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in the Divine purpose. With great diffidence the following was submitted to the Meeting
as a beginning, with the hope that at subsequent Meetings the various features could be
taken up individually and the definition clarified thereby:
The atonement is an expedient introduced into the Divine moral government, devised
by infinite wisdom, to satisfy both the righteousness and the love of God in the
forgiveness and salvation of the sinner who believes the gospel.
This atonement consists of the Substitionary Sacrifice of Christ, bearing our sins in
His Own body on the tree, and through the shedding of His precious blood a ransom has
been found, satisfaction made, reconciliation accomplished, justification, sanctification,
forgiveness, life and peace for ever assured.
The atonement thus made provides a ground upon which a holy God can meet a sinner
in grace and mercy, without in the slightest degree compromising the throne of His
holiness, or doing dishonour to His holy law.
It is of the very essence of this atonement that its benefits should be freely bestowed
and freely received, without merit or legal works on the part of the sinner thus saved. It
is by grace through faith alone.
At future "Foundation Day" Meetings, every one of these terms used in the attempted
definition could be examined. What is Substitution? Sacrifice? Satisfaction? What is
meant by the "necessity" of the atonement? What is meant by "A ground upon which a
holy God can meet a sinner in grace and mercy"? What is meant by "An expedient
introduced into the Divine moral government"? and so with every feature both of this,
and of the other three basic doctrines of the Trust.
In conclusion we print a comment upon the first Foundation Day Meetings received
from a friend who was present:
"On Saturday, 26th May, the first Foundation Day Meetings of the Chapel of the
Opened Book were held, and proved to be of an auspicious character.
In reviewing the circumstances leading up to the establishment of this witness, the
individual details are prosaic enough, but their cumulative effect reveals a sure guidance
of the hand of God which is very heartening in a day when `there is no open vision'.
Their ultimate effect may even prove historical.
It is the more remarkable that it was the outcome, not of a single mind or purpose, but
born of a latent desire on the part of many widely scattered people who, seeking for the
truth, found it, and finding it desired to spread it to an ever widening circle of seekers, so
that in a day when counsel is darkened and confusion tends to bewilder the minds of men,
a beacon has been lit by which to steer in the aftermath of the storm that is past and the
storms already appearing."