The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-04-21

pears that bloody sacrifice led to the
first murder on record. The conception
of half civilized people, was, that the
shedding Of blood cleansed the lant
from the pollution of murder, Mum
xxxv. 33.) Hence "blood atonement. ,
A few passages will convey to the mind
the thought attached to blood. Hi:
hoar head bring thou down with blood
to the grave, i. Kings ii. 8. And the
land was polluted with blood, Psalms
A sword filled with blood, Isaiah
With blood of innocents, Jer. xix. A
Drunk with blood, xl. 10. Gilead
is a city polluted with blood. Hos. vi
s. We might go on quoting, but let
it suffice to say that the culmirating
wicked act of the Jewish nation lay in
shedding the blood of the innocent one,
thus filing up the measure of iniquity
that brought such calamity to that peo-
pie.
| Prof. Jowett, master of BaIliol Col
lege, Oxford, Eng, says: Heather and
Jewish sacrifices rather show us what the
sacrifice of Christ was not, than what
it was" The stanza quoted outdoes the
tropical language of the prophet. Is it
not shrouding of what our deepest
conviction ought to be as to the value
Of that which is to lift world of sin
| ners out of the slums of sin into the
glorious likeness of the divine suf-
fererp That Christ laid down his life
for the world, no Christian would for a
moment deny. 1t was the supreme
and final act of obedience unto
DEATH" He knew obedience was
better than sacrifice" He met cheer
fully every duty and shrunk not when
the final ordeal came, well knowing
that many of his followers would have
to ''drink of the same cup"
What is it then that constitutes the
value of the work and sufferings of
Christ if it be not the vicarious sacri-
flee on Calvary The writer of the
Hebrews gives the key to the solution
of the question; key either unknown
or not used by sacrifcialists. Because
thou hast loved righteousness and
hated iniquity, therefore God, thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of glad
ness above thy fellows" This passage
excludes satisfaction, placation and
sacrifice, in the sense attached to it. by
orthodoxy. Were not Christ's suffer-
ings as sacrificial as the anxieties and
sufferings Of good father over the
designations and wanderings of q loved
sone Indeed were they not analogous
in character, the difference being in
volume? Christ seems to teach this
in the parable of the prodigal. We may
suppose the process of the prodigal's
coming to himself above and beyond
the plenty in his fathers house, was
the thought of what that good father
must have suffered, the sleepless
hours, the lacerated affections, mem
ories borne on the magnetic current of
thought, these the ministers of love
impelled to the resolution, 81 will arise
and go to my father and there unload
the burden of my soul and tell him
have sinned against his love, and am
no more worthy to be called his son.
Still the question arises, Is it possible
that the hundreds of millions of
Grecian, Roman and Protestant Chris
tianity are in error in teaching HE
paid it all" or in the words of Milton
"Die he or justice must ?" The reply
is, majorities are not always right.
We do know, what was tau ght one
hundred years ago is seldom taught
now. One would be led to conclude
from what we often hear, that the BIZ
BILE contained little else than elaborate
discourses about sacrifices and blood
Let us examine. We there find two
conceptions or lines Of thought. Theol-
ogians have pressed upon man the
bloody or scarlet line to represent the
mercy of God, to be manifested in the
fullness of time. This scarlet line
strikes the eye of most of our revival
lists fully as much as it does the edu-
Gated and thoughtful theologian. In
the eye of the former is blood, blood,
emphasized by thoughtless repetition
as to remind us of the scarlet woman
so graphically portrayed by the Revel-
ator. The priest, with his bloody
knife and altar, seems almost always
antsgonizing the prophetic element,
whose conceptions are ethical. The
prophets threw out the golden line.
They are the Christ party of the Old
Testament. But what of Moses? The
Mosaic sacrifcial system served its
purpose in its day. Then, the world
was full Of sacrifice; Moses was eclectic
and restraining. A moral and spirit
ual religion was too naked for that
gross age and nation of emancipated
slaves. The golden calf is evidence of
this. The Levitical system forbade
human sacrifices, prevalent at that
time, and all sacrifices provoking to
righteousness, such as the Phallic rites
in the worship of Bacchus, etc. 1t also
instituted sanitary regulations. We