An Examination into and an Elucidation of the Great Principle of the Mediation Part 7

[Footnote B: Alma, xiv, 26-29.]

[Footnote C: Helaman, v, 43-49.]

[Footnote D: Alma, xvii-xxvii.]

"Therefore they did exercise power and authority over the disciples of Jesus who did tarry with them, and they did cast them into prison: but by the power of the word of G.o.d, which was in them, the prisons were rent in twain, and they went forth doing mighty miracles among them.

Nevertheless, and notwithstanding all these miracles, the people did harden their hearts, and did seek to kill them, even as the Jews at Jerusalem sought to kill Jesus, according to his word; and they did cast them into furnaces of fire, and they came forth receiving no harm; and they also cast them into dens of wild beasts, and they did play with the wild beasts even as a child with a lamb; and they did come forth from among them, receiving no harm."--4 Nephi, i, 30-33.

This same power has also been abundantly manifested in these latter days in the midst of the Saints of G.o.d, in deliverances from evil, in escapes from enemies, in the quelling of mobs, in the stilling of the angry waves of the sea, in the healing of the sick, in the casting out of unclean spirits, and in many other miraculous manifestations of the power and goodness of G.o.d, and of the authority with which He has invested His servants who are endowed and clothed upon with the Priesthood, which is endless and after the order of the Son of G.o.d.

Thus, through the atonement of Jesus, and the salvation and redemption brought about by that atonement these wonderful manifestations and deliverances have been accomplished by faith in G.o.d; and the Priesthood being after the order of the Son of G.o.d, and proceeding from Him, through the atonement, those who held this Priesthood possessed, according to their faith, the above mentioned powers; and without that atonement this power never could have existed, for men without that sacrifice could not have been brought into that relations.h.i.+p to G.o.d, by which they would have the right, the power and authority to act in His name, or to be His representatives to fallen humanity.

In fact, the power manifested by the Priesthood is simply the power of G.o.d, for He is the head of the Priesthood, with Jesus as our President and great High Priest; and it is upon this principle that all the works of G.o.d have been accomplished, whether on the earth or in the heavens; and any manifestation of power through the Priesthood on the earth is simply a delegated power from the Priesthood in the heavens, and the more the Priesthood on the earth becomes a.s.similated with and subject to the Priesthood in the heavens the more of this power shall we possess. Hence Paul, in speaking on this subject, says:

"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of G.o.d, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."--Heb., xi, 3.

The work of G.o.d and the glory of G.o.d is to bring to pa.s.s the immortality and eternal life of man; as it is written: "For this is my work and my glory, to bring to pa.s.s the immortality and eternal life of man." (Pearl of Great Price.) The creation of man and the multiplication of man was one thing, the immortality and eternal life of man and his exaltation is another thing; and in the organization of the world, and in the calculations of the Almighty pertaining to this immortality and eternal life, it would seem that it was decreed that the Only Begotten Son was provided for the purpose of accomplis.h.i.+ng this object; and hence Christ was the Lamb slain, according to the eternal purposes of G.o.d, before the foundation of the world.

In relation to the creation of the worlds, as above referred to by Paul, John, in the commencement of his Gospel, somewhat after the manner of a preface or introduction, writes: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with G.o.d, and the Word was G.o.d. The same was in the beginning with G.o.d. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light s.h.i.+neth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (John, i, 1-5.) Or to give the pa.s.sage, in the wording of the inspired translation: "In the beginning was the Gospel preached through the Son. And the Gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with G.o.d, and the Son was of G.o.d.

The same was in the beginning with G.o.d. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made which was made. In him was the Gospel, and the Gospel was the life, and the life was the light of men; and the light s.h.i.+neth in the world, and the world perceiveth it not." From the testimony of John, as given in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, we also extract the following:

"And he bore record, saying, I saw his glory that he was in the beginning before the world was; therefore in the beginning the Word was, for he was the Word, even the messenger of salvation, the light and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men. The worlds were made by him: men were made by him: all things were made by him, and through him, and of him. And I, John, bear record that I beheld his glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us."--Sec.

xciii, 7-11, p. 329.

