Los Angeles herald., 1907-07-22
SAYS THE ATONEMENT
CANNOT BE EXPLAINED
Pastor Declares Many Theories Have
Been Promulgated but None Has
Withstood the Test OF
Time

Rev. c. C. Pierce, pastor of the Memorial
Baptist church, preached yesterday on the
subject of the "Atonement," taking for his
text II Cor. 5:19, God was in Christ re-
conciling the world unto himself" lie
said in part:
among all the impossible. unthlnkapie
and terrible theories of Gods WORK ior
man. through Jesus Christ, the one whlch
wore and more appeals to sensible men,
and which is free from the inconsistencies
and Objectionable features too frequently
prominent in this great doctrine Is con
tanned in the words of Paul, GOD was III
Christ reconciling the world to himself
zone fundamental scriptural teaching
regarding the work of Christ is that II is
Gods work He originated 1t and planned
it, and 1t was part of his original pur-
pose. 1t was no afterthought, ana no
subterfuge by which he patched up con
dition of affairs for the race which he hao
not originally expected Christ's work was
no momentary affair and had nothing to
do with changing Gods original attitude
toward man.
1.-THE second thing we notice is that 1t
was a work done to affect man, ana not
God Some have supposed that what
Christ did for the race in some way af-
fected Gods attitude toward man; that
after the death of Christ God felt dlf-
ferently toward man and could do Tor MN
that which it was impossible for him to
do before, or that which he was unwlll-
ing to do before.
Paul did not so conceive it, He thought
of this as Gods work for man, and he
thought of Christ as an expression OF
Gods age-long love and mercy toward the
race God was not the one who needed to
be reconciled. He never changed his atti-
tude, and never will. His purposes for
man are eteranlly the same. but man
needed to be reconcfied to God. Man
needed to see that Gods way was the
right way and that from the beginning
God had loved him.
"rThis work was accomplished by and
through the life, teachings, death and
eternal activity and character of Christ.
He came to show this race the true char
acter of God and to reveal to us Gods
changeless love. He came to show us that
the divine purpose of God for humanity is
ever of the kind that seeks to find the
wanderer and bring him back to the true
way of life
'When it comes to formulating any fast
and hard theory of Gods greatest and
most necessary work for man we ought to
remember that to attempt this is to try to
do something that the human race has
never vet been able to do. All through
the Christian centuries, thoughtful and
devout men have sought to formulate
some definition and make some explana~
ton of the great fact which would be
final and satisfactory Every one of them
has failed.
Some theory has been propounded
which may have held sway for century
or two, or perhaps for many centuries, but
the consciousness of succeeding ages has
been compelled to reject or largely modify
it, until today the leaders of Christian
thought have come to the place where
they accept the fact but do not attempt
to give too detailed explanation of it.
What the world needs is more lives
reconciled to Gods plans and purposes for
all human life. A reconciled life is life
of spiritual discernment, it is life of high
and holy purposes, it is life in harmony
with God, in other words, life dominated
by the truth, now and forever"