Chapter IV: Part I: Eternal Intelligences and Progress (3)

And on the other hand, for the promotion of life, what encouragement has God not given? First, this commandment, "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish (refill) the earth;" second, in making sex desire and love of offspring the strongest of passions, refining both, however, by the sentiment of love, and confining by his law the exercise of these life-functions to the limits of wedlock relations. "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate" (Psalms 127:3-5). And when the Lord would give his highest blessing to Abraham, his friend, for his supreme act of obedience, he could but say: "In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice" (Genesis, xxii:17-18). And to Jacob the Lord also said: "Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people" (Gen. xlviii:4).

_2. Nature's Testimony to the Value of Life:_ In nature, too, this law of life is written, until our philosophers who treat on life in its various forms, declare that the very "object of nature is function"--i. e., life, (Lester F. Ward, Outlines of Sociology, 1904, Ch. V). So superabundant is the fertility of all forms of life, animal and vegetable, that if it were not limited by destructive agencies the earth would soon be overwhelmed. "Every being," says Mr. Darwin, "which during its natural life time produces several eggs or seeds, must suffer destruction during some period of its life, and during some season or occasional year, otherwise, on the principle of geometrical increase, its numbers would quickly become so inordinately great that no country could support the product. * * * There is no exception to the rule that every organic being naturally increases at so high a rate, that, if not destroyed, the earth would soon be covered by the progeny of a single pair. Even slow-breeding man has doubled in twenty-five years, and at this rate, in less than a thousand years, there would literally not be standing room for his progeny. * * * In a state of nature almost every full-grown plant annually produces seed, and amongst animals there are very few which do not annually pair. Hence we may confidently assert, that all plants and animals are tending to increase at a geometrical ratio,--that all would rapidly stock every station in which they could any how exist--and that this geometrical tendency to increase must be checked by destruction at some period of life" ("The Origin of Species," p. 50, 51, 52).

What is the significance of this rich endowment with the power of reproduction in all forms of life, animal and vegetable, until it assumes the appearance of actual redundancy? Is it not nature's testimony to the fact of the desirability of life? And hence she has equipped the various species with power to perpetuate life, notwithstanding the destructive forces with which life in its great variety of forms has to contend. Is life--especially human life--worth living? Undoubtedly, since nature has so abundantly provided the means for its perpetuation, and God has given the commandment, "Be fruitful and replenish the earth."

_3. "The Fall" Regarded as Beneficent by Adam and Eve:_ Much that is remarked in the foregoing paragraphs of this lesson on the nature of the fall finds its warrant in the Book of Moses, (Pearl of Great Price) and in the Book of Mormon, in what is said of Adam and Eve, and what is said by them when the fact of the Atonement was expounded to them; for one of the effects the fall seems to have had upon Adam and his spouse--the effect of transition from heaven conditions to earth conditions--was to veil their knowledge, to some extent, as to pre-earth life conditions and purposes of God;[A] hence they lost their knowledge apparently of the earth-life scheme of things, and had to be instructed anew as to the plan of "eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began."[B] And after Adam had been re-instated in a knowledge of the things of God, and made to understand that notwithstanding he had fallen yet could he be redeemed, "and all mankind, even as many as will"--"In that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God. And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient. And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters."[C]

[Footnote A: It will be observed that in speaking of Adam and Eve and their part in the affairs of our earth and the beginning of the human race upon it. I am passing by the evident allegory of Genesis as to the earth origin of Adam and Eve. Our doctrine regard these first parents of the human race as simply coming from another sphere upon a mission to this earth to perform the work assigned them in peopling the earth as prepared for them at their advent. The account in Genesis of man's earth origin, of his being made of the dust of the earth, and woman manufactured from man's rib gives in allegory the process of the generation of human life. But human life is but a continuation of pre-earth existing life which has no beginning and which will have no end, being of the eternal things. So that in the system of philosophic thought that is born of the revelations in which the New Dispensation of the gospel has its origin, man was not moulded from the earth as a brick nor woman manufactured from a rib; but, as well stated by Elder Parley P. Pratt, the earth having been prepared and made ready for the human race, "A royal planter now descends from yonder world of older date, and bearing in his hand the choice seeds of the older Paradise, he plants them in the virgin soil of our new born earth. They grow and flourish there, and, bearing seed, replant themselves, and thus clothed the naked earth with scenes of beauty, and-the air with fragrant incense. Ripening fruits and herbs at length abound. When lo! from yonder world is transferred every species of animal life. Male and female, they come, with blessings on their heads, and a voice is heard again, "Be fruitful and multiply." Earth, its mineral, vegetable and animal wealth, its Paradise prepared, down comes from yonder world on high a son of God, with his beloved spouse. And thus a colony from heaven * * * is transplanted on our soil. The blessings of their Father are upon them, and the first great law of heaven and earth is again repeated, "Be fruitful and multiply." Hence, the nations which have swarmed our earth." "Key to Theology," Ch. vi.]

