The Atonement: In Its Relations to the Covenant, the Priesthood, the Intercession of Our Lord

by Hugh Martin

Publisher:

James Gemmell

, 1882

Overview

Hugh Martin D.D. presents The Atonement: In Its Relations to the Covenant, the Priesthood, the Intercession of Our Lord as the revealed reality of the actual sacrifice of the Son of God on Calvary, and not as an abstract or philosophical theory of the atonement. For Martin the doctrine of the atonement rests on understanding Covenant and Priesthood. In keeping with the theology of John Calvin, Martin lays out a theology of atonement that was prearranged with God the Father to bless those who were to benefit; the ultimate aim being union with Christ.

Originally written in 1882 The Atonement: in its Relations to the Covenant, the Priesthood, the Intercession of Our Lord is ten chapters of thought provoking and simply stated atonement theology. In Martin's own words,

. . . I have attempted to set aloft, in the intelligent and adoring admiration of Christian men, the thorough efficaciousness and boundless glory of the propitiatory sacrifice of Calvary . . . .

Key Features

• A brilliant primer on Covenant (Federal) Theology
• Topics include: Christ's priestly office, atonement and intercession, atonement and remission
• An appendix on God's blessedness and His statutes

Contents

Top Highlights

“The key-note of the federal theology, as we take it, is union with Christ. Though it took shape, as a formal scheme of doctrine or exposition, later than the days of Calvin, it is virtually—through the great predominence and ruling power in the ‘Institutes’ of the idea of ‘union with Christ’—the leading thought in Calvin’s theology; far more so than any or even all of the ‘five’ celebrated ‘points.’” (Page 29)

“Besides, it ought to be ever borne in mind that in the giving of the gospel call the preachers of the gospel are ambassadors, and ambassadors merely. We are ministers. We give the call ministerially. He who really calls is Christ. And when Christ, by His ambassadors, and in His instituted ordinances, gives forth the gospel call, it is a glorious exercise of His kingly office. But Christ executes His kingly office by covenant. The exercise of His kingly office cannot possibly be placed on any wider, broader, more gracious foundation than the Covenant of Grace.” (Page 22)

“‘For verily He took the seed of Abraham.’ He took the seed of ‘Abraham,’—not of Adam” (Pages 40–41)

“Dr Wardlaw* held the notion of a universal, unlimited, or indefinite atonement, undertaken literally for all men, and accomplishing as much for every human being as for any. And being a believer in the doctrines of election and of the necessity of the Spirit’s regenerating grace, he held that the sovereign purpose of God comes in afterwards, in the order of nature, to determine to whom the Atonement shall be rendered actually fruitful of saving results.” (Pages 16–17)

Praise for the Print Edition

Martin's work is unsurpassed as a synthesis of orthodoxy and originality. It sets forth the same doctrine as Hodge, yet the atmosphere is completely different. It scintillates and soars and sets standards of brilliance all its own.

—Donald Macleod

Product Details

• Title: The Atonement: in its Relations to the Covenant, the Priesthood, the Intercession of Our Lord
• Author: Hugh Martin
• Publisher: Edinburgh: James Gemmell, George IV. Bridge
• Publication Date: 1882
• Pages: 317

About Hugh Martin

Hugh Martin (1821–1885) was one of the young men training for the ministry of the Church of Scotland who, in 1843, cast in their lot with the Free Church of Scotland. In 1844 he became the first Free Church minister of Panbride where he remained for 14 years, and where his son, Alexander (the future Principal of New College) was born in 1857. In 1858 Hugh Martin became minister of Greyfriars Free Church, Edinburgh. Owing to ill-health, he retired from the pastorate in 1863, but followed an itinerant ministry, at home and abroad, until within a short time of his death. At a time when the Calvinism of the Reformed Church in Scotland was discarded in favor of rationalistic Modernism, he edited The British and Foreign Evangelical Review, and The Watchword, thereby rendering invaluable service to Reformed evangelicalism. But he was a preacher by predilection, and a controversialist by constraint of circumstances.