The Atonement 53 fer in order to deliver husbands from sufferings richly de- served. Children suffer in order to deliver parents from suffer- ings richly deserved. Parents suffer in order to deliver chil- dren from sufferings richly deserved. Pastors often shield guilty churches in this way, and sometimes at the cost of life. Statesmen often shield guilty nations in this way, and sometimes at the cost of life. If, now, we shall teach that Christ suffered in order to deliver us from sufferings which we richly deserve, we shall avoid a strife about words, and shall maintain that, coming into the world as a member of our race, He suffered to the utmost, as many other heroic souls have suffered in a lesser degree, by subjecting Himself to the common rule of vicarious suffering, instituted by God in the formation of human society bound together by ties of sympathy and love, and existing in daily operation from the dawn of history till this present time. The vicarious sufferings, by means of which the innocent deliver the guilty from sufferings richly deserved, are fre- quently assumed in the fear that over-much grief will harden the culprit and in a hope that a stay of judgment and the soft- ening lapse of time may lead him to better things. May we not believe that Christ was affected by a similar motive, and has procured that delay of the divine justice at which every thoughtful person wonders? But the vicarious sufferings which we observe in the world are frequently assumed for a stronger reason, in the belief that the culprit already shows signs of relenting, and in the assurance that patient waiting, even at a great cost, will be rewarded with the development of the tender beginnings of a new life which the thunder-storms of untempered equity might destroy. So it was predicted of Christ before His coming that “He should see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.” Thus if Christ suffered in order to deliver us from suffer- ings which we richly deserved, it was also in order to deliver us from sin by reason of which we deserved them.
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