Paul, likewise, in his Epistles, more than once directs attention to this great truth. In writing to the Colossians he says:

"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or princ.i.p.alities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist."--Col., i, 16, 17.

And to the Hebrews he writes, that G.o.d "hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."--Heb., i, 2, 3.

G.o.d revealed these things unto Moses; but his words in relation thereto are among the precious things that have been taken from the Scriptures by the iniquity of man; amongst those restored to us by modern revelation are the following words of G.o.d to that Patriarch with regard to the creation:

"And by the word of my power have I created them, which is mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth. And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten. And the first man of all men have I called Adam, which is many. But only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, give I unto you.

For behold, there are many worlds which have pa.s.sed away by the word of my power. And there are many also which now stand, and numberless are they unto man, but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them."--Pearl of Great Price.

CHAPTER XI.

Abraham's Record Concerning the Creation--The Council in Heaven--The Father's Plan, the Son's Acceptance, Satan's Rebellion--The Agency of Man--Suggestions Regarding Satan's Plan to Save All Mankind.

The Lord also revealed to Abraham many great and glorious principles and truths relating to the creation. We extract the following from the fragment of the writings of that Patriarch, which has been graciously restored to us by the Lord in these days:

"And the G.o.ds prepared the earth to bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind; and it was so, as they had said. And the G.o.ds organized the earth to bring forth the beasts after their kind, the cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after their kind; and the G.o.ds saw they would obey. And the G.o.ds took counsel among themselves and said, Let us go down and form man in our image, after our likeness; and we will give them dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So the G.o.ds went down to organize man in their own image, in the image of the G.o.ds to form they him, male and female, to form they them; and the G.o.ds said, We will bless them. And the G.o.ds said, We will cause them to be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and to have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And the G.o.ds said, Behold, we will give them every herb bearing seed that shall come upon the face of all the earth, and every tree which shall have fruit upon it, yea, the fruit of the tree yielding seed to them we will give it; it shall be for their meat; and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, behold, we will give them life, and also we will give to them every green herb for meat, and all these things shall be thus organized. And the G.o.ds said, We will do every thing that we have said, and organize them; and behold, they shall be very obedient. And it came to pa.s.s that it was from evening until morning they called night; and it came to pa.s.s that it was from morning until evening that they called day; and they numbered the sixth time.

"And thus we will finish the heavens and the earth, and all the hosts of them. And the G.o.ds said among themselves, On the seventh time we will end our work which we have counseled; and we will rest on the seventh time from all our work which we have counseled. And the G.o.ds concluded upon the seventh time, because that on the seventh time they would rest from all their works which they (the G.o.ds) counseled among themselves to form, and sanctified it. And thus were their decisions at the time that they counseled among themselves to form the heavens and the earth.

"And the G.o.ds came down and formed these the generations of the heavens and of the earth, when they were formed in the day that the G.o.ds formed the earth and the heavens, according to all that which they had said concerning every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew; for the G.o.ds had not caused it to rain upon the earth when they counseled to do them, and had not formed a man to till the ground; but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the G.o.ds formed man from the dust of the ground, and took his spirit (that is, the man's spirit,) and put it into him, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul."

Although this matter of the Council or Conference is not so fully exhibited in the Old Testament Scriptures as in this revelation to Abraham, yet it is definitely stated in the Book of Genesis that G.o.d said, "Let _us_ make man in _our_ image, after _our_ likeness;" and again, after Adam had taken of the forbidden fruit the Lord said, "Behold, the man has become as one of us;" and the inference is direct that in all that related to the work of the creation of the world, there was a consultation; and though G.o.d spake as it is recorded in the Bible, yet it is evident He counseled with others. The Scriptures tell us there are "G.o.ds many and Lords many. But to us there is but one G.o.d, the Father." (1 Cor., viii, 5.) And for this reason, though there were others engaged in the creation of the worlds, it is given to us in the Bible in the shape that it is; for the fulness of these truths is only revealed to highly favored persons for certain reasons known to G.o.d; as we are told in the Scriptures: "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant."--Psalms, xxv, 14.

