vii Mercy through Punishment. 131 



always was and cannot cease to be ; but also, because 

 He is righteous, has opened a way, through the 

 Incarnation and Atonement of His Divine Son, 

 whereby He can endow the sinful race of men with 

 His own righteousness, on their submitting them- 

 selves to the Son in the obedence of faith. 1 



In the light of this revelation, then, it appears 

 that the mercy of God flows naturally from His 

 righteousness ; that the purpose of the Atonement is 

 not to make a separation between sin and punish- 

 ment, but to destroy sin itself ; and that the Divine 

 forgiveness does not mean the remission of punish- 

 ment, but the Eternal Father's purpose of mercy, 

 which possibly may be best attained through 

 punishment. 2 



1 See Romans iii. 26. 

 2 See Erskine's Spiritual Order, p. 140. 



