Page:Essence of Christianity (1854).djvu/68

 positing of love, mercy, sensuous life. Not abstract beings—no! only sensuous, living beings, are merciful. Mercy is the justice of sensuous life. Hence, God does not forgive the sins of men as the abstract God of the understanding, but as man, as the God made flesh, the visible God. God as man sins not, it is true, but he knows, he takes on himself, the sufferings, the wants, the needs of sensuous beings. The blood of Christ cleanses us from our sins in the eyes of God; it is only his human blood that makes God merciful, allays his anger; that is, our sins are forgiven us, because we are no abstract beings, but creatures of flesh and blood.