We believe in the foregoing pages it has been clearly demonstrated to all Latter-day Saints, that the prophecy and promise of the coming of the Son of God was fully understood in every dispensation of God's providence from the earliest period of the world's history, down through the succeeding ages, everywhere and at all times when the Church of God existed on the earth. Furthermore, that the doctrine of the atonement, as understood by us, was understood in like manner by the ancient servants of the Lord, and that it was the central principle of their faith, the foundation of their hope for eternal felicity and salvation, and their only trust for the resurrection of their bodies and life everlasting in the presence of the Father. Again that the ancient Patriarchs, Seers, Prophets, High Priests and others, were almost as intimately acquainted with the earthly life and ministry of the Savior, by and through the gift of prophecy and the spirit of revelation, as we are by the perusal of His history, given to us in the sacred Scriptures. These worthies of olden time knew where He would be born and the names that would be given to Him; that His mother would be called Mary, and be a virgin of the tribe of Judah and house of David. Herod's massacre of the Innocents, and the flight of the holy family into Egypt, were not hidden from them. They spake of Christ's baptism by John in Jordan, and of the Divine approval that would follow; they prophesied of His ministry, rejoiced in His wonderful works of power and deeds of charity and love; they understood that He should be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver; they mourned at the vision of His sufferings and death, and rejoiced at his triumph and resurrection. Even the minor details of the soldiers parting His raiment among them, His death between two malefactors, and His burial in the rich man's tomb were revealed; and still further, His descent into Hades, His preaching to the spirits in prison, His visits to the Nephites and His ultimate ascension to the Father, were all comprehended. They knew that He would triumph over death, hell and the grave, be crowned with glory at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and that all power would be given to Him in heaven and on earth. These and many more details were understood, prophesied of, talked about and rejoiced in by the Priesthood and Saints from the days of Adam to the hour that they began to be fulfilled by His advent and incarnation.