[156] Doc. and Cov. xix, 6-12; lxxvi, 36, 44.
[157] Doc. and Cov. xix, 10-12.
[158] I Peter iii, 18-20; iv, 6; Doc. and Cov. lxxvi, 73. See p.
119.
[159] Doc. and Cov. lxxvi, 44.
=17.= The false doctrine that the punishment to be visited upon the erring souls is endless, that every sentence for sin is of interminable duration, must be regarded as one of the most pernicious results of unenlightened sectarianism. It is but a dogma of unauthorized and erring churches, at once unscriptural, unreasonable, and revolting to one who loves mercy and honors justice. True, the scriptures speak of everlasting burnings, eternal d.a.m.nation, and the vengeance of eternal fire,[160] as characteristics of the judgment provided for the wicked; yet in no instance is there justification for the inference that the individual sinner will have to suffer the wrath of offended justice forever and ever. The punishment in any case is sufficiently severe without the added and supreme horror of unending continuation. Justice must have her due; but when "the uttermost farthing" is paid, the prison doors shall open and the captive be free. But the prison remains, and the law prescribing punishment for offences will not be repealed.
[160] Matt. xviii, 8; xxv, 41, 46; II Thess. i, 9; Mark iii, 29; Jude 7.
=18.= So general were the ill-effects of the commonly-accepted doctrine, unscriptural and untrue though it was, regarding the endless torment awaiting every sinner, that even before the Church had been formally organized in the present dispensation, G.o.d gave a revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith, touching this matter, in which we read:--"And surely every man must repent or suffer; for I, G.o.d, am endless: wherefore I revoke not the judgments which I shall pa.s.s, but woes shall go forth, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, yea to those who are found on my left hand; nevertheless it is not written that there shall be no end to this torment, but it is written endless torment. Again it is written eternal d.a.m.nation ... for behold, I am endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand, is endless punishment, for Endless is my name; wherefore, eternal punishment is G.o.d"s punishment. Endless punishment is G.o.d"s punishment.[161]"
[161] Revelation given March, 1830; Doc. and Cov. xix, 4-12.
=19. Satan.=--We have had occasion to refer frequently to the author of evil among men. This is Satan,[162] the adversary or opponent of the Lord, the chief of all evil spirits, called also the Devil,[163]
Beelzebub,[164] or the Prince of Devils, Perdition,[165] and Belial.[166] The figurative appellations Dragon and Serpent are applied to Satan, when reference is made to his fall.[167] We learn from the revealed word[168] that Satan was once an angel of light; he was then known as Lucifer, a Son of the Morning, but his uncontrolled ambition prompted him to aspire to the glory and power of the Father, to secure which he made the unjust proposition to redeem the human family by compulsion; failing in this purpose, he headed an open rebellion against the Father and the Son, drawing a third of the hosts of heaven into his impious league.[169] These rebellious spirits were expelled from heaven, and have since followed the impulses of their wicked natures by seeking to lead human souls to their own condition of darkness. They are the Devil and his angels. The right of free agency, maintained and vindicated by the fateful strife in heaven, prevents the possibility of compulsion being employed in this fiendish work of degradation; but the powers of these malignant spirits to tempt and persuade are used to their utmost limits. Satan tempted Eve to transgress the law of G.o.d;[170] it was he who imparted the secret of murder to the fratricide, Cain.[171]
[162] Job i, 6-22; ii, 1-7; Zech. iii, 1-2.
[163] Matt. iv, 5, 8, 11; I Peter v, 8.
[164] Matt. xii, 24.
[165] Doc. and Cov. lxxvi, 26.
[166] II Cor. vi, 15.
[167] Rev. xii, 9; xx, 2.
[168] Doc. and Cov. lxxvi, 25-27.
[169] Doc. and Cov. xxix, 36-37; see also Pearl of Great Price: Moses iv, 3-7; Abraham iii, 27-28; "Jesus the Christ," pp. 8, 9.
[170] Genesis iii, 4-5, and Pearl of Great Price: Moses iv, 6-11.
[171] Pearl of Great Price: Moses v, 29-33.
