Year: 1874

Z
and truth of God. God is pleased at
this-rejoices in lit is just what he
| had set his heart upon, and now he
; manifests his joy; he expresses his
forgiving love; he is propitiatsd
/, And the Lord Jesus who has brought
this about, is truly the Precipitation for
our sins. Here, it seems to me, is a
solid rock of common sense, and COS
pei truth. But to talk of the cruci-
fxion of Jesus Christ as an offering up
of bloody sacrifice to propitiate God,
is an utter perversion of all sense, TO
say nothing Of the havoc it makes Of
the glorious gospel of the blessed
God.


In the third place, even the Jewish
offerings, which have given So much
color to the view of Christ's work we
are now considering, were not sup
posed by devout and intelligent Jews
to have any effect on God, to make
Him more propitious, to make him feel
more like forgiving than he otherwise
would. The idea is purely pagan.
Such was the notion of the Canaanites
whom God drove out OF the land be-
fore the faces of the children Of Israel
1t is the notion of the heathen to-day.
They suppose that their God or Gods
are pleased with the sight of blood
and suffering, the more costly the
blood, or terrible the suffering, the
better. Hence human sacrifice is
the best Of all offerings. But the God
Of Israel, the true and living God
expresses his utter adherence Of such
things. Now are we to suppose that
his horror of it, was merely because
the offerings were not made to HIM,
and that such sacrifices would be ac


ceptable If they acere made to him
God forbid And yet men talk son,


times Of Christs crucifxion .as if it
were sort of human or superhuman
sacrifice Of the heathen sort, the blood
and pain of which, being exceeding
precious and exceeding great, were
very pleasing to God, greatly allay.ng
his anger at sinners, and dispo5ing
him to be gracious TO them. | eau
not say just how much this heather
idea of expiation by blood and pain,
obtained among the Jews probably
not less than it obtains among christ
ians-but be it more or less, it was
and is a heather idea, and not divine
idea. 1t is a doctrine of demons, and
not a doctrine Of God. But what
then were the Jewish sacrifices for if
not to affect God? [ reply, they soere
to affect men. They were to make sin
appear costly and odious ; and, at the
same time sustain and encourage the
hope of deiiverance and cleansing 1t
is safe to say that they were designed
Of God to accomplish or effect what
they actually did effect What then
did they do? [ answer, they kep4
awake in the people the consciousness
of sin and weakness and ignorance and
kept before them the fact that God Is
holy and strong and wise. They thus
educated the people into trust and
hope in God, which trust and hope we
find coming out in the psalms and in
all the prophets. They furnished also
for the people, forms of worship,
which in the infancy Of the church,
while without literature. the people
needed. They helped to save many
an Israelite, bringing him to God.
Such was their end. If now, We find
that even those offerings were to teach
and affect men and not God, how much
more was it the mission of Jesus
Christ, to reach men, to teach, move,
draw, affect, men, But we are asked
was Christ then in no sense an cfer-
ing? [ reply : the Scriptures abound
antIy affirm that Christ vas and is, an
offering, and the already familiar
phraseology Of the Old Testamept is
much used by the writers of the New
Testament to set forth that truth and
the various phases and relations Of it
but they do not teach that Jesus is an
offering unto God to more him. but
that he Is Gods Altering anto the
worgd to move 1t. "God 80 iored The
,oorld that He gape. . ''God vas IN
Christ reconctting the uorld " " he
were reconciled to God by the death
of his Son. Thanks be TO cod
for has unspeakable gift" "Behoid
7 have given him for witness to the
people" Christ is Gods offering his
-,P- e his n1yf ct