Faith & Spirit Quote by Orson Pratt

Pratt isn’t merely drawing a theological boundary; he’s building a border wall around religious authority. The line hits with courtroom severity: “grievous sin,” “in the sight of God,” “presume.” Those words don’t argue so much as indict. Baptism here isn’t treated as a generic Christian rite but as a regulated act that can become a moral crime if performed without the right chain of command.

The key pressure point is “new revelation.” Pratt, a major LDS theologian writing in the 19th-century American religious marketplace, is speaking into a noisy ecosystem of revivalism and do-it-yourself clergy, where charisma could substitute for credentials and sacramental acts circulated freely. By insisting on authorization via fresh divine disclosure, he disqualifies competing ministers on principle, not personality. Your sincerity doesn’t matter; your tradition’s paperwork doesn’t matter. Without a live mandate from God, your baptism is not only invalid but offensive.

That move does two things at once. It elevates the LDS claim of restored priesthood authority (a restorationist answer to the question of who gets to act for God), and it disciplines insiders against freelance spirituality. “Presume” is the tell: the real enemy is religious self-appointment, the idea that faith can be self-certified.

The subtext is institutional, even if the vocabulary is heavenly. Revelation becomes a technology of legitimacy, a way to convert contested religious space into a hierarchy with enforceable boundaries: some hands can administer grace; others, however well-meaning, commit sacrilege.