New Britain herald., 1923-03-19
DR. HILL SPEAKS ON
 WHY CHRIST DIED
Impressive Explanation Given by
 Pastor Of South Church

At the South church yesterda morning, Rev Dr, George w, C.. Hil preached one of the series of Lentol sermons. Instead of taking it in thu regular order, he announced that h' had already, late in December, spok en on the Holy Spirit ana that h' would preach the sermon which hac been omitted because Of the celohra ton of the communion on the frs Sunday in March, namely, "He Suf' fered Under Pontius Pilate." He took as his text the words in Matthew 21:' 42, "He Saved Others; Himself He Cannot Save" Never had trueI words been spoken in derision," the preacher said of these which were spoken by those who were scoffinG Jesus as He hung upon the cross These were literally true; in saving others Jesus could not save Himself; and herein lies the answer to the great question as to why Jesus was subjected to such suffering and such a cruel death, and what His suffcrings mean for humanity.
 Each successive generation of men has asked the question Why do the good suffer-? It is thought to be cas- fly understood why the evil suffer; but why is that life, as we know it and live it, is not fair to goodness, is no guarantee of ease or comfort. or safe ty; and the evil have the easier time. It is commonly said that there is no desert in such an ordering. The inn plication Of this saying is quite wrong; it is false philosophy. As d matter of fact, no one deserves pain, good or bad, unless it be necessary for his good or for the good of others. Our common idea of justice is a long, long way from Gods idea. Portia in the Merchant of Venice giving judg- ment to shylock who demanded his pound of flesh, decreed that he might have it. but that he must not shed one drop of blood; and said in rendering her judgment:
 Therefore, Jew, if justice be thy
 plea, consider this
 "'That in the course of justice, none
 of use should seek salvation; "'We do pray for mercy; and that
 same prayer
 "'Doth teach all to render the
 deeds of mercy
 ''The really just man is he who prevents pain. or gives only necessary pain. and who suffers in so doing; as the true parent suffers more in punish ing the child than the child himself. Gods justice. then, is but another way of speaking of Gods love-"
 The preacher went on then to speak of the various theories of atonement which had been held by religious thinkers. "The first, the substitution ary theory, which says that man has broken Gods law, that broken law must be avenged. but that rather than have all men suffer, Jesus vol untarily took their place and endured the cross. This is to any thinking mind an impossible idea; guilt is per sonal, and cannot be transferred. As a famous lecturer was accustomed to put it, If God killed Jesus for my sin, He killed the wrong man. It is unthinkable, and contradictory that sin could be forgiven in us and pun ished in Jesus!
 Another conception is that which
 
 that God must uphold His majesty, and command respect for His moral government. He cannot, however, do this and go on forgiving men for breaking His laws. But Jesus steps in and says that He will take the pen alty and so show evil men how by His suffering God hates human sin. This idea too is preposterous. It is as though it were proposed to put an end to burglary by mprisoning an in nocent man and so showing all burg lars how society hates such crime. The other theory is the moral influ- ence theory which holds that Jesus came to teach and heal and bless mankind; that He knew He would suffer and probably die by thus living, and was willing to die that He might show how far love would go, and so melt mems hearts. This puts Him, however, no higher than other mar tyrs of history who have gone to death for truth and conviction. None of these is sufficient to express satis- factorily the suffering and death of Jesus"
 These are, in fact, revelation of q certain perception which is of the of the universe and of life and this principle is that one thing lays down it's life that another may live. It is a truth that is known all through nature. The rock disin-