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willing to be reconciled

The fact of forgiveness, not

its explanation, is what we want.

For myself, however, though I do not believe in the common Orthodox doctrine of atonement, I do believe that the Scripture teaches that Christ has not only manifested God's pardoning love to us, but by his life and death done something to procure it for us. Christian salvation consists in seeing God, in knowing God, in the presence of God, in union with God, God dwelling in us, and we in him. But without holiness no man shall see the Lord; the pure in heart alone see God: how then can these exceeding great and precious promises belong to us, who are all impure, all polluted, all gone astray? Here would seem to be an insuperable obstacle in the way of our pardon and salvation. But now Jesus appears, and lives a perfectly holy life. He is spotless, sinless. The last hour, the dying hour, is the hour which completes and seals his perfecto bedience. It was finished then. Between him and God, no frailty or sin interposes the faintest film of separation. And when we unite ourselves to him by faith, when we become his true disciples, the germ of his perfect holiness is implanted in our souls. We have that within us then, which will one day become a righteousness, like that of Christ. He communicates to us his own life; we live by him. And God, who sees the end from the beginning, sees Christ ormed within us, and accepts us now for what we shall be hereafter. Thus, though impure, we clothe ourselves with the righteousness of Christ, and can come to God now, through him, and be forgiven.

But whether this explanation be received or not, let us return to the doctrine of a present acceptance with God, as the peculiar doctrine of Christianity. Faith in that

present acceptance, is the peculiar duty of Christianity. Love, flowing out of pardoned sin, love to God and man, is the peculiar spirit of Christianity. This gives the system its distinctive character; this separates it from all philosophies and theologies; from the lofty and keen Platonism of Greece; from the vast and abstract forms of Oriental thought; and from the various ethical, moral, and philosophical systems of modern times. Whatever in all these systems is true, Christianity readily accepts. Christ came not to destroy, but to fulfil. There is nothing destructive, nothing exclusive in Christianity. But, to all these various truths, Christianity adds something peculiarly her own. Her word is one which descended from the highest Heaven, far above the reach of the most soaring thought, with which man has ever penetrated the skies; it is a word which descends into a lower depth of human experience, than the most profound research has ever fathomed. That word comes down from a reconciling God; that word descends into the sinner's heart. It speaks of present peace, present acceptance. It tells us that now is the accepted time, that now is the day of salvation. It tells us that God is ready to seal his mercy on our hearts, by the influence of his Holy Spirit, to give us an assurance in a holy calm, a deep tranquillity, a peace never before felt, of his reconciling love. These words are weak and ineffectual. There is

no help for it. Oh, that God would himself write on our hearts, the truth which, with a stammering voice, I am attempting to unfold. Come then, Lord, and teach us thyself to know thy Son! Come, and enter into our souls, that we may have joy in the Holy Ghost, ever

more.

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THE DOCTRINE

OF

TWO NATURES IN CHRIST.

John Gorch

By J. G. ROBBERDS,

OF MANCHESTER, ENG.

PRINTED FOR THE

American Unitarian Association.

BOSTON:

JAMES MUNROE & CO., 134 WASHINGTON STREET.

DECEMBER, 1844.

Price 3 Cents.

BOSTON:

PRINTED BY THURSTON, TORRY AND CO. 31, Devonshire Street.

THE DOCTRINE

OF

TWO NATURES IN CHRIST.

THERE are, perhaps, no words in which a Unitarian of the present day could make a more exact confession of his faith, than in these of the Apostle Paul; "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Tim. ii. 5.) Yet we are told, that the Apostle must have meant a great deal more than he appears to have said. For if he held what is called the catholic doctrine of the Trinity, he believed that the very being, whom he so unequivocally calls "the man Christ Jesus," was, in reality, both God and man.

The Church of England professes to give us, on this as well as on other subjects, the belief of the Apostles pure and undefiled. And that Church, in the second of its articles, thus declares; "The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance; so that two whole and perfect natures, that is, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided, whereof is

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