--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Whitney, Orson F. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 19 number: 5 published: 1916-03 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Orson F. Whitney, "Significance of the Fall," *Improvement Era* 19, no. 5 (March 1916): 402–403.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1905unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1905unse start_page: 402 end_page: 403 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1916-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1905unse publication_year: 1916 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1916, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Significance of the Fall Significance of the Fall BY ELDER ORSON F. WHITNEY, OF THE COUNCIL OF THE TWELVE In order that God's spirit children might have theopportunity to take bodies and undergo experiences onthis earth, two heavenly beings came down in advance andbecame mortal for our sake. This is the true significanceof the fall of Adam and Eve. It was not a mere yieldingto temptation—they came on a mission, to pioneer thisearthly wilderness, and open the way so that a world ofwaiting spirits might become souls, and make a strideforward in the great march of eternal progression. Bythe experience we gain here—the best of which comesfrom sorrow and tribulation—and by obedience to divinerequirements, we accomplish successfully our earthlypilgrimage. We knew this in the life before, and rejoicedover it: "The morning stars sang together, and all theSons of God shouted for joy" at the prospect—not of painand death, but of eternal life and endless glory beyond! The effect of the fall was two-fold. It was a stepdownward, yet forward. The future prospect was glori-ous ; but the present plight appalling. The death that came into the world by the fall ofAdam and Eve was death in very deed; it meant eternal banishment from the Divine Presence , the absolute deathof spirit and body, and there was no help for it, this sideof heaven. That was a tragedy! But Eternal Wisdomhad foreseen the situation and provided a means of re-demption. In order that a fallen race might fulfil itsdestiny, a Savior and a plan of salvation had been pre-pared beforehand, to do for man what man could not dofor himself. Jesus Christ, whose other name is Jehovah,the God of Israel, gave his life to break the bands ofdeath and make it possible for man to live again. Therewould have been no resurrection, no eternal life for us,had he not died as he did. By Adam's fall the world was placed in pawn; thename of the pawn-broker was death, and his claim wastwofold, involving the spirit as well as the body of man.No part of the thing pawned could be used as the meansof redemption. Something not under the penalty of thebroken law had to be given to mend that law, to balancethe scale of justice, and restore the equilibrium of right.A holy being, one who had not sinned, who had not in-herited the curse, gave his life as a ransom, to take theworld out of pawn. That was the price of its freedom,and he whom we call Jesus Christ, paid the price, dis-charged the debt, when he descended from glory and wascrucified in the Meridian of Time.