GENERAL SALVATION.
Unbelievers delight to represent God, the great Law Giver, as
unspeakably cruel in demanding such an Atonement as Christ made for the
salvation of the children of men. But let it be borne in mind that he
who made the Atonement did so voluntarily. Testifying to his disciples
respecting the matter he says: "Therefore doth my Father love me,
because I lay down my life that I may take it up 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]
[Footnote A: John x. 17,18.]
When his enemies gathered about him,--a former friend betraying him
with a kiss,--and Peter prepared to defend him with the sword, he
chided him for his rashness, commanding him to put up his sword, and
added: "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall
presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then
shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?"[B]
[Footnote B: Matt. xxvi: 53, 54.]
Thus down to the very last moment, it appears that Jesus could have
been delivered from the sacrifice had he so willed it. But the
principle which was the guiding-star of his life--"Father, not my will,
but thy will be done" influenced him in this instance, and he drank of
the cup given him of his Father, and wrung out the dregs in agony; but
he did it voluntarily, and that, too, out of his great love for mankind.
Among men we sometimes see this willingness to suffer for others. Men
there are who would lay down their lives for their friends. In the
times when imprisonment for debt was customary in England, we often
meet instances where out of pure love and kindness towards his fellows,
a man under no obligation whatever to do so, has paid the debts of the
unfortunate, satisfied the demands of the law, and set the captive
free. It is related of Lord Byron that when he was a lad attending
school, a companion of his fell under the displeasure of a cruel,
overbearing bully, who unmercifully beat him. Byron happened to be
present, but knowing the uselessness of undertaking a fight with the
bully, he stepped up to him and asked him how much longer he intended
to beat his friend. "What's that to you?" gruffly demanded the bully.
"Because," replied young Byron, the tears standing in his eyes, "I will
take the rest of the beating if you will let him go."
That partakes to some extent, at least enough so for illustration, of
the spirit by which the Son of God was actuated when he offered himself
a ransom for mankind, to redeem them from the power and dominion of
death, from which they were powerless to free themselves.
There was something more, however, in the suffering of the Messiah than
merely the ordinary pangs and terrors of personal death. As stated
by the late President John Taylor, "The suffering of the Son of God
was not simply the suffering of personal death; for in assuming the
position that he did in making an atonement for the sins of the world,
he bore the weight, the responsibilities and the burden of the sins of
all men, which, to us, is incomprehensible. As stated, 'The Lord your
Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffereth the pains
of all men.' And Isaiah says: 'Surely he hath borne our griefs and
carried our sorrows;' also, 'The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of
us all;' and again, 'he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was
numbered with the transgressors, and he bear the sins of many;' or, as
it is written in the second book of Nephi, 'For behold, he suffereth
the pains all men, yea the pains of every living creature, both men,
women and children, who belong to the family of Adam; 'whilst in Mosiah
it is declared, 'he shall suffer temptations and pains of body, hunger,
thirst and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto
death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore so great shall be his
anguish for the wickedness and abominations of his people.'"[C]
[Footnote C: Mediation and Atonement ch. xxi.]
By this Atonement of Messiah's there is especially one fact thrown
out into bold relief, that is, the great love of God and Christ for
mankind. When you come to think of the unspeakable agony, of the
anguish of heart, of the pains that racked the body and distressed the
mind of the Savior at the time of his betrayal, and during his trial
and crucifixion, you may begin to see how great the love of the Father
for mankind must be, when he would consent for his only begotten Son
to pass through this great humiliation and affliction, in order to
redeem mankind from the bonds of death. On such contemplation increased
emphasis will be given to the passage--"In this was manifested the
love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten
Son into the world that we might live through him."[D] And also to
this--"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."[E]
[Footnote D: I. John iv: 9.]
[Footnote E: John iii. 16, 17.]
Then what shall we say for the greatness of the love of the Son of God,
who of his own free will volunteered to take upon himself the task of
man's redemption! Not only of redeeming him from death, but from the
consequences of all sins, that is, on certain conditions, as we shall
see further on!
