An Examination into and an Elucidation of the Great Principle of the Mediation Part 11

We are told, in the Pearl of Great Price, that when Satan proposed a plan of his own, promising to redeem every soul of man, but wherein the free agency of man would be destroyed, and said, "Wherefore give me thine honor," the Only Begotten said, "Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine for ever" "I am prepared to carry out thy plan." The Apostle above quoted states, "A body hast thou prepared me.

* * Then said I, Lo, I come to do thy will, O Lord." Hence from the above we learn that though others might be the sons of G.o.d through Him, yet it needed His body, His fulfilment of the law, the sacrifice or offering up of that body in the atonement, before any of these others, who were also sons of G.o.d by birth in the spirit world, could attain to the position of sons of G.o.d as He was; and that only through His mediation and atonement. So that in Him, and of Him, and through Him, through the principle of adoption, could we alone obtain that position which is spoken of by John: "Beloved, now are we the sons of G.o.d; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Thus His atonement made it possible for us to obtain an exaltation, which we could not have possessed without it.

"His name shall be called Immanuel," which being interpreted is, G.o.d with us. Hence He is not only called the Son of G.o.d, the First Begotten of the Father, the Well Beloved, the Head, and Ruler, and Dictator of all things, Jehovah, the I Am, the Alpha and Omega, but He is also called the Very Eternal Father. Does not this mean that in Him were the attributes and power of the Very Eternal Father? For the angel to Adam said that all things should be done in His name. A voice was heard from the heavens, when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,"

and when the Father and the Son appeared together to the Prophet Joseph Smith they were exactly alike in form, in appearance, in glory; and the Father said, pointing to His Son, "This is my beloved Son; hear Him." There the Father had His apparent tabernacle, and the Son had His apparent tabernacle; but the Son was the agency through which the Father would communicate to man; as it is elsewhere said, "Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son.

And thou shalt repent, and shalt call upon G.o.d, in the name of the Son, for evermore."

CHAPTER XIX.

Man as Man--His Excellency and His Limitations--Salvation and Eternal Progression Impossible without the Atonement--In Christ _only_ can All be made Alive.

Man, as man, can only make use of the powers which are possessed by man. Made, indeed, as represented in the Scriptures, in the image of G.o.d, as monarch of the universe he stands erect on the earth in the likeness of his Great Creator; beautifully constructed in all his parts, with a body possessing all the functions necessary for the wants of humanity; standing, not only by right, but by adaptability, beauty, symmetry and glory, at the head of all creation; possessing also mental powers and the capacity of reflecting upon the past, with capabilities to reason upon cause and effect, and by the inductive powers of his mind, through the inspiration of the Almighty, to comprehend the magnificent laws of nature as exhibited in the works of creation; with the capacity also of using the elements and forces of nature, and of adapting them to his own special benefit; and by his powers penetrating into the deep, ascending into the heavens, rus.h.i.+ng with mighty velocity across the earth, making use of the separate or combined forces of nature with which he is surrounded and subjugating them to his will; as, likewise, by his intelligence, he has dominion over the fishes of the sea, over the fowls of the air, and over the cattle. He can girdle the earth with the electric fluid and convey his thoughts to any land or zone; by the same subtle influence he can talk with his fellows, and be heard when hundreds of miles apart. He can apply the forces of earth, air, fire and water to make them subservient to his will, and stands proudly erect as the head of all creation and the representative of G.o.d upon the earth. But while he occupies this exalted position, and is in the image of G.o.d, yet he possesses simply, as a man, only the powers which belong to man; and is subject to weakness, infirmity, disease and death. And when he dies, without some superior aid pertaining to the future, that n.o.ble structure lies silent and helpless, its organs, that heretofore were active, lively and energetic, are now dormant, inactive and powerless.

And what of the mind, that before went back into eternity and reached forward into eternity? And what of its powers? Or what of that spirit, which, with its G.o.dlike energies, its prescience and power, could grasp infinity? What of it, and where is it? The Scriptures say that the body returns to the dust and the spirit returns to G.o.d who gave it. But what of its powers as made known to us, what of the hereafter?

