6. SPECULATIONS ON THE ATONEMENT

I. Which were the sins that necessitated the Atonement by Christ? 1. Chiefly original sin. This had been the axe at the root of the tree; it had cut mankind off from the supernatural life in its source; it had subverted the original design of God; it had broken the final link of the chain that bound the universe to God; it deprived God of the service and glory of the whole human race. The merciful love of God demanded the restitution of mankind no less than did His greatness. Adam’s sin had affected all his descendants without their own concurrence, and God would not allow them to be deprived of their birthright by the act of another. 2. Our own deliberate mortal sins moved God to pity rather than to wrath; they are to a considerable extent the result of an aptitude towards evil for which we are not responsible; their positive penalties are so much more terrible than the mere privations which original sin inflicts on us; and we are absolutely powerless to escape their consequences without aid from God. 3. Our venial sins are not of infinite malice, they do not sever us from God, and probably do not require the atonement of an infinite Person. In fact, however, Our Lord has assumed the burthen of them as well, and has left so much less of their punishment for us to bear. Consider what you would have been without Our Lord, how utterly helpless, and how much you owe to His love. Thank Him, love Him, render Him your best service in return.

II. Would Our Lord have come if Adam had not sinned? Scotus, etc., think He would. They consider that, even apart from sin, He is “the first-born of every creature . . . that in all things He may hold the primacy” (Col. i. 15, 18); and that He was predestined in the original divine plan to be one of mankind. This view accords more with those ideas of progressive development to perfection and of the regularity of law, which are suggested by all God’s works. It shows us the complete cycle of evolution, proceeding originally from God and returning finally to Him in the union of the highest term of creation with the divine nature. It shows us too, that in God’s original design the human race was fully equipped for all contingencies, and able to work out its destinies (through Jesus Christ) without any subsequent interference with the order of things. St. Thomas and others dwell rather on the idea of God’s infinite mercy to sinners. They think it more accordant with His goodness that He should have granted more to men as sinners than to them as just and not needing penance; and that He should turn the supreme evil of sin into an occasion for a greater benefit than was contemplated originally (so to speak). In any case the fact remains that Jesus is manifested to us chiefly as our Redeemer from sin and death. We can glorify Him both for what we know Him actually to have done, and for what we conjecture that He would have done for us.

III. If Adam had not sinned, would Our Lord have atoned for such of us as might have still committed sin? We cannot say; but we may perhaps draw an analogy from the case of the angels. Free-will is the appanage of every man; this involves probation before reward, and therefore the possibility of sin. It may be that the angels, with their fuller knowledge, greater stability and determination of will, would not have taken hold of the opportunity of repentance, and that, for this reason, it was not offered to them. This too might have been the case with men more fully endowed and possessing no inherited propulsion towards evil. Our very instability in good involves instability in evil, and makes us apt for repentance. So our weakness and inherited misery constitute our greatest advantage; and it may be that many of us will be saved under present conditions who would have been lost if Adam had not sinned. The higher gifts of the angels carried with them greater responsibilities and dangers. We too, if not fallen in Adam, might have been too gifted for penance and redemption. Thank God for thus compensating for your disadvantages.