Restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood

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RESTORATION OF THE MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOOD. BY JOSEPH F. SMITH, JR.

Was the Melchizedek priesthood conferred upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by Peter, James and John? In the history of the Church, no account is given of the date when the Melchizedek priesthood was restored. For this reason

certain parties not of the Church, who profess to believe in the divine mission of the martyred Seer, in order to bolster up their weak position, have made the claim that this priesthood was not restored by those heavenly messengers, but that it grew out of the Aaronic priesthood which was restored by John the Baptist, on the 15th day of May, 1829. According to this claim, the Prophet Joseph and Oliver Cowdery, having received the Aaronic priesthood, did, by virtue of that priesthood, on the 6th day of April, 1830, ordain each other Elders, and that this eldership ordained High Priests and Apostles.*

• The statement is: "In justification of the course taken, and the principles involved on 'the question of authority,' we have ever courted, and still do, investigation of the facts in the first organization. Here they are: Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were ordained to the lesser priesthood by an angel; then, by this authority and a commandment, they, on the 6th day of April, ordained each other elders, and this eldership ordained high priests and apostles, and this high priesthood ordained, by command, the High Priesthood —the highest office in the Church; so that the alleged lesser ordained the greater, is common to both the first organization and the Re-organization alike. The same class of facts justify both or condemn both." History of "Re-organization," Vol. 3, pp. 224-5.

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While it is true that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery ordained each other elders on the 6th day of April, 1830, and that this was the first office in the Church, yet the fact remains that this was not the beginning of the Melchizedek priesthood in the dispensation of the fulness of times. The priesthood is greater than the office, and all offices in the priesthood, we are taught, are appendages to the priesthood.* For this reason the keys of the priesthood were conferred upon these men, and not the appendages to that priesthood, which were held by common consentf in the Church, after the organization. We learn from the scriptures that all things from the beginning must flow into this dispensation, and that in this dispensation all things should be restored. Peter taught this principle to the Jews; J and that it was understood by Paul, we learn from his epistle to the Ephesians, first chapter and ninth and tenth verses. One of the first Apostles, and a martyr to the cause, Elder David W. Patten, has left with us his testimony. Said he:

The dispensation of the fulness of times is made up of all the dispensations that have ever been given since the world began until this time. Unto Adam first was given a dispensation. It is well known that '

God spake to him with his own voice in the garden, and gave him the promise of the Messiah. And unto Noah was a dispensation given. For Jesus said: "as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man;" and as the righteous were saved then, and the wicked destroyed, so it will be now. And from Noah to Abraham, and from Abraham to Moses, and from Moses to Elias, and from Eliasto John the Baptist, and from John to Jesus Christ, and from Jesus Christ to Peter, James, and John. The apostles all having received in their time a dispensation by revelation from God, to accomplish the great scheme of restitution spoken of by the holy prophets since the world began; the end of which is the dispensation of the fulness of times, in which all things shall be fulfilled that have been spoken of since the earth was made."§

The Prophet tells us that in the dispensation of the fulness

• Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 107: 5.

f Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 20: 63-65; 26: 2; 124: 144.

X Acts 3: 21. § Elders' Journal, July, 1838.

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of times "that a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place and be revealed, from the days of Adam even to the present time."* If all things are to be restored, and if the dispensation of the fulness of times is made up of, and is a uniting of, all dispensations, with their keys and powers, since the days of Adam, then those who held the keys of these various dispensations would have to confer them upon the head of one who stands at the head of the last dispensation, and the Prophet Joseph Smith is that one. This being true, then, among other keys, it would be necessary for Peter, James, and John, who held the keys of the kingdom, in the dispensation of the meridian of time, to appear to the Prophet Joseph Smith and bestow upon him their keys and authority. That the keys of all dispensations were bestowed, we learn from the words of the Prophet, as recorded in section 128 of the Doctrine and Covenants, verse 21

And the voice of Michael, the archangel; the voice of Gabriel, and of Raphael, and of divers angels, from Michael or Adam down to the present time, all declaring their dispensation, their rights, their keys, their honors, their majesty and glory, and the power of their priesthood; giving line upon line, precept upon precept; here a little, and there a little — giving us consolation by holding forth that which is to come, confirming our hope.

And in verse 20: The voice of Peter, James and John, in the wilderness between Harmony, Susquehanna county, and Colesville, Broome county, on the Susquehanna river, declaring themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom, and of the dispensation of the fulness of times.

If, therefore, Peter, James, and John held the keys of the dispensation of the fulness of times, it would be necessary for

them to bestow those keys upon Joseph and Oliver, before these men could obtain them. That they did obtain them, we know, and that the keys of the kingdom were conferred by these heavenly messengers, we have evidence to show.

Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 128: 18.

