(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
THE REIGN OF LAW.[A]
ANALYSIS.
REFERENCES.
I. The Government of the Universe—Two Methods Conceived of:
1. By Unvarying Law;
2. By Special Providence.
Doc. & Cov., Sec. 88; also Sec. 130.
A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology (White); Conflict Between Religion and Science (Draper); Natural Law in the Spiritual World (Drummond).
Joseph Smith, the Prophet-Teacher (Roberts), pp. 42-49.
Studies in Religion (Fiske), pp. 158-169, 337, 338.
II. Harmonization of Government by Unvarying Law, and the Existence of Special Providence.
1. Misconception of Unvarying Law; Laws Have Their Limitations.
2. Misconception of "Miracles."
III. The New Dispensation—Its Prophet and Doctrine Committed to the Reign of Law in Both the Physical and the Spiritual World.
[Footnote A: "The fundamental conception of law is an ascertained working sequence or constant order among the phenomena of nature.
* * "The laws of nature are simply statements of the orderly condition of things in nature, what is found in nature by a sufficient number of competent observers.
"And despite the limitations of its sphere on every side, Law is still the largest, richest, and surest source of human knowledge." (Henry Drummond: Natural Law in the Spiritual World, Introduction, pp. 4, 5.)]
SPECIAL TEXT: "There are many kingdoms, and to every kingdom is given a law; and to every law there are certain bounds also, and conditions. All beings who abide not in those conditions [i. e., laws] are not justified." (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 88:37-39.)
1. Government of the Universe—(A) By Unvarying Law:"Two interpretations may be given of the mode of government of the world," says Professor John W. Draper.
"It may be by incessant, divine interventions, or by the operation of unvarying law." The former view is held by Draper to be the view of the Roman religion (pre-Christian); and later of the Roman Christian religion. A priesthood, he holds, will always incline to the theory of "divine interventions," "since it must desire to be considered as standing between the prayer of the votary and the providential act." "Not without reason, therefore," he continues, "did they [the priests] look upon the doctrine of government by 'unvarying law' with disfavor." And then continues in the following manner:
2. Draper's View—Unvarying Law:"The orderly movement of the heavens could not fail in all ages to make a deep impression on thoughtful observers—the rising and setting of the sun; the increasing or diminishing light of the day; the waxing and waning of the moon; the return of the seasons in their proper course; the measured march of the wandering planets in the sky—what are all these and a thousand such, but manifestations of an orderly and unchanging procession of events? The faith of early observers in this interpretation may perhaps have been shaken by the occurrence of such a phenomenon as an eclipse, a sudden and mysterious breach of the ordinary course of events; but it would be resumed in tenfold strength as soon as the discovery was made that eclipses themselves recur, and may be predicted.
"Astronomical predictions of all kinds depend upon the admission of this fact—that there never has been and never will be any intervention in the operation of natural laws. The scientific philosopher affirms that the condition of the world at any given moment is the direct result of its condition in the preceding moment, and the direct cause of its condition in the subsequent moment."[A]
[Footnote A: Conflict Between Religion and Science, p. 229.]
In the remainder of the chapter here quoted, Draper traces the struggle between the idea of government by special Providence and government by "unvarying law." until the latter triumphs in modern thought and science.
3. White's View—Unvarying Law:To the same purpose, Andrew D. White, once professor of History at Cornell University, and President of the University for twenty-five years, published his great work, "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology,"[A]The title of a few of the chapters will show the drift of the thought: "From Creation to Evolution," "From 'Signs and Wonders' to Law in Heaven," "From Genesis to Geology," "From Magic to Chemistry and Physics," "From Miracles to Medicine," and so following.
[Footnote A: The Work is in Two Volumes, Appleton and Co., 1903.]
4. John Fiske's View—Unvarying Law:Of course John Fiske (and the same may be said practically of all our modern scientists and philosophers) inclines to the same view—government of the universe by "unvarying law." Fiske describes the effect of the modern intellectual movement to be "to discredit more than ever before the Latin idea of God as a power outside of the course of nature and occasionally interfering with it. In all directions the process of evolution has been discovered, working after similar methods, and this has forced upon us the belief in the Unity of Nature. We are thus driven to the Greek conception of God as the power working in and through nature, without interference or infraction of law. We have so far spelled out the history of creation as to see that all has been done in strict accordance with law. * * * So beautiful is all this orderly coherence, so satisfying to some of our intellectual needs, that many minds are inclined to doubt if anything more can be said of the universe than that it is a Reign of Law, an endless aggregate of coexistences and sequences."[A]
[Footnote A: Studies in Religion, pp. 337-8.]
5. Henry Drummond's View—Unvarying Law:Drummond, in 1893, published his "Natural Law in the Spiritual World," with a view, as the title suggests, of bringing the phenomena of the spirit-world into harmony with the modern scientific conceptions that obtain respecting the natural world. His self-imposed task was to "demonstrate the naturalness of the supernatural;" that the natural and the spiritual world are one. Drummond's conception was a noble one, and resulted in the production of a very notable and convincing work, though meeting in some quarters with the impatience that attaches to works of its class, viz., the class that attempts to work out harmony between science and religion; or between the natural and the spiritual world.[A]
[Footnote A: Thus Andrew D. White, in his "Warfare of Science with Theology," speaking of the phases of theological attack upon science, represents the third and the last—as "an attempt" at compromise—"compromise by means of far-fetched reconciliations of textual statements with ascertained fact" (Warfare, Vol. I, p. 218). That Drummond himself was aware that these "attempts at compromise" of the differences between science and religion, or the "natural and spiritual world," is evident from his preface, where he says: "No class of works is received with more suspicion, I had almost said derision, than those which deal with Science and Religion. Science is tired of reconciliations between two things which never should have been contrasted. Religion is offended by the patronage of an ally which it professes not to need; and the critics have rightly discovered that, in most cases where Science is either pitted against Religion or fused with it, there is some fatal misconception to begin with as to the scope and province of either."]
