ARTICLE IV.-REVIEW OF DR. BUSHNELL ON "THE VICARIOUS SACRIFICE."

The Vicarious Sacrifice, grounded in Principles of Universal Obligation. By HORACE BUSHNELL. New York: Charles Scribner & Co., 124 Grand street. 1866. 8vo. pp. 552.

WE may safely assume that this volume will be very gener ally read. Many will peruse it from curiosity to learn what is the last word from Dr. Bushnell in respect to one of the most important doctrines of the Christian system-remembering that his former utterances upon this subject have been seriously called in question. Many others who have been interested in his sermons, and in his "Nature and the Supernatural," will expect to find genius, eloquence, and Christian feeling largely present in a treatise upon so inspiring a theme as Christ's redeeming work.

Very many more will be attracted to it, because they are dissatisfied with the theories of the atonement which are currently received, and are earnestly looking for some explanation which shall be more satisfactory to their reason, their Christian feelings, and the teachings of the Scriptures. Not a few of the younger theologians, preachers, and laymen may accept the volume as expressing in many of its positions the conclusions which they have already received, and therefore welcome the authority of Dr. Bushnell's name and the force of his reasonings, as most important auxiliaries in the service of what they conceive to be a better theology. We say this most distinctly at the outset of our discussion, because it ought neither to be disguised nor concealed, that the chief opinions expressed in this volume are neither original with nor peculiar to Dr. Bushnell. His modes of presenting and defending them are sufficiently his own; but in the doctrines which he teaches, he is a representative and follower of a very extensive school of thinkers, whose influence is great and steadily increasing in every part of

Protestant Christendom. Schleiermacher urged these views in Germany with his remarkable gifts of subtle analysis and eloquent exposition. Many theologians of the school of Schleiermacher, even of that branch of it which adheres most closely to the symbols and the spirit of the Reformation, adopt very nearly the same expositions of the import of the life and death of Christ which Dr. Bushnell has propounded. In England, Coleridge, in his doctrine of the Redemptive work, did, as is well known, attack all the previously received theories of the atonement with arguments like those which Dr. Bushnell employs, while Maurice and the divines of his school not only follow Coleridge in their negative positions, but follow Schleiermacher, and agree with Dr. Bushnell in their positive expositions of the import of "the vicarious sacrifice." Not only have these views been largely received by the Church of England, but they have been accepted with favor among the Congregationalists of that country. If we are not incorrectly informed, even the Presbyterian Churches of Scotland, in all of which it would be a capital offense to confess in form the doctrine of unlimited or universal atonement, are by no means unaffected by the theories of the school of Maurice. The oaken framework of the Scottish theology to the eye stands entire and unchanged as of old. It would seem that every timber and brace is as stiff and unyielding as ever, but the dry rot of this new theory of the work of Christ has insinuated itself into many of the timbers, and loosened not a few of the joints.

Dr. Bushnell, perhaps, stands in this country foremost as the representative of this theory of Christ's redemptive work, which has become somewhat formidable in its claims and influence. Though he is not prone to confess himself to be the representative of any opinions but those which he deems peculiarly his own, he does, in his preface, recognize a tendency in the church toward a "final doctrine of the subject," of which "the grand ruling conception finally established will be that Christ, by his suffering, life, and ministry, becomes a reconciling power in character, the power of God unto salvation."

We do not inquire at present into the causes of this tendency of opinion. We shall not affirm whether it is to be ascribed to

a lower religious tone, and a less reverent fear of God, leading to habits of reasoning and interpretations less rigorous and less exact than once prevailed; or on the other hand, whether it is a sign of a deeper insight into the true import of the Scriptures, which is the result of better methods of interpretation. We shall not inquire how far these views result from yielding unwarrantably to the suggestions of the imagination, or how far they are to be explained by a violent reaction against the extravagant and untenable theories of the older orthodoxy. We notice this tendency as a fact, which fact is a reason for attaching greater importance to the views of Dr. Bushnell, than they would demand if they were regared as the idiosyncrasies of a single individual, however ably and eloquently they might be asserted.

In examining the volume, we do not propose to give an analysis of its contents, or to follow out its course of argument and assertions by a critical commentary for approval or refutation. To do the first is needless, for we may assume that those of our readers who will read our criticism will have previously read the volume. To do the second is impossible, for it would require a volume as large or larger than Dr. Bushnell's to do justice to all the themes which would demand our attention.

