of theology is reached, all system and criticism are not abandoned. It would be a revolution, not an evolution, if it were otherwise. Positive theology is not unsystematic and uncritical. Disorder and untruth would be decided hindrances to it. Faith in and love for Jesus Christ need orderliness and truthfulness. The higher the character of him to whom they are given, the more faith and devotion are embarrassed by mental slovenliness and lack of love for the truth. Faith of the heart does not induce paralysis in the brain. Positive theology is not pusillanimous.

There were faith and love in the system and critical stages ; but there they were related primarily to abstract truth. In the larger sphere of the third stage of theology, faith, love, and devotion are centered upon the highest of all objects. As God is infinitely greater than system and abstraction, faith in and love for him are infinitely greater than faith in and love for them. After all, full-orbed faith and love are to be found only in the relation between persons. That is positive theology which expresses the personal faith and love which lays hold on Jesus Christ. Not that the theologian loves system and intellectual truth the less, but Christ the more. Toward this divine event in the evolution of theology, its earlier stages ever move.

The center of attention in the third and last stage of theology is God in Christ. For the Christian, there is no necessary distinction between faith in the Son and in the Father. They are one ; and faith in them is one. The very genius of the life of the Son is faith in, and love for, the Father. Christ is never the enemy of any good or of any truth. What is negative to the deity of Christ is never really positive to faith in, and love for, God. What is positive in devotedness to Christ is never negative in loyalty to God and truth. What is negative to Christ is never positive to good; what is positive in good is, in the end, positive in loyalty to Christ. In loyalty to him inheres all loyalty to truth. In him is to be found the adjustment of all our allegiances and interests. These, in their very nature, grow out of our faith. High and holy as is interest in the welfare of man, in Jesus Christ are found its deepest motive, its highest plane, its greatest power and effectiveness.

Interest in intellectual truth cannot be accorded the highest place, for the worth of such truth depends upon the value of the personal relationship which it serves. There is no spiritual life apart from the interests begotten by personal relationship to Christ. The interest which he begets in the soul is of the highest order and widest range. Quality of life is measured by the quality of its interests. There is to be found in the interests which Christ begets the highest means for enlarging the soul and the greatest room for expanding its life. Unfolding spiritual life is the central value and verity of Christian experience. The truth of this unfolding spiritual life constitutes the material of positive theology.

Christ is the heart of all system, the key-truth of all truth, and the center of all spiritual relationships. Fount of all spiritual life, and source of all live, religious thought, he is naturally the soul of positive theology. Without him theology must be but a cemetery of still-born thoughts. Religious thought must find its life in Him who is the living truth. It is as the Lord himself said : " I am the way," the true system ; " the truth," the central reality ; " the life," the life for all, the life of life, the substance of religious vitality.

Systems depend for their value upon that which is organized by them. Mere system is nothing. Social systems are above the intellectual, and the ethical and spiritual above the social. System reaches its highest value in divine relations. Intellectual truth depends for its value upon personal truth. Truth has higher value and added meaning in each of its ascending realms. In the intellectual, it is the reality of thought ; in the ethical, it is the reality of moral life ;

and in the personal, it is the reality of spiritual being in which are organized the lower forms of truth. Jesus Christ is the reality and, therefore, the true and full revelation of divine personality. He is truth in deepest mystery, largest disclosure, and richest significance.

The highest order of theology is that which rises from the profoundest depths of soul, and expresses the vastest breadths of truth. The inspiration and substance of such is found in the Christ of God, and in him alone. All is not yet known about him ; and new theological thought is therefore bound to appear. Religion is forever either dying or developing. There is the possibility of theological evolution, because there is the possibility of theological reversion or atavism. A great teacher has said that the world has seen as much devolution as evolution. Side by side in all realms they are to be found. Reversion to lower type occurs in theology as elsewhere. There is a world of difference between " New Theology " in evolution and " New Theology " in reversion. Theology is included in the sum of things " new in Christ Jesus." Much of what passes to-day under the name of progress is but glorified decay. Much of what now seems to be retrograde movement is but progress in disguise. How shall we distinguish between them? It was George Macdonald who said :

All growth that is not toward God Is growing to decay.

II

Criticism seems to be accidental and sporadic rather than systematic and premeditated (in those earlier days when all the sciences lacked systematic exposition). Nevertheless, critical arguments — we may almost say the critical arguments one and all, as later developed by the constant practice of criticism — are used throughout this stage. It is therefore an error to speak of the ancient times as though criticism was unknown in them, or of the history of criticism as dating from the latter half of the eighteenth century.

— Prof. Andrew C. Zenos.

Chapter Two

There is the law that the richness of theology depends upon its source and spirit. This has illustration on every hand. In furnishing an example of this law elsewhere, forgive a second reference to preaching, for nothing lies so close to theology as the sermon.

I. There are three types of preachers, the intellectual, the emotional, and the spiritual. The first finds his source-world in thought. He is didactic rather than prophetic, mentally inspiring rather than spiritually edifying. The second depends upon the emotional source-world. He draws the crowd, for, in general, sensation is more prized than instruction. We need not be surprised that such is the case. This preference comes from the brain-weariness and heart-hunger of the masses. Emotional preaching, however, intoxicates rather than strengthens; and the congregation holds together only so long as the intoxication lasts. The third type, while using the intellectual and emotional, draws mainly from the deeper spiritual sources. This preacher holds that he himself needs more preparation than the sermon. b 17

His personality, when fully prepared, becomes a vortex whence the swirl of divine forces makes outrush. To stir the emotions needs but a pathetic story well told. To save the soul as well as thrill it, and to inspire it to religious activity, is a more serious matter. The more the preacher's personality is attuned to the divine Spirit, the greater the realms from which he draws, and the more his preaching accomplishes in harmonizing this world to God.

An increasing number are saying at the present time, " We love religion ; but we hate preaching." This may be the fault of the hearer, or of the preacher. Failing to create interest in what he is saying, the preacher lacks in power of helpfulness. It is useless to say that the sermon may be rich, though not interesting. To whom, in that case, is it rich? The sermon setting forth the barrenness and failure of the life which invariably accompanies the itching ear, could not fail to interest the possessor of it. Then the itching would turn to tingling. " The Sword of the Lord " is exceedingly interesting to people when its straight thrust finds them. God's thought is of compelling interest ; and that is most God's thought which best expresses the preeminent spiritual need. The sermon wearies more often because it is not the word of God, than because it is.

The theologian of to-day is much in the same plight as the preacher of the present time. Men are saying, " We love God ; but we hate theology." This noble science has become a byword and a hissing, a synonym for the dull, dry, and uninteresting. Alas ! What was once so rich in honor is now so poor that none will do it reverence. We cannot go back to the old theology ; because it is as out of date as the science of the last century. A " New Theology " has appeared ; but so far it has done little more than build up a Babel tower of negations. The confusion of tongues has come, and the scattering has resulted.