6. Difficulties in the Way of Government by Unvarying Law; (1) Limitations of Laws:The difficulties between the conception of government of the world by "unvarying law," and the facts of man's spiritual or religious experiences, which seems at times to be in contravention of law, answers to prayer, healing the sick through faith, foreknowledge of coming events, and the like, would disappear if only men would recognize the fact that laws have their limitations; and that laws in nature known to us may have their force broken or counteracted by the operation of other forces. For example: the power of ocean currents and the winds to carry objects with them in the direction of their movement is overcome by another force, though no less operating under law, viz., the force found in steam; the force of gravitation by the levitating power of gas; the natural tendency of water to seek its level by evaporation and the absorbing power of the atmosphere, are examples. This principle of "law being governed by law," was taught by Joseph Smith as early as 1832, in a revelation received in that year, and in which it was said: "Unto every kingdom is given a law;and unto every law there are certain bounds also and conditions." The context of the passage makes it clear that "kingdoms" here are not groups of men or nations over which a monarch reigns; but substances, matter; worlds and world-systems, and their inhabitants under the dominion of law; the universe considered in its divisions and subdivisions. "Verily I say unto you," continues the revelation, "he [God] hath given a law unto all things by which they move in their times and their seasons; and their courses are fixed; even the courses of the heavens and the earth, which comprehend the earth and all the planets."[A]And yet these laws have their metes and bounds, their limitations; fixed, however, by the operation of other laws, not by the arbitrary will of an absolute monarch.
[Footnote A: Doc. & Cov., Sec. 88:42, 43.]
(2) "Miracles" Part of the Divine Economy:The criticism of religionists on the conception of the government of the universe by the operation of "unvarying law," is that it bars out of the economy of things any place for the special providences of God; destroys all value in prayer; and eliminates miracles. To which the answer is "Not at all!" The whole seeming difficulty arises from a misconception of the means by which the providences of God are wrought; and the means by which socalled "miracles" are brought to pass. This subdivision of the subject may be treated under a brief discussion of "Miracles" usually defined to be an "event in derogation of the laws of nature." What I have said elsewhere upon this subject will answer my purpose here.[A]There is a general misapprehension of the term miracle. It is usually understood as "an event or effect contrary to the established constitution and course of things, or a deviation from the known laws of nature." Renan defines a miracle to be, "not simply the inexplicable, it is a formal derogation from recognized laws in the name of a particular desire." What is especially faulty in these definitions is this: Miracles are held to be events outside or contrary to the laws of nature. Let us examine this:
[Footnote A: "New Witnesses for God," Vol. I, p. 252.]
Two hundred years ago the only motive powers known to ocean navigators were wind and the ocean currents. Suppose at that time those old mariners had seen one of our modern ocean steamers running against both ocean currents and the wind, and, withal, making better speed, in spite of both wind and tide than the old sailing vessel could match even when running before the wind and the ocean currents in her favor. What would have been the effect on the mind of the old-time sailor? "It is a miracle!" he would have exclaimed; that is, it would have been an "effect contrary to the established constitution and course of things," "a derogation from recognized laws." But is such an effect to us who know something of the force of steam contrary to the laws of nature? No; it is simply the employment of forces in nature of which the old-time mariner was ignorant; and while it would have been a miracle to him, to us it is merely the application of a newly-discovered force of nature, and it is now so common that we cease to look upon it with wonder. So with the things that we in our ignorance call miracles—such as healing the sick, restoring the blind to sight, making the lame to walk, through exercise of faith; and the resurrection of the dead—instead of these things being in "derogation from recognized laws, we shall yet learn that they are done simply by the application of laws of which we are as yet in ignorance."[A]With man's limited knowledge of the laws of nature, how presumptuous it is in him to say that the healing of the sick or even the resurrection of the dead are in "derogation of the laws of nature," or that deviation from those few laws of nature with which he is acquainted will never happen, or is impossible! Better reasoners are they who, like George Rawlinson, say: "Miraculous interpositions on fitting occasions may be as much a regular, fixed, and established rule of his [God's] government, as the working ordinarily by what are called natural laws." In other words, what we in our ignorance call miracles, are to God merely the results of the application of higher laws or forces of nature not yet learned by man. Miracles are to be viewed as a part of the divine economy.
[Footnote A: "In the progress of science, all phenomena have been shown, by indisputable evidence, to be amenable to law, and even in the cases in which those laws have not yet been exactly ascertained, delay in ascertaining them is fully accounted for by the special difficulties of the subject; the defenders of miracles have adapted their argument to this altered state of things, by maintaining that a miracle need not necessarily be a violation of law. It may, they say, take place in fulfilment of a more recondite law, to us unknown.
"If by this it be only meant that the Divine Being, in the exercise of his power of interfering with and suspending his own laws, guides himself by some general principle or rule of action, this, of course, cannot be disproved, and is in itself the most probable supposition." ("Theism," in "Three Essays on Religion"—Mill,—pp. 223-4.)
Shedd treats upon the same theme and much in the same spirit; "The miracle is not contrary to all nature but only to nature as known to us," he represents the Apologists of early Christianity as saying, and then quotes a long and admirable passage from Augustine. ("History of Christian Doctrine," Vol. I, pp. 167-169.)]
3. The New Dispensation Committed to the Reign of Law:The Prophet of the New Dispensation, as we have seen, taught the doctrine of the reign of law in God's universe; and not alone in the physical or natural universe, but as well in the spiritual and moral phases of that universe.
In the revelation already quoted for the reign of law in the physical universe, he also says: "And again, verily I say unto you, that which is governed by law is also preserved by law, and perfected and sanctified by the same. That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by law, but seeketh to become a law unto itself, and willeth to abide in sin, and altogether abideth in sin, cannot be sanctified by law, neither by mercy, justice nor judgment. Therefore they must remain filthy still." And again he said: "There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world upon which all blessings are predicated; and when we obtain any blessing from God it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."[A]The Prophet of the New Dispensation, then, the gospel of that dispensation, its Theology, stand committed to the sublime doctrine that the universe in every way is under the reign of law; and hence, in some way, the Atonement, by and through which man is redeemed; the necessity,—the absolute necessity—for it; the reason why that means, and that means alone, could bring redemption and put man in the way of salvation—all this must be by reason of the existence of some law by which the facts in the case are governed. These laws and an understanding of them are the object of our research.
[Footnote A: Doc. & Cov., Sec. 130:21,22.]
(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
THE EXORABLENESS[A]OF LAW.
ANALYSIS.
REFERENCES.
I. The Effective Quality in Law—Inexorableness.
II. Reign of Law vs. Government by "Arbitrary Will."
Doc. & Cov., Sec. 88: also Sec. 130.
III. Mercy and Special Providence in a Reign of Law.
Drummond's Natural Law in the Spiritual World—Introduction.
IV. Law and Destructive and Constructive Forces.
Fiske's Studies in Religion, pp. 337-340; and the works and passages quoted in the body of this lesson.
V. God No Respector of Persons; Mercy and Special Providence Under Dominion of Law.
[Footnote A: "Inexorable"—literally not to be moved or changed by petition or prayer. Immovable, relentless. See Cent. Dict.]
SPECIAL TEXTS: "Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence [from prison] till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." (The Christ: Matt, v.26.)
"Think not I am come to destroy the law I a. not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matt, v.17, 18.)
