that their relation is one of the great questions which have
divided men in their opinions in the matter: which is primary and
which secondary; which is to be regarded as the most necessary to
man's salvation, as the primary and the highest fact in the history
of God's dealings with man. The atonement naturally arises out of
the incarnation so that the Son of God could not appear in our nature
without undertaking such a work as the word atonement denotes. The
incarnation is a pledge and anticipation of the work of atonement.
The incarnation is most certainly the declaration of a purpose
on the part of God to save the world. But how was the world to be
saved if not through the atonement?

4. ITS PROMINENCE IN THE SCRIPTURES.

It was the claim of Jesus, in His conversation with the two
disciples on the way to Emmaus, that Moses, and all the prophets,
indeed, all the Scriptures, dealt with the subject of His death
(Luke 24:27, 44). That the death of Christ was the one great subject
into which the Old Testament prophets searched deeply is clear from
1 Pet. 1:11, 12. The atonement is the scarlet cord running through
every page in the entire Bible. Cut the Bible anywhere, and it
bleeds; it is red with redemption truth. It is said that one out
of every forty-four verses in the New Testament deals with this
theme, and that the death of Christ is mentioned in all one hundred
and seventy-five times. When you add to these figures the typical
and symbolical teaching of the Old Testament some idea is gained as
to the important place which this doctrine occupies in the sacred
Scriptures.

5. THE FUNDAMENTAL THEME OF THE GOSPEL.