=20.= Satan exerts a mastery over the spirits that have been corrupted by his practices; he is the foremost of the angels who were thrust down, and the instigator of the ruin of those who fall in this life; he seeks to molest and hinder mankind in good efforts, by tempting to sin; it may be by imposing sickness,[172] or possibly death. Yet in all these malignant doings, he can go no farther than the transgressions of the victim may enable him, or the wisdom of G.o.d may permit him to go, and he may at any time be checked by the superior power. Indeed, even the operations of his utmost malice may be turned to the accomplishment of Divine purposes. The scriptures prove to us that the days of Satan"s power are already numbered,[173] his doom has been p.r.o.nounced, and in the Lord"s own time he will be completely overcome. He is to be bound during the millennial reign,[174] and after that thousand years of blessed peace, he will be loosed for a little season; then his defeat will be made complete, and his power over the children of G.o.d will be entirely destroyed.
[172] Luke xiii, 16; Job i.
[173] John xii, 31; xvi, 11.
[174] Rev. xx, 1-10.
THE FALL.
=21. Our First Parents in Eden.=[175]--The crowning scene of the great drama of creation was the forming of man in the image of his spiritual Father, G.o.d.[176] For the reception of the first man, the Creator had specially prepared a choice region of earth, and had embellished it with natural beauties calculated to gladden the heart of its royal possessor. "The Lord G.o.d planted a garden eastward in Eden,[177] and there he put the man whom he had formed."[178] Soon after man"s advent upon the earth the Lord created for him a companion or help-meet, declaring that it was not good that man should be alone,[179] Thus, male and female, Adam and his wife Eve, were placed in the Garden.
They had been given dominion "over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."[180] With this great power were a.s.sociated certain special commands, the first of which in point of importance was that they "be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it;" then, that they refrain from eating or even touching the fruit of a certain tree, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which grew in the midst of the Garden, though of all other fruits they were permitted to freely partake. The words of G.o.d concerning this command and its penalty are:--"And I, the Lord G.o.d, commanded the man, saying, of every tree in the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; nevertheless thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee, but remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."[181]
[175] Read Genesis, chapters ii and iii; Pearl of Great Price: Moses iii, iv: Abraham v, 7-21.
[176] Genesis i, 26; Pearl of Great Price: Moses ii, 27.
[177] See Note 3.
[178] Genesis ii, 8-9.
[179] Genesis ii, 18; Pearl of Great Price: Moses iii, 18, 21-24.
[180] Genesis i, 28; Pearl of Great Price: Moses ii, 28; Abraham iv, 28.
[181] Pearl of Great Price: Moses iii, 16-17; see also Genesis ii, 16-17.
=22. The Temptation= to disobey this command soon came. Satan presented himself before Eve in the Garden, and, speaking by the mouth of the serpent, questioned her about the commands which G.o.d had given respecting the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve answered that they were forbidden even to touch the fruit of that tree, under penalty of death. Satan then sought to beguile the woman, contradicting the Lord"s statement, and declaring that death would not follow a violation of the Divine injunction; but that, on the other hand, by doing that which the Lord had forbidden, she and her husband would become like unto the G.o.ds, knowing good and evil for themselves.
The woman was captivated by these representations; and, being eager to possess the advantages pictured by Satan, she disobeyed the command of the Lord, and partook of the fruit forbidden. She feared not evil, for she knew it not. Then, telling Adam what she had done, she urged him to do likewise.
=23.= Adam found himself in a position that impelled him to disobey one of the requirements of G.o.d. He and his wife had been commanded to multiply and replenish the earth. Adam was still immortal; Eve had come under the penalty of mortality; and in such dissimilar conditions, the two could not remain together, and therefore could not fulfill the Divine requirement. On the other hand, Adam would be disobeying another command by yielding to his wife"s request. He deliberately and wisely decided to stand by the first and greater commandment; and, therefore, with a full comprehension of the nature of his act, he also partook of the fruit that grew on the Tree of Knowledge. The fact that Adam acted understandingly in this matter is affirmed by the scriptures. Paul, in writing to Timothy, explained that "Adam was not deceived; but the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression."[182] The prophet Lehi, in expounding the scriptures to his sons, declared "Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they might have joy."[183]
[182] I Timothy ii, 14. See Note 8.
[183] II Nephi ii, 25.
=24. The Tree of Life.=--There was another tree of special virtues in Eden; its fruit insured life to all who ate of it. While Adam and Eve lived in innocent immortality, this tree had not been forbidden them; the celestial fruit indeed was fitting food for their sinless state.
