The saying of our Savior, to which we have already alluded, "Thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer," is a very important one, and it would seem to be necessary, in the consideration of our subject, for us to obtain, from the writings of the servants of God that we have, an understanding what these statements were; how extensively they were corroborated by the sacred records; and what is said with regard to the necessity of Christ's sufferings thus referred to: and, furthermore, we may notice the reason why they should be thus necessary. In making this examination, we will first quote from the writings of the Old and New Testaments, and, although we are informed by later revelations that "many parts which are plain and most precious" have been taken away therefrom, yet there is a large amount of testimony left in this valuable and sacred record, which plainly exhibits that the principle of the atonement was fully understood by the Prophets in former ages. CHAPTER II. The Testimony of Jesus the Spirit of Prophecy--The Declarations of the Ancient Servants of God--Extracts from the Writings and Testimonies of Moses, Job, David, Isaiah, Zechariah, Micah and Hosea, to be found in the Old Testament, with remarks. In the chapter of Luke's Gospel, to which we have already referred, speaking of Jesus, it is written, "Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." If this be taken in the fullest sense, and we know of no reason why it should not thus be received, there is a great principle developed, which is, that not only Moses, but all the Prophets, testified concerning the coming Redeemer. As elsewhere stated, this must have been the case, for we are told that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy;" and this being admitted, how could they have the spirit of prophecy, or be Prophets without having the testimony of Jesus? And we are told further that the Prophets sought "what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow."--1 Peter, i, 11. These scriptures evidently show that the testimony of Jesus was the very principle, essence and power of the spirit of prophecy whereby they were inspired. We find a great many statements corroborative of these facts in those portions of the writings and prophecies of the ancient servants of God, that have been handed down to us in the Old Testament, and from these testimonies we select a few to show how various and how detailed have been the inspired utterances regarding the life and death of the Messiah.