Revelator

“ A nation’s early struggles, bitter failures, ultimate triumph, the appearance within it of warriors, prophets, poets, saints, used by the Spirit of God to reveal the invisible! Sometimes revelation would make but one advance in an age. We might almost imagine that God’s truth from the lips of His prophets was found at times too overpowering. It was crushing frail humanity. The Revealer must withdraw into silence behind the thick veil, to give human nature time to breathe and recover self-possession. ”

“ In presence of the witness, Fire,
I give thee to this man away.
Once, and once only, have I given
My heart and faith—'tis past recall;
With conscience none have ever striven,
And none may strive, without a fall. ”

“ I have no testimony from the sons of men. God is my witness, and my words and deeds bear witness to the truth;
20. And every man who comprehends the truth will hearken to my words, and in his soul give witness unto me. ”

“ A Revelation, of which the Prophets of God, His saints and chosen ones, have either not been informed, or which, in pursuance of God’s inscrutable Decree, they have not disclosed,—such a Revelation these mean and depraved people have sought to measure with their own deficient minds, their own deficient learning and understanding. Should it fail to conform to their standards, they straightway reject it. “Thinkest thou that the greater part of them hear or understand? They are even like unto the brutes! ”

“ Revelation, we shall be able to understand, is not the dictation by God of words to men that they may be written down in books; it is rather the disclosure of the truth and love of God to men in the processes of history, in the development of the moral order of the world. It is the Light that lighteth every man, shining in the paths that lead to righteousness and life. There is a moral leadership of God in history; revelation is the record of that leadership. ”

“ Nevertheless only those which concern God and our relations with Him are said to belong to Natural Revelation, because they are the only truths in which He reveals Himself to us and which He commands us to acknowledge. ”

“ The idea of Revelation in the mind describes exactly the state of affairs—that suddenly, with unspeakable certainty and fineness, something became visible and audible, something that shakes and pervades one to the depths. ”

“ It seems, then, to be the purpose of the text, to inculcate this great truth, That Revelation is the only sure and comfortable guide in matters of religion. And, to second this purpose, so energetically expressed by the prophet, I would now shew you, that all the sparks of human knowledge, on this important subject, are but smoke; and all the fire, which human genius or industry can kindle at the altar of80 human reason, ice itself; when compared with the light and heat of divine Revelation. ”

“ He is wont, for example, to reveal to some persons how many days they still have to live, or what trials they are to suffer, or what is to befall such and such a person, or such and such a kingdom, etc. And even as regards the mysteries of our faith, He will reveal and expound to the spirit the truths concerning them, although, since this has already been revealed once, it is not properly to be termed revelation, but is more correctly a manifestation or explanation of what has been revealed already. ”

“ So you that deny revelation to be nowadays, do not you deceive people of that day, and revelation of the son of perdition, and the revelation of the Son of God? But that day of revelation is come, blessed by the Lord that he is revealed, and you are discovered that deny revelation: so it is plain, by the apostle's words, that you can neither know the things of God, nor Christ, nor the man of sin, but by revelation, and consider what condition your are in, that say, there is no revelation to be looked for nowadays. ”

“ Faithful and beloved friends! You know that I faithfully instructed you for a long period, preaching to you the word of God without heresy and without errors, as you are aware: further, I always sought your salvation; I seek it now, and will seek it unto death. I had resolved to preach to you before starting on my journey to Constance, and in particular to declare to you the false testimonies and the false witnesses who gave evidence against me. ”

“ The true witness of the Spirit is known by its fruit, “love, peace, joy;” not indeed preceding, but following it. 5. It cannot be proved, that the direct as well as the indirect witness is not referred to in that very text, “Know ye not your ownselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? 6. The Spirit of God, witnessing with our spirit, does secure us from all delusion: And, Lastly, we are all liable to trials, wherein the testimony of our own spirit is not sufficient; wherein nothing less than the direct testimony of God’s Spirit can assure us that we are his children. ”

“ Should you receive a vision or revelation from the Almighty, one that the Lord gave you concerning yourselves, or this people, but which you are not to reveal on account of your not being the proper person, or because it ought not to be known by the people at present, you should shut it up and seal it as close, and lock it as tight as heaven is to you, and make it as secret as the grave. The Lord has no {63} confidence in those who reveal secrets, for he cannot safely reveal himself to such persons. ”

“ As it is necessary to affix right ideas to words, I will, before I proceed further into the subject, offer some observations on the word revelation. Revelation when applied to religion, means something communicated immediately from God to man. ”

“ Thou art All that can be perfect; Thy Revelation hath made me happy; be not angry, O Divine One, O God the most high Creator, if it please thee, suffer these revealed Secrets, thy Gifts alone, not for my praise, but to thy Glory, to manifest themselves. I beseech thee most gracious God, they may not fall into the hand of ignorant envious persons, that cloud these truths to thy disgrace, saying, they are not lawful to be published, because what God reveals, is to be [Pg 133] kept secret. ”

“ And Amos iii. 7. 'surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secrets to his servants the prophets.' And ye that deny revelation nowadays, what will ye deny that God hath any servants or prophets nowadays? it seems that you are none of his servants nor prophets that have none of God's secrets revealed unto you, and deny revelation; but his servants must tell you, that God is the same that ever he was, and there is a God in heaven that doth reveal secrets, as you may see in Daniel's confession, and the apostles'.
And the apostle saith, Rom. ii. 5. ”

“ It makes God a fool, man a lunatic, religion a farce, and the Bible superlative nonsense. Revelation is defined to be "the act of making known." But what is made known by a book whose language is so contradictory and so ambiguous that no two persons in a million agree with respect to all it teaches? ”