1. The Essence of Law:Inexorableness is of the essence of law. There can be no force in law only as it is inexorable. What effect is to cause, in the physical world, that penalty must be to violation of law in the moral and spiritual kingdom. This is what is meant by the inexorableness of law.
The inexorableness of law is at once both its majesty and glory; without it neither majesty nor glory could exist; neither respect nor sense of security, nor safety, nor rational faith. If the idea of the "reign of law" be set aside and there be substituted for it the reign of God by his sovereign will, independent of law, even then we must postulate such conception of the attributes of God that regularity will result from his personal government, not capriciousness, today one thing, tomorrow another. Hence one of old viewing God's government from the side of its being a direct, personal reign of God rather than a reign of God through law, wrote his message from God as follows:
"I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."[A]
[Footnote A: Malachi iii:6. For the notion expressed in the text that Malachi viewed God's government from the side of a personal reign, see the preceding verses of the chapter cited.]
And another occupying the same point of view, said:
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of light—"
And then he adds immediately, "With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."[A]
[Footnote A: James i:17.]
2. The Quality of Regularity of Law—How Secured:View the matter, then, from which standpoint you may, government of the world by the personal, sovereign will of God, or the government of God through the reign of law, the quality of regularity, that can only come of inexorableness—arising either from the quality of God's attributes, or the inherent nature of law—is necessary to a sense of security, to right mental attitude, to rational thinking and right conduct. All this becomes apparent if the matter is thought upon conversely. If a reign of law is supposed to exist and the law is not inexorable, but may be set aside, suspended, abridged, enlarged, or its penalties annulled; and these changes affected not by the operation of any fixed principle, or by some controlling higher law, but capriciously, through the interposition of some sovereign will, call it special providence or what not, then, of course, you have no reign of law at all; but the reign of a sovereign will that operates independent of law. Under such government—if, indeed, it could be called government—all would be confusion, uncertainty, perplexity, doubt, despair. Happily no such conditions exist; but instead there exists a divine government in the world, operating through a reign of law; and the virtue and value of that government arises from the inexorableness of law.
3. Where, Then, is Mercy?If, however, the exorableness of law is to be insisted upon up to this degree of emphasis, where then does mercy, which is supposed to mitigate somewhat the severity and inexorableness of law; and, furthermore, is supposed in some way to represent the direct and gracious act of God when mitigating the law's severity—where does Mercy appear? At what point does she enter into the moral and spiritual economy? A large question, this, and one not to be considered just yet, except to say that the entrance of Mercy into the economy of the moral and spiritual kingdom, is not in violation of law, but in harmony with it. In fact, as we shall see somewhat later, Mercy takes her part in the economy of the moral and spiritual kingdoms because of the existence of a reign of law, rather than in derogation of it.
4. Destructive Forces Under the Dominion of Law:When a reign of law is conceived as governing in the physical world, then the conception must include the destructive, or disintegrating forces as operating under law as well as the constructive or integrating forces, else your reign of law is not universal.
Moses stood with God and beheld the multitude of his creations: "And the Lord God said unto Moses, For mine own purpose have I made these things; * * * and by the word of my power, have I created them. * * * And worlds without number have I created; and I have created them for mine own purpose. * * * Behold there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they with man. * * * And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof, even so shall another come, and there is no end to my works, neither to my words."[A]
[Footnote A: Book of Moses (P. of G. P.) i:31-38.]
This passage implies constant movement in the universe. The statement, "As one earth shall pass away and the heavens thereof, even so shall another come," corresponds somewhat to the modern scientist's notion of "evolution and devolution;"[A]but the thing to be noted here is that not only is God represented as having created these worlds and world-systems "by the word of his power;" but also that "there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of his power." By which we are to understand that destructive as well as creating forces in the physical world operate under law. So also should we understand that in the moral and spiritual world, where there appears to be a modification of the inexorableness of law, such as comes in a manifestation of Mercy in the modification, or suspension, or the obliteration of the penalty of a law by the forgiveness of sin—for "sin is the transgression of the law"[B]—all this must not be thought upon as capriciousness, the arbitrary act of Deity in the interests of special favorites. No; the manifestation of mercy which seems to set aside the severity of the law, which seems to soften its inexorableness by allowing an escape from its penalty, by forgiveness of sins—this is the result of the operation of law, as much so as when the law proceeds to the utmost of its severity, to the extreme manifestation of its inexorableness in the exaction of the utmost farthing of its penalty. It is not by special and personal favor that men shall have forgiveness of sins, and find shelter under the wings of Mercy. That must be obtained, if obtained at all, under the operation of law governing the application of Mercy in the economy of the moral and spiritual world; by law that operates upon all alike. Forgiveness of sins, like other blessings, is predicated upon the obedience to law, and is not based upon personal favor. "There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundation of the world, upon which all blessings are predicated; and when we obtain any blessing from God it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated"[C]—forgiveness of sins with the rest. It is because we live under this reign of law that the scriptures teach that God is no respector of persons. God "regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward."[D]"Neither doth God respect any person; yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him."[E]"Peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile; for there is no respect of persons with God."[F]"Call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work."[G]
[Footnote A: "While new cosmic bodies arise and develop out of rotating masses of nebula in some parts of the universe, in other parts old, extinct, frigid suns come into collision, and are once more reduced by the heat generated to the condition of nebulae. * * * While minute and then larger bodies are being formed by this pyknotic [condensing] process in one part of space, and the intermediate ether increases its strain, the opposite process—the destruction of cosmic bodies by collision—is taking place in another quarter. The immense quantity of heat which is generated in this mechanical process of the collision of swiftly moving bodies represents the new kinetic energy which effects the movement of the resultant nebulae and the construction of new rotating bodies. The eternal drama begins afresh. Even our mother earth, which was formed of part of the gyrating solar system millions of ages ago, will grow cold and lifeless after the lapse of further millions, and, gradually narrowing its orbit, will fall eventually into the sun." (Ernest Haeckel: "Riddle of the Universe"—1900,—pp. 240, 243).]
[Footnote B: I John iii:4.]
[Footnote C: Doc. & Cov., Sec. 130.]
[Footnote D: Deut. xiv:17.]
[Footnote E: II Sam. xiv:14.]
[Footnote F: Rom. ii:10, 11.]
[Footnote G: I Peter i:17.]
"The collision of suns may have produced nebulae and these nebulae in turn may gradually develop themselves into suns again. It seems reasonably certain that nebulae are the stuff from which the stars are made" ("Science-History of the Universe," Vol. I; "Astronomy," p. 318).]
