Having appropriated a portion of two chapters in "The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors" to an exposition of the doctrine of the atonement, we shall treat the subject but briefly in this work.

1. It is shown in the work above mentioned, that the doctrine of the atonement is of heathen origin, and that it is predicated upon the assumption that no sin can be fully expiated without the shedding of blood. In the language of Paul, "Without the shedding of blood, there can be no remission for sin." A barbarous and bloody doctrine truly! But this doctrine was almost universally prevalent amongst the Orientals long before Paul's time.

2. Christians predicate the dogma of atonement for sin upon the assumption that Christ's death and sufferings were a substitute for Adam's death, incurred by the fall. But as Adam's sentence was death, and he suffered that penalty, this assumption can not be true.

3. If the penalty for sin was death, as taught in Gen. iii., and Christ suffered that penalty for man, then man should not die; but, as he does, it makes the doctrine preposterous. It could not have meant spiritual death, as some argue, because a part of the penalty was that of being doomed to return to dust (Gen. r. 19).

4. If crucifixion was indispensably necessary as a penalty, then the punishment should have been inflicted either upon the instigator or perpetrator of the deed: either the serpent or Adam should have been nailed to the cross.

5. We are told in reply, that, as an infinite sin was committed, it required an infinite sacrifice. But Adam, being a finite being, could not commit an infinite sin; and Christ's sacrifice and sufferings could not be infinite, unless he had continued to suffer to all eternity. Therefore the assumption is false.

6. An all-wise God would not let things get into such a condition as to require the murder of his only son from any consideration whatever.

7. And no father, cherishing a proper regard and love for his son, could have required him to be, or consented to have him, put to death in a cruel manner; for the claims of mercy and paternal affection are as imperative as justice.

8. To put an intelligent and innocent being to death for any purpose is a violation of the moral law, and as great a sin as that for which he died. Hecatombs of victims can not atone for the infraction of the moral law which is engraven upon our souls.

9. If it were necessary for Christ to be put to death, then Judas is entitled to one-half the merit of it for inaugurating the act, as it could not have taken place without his aid; and no one who took part in it should be censured, but praised.

10. It is evident, that, if everybody had been Quakers, no atonement would have been made, as their religion is opposed to bloodshed.

11. The atonement is either one God putting another to death, or God putting himself to death to appease his own wrath; but both assumptions are monstrous absurdities, which no person distinguished for science or reason can indorse.

12. Anger and murder are the two principal features in the doctrine of the atonement; and both are repugnant to our moral sense and feelings of refinement, and indicate a barbarous and heathen origin.

13. The atonement punishes the innocent for the guilty; which is a double or twofold crime, and a reversal of the spirit of justice. If a father should catch four of his children steeling, and the fifth one standing by and remonstrating against the act, and should seize on the innocent one and administer a severe flagellation, he would commit a double crime: 1st, that of punishing an innocent child; 2d, that of exonerating and encouraging the four guilty children in the commission of crime. The atonement involves the same principle.

14. No person with true moral manhood would consent to be saved on any such terms; but would prefer to suffer for his own sins, rather than let an innocent being suffer for them. And the man who would accept salvation upon such terms must be a sneak and a coward, with a soul not worth saving.

15. Who that possesses any sense of justice would want to swim through blood to get to the heavenly mansion? I want neither animals, men, nor Gods murdered to save my soul.

16. If there is any virtue in the atonement in the way of expiating crime, then there is now another atonement demanded by the principles of moral justice to cancel the sin committed by the first atonement,—that of murdering an innocent being, "in whose mouth was no guile;" and then another atonement to wipe out the sin of this atonement, and so on. And thus it would be atonement after atonement, murder after murder, ad infinitum. What shocking consequences and absurdities are involved in this ancient heathen superstition!

17. It seems strange that any person can cherish the thought for a moment that the Infinite Father would require a sacrificial offering for the trifling act of eating a little fruit, and require no atonement for the infinitely greater sin of murdering "his only-begotten son." Another monstrous absurdity!

18. The advocates of the atonement tell us that man stands toward his Creator in the relation of a debtor; and the atonement cancels the debt. To be sure! How does it do it? We will illustrate: A man says to his neighbor, "I owe you a thousand dollars; but I won't pay it."—"Very well," says the creditor, "I will tell you what I will do: I will forgive the debt by seizing on my own son, strip him of all he has, and then put him to death. The claims of justice will then be satisfied." A monstrous idea of justice!

19. The Jewish and Chaldean law of atonement required the offender to place his hand on the head of the beast while being consumed in sacrifice; and this was accepted as an atonement for his transgressions. Such a conception is both senseless and demoralizing. He was thereby taught that he would escape the legitimate consequences of his crime. And the Christian atonement is no better. The sin-atoning offering of Christ furnishes an open door through which the sinner escapes the just punishment of law. It is at least a partial liquidation of his sins. When one being is punished for another, this is, to the latter, an immunity from punishment; and the ends of justice are thus completely thwarted, and the moral law broken and trampled under foot. If a culprit were sentenced to the penalty of death for murder, and the punishment of another man were accepted in his stead, every court in the civilized world would decide that two wrongs were committed,—the punishment of the innocent, and the pardon of the guilty. Such doctrines are repugnant to ali ideas of justice, and are most certainly demoralizing.

20. The wrong-doer should be taught that he is just as guilty, and just as certain of punishment for his crime, as if all the Gods in heaven were put to death to atone for his sin; the penalty being inseparable from the act.

21. What would be thought of the government that should punish the law-maker instead of the law-breaker? This is exactly what the atonement amounts to; so that the law-maker falls a victim to the penalty of his own laws. It is God the law-maker dying for man the law-breaker. Such ideas and such doctrines are monstrous, and completely overthrow every principle of civil jurisprudence.

22. A God who could resort to such desperate expedients to appease his anger, and satisfy the demands of justice, is not a God, but merely an imaginary being which was conjured up in an age of ignorance and superstition. The belief in such a God is, nevertheless, demoralizing.

We will here relate an anecdote, showing that such ideas of the Supreme Being are repulsive even to the unenlightened heathen: In Smith's "Gulf of Guinea" it is stated, that, as a Christian missionary was presenting the doctrine of the Christian religion to Pepples, King of Bonny, and told him that God gave his only-begotten son to die for us,—to be put to death for our sins,—the king stopped him by saying, "Do you think me a fool to believe such palaver as that,—that God would kill his own son to please himself; get mad at man, and then kill his own son, instead of killing him? Never! never can I believe such fool palaver as that, It is a big fool lie." "I tried," says the missionary, "to impress upon his mind that nothing would satisfy divine justice but such a sacrifice; but he cut me short by exclaiming, 'That will do; that will do: I have got enough of such fool palaver.'" Quite a sensible "heathen" was King Pepples.