It is consistent to believe that at this Council in the heavens the plan that should be adopted in relation to the sons of G.o.d who were then spirits, and had not yet obtained tabernacles, was duly considered. For, in view of the creation of the world and the placing of men upon it, whereby it would be possible for them to obtain tabernacles, and in those tabernacles obey laws of life, and with them again be exalted among the G.o.ds, we are told, that at that time, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of G.o.d shouted for joy."

The question then arose, how, and upon what principle, should the salvation, exaltation and eternal glory of G.o.d's sons be brought about? It is evident that at that Council certain plans had been proposed and discussed, and that after a full discussion of those principles, and the declaration of the Father's will pertaining to His design, Lucifer came before the Father, with a plan of his own, saying, "Behold I, send me, I will be thy Son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore, give me thine honor." But Jesus, on hearing this statement made by Lucifer, said, "Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever." From these remarks made by the well beloved Son, we should naturally infer that in the discussion of this subject the Father had made known His will and developed His plan and design pertaining to these matters, and all that His well beloved Son wanted to do was to carry out the will of His Father, as it would appear had been before expressed. He also wished the glory to be given to His Father, who, as G.o.d the Father, and the originator and designer of the plan, had a right to all the honor and glory. But Lucifer wanted to introduce a plan contrary to the will of his Father, and then wanted His honor, and said: "I will save every soul of man, wherefore give me thine honor." He wanted to go contrary to the will of his Father, and presumptuously sought to deprive man of his free agency, thus making him a serf, and placing him in a position in which it was impossible for him to obtain that exaltation which G.o.d designed should be man's, through obedience to the law which He had suggested; and again, Lucifer wanted the honor and power of his Father, to enable him to carry out principles which were contrary to the Father's wish.

And further, in regard to agency; if man had not had his agency, or if he had been deprived of his agency, he could not have been tempted of the devil, or of any other power; for if the will of G.o.d prevailed, and was carried out without man's action or agency, it would have been impossible for him to have done anything wrong, for he would have been deprived of the power of doing that wrong. This was the position that Satan desired to place, not only the spirits in the heavens, but also mankind upon the earth. And Satan said, "Surely I will save every one of them, wherefore, give me thine honor." But G.o.d's plan was different from this, and, as stated above, had been decided upon in the Councils of heaven; and the Father had made a decree as to how these things should be done; and that both the inhabitants of heaven and the inhabitants of earth should have their free agency. It was against this that Lucifer rebelled; and he could not have rebelled against a plan or commandment that had not been given; for rebellion signifies a violation of law, command, or authority; and he was cast out of heaven because of this rebellion. This rebellion could not have existed without a free agency; for without a free agency they would all have been compelled to do the will of the Father. But having the free agency, they used it; and Lucifer and a third part of the angels were cast out because they rebelled and used this agency in opposition to their heavenly Father. And not only because they rebelled, but because, as stated, "they sought to destroy the agency of man;" and their agency would have been used in opposition to the interests, happiness and eternal exaltation of mankind, which were proposed to be accomplished through the atonement and redemption provided by Jesus Christ. In accordance with this we find the following statements in the revelations given to the Prophet Joseph Smith:

"Behold, the devil was before Adam, for he rebelled against me, saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power: and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency; and they were thrust down, and thus came the devil and his angels.

And, behold, there is a place prepared for them from the beginning, which place is h.e.l.l: and it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves, for if they never should have bitter, they could not know the sweet."--Doc. and Cov., xxix, 36-39, p. 146.

And again; "And this we saw also, and bear record, that an angel of G.o.d who was in authority in the presence of G.o.d, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son, whom the Father loved, and who was in the bosom of the Father--was thrust down from the presence of G.o.d and the Son, and was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him--he was Lucifer, a son of the morning. And we beheld, and lo, he is fallen! is fallen! even a son of the morning. And while we were yet in the Spirit, the Lord commanded us that we should write the vision, for we beheld Satan, that old serpent--even the devil--who rebelled against G.o.d, and sought to take the kingdom of our G.o.d and his Christ." Doc.

and Cov., lxxvi, 25-28, p. 267.