[Footnote B: Titus i:2. Also Book of Moses, Ch. v:1-12. For a fuller consideration of the facts of the text see Seventy's Year Book II, Lesson XI. Notes 5 and 6.]

[Footnote C: Book of Moses (Pearl of Great Price) Ch. v. 10-12.]

_4. Book of Mormon View of the Fall--Necessary to the Purposes of God:_ After a most remarkable process of reasoning upon the fact of opposite existences, good and evil, sin and righteousness, and reaching the conclusion that there "must needs be an opposition in all things," the Nephite prophet applies his principles to the fall of Adam in the following passage:

"To bring about his [God's] eternal purposes in the end of man,
after he had created our first parents. * * * It must needs be that
there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition
to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter;
wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for
himself. Wherefore man could not act for himself, save it should be
that he was enticed by the one or the other. And I, Lehi, according
to the things which I have read, must needs suppose, that an angel
of God, according to that which is written, had fallen from heaven;
wherefore he became a devil, having sought that which was evil
before God, and because he had fallen from heaven, and had become
miserable for ever he said unto Eve, yea, even that old serpent,
who is the devil, who is the father of all lies, wherefore he
said, Partake of the forbidden fruit, and ye shall not die, but ye
shall be as God, knowing good and evil. And after Adam and Eve had
partaken of the forbidden fruit, they were driven out of the garden
of Eden, to till the earth. And they have brought forth children;
yea, even the family of all the earth. And the days of the children
of men were prolonged, according to the will of God, that they
might repent while in the flesh: wherefore, their state became a
state of probation, and their time was lengthened, according to
the commandments which the Lord God gave unto the children of men.
For he gave commandment that all men must repent; for he showed
unto all men that they were lost, because of the transgression of
their parents. And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed, he
would not have fallen; but he would have remained in the garden of
Eden. And all things which were created, must have remained in the
same state in which they were, after they were created; and they
must have remained forever, and had no end. _And they would have
had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of
innocence,_ having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good,
for they knew no sin. But behold, all things have been done in the
wisdom of him who knoweth all things. Adam fell that men might be;
and men are that they might have joy."[A]

[Footnote A: II Nephi ii:15-25. For a treatise on "Opposite Existences," see "New Witnesses for God," Vol. III, pp. 219-227.]

_5. Summary of Views of the Fall:_ I shall depend on the two foregoing passages, to sustain, in large measure, the views of this lesson, viz., that the fall of Adam was not an accident; that it did not surprise the purposes of God with reference to man's earth-life, much less thwart them; that the fall was as much embraced in the sovereign purposes of God with reference to the earth-life of man as was the Atonement; that without the first the second could not be; that the transition from heaven conditions to earth conditions, the fall, in some way was connected with the propagation of the earth-life of man: "Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed" is the declaration of Eve, allowed to stand in the Book of Moses as an undoubted truth. But for the transgression of Adam, as the Prophet Lehi tells us, in the above passage, "all things which were created, must have remained in the same state which they were [in] after they were created; and they must have remained forever and had no end. _And they_ [Adam and Eve] _would have had no children_: Wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin." But Adam made the necessary transition from a state of mere innocence, he fell that man might be, and that the experiences of earth-life might follow, and eventuate in something better and greater than mere innocence, _viz._, in virtue; which is goodness, and strength, acquired by conquest of evil.[A]

[Footnote A: See Seventy's Year Book No. II, Part II, Lesson IX, p. 50. On this distinction between mere innocence and virtue, Professor Joseph Le Conte of the University of California says: "It will, I think, be admitted by all that innocence and virtue are two very different things. Innocence is a pre-established, virtue a self-established, harmony of spiritual activities. The course of human development, whether individual or racial, is from innocence through more or less discord and conflict to virtue. And virtue completed, regarded as a condition, is holiness, as an activity, it is spiritual freedom. Not happiness nor innocence but virtue is the goal of humanity. Happiness will surely come in the train of virtue, but if we seek primarily happiness we miss both. Two things must be borne steadily in mind; virtue is the goal of humanity; virtue can not be given, it must be self-acquired. * * * Why could not man have been made a perfectly pure, innocent, happy being, unplagued by evil and incapable of sin? I answer: The thing is impossible even to Omnipotence, because it is a contradiction in terms. Such a being would also be incapable of virtue, would not be a moral being at all, would not in fact be man. We can not even conceive of a moral being without freedom to choose. We can not even conceive of virtue without successful conflict with solicitations to debasement. But these solicitations are so strong and so often overcome us, that we are prone to regard the solicitations themselves as essential evil, instead of our weak surrender to them." (Evolution and Its Relation to Religious Thought--1902--pp. 372-3.)]

