a philanthropist, an ethical example; He was all these, yea, and much
more--He was first and foremost the world's Saviour and Redeemer.
Other great men have been valued for their lives; He, above all,
for His death, around which God and man are reconciled. The Cross
is the magnet which sends the electric current through the telegraph
between earth and heaven, and makes both Testaments thrill,
through the ages of the past and future, with living, harmonious,
and saving truth. Other men have said: "If I could only live, I
would establish and perpetuate an empire." The Christ of Galilee
said: "My death shall do it." Let us understand that the power
of Christianity lies, not in hazy indefiniteness, not in shadowy
forms, not so much even in definite truths and doctrines, but in
_the_ truth, and in _the_ doctrine of Christ crucified
and risen from the dead. Unless Christianity be more tnan ethical,
it is not, nor can it really be ethical at all. It is redemptive,
dynamic through that redemption, and ethical withal.

3. ITS RELATION TO THE INCARNATION.

It is not putting the matter too strongly when we say that the
incarnation was for the purpose of the atonement. At least this
seems to be the testimony of the Scriptures. Jesus Christ partook
of flesh and blood in order that He might die (Heb. 2:14). "He was
manifested to take away our sins" (1 John 3:5). Christ came into
this world to give His life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28). The
very purpose of the entire coming of Christ into the word, in all
its varying aspects, was that, by assuming a nature like unto our
own, He might offer up His life as a sacrifice for the sins of men.
The faith of the atonement presupposes the faith of the incarnation.
So close have been the relation of these two fundamental doctrines