“ If the witnesses are, indeed, symbols of the sacred Scriptures, God’s direct revelation of his will and character to men, it is proper that the scope and purpose of all revelation shall be plainly laid down, that we may know how far the revealed word of God is to be regarded as evidence, and also that some criteria shall be given by which we shall be able to discern what the inspired writings are, and how to differentiate them from human productions. ”

“ Is it, however, necessary to the idea of a recorded revelation that the exact words, neither more nor less, as spoken by God, or as expressing ideas which He has called up in the mind of the person to whom He has revealed Himself, should be written down? A recorded revelation, we must remember, is designed chiefly for the benefit of future generations, and it may therefore very properly leave out much which was only of passing interest. ”

“ Revelations, whether real or pretended, afford no light upon the subject of the nature of the Divinity. They only describe his attributes, and promulgate the laws by which he governs. And all the fanciful speculators that ever wrote, have not advanced our ideas an iota, as to an uncaused cause!—No torch has ever penetrated the thick darkness which surrounds this question; and it still remains as great an enigma as ever, how either the Creator of all should have created himself, or the materials with which he has organized the world. ”

“ Let us now examine the conditions under which a revelation may be expected to be given to the original recipients.
It may be observed in the first place that a revelation must possess some distinctive character. Even, if it should turn out that there is no such thing in reality at all, at least the notion which we form in our minds must possess such points of difference as to distinguish it from all other notions. ”

“ A Revelation that occasions the most bitter controversies upon every question and interest it embraces! A Revelation that perplexes mankind with the most uncertain speculations, and splits the body of believers into sects and divisions too numerous to be told! A Revelation in which nothing is fixed, in which every point is debated and disputed from the character of God to the character of sin! ”

“ What is revelation but the uncovering of new truths, by him who is the Fountain of all Truth? To say that there is no need of new revelation, is equivalent to saying that we have no need of new truths—a ridiculous assertion. ”

“ I have spoken also in the same work upon what is called revelation, and have shewn the absurd misapplication of that term to the books of the Old Testament and the New; for certainly revelation is out of the question in reciting any thing of which man has been the actor or the witness. ”

“ Thou art indeed the One Who forgiveth the sins of all mankind. And in this second year of my Revelation—a Revelation which took place at Thy behest—I bear witness that Thou art the Most Manifest, the Omnipotent, the Ever-Abiding; that of all things that exist on earth and in the heavens nothing whatsoever can frustrate Thy purpose and that Thou art the Knower of all things and the Lord of might and majesty. ”

“ The word revelation means the discovery of something that was not known before, or the making clear something that was obscure. Now, with this idea in our mind, it may excite surprise to find how much the Christian Revelation abounds in mysteries. By mysteries, I understand truths which are imperfectly comprehended. ”

“ Revelations of any value from those who cannot, and from those who will not, reveal the ambitious schemes communicated to a very few, are alike hopeless. In default of these, let us examine if any one incident, or class of incidents, in the course of these horrors, may not have made a self-revelation—a silent but significant revelation, pointing the attention of men to the true authors, and simultaneously to the final purposes, of this mysterious conspiracy. ”

“ In other words, a revelation can be viewed by you as a divine revelation only in case you hold, for whatever reason, or for no reason, that you already are acquainted with the signature which the divine will attaches to its documents, that you know the marks of any authentic revelation by which a divine will can make itself known to you. ”

“ Where Nature is dumb, and Man igno­rant, Revelation speaks in the authoritative voice of prophecy. Then let us see whether that Reve­lation can stand the test of reason and of truth.—God, we are told, is omnipotent, omniscient, om­nipresent,—all wise, all just, and all good ”

“ Any one who looks carefully and without prejudice into the matter sees, I think, more evidence for the reality of those “wonders of the invisible world” than for the Christian miracles. Here is the testimony of scholars, clergymen, witnesses examined under oath, jurymen, and judges; the confession of honest men, of persons whose character is well known at the present day, to prove the reality of witchcraft and the actual occurrence of miraculous facts; of the interference of powers more than human in the affairs of the world. ”

“ The messengers of salvation have been sent from this place—scores and hundreds of them: they have travelled thousands of miles over deserts and mountains to go to hell, if you please, to bear testimony of the truth. I have a testimony in my heart that the servants of God who have been out for the few years past have been faithful, and they have been to almost every nation upon earth. ”

“ A revelation must not only be limited by the extent of the human capacity for receiving it, and by the proposed object of it, but also, in a considerable degree, by the state of knowledge existing in the world at the time it is made. ”

“ Besides the ostensible purpose of a revelation is to make things clear, or to change our ignorance into knowledge. Have the different revelations of the world done this? Have they not, on the contrary, added to the perplexities of the mind? A god who reveals himself to an individual privately and then leaves it to us to decide whether said individual has or has not received a revelation instead of relieving, increases our embarrassment. ”

“ They are solutions of the soul's own questions. They do not answer the questions which the understanding asks. The soul answers never by words, but by the thing itself that is inquired after.
Revelation is the disclosure of the soul. The popular notion of a revelation is, that it is a telling of fortunes. In past oracles of the soul, the understanding seeks to find answers to sensual questions, and undertakes to tell from God how long men shall exist, what their hands shall do, and who shall be their company, adding names, and dates, and places. ”

“ Yes, some will in due time get line enough to send them to hell. Many are pleading for revelations; do you suppose that Saints lack revelations? They have plenty of them, and they are stored in the archives of those who have understanding of the principles of the Priesthood, ready to be brought forth as the people need. ”