I have often thought that the love of a son for his mother must ever
be made stronger, and become more sanctified, through bringing to mind
the sufferings which brought her to the very gates of death, to give
him life; her subsequent devotion, anxiety, toil and watchfulness in
the years of his childhood and youth, making her a being "enskyed and
sainted," to him. So it is with Christ. The recollection of the love he
bears for us as manifested in the sufferings he endured in our stead,
for upon him was laid the iniquity of us all, and by his stripes are
we to be healed--the recollection, I say, of his excruciating agony in
Gethsemane, where he sweat great drops of blood, in the council chamber
of the Jews, in the streets of Jerusalem at the hands of the rabble,
and finally upon Calvary, in order to satisfy the inexorable claims of
justice, must seal and make perfect the bond of love which connects us
with him; and bears witness to the world how great, how infinite the
love of Christ for us, how great the price paid for our ransom. Well
may the Apostle say--"Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a
price."[F]
[Footnote F: I Cor. vi. 19, 20.]
In the Atonement made for man, there is a nice balancing of the
relative claims of Justice and Mercy. The law given to man being
transgressed, Justice demanded the payment of the penalty, which
was death. And as Adam had no power to liberate himself from the
captivity thereof, his sleep in the grave must have been eternal; so
also with all his posterity to whom his mortality was bequeathed as
an evil legacy, had not Mercy put in her claims and prevented Justice
from being cruel. The Son of God having it given him to have life in
himself,[G] and being capable of making an infinite atonement, he stood
forth as the great friend of man and offered himself as a sacrifice to
satisfy the claims of Justice. That offering was accepted by the great
Law Giver, and upon the demands of Justice being satisfied,--the law
having no further claim upon him, the captive is set free from the
dominion of death.
[Footnote G: John v: 26.]
Mercy is not permitted to rob Justice, but she claims her own. Justice
is not permitted to be cruel, but he retains his dignity--his demands
are satisfied. As the late President Taylor very beautifully and very
truthfully said: "Is justice dishonored? No; it is satisfied; the debt
is paid. Is righteousness departed from? No; there is a righteous act.
All requirements are met. Is judgment violated? No; its demands are
fulfilled. Is mercy triumphant? No; she simply claims her own. Justice,
judgment, mercy and truth all harmonize as the attributes of Deity.
Justice and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have
kissed each other, justice and judgment triumphant as well as mercy
and peace; all the attributes of Deity harmonize in this great, grand,
momentous, just, equitable, merciful and meritorious act."[H]
[Footnote H: Mediation and Atonement, ch. xxiv. To the reader who
would make a more thorough investigation of this subject than these
pages afford, I refer him to the following passages and works. Book of
Mormon, II Nephi, Chap. ii. Mosiah xv, 18-27. Alma xxxiv, 7-17. Alma
xlii, 1-26. Doc. and Cov. Sec lxxvi, and especially the "Mediation and
Atonement" by the late Prest. John Taylor Also Watson's Apology for
Christianity, Letter vi. Jenyn's Internal Evidences of the Christian
Religion, the concluding chapter.]
Through this Atonement, made by Messiah, a full and complete redemption
from the consequences of Adam's transgression is brought about; that
is, a victory over the grave is secured; and that, too, through the
merits of Jesus Christ, And while the law transgressed by Adam has been
vindicated, the posterity of Adam, who became subject to death through
his disobedience, are redeemed from the grave without anything being
required of them. For as their agency was not concerned in bringing
about the mischief, neither is anything demanded of them in order to
obtain redemption from it.
So far salvation is free, universal, and unconditional extending to
every man, woman and child who has ever breathed the breath of life.
And hence the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote as one of the articles of our
faith--"We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and
not for Adam's transgression."
This is what I mean, then, by General Salvation Free redemption for
all mankind through the resurrection from death, which was the great
penalty affixed to the law that Adam transgressed. This is what the
Atonement of Christ accomplished for man, but this is not all it did,
as we shall see when we come to speak of Individual Salvation.
Meantime, through the fall, comes our present state of probation; our
opportunities for gaining an experience in this life; of coming in
contact with good and evil; learning to love the one and despise the
other, by seeing them placed in contrast with each other, working out
their respective results, to the production of happiness on the one
hand, and misery on the other. From which experience we shall learn
on what basis rests the eternal felicity of intelligences, and how to
perpetuate it throughout the ages yet unborn.