Orson Pratt

“ Will an imperfect system save the people in any part of the world? No. If the Gospel we preach is not true, there is certainly among you none true; and we, therefore, are only one among the others; for we know they are not true, because the written word testifies against them. But we present to you a system which is perfect, and which we know to be true, because the promised signs follow the believers.
This Gospel must be preached to all peoples everywhere, fulfilling the prophecy of John the Revelator, contained in the 14th chapter of Revelations. ”

“ Yet you say you have not the first member necessary to constitute the body. God has certainly set in his Church Apostles. Where are they, and where are their revelations? When there happens to be some difficulty on points of doctrine among you, do you go to the ministers you profess to have, requesting them to inquire of the Lord concerning the matter? Oh no, you say, the canon of Scripture is full, and there is to be no more revelation. No wonder, then, you have not the first officer of the Church; he would be to you a superfluous member, if there is to be no more revelation. ”

“ This is believed in and accepted as truth by the great majority of the Christian world. This being the case, I have often wondered why there were not more infidels in the world, than we have a knowledge of. Because a man inclined to infidelity might say, "If you do not believe in one part of the Gospel, what use is there in my believing any of it? If you can take upon yourselves the right to do away with a part of the Gospel, why may not I do away with the whole of it?" The signs which the Savior promised should follow believers are just as much a part of the Gospel as salvation itself is. ”

“ Surely the people who lived in and after the days of Moses might just as consistently have objected to receiving any further revelations from the Lord, because of the caution referred to appearing in the Book of Deuteronomy, as the people of to-day have for objecting to receive any new revelation, because the same caution appears in the last chapter of the revelation on Patmos. Both have reference to particular books only, and it is absurd and folly in the extreme for men claiming to have any knowledge of God, and the great plan of salvation to interpret it otherwise. ”

“ And another great promise, made in connection with this, is that every soul that believes on your words, and is baptized in water for the remission of sins, shall receive the Holy Ghost, and these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name they shall cast out devils, heal the sick, open the eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, and the tongue of the dumb shall speak; and if any man administers poison to them, it shall not hurt them. ”

“ I would answer in the language of the Apostle John, who, in the first verse of the fourth chapter of his General Epistle said, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." ”

“ Yet we experienced no particular inconveniences by being obliged to sleep at night on the ground; neither have we suffered when calling on the people from time to time, as servants of God, to obtain food, any more than Elijah did, when he fasted forty days, or Moses when he was forty days and forty nights without eating or drinking. There was a power over and in those ancient servants of God, that satisfied the cravings of the appetite, in passing through such circumstances, and such power was not withheld from us. ”

“ There may be imperfections in some of the people who represent this Gospel, for the wheat and tares are to grow together until the second coming of our Lord, when he will separate them; but there are no imperfections in the Gospel; it is perfect so far as God has seen proper to reveal himself to the human family. ”

“ The true spirit imparts signs to all believers. Do the Methodists, the Baptists, the Presbyterians, or any of the Christian sects receive a spirit of this kind? Do they lay their hands on the sick, and are the sick healed? If they do then they are true believers ”

“ But, when the promises are realized, the people receiving something they never before experienced, when those effects are strictly in accordance with the words of God, then they have a testimony that cannot be denied. But says one, "We hear people belonging to the different Christian sects and denominations say that they receive the spirit of God ”