Orson Pratt

“ Oh no, my friends, the Lord Jesus will converse the whole thousand years with his people, and give them instruction. He will reign over the house of David, over the children of Israel, over the twelve tribes, over Zion and over all the inhabitants of the earth, that is over all who are spared in that day, giving counsel here, instructions yonder, revealing something there, and so on, and the amount of revelation that will be given during the thousand years will no doubt be ten thousand times more than is contained in this Bible, and yet say the world "No more revelation!" ”

“ One would naturally suppose that when the Son of God himself came from his father's glory to dwell here on the earth in the flesh, and began to teach by the power of the Holy Ghost, the things of his Father, that during the three and a half years of his ministry among the people, they, of course, could say, "Now we do not need any more revelation, we have enough; the Son of God, of whom our law, its ordinances and sacrifices were typical, has at last come and has offered himself on the cross, and having finished the work given him to do, is there any more need for new revelation?" ”

“ But in the Christian world you can not be saved by following the Scriptures, from the fact that you cannot follow them without authority from God to administer the ordinances. You be baptized by a man having no authority by new revelation from heaven, and your baptism is illegal, and your pretended adoption into the kingdom of God is not acknowledged in heaven, for God has not authorized the administrator, and what he has done in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, cannot be sealed and recorded in heaven for your benefit. ”

“ Enoch has been saved and translated, and if we follow the revelations given to him, why may we not be saved without having any thing new?" But Noah would have answered, and very properly too, "God designs to accomplish something now that he did not accomplish in the days of Enoch, nor in the days of Abel and Seth, nor in the days of any of those ancient worthies—he intends to bring destruction on all flesh that will not repent, by overwhelming this world of ours in a flood of water. He intends to pour out his indignation and just wrath upon those who corrupt themselves in his sight ”

“ If I know my own heart, I have no desire to speak my own words or to impart unto you my own natural wisdom; but it is the earnest desire of my heart that I may impart instruction according to the mind and the will of the living God. This I can not do unless God shall grant unto me the inspiration of his Spirit at the very moment, and this will depend in a great measure upon the hearers as well as upon the speaker. If the people have faith in God, and pray unto him, exercising that faith, he may give them something that will be instructive to their minds ”

“ You will not dispute, Noah, but what Enoch was saved and translated to heaven. He had enough revelation to save him, and can not we be saved in the same manner that he was, without having any new revelation communicated to us?" I mention this, because such arguments are used at the present day in reference to the new revelations which the Latter-day Saints carry forth to the world. The people say, "You believe in the Book of Mormon as a new revelation, and that God has given new commandments. Have we not enough? ”

“ Because God had something new to perform every day, and that which was given yesterday would not be adapted to the work God saw fit to perform to-day or to-morrow, hence, as often as the day rolled round new revelation had to be given to Moses to make known to him what the Lord required at his hand, what his mission was, what he was to do in the house of Pharaoh and before all the Egyptians. ”

“ For instance, when some sixteen hundred or two thousand years had passed away, from the creation, the world had become very much corrupted in the sight of God, so much so that what little history we have on the subject informs us that all flesh had corrupted its way upon the face of the earth. God gave a new commandment in that period, differing entirely from all former commandments. It was not adapted to any dispensation that had preceded it, neither would it be suitable for any future dispensation: it was intended for that particular period only. ”

“ Your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and upon my servants and my hand maidens in those days will I pour out of my Spirit, and they shall prophecy. Your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions." Supposing they write their dreams as Daniel wrote his, and suppose they write their visions as Isaiah wrote his, and suppose they write their prophecies as all the Prophets have written theirs, would they not be just as sacred as this canon of Scripture? ”

“ Talk to the Christian ministers to-day, or to any that have lived for centuries past, and if they had made up their minds to go to any place, they would never think of the Lord checking them, or forbidding them to go, by new revelation, for they all say that the canon of Scripture is full, and that no more new revelation is needed. ”

“ When he came to the brook Jabbok, sending over all his family before him, he stopped back, and the Lord condescended to give him a new revelation. An angel came down, and Jacob and this person laid hold of each other, the same as men do occasionally now, to try each other's strength, in what is termed wrestling. These two persons wrestled together all night long. The angel did not see proper to take any advantage of Jacob by miracle, but he wrestled with him as one man would another ”

“ Then comes another new revelation—given by inspiration—to sing how the Lord had overthrown the enemies of his people, how the Lord had magnified his great power and preserved his people from the Egyptian nation, and delivered them from bondage. The hosts of Israel traveled along from the shores of the Red Sea until they came to the foot of Mount Sinai, where, by new revelation, they camped; and at a certain time, the Lord, by new revelation, called Moses up into the mount ”

“ The Lord commanded his servant Noah to build an ark, according to certain rules and dimensions that he gave unto him, for, said the Lord, "I intend to destroy all flesh with a flood, except those who shall gather together into the ark which you shall build." ”

“ We find that they had so corrupted themselves in the sight of God that he, who would have delighted to converse with all the people, as one man talks with another, was obliged to hide his presence from them, and to send Moses to teach them. ”

“ The conduct of the Apostles is the best answer that can be given to this, for we find them, like all their predecessors, from the days of Adam until their day, seeking from time to time for guidance by new revelation. We read of Philip going to the city of Samaria, preaching there awhile and baptizing men and women ”

“ By and by comes along the grandson of Abraham—Jacob, who, not satisfied with the promises made to his grandfather and his father—Abraham and Isaac, and not considering himself safe to depend on promises made to somebody else, came before the Lord and plead with him, and the angels of God came and visited this lad, and he saw a ladder reaching from the ground on which he slept to the very heavens, upon which the angels were ascending and descending ”