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In section 27, verse 8, of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord declares that he shall partake of the sacrament with Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in his kingdom: and also John, * * "which John I have sent unto you, my servants, Joseph Smith, Jun., and Oliver Cowdery, to ordain you unto this, first priesthood which you have received, that you might be called and ordained even as Aaron." And in verse 12:

And also with Peter, and James, and John, whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles, and especial witnesses of my name, and bear the keys of your ministry, and of the same things which I revealed unto them: unto whom I have com-

mitted the keys of my kingdom, and a dispensation of the gospel for the last times; and for the fulness of times, in the which I will gather

together in one all things, both which are in heaven and which are on earth.

Here the Lord declares that Joseph the Prophet and Oliver Cowdery were ordained by Peter, James and John. In section 18, a revelation given in June, 1829, nearly a year before the Church was organized, the Lord declares that Oliver Cowdery was called with the same calling as was Paul, which was the Melchizedek priesthood, as an especial witness of his name. It was after this

call to be special witnesses, and after the bestowal of the Melchizedek priesthood, that the Prophet and Oliver— when the Church was organized — ordained each other Elders. The priesthood with its keys existed before the Church organization, but not the offices in the Church which belong to the Church, and are held by the consent of the same. In regard to the ordination of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to these two priesthoods, we have the testimony of both recorded outside of the Doctrine and Covenants. Oliver Cowdery,

in the year 1848, testified at Kanesville, as follows:

I was present with Joseph when an holy angel from God came down from heaven and conferred on us, or restored, the lesser or Aaronic priesthood, and said to us at the time, that it should remain upon the earth while the earth stands. I was also present with Joseph when the higher or Melchizedek priesthood was conferred by the holy angel from

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on high. This priesthood we then conferred upon each other by the will and commandment of God.

From this we see that, in the case of the restoration of the higher priesthood, as well as in that of the lower, they ordained each other by commandment, after having received the keys from those who held them —Peter, James and John. We also have Oliver's testimony, recorded by his own hand, as early as the year 1835. The account is quite interesting, and was recorded in the patriarchal blessing book of Patriarch Joseph Smith, Sen., by Oliver, who at that time was the recorder. This is his statement:

. He [Joseph] was ministered unto by the angel, and by his direction he obtained the records of the Nephites, and translated by the gift and power of God. He was ordained by the angel John, unto the lesser or Aaronic priesthood, in company with myself, in the town of Harmony, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, on Friday, the 15th day of May, 1829; after which we repaired to the water, even to the Susquehanna river, and were baptized; he first administering unto me, and after, I to him. But before baptism our souls were drawn out in mighty prayer, to know how we might obtain the blessings of baptism and of the Holy Spirit according to the order of God; and we diligently sought for the right of the fathers, and the authority of the holy priesthood, and the power to administer the same; for we desired to be followers of righteousness, and in the possession of greater knowledge, even the knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Therefore we repaired to the woods, even as our father Joseph said we should, that is, to the bush, and called upon the name of the Lord, and he answered us out of the heavens. And while we were in the heavenly vision, the angel came down and bestowed upon us this priesthood; and then, as 1 have said, we repaired to the water and were baptized. After this, we received the high and holy priesthood; but an account of this will be given elsewhere, or in another place.

In this statement, made by Oliver, reference is made to a prophecy by Joseph of old, son of Jacob, in which he declared that the priesthood should be restored in the last days through the administration of an angel 'in the bush." ' In the Book of Mormon we are given a glimpse at the prophecy uttered by Joseph concerning the restoration, but the prophecy has only been given in part

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unto us, and is yet to be revealed. Without doubt, it was made known to the Prophet in connection with many other things which have not yet been given to the world. The Prophet has, however, added some light concerning this prophecy, and has revealed to us the manner of the ordination to the Melchizedek priesthood of himself and Oliver Cowdery. On the 18th day of December, 1833, when the Prophet blessed his father, and ordained him to the Patriarchal priesthood, he also blessed a number of others, among whom was Olivery Cowdery. After pronouncing Oliver's blessing, the Prophet said These blessings shall come upon him [Oliver] according to the blessings of the prophecy of Joseph in ancient days, which he said should come upon the seer of the last days and the scribe that should sit with him, and that should be ordained with him, by the hands of the angel in the bush, unto the lesser priesthood, and after receive the holy priesthood under the hands of those who had been held in reserve for a long season, even those who received it under the hands of the Messiah, while he should dwell in the flesh upon the earth, and should receive the blessings with him, even the seer of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saith he, even Joseph of old.*

John the Baptist was not ordained to the Priesthood by the hand of Messiah, as he received his ordination when eight days of age,f under the hands of an angel. Peter James and John were called by the Savior, and received their authority from him; and the prophecy of Joseph was fulfilled when they conferred upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery the keys of the High Priesthood which they had received from Messiah while in the flesh.

• This blessing was also recorded in the handwriting of Oliver Cowdery, and was copied by him in the record on the 2nd day of October, 1835, in the city of Kirtland, Ohio, and having been written by an eyewitness of the fulfilment, is certainly strong proof of the ordination. Whether this is the "other place" mentioned by Oliver, where the account of the ordination to the Melchizedek priesthood is recorded, is a question. If not, the account of the ordination is either lost or misplaced among the many papers in possession of the Church. f Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 84: 28.