Take for instance, the passage
in relation to the extent of the Atonement. "He is the propitiation for
our sins, and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole
world." "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for
the suffering of death, that he by the grace of God should taste death
for every man." "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
There is no uncertain sound there.
To me it is a marvel how men could accept and defend the doctrine of a
limited Atonement, in the face of such clear statements. If such a
course was taken in order to uphold a certain system of theology, it
ought to be an everlasting warning to theologians not to make their
systems of theology too complete. When we come to realize how little we
know of God's plans and purposes, we shall see that completeness is
entirely beyond us.
Then with such clear statements of a universal Atonement as I have
quoted, take that dictum to which I formerly referred, and which I think
none will dispute, that "God infallibly accomplishes everything at which
he aims." Put the two things together, and what do they amount to? Do
they not give us a certainty of Restoration? For if God gave His Son in
order to make provision for all mankind, He surely desires the salvation
of all mankind; and if God thus "aims" at the salvation of all, will He
not accomplish it? If we had no hints whatever as to how that is done,
either in this life or the next, we might rest on the assurance; it will
infallibly be accomplished.
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