It was communicated to the prophets and apostles by the Savior, and to the world at large through them. As proof of this proposition Peter says, “The prophets searched diligently with reference to the time which the Spirit of Christ, that was in them, did signify when it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and of the glory which should follow.” It was an important work for Christ to teach his apostles, and when they had heard him through all his toils they were not suffered to go forth, or shine as stars in the church’s crown, until they were moved upon by the Spirit of God to bring to their remembrance those things which Jesus had taught them. But one other course could have been pursued, and there were insurmountable difficulties in the way of its adoption, and that was to make the extraordinary ordinary by causing the Holy Spirit to move upon all hearts throughout all time, and give to each member of the race, regardless of his character and the manner in which he might abuse it, the entire revelation. The first difficulty is in the fact that wicked men who wilfully deceive would have confronted the best men upon the earth, and confusion without remedy would have been the result of leaving our world without a common and infallible test. Another difficulty appears, in the fact that it would have compromised the purity of God through the presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of all the vile and abominable sinners of earth. There was one way to avoid these results, and that was to irresistibly destroy all disposition in human hearts to have their own way, and so remain unworthy of the presence of the Divine Spirit; but this would have been a complete destruction of moral freedom along with all the principles of accountability, and consequently a destruction of God’s moral government. Moral freedom was so sacred with God that “the spirit of the prophets was subject to the prophet.” Hence, the importance of the searcher of hearts choosing his own prophets out from among men. “God, who in ancient times and diverse manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath, in these last days, spoken unto us by his son.” The Lord of Hosts guarded this great work with reference to the deliverance of man by the most severe penalty. The law governing the prophets was in these words: “And that prophet which shall speak a word in my name which I commanded him not, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.” He guarded his own infinite and spotless purity. While he was “in the generation of the righteous, he was far from the wicked.” So there was always, from the time of Adam’s offense till the present such a thing as being “without God.”