naturally in a ruined, condemned state; and that in order to our salvation, there was need of such a propitiation for our sins, as the scriptures set forth in Jesus Christ crucified. 3. With respect to Christ's atonement, you say, the great body of liberal christians seem to me to accord precisely with the author of "Bible News," or rather both agree very much with the profound Butler." Most devoutly, Sir, do I wish that we had more evidence of this, than that it seems” so to you. Most gratefully should I rejoice to know, that you, and others of your liberal brethren, really agree, on this momentous point, with Bishop Butler. But why refer to this distinguished writer? Did you mean to make the impression that your orthodox opponents here materially differ from him? The truth is, that my statement of the doctrine of atonement, is so exactly in agreement with his, that my readers might be ready to suppose, that when making it, I had his book open before me. I wish you had seen fit to quote him at large, and recommend his sentiments to your readers. As you have not done it, I will take leave to make a quotation. After a very lucid and forcible argument to shew the reasonableness and credibility of the doctrine, Bishop Butler proceeds to say, "The particular manner in which Christ interposed in the redemption of the world, or his office as mediator in the largest sense between God and man, is thus represented to us in the scripture. He is the light of the world;' the revealer of the will of God in the most eminent sense. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, that he laid down his life for us." And I do not yet see sufficient reason why that expression of St. Paul may not be referred to in the same sense, "How much more shall the blood of Jesus Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience," &c. If the eternal Spirit signify the divine nature or Godhead, which dwelt bodily in the man Jesus, then the dignity of his complete person is made the foundation of the value of his blood. This dignity of the Godhead which was personally united to the man who suffered, spreads an infinite value over his sufferings and merit: and this renders them equal to that infinite guilt and demerit of sin, which would have extended the punishment of man to everlasting ages. The infinite dignity of the person suffering answers to the infinite dignity of the person offended, and so takes away the necessity of the everlasting duration of it." Watts's Sermons on Atonement. * Analogy, Part II. Chap. V. Sec. 6. HE IS A PROPITIATORY SACRIFICE;* the Lamb of God;† and as he voluntarily offered himself up, he is styled our high priest. And, which seems of peculiar weight, he is de scribed before hand in the Old Testament, under the same character of a priest, and AN EXPIATORY VICTIM.§ And whereas it is objected, that all this is merely by way of allusion to the sacrifices of the Mosaick law, the apostle on the contrary affirms, that the law was a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things;¶ and that the priests that offer gifts according to the law-serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of Gou, when he was about to make the tabernacle. For see, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount;** i. e. the Levitical priesthood was a shadow of the priesthood of Christ, in like manner as the tabernacle made by Moses, was according to that shewed him in the mount. The priesthood of Christ and the tabernacle in the mount, were the originals; of the former of which the Levitical priesthood was a type, and of the latter the tabe ernacle made by Moses was a copy. The doctrine of this epistle then plainly is, that the legal sacrifices were allusions to the great and final atonement; to be made by the BLOOD OF CHRIST; and not that this was an allusion to those. Nor can any thing be more express or determinate than the following passage. It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world he saith, sacrifice and offering, i. e. of bulls, and of goats, thou wouldst not, but á body hast thou prepared me.-Lo I come to do thy will, O God.-By which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." And to add one passage more of the like kind. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin, i. e. without * Rom. iii, 25, and v, 11. 1 Cor. v, 7. Eph. v, 2. 1 John ii, 2. † John i, 29, 36, and throughout the book of Revelation. Throughout the epistle to the Hebrews. § Isa. liii. Dan. ix, 24. Ps. cx, 4. Heb. x, 1. †† Heb. x, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10. BEARING SIN AS HE DID AT HIS FIRST COMING, BY BEING AN OFFERING FOR IT, without having our iniquities again laid upon him, without being any more a SIN OFFERING; unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin unto salvation.* Nor do the inspired writers at all confine themselves to this manner of speaking concerning the SATISFACTION of Christ, but declare an efficacy in what he did and suffered, additional to, and beyond, mere instruction, example and government, in great variety of expression."-The Bishop in this connexion proceeds to quote nearly thirty texts, many of which are the very same which are quoted in my Second Letter, to shew that we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins through the death of Christ, as AN EXPIATORY SACRIFICE, I repeat it, Sir,--most gratefully should I rejoice to know, that you and your liberal brethren agree with Dr. Butler in these orthodox views of the atonement. But, 4. It is to be lamented, that you have thought it necessary to take especial care, not to leave the matter in a general, unqualified reference to Butler; but proceed to qualify, until you fritter the doctrine to atoms, and scatter it in the wind. "Both agree, you say, that Jesus Christ, by his sufferings and intercession, obtains forgiveness for sinful men, or that on account, OR IN CONSEQUENCE of what Christ has done and suffered, the punishment of sin is averted from the penitent, and blessings, forfeited by sin, are bestowed." Such are the ambiguous words which you delight to use. Undoubtedly, Sir, when penning this studied sentence, you were perfectly aware, that Unitarians of the lowest class, even such as make Jesus Christ a mere fallible and peccable man, and utterly discard, and irreverently ridicule the doctrine of atonement, would make no difficulty of giving to this representation their general assent. They would readily admit, that, "in consequence of what Christ has done and suffered, the punishment of sin is averted from the penitent, and blessings, forfeited by sin, are bestowed;" as, with equal readiness, and in the same sense, they would admit, that the same benefits are conferred, in consequence of what Paul and other * Heb. xxviii. good men have done and suffered.