No. 8. . VOL. VI. RATIONALITY OF THE ATONEMENT. A Pamphlet has lately made its appearance in Glasgow, published by a member of our church holding the office of priest, containing 28 pages, headed "A Treatise on the Atonement, proving the necessity of Christ's Death for Man's Redemption neither scriptural nor reasonable. By T. S. Barr." We are sorry to be under the necessity of occupying our time and pages in noti- cing a pamphlet bearing such an introduction, as the production of a member of the Church of Christ; or that any man, bearing any portion of the authority of the holy priesthood, should have his mind so much overcome by the powers of darkness, as to stray so widely from the order and counsel of the kingdom of God, in pre- senting for the investigation of the public a heresy so much opposed to the revela- tions of God and every principle of holiness. Our object in the present article will not be so much to refute the heretical doc- trine advanced, as to introduce a portion of the testimony in favour of the principle of redemption through the blood of Christ, with which the revelations of God so much abound, in order that our views on the subject may be rightly understood by all, and that the Saints of God may be prepared to withstand the assaults of the grand enemy of man's salvation, as well as to set the matter for ever at rest in the minds of those who believe in the revelations of God. We had fully anticipated that our repeated cautions against individuals publish- ing without our sanction, would have been sufficient, and saved us the trouble of having to recur to the subject again. The neglect of adherence to this on the part of the author, causes him to forfeit his authority and standing in the Church of God, until, at least, he has repented of his error. In our perusal of the pamphlet, we endeavoured to find out the object of the author, and the only reasonable conclusion we could arrive at was, that it was a strained attempt on his part at a display of talent and learning, from his being able to make quotations from history, heathen mythology, and Hebrew. But it would be far better for a man to be entirely divested of talents, than to use them in en- deavouring to prove the inefficacy of the atonement of Christ, and striking at the fundamental principle of salvation as he has done. The author introduces himself to his readers by lamenting because of having "to labour under great disadvantages while propounding what he conscientiously believes to be a correct solution of this very important subject, as the views which he holds are diametrically opposed to those entertained by Christians of almost all denomi- nations; at least (he says) since the foundation of the Romish Church until now, the belief has been tenaciously adhered to amongst professors of religion, that Jesus Christ came into the world to suffer an ignominious death for, or instead of, Adam and his posterity." We would remark that he would have laboured under equal disadvantages, as far as professors of the religion of heaven were concerned, had he lived cotemporary with the Messiah himself and his apostles, or at any period, however remote, subse- quent to that time; and that this doctrine was not one of the many false fabrications or dogmas of men introduced to make void the designs of God, or lead the minds of the people away "after seducing fables and doctrines of devils;" but that it was, not

Liverpool, President Brigham Young Beloved Brother and President in the Kingdom of God, whom I love of a truth for the Truth's sake that dwelleth in you. I seat myself once more in this life to make an address to you with pen and ink. I have now lying before me three letters from you of dates—Feb'y 11th (by A. Fielding) June 27th and lastly August 21st for all of which favors I feel thankful; for you may rest assured they operate upon my spirit like a live coal from off the altar and kindles a flame in my soul. I feel to magnify the name of God for the manner he has sustained, inspired and upheld you since the death of Joseph and Hyrum and the way he is giving a signal victory to the citizens of Zion the city of Joseph. I look upon it myself, as a great omen and evidence that the time has come to favour Zion, and that her Sun and Light must and shall speedily go forth propelled by the spirit and strength of the God of Israel, until Zion arises with all her strength, power, Beauty and Glory until she fully accomplishes all that the ancient prophets anticipated; yea: I rejoice in the prosperity of all, of which your letters speak. My prayers have ascended day and night before God that he would not only do by His servant Brigham Young as he did by Joshua of old after the death of Moses but that he would do as much better by him as the greatness labour and work of this dispensation required. [Joshua 1:1-9] I have also remembered all the Twelve and Elders in all the world. I thank you for all the information and instruction you have given me and of so often speaking of our only son in Zion. We are all well at present. Our youngest son is two months old, the largest and healthiest child we ever had of his age. All is going on as well as can be expected in this country considering all thinges. the few wise labourers &c. Elder Jones I think is doing well in Wales; he has laboured faithfully and sown much seed that is now taking root and beginning to bring forth much fruit; within a few days past they have baptized two Campbellite Evangelists or ministers and they are ordained priests (I ordained one of them) and a prospect of their doing much good. Brother Jones has preached very extensively in the largest cities and towns through the Welsh domains, and said, there were nearly a hundred added to the branches in that land a few weeks before he left to pay me a visit. I have held on to what few American Elders there are in this land according to your request except Elders Holmes and Hardy from George Town, Masss—they had settled their affairs and were about ready to sail when your letter arrived, and Elder Hardy's family is in such a situation, he is obliged to go home so I did not stop them. But I think we can hold our own until some help comes from Nauvoo. The company of some Elders from there as soon as they get their endowment will meet with a welcome reception in this land. And now while I think of it, I have two requests to make of President Young The first is that he will particularly instruct all Elders who come to this land to see me first before they go into the field and hearken to my counsel and cooperate with me in all things in the vineyard (you will see the reason of this request when you have read the whole of this communcation) and also that you will notify me who have received their endowment and who have not. And the next very important request is, that