from which He shrank was not what we have supposed―the cup of wrath for sin. Still, spite of Mr. Darby and his followers, Gethsemane will be enshrined in our hearts and be our loved resort, especially in times of sorrow and grief.
But a darker consequence of these woeful teachings is their declarations concerning the death of Christ. That in itself was nothing. They say, “He entered into all the darkness and all the wrath of God; but before He went out of the world He had passed through it all, and went out in perfect quiet. The work is so completely done that death is nothing.” Again, “Now that which was properly expiation or atonement was not the pure, however precious, act of Christ’s death.” Once more, “Many besides Jesus have been crucified; but atonement was in no way wrought there.”[1] We had thought that the essence of the atonement lay in the fact that His body was broken for us and His blood poured out on our behalf, and that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” But it seems that we have been mistaken―and that for the future we must have less regard for the death of our Suffering Surety. Comment is useless; for I am sure that there are but few of us who do not at once recoil from teachings like these, teachings which in our estimation, are as unholy as they are unscriptural.
(6.) Justification by Faith.―The value of the work of Luther lay mainly in recovering for the Church the doctrine of Justification by faith only. And the sense in which he held that truth, and in which it was held by the Reformers, and in which it is held by Evangelical men at the present time, is that on the exercise of faith in Jesus Christ the sinner is completely justified, i.e. made righteous before God. And he is made
- ↑ Cited from The Present Testimony and The Bible Treasury, by Mr. Dorman, Letter v. p. 12, and Letter vi, p. 6.