LESSON IX.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

THE DOCTRINE OF THE ATONEMENT IN ANCIENT TIMES--THE OLD TESTAMENT.

ANALYSIS.

I. The First Promise of an Atonement.

II. Adam's Sacrifices and the Atonement.

III. The Mosaic Sacrifices:

1. The Sin Offering.

2. The Day of Atonement.

IV. The Christian Fathers on the Significance of Ancient Sacrifices.

REFERENCES.

Genesis iii; Book of Moses (P. of G. P.), Chs. v and vi.

Hebrews Chs. ix and x. Dr. William Smith's Old Testament History, Chs. ii and Appendix to Book III, Sec. iv--"Sacrifices and Oblations."

Smith's Bible Dictionary (Hackett Edition), Vol. IV, Art. "Sacrifices." Also Kitto's Biblical Literature, Art. "Sacrifices."

"Mediation and Atonement" (Pres. John Taylor), Ch. xvi.

_SPECIAL TEXT: "When Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission." (Heb. ix:19-22.)_

DISCUSSION.

_1. The Idea of an Atonement of Ancient Origin:_ From the earliest times the fact of an Atonement for man is foreshadowed. "The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat," said Eve, to the Lord. "And the Lord God said unto the serpent * * * I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."[A]

[Footnote A: Gen. iii:13, 15.]

In this passage Christians with justice have always seen the proclamation of the good tidings of the final victory over sin. "It is in Christ that the seed of the woman crushes the serpent."[A]

[Footnote A: Dummelow's Commentary on Gen. iii.]

_2. Atonement Foreshadowed in Ancient Sacrifices:_ The Atonement is also foreshadowed in the sacrifices of burnt offerings of Adam, his son Abel and the early Bible patriarchs. So meagre is the Bible account of the origin of sacrifices that some have doubted if they bore any relation to the sacrifice to be offered by the Christ, or were at all of divine origin.[A] Our scripture, however, the Book, of Moses, sets the matter at rest for Latter-day Saints; for there it is written:

[Footnote A: "In tracing the history of sacrifice, from its first beginning to its perfect development in the Mosaic ritual, we are at once met by the long-disputed question, as to the origin of sacrifice; whether it arose from a natural instinct of man, sanctioned and guided by God, or whether it was the subject of some distinct primeval revelation. * * * The great difficulty in the theory which refers it to a distinct command of God, is the total silence of Holy Scriptures--a silence the more remarkable, when contrasted with the distinct reference made in Gen. ii to the origin of the Sabbath. Sacrifice, when first mentioned, in the case of Cain and Abel, is referred to as a thing of course; it is said to have been 'brought' by men; there is no hint of any command given by God. This consideration, the strength of which no ingenuity has been able to impair, although it does not actually disprove the formal revelation of sacrifice; yet at least forbids the assertion of it, as of a positive and important doctrine." (Smith's "Bible Dictionary"--Hackett ed.--Art. "Sacrifice," Vol. IV, p. 2770).

Was sacrifice in its origin "a human invention or a divine institution; and whether any of the sacrifices before the law, or under the law, were sacrifices of expiation. Eminent and numerous are the authorities on both sides of these questions; but the balance of theological opinion preponderated greatly for the affirmative in each of them. On the lower point, however, (viz., were the sacrifices sacrifices of expiation) most of those who deny that there was an expiatory sacrifice before the law, admit its existence under the law; and on the first, those who hold that sacrifice was of divine origin, but became much corrupted, and was restored by the Mosaic law, do not in substance differ much from those who hold it to have been a human invention, formally recognized, and remodelled by the law of Moses." Kitto's "Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature," Art. "Sacrifices." The difficulty and doubt in respect of both questions presented by these authorities is overcome by the passage which follows in the text from the Book of Moses.]

"And Adam and Eve, his wife, called upon the name of the Lord, and
they heard the voice of the Lord from the way toward the Garden
of Eden, speaking unto them, and they saw him not; for they were
shut out from his presence. And he gave unto them commandments,
that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the
firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord.[A] And
Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord. And after many
days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou
offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him, I know not,
save the Lord commanded me. And then the angel spake saying: This
thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the
Father, which is full of grace and truth. Wherefore, thou shalt do
all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent
and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore. And in that
day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which beareth record of the
Father and the Son, saying: I am the only begotten of the Father
from the beginning, henceforth and forever, that as thou hast
fallen thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as
will."

