Page:A Defence of Revealed Religion.pdf/44

44 as alike the meed of the sinner of threescore years and of the unbaptized infant; as equally the lot of transgressors against the light, and of the heathen races who never listened to the story of Jesus' love; and as attaching as much to the commission of a single act of disobedience as to the accumulated crimes of half a century of perpetual vileness.

To speak of these supposed requirements as the requirements of perfect justice, rendered necessary by the spotless purity of God, who loathes all evil and unbelief, is to caricature the demands of justice, and the world will reap sad results from it. Our ideal of character is that of our God, and how should we like our earthly judges and magistrates to act in such a manner?

To make men just, they must be taught in the first place that God acts justly; to make men forgiving, they must be taught that God is forgiving; to make men merciful, they must be taught that God is merciful; to make men forbearing, they must be taught that God is forbearing. Our God would be unjust if He punished a man that loathed sin for the sin of his parents; He would be unforgiving if He asked for any thing beyond amendment as the price of being restored to His favour; He would be unmerciful if He imposed upon men a law that was too perfect for them to keep; He would be unforgiving if He wielded His almighty power to inflict eternal torment upon His weak enemies.