52 



THE REV. H. J. R. MARSTON, M.A.^ ON 



in the nature of repentance, to compel forgiveness ? If God 

 requires repentance, which is in itself a process full of deep and 

 acute inward pain, why may He not also require a real sacrifice, 

 a bearing of penalty, before He can effectually forgive. In this 

 light, atonement becomes the crown of repentance. 



3. The objector who says that the Doctrine of Atonement is 

 immoral, I have already referred to ; but I would here submit 

 to him the following questions. Why is it immoral in God to 

 be displeased with Sin ? Why is it immoral in God to forgive 

 Sin ? Why is it immoral in God to make the most generous 

 terms with the Sinner ? Why is it immoral in God to accept 

 the loving and willing self-sacrifice of His Son in order to 

 accomplish whatever may be necessary to complete the mysteiy 

 of redemption ? 



4. To the objector from the side of Evolution, I would reply 

 with all deference due from one, who knows very little about 

 biology, as follows : The sense of sin seems to be inextricably 

 intertwined in human nature ; it is certainly not confined to 

 the brutal or degraded ; for example, it permeates the Attic 

 Drama, which must be taken as the highest expression of 

 human thought and feeling, outside Eevelation. By the sense of 

 sin, I do not mean a sense of conflict, successful or unsuccessful, 

 with lower appetites or lower forms of life ; it is sometliing 

 quite different from the scars of humanity in its victorious 

 ascent. It is properly expressed by the royal penitent in the 

 words, " Against Thee only have I sinned " ; " Lo, Thou 

 requirest truth in the inward parts." 



It is again expressed by the Apostle Paul, in the words 

 " The good, that I would, I do not," " the evil, that I would not, 

 that I do." This sense of sin is, I maintain, chronic : and can 

 only be eradicated by a believing enjoyment of the Christian 

 Doctrine of Atonement. 



The Chairman in conveying to the lecturer the thanks of the 

 Meeting, said it was a happy idea on Mr. Marston's part to lay 

 aside his printed paper and to give the Meeting an exposition of 

 his subject in the lucid and eloquent speech to which they had 

 listened with so much pleasure. 



Mr. M. L. EOUSE thought that an inherent idea in sacrifice was 

 the purity of the victim ; hence, in a passage quoted from Virgil by 

 Mr. Marston, it was a virgin that had been slain to appease the 

 wrath of the gods. Where did the heathen get the idea of 

 propitiatory sacrifice through the offering of the life of an innocent 