[Footnote A: This doubtless gives the ground of explanation for the acceptance of Abel's offering for a sacrifice, the firstlings of his flock; and the rejection of Cain's offering, the fruits of the ground (Gen. iv:3-7). The one was brought in compliance with the appointment of God, the other was not of divine appointment, but was an unwarranted deviation from the commandment, hence, "the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering," but not unto Cain's. In Kitto's article on "Sacrifices" there is another very great reason urged as to why Abel's sacrifice was acceptable and why Cain's was not. It is reasonable, and in harmony with the importance of the whole doctrine of the Atonement, and I have nowhere else found the idea so well expressed. "It amounts then to this--that Cain, by bringing an eucharistic (expressing thanks merely) offering, when his brother brought one which was expiatory, denied virtually that his sins deserved death, or that he needed the blood of Atonement. Some go further, and allege that in the text itself, God actually commanded Cain to offer a piacular [expiatory, atoning] sacrifice. The argument does not require this additional circumstance; but it is certainly strengthened by it. When Cain became angry that Abel's offering was regarded with divine complacency, and his own refused, God said to him, 'Why art thou wroth; and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.' Now the word 'chattah,' translated 'sin' denotes in the law a 'sin-offering' and the word translated 'lieth' is usually applied to the recumbency of the beast. It is therefore proposed to translate the clause, 'sin-offering coucheth at the door; which by paraphrase would mean, 'an animal fit for a sin-offering is here, couching at the door, which thou mayest offer in sacrifice, and thereby render to me an offering as acceptable as that which Abel has presented." (Kitto's "Bible Literature," Art. "Sacrifice.")]

This clearly establishes the divine origin of sacrifices among the antediluvian patriarchs; and, indeed, of all antiquity;[A] and also the fact, that they but foreshadowed the great sacrifice to be made in due time by the Son of God himself. Doctor Wm. Smith, the author of the "Old Testament History," says:

[Footnote A: A strong moral argument in favor of the divine institution of sacrifice, somewhat feebly put by Hallet (Comment, on Heb. xi:4, cited by Magee, "On the Atonement"), has been reproduced with increased force by Faber ("Prim. Sacrifice," p. 183). It amounts to this:

"Sacrifice, when uncommanded by God, is a mere act of gratuitous superstition. Whence, on the principle of St. Paul's reprobation of what he denominates will-worship, it is neither acceptable nor pleasing to God.

"But sacrifice, during the patriarchal ages, was accepted by God, and was plainly honored with his approbation.

"Therefore sacrifice, during the patriarchal age, could not have been an act of superstition uncommanded by God.

"If, then, such was the character of primitive sacrifice; that is to say, if primitive sacrifice was uncommanded by God,--it must, in that case indubitably have been a divine, and not a human institution." (Kitto's "Cyclopedia Biblical Knowledge," Vol. II, Art. "Sacrifice.")]

"The curse upon the serpent and promise to the woman point clearly
to a Redeemer, who should be born of a woman, and by his own
suffering, should destroy the power of the devil; and here we have
the first prophecy of the Messiah. * * * There can be no reasonable
doubt that the sacrifice of living animals was now instituted as a
prophetic figure of the great sacrifice which should fulfill this
promise. Animals must have been slain to provide the skins that
clothed Adam and Eve; and wherefore slain, except in sacrifice?
This might not seem conclusive in itself; but the whole reason for
sacrifice began to exist now; its use is taken for granted in the
next chapter (Gen. iv); and it continues throughout the patriarchal
age without the record of any other beginning. Thus early, then,
man learned that, "without shedding of blood, there is no remission
of sin;" that his own forfeited life was redeemed, and to be
restored by the sacrifice of the coming "seed of the woman;" and
that he was placed by God under a new dispensation of mercy. Nay,
even his punishment was a mercy; for his suffering was a discipline
to train him in submission to God's will. The repentance of our
first parents is nowhere expressly stated; but it is implied here
and in the subsequent narrative."[A]

[Footnote A: We must not omit to notice the traces of these truths, which are found among many nations. The Greek legend of Pandora traces the entrance of evil to a woman; the Buddhist and Chinese traditions refer the beginning of sin to eating forbidden fruit and desiring forbidden knowledge; and most systems of mythology make the serpent a type of the power of evil, and a divine personage his destroyer. Delitzch well says, "The story of the Fall, like that of the Creation, has wandered over the world. Heathen nations have transplanted and mixed it up with their geography, their history, their mythology, although it has never so completely changed form, and color, and spirit, that you can not recognize it. Here, however, in the Law, it preserves the character of a universal, human, world-wide fact; and the groans of Creation, the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and the heart of every man, conspire in their testimony to the most literal truth of the narrative." The recollection of the tree of life is preserved in the sacred tree of the Assyrians and Hindoos, and in the other Eastern systems of mythology ("Old Testament History"--Wm. Smith--p. 29.)]