5. Sense of Security Under a Reign of Law:So here men stand under the reign of Law, before God. No one may hope to escape the penalty due to violation of law through favor; no one will fall under the condemnation of the law-through lack of favor with God, by reason of capriciousness in him, much less through vindictiveness, which is unthinkable in God. God will make no infraction of the law, in the interests of supposed favorites; such "blessings," whether in the providing of permanent opportunities for individuals, families, or races, as may reach through the apparent complexity of things to men; or occasional blessings such as seem to come to some individuals as special acts of providence; all will come in accordance with the laws upon which such blessings were predicated before the foundations of the world were laid; and this notwithstanding inequalities and diversity of fortunes and misfortunes that exist among individuals, families, nations, races of men. Underneath all the diversities and equalities that exist, so difficult to account for in some of their aspects, there law is operating despite all seeming incongruities; and out of all these diversities and complexities of experiences, at the last will come justice—God's justice; and men will be satisfied that it is so.
Meanwhile this reign of law, with all its inexorableness—nay, rather because of it—present and operating as well in disintegrating as in integrating processes; present in the manifestations of mercy and "special acts of providence," as in manifestations of severity in the moral and spiritual world; how splendid it all is! How satisfying! What assurance, what confidence it gives! No wonder that John Fiske, remarking upon the idea of the reign of law, said: "So beautiful is all this orderly coherence, so satisfying to some of our intellectual needs, that many minds are inclined to doubt if anything more can be said of the universe than that it is a 'Reign of Law,' an endless aggregate of coexistences and sequences."
But the deeper and truer view of things will be, not to accept this "reign of law" as God; nor mistake it for Deity—for mistake it would be if confounded with God. Let the reign of law be conceived rather as the means through which God is working to the achievement of his high purposes—God in the world, and working through law;[A]God, the administrative Power in the reign of law.
[Footnote A: It is only just to John Fiske to say that such is his conception of the matter; for, commenting upon the effect upon the thinker who has this conception of the reign of law in the world, he says: "The thinker in whose mind divine action is thus identified with orderly action and reign of law, and to whom a really irregular phenomenon would seem like a manifestation of sheer diabolism, foresees in every possible extension of knowledge a fresh confirmation of his faith in God. From his point of view there can be no antagonism between our duty as inquirers and our duty as worshipers. To him no part of the universe is godless. In the swaying to and fro of molecules and ceaseless pulsations of ether, in the secular shifting of planetary orbits, in the busy work of frost and raindrop, in the mysterious sprouting of the seed, in the everlasting tale of death and life renewed, in the dawning of babe's intelligence, in the varied deeds of men from age to age, he finds that which awakens the soul to reverential awe: and each act of scientific explanation but reveals an opening through which shines the glory of the Eternal Majesty" ("Studies in Religion," pp. 167-8).]
It is this quality of exorableness in law, excellent and essential as it is, that made the Atonement of the Christ necessary to the salvation of man.
(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
THE APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES—(A) ARBITRARY ACTION EXCLUDED IN MAN'S REDEMPTION.
ANALYSIS.
REFERENCES.
I. Recapitulation of Principles.
II. The Commandment Given—Violated—Effects
Doc. & Cov., Sec. 29; Gen. ii and iii.
III. The Commandment Given as to an Immortal Person—The Penalty Eternal.
Hebrews ix and x.
IV. The Problem Propounded—
1. What can man do?
2. What can God do?
Alma xxxiv and the works and passages cited in the body of this lesson.
V. Redemption by the Sovereign Act of God—Arbitrary Action Under Reign of Law, Inadmissable.
SPECIAL TEXT: "And thus we see that all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice yea the justice of God, which consigned them forever to be cut off from his presence." (Book of Alma xlii:14.)
1. Recapitulation:Let us now begin the application of our principles to the Atonement. But first a brief recapitulation of them.
We have seen in preceding lessons—
That Intelligences, though differing in degree of intelligence are all eternal; and are begotten spirits in a heavenly kingdom; and God is their Father;
That the purpose of God with reference to his spirit-offspring is to bring to pass their eternal life and progress and joy;
That to bring to pass possible progress and happiness to the spirits of men, union of the spirits with earth elements is necessary, hence earth-birth and earth-life are provided for man;
That to get an environment bringing man in contact with sin and suffering and death, all which shall give him the experience essential to his progress—the harmony in the "reign of law" must be broken—there must be violation of law, there must be a fall of man;
That the fall of man did not surprise the purposes of God, but furthered them;
That violations of law, however ignorantly done or designedly planned, and that even for right ends, involves destruction nevertheless of the harmony of things, and relations, and also involves the transgressor in the penalties inseparably connected with law, and without which law would be of no force at all;
That the attributes of God, each complete and perfect, must exist in harmony with each other, no one supplanting another or intruding upon its domain;
That a reign of law subsists throughout the universe as well in the moral and spiritual kingdom as in the physical world;
That any manifestations of mercy, or special providence prompted by love must not violate the harmony subsisting in the attributes of God, or be contrary to the conception of the universal reign of law;
That Love and Mercy, however, must enter into the economy of the earth-order of things; they must get themselves in some way worthily expressed; no divine economy can exist without them, and without such expression; even justice crys aloud for their presence.
To get Love and Mercy adequately expressed in the earth-order of things, and in harmony with law, is the burden and mission of the Christ through the Atonement.
This is the point to which our previous lessons have led us; and now to the working out of the application of our principles.
2. The Commandment Given and Violated.—Effects:The commandment is given, saying: "O. every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."[A]
[Footnote A: Gen. ii:16, 17.]
We need not speculate upon the nature of the thing forbidden. It is enough to know here that partaking of the thing forbidden by the commandment led to the knowledge of evil, as well as of good—to knowledge that comes of experience; and though, as I have before argued, the transgression so far from surprising the purposes of God was essential to them, yet when law is transgressed, in the nature of things, penalties must follow, else laws are but a mockery and the reign of law a myth.
Adam transgressed the law, as already detailed;[A]the penalties followed. The nature of those penalties must be found in the events following the "fall" as consequences as well as in the penalty pronounced—"In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The harmony of things was broken: innocence fled; union with God was severed; God banished man from his presence—spiritual death;[B]physical death also followed; for as to his body, dust man is, and unto dust shall he return, was the decree of God,[C]and all the woes that make up the sum of evil in man's earth life followed.
[Footnote A: Lessons VII and VIII.]
