The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-02
.LAYMAN PRESENTS
 VIEW OF ATONEMENT
John w. Sibley Quotes Scrip ture to Bear Out Creed
 of Presbyterians
To the Editor of The Age .Ilerald.

To the Editor of The Age-Herald.
 Now that so many learned theoosians
 have expressed their views on the doc trine of the Atonement. trust it w!ll not
 be considered an act of too great temerity on my.part to express the views of an or dinary layman.
 All seem agreed that sin is universal and that mankind is in fallen state.
 From early childhood We are taught
 that the wages of sin is death, and as 1
 have grown iE the wears of ripenins ex-
 perience 1 have never seen any reason
 to doubt the automatic soundness of that
 proposition.
 Among the attributes of God is that of
 justice and holiness. and even to our
 finite minds it is easy to understand that a broken law requires punishment not
 that the Law Giver is angry with the
 culprit but because sin is odious and
 heinous in His sight
 But the pre-eminent attribute of God is
 love and so what man could not do for
 himself Gods infinite love provided an
 adequate substitute in the person of His
 only begotten Son to satisfy the demands of justice or, as pr. ogden so graphically
 portrayed in his Sunday morning sermon;
 Ito meet the right
 From the offering of Abefs sacrifice in Genesis to the statement i'll Revelation that Satan was overcome by the blood of the Lamb. there runs the crimson stream of the sacriticial blood. When Moses was handing down the law from God to the children Of lsaret he said in Levitous 17th chapter, 11th verse: For the life of the flesh is in the blood and l have given it to you upon the all tar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that malleth atonement for the soul.' If you ask science what life is, the only answer it can give is the blood. Therefore the blood is the most precious thing in the world and in the sight of God. So when man looks upon the cross the flowing blood shows him to
 what depth and height. length and breadth the love of God the Father reached in offering man salvation from the consequences of his sin. Man repents and is reconci'ed to God. But the view
 that God takes when He looks toward the Cross and sees the willing sacrifice
 of Christ, shedding his blood for the
 remission of sins and to meet the right,
 and God accepts it as full atonement for all, who will believe and accept the par
 don so freely and lovingly offered,
 The Bible in no instance refers to the blood of the atonement in the "sense of
 gory sacrifice as some of the oppo- nents of the "old theory so fippant,y
 
 Presbyterian and other evangelical churches, as I understand it. The trouble with the new theorists is that they only consider the Atonement from one side and therefore lack completeness Dr. McArthur, the great Baptist preach CT says that the Blood Atonement' Is a truth that is taught constantly on the pages of both Testaments, and it is a truth which sets forth in it's proper impor- tance the atoning death of Jesus Christ. Every sinner has virtually lost his life by his transgression against God, and be- cause of this transgression the law of 1 God requires his death. Life is in the blood and the blood of the victim is shed 1 as substitute for the life of the sinner. 1 In sympathy with this principle the vic- | tims offered in sacrifice by the 1sraelites l typified the great sacrifice He gave His | life for the life of men, and because of ] His death all men, if they accept the of- | fers of His mercy may be saved Christ l himself honored the blood atonement. when He instituted the communion. and with His own mouth said: This is my i blood which is shed for the remission of l sins" Greater love hath no man than l this, that man lay down his life for his | friends Yours very truly,
 JOHN w. SHELBY. | Birmingham. November l. 1915.