Chapter II - Atonement And Eucharist
Zigzag course
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the passport of some wiser pilgrim, thinking with the aid
the passport of some wiser pilgrim, thinking with the aid
of this to find and follow the right road.
Moral retrogression
22:3
Vibrating like a pendulum between sin and the hope
Vibrating like a pendulum between sin and the hope
of forgiveness, – selfishness and sensuality causing con-
stant retrogression, – our moral progress will
be slow. Waking to Christ's demand, mortals
experience suffering. This causes them, even as drown-
ing men, to make vigorous efforts to save themselves; and
through Christ's precious love these efforts are crowned
with success.
Wait for reward
22:11
"Work out your own salvation," is the demand of
"Work out your own salvation," is the demand of
Life and Love, for to this end God worketh with you.
"Occupy till I come!" Wait for your re-
ward, and "be not weary in well doing." If
your endeavors are beset by fearful odds, and you receive
no present reward, go not back to error, nor become a
sluggard in the race.
22:18
When the smoke of battle clears away, you will dis-
When the smoke of battle clears away, you will dis-
cern the good you have done, and receive according to
your deserving. Love is not hasty to deliver us from
temptation, for Love means that we shall be tried and
purified.
Deliverance not vicarious
22:23
Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in
Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in
immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not
reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning
one's faith without works to another's vicarious
effort. Whosoever believeth that wrath is righteous or
that divinity is appeased by human suffering, does not
understand God.
Justice and substitution
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Justice requires reformation of the sinner. Mercy
Justice requires reformation of the sinner. Mercy
cancels the debt only when justice approves. Revenge
is inadmissible. Wrath which is only appeased is not
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destroyed, but partially indulged. Wisdom and Love
destroyed, but partially indulged. Wisdom and Love
may require many sacrifices of self to save us from sin.
One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to
pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires
constant self-immolation on the sinner's part. That
God's wrath should be vented upon His beloved Son, is
divinely unnatural. Such a theory is man-made. The
atonement is a hard problem in theology, but its scien-
tific explanation is, that suffering is an error of sinful sense
which Truth destroys, and that eventually both sin and suf-
fering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love.
Doctrines and faith
23:12
Rabbinical lore said: "He that taketh one doctrine,
Rabbinical lore said: "He that taketh one doctrine,
firm in faith, has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him."
This preaching receives a strong rebuke in
the Scripture, "Faith without works is dead."
Faith, if it be mere belief, is as a pendulum swinging be-
tween nothing and something, having no fixity. Faith,
advanced to spiritual understanding, is the evidence gained
from Spirit, which rebukes sin of every kind and estab-
lishes the claims of God.
Self-reliance and confidence
23:21
In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, faith and the
In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, faith and the
words corresponding thereto have these two defini-
tions, trustfulness and trustworthiness. One
kind of faith trusts one's welfare to others.
Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how
to work out one's "own salvation, with fear and trem-
bling." "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!"
expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the
injunction, "Believe . . . and thou shalt be saved!"
demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spir-
itual understanding and confides all to God.
23:32
The Hebrew verb to believe means also to be firm or
The Hebrew verb to believe means also to be firm or