[Footnote B: "The task we have set ourselves is to investigate the essential nature of Spiritual Death. And we have found it to consist of a want of communion with God" (Drummond's "Natural Law in the Spiritual World," p. 158). So that spiritual life consists in a union with God; destroy that union—and sinning against God destroys it—and spiritual death ensues. For this doctrine we have the warrant of revelation:
"Adam * * * partook of the forbidden fruit and transgressed the commandment; * * * whereupon I, the Lord God, caused that he should be cast out from the Garden of Eden, from my presence, because of his transgression, wherein he became spiritually dead, which is the first death, even that same death which is the last death, which is spiritual, which shall be pronounced upon the wicked when I shall say, 'Depart ye cursed'" (Doc. & Cov., Sec. xxix:40, 41). "The fall had brought upon all mankind a spiritual death as well as a temporal; that is, they were cut off from the presence of the Lord" (Alma xlii:9).]
[Footnote C: Gen. iii:19. The several sentences of this chapter pronounced upon man and woman should be included as penalties affixed to the commandment, "Thou shalt not eat of it," as well as "Thou shalt surely die."]
3. The Commandment is Given as to An Immortal Being:This is now the situation: The law is broken. The penalty is incurred. The law is inexorable. The law was addressed to one provisionally immortal—had not man sinned his life would have been eternal. The law was not temporal, but eternal. "Not at any time," said the Lord to Joseph Smith and six elders, in Fayette, September, 1830—"not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither Adam your father whom I created. Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural, nor temporal, neither carnal nor sensual."[A]The Prophet Joseph also said: "All things whatsoever God in his infinite wisdom has seen fit and proper to reveal to us, while we are dwelling in mortality, in regard to our mortal bodies, are revealed to us in the abstract, and independent of affinity with this mortal tabernacle; but are revealed to our spirits precisely as though we had no bodies at all; and those revelations which will save our spirits will save our bodies. God reveals them to us in view of no eternal dissolution of the body, or tabernacle."[B]
[Footnote A: Doc. & Cov., Sec. xxix:34, 35.]
[Footnote B: Sermon of April Conference, 1844—the "King Follett Sermon," "Improvement Era" for January, 1909; published also in "History of the Church," Vol. VI, with notes by the Editor.]
4. The Problem:What, Then, Can Man or God Do? The commandment, then, is given to Adam as to an eternal being, and by violating the law, and doubtless an eternal law, he and the race he shall beget is under an eternal penalty.[A]Under these circumstances what shall man do? Nay, rather, what can he do? What shall God do? Nay, what can he do? Forgive man his transgression out of hand as becomes the true sovereign of the universe? An ancient and, I might say, a time-honored suggestion. Origen the theologian of the third Christian century, and held to be "the greatest Christian mind of the ante-nicene age," at least held forth the possibility of such procedure. For in his views "the remission of sin is made to depend upon arbitrary will, without reference to retributive justice, as is evidenced by his assertion that God might have chosen milder means to save man than he did; e. g., that he might by a sovereign act of his will have made the sacrifices of the Old Testament to suffice for man's sin."[B]"But logic," as Shedd subsequently remarked, "could not stop at this point;" for if the provision for ratifying the broken law is resolved into an optional act on the part of God, it follows that an Atonement might be dispensed with altogether. "For the tribitrary and almighty will that was competent to declare the claims of justice to be satisfied by the finite sacrifice of bulls and goats would be competent also to declare that those claims should receive no satisfaction at all."
[Footnote A: On this particular point the late Elder Orson Pratt wrote: "We believe that all mankind, by the transgression of their first parents, and not by their own sins, were brought under the curse and penalty of that transgression, which consigned them to an eternal banishment from the presence of God, and their bodies to an endless sleep in the dust, never more to rise, and their spirits to endless misery under the power of Satan; and that, in this awful condition, they were utterly lost and fallen and had no power of their own to extricate themselves therefrom" (Pratt's Works, "Remarkable Visions)." Also the Book of Mormon: "Wherefore the first judgment which came upon man [the judgment of death] must needs have remained to an endless duration" (II Nephi ix:7).]
[Footnote B: Shedd, "History of Christian Doctrine," Vol. II, p. 234. He cites Redepenning; Origines II, 409, for his authority.
The views of Origen are all the more surprising from the fact that the Epistle to the Hebrews makes clear the inadequacy of the sacrifices of animals for the satisfaction of the claims of justice for man's transgression of the law (Chs. ix and x). On this point the Prophet Alma is very clear: "Behold. I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon himself the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it; for it is expedient that an Atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the eternal God, there must be an Atonement made or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the Atonement which it is expedient should be made; for it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of beast, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice. * * * * And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law; every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God; yea, infinite and eternal."]
Abelard (twelfth century) also held that there was "nothing in the Divine nature which necessitates a satisfaction for past transgression antecedently to remission of penalty; like creating out of nothing, redemption may and does take place by afiat, by which sin is abolished by a word, and the sinner is received into favor. * * * Abelard denies the doctrine of satisfaction and contends that God may remit penalty by a sovereign act of will.[A]Even Augustine, according to Neander, declared that if considered from the point of view of the divine omnipotence" he believed the answer must be in the affirmative; that is, that choice of other means for man's redemption than the Atonement could have been made. "But no other way," Augustine supposed, "would have been so well adapted for man's recovery from his wretched condition," as the one that was adopted in the Atonement of Christ. Not, however, from the "intrinsic nature of the case; not from the daws of the moral government of the world;" but because of the subjective influence that the union of the divine nature with the human—effected in the incarnation and the Atonement by the Christ, would have upon man.[B]
[Footnote A: Shedd, "History of Christian Doctrine," Vol. II, pp. 260, 261.]
[Footnote B: The matter is stated at length in Neander's "History of the Christian Religion and Church," Vol. IV, pp. 497-8. See also Augustine (De Trinitate), Lib. xiii, Ch. x. "This idea of an 'abstract' omnipotence accompanies the history of the doctrine of atonement down from the earliest to the latest times. In the ancient church, Irenaeus (Adv. Haer. III, XX.), Cyril of Jerusalem, Basil, and Ambrose contend for an absolute necessity of Christ's satisfaction; while Athanasius, Augustine, Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoret, and John Damascene assert only a relative necessity. In the mediaeval church, Anselm, and perhaps Hugh St. Victor assert an absolute, while Abelard, Bernard, Lombard, Hales, Bonaventure, and Aquinas (Cont. Gent. IV, liv, lv) concede only a relative necessity. In the seventeenth century, the subject was discussed by Owen, and Twise (the prolocutor of the Westminster Assembly); the former asserting and the latter denying, the absolute necessity of a satisfaction. See Owen's tract, 'On the Nature of Justice'" ("History of Christian Doctrine," Vol. II, p. 302, note).]
