Victor R. Claveau, MJ
In committing His Church to the special care of the apostles and their successors, Christ also included the custody of the written Scriptures, the unwritten oral traditions, and all of the divine ordinances and observances. Thus, after His Last Supper, Jesus said to His apostles, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”[1] “And I will ask pray the Father, and He will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.”[2] And, “…I am with you always, to the close of the age.”[3]
From these citations, it is evident that Christ established a single, Church, endowed it with all truth, with a single and definite code of principles and observances, and with a priesthood who were to be its special guardians, dispensers, and perpetuators. As the written Scriptures were only a part of the divine legacy, a Church and an authorized ecclesiastical corporation were absolutely necessary to secure the preservation and the integrity of the unwritten traditions, and of the “many other things which Jesus did,”[4] not to be found in books. In no other manner could all the sacred teachings of Jesus have been preserved and transmitted through so many centuries. And we may be quite certain that the holy records and commandments of God have been preserved within the Church in their original purity, from the fact that the Spirit of truth has always abided in it and taught it, all truth according to the divine promise. This Heavenly influence has undoubtedly been ever present in the great ecclesiastical councils of the Church, to aid the faithful ambassadors of Christ in their efforts to exclude error, and to preserve the truth; and where the Spirit of truth is, error and falsehood cannot stand.
[1] John 16:12-14.
[3] John 14:16-17.
[4] [4] Matt. 28:20.