-But is this, Sir, "agreeing very much with the profound Butler!"* 1 deeply regret to say, that I can see in this statement very little evidence of a true belief in the atonement. At any rate, whether you believe in the atonement in any proper sense, or not, it is lamentably manifest, not from this passage only, but from uniform representations throughout your three pamphlets, that you consider the atonement as comparatively unimportant, and hold that men who utterly reject it, may nevertheless be very good christians, There is a wide difference between acknowledging Jesus Christ, merely as a prophet and a preacher of righteousness, who laboured, interceded, and died, to impart, to confirm, and to impress divine instruction, that men might be induced to repent and trust in a merciful God for pardon and eternal * It is agreeing, I acknowledge, very much with the popular Price, whom possibly you had in your eye as your model, and who in a Sermon, lately republished with the high imprimatur of the liberal party, says, "Give me but the fact, that Christ is the resurrection, and the life, and EXPLAIN IT AS YOU WILL. Give me but this single truth, that eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, and I shall be perfectly easy with respect to the contrary opinions which are entertained about the dignity of Christ; about his nature, person, and offices; and the manner in which he saves us. Call him, if you please, simply a man, endowed with extraordinary powers; or call him a superangelick being, who appeared in human nature for the purpose of accomplishing our salvation; or say, (if you can admit a thought so shockingly absurd!) that it was the second of three co-equal persons in the Godhead, forming one person with a human soul, that came down from heaven and suffered and died on the cross: Say, ́that he saves us merely by being a messenger from God to reveal to us eternal life, and to confer it upon us; or say on the contrary, that he not only reveals to us eternal life, and confers it upon us, but has obtained it for us by offering himself a propitiatory sacrifice on the cross, and making satisfaction to the justice of the Deity for our sins: I shall think such differences of little moment, provided the fact is allowed, that Christ did rise from the dead, and will raise us from the dead; and that all righteous penitents will, through God's grace in him, be accepted and made happy for ever."-So, then it is "of very little moment," whether we worship Christ as God, or regard him only as a mere man;-whether we recognise his death as a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins, or only as one instance among many of mere martyrdom;—whether with bleeding hearts we come to his cross, humbly relying on the merits of his death for pardon and life, or trust in ourselves that we are "righteous penitents!" By no dread of reproach can I be deterred from declaring, that neither the name nor the popularity of Dr. Price, nor of any other man or society of meu, ought to protect sentiments like these from the decided reprobation of every person who bows at the name of Jesus, or hopes for salvation through faith in his blood. life; and believing on him, not only as a prophet and a preacher, but also as our great High Priest, by whose blood we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins, and our Surety, who is the end of the law for righteousness unto every one that believeth on him. This is a main, a radical point between the orthodox and Unitarians. You acknowledge Jesus as a prophet and a preacher of righteousness, and make such an acknowledgement of him essential to the christian name; but his priesthood and suretyship, with his propitiatory sacrifice, and vicarious righteousness, you either deny, or hold to be non-essential and of little importance. A mere man, for aught that appears, might have been authorized and inspired to do all which Jesus did in the way of revealing, preaching, and attesting the mind and will of God, for the instruction of mankind; indeed Paul did more in this way than Jesus in person did; and so long as you hold this to be all which was essential to our salvation, it is not strange that you do not see it necessary that the Saviour should be God as well as man. But, Sir, do not the scriptures dwell infinitely more on Christ's office as priest, than on his office as prophet? Was it not to him, chiefly as the great High Priest, who by the one offering of himself was to obtain eternal redemption for us, that the Mosaick economy entire, and all the instituted sacrifices, from the beginning of the world to his incarnation, looked as their antitype? Did not his harbinger John pubJickly announce him as THE LAMB of God that taketh away the sin of the world? Was not salvation by his death, as a propitiation for sin, the burden of apostolick preaching? Was it not the express design of the Epistle to the Hebrews at large, to establish his priesthood, and the necessity and efficacy of his sacrifice? And do not the scriptures most abundantly represent, that the faith which it requires of us, is not merely an assent to his divine instructions, but also and especially a fiducial trust in his atoning blood? By what authority then can any one either deny the atonement, or represent it as doubtful, or of little importance. When the scriptures so constantly insist on the propitiatory sacrifice of our great High Priest, and so directly found upon it |