"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father."--John, x, 17, 18. Thus, when He says He has power to lay down His life and power to take it up again, He speaks of a power never before exhibited among men upon this earth; and which power, indeed, does not belong to man in and of himself. CHAPTER XXI. The Relation of the Atonement to Little Children--Jesus Assumes the Responsibility of Man's Transgression, and Bears the Weight of his Sins and Sufferings--The Inferior Creatures and Sacrifice--The Terrors and Agonies of Christ's Passion and Death--The Tribulations, Earthquakes, etc., when He gave up the Ghost--Universal Nature Trembles--The Prophecies of Zenos and Enoch--The Testimony of the Centurion--Heirship, and the Descent of Blessings and Curses. The Redeemer Himself, when tabernacling in the flesh, said to His disciples on the Eastern Continent, "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein."--Luke, xviii, 16, 17. And after His crucifixion and resurrection He repeated this same admonition to His Nephite disciples: "And again I say unto you, Ye must repent, and be baptized in my name and become as a little child, or ye can in no wise inherit the kingdom of God."--3 Nephi, xi, 38. Without Adam's transgression those children could not have existed; through the atonement they are placed in a state of salvation without any act of their own. These would embrace, according to the opinion of statisticians, more than one-half of the human family, who can attribute their salvation only to the mediation and atonement of the Savior. Thus, as stated elsewhere, in some mysterious, incomprehensible way, Jesus assumed the responsibility which naturally would have devolved upon Adam; but which could only be accomplished through the mediation of Himself, and by taking upon Himself their sorrows, assuming their responsibilities, and bearing their transgressions or sins. In a manner to us incomprehensible and inexplicable, he bore the weight of the sins of the whole world; not only of Adam, but of his posterity; and in doing that, opened the kingdom of heaven, not only to all believers and all who obeyed the law of God, but to more than one-half of the human family who die before they come to years of maturity, as well as to the heathen, who, having died without law, will, through His mediation, be resurrected without law, and be judged without law, and thus participate, according to their capacity, works and worth, in the blessings of His atonement.