Now we would earnestly put it to every conscientious Roman Catholic, Can such a system be reconciled with the teaching of the Scripture respecting the Lord’s atonement? Did the Son of God really offer himself as our ransom, and was that ransom so insufficient that our own expiation is required still? Did God legally declare that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, and yet does he condemn those very persons to expiating torments in purgatorial flame? Are we made through his atonement the righteousness of God in him, and yet are we held so accountable for sin as to lie for centuries under his heavy wrath? Has he really promised, “Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more,” and yet does he remember those very sins for centuries, while, in the exercise of unrelenting justice, he demands expiation from a suffering soul? Oh! no, brethren, “By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified:” he hath blotted out the curse, and blotted it out completely; he hath rent the veil from the top to the bottom, and removed all barriers between the sinner and the throne. We need no expiation, or satisfaction, to qualify us for the reception of the atonement, for it reaches down to the lowest point of our ruin, and proclaims to the most guilty, “Thy curse is borne, believe and live.” It needs no second expiation to fill it up and perfect it, for there is not a spot left in the garment which he cleanses, not a sin imputed to the blessed saint whom he justifies. Only let each of us be found amongst the number, pardoned through the atonement and accepted, through the righteousness of Christ. Then we may go without fear to the throne of grace, and boldly cry, Abba Father; then we may feel the deepest conviction for indwelling sin, but may rest in the fact that there is no condemnation, and may feast the soul in the full enjoyment of everlasting love; then we may adopt with heartfelt gratitude the ever-memorable words of Hooker,—“I must take heed what I say; but the Apostle saith, ‘God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.’ Such are we in the sight of God the Father, as is the Son of God himself. Let it be counted folly, or frenzy, or fury, whatsoever, it is our comfort and our wisdom; we care for no knowledge in the world but this, that man hath sinned, and that God hath suffered; that God hath made himself the Son of man, and that men are made the righteousness of God.” {17} (3.) And now we may proceed to the last subject of our remark; viz., that this atonement _is final_, that is to say, that there can be no possibility of repetition, no second propitiation, no re-enactment of the scene on Calvary.