A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES
ARTICLE FOURTEEN.
The Adamic Age.
"Dispensation" Defined.—What is meant by "dispensation." The term has a variety of meanings. To dispense is to deal out or distribute in portions, as when the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is dispensed to a religious congregation. "Dispensations of Providence" is a phrase used to describe the Creator's dealings with his creatures, either for joy or sorrow. In theology "dispensation" signifies the method or scheme whereby Deity has at different times developed his purposes and revealed himself to man. As I now use the term, it stands for the opening of the heavens and the sending forth of the Gospel and the Priesthood for purposes of salvation. It also denotes the period of time during which the saving and exalting principles thus sent forth, continue operative in pristine power and purity.
The Great Patriarch.—Adam, the patriarch of the human family, is over all the Gospel dispensations, including the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, which is virtually all dispensations rolled into one. Nevertheless, each has its own immediate presiding authority, holding the keys of his particular period—holding them under Adam, the universal head.[[1]]
Distinctive Features.—Each Gospel Dispensation has certain distinguishing characteristics, and stands for some particular development of the Divine Purpose. Thus, the First Dispensation presents the following distinctive features:
1. The institution of the Law of Sacrifice, foreshadowing the Atonement that was to be made for the redemption of fallen man.
2. The introduction and earliest promulgation of the Gospel, for which the Law of Sacrifice had prepared the way.
3. The initial exercise of the Patriarchal Power, in behalf of the whole human race.
The Law of Sacrifice.—The Law of Sacrifice was revealed from Heaven soon after our First Parents were banished from Eden. God, from whose presence they were shut out, spoke "from the way toward the Garden," commanding them to "offer the firstlings of their flocks for an offering unto the Lord." Adam obeyed, and after many days an Angel appeared to him, saying: "Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord?" Adam replied: "I know not, save the Lord commanded me." The Angel then said: "This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father. Wherefore thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore." So runs the sacred story, as rendered by Joseph the Seer.[[2]]