On the Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ. By Rev. William Symington [pp. 201-233]

Symington on the Itonentent.
should be punished according to its demerit; the same reason
never can teach that in some instances it should not be punished at all. Whatever argument will prove that sin ought
not to be punished in one instance, may be applied to
any other case; and would go to prove that no sin could be
punished in the divine government. But we know that some
sins have been and are punished; reason, therefore, cannot
assure us, or even render it probable, that in a perfectly righteous moral government, any sin will escape deserved punishment. We know that it, is alleged that in those cases, in
which the punishment of sin is remitted there is a special
reason for this dispensation, namely, the repentance and reformation of the sinner. Unitarians themselves maintain,
that if no repentance intervene to turn aside the stroke
of justice, transgressors must bear their iniquity. It
follows, therefore, upon their own principles, that if none
should ever repent, there could be no remission. And it
would not be very difficult to show that sinners left to themselves will never repent. But we shall now proceed upon
the supposition that a sinner can repent and reform his life
at any time. We ask how can it be ascertained that sin will
be pardoned upon repentance without any atonement? It
cannot be learned from experience, for the natural consequences of intemperance, debauchery, fraud, &c., are not removed by repentance; and yet these consequences of sin are
a part of God's moral administration. In civil governments
the criminal who has been convicted of murder, treason, perjury, or any other crime, is never released and the punishment remitted as a matter of course, because he repents.
However sincerely penitent, he pays the penalty of the law,
and a contrary course would be subversive of all law and
government. Suppose that God should create two moral
agents of similar powers, and place them under the same law,
and in the same circumstances; and suppose that one of them
should continue perfectly to obey his maker, and that the
other should wickedly rebel against his sovereign; can any
man persuade himself that he could treat these creatures
exactly in the same manner? God cannot look upon sin but
with disapprobation proportioned to its malignity; and he
cannot but be pleased with obedience. Unless, therefore, he
should act contrary to his own views and feelings, he cannot
but make a difference between the man who loves and serves
him with all his heart, and him who ungratefully cherishes enmity against his Maker. This case is so plain that no man who
voL. VIII. NO. 2. 28
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