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    * cetidante , in the present day , is precisely that of the persons he ^ opposes ;~ viz . " that God ' s love is not the effect -of Christ ' s satisfacfaciion , " ' but that " Christ is the proper gift and effect of God ' s li ) vtS * They believe as firmly as the rem&rker can possibly do , that " the boundless mercy and goodiiess of God , " is the sole , original cause of our salvation , though

    that mercy exhibits itself and Operates exclusively through the medium of the Redeemer ' s death upon the cro ^ s , as a suitable attestation to the divine abht > rrence of sin , as a gloiiou *

    display of the Divim character , and a necessary vindication of the divine government . That sentiments somewhat varying from this representation , —sentiments describing the Deitv as wrathful and

    vindictive , appeased onl > by the extreme suffering ' s of a Mediator , may be found in some of our -devout poets , or in the pages of some over-zealous controversalists , is easily adinitted . But who that possesses

    a g-rain of common candour or common sense , would estimate the opinions of a whole community by so narrow a standard ? Let the writings of our many respectable and authorised divines both

    ancient and modern , be rather allowed to express our real views . And here , ( while it would be easy to adduce testimony from many other sources , equally decisive , ) let me crave permission to quote a few passages from a work

    which well deserves the profound study of men of all parties ciThe doctrine of atonement /' say its opppsers , " , is founded on the Divine implacability y inasmuch as it supposes , that to appease the rigid justice of God , it was requisite that punishment should be in .

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    < 94 ft On theflacubiUtycfGod *

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    dieted ; and tbat , consequently , the sinneT could not , by any means , have been released , had not Christ suffered in his stead . Were this a faithful statement of

    the doctrine ^ of atonement , there had indeed been just ground for the objection . But this is not the fair representation of candid truth . — Although it is through the

    merits and intercession of Chri : > t , that we are forgiven ; yet these were not the procuring cause , but the means , by which God , originally disposed to forgive , thought it right to bestow his pardon . —

    " The sacrifice of Christ was never deemed by anj , who did not wish to calumniate the doctrine of atonement , to have made God placable , but merely viewed

    as the means appointed by . divine wisdom , by which to bestow forgiveness . And agreeably to this , do we not find this sacrifice every where spoken of as ordained by God himself ?—See John iii . 16 .

    — 1 John iv . 10 . —1 Pet . i . 18 , 10 , 20 . — Rev . xiii , 8 , —But still it is demanded , in c what way can the death of Christ , considered as a sacrifice of expiation , be conceived to operate to the remission of sins , unless by the appeasing a Being , who otherwise would not have forgiven us ? ' To this the answer of the Christian is , * I know

    not , nor does it concern me to know , in what manner the sacri - fice of Christ is connected with the forgiyeness of sins : it is

    enough , that this is declared by God to be the medium through which my salvation is effected * I pretend not to dive into the counsels of the Almighty . I submit to his wisdom ; and I will not reject his grace , because his mode of

    vouchsafing it is not within my comprehension / " Scc » &c «

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1813, page 248, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2427/page/28/