Priesthood Quorums’ Table

PRIESTHOOD QUORUMS' TABLE.

Meetings During the Summer.— It is going to be a difficult task to con- tinue the quorum meetings during the summer. To make a success of the quorum meetings will require earnest co-operation of members, class leaders, and bishops. That is not all. It will require faith and enthusiasm, and just a little sacrifice.

For example, when the strawberries are ripe, how are we to leave them an hour or two earlier to go to meeting?— and besides, it takes all the boys! So with the hay, the grain, the fruit. Is our meeting going to be important enough to war- rant our leaving these labors once a week to attend? It will not do to work as

late as usual on Monday evenings. If we do, we will be too tired to go to quorum meeting; will we have faith enough to feel that we will be as blessed in our tem- poral affairs by going, as by staying in the field at work? We believe that God can touch our labors by his power, and make our efforts go farther when we attend to our duties. You remember that in Lucy Smith's history of the Prophet, it is related that a field was plowed and harrowed, at one time, when it was necessary for David Whitmer to respond to a call of the Prophet Joseph to be at other work. While our fields may not be thus miraculously plowed, our berries picked, nor our hay cured, we do believe that the Lord can and will bless us in other ways: and that by an increase of our substance and a greater outpouring of the Spirit upon us to comfort, bless and cheer. Are we willing to try?

Priesthood and Keys of the Priesthood.— What is the difference between the Aaronic priesthood and the keys of the Aronic priesthood: and who, if any, holds the keys of the Aronic priesthood at the present time? The priesthood in general is the authority giver to man to act for God. Every man who has been ordained to the priesthood has this authority delegated to him. It should be remembered, however, that every act performed under this authority must be done in the proper way and after the proper order. The power of direct- ing the priesthood constitutes the keys of the priesthood. In their fulness these

keys are held by only one person at a time, the prophet and president of the Church. He may delegate any portion of this power to another, in which case that person holds the keys of that particular labor so delegated. Thus, the pre-

sident of a temple, the president of a stake, the bishop of a ward, the president of a mission, or the president of a quorum, — holds the keys of the labors per-

formed in that particular body or locality. His priesthood, however, is not in-

creased by this special appointment; for example, a seventy who presides over a mission has no more priesthood than a seventy who labors under his direction; and the president of an elders' quorum has no more priesthood than any member of

574 IMPR VEMENT ERA .

that quorum. But the president holds the power of directing the official labors performed under his special jurisdiction; or, in other words, the keys of that divi- sion of the work. So it is throughout all the ramifications of the priesthood. A distinction must be made between the priesthood, and the directing of the labors performed by that authority. To sum up, then, the difference between the Aaronic priesthood and the keys of the Aaronic priesthood is this, one is the priesthood itself, the other is the call to direct that authority. The keys of the Aaronic priesthood are vested in the presiding bishop of the Church; but he is under the direction of the president of the Church who holds the keys of the high or Melchiz- edek priesthood, and who presides over the whole Church, and who has all the gifts of God which he bestows upon the head of the Church. Even if a literal descendant of Aaron were found, he would have no right to preside as a bishop unless he were called, set apart, and ordained in like manner to the high priest, by virtue of the authority and keys held by the president of the Church. See Improvement Era, volume four, page 230; also volume six, page 233. In this connection, let it be understood that there is quite as much need to properly recognize one's calling in the Church as one's authority, for without a calling, the authority to baptize and perform many other labors lies

dormant.

