The Honor and Dignity of Priesthood

Improvement Era Vol. XVII MARCH, 1914 No. 5 The Honor and Dignity of Priesthood BY JAMES E. TALMAGE, OF THE COUNCIL OF THE TWELVE Many able investigators have expressed surprise and admiration over the plan of organization on which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is founded. A critical observer who had devoted time and skill to the study of The Church, viewing it solely as a human institution, is credited with this expressive summary of conclusions : "The 'Mormon' Church is a magnificent organization splendidly officered." Without caste distinction as between clergyman and layman, with no order of salaried ministers or professional preachers, The Church provides service for every member who is able and willing to labor in the ministry. The bestowal of the Priesthood is a blessing reserved for no privileged few ; every worthy man in The Church may confidently aspire to some measure of this sacred investiture. Ordination to any office in the holy order of authority and power •imposes responsibility, separately and individually, upon each recipient. While every holder of this Divinely-appointed commission is an officer in The Church, there are numerous official positions of specific character to which worthy members are called and appointed. Even in the several quorums, each comprising members who have been ordained to the same office in the Priesthood, there are of necessity positions of presidency and administrative service. Priesthood is the authority delegated to man to minister in the name of Deity. It is a power such as no one can assume on his own initiative ; it is an endowment from the powers of heaven ; "and no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron" (Heb. 5 :4). Men may form associations for and among themselves ; they may create institutions and establish authority to administer the affairs thereof ; men may set up governments, as municipalities, states, and nations, and may provide for the enactment of laws and

408 IMPROVEMENT ERAordinances by which members of the organization are to be governed. The official acts of legally constituted authorities within all such jurisdictions are binding to the extent and for the purpose that the law may provide. Authority in all properly established institutions of men should be duly recognized and obeyed ; -the men in whom that authority is vested should be respected, if not for their personal merits or worthiness at least because of the office they hold. If such recognition be due to authority originated and established by man, what shall be the measure of respect rightfully attaching to the Holy Priesthood, which is the embodiment of an authority beyond all human power to create or to secure ? Concerning the Twelve who ministered with Him, our Lord specifically declared that He had chosen them ; their exalted ordination was not of their own causing nor seeking. (See John 15 :16. compare 6:70.) Today The Church proclaims that "a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands, by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel, and administer in the ordinances thereof." Appointment to office in The Church entails the ordination or setting-apart of the person so chosen ; and the responsibility of faithful service is an individual requirement which he cannot evade and must not ignore. Those through whom the call came to him, those by whom he was designated and perhaps ordained, those who preside over him because of their office of broader scope and higher rank, they are as surely held answerable for their acts as is he for his ; and of every one shall be demanded a strict and personal accounting for his stewardship, a report in full of service or of neglect, of use or abuse in the administration of the trust to him committed. The sense of responsibility belonging to office may be obscured in part by the honor and distinction inseparably associated therewith. Yet this should not be". The spirit of every calling in the Lord's work is that of ready service ; the officer is the servant of those for whom he ministers. There are no positions of honor without service, no empty titles, no brevet rank, in the Church of Christ. Honorary positions, sinecures, influence dissociated from responsibility, titles that are but names, these shadows without substance are sometimes tolerated or fostered as features of human institutions ; but the Divine plan of organization and government is not so belittled. Titles expressive of rank or attainment among men are to be respected as their significance requires. Being of man's creation, they may be used as recognized propriety established by custom and as good taste may allow. There is no offense against sanctity,, nor any serious impropriety, in addressing an officer of army or navy, a judge, a senator, a doctor, or a professor by his title, even in ordinary converse ; though the customs of good etiquette