The Father accepted the offer of His well beloved Son, and proceeded to carry out the decision of the Council, and, as we are informed in the Bible (inspired translation), G.o.d said to His Only Begotten, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and it was so."

There are other questions mixed up with this rebellion besides those above referred to, and those questions are directly connected with the atonement. In the event of man having his free will and being subject to the power of temptation, the weakness of the flesh, the allurements of the world, and the powers of darkness, it was known that he must necessarily fall, and being fallen, it would be impossible for him to redeem himself, and that, according to an eternal law of justice, it would require an infinite, expiatory atonement to redeem man, to save him from the effects and ruin of the Fall, and to place him in a condition where he could again be reinstated in the favor of G.o.d, according to the eternal laws of justice and mercy; and find his way back to the presence of the Father. Satan (it is possible) being opposed to the will of his Father, wished to avoid the responsibilities of this position, and rather than a.s.sume the consequences of the acceptance of the plan of the Father, he would deprive man of his free agency, and render it impossible for him to obtain that exaltation which G.o.d designed. It would further seem probable that he refused to take the position of redeemer, and a.s.sume all the consequences a.s.sociated therewith, but he did propose, as stated before, to take another plan and deprive man of his agency, and he probably intended to make men atone for their own acts by an act of coercion, and the shedding of their own blood as an atonement for their sins; therefore, he says, "I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost; and surely I will do it; wherefore, give me thine honor." His plan, however, was rejected as contrary to the counsel of G.o.d, his Father. The well beloved Son then addressed the Father, and instead of proposing to carry out any plan of his own, knowing what His Father's will was, said, "Thy will be done;" 'I will carry out thy plans and thy designs, and, as man will fall, I will offer myself as an atonement according to thy will, O G.o.d. Neither do I wish the honor, but thine be the glory;'" and a covenant was entered into between Him and His Father, in which He agreed to atone for the sins of the world; and He thus, as stated, became the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. In this connection it is related by Abraham:

"And there stood one among them that was like unto G.o.d, and he said unto those who were with him, We will go down, for there is s.p.a.ce there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; and we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their G.o.d shall command them; and they who keep their first estate, shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate, shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate, shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever."

And hence, as Jesus Himself said, "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."

We will now give in full the quotation from the Pearl of Great Price with regard to the above matter, and also add a short recapitulation.

"And I, the Lord G.o.d, spake unto Moses, saying, That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying, Behold I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me, Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine for ever. Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord G.o.d, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power, by the power of mine Only Begotten I caused that he should be cast down, and he became Satan, yea, even the Devil, the father of all lies, to deceive, and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice."

From the above we gather: First, that the proposition of Lucifer was an act of rebellion "against me"--G.o.d.

Second, that G.o.d had already decreed that man should have his free agency, and this agency had been given to him by the Lord, as it is said, "which I, the Lord G.o.d, had given him."

Third, that Lucifer coveted and asked for a power which was the prerogative of the Almighty and alone belonged to G.o.d; and which He called "mine own power."

Fourth, that for this rebellion Lucifer was cast out and became Satan.

Fifth, that the power by which he was cast out, was by a certain power or Priesthood which had been conferred by G.o.d on His Only Begotten; for he said, "By the power of mine Only Begotten I caused that he should be cast down."

Sixth, that being cast down and becoming Satan, "even the devil, the father of lies," his office was to deceive and to blind men; as it is stated, "to deceive, and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will even as many as would not hearken unto my voice."

CHAPTER XII.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--Sacrifices Offered by Them--Abraham and the Gospel Covenant--Extracts from the Book of Abraham and the Writings of Paul.

We will now return to Abraham, who is denominated the Father of the Faithful, and who, as we have before seen, was a contemporary of Melchizedek. The testimony in the Bible is direct and explicit that Abraham fulfilled the law requiring the offering of sacrifices, and furthermore was in possession of the principles of the Gospel and understood the saving value of the atonement.