ement or purchase effected by
the mortal sufferings of Jesus, but to the confirmation of the
good tidings he brought, afforded by the Father's raising him from
the dead. "Whereof he hath given assurance unto all, in that he
hath raised him from the dead," Paul proclaimed on Mars Hill. In
the discourses of the apostles recorded in the Book of Acts, we
find that, when they preached the new religion to new audiences,
the great doctrine in all cases set forth as fundamental and
absorbing is the resurrection; not an atoning death, but a
justifying resurrection. "He died for our sins, and rose for our
justification." Some of the Athenians thought Paul "a setter forth
of two strange gods, Jesus and Resurrection." And when they desire
to characterize Christ, the distinguishing culminating phrase
which they invariably select shows on what their minds rested as
of chief import: they describe him as the one "whom God hath
raised from the dead." "If we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with
him." "That ye may know what is the exceeding greatness of God's
power toward us who believe, according to the working of his
mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from
the dead and set him at his own right hand in heaven." It is plain
here that the dying of Christ is regarded merely as preliminary to
his rising, and that his resurrection and entrance into heaven are
received as an assurance that faithful disciples, too, shall
obtain admission into the heavenly kingdom.

The Calvinistic doctrine is that the unutterable vicarious agonies
of the death of Christ placated the wrath of God, satisfied his
justice, and ransomed the souls of the elect from the tortures of
hell, and that his resurrection was simply his victorious return
from a penal conflict with the powers of Satan. The Unitarian
doctrine is that the violent death of Christ was an expression of
self sacrificing love, to exert a moral power on the hearts of
men, and that his resurrection was a miraculous proof of the
authority and truth of his teachings, a demonstration of human
immortality. We maintain that neither of these views fully
contains the true representation of the New Testament. The
artificial horrors of the former cannot be forced into nor wrung
out of the written words; while the natural simplicity and
meagerness of the latter cannot be made to fill up the written
words with adequate signifi