The philosophy of the world tells us that the spirit dies with the body, and like it is dissipated in surrounding nature, but as an entirety no longer exists; and all the power the being ever had was to propagate its own species and to impart the powers of the body and the mind to its posterity. Such philosophers can comprehend nothing pertaining to the future--no glory, no exaltation, no eternal progression, only as developed by a succession of manhood. If, then, there is a spirit in man which reaches into futurity, that would grasp eternal progress, eternal enjoyments, and eternal exaltations; then those glories, those exaltations, those capabilities and those powers must be the gift of some superior being, power, or authority to that which exists in man; for the foregoing is a brief exhibition of the powers and capabilities of humanity. It is of this gift that we now speak. It is of a principle that emanates from G.o.d, that originates with a superior intelligence, whose plans, and powers, and capabilities are exalted above those of mortal man, as the heavens are above the earth, or as the majestic works of the Great Creator throughout the infinitude of s.p.a.ce are superior to the puny efforts of the children of mortality. It is for the exaltation of man to this state of superior intelligence and G.o.dhead that the mediation and atonement of Jesus Christ is inst.i.tuted; and that n.o.ble being, man, made in the image of G.o.d, is rendered capable not only of being a son of man, but also a son of G.o.d, through adoption, and is rendered capable of becoming a G.o.d, possessing the power, the majesty, the exaltation and the position of a G.o.d, As it is written, "Beloved, now are we the sons of G.o.d; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."

As a man through the powers of his body he could attain to the dignity and completeness of manhood, but could go no further; as a man he is born, as a man he lives, and as a man he dies; but through the essence and power of the G.o.dhead, which is in him, which descended to him as the gift of G.o.d from his heavenly Father, he is capable of rising from the contracted limits of manhood to the dignity of a G.o.d, and thus through the atonement of Jesus Christ and the adoption he is capable of eternal exaltation, eternal lives and eternal progression. But this transition from his manhood to the G.o.dhead can alone be made through a power which is superior to man--an infinite power, an eternal power, even the power of the G.o.dhead: for as in Adam all die, so in Christ _only_ can all be made alive. Through Him mankind are brought into communion and communication with G.o.d; through His atonement they are enabled, as He was, to vanquish death; through that atonement and the power of the Priesthood a.s.sociated therewith, they become heirs of G.o.d and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and inheritors of thrones, powers, princ.i.p.alities and dominions in the eternal worlds. And instead of being subject to death, when that last enemy shall be destroyed, and death be swallowed up in victory, through that atonement they can become the fathers and mothers of lives, and be capable of perpetual and eternal progression.

CHAPTER XX.

Christ to be Subject to Man--His Descent Below all Things--Man's Condition had there been no Atonement--The Sons of G.o.d--Man's Inability to Save Himself--Christ's Glory before the World Was-- Necessity for an Infinite Atonement--The Father and Son have Life in Themselves.

Again we will return to the quotation from the Book of Mormon.[A]

Satan, as we have remarked before, wanted to deprive man of his agency, for if man had his agency, it would seem that necessarily the Lord would be subject to him; as is stated, "For it behooveth the Great Creator that he suffereth himself to become subject unto man in the flesh, and die for all men, that all men might become subject unto him."

[Footnote A: 2 Nephi, ix, 5-7.]

The Lord being thus subjected to man, He would be placed in the lowest position to which it was possible for Him to descend; because of the weakness, the corruption and the fallibility of human nature. But if man had his free agency, this necessarily would be the result, and hence, as it is said, Jesus descended below all things that He might be raised above all things; and hence also, while Satan's calculation was to deprive man of his free agency, and to prevent himself or the Only Begotten from being subject to this humiliation and infamy, the Lord's plan was to give man his free agency, provide a redeemer, and suffer that redeemer to endure all the results incidental to such a position, and thus, by offering himself as a subst.i.tute and conquering death, h.e.l.l and the grave, he would ultimately subjugate all things unto himself; and at the same time make it possible for man to obtain an exaltation that he never could have had without his agency. It is said, as already stated, "For behold, if the flesh should rise no more, our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the eternal G.o.d, and became the devil, to rise no more;" and hence the plan of Satan it appears would have frustrated the designs of the Almighty, and have deprived man of that exaltation and glory which his Heavenly Father contemplated. It is further written:

"And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our G.o.d, and to remain with the father of lies; in misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled our first parents; who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder, and all manner of secret works of darkness. O how great the goodness of our G.o.d, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and h.e.l.l, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. And because of the way of deliverance of our G.o.d, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave. And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is h.e.l.l; wherefore, death and h.e.l.l must deliver up their dead, and h.e.l.l must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel.