The fact of Adam's repentance, however, is clearly set forth in the Book of Moses, and his acceptance of the whole scheme of salvation through the atonement of Christ.[A]

[Footnote A: See Book of Moses (P. of G. P.), Ch. v:4-16 and Ch. vi:48-68.]

_3. The Atonement of Christ Foreshadowed in the Mosaic Sacrifices:_ It is very generally conceded that the sacrifices and oblations of the Mosaic ritual have a direct relationship to the great atoning sacrifice to be made by the Christ. From the ninth and tenth chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews it is evident that "the law" was "a shadow of good things to come;" the law's sacrifices for sin and reconciliation with God but figured forth the greater and more efficient sacrifice to be made by the Son of God; nay, whatever of virtue there was in the sacrifices of the law were dependent upon the great sacrifice to follow. Of themselves, the sacrifices of the law had no virtue at all unconnected with the sacrifice to be made by the Christ;[A] they were but symbols figuring forth that sacrifice in which the virtue was, the sacrifice of the Christ himself. "For it is expedient," says the Nephite Prophet Alma--"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. Therefore, it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; and then shall there be, or it is expedient there should be, a stop to the shedding of blood; then shall the law of Moses be fulfilled; yea, it shall be all fulfilled; every jot and tittle, and none shall have passed away. 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."[B]

[Footnote A: Hebrews x:1-10.]

[Footnote B: Alma xxxiv:9, 13, 14.]

The late President John Taylor upon this subject said:

"These sacrifices, which were offered up from the days of Adam
until the time of our Savior's advent, were typical of the great
expiatory sacrifice which He was to make by the sacrifice of
himself. They were so many types, shadows and forms of which he
was the great prototype--the substance, the reality prefigured and
foreshadowed by the other sacrifices which had been offered up from
the beginning.

"When the law was given to Moses, all the forms pertaining to
the sacrificial ceremonies were revealed in detail, and the
instructions in relation thereto were not simply of a general
nature, but they entered into minute particulars in relation to all
things connected with those who officiated, the form and pattern
of the sacred utensils and of the vestments of the Priesthood,
the creatures to be sacrificed, the order of the proceedings, and
indeed of all matters associated with the observance of these
rites. Almost the whole of the book of Leviticus, and considerable
of the book of Numbers, is occupied with these instructions and
kindred matters. This Mosaic law, with all its duties, observances,
ceremonies and sacrifices, continued in force until Christ's
death."[A]

[Footnote A: "Mediation and Atonement" (1882), p. 124.]

_4. The Sin Offering of the Mosaic Law:_ The Author of the Article on "Sacrifices," in Smith's "Bible Dictionary" (Hackett edition), Vol. IV--Rev. Alfred Barry, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in describing the "Sin Offering of the Mosaic law," says:

"The nature and meaning of the various kinds of sacrifice is partly gathered from the form of their institution and ceremonial, partly from the teaching of the prophets, and partly from the New Testament, especially the Epistle to the Hebrews. All had relation, under different aspects, to a covenant between God and man.

"The sin offering represented that covenant as broken by man, and as knit together again, by God's appointment, through the 'shedding of blood.' Its characteristic ceremony was the sprinkling of the blood before the veil of the sanctuary, the putting some of it on the horns of the altar, incense, and the pouring out of all the rest at the foot of the altar of burnt offering. The flesh was in no case touched by the offerer; either it was consumed by fire without the camp, or it was eaten by the priest alone in the holy place, and everything that touched it was holy. This latter point marked the distinction from the peace-offering, and showed that the sacrificer had been rendered unworthy of communion with God. The shedding of blood, the symbol of life, signified that the death of the offender was deserved for sin, but that the death of the victim was accepted for his death by the ordinance of God's mercy."