HONOR AND DIGNITY OF PRIESTHOOD 409 suggest the careful and sparing use of distinguishing titles. In formal and official procedure titles expressive of rank or achievement are in place. In the use of titles pertaining to the Holy Priesthood the obligation of care is vastly greater. Remember that the higher Priesthood is described as being "after the order of the Son of God," but -is designated by the name of a man — Melchizedek, — "out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of His name" (See Doc. and Cov. 107:2-4). The presiding officer of The Church may be and should be spoken of and addressed as "President;" this is true also of the counselors in the First Presidency, for each of them is a president as the Lord hath said (Doc. and Cov. 107:22, 24, 29) ; but it is not proper to speak commonly of the President of the Church, and even grossly incorrect to address him, as "Prophet," "Seer," or "Revelator," though each of these exalted titles is specifically his, and belongs also to each of his counselors, to each of the Twelve, and to the Presiding Patriarch of The Church. These are designations of spiritual powers and functions, and are of too sacred a character to be employed as common appellations. The title "President" is used in secular as well as in ecclesiastical application ; in the latter connection it may be regarded as expressive of executive authority in the Priesthood, rather than a specific designation of Priesthood itself ; it may therefore be used as occasion requires in speaking of or to the president of a stake, or the president of a quorum, council, or other organization. The title "Bishop" is expressive of presidency ; the Bishop is specifically the presiding officer over the lesser or Aaronic Priesthood in his ward, and is, moreover, president of the ward as an organization ; it is, therefore, strictly within the bounds of propriety to refer to him and to address him by the title of his office ; but it would be improper to make common his title of "High Priest," though none but High Priests officiate as Bishops in The Church today. The title "Apostle" is likewise one of special significance and sanctity ; it has been given of God, and belongs only to those who have been called and ordained as "special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world, thus differing from other officers in the Church in the duties of their calling" (Doc. and Cov. 107:23). By derivation #the word "apostle" is the English equivalent of the Greek apostolos, indicating a messenger, an ambassador, or literally "one who is sent." It signifies that he who is rightly so called, speaks and acts not of himself, but as the representative of a higher power whence his commission issued ; and in this sense the title is that of a servant, rather than that of a superior. Even the Christ, however, is called an Apostle with reference to

410 IMPROVEMENT ERA His ministry in the flesh (Hebrews 3:1), and this appellation is justified by His repeated declarations that He came to earth to do not His own will but that of the Father by whom He zuas sent. Though an apostle is thus seen to be essentially an envoy, or ambassador, his authority is great, as is also the responsibility associated therewith, for he speaks in the name of a power greater than his own — the name of Him whose special witness he is. When one of the Twelve is sent to minister in any stake, mission or other division of the Church, or to labor in regions where no Church organization has been effected, he acts as the representative of the First Presidency, and has the right to use his authority in doing whatever is requisite for the furtherance of the work of God. His duty is to preach the Gospel, administer the ordinances thereof, and set in order the affairs of the Church, wherever he is sent. So great is the sanctity of this special calling, that the title "Apostle" should not be used lightly as the common or ordinary form of address applied to living men called to this office. The quorum or council of the Twelve Apostles as existent in The Church today may better be spoken of as the "Quorum of the Twelve," the "Council of the Twelve," or simply as the "Twelve," than as the "Twelve Apostles," except as particular occasion may warrant the use of the more sacred term. It is advised that the title "Apostle" be not applied as a prefix to the name of any member of the Council of the Twelve; but that such a one be addressed or spoken of as "Brother ," or "Elder ," and when necessary or desirable, as in announcing his presence in a public assembly, an explanatory clause may be added, thus, "Elder , one of the Council of the Twelve." The word of modern revelation expressly states that "An Apostle is an Elder" (See Doc. and Cov. 20 :38 ; compare also paragraphs 2 and 3, same section). So also every person ordained to the higher or Melchizedek Priesthood is an Elder, whatever his special office in the Priesthood may be. We do not, and indeed should not, use the terms "High Priest" and "Seventy" as prefixed titles ; the designation "Elder" is usually sufficient, and even that should be used with care and reverence. Brethren laboring in the mission field may well substitute the term "Brother" for "Elder" in common usage ; though in announcements and publications involving the specification of position or authority, the title "Elder" may be wholly proper. The same care should be observed in the use of all distinguishing titles belonging. to Priesthood. Though a man be ordained to the exalted and honorable office of Patriarch, he is still an Elder, and the special designation "Patriarch" is not to be used in every-day converse. What has been said concerning the Holy Priesthood and the sanctity of names and titles associated therewith, applies in a measure to the Church as a body, and to the members thereof as