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    and purifies the mind * Then only do we receive the Gospel , ( or , in fact , believe it to any good purpose , ) when we find that it is able to make us wise

    unto salvation ; when it enters the inmost recesses of the soul and assimilates us to its own pure , benevolent , godlike nature . In further discoursing : on the doctrine of the cross , I propose to consider , I . What effect , when properly understood , it is calculated to produce : and then ,

    II . Point out those hindrances which , if not guarded against , may render it of none effect . I am , 1 , to consider what effect the doctrine of the cross is calculated to produce .

    This effect , my reverend brethren , roust be sought for in ourselves , and not in the Divine Mind ; for you will please to recollect that the Being with whom we have to do has neither parts nor passions—he can neither be angry nor appeased ; and though he is

    represented in scripture as having- eyes and hands , as repenting * , as moved with wrath or pity , yet let it be understood

    that these expressions are made use of only in condescension to our limited faculties and conceptions ; however , I apprehend , our minds are to admit the same impressions from this

    metaphorical lanefua ^ e as though the TV r » te 11 j Irvine Being- was actually possessed of these parts and passions . The not attending to this observation has , in my opinion , given rise to the

    lamentable errors of those who have received the doctrine of the cross , ( or

    as it is usually styled , the atonement , ) and the unmerited obloquy with which it has been treated by those who reject it . It is a truth which should never be lost sight of , that Christ died , not to make God propitious , only to convince us of this delectable doctr ine—not to reconcile God to us , but to reconcile us to God—therefore we are told in sacred writ , not . that we loved God , but . that God first loved us ; and that , while we were sinners , Christ died for the ungodly , lhe grand end , in my opinion , for whic h Christ is represented as an offering for the redemption of a sinful world , or as a sacrifice for sin , was to pro duce in our bosoms the two im-Portunt and opposite effects , first , to wmble us to the dust , under a sense

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    of onvfallen state , which needed such a sacrifice ; secondly , to fill us with / ay * , grounded on the hope of being recovered from it through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus .

    But perhaps it will be asked why God had not pardoned without this atonement , or where is the propriety of an innocent being ' s suffering and dying before he would forgive and accept an offending , repenting creature ? Could we , Sirs , assign no reason for the Divine conduct in this

    particular , were an impenetrable cloud to remain for ever on this proceeding of Heaven ; yet , if it appeared to be a doctrine of the Gospel , it would be our duty to receive it with all due submission , however

    mysterious it might appear to our shortsighted understandings ; acknowledging , that if the Almighty entertained designs of mercy towards his fallen creatures , it would not become us to dictate to him in what manner he

    should communicate his unmerited favours $ and , that if salvation was offered * we should embrace it without hesitation , and without making the proud objection which had well nigh deprived Naaman , the Assyrian , of

    the cure which had been promised him from washing in the river Jordan , namely , because the remedy in his judgment was not calculated to produce the effect . But I am happy to observe that we are not left in total

    ignorance on this important , this delightful subject $ for in any valuable purposes can be assigned to prove that Christ ought to have suffered as he did before be entered into glory . It is universally allowed that he died to leave us an example , and , as a martyr , to prove the truth of his doctrines ; and I think it is as plain ( from the general tenor of scripture ) , that he died as a propitiation or &acrifice for sin . Now , the propriety of Christ ' s dying as an atonement , and of liis being represented to

    mankind as an expiatory sacrifice , appears satisfactory to my mind from the following considerations , which I can but barely mention , as the time will not allow of any enlargement : first , God has , by this interesting scenery of the vicarious offering of Christ on the

    cross , exhibited to our view a lively , sensible and affecting representation of the punishment we had merited by

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    TJve late Rev . John Follett s Views of the Atonement . 447

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1826, page 447, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2551/page/3/