The Articles of Faith. James E. Talmage

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СКАЧАТЬ awful wickedness to deny the pure mercies of God unto them, for they are all alive in him because of his mercy. … For behold that all little children are alive in Christ, and also all they that are without the law. For the power of redemption cometh on all that have no law."252

      23. The prophet Mormon writing to his son Moroni expressed in the following manner his conviction of children's innocence:—"Listen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold, I came into the world not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance: the whole need no physician, but they that are sick; wherefore little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore, the curse of Adam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them. … Behold I say unto you, That this thing shall ye teach, repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children. And their little children need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins. But little children are alive in Christ even from the foundation of the world."253

      24. And in a revelation through the prophet Joseph Smith in this dispensation, the Lord has said:—"But behold I say unto you, that little children are redeemed from the foundation of the world through mine Only Begotten; wherefore they cannot sin, for power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children until they begin to become accountable before me."254 President John Taylor, after citing instances of Christ's affection for little children, and proofs of the innocent condition in which they are regarded in heaven, says:—"Without Adam's transgression, those children could not have existed; through the atonement they are placed in a state of salvation without any act of their own. These would embrace, according to the opinion of statisticians, more than one half of the human family, who can attribute their salvation only to the mediation and atonement of the Savior."255

      25. The Special or Individual Effect of the Atonement makes it possible for any and every soul to obtain absolution from the dread effect of personal sins, through the mediation of Christ; but such saving intercession is to be invoked by individual effort as manifested through faith, repentance, and continued works of righteousness. The laws under which individual salvation is obtainable have been prescribed by Christ, whose right it is to say how the blessings of His own sacrifice shall be administered. All men are in need of the Savior's mediation, for all are transgressors. So taught the apostles of old:—"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."256 And again:—"If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."257 Now, that the blessing of redemption from individual sins, while free for all to attain, is nevertheless conditioned on individual effort, is as plainly declared as is the truth of unconditional redemption from the effects of the Fall. There is a judgment ordained for all, and all will be judged "according to their works." The free agency of man enables him to choose or reject, to follow the path of life, or the road that leads to destruction; it is but just that he be held to answer for the exercise of his freedom, and that he meet the results of his acts.

      26. Hence the justice of the scriptural doctrine that salvation comes to the individual only through obedience. "He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him"258 said Paul of the Christ. And further:—God "will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who, by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honor, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God."259 To these may be added the words of the risen Lord, "He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; and he that believeth not, shall be damned."260

      27. Consider further the prophecy of King Benjamin proclaimed to the Nephite multitude:—Christ's blood "atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died, not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned. But wo, wo unto him who knoweth that he rebelleth against God; for salvation cometh to none such, except it be through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ."261 But why multiply scriptural citations when the whole tenor of sacred writ supports the doctrine? Without Christ no man can be saved, and the salvation provided at the cost of Christ's sufferings and bodily death is offered upon certain clearly defined conditions only; and these are summarized under "obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel."

      28. Salvation and Exaltation.—Some degree of salvation will come to all who have not forfeited their right to it; exaltation is given to those only who by active labors have won a claim to God's merciful liberality by which it is bestowed. Of the saved, not all will be exalted to the higher glories; rewards will not be bestowed in violation of justice; punishments will not be meted out to the ignoring of mercy's claims. No one can be admitted to any order of glory, in short, no soul can be saved until justice has been satisfied for violated law. Our belief in the universal application of the atonement implies no supposition that all mankind will be saved with like endowments of glory and power. In the kingdom of God there are numerous degrees or gradations provided for those who are worthy of them; in the house of our Father there are many mansions, into which only those who are prepared are admitted. The old sectarian idea, that in the hereafter there will be but two places for the souls of mankind—heaven and hell, with the same glory in all parts of the one, and the same terrors throughout the other—is wholly untenable in the light of divine revelation. Through the direct word of the Lord we learn of varied degrees of glory.

      29. Degrees of Glory.—The revelations of God have defined the following principal kingdoms or degrees of glory, as prepared through Christ for the children of men:

      I. The Celestial Glory.262—There are some who have striven to obey all the Divine commandments, who have accepted the testimony of Christ, and received the Holy Spirit; these are they who have overcome evil by godly works, and who are therefore entitled to the highest glory; these belong to the Church of the First Born, unto whom the Father has given all things; they are made Kings and Priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchisedek; they possess celestial bodies, "whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as being typical;" they indeed are admitted to the celestial company, being crowned with the celestial glory, which makes them Gods.

      II. The Terrestrial Glory.263—We read of those who receive glory of a secondary order, differing from the highest as "the moon differs from the sun in the firmament;" these are they who, though honorable, were still in darkness, blinded by the craftiness of men, and unable to receive and obey the higher laws of God, they proved "not valiant in the testimony of Jesus," and therefore are not entitled to the fulness of glory.

      III. The Telestial Glory.—We learn of a still lower kind of glory, differing from the higher orders as the stars differ from the brighter orbs of the firmament; this is given to those who received not the testimony of Christ, but who still did not deny the Holy Spirit; who have led lives exempting them from the heaviest punishment, yet whose redemption will be delayed till the last resurrection. In the telestial world there are innumerable degrees of glory, comparable to the varying lustre of the stars.264 Yet all who receive of any one of these orders of glory are at last saved, and upon them Satan will finally have no claim. Even the telestial glory, as we are told by those who have been permitted to gaze upon it, "surpasses all understanding; and no man knows it except him to whom God has revealed it."265 Then there are those who have lost all claim upon the immediate mercy of God; whose deeds have numbered them with Perdition and his angels.266

      NOTES.

      1. The Atonement Proved by Evidence.—"It is СКАЧАТЬ