EXTRACT III.
Christ paid the ransom.
"We must come back to this passive point, this childlike state;—we must come back and settle down in a state of passivity* to the divine will,—in a state of innocency; and when we have made acknowledgement of all our sins, when we have suffered just repentance for our offences, and the displeasure which we have incurred, we shall see and experience goodness and mercy of a gracious God.—He that repents, though guilty of the greatest sins, they are forgiven him; because the Almighty never asks pay, but only that we should give up our will. And there is nothing but a surrender of our own will, that can make atonement for our sins." p. 196.
* Passivity.—See p. 65.
"Never asks pay."—What can exceed the ingratitude to God the Father, and to the Lord Jesus Christ, that is manifested by placing the subject in this fallacious point of view. God has provided a means, which must for ever excite the admiration and gratitude of the redeemed, whereby he may "be just," and at the same time "the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." It is not indeed, by asking or receiving "pay" of us, that we are put into a condition of becoming reconciled to God. But our immense debt is cancelled by the precious blood of Christ, if by faith, we lay hold on him as our surety. This faith worketh by love: we love him because he first loved us.
What saith the Scripture?
| "There is one God,and one Mediator between God and man, the man | Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all." 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6. |