It should be remembered, however, that the doctrine of the "reign of law," in the moral government of the world, excludes arbitrary action—action independent of law—even though beneficent; and if that were not true, then God must act in harmony with his own attributes. Mercy must not be at variance with Justice. Even God's Omnipotence must keep step with the attributes of Truth and Wisdom. Satisfaction for violated law, satisfaction to divine justice is a claim that may no more be set aside than the pleadings of Mercy. A way shall be found out of these difficulties, but it must not be by "a schism in the Deity, and an intestine conflict between the divine attributes."[A]
[Footnote A: Shedd's "History of Christian Doctrine," p. 300.]
It can be readily understood that not even God's Omnipotence could make it possible for him to act contrary to Truth and Justice.[A]It ought to be no more difficult to understand that God's Omnipotence could not permit him to set aside a satisfaction to Justice as an arbitrary concession to Mercy. Mere power has not the right to nullify law. Not even Omnipotence has the light to abolish Justice. Might in Deity is not more fundamental than Right. God we must conclude will act in harmony with all his attributes, else confusion in the moral government of the world.
[Footnote A: See closing paragraphs Lesson XII.]
These reflections lead to the inevitable conclusion that there must be a satisfaction made to justice before there can be redemption for man. But how?
(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES—(B) THE REDEMPTION TO BE THE WORK OF GOD.
ANALYSIS.
REFERENCES.
VI. Repentance and Future Obedience—Ineffectual as Satisfaction for the Past; Atonement Must Equal Offense.
Book of Alma xxxiv; Book of Mosiah xv; St. John x:14-18; also v:19-29.
VII. The Atonement Also a Matter of Power—Ability to Restore that which was Lost.
Mormon Doctrine of Deity—"Jesus Christ the Revelation of God," Ch. iv.
VIII. Man May Not Be Left Under the Sentence of a Broken Law, as that Would Violate God's Promise of Eternal Life.
And the quotations and references in the body of this lesson.
IX. Conditions that Must Be Met in the Atonement of Deity for the Salvation of Man.
SPECIAL TEXTS: "For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." (St. John v.26.)
"For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." (St. John v.21.)
1. The Helplessness of Man in the Presence of Broken Law:The preceding lesson closed with the question how can satisfaction be made to justice in order that redemption may reach fallen man. Admittedly man, the transgressor of law, is powerless to make such satisfaction. True, it is conceivable that he might repent of his transgression, and through struggle maintain himself in righteousness for the future. But that does not reach the past. If he should by struggle maintain himself in righteousness for the future, that is no more than he ought to do. Man owes that duty every day in the present and in the future. It is the breach in the law that must be mended. Man is under the sentence of eternal death, spiritual and temporal;[A]for a past transgression of the law of God. Doing what is merely his duty in the present and the future will not make satisfaction for the past. Man is helpless in the presence of that broken law; no act of his can atone for the transgression of Adam or stay the effects of the fall upon the race, or redeem them from the penalty of death.
[Footnote A: "Wherefore the first judgment which came upon man [the judgment of death] must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more" (II Nephi ix:7). Because of the fall of Adam "all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice; yea, the justice of God, which consigned them forever to be cut off from his presence" (Alma xl ii; 14).]
2. Only Deity Can Satisfy the Claims of Deity:The sin of Adam was a sin against divine law; a sin against the majesty of God. Only a God can render a satisfaction to that insulted honor and majesty. Only Deity can satisfy the claims of Deity.
And hence Alma says, in speaking of the Atonement, and in view of the inadequacy of any atonement man himself can make: "It shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice. * * * And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law; every white pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God; yea, infinite and eternal. * * * The plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world to bring about the plan of Mercy, to appease the demands of Justice."[A]
[Footnote A: Alma xxxiv:10-14; xlii:15. See also II Nephi ix:7]
3. The Atonement Also a Matter of Power to Make It—Capacity:Moreover the Atonement is not only a matter of satisfying the insulted honor and majesty of God adequately by like meeting like, and measure answering measure; but it is also a question of power. Not only must the dishonor towards God be removed by satisfaction, but there must be power over death; there must be a power of life that that which was lost may be restored; and not only as to the spiritual life of man with God; but restored union between the spirit and body of man—physical life upon which the happiness and progress that God has designed for man depends. "Man," it should be always remembered, "is spirit." "The elements [meaning elements of matter] are eternal; and spirit and element inseparably connected receive a fulness of joy."[A]Hence the importance of man's physical life, the union of his deathless spirit with a body that must be made equally immortal; and since the fall brought to man this physical death as well as the spiritual death; his redemption, to be complete, must re-establish that physical life by reuniting the essential elements of the body of man and his spirit, in the resurrection, and the resurrection must be universal; the Atonement in its redeeming effects must be as universal as the fall. As in Adam all die, so through the Redeemer of men must all be made alive,[B]if the redemption is to be complete. It was doubtless these considerations which led some of the Nephite prophets to say that the Atonement "must needs be an infinite atonement;" by which, as I think, they sought to express the idea of the sufficiency of it; its completeness; the universality and power of it to restore all that was lost, both spiritual and physical, as well as to express the rank and dignity of him who would make the Atonement.
[Footnote A: Doc. & Cov., Sec. 93:33, 34.]
[Footnote B: I Cor. xv:22.]
The Redeemer, then, must be a Lord of life, hence Deity. He must not only have the power of life within himself, but the power to impart it to others—a God-like power; and to inspire faith in his possession of such power, the manner of the Atonement must be such as to include demonstration of that fact, else how shall men have faith in him? All these considerations lift the Redeemer and the Atonement far above man and what man can do. Truly the redemption of man is to be the work of God.
4. Scripture Warrant for Above Conclusions:And now for the scripture warrant for these conclusions:
"I lay down my life for the sheep [men]. * * * Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.[A]"Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up; * * * he spake of the temple of his body, when therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them."[B]"Thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day."[C]"In him was life; and the life was the light of men."[D]"Verily, verily I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth; and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.[E]Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is come and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. And shall come forth; they have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."[F]
"I lay down my life for the sheep [men]. * * * Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.[A]
"Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up; * * * he spake of the temple of his body, when therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them."[B]"Thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day."[C]
"In him was life; and the life was the light of men."[D]"Verily, verily I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth; and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.[E]Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is come and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. And shall come forth; they have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."[F]
[Footnote A: St. John x:17, 18.]
[Footnote B: Ibid ii:19-22.]
[Footnote C: Luke xxiv:46.]
[Footnote D: St. John i:4.]
[Footnote E: St. John v:19-29.]
[Footnote F: St. John v:25-29.]
