A Quaker Understanding of Jesus Christ, Part 1
Oct 1, 1999 -
© Arthur O. Roberts
unto sin, he is properly said to have died unto sin. And herein, as well as in his death on the cross outwardly to the life of the creature, he has powerfully taught us the necessity of dying with him unto all sin. He that will lose his life for his sake, shall save a divine and eternal life with and in him. But he that will save his life, will not die with him unto sin, must and shall lose it. He that will reign with him, must suffer with him; and he that will rise with him in the newness of the divine life, must first be buried with him in that baptism which is into real death unto all sin, even the baptism by which the floor of the heart is thoroughly cleansed. [from Essays on Salvation by Christ, ca. 1793, pp. 40-44 in Quaker Heritage Press edition]
William Bacon Evans, a weighty Philadelphia Friend during the first part of our century, blessed his generation with religious verse. One of his sonnets, "The Gospel" speaks to the atoning sacrifice of Christ.
Best of Good News! which science ne'er contrived,
Nor charlatan devised, nor sibyl saw -
Whose swelling words the undiscerning draw
Toward panaceas idle and short lived -
O prodigy of Grace in Heaven prepared!
Strong in the might of all-embracing law;
Love without bound, outreaching to withdraw
From toils of hell and death the sin-ensnared;
Thou son of God and Son of man in one!
Who bare our loads of sin upon the tree,
With empty hands of need we come to Thee!
Salvation promised, preached in everyone;
For us Thou tasted vinegar and gall,
O miracle of Love encircling all!
-- 10th, IV, 1942
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