--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Duffin, James G. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 22 number: 12 published: 1919-10 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Duffin, James G., "The Priesthood: Its Power and Authority," *Improvement Era* 22, no. 12 (October 1919): 1079–1083.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera22012unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera22012unse start_page: 1079 end_page: 1083 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1919-10) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera22012unse publication_year: 1919 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1919, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Priesthood: Its Power and Authority The Priesthood its Power and Authority : By James G. Duffin Whenever the Lord has given a dispensation of the gospel to man, he has had an organization through which his work could be carried on in a systematic and orderly manner. This organ- ization is called his Church. The membership of the Church is made up of those who, through obedience to sacred ordinances, have taken upon themeelves the name of the Lord. Not only has the Lord organized his Church, through the in- strumentality of divinely apointed men, but he has given them authority to act for him and to administer in his holy name. This divine authority is called Priesthood. Priesthood, then, is authority given of God unto men to act for him and in his stead; and those who hold the keys thereof have the power to "seal on earth and it will be sealed in the eternal heavens, to loose on earth and it will be loosed in heaven," the authority by which sacred ordinances are ad- ministered for both the living and the dead, the power and authority by which the Church is governed in things both spirit- ual and temporal. All of which is for the purpose of bringing the children of our Father back into his presence, clean, and in honor, where they may continue lives of usefulness, with joy and satisfaction, saved beings, forever and forever. — As a man is a dual personality a spirit and a body God's plan provides for the development of every power and at- tribute of his being, whether it pertains to his spiritual or his temporal welfare. It is therefore provided, pertaining to the agents who hold this Priesthood, and who, as a body, are also known as the priesthood of the Church: "There are, in the Church, two priesthoods, namely, the Melchizedek and the Aar- onic, including the Levitical." * * * "The Melchizedek priesthood holds the right of presidency, and has power and authority over all the offices in the Church in all ages of the world, to adminis- ter in spiritual things." * * * "The power and authority of the higher or Melchizedek priesthood is to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the Church "To have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the — kingdom of heaven to have the heavens opened unto them to — commune with the general assembly and church of the first 1080 IMPROVEMENT ERA born, and to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant." (Doc. & Cov. 107:1-8; 18-19.) It is further provided: "And this greater priesthood admin- istereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom even he key of the knowledge of God; "Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest, and without the ordinances thereof, and the au- thority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh; for without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father and live." (Doc. & Cov., 84 19-22. : The offices growing out of or belonging to this first or Mel- chizedek priesthood are: elder, seventy, high priest, patriarch, apostle. The priesthood (or authority) is one and inseparable, but the duties of the various officers in the offices of the priest- hood, are limited as to the scope of their several callings. For instance, the "duty of the president of the office of the high priesthood is to preside over the whole Church, and to be like unto Moses," * * * "to be a seer, a revelator, a translator, and- a prophet, having all the gifts of God which he bestows upon the head of the Church." He also has the "right to officiate in all the offices of the Church," (Doc. & Cov., 107:91; 92:9) and holds the keys of the holy Priesthood (132:7; 81:2), the right to receive the voice of the Lord for the whole Church; in connec- tion with his counselors to direct in all of its activities; to give and to withdraw authority, as wisdom and the Spirit of the Lord may direct. The duties of all other officers in the Church are limited by the revelations of the Lord to the duties of their special callings, as before stated. The Aaronic priesthood has power and authority "to hold the keys of the ministering of angels, and to administer in out- — ward ordinances, the letter of the gospel the baptism of re- pentance for the remission of sins, agreeable to the covenants and commandments," and in "administering all temporal things." (Doc. & Cov., 107:20; 68.) The offices of this priest- hood are deacon, teacher, priest. "The bishopric is the presi- dency of this priesthood and holds the keys or authority of the same." (Doc. & Cov., 107:15.) While this is true, the prin- ciple must not be lost sight of that the presidency of the high priesthood presides over all the offices in the Church and all the officers thereof. Were this not so, it can readily be seen there might be confusion in the Church, for there would be two heads holding equal authority. (Doc. & Cov. 107:8-9; 65-68.) The office of bishop is a "necessary appendage belonging: unto the high priesthood." (Doc. & Cov., 84:29.) "Behold mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord THE PRIESTHOOD 1081 God, and not a house of confusion." In the Church there are certain well denned principles which, if understood and adhered to, will prevent members of the Church from being deceived or led into error with regard to doctrine or Church policy. Every member of the Church has a perfect right to receive the inspira- tion of the Holy Spirit to guide him in the management of his own affairs. Presiding officers are entitled to the keys of their — presidency the right to know the mind and will of the Lord concerning that branch of the work over which they are called to preside. Should any question arise in a quorum of the priest- hood strictly pertaining to that quorum, the presidency of the quorum has full power and authority to decide the question and determine what should be done in the matter. The bishopric of a ward, the presidency of a stake and high council, or any other council in the Church that has been given jurisdiction over any department of the work of the Lord, has full and complete au- thority to set in order and regulate the affairs of that particular part of the work over which they have been called to preside. (Doc. & Cov., 107:36; also verses 72-75.) But matters often arise of such far-reaching consequences that they affect the whole