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4 . An interest in the pardoning- mercy of God , through Jesus Christ , is obtained by faith . 5 . In resting-our hope of forgiveness on the atoning- sacrifice of Christ , we build on a sure foundation . " *
" The proper idea of propitiation , '' ' ' he adds ,-f " is , rendering the Divine Being propitious or favourable . —We must beware ^ however , of understanding by this , anything- like the production of a change in the Divine character ; as if the blessed God required a motive to pity , an
inducement to be merciful , a price for love and grace . Far be such a thought from our minds ! We ought to conceive of Jehovah as eternally , infinitely , and immutably compassionate and merciful . That any transition is produced in his nature , by the mediation of Christ , from previous vindictive
cruelty to benevolence and pity , ( as the advocates of the doctrine of atonement are , either through ignorance or a worse principle , accustomed to speak ) is a supposition full of blasphemous impiety . God has been from eternity , and to eternity must continue the same ; c without variableness
or the shadow of turning . ' Being absolutely perfect , he cannot change to the better ; for perfection cannot be improved . The slightest alteration , therefore , of what he is , would deduct from that infinite excellence , without which he could not be God "
This is still farther illustrated by the following important observation , which we could wish every reader to impress upon Ins mind , as the opinion of one of the most zealous and popular defenders of the orthodox faith .
" The rendering- the Divine Being propitious , in this view , refers , it is obvious , ( and the distinction is one of great importance on this subject ) not to the production of love in his character , or in the particular state of his mind towards fallen men but simply to the mode of its expression .
The inquiry is , how may the blessed God express his love ^ so as effectually to express , at the same time , his infinite and immutable abhorrence of sin ; and thus , in making known the riches of his mercy , to display , in connexion with it , the inflexibility of his justice , and the unsullied perfection of his holiness . "—P . 207 .
Now this is not the orthodox , but the Arian view of the doctrine of atonement , expressed too , in the very language of the Arian hypothesis . . ' * By offering himself a sacrifice on the cross , he vindicated the honour of those laws which sinners had broken , * Discourses , p , 1 & 3 . f Ib . p . 205 ,
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and rendered the exercise of favour to them consistent with the holiness and wisdom of God ' s government , " Sermons on the Christian Doctrine . _ Bi / Richard Price , D . D . S . III . p . 85 .
We vYould therefore earnestly appeal to the good sense and correct feeling of Mr . Wardlaw , whether it be ingenuous or just to judge so harshly of Unitarians , and to endeavour to exhibit them to that part of the Christian world whose ear he has , as objects of so much horror ; as persons
who are in the utmost danger of perishing everlastingly , for rejecting a doctrine , respecting which a great many of them think as he himself does ^ and the remaining number of whom depart much less widely from his own opinion than he does from the orthodox standards .
At page 212 of the discourses , occurs the following singular passage : — " While it appears a most important scriptural truth , that something * equivalent , in the eye of Divine justice , to the punishment of the sinner , was , in the view and for the reasons which have been stated , absoto
lutely necessary m or ^ ir his escape , I do not think there is any thing in the word of God , that warrants the representation which has been g-iven , by some of the friends of this doctrine , as if the sufferings of Christ formed what they call an exact equivalent—neither less nor more—for the
sins of all who shall be saved by his atonement . This sentiment seems derogatory to the infinite dignity of the sufferer , and the consequent infinite value of his sacrifice . The sufferings of the Son of God oucfht not to be brought into comparison , as a
display of the Divine righteousness , with even the eternal sufferings of millions of his creatures . The idea of exact equivalent proceeds on the supposition , that the sufferings of Christ possessed just as much virtue as' is sufficient for the salvation of all
who shall be saved ; whose precise proportion of punishment he is conceived to have borne , according * to the g"uilt even of each particular sin . I know not how you may feeiy my brethren ; but my mind , I own , revolts from this sort of minutely calculating- process on such a subject ; weighingout the precise quantum of suffering due to each sin of each individual who obtains
forgiveness ; and there , of course , limiting the sufficiency of the surety ' s mediation . — Such views have always appeared to me utterly inconsistent with the grandeur and majesty of this wonderful part of the Divine administration . * Here Mr . Wardlaw distinctly affirms , that the language generally held
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Review . — Unitarian Controversy in Scotland . 415
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1817, page 415, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2466/page/39/
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