Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: in. ATONEMENT AND EXPIATION. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.—Hebre-ws, x: 12. OUR theme this morning is Atonement and Expiation. I could not satisfy my sense of reverence for that which is peculiarly sacred, if I should enter upon our brief consideration of the thoughts suggested by these words controversially. In days when so many religious people have given over sober and steady thinking, and have taken to dogmatizing, it becomes pastors to feed their sheep, not to set the dog of controversy at them. In order to vigor of body there must, in each of us, bo a good steady appetite for wholesome and nutritious food. And so likewise in order to vigor of mind and heart, there must be a good steady appetite for such truths, as tend to enlarge the mind, and such facts, as tend to vitalize the heart. Let us not be scared at names and words which to many have been made odious by being used as party watchwords only. Our duty is totry to understand what they mean. Do they stand for a truth? Not simply for an opinion. An opinion is the product of a man's mind; a truth is the product of the Divine mind. It is in accord with the nature of things. Opinions change all the time. Truth never changes. Our little systems have their day and cease to be. Truth is not of a day, or an age, it is from eternity to eternity. Our apprehensions of it may change — will change if we grow at all — but the change will be, not from larger to smaller, but from less to more. The change from larger apprehensions to smaller indicates moral deterioration. The change from less to more indicates spiritual growth. These words '' atonement" and '' expiation" have become party words. Consequently many persons have never taken the trouble to...