O how great the plan of our G.o.d! For on the other hand, the paradise of G.o.d must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect; wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt; and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness. And it shall come to pa.s.s, that when all men shall have pa.s.sed from this first death unto life, insomuch as they have become immortal, they must appear before the judgment seat of the Holy One of Israel; and then cometh the judgment, and then must they be judged according to the holy judgment of G.o.d. And a.s.suredly, as the Lord liveth, for the Lord G.o.d hath spoken it, and it is his eternal word, which cannot pa.s.s away, that they who are righteous, shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy, shall be filthy still; wherefore, they who are filthy, are the devil and his angels; and they shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them; and their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up for ever and ever, and has no end. O the greatness and the justice of our G.o.d!

For he executeth all his words, and they have gone forth out of his mouth, and his law must be fulfilled."--2 Nephi, ix, 9-17.

In the economy of G.o.d pertaining to the salvation of the human family, we are told in the Scriptures that it was necessary that Christ should descend below all things, that He might be raised above all things; as stated above, He had to "become subject to man in the flesh." It was further necessary that He should descend below all things, in order that He might raise others above all things; for if He could not raise Himself and be exalted through those principles brought about by the atonement, He could not raise others; He could not do for others what He could not do for Himself, and hence it was necessary for Him to descend below all things that He might be raised above all things; and it was necessary that those whom He proposed to save should also descend below all things, that by and through the same power that He obtained His exaltation, they also, through His atonement, expiation and intercession, might be raised to the same power with Him; and, as He was the Son of G.o.d, that they might also be the adopted sons of G.o.d; hence John says:

"Beloved, now are we the sons of G.o.d; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."--1 John, iii, 2.

And by this power we shall overcome and sit down on His throne, as Jesus overcame and sat down upon the throne of His Father.

We are told in the foregoing quotation from the Book of Mormon that the atonement must needs be infinite. Why did it need an infinite atonement? For the simple reason that a stream can never rise higher than its fountain; and man having a.s.sumed a fleshly body and become of the earth earthy, and through the violation of a law having cut himself off from his a.s.sociation with his Father, and become subject to death; in this condition, as the mortal life of man was short, and in and of himself he could have no hope of benefitting himself, or redeeming himself from his fallen condition, or of bringing himself back to the presence of his Father, some superior agency was needed to elevate him above his low and degraded position. This superior agency was the Son of G.o.d, who had not, as man had, violated a law of His Father, but was yet one with His Father, possessing His glory, His power, His authority, His dominion. As He, Himself, prayed:

"And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."--John, xvii, 5.

A man, as a man, could arrive at all the dignity that a man was capable of obtaining or receiving; but it needed a G.o.d to raise him to the dignity of a G.o.d. For this cause it is written, "Now are we the sons of G.o.d; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him." And how and why like Him? Because, through the instrumentality of the atonement and the adoption, it is made possible for us to become of the family of G.o.d, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; and that as He, the potential instrument, through the oneness that existed between Him and His Father, by reason of obedience to divine law, overcame death, h.e.l.l and the grave, and sat down upon His Father's throne, so shall we be able to sit down with Him, even upon His throne. Thus, as it is taught in the Book of Mormon, it must needs be that there be an infinite atonement; and hence of Him, and by Him, and through Him are all things; and through Him do we obtain every blessing, power, right, immunity, salvation and exaltation. He is our G.o.d, our Redeemer, our Savior, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be eternal and everlasting praises worlds without end.

Again, Jesus testifies of Himself:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of G.o.d: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the 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 d.a.m.nation."--John, v, 25-29.

It would seem from the above that the Son hath life inherent in Himself, even as the Father hath life in Himself, He having received this power from the Father. Also, that He had power in Himself, as elsewhere stated, to lay down this body, and also to take it up again; and in this respect He differed from others. While man dies and lays down his body, he has not power under any circ.u.mstance to raise it again, only through the power of Jesus and His intercession and atonement; for the Redeemer has proclaimed Himself to be the Resurrection and the Life; and it is by this resurrective power which He possesses, as the gift of G.o.d through obedience to the will of the Father, that the dead shall hear the voice of G.o.d and shall live.

Hence He not only becomes the first fruits of those that slept, having conquered death Himself and triumphed over it, but He also becomes the means of the resurrection of all men from the dead. Hence He says:

"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it 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."--John, x, 17, 18.

Thus, when He says He has power to lay down His life and power to take it up again, He speaks of a power never before exhibited among men upon this earth; and which power, indeed, does not belong to man in and of himself.

CHAPTER XXI.

