12. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13. Their throat is an open sepulcher: with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15. Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16. Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17. And the way of peace have they not known. BOOK III. ATONEMENT OR REDEMPTION. Atonement is the satisfaction offered to Divine justice by the death of Christ for the sins of mankind, by virtue of which all true penitents, who believe in Christ, are personally reconciled to God, are freed from the penalty of their sins, and entitled to eternal life. The atonement made for sin by the death of Christ is represented in the Christian system as the means by which mankind may be delivered from eternal death, reconciled to God, and restored to the Divine image. These ends it professes to accomplish by means which, with respect to the Supreme Governor himself, preserve his character from mistake, and maintain the authority of his government; and with respect to man, give him the strongest reasons for hope, and render more favorable the conditions of his earthly probation. How sin may be forgiven without leading to such misconceptions of the Divine character as would encourage disobedience, and thereby weaken the influence of the Divine government, must be considered a problem of very difficult solution. A government which admitted of no forgiveness would sink the guilty to despair. A government which never punishes offense is a contradiction--it can not exist. Not to punish the guilty is to dissolve authority; to punish without mercy is to destroy, and, where all are guilty, to make the destruction universal. Through the atonement all the ends of government are answered. No license is given to offense. The moral law is unrepealed. A day of judgment is still appointed. Future and eternal punishments still display their awful sanctions. A new and singular display of the awful purity of the Divine character is afforded; yet pardon is offered to all who seek it, and the whole world may be saved.