Now, the transgression of the moral law we say results in suffering. It is possible for the innocent to suffer for the guilty, and through the voluntary act of the Christ, he took upon him your sins and mine, if we will but be bought by the price which he paid for us. He has suffered that we might not suffer, if we would but obey his law henceforth.
The atonement of the Christ both for Adam's transgression and for the individual sins of men, brings into the moral economy of God the element of mercy, and of love from which mercy springs. To make room for mercy, however, justice had to be satisfied, hence the atonement. "And God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved." This sacrifice of the Christ is the manifestation of that love of God that binds in sympathetic relations all the intelligences of the universe together; by which they suffer not only with each other and because of each other, but at need for each other. This is the doctrine of the atonement of the Christ; this the good news of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ. You may be rescued, I may be rescued, from the suffering that comes of sin, through the vicarious atonement of the Christ. And that the forces of that atonement may be applied to us, we manifest our acceptance of this means of salvation by our repentance of sin, and by going into the waters of baptism, into the great cleansing element of the world, and there are buried with the Christ in likeness of his own burial; and then we are brought forth from the watery tomb in the likeness of his glorious resurrection; and as he awoke to a newness of physical life, by the resurrection, so, too, may we come forth from baptism to a newness of spiritual life. We also complete the baptism by the application of the purifying element, the baptism of the Holy Ghost—likened unto a baptism of fire. The Spirit of God is thus imparted to our spirit, which means that our lives are united with the life of God; by which his wisdom may be at our service; by which his strength may be our strength; his glory, may be our glory. Thus may men be united to God by these most beautiful and holy symbols of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then, to keep the object lessons constantly before us, and to be reminded of the price that was paid for the possibility of our redemption from sin, we often partake of the emblems of the body and of the blood of the Christ, by which we renew covenant, by which we renew spiritual life, and thus keep our fellowship with God, that the blood of Christ may cleanse us from all sin.
This, in part, is the body of our doctrine. This is the grand scheme of man's salvation, and the philosophy that underlies it. This is our doctrine concerning the universe, concerning the existence of intelligences within it, the purpose of earth-life of man, and the means provided for man's redemption from the consequences of the transgression of law involved in that earth-life. Judge ye, this day, whether such a body of doctrine as this is not worthy of something more than "the cold respect of a passing glance."
V.
PEACE.
Remarks at the "Peace Meeting," held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, Sunday afternoon, May 16th, 1909, following a Discourse by Elder W. W. Riter on the subject of "Universal Peace."
I.
THE BLESSEDNESS OF PEACE.
"And he [Jehovah] shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plow shares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
This is the passage of Scripture which Elder Riter referred to as being the one which, perhaps, will be more frequently repeated today than any other passage of Scripture; for in our own land, and other Christian lands, this day is dedicated to the promotion of peace; to the suggesting of ways and means by which peaceful arbitration may be substituted for the dreadful arbitrament of war, in the settlement of international difficulties.
I presume there is no one but what loves peace. We remember, of course, the injunction of the Psalmist, "to seek peace and pursue it." We recall, on this occasion, the song of the angels at the birth of the Christ, when the hope of Isaiah in a new form was expressed in the song of the angels, in the Judean hills—"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." I think of all the salutations that were ever spoken to man, the most beautiful is that salutation of the Christ after his resurrection upon meeting his disciples—"Peace be unto you!" This afterwards became the universal Christian salutation—"Peace be unto you!" "He [the Christ] hath called us to peace," is Paul's declaration. Again: "if it be possible—as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." Of wisdom it is said:
"Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are paths of peace."