Christianty without Christ [pp. 352-362]

360 CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT CHRIST. [April,
expect to be rewarded, not merely according to, but for, our
works. Christ merits nothing for us, we are not to look to him
for sanctification, or any other blessing. All he has done, or
does, is to make it consistent with the benevolence of God to
forgive sin. Forgiveness of sin, therefore, is the only benefit
which God bestows on us on account of Christ.
This theory changes everything. Men are rebellious subjects.
It is now consistent in God to forgive them. He calls on them
to submit, to lay down their arms, then he is free to deal with
them as though they had never sinned. They must merit,
not forgiveness-for that is granted on account of what
Christ has done-but the reward promised to obedience; justification is simply pardon. Conversion is that change which
takes place in a man when he ceases to be selfish, and becomes
benevolent; ceases making his own happiness the end of his life,
and determines to seek the happiness of the universe. The
essence of faith is love, /. 0., benevolence. It is hard to see, according to this theory, in what sense Christ is our prophet, priest,
and king; how He is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption; what is meant by our being in him as the
branch is in the vine; or, what our Lord meant when He said,
"without me, ye can do nothing;" what was in Paul's mind
when he said, it is Christ for me to live, "it is not I that live,
but Christ liveth in me," and so on to the end. This is a different kind of religion from that which we find in the Bible and
in the experience of the church. As the religion (in the subjective sense of the word) is different, so is the preaching different, and so are the modes of dealing with sinners, and of promoting reformation among men. Some go so far as to hold,
that there can be morality without religion; men are exhorted
to be moral because it is right, because it will promote their
own welfare, and make them respected and useful. They are
to become morally good by a process of moral culture, by suppressing evil feelings and cherishing such as are good ones, by
abstaining~from what is wrong and doing what is right.
Others take the higher ground of theism, or of natural religion, and bring in considerations drawn from our relation to God
as an infinitely perfect being, our creator and preserver and
father, who has rightful authority over us, who has prescribed