_5. The Ceremonial of the Day of Atonement:_ "This [the truth of the preceding paragraph] is seen most clearly in the ceremonial of the 'Day of Atonement,' when, after the sacrifice of the one goat,[A] the high priest's hand was laid on the head of the scape-goat--which was the other part of the sin-offering--with confession of the sins of the people, that it might visibly bear them away, and so bring out explicitly, what in other sin-offerings was but implied. Accordingly we find that, in all cases, it was the custom for the offerer to lay his hand on the head of the sin-offering, to confess generally or specially his sins, and to say, 'Let this be my expiation.' Beyond all doubt, the sin-offering distinctly witnessed that sin existed in man, that the 'wages of that sin was death,' and that God had provided an Atonement by the vicarious suffering of an appointed victim. The reference of the Baptist to a 'Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world,' was one understood and hailed at once by a 'true Israelite.'"[B]

[Footnote A: Two goats were used in this ceremonial, one of which was killed and made a "sin offering" and the other a scape-goat to figuratively bear off the sins of the people.

"And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scape-goat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scape-goat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scape-goat into the wilderness" (Lev. xvi:7-10).]

[Footnote B: Smith "Dictionary," Vol. IV, p. 2774.]

_6. The Paschal Sacrifice or Passover:_ In some respects the Paschal Sacrifice more perfectly than any other, perhaps, foreshadowed the future sacrifice of the Son of God for the deliverance of his people--those who would trust the sign of deliverance in his blood. The institution of the sacrifice and feast was as follows. When all other judgments upon Pharaoh failed to persuade him to let God's people go, then said the Lord to Moses:

"About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: and all the
first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of
Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the
maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the first-born of beasts.
And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such
as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against
any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against
man or beast; that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference
between the Egyptians and Israel."[A]

[Footnote A: Exodus xi:4-7.]

When this terrible judgment was about to be executed the Lord provided the following means of deliverance for his people: Each family in Israel were commanded at a given time to take a lamb without blemish, a male of the first year, for a Passover Offering, and it was to be killed in the evening.

"And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side-posts, and on the upper doorpost of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. * * * And ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations: ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever."[A]

[Footnote A: Exodus xii.]

Thus was the Passover established. Of it the late President Taylor said:

"It appears, that when the destroying angel passed by the houses
of the children of Israel he found the blood of a lamb sprinkled
on the doorpost; which was a type of the blood of Christ, the
lamb of God. The angel who was the executor of justice could not
touch those who were protected by that sacred symbol; because that
prefigured the sacrifice of the Son of God, which was provided at
the beginning of creation for the redemption of the human family,
and which was strictly in accordance with provisions then made by
the Almighty for that purpose--'the Lamb slain from before the
foundation of the world'--and accepted in full as an atonement for
the transgressions of mankind, according to the requirements of
eternal justice and agreed to by the Savior and his Father."[A]

[Footnote A: "Mediation and Atonement," p. 106.]

Of course it cannot be doubted that this festival of the Passover was instituted as a great memorial of the deliverance from Egyptian bondage, and the birth of the nation of Israel; and there are not wanting those who maintain that this was its primary significance. But the leading feature in the festival, the Paschal Lamb, "a male, without blemish;" the killing of it; the blood sprinkled upon the door post, the sign of safety to God's people; the eating of the lamb in preparation of the journey; the subsequent honoring of this feast by the Christ with his disciples; the substitution of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper for the Passover festival at the very time and on the very occasion of celebrating the feast of the passover among the Jews;[A] together with the subsequent inspired reference to Christ as the Paschal Lamb of the Christians,[B] are circumstances too numerous and too nearly related to doubt of the significance of the Passover festival having reference to the great sacrifice to be made by the Son of God through the shedding of his blood in atonement for the deliverance of his people. Of the Passover being a symbol of the sacrifice of the Son of God, the writer upon that theme in Smith's "Bible Dictionary" says:

[Footnote A: Matt. xxvi and Luke xxii.]

[Footnote B: I Cor. v:7.]

"No other 'shadow of good things to come' contained in the law
can vie with the festival of the passover in expressiveness and
completeness. Hence we are so often reminded of it, more or less
distinctly, in the ritual and language of the Church. Its outline,
considered in reference to the great deliverance of the Israelites
which it commemorated, and many of its minute details, have been
appropriated as current expressions of the truths which God has
revealed to us in the fullness of times in sending his Son upon
earth."[A]

[Footnote A: Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible" (Hackett's edition), Vol. IV, p. 2355.]

_7. The Testimony of Some "Christian Fathers:_" Certain of the socalled Christian Fathers agree with this view of the Old Testament sacrifices figuring forth the sacrifice to be made by the Christ, both as to sacrifices in the early patriarchal times and under the law of Moses. Of these, first, is

(a) _Eusebius of Caesarea:_ Born 264 A. D. (about); died 349 (about).

