112 QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



That he and we and all men move 

 Under a canopy of love. 

 Broad as the blue sky above. 



And ere thou leave him, say thou this. 

 Yet one more word, they only miss 

 The winning of that final bliss. 



Who will not hold it true that love. 

 Blessing, not cursing, rules above. 

 And that in it we live and move. 



Is there, then, no truth whatever in the old theories 

 of the atonement ? Was there no atoning efficacy in 

 the sacrifice of Christ ? If He did not die for our sins, 

 why should He have died at all ? Yes ! There was 

 indeed atoning efficacy in the sacrifice of Christ* Like 

 the suffering servant of Yahweh ** He was wounded 

 for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities ; 

 the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with 

 His stripes we are healed/* If there had been no truth 

 in the old theories of the atonement they could never have 

 survived all these centuries. They survived on account 

 of that which was true in them ; not on account of what 

 was false* And to me it seems very striking evidence 

 of the importance of that truths that it should have been 

 able to keep alive these old theories which so grossly 

 misrepresented it* 



What, then, is the truth that these old theories 

 caricature ? Now in order that we may be able to answer 

 this question correctly, we must put aside all our theo- 

 logical dogmas and fall back upon the facts of experience. 

 This is how science teaches us that we must approach 

 all difficult problems, and this problem is no exception 

 to the rule* 



Apart from all questions of theology and metaphysics, 

 it is intrinsic in the very nature of sin to add to the world's 

 great load of sorrow and suffering ; and it is equally 

 intrinsic in the very nature of righteousness to add the 



