One being does not suffer to save him from tlie
wrath of another. But his Creator comes to him
through the fiery path of sorrow, that He may deliver
him from death, that He may draw him to His in-
finite heart, and pour into him the blessings of
eternal life. "When this truth lies plain and clear
in your own mind can it fail of its effect ? Would
it not do more to make you ashamed of sin, to fill
your heart with sincere repentance, to lead you to
shun every evil as a sin against me Lord, to put



NOT THE PKNALTT OF SIN. 47

your trust in Him, and to do all in your power to
assist Him in carrying out His purposes of love
towards yourself and all men, than any motives of
fear, or purchase, or vicarious suffering, to satisfy
some legal technicality ? I can conceive no motive
more powerful to lead us to obey the Divine com-
mandments and to live an unselfish and heavenly
life.
But this view of the Lord's sufferings not only
sets forth His love in the strongest manner, but it
magnifies the law, and shows that the difficulty in
the way of mau's salvation was not a merely tech-
nical or legal difficulty, but a real one, originating
in the Divine order, and inhering in the essential
nature of man. The common doctrine of vicarious
suffering is, practically, only a scheme to evade the
penalties of a Divine law while seeming to obey it.
It assumes that no law can be maintained without
penalties, and that it is of no essential consequence
whether the penalty falls upon the transgressor or
not, if only the full tale of suffering is inflicted.
