Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1869-06-08
The AII-CIeansing Blood.

ical minister say that he had been accosted
by man who had heard him preach with |
This criticism so don't like your theology. |
1t is too bloody 1t savors of the SHAMELESS. |
1t is all blood, blood, BLOOD. / like |
pleasanter gospel" He replied: "Well, |
my theology is bloody. 1t recognizes as
its fountain a very sanguinary scene-the |
death of Christ, with bleeding hands and |
feet and side. And / am quite content it |
should be bloody for God hath said, that
without shedding of blood is no remission
of SINS"
1t is not in rose water, but in blood, that
God proposes to wash US. That theology
which drops out the blood of Jesus has
nothing saving left in it. 1t may talk
beautifully about self culture and philan-
throphv, but it has no salvation to offer.
The agonized soul of the real penitent
wants some more efficient help than the
advice to follow the only spotless example
That advice it cannot heed until it is par
doned, washed and renewed. And this
threefold deliverance from the guilt the
pollution, and the dominion of sin can be
effected only by the blood of the Lamb.
There is a strong tendency in much of
the popular theological writing of the day
to drift entirely away from this essential
idea. Unitarianism lin general, for it by
no means agrees with itself; its platform is
broad enough to hold anybody who stands
between Claiming and Parker; it has no
creed. and its last national convention re-
fused by formal vote to adopt any Uni
tarianism regards Christas the fullest man
Hesitation of God. To it the appalling ag-
ony OF Gethsemane, and the stupendous
selI-sacrifice OF Calvary, are only illustra-
tions Of a splendid magnanimity. God
might have forgiven us without the death
OF Christ, $50 some tell US, but then he
would have lacked the motive power to
L-i.4es ~ 70 him The CROSS : -;---r-ls .
lOa&stOne. No it IS more than that; 1t IS
an altar.
The Jesus Christ of the Holy Scriptures
is more than patient, pitiful, loving and
even a divine man. He is an atoning sac
rifice and this is the great fact concerning
him, the basis of all the rest. The beauty
Of the gospel is one thing, and its sOhdity
quite another. The Eddystone light is a
beautiful object, but unless the tall column
which holds it aloft had good grip on
the ledge below there would soon be no
| light there. Christ is the light of the
world - but he is also the sure founda-
ton" Our ever shining Pharos lifts it
self far above the waves, and stands Sc
curely because it rests on the solid granite
of Gods eternal justice, and is cemented
with streaming blood divine"
| We need to be on our guard lest we be
! tainted or suffer any within the circle of
our influence to be tainted with that dill.
ettante religionism which makes Christ
secondary, and his blood of little or no ac.
count; for its strong tendency is to sheer
infdelity Theodore Parker sarcastically
represented christians generally as trust
ing for salvation TO the blood OF a crucifieC
Jew" One can hardly read such word:
without keen pang; ana some whose eye,
may glance over them IN this connection
will be ready to say, Only Americas arcl
intidel could nave uttered tnem;' yet it i
not many weeks since the Rev. Mr.. Alger
of Boston. said in a sermon the editor OF
lions Herald seemed to believe that Their
was Il narrow trap door in the sky, drip
ping with the blood OF a crucitiad Nazaren,
and that there was nc other means Of al
mission 10 the court OF heaven. The hOr
rid impietv OF such utterances almost pre-
vents the repetition OF them, even tor tn
purpose OF 4 solemn protest against thei
reckless and proiane tfiHing with the bloO'
Of the Son OF God, which is the only hop
of the world Yes, it is the blood OF
crucifed Jew" in which we trust for saliva
ton. We DO believe there is but one doc
into heaven, and that a narrow one an,
that whose ''clilnbeth up some other way
the same is thief and a robber" For al
we know, that door may be sprinkled wit
the blood OF crucified NazMene. Gen
tainiy all who pass through it must be ;
? sprinkled. And yet professionalism is not
failure It's great central thought * march
ing on in ever widening conquest. Tha
thought is Justification by faith alone, NJ
r by papal penances, High church ceremC
MES, nor Broad church gentility-
That atOuImeut, IN whose bleeding sa,
: ritce men see no form nor comliness, an
o no beauty that they should desire him,
vet essential a. Il satisfaction to divine jul
tice; and to the human conscience. 1t
y, impossible ior US to think of God as otht
/ than holy. Tie pure, burning seraphil
,, PROSTATE themselves before his throne an
!. cry "Holy, holy, holy" As such he nu,
= hate sin, and be does He says OF it, Il
do nor this Accountable thing which | hate
, We sympatiIize with Gods wrath again
Il sin. Our conscience which is a faint an
y distorted image Of Gods justice, makes
=. feel kindred wrath We feel that 81
I ought t. be punished and must be punisl
q ed. We are commanded by God to abb,
f that which IS evil and it is essential
!, our virtue that we do so. Adherence c
% evil in ourselves and in others Is sur
test Of holy character than admiration {
- good. Even the heather Aristotle was Wi
Ri, enough to say that che who feels anger {
o proper occasions, at proper persons in
+ proper manner, aad for proper length {
i time, is an object of praise" The EN-
: nently christian and philosophic Arno
# OF Rugby, as he sat musing under the de,
,r Italian sky, beside the limpid waters
\ lake Como, wrote thus ut is almost az
ia full TO look at the overwhelming beauty a
o. Ound me, and then think of moral evil.
n seems as if heaven and he'll, instead of
o ing separated by great gulf from one q
o, other, were absolutely on each others co
- fines, and indeed not far from one Of US.
n Might the SENSE OF moral evil be as strol
= in me as my delight in external beaut
ia for in deep sense of moral evil, more pc
" haps than in anything else, abides a savil
+ knowledge Of God 1t is not so much
~ admire moral good that we may do al
20 yet not be ourselves conformed to it; b
if we really do abhor that which is ev
f not the persons in whom the evil resid,
" but the evil that dwelleth in them, an
1t much more manitestly and certainly to o
# own knowledge, in our own hearts, that
n is to have the feeling of God and Of Chri
~ and to have our spirit in sympathy wi
Il the Spirit of God.
cd Thus we see how an enlightened MOI
is nature must applaud that divine deer
=, which visits indignation and wrath, tri
or ulation and anguish" upon the wicked.
o1, God must be just; merciful he need L
- be- 1t did not devolve on him to pard
or and restore Adam; it did not devolye
Il him to maintain the majesty of his law a
~ ~ the honor OF his throne. Any salvation
w., 10, tered must fully satisfy Gods justice a
!; mans conscience. What, then. is our r.
- uge? That atOnement by which God m
40 be Just, and yet justify" that spotless a
to infinitely worthy victim who "bare q
~ sins in his own body ON the tree" looki
to whom we may confidently say, "N
have redemption through his blood"
Oh A single example of the practical pow
III Of this faith must now suffice. The gift,
eh fervent, melancholy Cowper says of
st, time OF his conversion, ''The happy peri
ce which was to shake off my letters and
:" ford me a clear opening of the free mel
ii of Tod in IpsuS Christ was ,o,,, n rriv ed