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PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

THE Scope of this Essay is not controversial, but historical. It is designed to trace through the patristic, scholastic, and later periods of theology the Catholic doctrine on the Atonement of the Son of God, comparing it also with the principal Reformed systems, to some of which the author ventures to think that the antipathy felt by many not irreligious minds towards the whole idea of Atonement is in great measure due. He has had, therefore, a certain undercurrent of practical aim, in showing that objections urged with more or less reason against what are either doubtful excrescences or erroneous perversions of the doctrine do not apply to it, as part of the Church's faith. But this secondary purpose has never been allowed (he trusts) to interfere with strict fidelity of statement in recording the belief whether of individuals or communities. References are in every case given to the writers or formularies under review, and their meaning is expressed, as far as possible, in their own words.

Of authorities consulted, other than those forming the direct subject of inquiry, the following deserve special mention; for the Fathers of the first three centuries, Bähr's Die Lehre der Kirche vom Tode Jesu in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten (Sulzbach, 1832); Thomasius' Origenes, Ein Beitrag zur Dogmengeschichte des dritten Jahrhunderts (Nürnberg, 1837); Redepenning's Origenes, Eine Darstellung seines Lebens und seiner Lehre (Bonn, 1841); for the later patristic and the scholastic period especially, and partly for the Reformation, Baur's Die christliche Lehre von der Versöhnung (Tübingen, 1838);' for the patristic period generally, Petavius, De Incarnatione Verbi; Thomassin, De Incarnatione Verbi Dei; Fabricius, De Veritate Religionis Christianæ, cap. 41; and for the Reformation period, Möhler's Symbolism (Robertson's Trans., London, 1843); Döllinger's Die Reformation (Regensburg, 1848), vol. iii.; and Newman's Lectures on Justification (Oxford, 1840). Other authorities will be men

'Baur's work requires to be read with caution. He is on the whole reliable as a chronicler of opinions, but with a passion for systematizing, which sometimes leads him to give exclusive or disproportionate value to one side of a writer's view, to the exclusion or neglect of others. This is particularly shown in his treatment of the Fathers, which illustrates the criticism that has been made upon his intellect, as "of an essentially negative cast, preternaturally alive to the slightest indications of inconsistency, while unable to recognise the plainest evidences of unity,"

tioned as they occur. The author desires further to put on record his great personal obligations to the kindness of Dr. Döllinger, both for many valuable suggestions, and for allowing him the free use of his extensive library.

It may be as well to observe, that the manuscript was completed before he had an opportunity of referring to Archbishop Thomson's Bampton Lectures on the Atonement, which he had heard preached at Oxford in 1853, but had not seen in print; only two of them, however the sixth and seventh-deal in part, and from the nature of the case very briefly, with the history of the doctrine. As a general rule, direct criticism on contemporary literature has been purposely avoided in this volume, as unsuitable to the character of a work not meant to be controversial; but it has not therefore been composed in forgetfulness of what living writers have said, or of the tone of the serial press on the subject. The treatise is chiefly occupied with recording the opinions of others; so far as it expresses his own, the author need scarcely add, that he trusts it will be found to contain nothing out of har

mony with the spirit and teaching of the Church.

LONDON,

Lent, 1865.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

THE demand for a Second Edition of this work gives me an opportunity of acknowledging the various criticisms it has received, by which I have tried to profit, from whatever quarter they might proceed. My best thanks are due to several of my reviewers for valuable comments and suggestions, and to all (with one marked exception') for the uniform courtesy and fairness of their treatment. Comments on particular passages which seemed to call for notice will usually be found referred to in the notes at the foot of the page, and where no special reference is made, I have often re-cast or enlarged statements which had failed adequately to convey my meaning. A new Note on the condition of our Lord's Human Body has been appended to the first chapter, in con

1 See Dishonest Criticism, Some Remarks on Two Articles in the Dublin Keview. Longmans.

sequence of a theological objection against certain statements of mine urged with much force by a friendly critic in the Ecclesiastic. The book remains substantially what it was before; but it has been carefully revised throughout, and considerable additions have been made both to the text and notes, chiefly in the Introductory Essay and the first and concluding chapters.

One of these additional passages, in the first chapter, contains a brief outline of the teaching of Scripture on the Atonement, which it may be useful to bear in mind in connection with the different theories on the subject reviewed in the following pages. More than this has not been attempted here, and would not probably be looked for. Two of my critics, however, have alluded to the subject, and it will therefore be desirable to repeat here more explicitly what was stated in the Preface to the First Edition, as to the general aim and purport of this volume. One of them, already referred to, has censured me in no measured terms for not commencing my work with a complete investigation and harmony of the whole teaching of Scripture on the subject, as illustrated by the traditional theology of the Church and the full resources of modern criticism; while the other suggests with more show of reason that

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