When the sinner places his confidence in forgiveness without atonement, he contradicts the strong conviction of his conscience, that sin ought to be punished, and the thought of God's justice must cause him continual dread; but when he trusts to the plan of justification by faith, he may calmly ask, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth." There is nothing similar to this in human governments, and there could not be in the Divine government, except for the infinite mystery of the atonement. Men forgive when they cannot justify, and when they justify there is no room for forgiveness. But in the atonement pardon and justification are met together. God forgives wholly and for ever, because He justifies; and He justifies the ungodly by making them accepted in the Beloved.

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