He carries about with him
the taint of original sin; that is, sin of constitution, ingrained,
inherited, that which is of the very fibre of his being. This is the
character of man as required by the old theological systems; and this
is how it happened to come about. Evil is not something natural, not
imperfection, not something undeveloped, not yet outgrown. Sin
originated outside of this world, invaded it, and worked its ruin and
destruction.
Now comes the device that has been called the Atonement, by which it is
supposed that God is going to be able to save at least a part of this
rebellious humanity. There have been a good many different theories of
the atonement that have been held, eighteen or twenty varieties of the
doctrine, three or four of which I must outline, in order to make them
clear to your mind, that you may see what have been the devices by
which the theologians have supposed that they could find a way for the
deliverance of man from this condition of loss, and fit him to share
the felicity for which he was originally intended.
Of course, the main point in the whole scheme is that the Second Person
of the Trinity becomes incarnate, comes down here to this world, is
born, grows up, teaches, suffers and at last is put to an ignominious
death. This is the central idea of the doctrine of the atonement; or,
rather, the Christ is the central figure in that doctrine. But how is
it supposed to work out the atonement that is necessary, in order that
man may be saved? You will see that the world, according to the ideas I
have been delineating, is in a condition of rebellion.
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