equivalent honour and reverence out of what is one's own, and not otherwise owed, to compensate an injury done to another;' adding, that all these conditions. were fulfilled in the satisfaction of Christ, which was not only equivalent but superabundant, and such as God was bound in strict justice to accept. But he is careful to explain, that all which pertains to the Catholic faith to hold is, that it was such as God could fittingly accept for the sins of men. Le Grand admits pointedly, what Grotius had almost seemed inclined to deny, that the grounds assigned by Socinians for the death of Christ are true and valid, as far as they go, though inadequate, and answers their objection about the innocent suffering for the guilty not altogether satisfactorily, but in a very different manner from the ingenious special pleading of the great jurist. While insisting on the fact, as ascertained from Scripture, that it was not God's will to remit sin without atonement, he confesses that his explanations of it are little more than conjectural, and that there are causes of the mystery which in this life we cannot hope to discover. It is probable that both these writers were largely influenced in their particular way of looking at the question-clearly Tournely was-by the exigencies of the Socinian controversy, as was also the case with some English divines, such as Stillingfleet. Yet any dispute about the office and work of the Redeemer was in fact beside the mark, as against those who rejected His divine nature. The root of the difference lay deeper.

One later specimen shall be adduced, also from a professor of the Sorbonne, of the theological treatment

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of the subject.* Robbe, the author of a Treatise on the Mystery of the Incarnate Word, after successively repudiating Wicliffe's notion of an absolute à priori necessity of the Incarnation, Raymund Lully's of a necessity assuming the Fall, and that of the Calvinists (borrowed from St. Anselm) of a necessity assuming the restoration of fallen man, decides, against Scotus, that it was necessary for condign satisfaction,' as no other would be equivalent or ex alias indebitis. He adds, against the Socinians, that it was a true and proper satisfaction. Nor was it only sufficient, but superabundant. Any act of Christ, or any single drop of His Blood, would have been sufficient for our redemption, from the dignity of His Person, but not efficient unless He had so designed it. The sacrifice was really offered ad alterum, because offered to the whole Trinity. The author further argues, against Vasquez, Medina, and others, that it was ex propriis and ex alias indebitis, because acts belong to the person, not the nature, of the agent. Under this last head the question is asked, whether the satisfaction of Christ required any agreement on God's part to accept it, or whether He was bound as a matter of justice to do so? The necessity of an agreement is denied by St. Bonaventure, Scotus, and, others (and, as we have seen, by Tournely), but affirmed by Suarez, whose opinion Robbe adopts, considering it clear from Scripture (Heb. x.) that there was in fact such an agreement, and thinking further, that it was requisite, because the offending parties might have been fairly

* Tractatus de Mysterio Verbi Incarnati, auctore J. M. Robbe. Parisiis, 1762.

called on to make satisfaction themselves.

Christ was

our Head by arrangement (pacto), not, like the first Adam, by nature. He satisfied in strict justice, inasmuch as His satisfaction was adequate and more than adequate, but to accept it for us was a matter not of justice, but of mercy.

And now let us give two examples, from the same century, of the hortatory and devotional rather than scientific treatment of the subject, which for that very reason will be in one sense a surer test of the habitual manner of looking at it. They will be found, like the theological treatises of Petavius and Thomassin, to bear out the remark made in an earlier chapter, that, while the scholastic formula of satisfaction was retained as one method of expressing the mystery of atonement, the idea of sacrifice was that most predominant in Catholic teaching and devotion.

My first illustration shall be taken from a Treatise on the Priesthood and Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, in four books, by Leonard de Massiot, a French Benedictine of the learned Congregation of St. Maur.* The author begins by tracing out the idea and obligation of sacrifice, as the supreme act of homage to God, and as including, since the introduction of sin into the world, an additional character of reparation; and shows how both the interior and exterior sacrifice are most perfectly realized in Christ. The second book deals with the sacrifice and priesthood of Christ, in its unity, perpetuity, and continuation in the Eucharist. The whole mystical Body is offered with Him on the Cross, which is the common altar of all mankind.' In the third

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*Traité du Sacerdoce et du Sacrifice de Jésus Christ. Par L. de Massiot. Poitiers, 1708.

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book the effects of His sacrifice are considered, under the classification of satisfaction, merit, overcoming the power of sin and Satan, and confounding pride by humility. The last half of the book is occupied with the treatment of the Eucharist as an abiding memorial of the benefits wrought by Christ, a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, a mystery of unity, a sign of the union of the faithful, and a mystery of faith. The fourth book, which is much the longest, continues in detail the consideration of the priesthood of Christ, as communicated to His Church in the Eucharist. Το return to the chapter on satisfaction. The writer relies chiefly on Anselm's argument for the impossibility of man making satisfaction for himself, and on Aquinas for the sufficiency of that wrought by Christ, as giving to God something more pleasing than what He had lost by sin, owing to the charity with which Christ endured the pains of His passion, the excellence of His life, and the dignity of His Person. His voluntary temporal death, it is added, was of far greater value than our eternal death could be. Our personal satisfactions are not superseded by His, but must be united with it.

Not very different is the treatment of the subject by a later author, Plowden, who, though an Englishman, was a resident in France, and, like Massiot, wrote his Treatise on the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ in French.* While rejecting the notion of any absolute necessity, he dwells on the congruity of a satisfaction and reparation being made for the disorder caused by sin, either by all men in common, or by some representa

* Traité du Sacrifice de Jésus Christ. Paris, 1778.

tive of the race. He proceeds to discuss the qualities and conditions essential for a mediator, who must not only be able to pardon sin but to infuse holiness. These conditions can only be found united in the Godman. It was fitting, again, that He should accomplish His work by sacrifice, which is the highest of all acts of satisfaction, though any, the least, intercession of His would have been sufficient, from its infinite value. The effects of His sacrifice are three-fold; to reconcile or reunite us with God, to unite us with each other by charity, and to incorporate us into the mystical body, which He offered up with His natural body on the Cross. The work is divided into five parts. The first examines the preannouncement of the great Sacrifice in the written and unwritten law, the Jewish and Heathen rituals. The second exhibits the perfect fulfilment of the sacrificial idea in the life and death of Christ. In the third is considered its perpetuation, for communicating its effects to us, in the mass, considered chiefly as the centre of Christian worship. The fourth part insists on the reproduction of the idea in all members of the mystical body through selfsacrifice and imitation of the virtues of their Head, while the fifth carries on the idea to its final consummation in the offering up of the entire body of the elect reunited with their Head in heaven. Of the three last parts no more need be said here. In the first, the interior sacrifice of the heart, and the outward sacrifice, which is its proper expression, are contrasted and explained, with constant reference to Augustine's City of God. The outward expression was needed for men composed of body and soul, and having to live in society, even during the state of in