"Behold, I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon Him the transgressions of His people, and that He shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God has spoken it; for it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the eternal God, there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be though the atonement which it is expedient should be made; for it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of beasts, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be infinite and eternal sacrifice. Now, there is not any man that can sacrifice His own blood which will atone for the sins of another. Now, if a man murdereth, behold, will our law, which is just, take the life of his brother? I say unto you, nay. But the law requires the life of him who hath murdered; therefore, there can be nothing which is short of an infinite atonement, which will suffice for the sins of the world; therefore, it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice, and then, shall there be, or it is expedient there should be, a stop to the shedding of blood; then shall the law of Moses be fulfilled; yea, it shall be fulfilled every jot and title, and none shall have passed away. And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law; every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice shall be the Son of God; yea, infinite and eternal; and thus He shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on His name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance" (Pages 341-2).
"Now the work of justice could not be destroyed; if so, God would cease to be God, and thus we see that all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice; yea, the justice of God, which consigns them forever to be cut off from His presence. And now, the plan of mercy cannot be brought about, except an atonement should be made, therefore, God Himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also. Now, repentance could not come unto men except there were a punishment which also was eternal, as the life of the soul should be affixed opposite to the plan of happiness, which was as eternal also as the life of the soul. Now, how could a man repent except he should sin? How could he sin if there was no law, how could there be a law except there were punishment?" (Pages 362-3).
"And it came to pass that He stretched forth His hand and spake unto the people, saying: Behold, I am Jesus Christ, of whom the prophets testified shall come into the world, and behold I am the light and the life of the world, and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning" (Page 513). "And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross, and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross I might draw all men unto me" (Page 547). "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" (Page 578). "Behold, I am He who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people" (Page 587). "And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not His power, then ye are sanctified in Christ, by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father, unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy without spot" (Page 634).
To conclude our evidence on this subject, we shall make a few quotations from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.
"I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was crucified for the sins of the world, even as many as will believe on my name, that they may become the sons of God, even one in me, as I am in the Father, and the Father is one in me, that we may be one" (Sec. xi: Par. 1).
"And verily, I say even as many as have believed on my name, for I am Christ, and in my own name by the virtue of the blood which I have spilt have I pleaded before the Father for them" (Sec. xii, Par. 1).
"Listen to Him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before Him, saying, Father, behold the sufferings and death of Him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed—the blood of Him whom Thou gavest that Thyself might be glorified" (Sec. xi, Par. 1).
"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; for behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh wherefore He suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him." (Sec. xliii, Par. 3), "For, behold, I God, have suffered these things for all that they might not suffer if they would repent, but if they would not repent, they must suffer even as I, which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit, and would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink—nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men." (Sec. xliii; Par. 2).
It is written, "that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established." As we have quoted from many witnesses out of three records, we trust it will have a tendency to enlighten, not only the mind of the author of the pamphlet, but all those who doubt the doctrine of atonement through the blood of Christ. It will have been fully established beyond all controversy, from the flood of testimony, which we have brought from the revelations of God, given in various dispensations and ages of the world, and in different parts of the globe, that the object of Christ's mission to the earth was to offer Himself as a sacrifice to redeem mankind from eternal death, and that it was perfectly in accordance with the will of the Father that such a sacrifice should be made. He acted strictly in obedience to His Father's will in all things from the beginning, and drank of the bitter cup given Him. Herein is brought to light, glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life, with that charity which is greater than faith or hope, for the Lamb of God, has thereby performed that for man which he could not accomplish for Himself. As justice in the first place has had its claim, and the words of God have been verified—"In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die"—so, on the other hand mercy has been extended, and the love of God manifested in breaking the bands of death, whereby the spirits and bodies of men are re-united, the spirits of the just received in exaltation in the presence of God and the Lamb—in the same tabernacles in which they toiled, labored, and suffered while on earth, without which union it is impossible for the souls of men to receive the fulness of glory. There is a glory connected with this that will be an eternal source of joy to every citizen of the celestial kingdom. The spirits, on the other hand, of those who reject the gospel of Christ and slight His proffered mercies, must return to their bodies in the last resurrection to receive a fulness of their punishment in the same tabernacles in which they dwelt while warring against God. We would hereby warn all men who may hear the sound of the words to repent of their sins and obey the gospel of the Son of God, that they may escape the punishment of those "who have trodden under foot the Son of God, and have counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith they were sanctified, an unholy thing, and have done despite unto the spirit of grace" (Heb. x: 29), and that they may have a part in the first resurrection, and have their names "written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. xiii: 8), and be prepared to join in chanting the new song, saying, "Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth" (Rev. v:9, 10).
We will now close with the words of Jacob, from the Book of Mormon, page 147: "Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets? and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning Him; and deny the good word of Christ and the Power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption which has been laid for you? Know ye not that if ye will do these things, that the power of the redemption and the resurrection which is in Christ will bring you to stand with shame and awful guilt before the bar of God."