Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/93

Rh religious press, so often introduced into pulpit discourses, or so strongly emphasized by teaching ministers, as this. But the doctrine as commonly held and taught, is not the true doctrine—far from it. It is the doctrine of vicarious sacrifice—the doctrine of "substitution"—interpreted to mean, that the physical agony which Christ endured on the cross, was the price of redemption, the penalty demanded by an angry God as the sole condition of pardon and forgiveness of sin; and that all who accept this doctrine, do thereby have their sins blotted out, and receive the Divine forgiveness through the merits of Christ's sufferings and death. The doctrine as thus interpreted, is seen to be purely naturalistic. There is nothing spiritual in it, and nothing that helps us spiritually. It is suited to the apprehension of the merely natural man; and we can easily understand why it is held to so tenaciously and prized so highly, and why those who have once confirmed themselves in it, find its rejection so difficult, and the bare thought of such a thing so terrible. For the denial of this doctrine (as they have received and understood it), deprives them of the hope of salvation—leaves their heavy debt of sin unsatisfied, its penalty unpaid, their pardon unsecured. No wonder, therefore, that it is a hard doctrine to get rid of when once accepted and confirmed.