for the devil was before Adam.

40 Adam partook of the forbidden fruit, and became subject to the devil.

41 through the fall Adam became spiritually dead.

Pearl of Great Price.

Pages 7, 8. a general account of the fall of man.

See our Article on Atonement, and also an examination and elucidation of the mediation and atonement of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: by Prest. John Taylor.

Article, by O. Pratt, Mil. Star. Vol. 28. pages 577, 593 and 609.

Article by C. W. Penrose, Mil. Star, Vol. 29, page 645. Sermon by O. Pratt, Journal of Discourses Vol. I, page 328.

FREE AGENCY OF MAN.

The doctrine of free agency is plainly elucidated in the written revelations from God. The plan for man's redemption was predicated on his fall.

No law could have been given to our first parents, and no penalty affixed for the breaking of a law, unless they had been free to act without constraint. The liberty to choose was given by the Creator to the progenitors of the race, and that liberty has been fully recognized in all his dealings with their posterity.

As the Patriarch of the race entailed on it an experimental knowledge of good and evil, through sufferings and death, so, through the sufferings and death of the Only Begotten Son, they are redeemed from the effects of his transgression, independent of any act of theirs.

Man was created in the image of God, with the possibility of becoming like him. But he cannot attain to that position without a knowledge of good and evil. Through the act of the Father he has attained to that knowledge; through the act of the Son he is delivered from the effects of original transgression.

Thus, with the privilege of exercising his free agency, he is placed on an equality with the parents of the race, and has the choice of good or evil for himself, with the results of that choice. If he chooses evil, a second death will be the result. If the good, it will prove to be the way to all the powers, glories and exaltations that the Gods enjoy, in whose image man is created.

The Book of Mormon is very plain on this subject: "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great mediation of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil;" 2 Nephi 2. 27.

Bible.

Gen. 2. 17 in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

3, 6 Eve eat of the fruit of the tree and gave to her husband and he did eat. 12, 17.

4. 7 if thou doest well thou shalt be accepted.

Book of Mormon.

1 Nephi 6. 4 that I may persuade men to come to God.

2 Nephi 2. 16 Lord gave unto man that he should act for himself.

10. 23 ye are free to act for yourselves.

Mos. 2, 33 if he listeth to obey him, the same drinketh damnation.

Alma 3. 26 reap eternal happiness or misery, according to the spirit they obey.

12. 31 in a state to act according to their will.

13. 3 being left to choose good or evil.

29. 4, 5 he allotteth to man according to their wills.

30. 9 a man's privilege to believe in God or not.

41. 3, 4 evil or good is restored to men, as they have chosen.

Hel. 14. 30 ye are permitted to act for yourselves.

Doctrine & Covenants.

Sec. 10. 66 may come and partake of the waters of life freely.

29. 35 Adam to be an agent to himself. 36.

39 men must needs be tempted, or they could not be agents to themselves. Sec. 58. 27, 28.

98. 8 I, the Lord, make you free.

Pearl of Great Price.

Page 7. thou mayest choose for thyself. Satan sought to destroy the agency of man.

16. given to men to know good and evil; they are agents to themselves.

17. many have believed and become sons of God; many have not believed and perished.

See a sermon by B, Young, J. of D., Vol. I., page I.

Sermon by B. Young, J. of D., Vol. 3, page 80.

,, by O. Pratt, J. of D. Vol. I, page 328.

,, by D. H. Wells, J. of D. Vol. 9, page 259.

THE ATONEMENT.

The word atonement signifies deliverance, through the offering of a ransom, from the penalty of a broken law. The sense is expressed in Job 33. 24: "Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom."

As effected by Jesus Christ, it signifies the deliverance, through his death and resurrection, of the earth and everything pertaining to it, from the power which death has obtained over them through the transgression of Adam.

The following passage is very comprehensive on the atonement of Christ: "And the end shall come, and the heaven and the earth shall be consumed and pass away, and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, for all old things shall pass away, and all things shall become new, even the heaven and the earth, and all the fulness thereof, both men and beasts, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea; and not one hair, neither mote, shall be lost, for it is the workmanship of mine hand;" Doc. & Cov. 29. 23-25. In the revelations of St. John we read, "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new;" 21. 5.

The righteous could not inherit all things in their immortal, exalted condition, if all things were not resurrected to immortality as well as themselves.

The Apostle Paul quite comprehensively sums up the results of Christ's death and resurrection: "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive;" I Cor. 15. 21, 22. That is, death having come on all men through the disobedience of Adam, so must all be raised to immortality and eternal life through the death and resurrection of Christ.

Paul also asserted that "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death;" Verse 26. John the Revelator declares that he saw death and hell cast into the lake of fire; Rev. 20. 14.

The atonement, as wrought out by Jesus Christ, further signifies that he has opened up the way for man's redemption from his own sins, through faith in Christ's sufferings, death and resurrection. The Apostle Paul well expresses this, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus;" Rom. 3. 23-26.

These passages evidence that redemption from death, through the sufferings of Christ, is for all men, both the righteous and the wicked; for this earth, and for all things created upon it. The whole tenor of the Scriptures assure us, that while they may be sure of resurrection from death, regardless of their personal acts, yet they will be rewarded for their works, whether they be good or evil, and that redemption from personal sins can only be obtained through obedience to the requirements of the Gospel, and a life of good works.

The transgression of Adam being infinite in its consequences, those consequences cannot be averted, except through an infinite atonement. The Prophet Nephi makes this very plain: "Wherefore it must needs be an infinite atonement; save it should be an infinite atonement, this corruption could not put on incorruption.