Now that they had transgressed, however, now that the Divine decree had issued, fixing death as their lot, it was not proper that the fruit of the Tree of Life should be longer within their reach. They were, therefore, expelled from the Garden, and cherubim with a flaming sword guarded the way, that man might not return in an unregenerate state. By the act of transgression, our first parents acquired a knowledge, which in their condition of pristine innocence they had not possessed,--the experimental knowledge of good and evil. The result of the Fall could have been of none but ill effect had the fallen ones been immediately restored to a condition of immortality, without repentance, without atonement. In the despair that followed their realization of the great change that had come upon them, and in the light of the knowledge gained at such cost as to the virtues of the fruit that grew on the Tree of Life, it would have been but natural for them to seek the seeming advantages of an immediate escape, by partaking of the celestial food. It was in mercy that they were deprived of the means of so doing.
=25.= The words of the Creator are unmistakable as to the necessity of banishing His first earthly children from Eden:--"And the Lord G.o.d said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: Therefore the Lord G.o.d sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."[184]
[184] Gen. iii, 22-24; Pearl of Great Price: Moses iv, 31.
=26.= Alma, the Nephite prophet, comprehended the result that would have followed had Adam and his wife eaten of the Tree of Life; he thus explained the matter:--"Now we see that the man had become as G.o.d, knowing good and evil; and lest he should put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever, the Lord G.o.d placed Cherubim and the flaming sword, that he should not partake of the fruit; And thus we see, that there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve G.o.d. For behold, if Adam had put forth his hand immediately, and partook of the tree of life, he would have lived forever, according to the word of G.o.d, having no s.p.a.ce for repentance; yea, and also the word of G.o.d would have been void, and the great plan of salvation would have been frustrated."[185]
[185] Alma xlii, 3-5.
=27. The Immediate Result of the Fall= was the subst.i.tution of mortality, with all its attendant frailties, for the vigor of the primeval deathless state. Adam felt directly the effects of transgression, in finding a barren and dreary earth, with a sterile soil, instead of the beauty and fruitfulness of Eden. In place of pleasing and useful plants, thorns and thistles sprang up; and he had to labor arduously under the conditions of physical fatigue and suffering, to cultivate the soil that he might obtain necessary food.
Upon Eve fell the penalty of bodily infirmity; the pains and sorrows, which since have been regarded as the natural lot of womankind, came upon her, and she was made subject to her husband. Having now lost their sense of former innocence, they became ashamed of their nakedness, and the Lord made for them garments of skins. And upon both the man and the woman was visited the penalty of spiritual death; for in that very day they were banished from Eden, and cast out from the presence of the Lord. The serpent, having served the purposes of Satan, was made a subject of Divine displeasure, being doomed to crawl forever in the dust, and to suffer from the enmity which it was decreed should be placed in the hearts of Eve"s children.[186]
[186] See Note 4.
=28. Atonement was Provided for.=--G.o.d left not His now mortal children without hope. He gave other commandments to Adam, requiring him to offer sacrifices in the name of the Only Begotten Son, and promising redemption unto him and all his descendants who would comply with the conditions prescribed. The opportunity of winning the victor"s reward by overcoming evil was explained to our parents, and they rejoiced. Adam said, "Blessed be the name of G.o.d, 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 G.o.d." Eve was glad and declared, "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 G.o.d giveth unto all the obedient."[187]
[187] Pearl of Great Price: Moses v 10-11; see Note 6.
=29. The Fall came not by Chance.=--It would be unreasonable to suppose that the transgression of Eve and Adam came as a surprise to the Creator. By His infinite fore-knowledge, G.o.d knew what would be the result of Satan"s temptation to Eve, and what Adam would do under the conditions. And further, it is evident that the Fall was foreseen, to be a means whereby man could be brought face to face with both good and evil; that of his own agency he might elect the one or the other, and thus be prepared by the experiences of a mortal probation for the exaltation provided in the glorious plan of his creation:--"For behold, this is my work and my glory, to bring to pa.s.s the immortality and eternal life of man;"[188] thus spake the Lord unto Moses. It was the purpose of G.o.d to place within the reach of the spirits begotten by Him in the heavens the means of individual effort, and the opportunity of winning, not merely redemption from death but also salvation and even exaltation, with the powers of eternal progression and increase. Hence, it was necessary that the spiritual offspring of G.o.d should leave the mansions of their primeval childhood, and enter the school of mortal experience, meeting, contending with, and overcoming evil, according to their several degrees of faith and strength. Adam and Eve could never have been the parents of a mortal posterity had they not themselves become mortal; mortality, as before stated, was an essential element in the Divine plan respecting the earth and its appointed inhabitants; and as a means of introducing mortality the Lord placed before the progenitors of the race a law, knowing full well that transgression would follow.