GENERAL SALVATION.
Having defined what the Gospel is, it is my purpose now, for
convenience, to separate the subject into two grand divisions. These I
shall call respectively: General Salvation, and Individual Salvation.
By General Salvation, I mean a salvation that is as universal as the
race of man; that will extend to the sinner as well as to the saint;
to the unbeliever, as well as to him who believes; to the impenitent,
as well as to the penitent; in short, a salvation that is secured to
every son and daughter of Adam, irrespective of his or her belief or
unbelief, obedience or disobedience.
By Individual Salvation, I mean a salvation from certain consequences
that result from transgressing one or more of God's holy laws; a
salvation secured by complying with certain conditions specified in
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and which can only be secured to those who
fulfill said conditions.
First, then, as to General Salvation: Whatever mystery may hang over
man's existence, he is conscious of these two facts: first, that he
does exist; and second, judging from all human experience, as well as
by the decrees of God, the time will come when he will die. No matter
how strong the body, how perfect the health, or how buoyant the spirit,
man knows that sooner or later time will sap the vital forces, unbend
the body's strength, and in a few years the all-beholding sun shall
see him no more in all his course.
The experience of the race proves that man is dust, and to dust he must
return. It is true that a few, for the time being, have escaped this
fate, through being translated by the special providence of God; as in
the case of Enoch and many of his people;[A] the prophet Elijah;[B]
the three Nephite apostles,[C] and also John, the apostle.[D] But even
those who have attained this peculiar privilege, will doubtless yet
have to pass through the mysterious change we call death, in order that
the decrees of God may be fulfilled. This calamity of death, then,
falls upon all mankind; and it was brought into the world through no
act of theirs.
[Footnote A: Pearl of Great Price pp. 18, 19, 22.]
[Footnote B: II. Kings ii., Doc. and Cov. Sec. cx. 13.]
[Footnote C: III. Nephi xxvii: 7-33.]
[Footnote D: St. John xxi: 21-25, Doc. and Cov. Sec. vii.]
Adam transgressed the commandments given to him by his God; and through
that act, sowed the seeds of death, and became mortal, and his progeny
inherited, as a legacy, that mortality, and so death passed upon all
mankind. And since death was brought upon mankind through no act or
fault of theirs, justice demands that they should receive full and
complete redemption from that evil which falls upon them through the
acts of another, over which they had no control.
Such redemption has been wrought cut through the Atonement of Jesus
Christ; and, in proof that that redemption from the consequences of
Adam's transgression is universal, extending alike to the righteous and
unrighteous, I cite the following scripture: "And many of them that
sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake, some to everlasting life,
and some to shame and everlasting contempt."[E]
[Footnote E: Dan. xii: 2.]
From this it appears that not only the righteous--those who are worthy
of everlasting life--are to come forth from their graves, but also the
wicked--those worthy only of shame and everlasting contempt. To this
agrees the testimony of Jesus, "For as the Father hath life in himself;
so hath he given to the Son, life in himself.
"Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the which all that
are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they
that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have
done evil unto the resurrection of damnation."[F] Or, as the last two
clauses were given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, by inspiration: "They
who have done good in the resurrection of the just, and they who have
done evil in the resurrection of the unjust."[G]
[Footnote F: John v: 26, 28, 29.]
[Footnote G: Doc. and Cov. Sec. lxxv: 16, 17.]
This, too, is in harmony with Paul's teaching, pronounced on the
occasion of his defense before Felix: "After the way which they call
heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which
are written in the law and in the prophets; and have hope towards God,
which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of
the dead, both of the just and the unjust."[H]
[Footnote H: Acts xxiv: 14, 15.]
If it were necessary to add anything more to this array of testimony,
it would be found in the words of John the Revelator. In the twentieth
chapter of Revelations is given an account, first, of the resurrection
of the just, and their reign of peace upon the earth for a thousand
years; and then follows a description of the general resurrection in
which the writer says: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand
before God. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death
and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged
every man according to his works."[I]
[Footnote I: Rev. xx: 12, 13.]
It is certain, then, that the resurrection of the dead is universal,
extending alike to all classes and races of men. And thus there is a
general salvation from the consequences of Adam's fall. "For as by the
offense of one (Adam) judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even
so by the righteousness of one (Christ) the free gift came upon all men
to the justification of life."[J] And again, "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."[K]
[Footnote J: Rom. v: 18.]
[Footnote K: I. Cor. xv: 21, 22.]
The reader will observe that the redemption is as universal as the
fall. If it were possible, still more explicit is the testimony of the
Book of Mormon on this subject of man's redemption, as will be seen
from the following passages: "And he (Christ) shall come into the world
to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions
of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have
eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else; therefore the wicked
remain as though there had been no redemption made, except it be the
loosing of the bands of death; for behold, the day cometh that all
shall rise from the dead and stand before God, and be judged according
to their works."
"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
re-united again in its 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 its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall
be brought and be 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."[L]
[Footnote L: Alma xi: 40, 41, 42, 43, 44.]
"Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which
I have given unto you, that I came into the world to do the will of
my Father, because my Father sent me; and my Father sent me that I
might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted
up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me; that as I have
been lifted up by men, even so should men be lifted up by the Father,
to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good
or whether they be evil. And for this cause have I been lifted up;
therefore, according to the power of the Father, I will draw all men
unto me, that they may be judged according to their works."[M]
[Footnote M: III Nephi xxvii: 13-15.]
"Behold, he (Christ) created Adam, and by Adam came the fall of man.
And because of the fall of man, came Jesus Christ, even the Father and
the Son; and because of Jesus Christ, came the redemption of man. And
because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they
are brought back into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein
all men are redeemed, because the death of Christ bringeth to pass
the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless
sleep, from which sleep all men shall be awoke by the power of God,
when the trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and
great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed and loosed
from this eternal band of death, which death is a temporal death."[N]
[Footnote N: Moroni ix: 12, 13.]
Still, some of skeptical inclination, will refuse to admit that justice
has its perfect development in this scheme of redemption through
Christ's Atonement. They insist that the sin of Adam should not be
visited upon his posterity even for a moment. Why should man die? How
is it that through the sacrifice of one who is innocent, salvation may
be purchased for those under the dominion of death?