Christianty without Christ [pp. 352-362]

1876.] CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT CHRIST. 361
the rule of duty, and who rewards the righteous and punishes
the wicked.
All this is true and good in its place. But it is like persuading the blind to see and the deaf to hear. This is not the gospel. Christ is the only Saviour from sin, the only source of
holiness, or of spiritual life. The first step in salVation from sin
j5 our reconciliation to God. The reconciliation is effected by
the expiation made by the death of Christ (Rom. V: io). It is
his blood, and his blood alone, that cleanses from sin. As long
as men are under the law, they bring forth fruit unto death; it
is only when freed from the law, freed from its inexorable demand of perfect obedience and from its awful penalty, that they
bring forth fruit unto God (Rom. vii: 4.6). Christ delivered
us from the law as demanding perfect obedience, by being made
under the law, and fulfilling ail righteousness for us; and he redeems us from the curse of the law, by being made a curse for us
-dying the just for the unjust, and bearing our sins in his own
body on the tree. Being thus reconciled unto God by his death,
we are saved by his life. He sends the Holy Spirit to impart
to us spiritual life, and transforms us more and more into his
own image. The Spirit reveals to us the glory of Christ and his
infinite love. He makes us feel not only that we owe everything
to him, but that he himself is everything to us-our present joy
and our everlasting portion-our all in all. Thus every other motive to obedience is absorbed and sublimated into love to
Christ and zeal for his glory. His people become like him, and
as he went about doing good, so do they. All this of course,
is folly to the Greek. God, however, has determined by the foolishness of preaching to save them who believe.
Pulmonary consumption is more destructive of human life
than the plague. So Christianity without Christ, in all its forms,
the phthisis of the church, is more to be dreaded than skepticism, whether scientific or philosophical. The only remedy is
preaching Christ, as did the apostles.
Two important facts are to be borne in mind. First, the inward religious life of men, as well as their character and conduct, are determined by their doctrinal opinions. Even the
Ld?nbargk J?evicw, years ago, said, "The character of an age is
`determined by the theology of that age." Tberefore, any sys