The Relation of the Atonement to Little Children--Jesus a.s.sumes the Responsibility of Man's Transgression, and Bears the Weight of his Sins and Sufferings--The Inferior Creatures and Sacrifice--The Terrors and Agonies of Christ's Pa.s.sion and Death--The Tribulations, Earthquakes, etc., when He gave up the Ghost--Universal Nature Trembles--The Prophecies of Zenos and Enoch--The Testimony of the Centurion--Heirs.h.i.+p, and the Descent of Blessings and Curses.

The Redeemer Himself, when tabernacling in the flesh, said to His disciples on the Eastern Continent, "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of G.o.d.

Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of G.o.d as a little child shall in no wise enter therein."--Luke, xviii, 16, 17. And after His crucifixion and resurrection He repeated this same admonition to His Nephite disciples: "And again I say unto you, Ye must repent, and be baptized in my name and become as a little child, or ye can in no wise inherit the kingdom of G.o.d."--3 Nephi, xi, 38.

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. Thus, as stated elsewhere, in some mysterious, incomprehensible way, Jesus a.s.sumed the responsibility which naturally would have devolved upon Adam; but which could only be accomplished through the mediation of Himself, and by taking upon Himself their sorrows, a.s.suming their responsibilities, and bearing their transgressions or sins. In a manner to us incomprehensible and inexplicable, he bore the weight of the sins of the whole world; not only of Adam, but of his posterity; and in doing that, opened the kingdom of heaven, not only to all believers and all who obeyed the law of G.o.d, but to more than one-half of the human family who die before they come to years of maturity, as well as to the heathen, who, having died without law, will, through His mediation, be resurrected without law, and be judged without law, and thus partic.i.p.ate, according to their capacity, works and worth, in the blessings of His atonement.

Again, there is another phase of this subject that must not be forgotten. From the commencement of the offering of sacrifices the inferior creature had to suffer for the superior. Although it had taken no part in the act of disobedience, yet was its blood shed and its life sacrificed, thus prefiguring the atonement of the Son of G.o.d, which should eventually take place. The creature indeed was made subject to vanity not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope. Millions of such offerings were made, and hecatombs of these expiatory sacrifices were offered in view of the great event that would be consummated when Jesus should offer up Himself. With man this was simply the obedience to a command and a given law, and with him might be considered simply a pecuniary sacrifice: with the animals it was a sacrifice of life. But what is the reason for all this suffering and bloodshed, and sacrifice? We are told that "without shedding of blood is no remission" of sins. This is beyond our comprehension. Jesus had to take away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, the just for the unjust, but, previous to this grand sacrifice, these animals had to have their blood shed as types, until the great ant.i.type should offer up Himself once for all. And as He in His own person bore the sins of all, and atoned for them by the sacrifice of Himself, so there came upon Him the weight and agony of ages and generations, the indescribable agony consequent upon this great sacrificial atonement wherein He bore the sins of the world, and suffered in His own person the consequences of an eternal law of G.o.d broken by man. Hence His profound grief, His indescribable anguish, His overpowering torture, all experienced in the submission to the eternal fiat of Jehovah and the requirements of an inexorable law.

The suffering of the Son of G.o.d was not simply the suffering of personal death; for in a.s.suming the position that He did in making an atonement for the sins of the world He bore the weight, the responsibility, 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 bare the sins of many;" or, as it is written in the Second Book of Nephi: "For behold, he suffereth the pains of 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 pain 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."

Groaning beneath this concentrated load, this intense, incomprehensible pressure, this terrible exaction of Divine justice, from which feeble humanity shrank, and through the agony thus experienced sweating great drops of blood, He was led to exclaim, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pa.s.s from me." He had wrestled with the superinc.u.mbent load in the wilderness, He had struggled against the powers of darkness that had been let loose upon him there; placed below all things, His mind surcharged with agony and pain, lonely and apparently helpless and forsaken, in his agony the blood oozed from His pores. Thus rejected by His own, attacked by the powers of darkness, and seemingly forsaken by His G.o.d, on the cross He bowed beneath the acc.u.mulated load, and cried out in anguish, "My G.o.d, my G.o.d, why hast thou forsaken me!" When death approached to relieve Him from His horrible position, a ray of hope appeared through the abyss of darkness with which He had been surrounded, and in a spasm of relief, seeing the bright future beyond, He said, "It is finished!

Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." As a G.o.d, He descended below all things, and made Himself subject to man in man's fallen condition; as a man, He grappled with all the circ.u.mstances incident to His sufferings in the world. Anointed, indeed, with the "oil of gladness" above His fellows, He struggled with and overcame the powers of men and devils, of earth and h.e.l.l combined; and aided by this superior power of the G.o.dhead, He vanquished death, h.e.l.l and the grave, and arose triumphant as the Son of G.o.d, the very eternal Father, the Messiah, the Prince of peace, the Redeemer, the Savior of the world; having finished and completed the work pertaining to the atonement, which His Father had given Him to do as the Son of G.o.d and the Son of man. As the Son of Man, He endured all that it was possible for flesh and blood to endure; as the Son of G.o.d He triumphed over all, and forever ascended to the right hand of G.o.d, to further carry out the designs of Jehovah pertaining to the world and to the human family.

And again, not only did His agony affect the mind and body of Jesus, causing Him to sweat great drops of blood, but by reason of some principle, to us unfathomable, His suffering affected universal nature.

"World upon world, eternal things, Hang on thy anguish, King of kings."

When he gave up the ghost, the solid rocks were riven, the foundations of the earth trembled, earthquakes shook the continents and rent the isles of the deep darkness overspread the sky, the mighty waters overflowed their accustomed bounds, huge mountains sank and valleys rose, the handiwork of feeble men was overthrown, their cities were engulphed or consumed by the vivid shafts of lightning, and all material things were convulsed with the throes of seeming dissolution.

Thus was brought to pa.s.s that which was spoken by the prophet Zenos: "The rocks of the earth must rend; and because of the groanings of the earth, many of the kings of the isles of the sea shall be wrought upon by the Spirit of G.o.d to exclaim, The G.o.d of nature suffers." [1 Nephi, xix, 12.] And it is recorded, that so confessed the Centurion, and they that were with him watching the body of Jesus. For when they witnessed the earthquake, and the other things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of G.o.d." So also was fulfilled that which is written in the prophecy of Enoch:

"And the Lord said unto Enoch, Look; and he looked and beheld the Son of Man lifted up on the cross, after the manner of men; and he heard a loud voice; and the heavens were veiled; and all the creations of G.o.d mourned; and the earth groaned; and the rocks were rent; and the Saints arose, and were crowned at the right hand of the Son of Man, with crowns of glory; and as many of the spirits as were in prison came forth, and stood on the right hand of G.o.d; and the remainder were reserved in chains of darkness until the judgment of the great day."--Pearl of Great Price.

Thus, such was the torturing pressure of this intense, this indescribable agony, that it burst forth abroad beyond the confines of His body, convulsed all nature and spread throughout all s.p.a.ce.

The statement previously quoted, "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all," could only be in reference to the transgression of our first parent, who, acting as the progenitor and head of the human family, a.s.sumed a responsibility not only for himself, but for all of his seed; for the whole of the human family not having then been born, could not be responsible, personally, for acts that transpired before they had an existence on the earth. But as children inherit blessings from their fathers, so it would also seem that they must inherit curses, or share in their calamities. The Lord, in speaking to the children of Israel, said He would visit "the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate" him; and furthermore "a b.a.s.t.a.r.d shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to his tenth generation." This ostracism or punishment could be for no personal act of their own, for they had no part in the sin of their parents; any more than Adam's progeny had in the original sin or transgression. But it seems to be a principle admitted, that if they share the blessings accruing to their father for righteous acts, they must also share the condemnation for acts that are unrighteous. Hence comes in the atonement of the Messiah, which amply covers all of these acts, and more than that, for as Paul says: "But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of G.o.d, and the gift by grace, winch is by one man, Jesus Christ; hath abounded unto many." Hence we say, as above, the atonement covered more, apparently, than the transgression; for Adam, without the transgression, would have had no increase. That transgression opened the way for the increase, as stated by Eve, "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." That being the case, all children born among any people, not having arrived at the years of accountability, are saved through the atonement of Jesus Christ, as stated by Moroni:

"Little children cannot repent; wherefore it is awful wickedness to deny the pure mercies of G.o.d unto them, for they are all alive in him because of his mercy. And he that saith, that little children need baptism, denieth the mercies of Christ, and setteth at naught the atonement of him and the power of his redemption. Wo unto such, for they are in danger of death, h.e.l.l, and endless torment. I speak it boldly, G.o.d hath commanded me. Listen unto them and give heed, or they stand against you at the judgment seat of Christ. 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 they that have no law; wherefore, he that is not condemned, or he that is under no condemnation, cannot repent; and unto such baptism availeth nothing. But it is mockery before G.o.d, denying the mercies of Christ, and the power of his Holy Spirit, and putting trust in dead works."--Moroni, viii, 19-23.