circumstances of his ministry required. And so on through all
the line of prophets, major and minor, down to the priest of the
course of Abia unto whom the angel announced the birth of John
who was to be the direct fore-runner of the Messiah.

When the Christ came in the flesh he declared that he acted not
of himself but according to instructions given him of the Father.
Thus the Messiah was a revelator, receiving while in the flesh
communication direct and frequent from the heavens. By such
revelation he was guided in his earthly ministry; by such he
instructed his disciples; unto such he taught his apostles to
look for safe guidance when he would have left them.

During his earthly ministry Christ called and ordained men to
offices in the Church. We have a record of apostles
particularly, numbering twelve, and beside these, seventy others
who were commissioned to preach, teach, baptize and perform other
ordinances of the Church. After our Lord's departure, we read of
the apostles continuing their labors in the light of continued
revelation. By this sure guide they selected and set apart those
who were to officiate in the Church. By revelation, Peter was
directed to carry the gospel to the Gentiles; which expansion of
the work was inaugurated by the conversion of the devout
Cornelius and his household. By revelation, Saul of Tarsus
became Paul the Apostle, a valiant defender of the faith. Holy
men of old spake and wrote as they were moved upon by the Holy
Ghost and depended not upon the precedents of ancient history nor
entirely upon the law then already written. They operated under
the conviction that the living Church must be in communication
with its living Head; and that the work of God, while it was to