The Kingdom of God. — "What is the meaning of the kingdom of God?" See the M.I. A. Manual 1900-1901, part two, page 90, also the Improvement Era, vol. iv, p. 395, and vol.vii,p. 274. The Prophet Joseph, in his history, Millennial, Star, volume twenty, page 438, defines the kingdom of God as follows: ''When- ever there has been a righteous man on earth unto whom God revealed his word and gave power and authority to administer in his name, and where there is a priest of God — a minister who has power and authority from God to administer in

the ordinance of the gospel and officiate in the priesthood of God— there is the kingdom of God . .Whenever men can find out the will of God, and find .

an administrator legally authorized from God, there is the kingdom of God; but where these are not, the kingdom of God is not." It is evident from this that the kingdom of God may be upon the earth even

where there is no church organized by authority of God, hence, the kingdom of — God does not necessarily mean the church of God, but where the church of God is established with legal authority acknowledged of God, to officiate for him in the

priesthood, there must be the kingdom of God, according to the definition of the Prophet Joseph. Hence, as the Prophet once said, it is plain to see that the king- dom has been upon the earth from the days of Adam, to the present time; and when the "kingdom" is referred to in this sense, it does not mean the uninter- rupted continuation of the Church nor the constant existence of the priesthood in organized capacity upon the earth. To say that the kingdom of God is established upon the earth would perhaps mean more than that the Church is founded and established. It may be possible that the kingdom of God will not be established until the King shall come; namely, Jesus Christ whose right it is to rule. From all this you may notice that the question is debatable; but this we do know, that he Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been organized to prepare a

PRIES1H00D QUORUMS' TABLE. 575

people for the coming of Christ, and its officers are properly authorized to act in the name of the Lord, to preach repentance, and to officiate in the ordinances of the gospel, so as to prepare the people for the great day coming when the king- dom of God shall be established upon the earth, and the King of Kings shall come to rule because it is his right. We are still praying, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." See also President Woodruff's state- ment, Era, vol. 10, p. 66.

Importance of the Priesthood. — In his remarks at the April conference, President Anthon H. Lund said on this subject:

"The new priesthood movement, in which all holding the priesthood meet every Monday nigh.\ is proving a great success, and we are hopeful for yet greater interest in the success of the movement and of tbe Church of Christ here at home. We must remember how important it is to hold the priesthood of God, and not hold it lightly. Our duty is to support the kingdom of God and build it up. The Lord did not create us merely to accumulate material things. He designed that we should learn his will and teach it to others. We should be on guard for ourselves and for others.

Do you, as a member of the Church holding the priesthood, consider it so important that you can spare one busy Monday eveniDg each week from your press- ing farm, trade or office work, to attend meeting? Or will you say, the temporal work must be done first? What did President Lund mean when he said, "The Lord did not create us merely to accumulate material things, but designed that we should learn his will?" Which should go first, the material or the spiritual? Is one night a week devoted to the priesthood overworking the spiritual? Questions Answered. — "To whom did God refer when he was speaking to Moses, as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price, chapter 1, 41st verse?" He re- ferred to the Prophet Joseph Smith and to the Pearl of Great Price wherein the words of Moses are written. "When was the prophecy fulfiled, referred to in I Nephi 22: 20?" It is

plainly evident from the text that Jesus Christ our Savior is referred to as "that Prop':et" (see also III Nephi 20: 23; 21: 11). This text is practically the same

as that in Acts 3: 22, 23, and if you read the words of Moroni to the Prophet Joseph {Church History Vol. I, page 13) you will find that the day has not yet come when "they who would not hear his (Christ's) voice should be cut off from

among the people," but soon will come, hence the prophecy is not yet fulfiled. "Why are the several priesthood quorums limited as to number of members, as, twelve deacons, twenty-four teachers, forty-eight priests?" Because it is the

order given in the commandments of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith (see Doc, and Cov. Sec. 107: 85-89). In this same section, the Twelve, the Seventy

and the First Presidency are also named in number as to their quorums. The Seventy Who Form a Quorum Equal in Authority to the

Twelve.— ' Give an explanation of Section 107: 25-6 of the Doctrine and Cove- nants." The first quorum of Seventy is equal in authority with the

the Twelve Apostles under certain conditions; and the first duorum of Seventy composed of the first seven presidents (First Coun- quorum of is

cil) and sixty-three presidents of the next sixty-three quorums,