Church. In such cases they come, properly, before the presiding council or quorum of the Church for settlement. When this council, which is the presidency of the Church, or in other words, the presidency of the high priest- hood, unitedly renders its decision, it is "entitled to the same blessings which the decisions of a quorum of three presidents were anciently," and if accepted by the members of the Church and carried out in their lives will bring blessings unto them. The writer is aware that claim has been made that presiding bodies holding the priesthood have rendered decisions that were unjust, and have been given in a harsh and arbitrary manner; that they have ridden "rough shod" over the rights of their fel- low members of the Church, in both spiritual and temporal af- fairs, using thisGod-given authority for selfish and unholy pur- poses. Thetruth or untruth of these claims it is not our intention to discuss, but should there have been such violations of divine authority, the fault has not been in the order God position. has established, but in those holding the official Should any individual or body of men in the Church act m any manner they would be acting in direct opposition to the such of the authority revelation of the Lord concerning the exercise agency, or authority of God, the they hold. The Priesthood (or men chosen a priesthood to exercise that author- men or body of ity) is God-given, and those who attempt to exercise its authority in any manner contrary to the laws of God, place themselves in a most dangerous position before him. Following is the law 1082 IMPROVEMENT ERA for the direction of the quorums of the priesthood in making their decisions: "And every decision made by either of these quorume, must be by the unanimous voice of the same; that is, every member in each quorum must he agreed to its decisions, in order to make their decisions of the same power or validity one with the other. "(A majority may form a quorum, when circumstances render it im- possible to be otherwise.) "Unless this is the case, their decisions are not entitled to the same blessings which the decisions of a quorum of three presidents were anciently, who were ordained after the order of Melchizedek, and were righteous and holy men. "The decisions of these quorums, or either of them, are to be made in all righteousness, in holiness, and lowliness of heart, meekness and long- suffering, and in faith, and virtue, and knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity; "Because the promise is, if these things abound in them, they shall not be unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord." (Doc. & Cov. 107:27.31.) In other words, when quorums of the priesthood sit in coun- cil concerning any matter pertaining to the work of the Lord, or sit in judgment upon any member of the Church, and their de- cisions are rendered according to this revelation and in the spirit of it, their decisions have the same force and power as if God had spoken himself. But should these councils of the priesthood attempt to exer- cise authority "in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man. Behold! ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks; to persecute the Saints, and to fight against God." (Doc. & Cov., 121:37-38.) For it is provided: "No power or influence can or ought to be maintained bv virtue of the Priesthood, only by persuasion, by long suffering, by gentleness, and meekness and by love unfeigned; by kindness and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul with- out hyprocisy, and without guile." (Verses 41, 42.) Again, if a decision of the priesthood is rendered, and thought to be unjust, has the one who feels himself aggrieved thereby no recourse in the Church courts or councils? The an- swer to this is that ample provision is made for appeal, even to the court of last resort, should the case warrant it. No member of the Church is debarred from this privilege, as no member of the Church is exempt from the operation of the law of the Church, no matter what his position may be. A fundamental principle of jurisprudence is that after every resource provided in the law for the adjudication of a case has been exhausted, decision of the court of last resort should be peaceably submitted to. Only upon this attitude of THE PRIESTHOOD 1083 the citizenship of a state, can stability in government be main- tained. This principle holds equally good in the government of the Church. As the rights of members of the Church are so carefully safeguarded against unjust exercise of divine authority, so those who have appealed to divine authority for redress ot grievances, fancied or real, owe a duty to God and to their fellow members to submit to these decisions of the quorums of the priesthood. This should not be blind obedience, nor is it required. It takes as much intelligence, nay more, to submit to rightful authority, as it does to oppose it. The truth is that blind obedience, so called, is abhorrent to the finer sensibilities of righteous men holding the holy Priesthood. Priesthood is given to be exercised, to save not to destroy, to exalt not to debase, to develop intelligence in men not ignor- ance, to bless not to curse, and while decisions of bodies of men holding the Priesthood in some instances might be opposed to the views and feelings of members of the Church, if they are complied with in the spirit by which these decisions are given, they will bring blessings and salvation, which after all is the pur- pose for which priesthood is conferred upon man. Salt Lake City A Tribute to the Dog When members of the Grand Army of Liberty gather together in future years, dogs that served in the war should be saved a warm place by the fire, for they, too, are veterans. Here is a tribute to our friend, the dog, that deserves a place beside the words of Senator Vest: In Johnston, N. Y., Dr. J. Aspinwall McCuaig, a Scotch-Canadian, was in recently addressing a great audience assembled in one of the theatres observance of Britain's Day. At a point in his address, the attention of the speaker was called to a dog that walked into the theatre and was attracting general attention as it strayed down the aisle. put "Let no one touch that dog," cried Dr. McCuaig. "Let no one him out. It's proper he should be here. The best friends of the British soldiers on the field have been their dogs. They fought beside the lion; thy helped the lion win. I have at home an Irish terrier who wears a service His brother is at the front with the Irish Fusileers. We are not sure star not he will be coming back. The casualty list of dogs has not yet whether or today. He rep- been published. It is proper that this dog should be here resents his kind. Had I my way I'd invite him to the platform. Id coyer him with Red Cross decorations. W wran around eim the flags of all allied hz* the British owe to nations-to let the world know, this Britain s b., »• rignt to be here. —Humane their dogs. Let no one touch him. He nas a Education Press Bureau, Boston, Mass.