respecting, self-denying love is alone worthy and able to open the seals of the Book of Life, and to reveal the meaning of things human and divine. In the light of this truth we see light; for it is the key to the interpretation of life and religion. CHAPTER VIII The Principle of the Cross "Behold then the goodness and severity of God." Romans 11:22. CHAPTER VIII THE PRINCIPLE OF THE CROSS T HE principle of the cross has been expounded in the two preceding chapters; but it is well to bring the two lines of exposition together by further discussion. Perhaps it is already plain that the law of selfpreservation and the law of self-sacrifice come. into perfect harmony at the cross of Christ; that egoism and altruism, in their higher forms, co-exist and co-operate, and are not mutually exclusive. Law and love meet at the cross and are reconciled; for there the inexorable character of God is shown to be love. "All 's love, yet all 's law.' At the cross we see the divine egoism manifested as inflexible righteousness. There we behold God being true to Himself at cost of intense anguish. The cross, in Scripture language, was "for the showing of His righteousness at this present season: that He might Himself be righteous and the maker righteous of him that hath faith in Jesus." (Rom. 3: 26.) The English version translates the word dikaion as "just," with "righteous" in the margin as an alternative. It is somewhat difficult to see why the revisers did not adhere to their rule of translating the same Greek word by the same English word, for the Greek word translated sometimes "righteous" and sometimes "just" is the same throughout the third chapter of RoThere is a distinction between "just" and "righteous," the latter being the broader term including the other. It would have been less confusing if "righteous" had been put in the body of the text, although that would have involved the difficulty of finding a corresponding English word to use instead of "Justifier," which immediately follows; for "maker righteous" is neither elegant nor idiomatic. mans. It is worth repeating that the cross of Calvary is revelation of God's self-respect, and is the price paid for His self-preservation. It is the manifestation of egoism in its truest and best sense. It was a case of choice of environment. Christ might have yielded to the seductive |