Sunday, August 22, 2021

George Q. Cannon (1891) vs. the then-RLDS Church on Determining Doctrine and Acceptance of Revelations


 

"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)