"Eusebius of Caesarea, in a passage too long for quotation, alleges, that animal sacrifice was first of all practiced by the ancient lovers of God (the patriarchs) and that not by accident, but through a certain divine contrivance, under which, as taught by the divine spirit, it became their duty thus to shadow forth the great and venerable victim, really acceptable to God, which was, in time then future, destined to be offered in behalf of the whole human race ("Demonst. Evang." i:8, pp. 24,25)."[A]

[Footnote A: Kitto, Vol. II, p. 661.]

(b) _Athanasius:_ Born 296 A. D.; died 373.

"Next we come to Athanasius, who, speaking of the consent of the Old Testament to the fundamental doctrines of the New, says: 'What Moses taught, these things his predecessor Abraham had preserved; and what Abraham had preserved, with those things Enoch and Noah were well acquainted; for they made a distinction between the clean and the unclean [animals], and were acceptable to God. Thus also in like manner Abel bore testimony; for he knew what he had learned from Adam, and Adam himself taught only what he had previously learned from the Lord" (Synod. Nicen. contr. Haer, Arian, Decret., Opp. i, 403).[A]

[Footnote A: Ibid.]

(c) _Augustine_: Bp. of Hippo. Born 354 A. D.; died 430.

"Augustine, after expressly referring the origin of sacrifice to the divine command, more distinctly evolves his meaning by saying: 'The prophetic immolation of blood, testifying from the very commencement of the human race the future passion of the Mediator, is a matter of deep antiquity inasmuch as Abel is found in Holy Scripture to have been the first who offered up his prophetic immolation (Cont. Faust. Manich. Onp. vi:145). These testimonies certainly vindicate the opinion of the divine origin of primitive sacrifice from the charge of being a modern innovation, with no voice of antiquity in its favor."[A]

[Footnote A: Kitto, Vol. II, p. 661.]

LESSON X.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

THE FACT OF THE ATONEMENT IN NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES.[A]

ANALYSIS.

I. The Atonement Considered as a Fact.

II. The Testimony to the Fact.

1. Gabriel;

2. John the Baptist;

3. The Christ;

4. The Judean Apostles:

(a) Paul,

(b) Peter,

(c) John.

REFERENCES.

St. Luke, Ch. i; also Heb. ix and x, and all the New Testament citations in the text of this lesson--the context of these passages should also be considered.

Richard-Little Compendium, Art. "Atonement," pp. 8-13, and all its references.

Mediation and Atonement (Taylor), Chs. iii, iv, v and vi.

The Gospel (Roberts), Ch. ii (3rd Edition).

_SPECIAL TEXT: "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission." (Heb. ix:22.)_

[Footnote A: "New Testament Scriptures," as here used means more than the New Testament of the Bible. It means that New Testament of course, but that plus the Book of Mormon books written after the birth of Messiah, beginning with III Nephi, and also the immediate scriptures of the New Dispensation, viz., the Doctrine and Covenants.]

DISCUSSION.

_1. The Fact of the Atonement:_ The important thing to be established in the mind of man concerning the atonement is the fact of it. While it is not the intention of this treatise to avoid the discussion of the philosophy of the Atonement[A]--by which is meant only a discussion of the reasonableness of it--and rest in the mere fact of it as proved from the Scriptures, still I repeat that the fact of it and man's acceptance of it as a fact, is of first importance.[B] This and the following lesson of Part II, therefore, are devoted to grouping the scriptural texts for the fact of the Atonement from "New Testament Scriptures."

[Footnote A: Part III is wholly devoted to that division of the subject.]

[Footnote B: Elsewhere on this theme I have said: How is it that through the sacrifice of one who is innocent salvation may be purchased for those under the dominion of death? I will observe, in passing, that what should most concern us is, not so much how it is that such is the case, but is it a fact? Is it true that God has established such a scheme of redemption, is what should concern us most.

To that question the blood sprinkled upon a thousand Jewish altars, and the smoke that darkened the heavens for ages from burnt offerings, answer yes. For those sacrifices, and that sprinkled blood were but typical of the great sacrifice to be made by the Messiah.

Even the mythology of the heathen nations retains the idea of an Atonement that either has been, or is to be made for mankind. Fantastic, distorted, confused; buried under the rubbish of savage superstition it may be, but it nevertheless exists. So easily traced, so distinct is this feature of heathen mythology, that some writers have endeavored to prove that the gospel plan of redemption was derived from heathen mythology. Whereas the fact is that the gospel was understood and extensively preached in the earliest ages; men retained in their tradition a knowledge of those principles or parts of them, and however much they may have been distorted, traces of them may still be found in nearly all the mythologies of the world.

