The Atonement (Part 1)
When selfish, narrow-minded man
The mighty works of God would scan,
He’s sure to estimate the whole
In keeping with his narrow soul,
Till he, by truth divine, advance
Into the infinite expanse
That lies beyond his shallow thought,
And face-to-face with God be brought
To measure, by Jehovah’s strength,
The height, the depth, the breadth and length
Of all His works, which, every one,
Are worthy of their Author done.
God’s works are perfect; therefore man,
Who is imperfect, never can
Their fulness infinite explore,
But, gazing on them, must adore,
Ascribing wisdom, honour, might
To Him who reigns in Heaven’s light.
Then let us, with the consciousness
Of all our own unworthiness,
And with a deeper, holier sense
Of what God is, with reverence
Approach His mightiest work, that we
May meditate thereon, and He
May condescend to shed some ray
Of light divine to chase away
The misty notions all abroad
About this wondrous work of God,
Which yet is as the purest light
Shed freely on the darkest night,
Wherein God’s glories shine so clear
That sinless seraphs cannot bear
The sight; while we, as in a glass,
Behold them dimly, till we pass
To where no vail shall intervene,
Nor cloud nor darkness come between;
But face-to-face, before the throne,
We’ll know as we ourselves are known
When God the Earth’s foundations laid
And at their bounds the proud waves stayed
With angels’ shout the heavens rang,
The morning stars together sang.
And why such joy? Did He not know
It yet would be a scene of woe,
Of misery, and grief, and pain,
Where sin e’en unto death would reign?
Yes! From the first He knew the last;
With Him the future, present, past
Is all one vast, eternal now,
Who dares to say, “He knew not how
Sin would His fair creation mar,
And from His presence man debar?”
Then how could He the secret keep
Which would have made those angels weep
Instead of sing? Would He thus show
His power alone, and make them know
The vengeance of His dreadful ire,
To punish with eternal fire
Rebellious creatures? No! They knew
That He with whom they had to do
Was the Almighty, and that He
Sin in His presence could not see.
When Satan and his host rebell’d,
His awful wrath they had beheld,
As o’er the battlements of heaven
They from their ancient seat were driven.
To prove the vengeance they had dar’d,
Where Justice had their place prepar’d.
But in His heart there reigned a love
That reached beyond the realms above,
And thus He did this world destine
To be the scene where it should shine
In all its rich and full display,
For which the curse but paved the way.
Though all th’ infernal host combin’d,
And sin and death were with them join’d
To do their worst, in hellish hate,
God’s will and purpose to frustrate,
Their efforts, though they wist it not,
That very will and purpose wrought.
A world which nought but sin did yield
Alone could be a fitting field
On whose dark scene to demonstrate
The love so rich, so free, so great,
That filled His heart a love that would
Reach far beyond the just and good,
And with its circle circumscribe
Each nation, kindred, tongue, and tribe,
And, for His boundless mercy’s sake,
For all their sins atonement make,
Provide salvation for the lost,
Free, yet at an infinite cost;
Yea, overcome the sinner’s heart,
And love, where hatred reigned, impart,
And people heaven with a throng
Of pardoned rebels, to prolong
To all eternity the lays
Of their Redeemer’s glorious praise.
That Love’s meridian height – The Cross –
With all its wondrous gain and loss,
Where Christ endured the grief and shame,
Gives answer to each righteous claim.
There, on the bleeding Sacrifice,
The sinner looks with tear-dimmed eyes.
That God should love a rebel so –
That Christ for Him endured such woe –
Is more than what his heart can bear;
‘Tis melted, and made captive there;
The work is done – his sins forgiven –
He’s born of God – an heir of heaven.
Thus, o’er His sin-made suffering Son,
God and the sinner are at one.
O matchless love! O wondrous plan!
Through which to rescue ruined man.
The power of God Creation shows,
His wisdom Nature doth disclose,
But by th’ Atonement He has shown.
His power into existence brought
The worlds. Incomprehensive thought!
When chaos reigned in ceaseless night
His voice was heard: “Let there be light!”
And light, without sun, moon, or star,
Burst forth and chased the darkness far!
His hand with beauty decked the scene
Which void and shapeless erst had been!
He breathed on Adam’s cold, clay frame,
And he a living soul became!
Was power exhausted as He stood.
And, viewing all, pronounced it good?
Or was His wisdom at an end
When Nature’s laws He made to blend,
And caused the worlds through pathless space
Harmoniously to run their race?
No! Though in these in vast degree
His wisdom and His power we see,
They are but glimmers, faint and dim,
Of what of those reside in Him.
But more His Love could not have done
Than yielded up His only Son.
And why so much? – For nothing less
Could meet His claims in righteousness.
Angels could not for sin atone,
Or Jesus ne’er had left the throne:
For though they each a life had giv’n,
Till empty were the realms of heav’n,
E’en all could not have purged one sin,
And brought the pardoned sinner in,
Arrayed in garments pure and white,
To dwell in heaven’s unsullied light.
