"It is alleged
by men in what is called the Reorganized Church that when Joseph the Seer gave
a revelation it must be tested in this way—that is, it must first be presented
to the High Council or the Twelve Apostles, for their approval, and then pass
on to the next quorum below for their approval, and so on down to the Deacons's
quorums, and if it pass down to all the quorums of the Priesthood 'without
meeting a snag', it must then be taken as true This to me is a strange and
unprecedented example, and while waiting for the assembling of the quorums
would be followed with so much inconvenience as to render must of the
revelations of God through His Prophet the same as null and void. Again, it is
astounding to me that when Joseph himself testified to anything as revelation
from God, it could not be credited at once from God, without going through such
an ungainly formula. And again, it seems strange in the extreme that the
anointed Prophet of God, who was the only authorized revelator to the church,
ordained and set apart to stand in the presence of God, and carry His word from
His own mouth to mankind, the man who is of all others supposed to know that he
is not deceived cannot be sure that he is right until he is tested in
this way by men who are supposed to know the least about such matters.
Surely such a process as the above cannot be true, tell me the particulars
about it."
The writer's
reasoning upon this point seems quite conclusive, and it would be difficult to
state it better than he has stated it. It seems nonsensical that the Prophet of
God should submit to such a test as this, and not deem the revelations he
received authentic until they had the approval of the different quorums of the
Church. They were authentic and divinely inspired, whether any man or body of
men received them or not. Their reception or non-reception of them would not
affect in the least their divine authenticity. But it would be for the people
to accept them after God had revealed them. In this way they have submitted to
the Church, to see whether the members would accept them as binding upon them
or not. Joseph himself had too high a sense of his prophetic office and the
authority he had received from the Lord to ever submit the revelations which he
received to any individual, or to any body, however numerous, to have them
pronounce upon their validity.
In January, 1841, the
Lord gave to the Church, through Joseph, a revelation in which He said:
"And a
commandment I give unto you, that you should fill all these offices and approve
of those names which I have mentioned, or else disapprove of them at my general
conference."
This the Lord spoke
in reference to the officers of the Church whose names He had mentioned. Of
course, He did not take away the agency of His servants and people, but desired
them to approve or disapprove of these nominations. There was no particular
principle involved in this; but it was evident that the Lord recognized the
free agency of His people in this matter; and it may be said in this connection
that all these were sustained in the manner that He presented them, at the
general conference. (George Q. Cannon, "Topics of
the Times. Important Questions and Answers," Juvenile Instructor
26, no. 1 [January 1, 1891]:13-14)