The prophets of the Jewish scriptures answer the foregoing question in the affirmative. The writers of the New Testament make Christ's Atonement the principal theme of their discourses and epistles. The Book of Mormon, speaking as the voice of an entire continent of people, whose prophets and righteous men sought and found God, testifies to the same great fact, and the revelations of God as given through the Prophet Joseph Smith are replete with passages confirming this doctrine. * * * The evidence here indicated is more than sufficient, it seems to me, to establish the _fact_ of the Atonement beyond the possibility of a doubt: and if there are some things in it not yet within the scope of our comprehension, still there is sufficient foundation for our glorious hope and faith of eternal life through its power: for the evidence proving the fact of that Atonement is sufficient, wanting nothing, either in quality or quantity" "(The Gospel," Ch. ii.)]

_2. The Angel's Testimony to the Atonement of Christ:_ "Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: * * * She shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins."[A]

[Footnote A: Matt. i:18, 23.]

Such were the words of the angel to Joseph, the betrothed husband of Mary, the Mother of Christ.

_3. John the Baptist's Testimony:_ "Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world * * * and I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God."[A]

[Footnote A: St. John, Ch. i:29, 34.]

Such John's testimony concerning Jesus of Nazareth, as he saw that more than Prophet coming to his baptism.

_4. The Christ's Testimony to the Atonement:_ "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."[A]

[Footnote A: St. John iii:15-17.]

Such the Christ's testimony of himself. And again the Christ:

"When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he[A] [i. e., the one that taketh away the sins of men]."[B] "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me." This he said signifying by what death he should die."[C]

[Footnote A: Ibid viii:28.]

[Footnote B: Ibid, verse 24.]

[Footnote C: St. John xii:32, 33.]

When instituting the sacrament, at the passover supper, celebrated upon the night of his betrayal, as the disciples were eating, "Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."[A] Mark and Luke practically give the same account of the incident.

[Footnote A: Matt. xxvi:26-28.]

After the resurrection, Jesus, overtaking two of the disciples on their way to Emmaus, engaged them in conversation respecting the crucifixion of Jesus. And in course of their narrative of the missing body of the Christ, the resurrected Messiah interrupted them, saying:

"O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have
spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to
enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets
he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself."[A]

[Footnote A: St. Luke xxiv:25-27.]

Subsequently, he was known of these two disciples by the breaking of bread. And after these two astonished disciples returned to Jerusalem and were detailing their experience to the eleven Apostles, and those that were with them, Jesus entered the room where they were gathered:

"And he said unto them: These are the words which I spake unto
you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and
in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus
it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise
from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of
sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem."[A]

[Footnote A: St. Luke xxiv:44-47.]

_5. Testimony of the Judean Apostles:_ Turning now to the disciples after the departure of the resurrected Christ from their midst, and the endowment of the apostles with the Holy Ghost, they teach: "Neither is there salvation in any other [name than the Christ's]: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."[A] "Feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood."[B] "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."[C]

[Footnote A: Acts iv:10-12.]

[Footnote B: Acts xx:28.]

[Footnote C: Rom. iii:23-25.]

"If we believe on him that raiseth up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification."[A]

[Footnote A: Rom. iv:24, 25.]

_6. Paul's Testimony to the Atonement:_ An extended passage in his letter to the Romans, Paul reasons upon the atonement made by the Christ in the following manner:

"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for
the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet
peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God
commandeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his
blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not
only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom we have now received the Atonement. 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. But not as the offense, so
also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be
dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is
by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many."[A]

[Footnote A: Romans v:6-12, 15. See also Ch. vii.]

All will remember Paul's passage in the first letter to the Corinthians: "Since by man [Adam] came death, by man [the man Christ Jesus] came also the resurrection from the dead. For as in Adam all die; even so in Christ shall all be made alive."[A]

[Footnote A: I Cor. xv:21, 22.]

"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he arose again the third day according to the scriptures."[A]

[Footnote A: I. Cor. xv:3-4.]

"To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved: in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace."[A]

[Footnote A: Eph. i:6,7.]

"Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood; even the forgiveness of sins."[A]

[Footnote A: Col. i:12-14.]

"For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified of in due time."[A]

[Footnote A: I Tim. ii:5, 6.]

"We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels[A] for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that by the grace of God should taste death for every man."[B] "Who needeth not daily as those high priests [i. e., of the Mosaic law] to offer sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he [the Christ] did once, when he offered up himself."[C]

[Footnote A: "A little while inferior to" is the marginal rendering of the passage. See also "Mormon Doctrine of Deity," p. 163--Note--for a discussion of the passage.]

[Footnote B: Heb. ii:8-10.]

[Footnote C: Hebrews vii.]