We propose to consider in order a few of the strong and a few of the weak points in this volume. Under the strong points, we include those features in which it has any advantage over other treatises upon its theme, whether this advantage comes from a better method of treatment or from sounder views of the truth. Under the weak points, we shall consider its positive oversights and errors.

We hope to write in no spirit of captious criticism, or of special devotion to the interests of any of the received theological systems. It is almost needless to say that we shall not be tempted to avail ourselves of the cheap expedients of religious partisanship, to denounce and decry the friend whom we admire and esteem, and the writer who has done good service for Christ and the church by his eloquent expositions and defenses of Christian truth.

The strong points, to some extent the real excellencies of this volume, are the following:

1. The book is remarkably free from the technicalities of theology. The arguments and illustrations are brought within the reach of men untrained in the dialect and unused to the distinctions of theological schools. It is an element of power with Dr. Bushnell that he uses the language, arguments, and illustrations, which are addressed to thinking and cultivated men of all conditions in life, and which suppose no special initiation into scholastic terminology. His discussions are not the less subtle or profound for this reason. But they are incomparably more fresh and forcible, and are more easily followed by all classes of readers. They are much broader also, bringing into view the relations of the principles and truths involved, to the principles that are recognized in the actual world of living and breathing men, and which are responded to by the convictions, and the conscience of every human soul. Hence, his theological discussions when subtle and over-refined are always interesting-when they are incoherent and fanciful, they are still so illustrated and enforced that the mind is stimulated to new trains of thought, and some valuable truth is suggested if none is directly taught. The boldness of his thinking imparts an energy and directness to his style. The independence, and even the audacity of his positions, require a corresponding daring in his arguments and illustrations. Views so fresh and original as his, can only be fitly expressed in a fresh and glowing style.

It is not merely that Dr. Bushnell is a writer of genius and power, and must therefore write with interest even when he treats of theological themes, but it is true that he has a genius for writing on such subjects, in such a way as to bring them within the range of the common thinking of cultivated men, and to awaken a profound moral and religious interest in the truths which he discusses. He never separates these principles from their direct and practical application to the feelings and the life. In his hands they are never dead dogmas or lifeless abstractions, with only a speculative interest for logical refiners, but they are always living truths, which require and evoke a warm response from every soul.

These peculiarities certainly give to the volume a great advantage over theological treatises as they are commonly written.

They are fitted to secure for his doctrine a favorable hearing. They must be regarded also as real excellencies. In times like these, and in a country like ours, where the readers of theological treatises read so much besides, upon common and even profound themes, which is written in a familiar and untechnical style, when even the students of theology read so much of his tory, philosophy, and literature, it seems to be a necessity that even theological discussions should, as far as possible, be free from everything like a stereotyped or traditional diction, and should be enlivened by manly thinking and the diction which is common to all literature.

It would react advantageously upon theologians them. selves, if they were compelled to couch old arguments in new forms of speech, and to defend and illustrate the unchanging truths of the word by arguments and illustrations adapted to modern thinking. Perhaps the charm of some old dogmas would vanish with the slight changes that would be thus effected in the phraseology in which they are expressed. Perhaps old errors would more naturally and easily be sloughed off from the eternal truths, by the very process of translating them into a new dialect, and the minds of those who are set for the defense of the truth would be enlarged to a wider toleration and softened to a diviner charity.

Certainly the hearers of so-called "doctrinal " sermons would be surprised to find that the preaching of Christian doctrine had become the most interesting of all kinds of preaching, and the readers of theological treatises would learn that theology itself is the divinest and the most inspiring of all the sciences. We do not by any means commend all the peculiarities of Dr. Bushnell's thinking or writing. He is least of all to be set up as a model to be blindly copied. But his freshness and freedom of thinking and writing, and the warm and practical interest with which he invests his themes and his arguments, are to be counted to his praise, even when they serve to give currency to serious defects or errors of opinion.

2. Dr. Bushnell has gained another advantage for the impression of his book, in the circumstance that he aims to treat of the whole of Christ's redemptive work, and actually gives prominence to many aspects of it which are often overlooked.