normal. The work of Christ is intended, consequently, not to rescue, but to elevate mankind. There is no room here for the idea of guilt. Hence there is no need of an expiation. The work of Christ, and His death, which is, after all, only a part of His work, deliver from sin and deliver from punishment; but it does so in the way of cause and effect; for when the cause, sin, is removed, punishment, the effect, is removed also. In all his thinking the person of Christ is central.

He was the founder of what is known in Germany as the Mediating School of Theology. To this school belong Nitzch, Rothe, and Dorner, who, however, do not hold all the views of their master without modification. Especially is this the case with Rothe, who can only in a very qualified sense be said to belong to that school. Space forbids our attempting, even in the most general way, to show in what respects they differ from one another in their views of the atonement. In general they all agree in making the removal of the punishment of sin dependent on the removal of sin itself, which is effected by means of a life-union with Christ-a view very much like that of the early Greek fathers.

Ritschl and Kaftan, who seem to occupy a position by themselves as an offshoot from the school of Schleiermacher, also deny that the death of Christ was the punishment for sin, or that by His death He made expiation for the sin of man. According to Ritschl His absolute fidelity and His divine calling were perfected and evinced in His death. According to Kaftan "the death and resurrection of Christ are the symbol and the power of the death to sin, and the resurrection to life in fellowship with the risen Lord."

While this development of thought has been going on in Ger many, in Scotland John McLeod Campbell has brought forth a theory that deserves notice. According to him, the death of Christ was necessary, in order that he might realize man's need and God's feeling. Starting with the alternative of Edwards, that sin must be followed by punishment or by an adequate repentance, he discards the idea of Edwards that the bearing of

the penalty constitutes the atonement, but accepts the alternative, and makes the atonement consist in the rendering by Christ of an adequate repentance for human sinfulness. "His confession of sin is a perfect amen in humanity to the judgment of God on the sin of man."

ment.

At the same time, in the Broad Church party of the English Church, Frederich D. Maurice, followed by Robertson and others, took a new departure by making the fatherhood of God the central and controlling idea in all their thought on the atoneFisher, in his "History of Christian Doctrine," quotes from and sums up Maurice's views on the atonement as follows: "Christ satisfied the Father, by presenting the image of His own holiness and love." "In His sacrifice, this holiness and love came forth completely." "He bore the sins of the world in the sense that He felt them with that anguish with which only a perfectly pure and holy being, who is also a perfectly sympathizing and gracious being, can feel the sins of others." There is no "artificial substitution," Christ being the "sinless root of humanity," the source of all light in them, "the root of righteousness in each man."

But we must hasten to conclude. As a result of this brief review of the "History of the Doctrine of the Atonement," the conclusion is forced upon us that there has as yet been enunciated no doctrine of the atonement that has been able to demand for itself such a degree of acceptance on the part of the church as to give those who hold it the right to claim that it ought to be accepted as the only orthodox doctrine. Certain denominations may have embodied certain theories in their confessional systems, or certain schools of thought may be in practical agreement among themselves on the subject, but, certainly, no one theory has been so generally accepted by the whole church, or so persistently upheld by her through all her history, as to be entitled to be called catholic. Meanwhile, it seems the controversy must go on, until some prophet arise (if there ever is to be such), with spiritual vision so keen that God may reveal to him the secrets of this great mystery, and with power sufficient to impress the

truth which he has discovered upon the church.

Until that time

shall come it would seem to be the part of Christian faith to rest unshaken in the firm conviction that the great transaction on calvary, not apart from, but in connection with the life of Christ, has effected reconciliation between man and God, and has wrought salvation for the world. In the midst of the many and conflicting theories of the atonement, men can still turn to the sacrament of the altar, and as they, in that holy transaction, eat the crucified body and drink the shed blood of Christ, their hearts can find rest and peace in the comforting assurance that 'they have a full pardon of all sin by the only sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He Himself has once accomplished."

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IV.

RELIGION AND POLITICS.

BY JOHN W. APPEL, ESQ.

Religion and Politics are the two most important interests of mankind. They have inspired the profoundest thought and the noblest achievements of man; and they mark the radiating centers of all human history. They are vital interests because they determine man's happiness and well-being. Without religion and politics men would lapse into barbarism, and lead godless and lawless lives. No man can afford to be indifferent to these interests, or to shirk the responsibilities they place upon him.

RELIGION.

The deepest element in man's life is, no doubt, the religious. We scarcely emerge from childhood before we learn that the human heart longs for communion with God before all else, and can find no rest apart from Him. Death haunts us from the cradle to the grave.

"Sooner or later, all must to the urn."

And men try in vain to rob it of its terrors. The Egyptians, in the height of their mirth and feasting, were wont to bring the dried skeleton of a man into the room for a memento to their guests. But there is no soothing balm for the sting of death and the ravages of sin apart from religion. Religion is the great reconciler in the distractions of life. It calms the tempests of the soul, and brings peace to the warring factions of the mind. It gives men something to live for and to die for. Pardon, hope and joy are the heavenly messages it brings to the guilty, the oppressed and the sorrowing. It turns to bitterness the life poised on self, and glorifies that centered in charity and self sacrifice. The world has, at times, ignored the religious interest and gone in pursuit of the vain things of earth; but only to return, after

bitter experience, to acknowledge that, after all, the only true life is the religious life; and apart from God there is only misery and woe. Religion is an essential element of our nature. It is not something te be put on or off at will, to be accepted or rejected as men may prefer. It is not a delusion, nor an artificial thingthe outgrowth of ignorance and superstition; but a divinely implanted idea, or life-principle, working its way out through the ages in the progress of the race. It is a revelation from God to man. Plutarch says: "We have met with towns unfortified, illiterate and without the convenience of habitations; but a people wholly without religion no traveller hath yet seen." Dr. Schaff says: "Ancient history furnishes no example of a state without religion and forms of worship."

The lesson of the ages is summed up in the pregnant question, what doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul.

POLITICS.

Next after the religious, man's most vital interest is the social and political. This interest is represented by the state or human government in general. Politics as a science has to do with the structure or mechanism of the state. As an art, it is concerned with the exercise of the functions of the state with reference to the solution of given questions as they arise in the body-politic. As men grouped in society have never been found without possessing a religion, so they have not been found without a government however rudimentary in form. The operations of government touch our lives at almost every point. The bread we eat, the clothes we wear, the houses we live in, the soil we till, the labor we perform, the rights and liberties we enjoy, are all matters more or less affected by the laws and government under which we live. The political policy of a nation always determines the well-being and happiness of its people for better or worse. Hence, politics is a matter of most vital concern for every citizen in the state. Men have always realized this; and have ever been ready to fight and if need be, die for the state. The flag is the emblem of the state; and the deeds of heroism