Thursday, April 18, 2019

An Example of a 19th Century Latter-day Saint Referring to Adam's Action in the Garden as a "Sin"


The following excerpt from his diary for 11 April 1875, Charles L. Walker recorded the following which shows that early Latter-day Saints held a more negative view of the Fall of Man, even referring to Adam’s act as a “sin,” not transgression merely (this should be compared with D&C 29 where Adam is “chewed out,” if you will, for his act—something that is alien to a lot of folk “Mormon” doctrine about the Fall):

Br MacArthur Spoke in a clear Lucid way of the atonement of Christ showing that He yeilded to the temptations of Satan but led a pure and holy life, and that Satan put it in the hearts of the children of men to slay him, and they did crucify him and shed his Blood, innocent blood, which they could not replace, and He, the Christ, demanded the souls of men in return, having bought them with a price most precious. He claimed those that were shut up in prison for ages. He opened the prison doors and bid the captives go free and partake of the redemption he had wrought for them and all others who were under bondage to Satan thro the fall and transgression of our first Parents. He showed also that [through] the agency of man, man first sinned, and by his agency he must be saved by rendering obedience to the requirements of God and going forth and being baptized with water and have hands laid upon him for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and living a life of acceptance before him. (Diary of Charles Lowell Walker, Volume 1, eds. A. Karl Larson and Katharine Miles Larson [Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1980]. 408; spelling in original retained)