Had man but one wrong action done,
None but the great Eternal’s Son
Could for that single sin atone;
And then He must be left alone
To sink beneath Heaven’s angry wave,
With none to pity, none to save,
Till, overpowered by Death and Hell,
He conquered, but, to conquer, fell;
And in their own deep, dark domain
Must over them the victory gain,
And to His girdle bind their keys,
Ere He their prisoner could release.
Or were there worlds for every Star
That glimmers in the distance far,
And myriad souls contained in each
Whose number Thought could never reach,
All burdened with a heavy load,
Of guilt, and ‘neath the wrath of God,
God’s Lamb, upon the altar laid,
For all atonement could have made.
Yea, if for demons He had died,
He would for them have satisfied
God’s utmost claim, and made them meet
Around His throne to take their seat,
Not as before, with wing-veiled face,
But, through the riches of His grace,
To rank among that blood-bought throng
Who sing for aye Redemption’s song.
Let none the ransom under-rate,
Or vainly try to estimate
What Jesus on the cross endured
Ere man’s salvation was procured.
‘Twas infinite! We might as well
Attempt to reach the gates of hell,
And see the lost in pain and woe,
Who must for evermore be so;
Then try to count th’ eternal years,
And sum the sighs, the groans, and tears
Which shall befall but one lost soul
While those eternal ages roll;
Then, if the sum our mind could gain;
A multiplier we’d obtain
If we could count the myriad host
Who through the fall of man were lost.
But vain the task to try to sum
The sufferings which would have come
On all mankind lost through the Fall!
Yet satisfaction for it all
God has received; and hence He can
Extend to every fallen man
Salvation – pardon full and free
Which is his own the moment he,
Lost, ruined, helpless, and undone,
Believes on Jesus, God’s dear Son.
Th’ Atonement was no business act
In which the Saviour did contract
To undergo so many pains
That He might cleanse so many’s stains.
He gave His all — His life’s blood flowed
To reconcile the world to God.
‘Twixt God and man, to close the rent,
The spotless Lamb of God was sent.
If all the sins of Adam’s race,
With perfect justice to each case,
In Heaven’s balances were laid,
They would be utterly outweighed
By Jesus’ death. The value lies
All in th’ infinite sacrifice;
When Christ for man was crucified,
Th’ Creator for the creature died.
The vail within God’s house of old,
That hid the mercy-seat of gold,
With cherubims was strangely wrought,
Which sadly to the memory brought
The gate of Eden, where these stood
With flaming sword lest man intrude,
And showed that Justice veiled God’s face
And stayed the current of His grace.
But when the vail was rent in twain,
These creatures were beheld again,
No more a terror to the heart,
But of the mercy-seat a part;
Beneath their wings the sprinkled blood,
Inviting sinners near to God.
Th’ Atonement is the mercy-seat
Where God the guilty one can meet,
And show him how his sins are gone,
Through what the Lord of Life hath done.
There Truth and Mercy meet together,
Justice and Peace have kissed each other
God’s attributes are harmonis’d,
And in His boundless love baptised;
There Justice, which we once did fear,
With outstretched hands invites us near.
The Cross is now God’s trysting-place
Where He can meet with man in grace –
Where, on the ground of Jesus’ blood,
The world may drink of Mercy’s flood,
And every soul by sin defiled
To God in Christ be reconcil’d.
What means a universal call
If there be not enough for all?
As if the Saviour passed some by
While He for others’ sins did die,
And that, though all are told to come,
There’s but provision made for some:
Or that, in some mysterious way,
God means not what the Scriptures say,
Let hampered minds their thoughts expand
Nor on such narrow footing stand:
The mighty work of Jesus scan –
He “tasted death for every man.”
He “died for all” that they who live
Back to Himself that life should give.
He has for “all” Atonement made –
For all mankind the ransom paid.
God loved the world; and when He gave
His Son, it was the world to save.
And though He knew some would not take
Of the provision He would make,
The foreseen choice of self-willed man
Changed not heav’n’s universal plan,
As, in the love that moved His heart,
All in th’ Atonement had a part.
Some will be lost, and rescued some,
Yet “Whosoever will” may come.
If not, He only mocks their fate
Who presses all, “ere ‘tis too late”,
To trust a work not for them done.
To take a pardon while there’s none,
To fly from hell without a way,
Or perish if they disobey.
They never can the sinner reach
Who, crippled thus, the Gospel preach.
Tis He who knows of food for all
That only can afford to call
A hungry world to come and feed –
All others would but mock their need.
O tell the tidings all around,
That every soul may hear the sound
Th’ Atoning work embraces all
Who were enveloped in the Fall.
To earth’s remotest regions go,
And preach to every child of woe,
Impartial who or what they be –
The rich, the poor, the bond, the free,
That Christ on their behalf had died,
That God with Him is satisfied,
And now is ready to forgive –
The simple terms, “Believe and live”.
And he who disregards the news,
And doth his day of grace abuse,
Shall find the worm that never dies,
As in the burning lake he sighs
To all eternity, shall be –
“There was provision made for me:
I might have been in Heaven above,
But I despised God’s mighty love.”