58 BIOGRAPHY OF —
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he sacred writers have said so. They represent Godan unchangeable being. ‘The death of Jesus is neverrepresented as having any effect on God, or his law;but on man the whole effect of it passed for his good.I examined another opinion, now become very com-mon, that is, that Jesus died to open the door of mercyto the world, or to make it possible for God to justifyhim that believed in his Son. ‘This door was represent-ed to be in the breast of God. Justice and truth hadclosed it against the egress of mercy to save sinners.It was impossible for mercy to get out till the door wasopened; and justice opposed its being opened, till satis-faction should be made to its demands. These de-raands, on inquiry, I found to beas before stated, deathtemporal, spiritual and eternal. The diction is differ-ent, but the sentiments are the same. I saw that thedoctrine evidently- was not true—that the door of mer-cy in the breast of God was not closed; for the greatestgifts of mercy, yea, all the gifts of mercy, were vouch-safed to us in the gift of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,before justice could be satisfied by his death. ‘ForGod so loved the world, that he gave his only begottenSon, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish,but have everlasting life.” The gift of Jesus was be-fore his death, and this, according to the system, mustbe before the satisfaction. A door against mercy is inour heart, and it is closed ; but the Lord is represented asknocking at that door, and pleading for entrance.When we open, the Lord with his fulness enters, andblesses us. ; I farther inquired, did God in his law given by Mo-ses, admit of a substitute or surety to die in the roomof the guilty? I found that he did not. For accord-ing to the law, every soul was to die for his own sins;even a son should not die for the father, nor the fatherfor the son. ‘The doctrine of suretyship is wrong ineivil policy, as well as in religion. It is not an author-ized doctrine of the Bible, though contended for withso much zeal by’system-mongers. BARTON W. STONE. 59 My opportunity to read was very limited, being com-pelled to manual labor daily on my farm ; but so in-tently engaged was my mind, on this and collateralsubjects, that I always took with me in my corn-fieldmy pen and ink, and as thoughts worthy of note oc-curred, I would cease from my labor, and commit themto paper. ‘Thus laboring till I had accumulated matterenough fora pamphlet, and-having arranged the ideas, Iaddressed them in print to a friend. That edition wassoon exhausted, and I could not supply the many callsfor it. This gave a pretext for many to say, I had call-ed them in and burnt them. ‘This is not true. Theywere never called in by me, nor were they burnt in myknowledge. Against this pamphlet, Doct. J. P. Camp-bell, of Kentucky, a Presbyterian preacher of some no-toriety, wrote his Strictures—very severe in language,but his arguments were by me considered weak; yet,as good as his cause afforded him. To these StricturesI replied in another printed pamphlet, to which he madea rejoinder, called the Vindex. It was judged to betoo vindictive to merit a reply; and thus this contro-versy between us closed. One thing I have since re-eretted, that the Doctor accused me in his pamphletsof being heterodox on the Trinity. My views I hadnever committed to paper, and for -years had been si-lent on that subject m my public addresses. We hadbeen very intimate, and I had disclosed my views tohim as to a brother; not suspecting that I should bedragged before the public.as I was. I forgive him.But his disclosure was abroad, and induced me to de-fend myself, and the doctrine [ believed. This I have’done in a book called my Address to the Churches, andin my Letters to James Blythe, D. D., the latter de-|signed as an answer to Thomas Cleland, D. D. , who!had written furiously against me. The result of my inquiries on Atonement and Trinity,will be found in the pamphlets above named. I calledAtonement, according to the true spelling and pronun-ciation of the word, at-one-ment. Sin had separated - + ’
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