Behold, he created Adam, and by Adam came the fall of man. And because of the fall of man, came Jesus Christ even the Father and the Son; and because of Jesus Christ came the redemption of man. And because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all men are redeemed, because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless sleep, from which sleep all men shall be awakened by the power of God when the trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed and loosed from this eternal band of death, which death is a temporal death.[109]
5. Through the atonement made by Messiah, therefore, a full and complete redemption from the consequences of Adam's transgression is brought about; that is, a victory over the grave is secured, and that, too, through the merits of Jesus Christ. And while the law transgressed by Adam has been vindicated, the posterity of Adam who became subject to death through his disobedience, are redeemed from the grave without anything { 86} being required of them. For as their agency was not concerned in bringing about the mischief, nothing is required of them in order to obtain redemption from it. So far salvation is free and universal. (See notes 1, 2 and 3, end of section.)
6. The Atonement a Fact Proven by Evidence.--It is often asked: "How is it that through the sacrifice of one who is innocent salvation may be purchased for those under the dominion of death?" We observe, in passing, that what should most concern man is, not so much _how_ it is that such is the case; but is it a _fact_? Is it true that God has established such a scheme of redemption? is what should concern him. To that question the blood sprinkled upon a thousand Jewish altars, and the smoke that darkened the heavens for ages from burnt offerings, answer yes. For those sacrifices, and that sprinkled blood were but typical of the great sacrifice to be made by the Messiah.
Even the mythology of heathen nations retains the idea of an atonement that either has been, or is to be made for mankind. Fantastic, distorted, confused, buried under the rubbish of savage superstition it may be, but it nevertheless exists. So easily traced, so distinct is this feature of heathen mythology, that some writers[110] have endeavored to prove that the gospel plan of redemption was derived from heathen mythology. Whereas the fact is that the gospel was understood and extensively preached in the earliest ages; men retained in their tradition a knowledge of those principles, or parts of them, and however much they may have been distorted, traces of them may still be found in nearly all the mythologies of the world.