5. Man May Not Be Left to Suffer the Course of Justice, As That Would Thwart the Divine Purposes and Promises:But to return now to the thought that God himself must make atonement for man's transgression. And we come back to that thought with increased conviction after considering the necessary element of power in connection with the Atonement, the ability to restore that which was lost—life, spiritual and physical; not the work of man, but the work of a Deity, a Lord of life—God must himself redeem man. That or justice must take its course and the sinner be left to satisfy the justice of God by an endless misery under the sentence of law; without union with God—spiritual death; and subject to the dissolution of spirit and body, without the power of resurrection—physical death. But that would thwart the purpose of God with reference to the earth-life of man, which was designed for his progress, that progress might bring him joy.[A]Moreover, to leave man under the penalty of a broken law, which means to him eternal death, physical and spiritual, would be contrary to the pledge of eternal life "which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began."[B]Under these circumstances justice may not be left to take its course. There must be an atonement made for man and as none but God can make an adequate atonement in the case, then a Deity must make it. And hence one of the Nephite prophets, coming to the same conclusion, wrote: "And now the plan of mercy could not be brought about, except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also"[C]The Atonement, we conclude, must be made by a Deity, in order to be adequate; but it must be made by a Deity living a man's life—hence the incarnation of the spirit of a Deity in the person of Jesus Christ.[D]It must be made by a Deity who will live man's life with all its temptations, yet remain without sin that the sacrifice might be without spot or blemish;" by one who will give to the world the illustration and the one demonstration of a perfect life—a life in which the will is wholly subjected to the will of God Also the Atonement must be made by a Deity living man's life that the satisfaction to the justice of God may be rendered from the same plane on which the offense was offered, and essentially from amid the same conditions. Hence the special temptation of Jesus by Lucifer. The Atonement must be made by a Deity who shall die man's death, but who shall not be holden of it, but break its bands and demonstrate the power of the resurrection of which he is the first fruits, and ever after Lord of life and the power of the resurrection—such, for instance, as was Jesus Christ.
[Footnote A: II Nephi ii:25; Doc. & Cov., Sec. 93:33,34, and I Peter i:18-20.]
[Footnote B: Paul to Titus: Titus i:1, 2; see also Lesson IV.]
[Footnote C: Jesus Christ not only Divine but Deity. See Lecture by the writer, "Mormon Doctrine of Deity," Ch. iv.]
[Footnote D: "Ye know that ye were not redeemed by corruptible things, * * but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish, and without spot" (I Peter i:18, 19). All the victims in the sacrifices under the law which typified the Christ were required to be perfect, spotless, without blemish, foreshadowing that he, too, who was to atone for man's sin would be without fault.]
(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
SCOPE AND MOTIVE FORCE OF THE ATONEMENT.
ANALYSIS.
REFERENCES.
I. Scope of the Atonement Broader Than Individual Sins.
Orson Pratt's Remarkable Visions, closing pages. Also The Kingdom of God, part III, subdivision V, Pratt's Works.
The Gospel (Roberts), Chs. ii and iii.
II Nephi ii, and Alma xii and xlii.
And the text and context of passages quoted and cited in this lesson.
II. Distinction Between Adam's Sin and Individual Sins.
1. Free Redemption from the First.
2. Conditional Redemption from the Second.
III. The Same Principle Involved in Both General and Individual Atonement.
IV. The Motive Force of the Atonement.
SPECIAL TEXT: "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. * * * Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." (Rom. v:12, 18.)
1. The Atonement of Broader Scope than Making Satisfaction for Adam's Sin: So far the Atonement has been considered only with reference to its effect upon the transgression of Adam. It is, however, of much broader scope than that. Not only must the sin of Adam be atoned, but satisfaction must be made for the sins of every man, if the integrity of the moral government of the world is to be preserved. Man is just as helpless with reference to his own, individual sins, as Adam was with reference to his sin. Man when he sins by breaking the laws of God, sins of course against divine law; commits a crime against the majesty of God, and thereby dishonors him. And man is just as helpless to make adequate satisfaction to God, I repeat, as Adam was for his sin in Eden; and is just as hopelessly in the grasp of inexorable law as Adam and his race were after the first transgression. For individual man from the beginning was as much in duty bound to keep the law of God as Adam was; and if now, in the present and for the future he observes the law of God and remains righteous, he is doing no more than he ought to have done from the beginning; and doing his duty now and for the future can not free him from the consequences of his past violations of God's law. The individual man, then, is just as much in need of a satisfaction being made to the justice of God for his individual transgression of divine law, for his violence to the honor of God, for his insult to the majesty of God, as was Adam for his sin.
2. Distinction Between Adam's Sin and Individual Sin:The difference between the sin of Adam and the sin of the individual man is this: First, Adam's sin, which the scriptures call the fall, was racial, in that it involved all the race of Adam in its consequences, bringing upon them both a spiritual and a physical death, the nature of which has already been explained.[A]Man's individual sin is more limited in its consequences though for a time his personal sins may involve the happiness of others in their consequences, yet ultimately they will be narrowed down to personal results; affecting the actual sinner's personal relationship to God, to righteousness, to truth, to progress, to happiness.
[Footnote A: Lesson XV.]
Second. Adam's sin was necessary to the creation of those conditions under which man could obtain the experiences of earth-life necessary to the union of his spirit with earth elements; necessary to his progress as a divine Intelligence; necessary to his knowledge of good and evil in actual conflict; joy and sorrow; pleasure and pain; life and death; in a word, necessary that man might become acquainted with these opposite existences,[A]their conflicts and their values; all which was essential to, and designed for man's progress, for his development in virtue and power and largeness and splendor of existence. But man's individual sins are not necessary to these general purposes of God. That is, the fall of Adam was necessary to the accomplishment of the general purposes of God; but it was not necessary to those purposes that Cain should kill Abel, his brother; or "that every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart" should be "evil continually."[B]
[Footnote A: See II Nephi, ii also "New Witness for God," Vol. III, pp. 219-227.]
[Footnote B: Gen. vi:5.]
