e if only we use them. To come into a
perfect relation to God we do not require to understand how the death of
Christ has made it possible for us to do so; we need only to desire to
be God's children, and to believe that it is open to us to come to Him.
Not by the intellect, but by the will, are we led to God. Not by what we
know, but by what we desire, is our destiny determined. Not by education
in theological requirements, but by thirst for the living God, is man
saved.

And, second, even though we carry over to the death of Christ the ideas
taught by Old Testament sacrifice, we commit no enormous or misleading
blunder. Christ Himself suggested that His death might be best
understood in the light of these ideas, and even though we are unable to
penetrate through the letter to the spirit, through the outward and
symbolic form to the real and eternal meaning of the sacrifice of
Christ, we are yet on the road to truth, and hold the germ of it which
will one day develop into the actual and perfect truth. Impatience is at
the root of much unbelief and misconception and discontent; the
inability to reconcile ourselves to the fact that in our present stage
there is much we must hold provisionally, much we must be content to see
through a glass darkly, much we can only know by picture and shadow. It
is quite true the reality has come in the death of Christ, and symbol
has passed away; but there is such a depth of Divine love, and so
various a fulfilment of Divine purpose in the death of Christ, that we
cannot be surprised that it baffles comprehension. It is the key to a
world's history; for aught we know, to the history of other worlds than
ours; and it is not likely that we should be able to gauge its
significance and explain its _rationale_ of operation. And therefore,
if, without any sluggish indifference to further knowledge, or merely
worldly contentment to know of spiritual things only so much as is
absolutely necessary, we yet are able to use what we do know and to
await with confidence further knowledge, we probably act wisely and
well. We do not err if we think of Christ as our Sacrifice; nor even if
we somewhat too literally think of Him as the Victim substituted for us,
and ascribe to His Blood the expiatory and cleansing virtue which
belonged symbolically to the blood of the ancient sacrifices.

And, indeed, there are grave difficulties in our path as soon as we
strive to advance beyond the sacrificial idea, and