The necessity of the atonement lay in a twofold fact: The holiness
of God, and the sinfulness of man. The doctrine of the atonement
is a related subject, and it cannot be properly understood unless
it is viewed as such. It is related to certain conditions existing
between God and man--a condition and relation which has been affected
by sin. It is necessary, therefore, to know this relation and how
it has been affected by sin. This relation between God and man
is a personal one. No other construction can legitimately be put
upon the passages setting forth this relationship. "_Thou_ has
searched _me_, and known _me_." "_I_ am continually
with _Thee_." It is, moreover, an ethical relationship, and
that which is ethical is at the same time personal and universal,
that is to say, that God's dealings with mankind are expressed
in a moral constitution of universal and eternal validity. These
relationships are disordered by sin. No matter how sin came to be
here we are morally conscious, by the testimony of a bad conscience,
that we are guilty, and that our sin is not merely a matter of
personal guilt but a violation of a universal moral law.