The fall of Adam, I say, was necessary to the attainment of these possibilities and hence the atonement made for Adam's sin is of universal effect and application without stipulations or conditions, or obedience or any other act as a condition precedent to participation in the full benefits of release from the consequences of Adam's transgression. Hence it is written: "Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."[A]And again: "Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to the justification of life."[B]Free redemption then is provided from the consequences of Adam's transgression, because the fall was essential to the achievement of God's purpose with reference to man. Not so, however, with the individual man. His individual sinning is not absolutely necessary to the achievement of God's purposes. All men may sin; nay, all who come to years of accountability, doubtless, do sin; "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."[C]"And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." "There is none righteous, no not one; * * They are all gone out of the way; * * there is none that doeth good, no, not one."[D]But while all men sin—except those who die in infancy or early childhood—it is not necessary that men should sin, and hence they may be held fully accountable to the justice of God for their individual transgressions of law, and are so held accountable. The penalty for the individual sins of men is a second spiritual death, not a physical death, not a separation of the spirit and the body of man after the resurrection, for what is achieved for man's physical life by the resurrection remains.[E]But for his own individual sins (and this constitutes the third distinction between Adam's sin and the sins of other men) he is subject to a second spiritual death, to banishment from the presence of God; his spiritual union and communion with God is broken, and spiritual death ensues. The Lord, in speaking of Adam and his first transgression, says: "I the Lord caused that he should be cast out from the Garden of Eden, from my presence, because of his transgression, wherein he became spiritually dead, which is the first death, even that same death, which is spiritual, which shall be pronounced upon the wicked when I shall say—Depart, ye cursed."[F]
[Footnote A: I Cor. xv:21, 22.]
[Footnote B: Rom. v:18.]
[Footnote C: Rom. iii:23.]
[Footnote D: Rom. iii:10-12.]
[Footnote E: "Now, there is a death which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death; the spirit and the body shall be reunited again in perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now and have a bright recollection of all our guilt. Now this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free; both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost but all things shall be restored to their perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit which is one Eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. Now, behold, I have spoken unto you, concerning the death of the mortal body, and also concerning the resurrection of the mortal body. I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body; that is from death; even from the first death unto life, that they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided. Thus the whole becoming spiritual and immortal, that they can no more see corruption" (Alma Ch. xi:42-45).]
[Footnote F: Doc. & Cov. Sec. 29:41.]
So Alma, explaining the fall of man, and how God gave unto men commandments, after having made known unto them the plan of redemption, saying: "That they should not do evil, the penalty thereof being a second death, which was an everlasting death as to things pertaining to righteousness."[A]
[Footnote A: Alma xii:31, 32.]
Again Alma, describing the impenitent dead before the bar of God, says:
"And now behold I say unto you, then cometh a death, even a second death, which is a spiritual death; then is a time that whosoever dieth in sins, as to a temporal death, shall also die a spiritual death; yea he shall die as to things pertaining unto righteousness; * * * Then I say unto you, they shall be as though there had been no redemption made; for they cannot be redeemed according to God's justice; and they cannot die, seeing there is no more corruption."[A]
"And now behold I say unto you, then cometh a death, even a second death, which is a spiritual death; then is a time that whosoever dieth in sins, as to a temporal death, shall also die a spiritual death; yea he shall die as to things pertaining unto righteousness; * * * Then I say unto you, they shall be as though there had been no redemption made; for they cannot be redeemed according to God's justice; and they cannot die, seeing there is no more corruption."[A]
[Footnote A: Alma xii:16, 18.]
Samuel the Lamanite prophet says: "The resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord; * * * but whosoever repenteth not * * * then cometh upon them again a spiritual death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness."[A]
[Footnote A: Helaman Ch. xiv:17, 18.]
3. Men as Dependent on the Atonement for Individual Sins as for Redemption from Adam's Sin: As already remarked, men having transgressed the law of God by their own personal violations of it, they are helpless of themselves to make satisfaction to the justice of God;[A]and are just as dependent upon a Redeemer to rescue them from the spiritual effects of their personal transgression of the divine law as from the effects of Adam's fall. Also, under a reign of law, God may not pardon men for their individual sins by arbitrary act of sovereign will. He may no more set aside the claims of justice unsatisfied in the case of men's personal sins than in the case of Adam's first sin. In both cases "a necessary and immanent attribute of Deity" stands in the way of the non-infliction of the penalty due to sin,viz., the attribute of Justice, which not even the attribute of Mercy may displace, or rob of that satisfaction which is due. God must act in harmony with his own attributes.
[Footnote A: The late Elder Orson Pratt, put this doctrine of the helplessness of man to escape the penalty of his own sin in the most forcible manner. He said: "We believe that all who have done evil, having a knowledge of the law, or afterwards in this life coming to the knowledge thereof, are under a penalty, which is not inflicted in this world but in the world to come. Therefore such in this world are prisoners, shut up under the sentence of law, awaiting with awful fear for the time of judgment, when the penalty shall be inflicted, consigning them to a second banishment from the presence of their Redeemer, who had redeemed them from the penalty of the first law. But, enquires the sinner, is there no way for escape? Is my case hopeless? Can I not devise some way by which I can extricate myself from the penalty of the second law and escape this second banishment? The answer is,—if thou canst hide thyself from the all-searching eye of an Omnipresent God, that he shall not find thee, or if thou canst prevail with him to deny justice its claim, or if thou canst clothe thyself with power, and contend with the Almighty, and prevent him from executing the sentence of the law, then thou canst escape. If thou canst cause repentance, or baptism in water, or any of thine own works, to atone for the least of thy transgressions, then thou canst deliver thyself from the awful penalty that awaits thee. But be assured, O sinner, that thou canst not devise any way of thine own to escape, nor do anything that will atone for thy sins, therefore, thy case is hopeless, unless God hath devised some way for thy deliverance" (Remarkable Visions, Orson Pratt's Works).]
4. Identical Principles Operative in Man's Individual Sins as in Adam's Sin:In the case of man's individual violations of law, as in Adam's sin, the inexorableness of law holds good.[A]Thus satisfaction to justice in the case of individual sins like the satisfaction to justice for Adam's sin, must be rendered by God to God, "since only Deity can satisfy the claims of Deity." There is the same act against the honor of God; hence the same question of rank and dignity in the one who makes the Atonement. The same necessity for one not only willing but capable of making the Atonement, by suffering the penalty due to the sins of all men. He must suffer for them; for the ground work of their forgiveness and restoration to union with God must be that the penalty due to their sin has been paid. This or Justice goes unsatisfied—Mercy robs Justice or else the law must take its course and punishment be actually inflicted upon the transgressors which leaves man to a life of eternal misery, alienated from God, separated from the source of spiritual life and light; no longer in union with the power divine that could uplift and direct him to sublime heights of moral and spiritual excellence—man, under such circumstances, would indeed be spiritually dead, and dead eternally, since he is helpless to extricate himself from such conditions, as a sinner can not justify his sin, nor a criminal pardon his own crime. But to leave the punishment to be actually inflicted upon man would thwart the purpose of God with reference to man's earth-life; for God designed that mail's earth-life should eventuate in his happiness, in the union of man with God. "Men are that they might have joy." By other Book of Mormon teachers the plan for man's redemption is called "the plan of happiness," "the great plan of happiness;"[B]and as this happiness depends upon union and communion with God, it is proper to think of the gospel as contemplating the spiritual union of man with Deity.