The Fundamentals 4. It must accord with a profound Christian experience. I t will not toy with Socinian interpretations of the Godhead, for the doctrine of the Trinity is the product not only of a sound exegesis and a sound philosophy, but also of a sound Christian experience. I t will not picture God as a Father in a sense which would deny His kingship, as a weak-minded father who bewails the rebellion of his children but has no courage to wield the rod. It will not cover His face with feeble smiles or inane tears and deny to it the frowns of wrath, for a profound Christian experience pronounces such portraitures untrue. It will not join those excellent Chris- tians who see in sin only a temporary fault, a disease of the surface, the product chiefly of circumstances, and probably a necessary stage of m*i to higher things, for these roseate hues are known to be deceitful by all who have entered earn- estly into battle with the corruption of our nature and have achieved any great moral triumphs. It will not diminish the guilt of the transgressor, for it is the pardoned transgressor who knows best the awful demerit of his deeds and of the state of alienation from God from which they issued. In short, it will take into account the judgment of those wise souls who have learned “the deep things of God” in much spiritual conflict, and will reach conclusions acceptable to them. 5. F It must view the sacrifice of Christ as an event planned from eternity, and effectual with God from eternity. ] He is “the Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). He “was foreknown before the foun- dation of the world, but manifested at the end of the times” (1 Pet. 1:20). Sin did not take God by surprise. He had foreseen it and had provided a Redeemer before it had led us captive. 6. I t must take a broader view of the self-sacrifice of Christ than that once presented to us. His self-sacrifice cul- minated in His death, and we speak of that very properly as His atonement. But His self-sacrifice had other features.
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