"
As an instance of this growing illumination, take the fact that in the
primitive ages there was no clear revelation of immortality. I have no
doubt that men of high spiritual calibre believed it; but the revelation
came to them more directly from the movement of the Spirit, than from
any intimation in the Word. Yea, when men had no Word at all, I believe
there were devout souls who had glimpses, more or less clear, of a
future world. But the mass of mankind, even the religious people of
mankind, had in most instances no such revelation.
Now if that is true, it becomes less surprising that the most devout
souls have had for so long no conception of Restoration. The analogy of
revelation shows beyond all doubt that Restoration may be true, though
for ages and ages men had no conception of it. Nay, they may have been
students of the Word through all those ages, and yet have been blind to
its higher revelations. That is no disparagement. There is a time for
everything; and there is a time for brighter divine light to break on
the minds and hearts of men.
Then it may be supposed that if further divine light were to be given,
God would have chosen more worthy mediums for communicating it. But as a
rule, it is not through the great and the learned that revelations
generally have come; but rather through the humble and comparatively
obscure.
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