Priesthood: The Supreme Religious Differential

Priesthood The Supreme Religious Differential By RUDGER CLAWSON President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles TIMES without number in the last one hundred years the question has been asked, What, after all, is the precise dif- ference between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Christian denomina- tions, Protestant and Catholic? In other words, is there some one thing that is a characteristic mark of "Mormonism," and, if so, just what is it? To the superficial observer, whether within or without the "Mormon" Church, the difference might seem to lie in parts of its ritual, or in its marriage system, or in its compact and effective or- ganization, or in its vast network of proselytism, or in its so-called materialism, or in all of these com- bined. DUT that is not the case. The real difference between "Mor- monism" and other Christian bodies is to be found within, not without. For back of any ritual- istic peculiarities that may appear, back of any organized effectiveness, back of any apparent self-advertise- ment and commercialism, back of everything that may show on the surface is an intangible reality. And that is Priesthood. Outsiders as well as insiders, if pressed for their opinion, would readily admit the accuracy of this judgment. Not polygamy, not solidarity, not propaganda, not materialism has been responsible for the opposi- tion that the Church has almost continuously experienced in this age. These at bottom have been merely excuses, not reasons. The real point of attack, whether con- sciously or unconsciously, has al- ways been Priesthood, the claims of the Saints to direct divine au- thority. "V/fOREOVER, speaking now ■" from the viewpoint of the Saints themselves, not the "auxil- iaries," not the educational system in the Church, not the missionary system, not the various principles and ordinances of the Church, not even the organization of the Church itself is the main thing in their minds. The main thing in their minds is what lies behind all these and vitalizes them and gives them meaning — Priesthood. That is why, in the last analysis, every- thing in "Mormonism" comes back to Priesthood and acquires significance therefrom. Priesthood is therefore not only the point of divergence between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints and all other Christian bodies, but the very quintessence of this religion — the thing without which it could not possibly exist. PRIESTHOOD, with the Saints ■■ as with other Christian church- es, is authority delegated by God to man by which man acts for Deity in His name in a way that makes any act performed by man under this divine warrant as valid as if it were done by the Lord in person. Only, the "Mormons" lay greater store by the Priesthood President Rudger Clawson than any other Christian body whatsoever. The theory is very simple. Man is literally, and not figura- tively, a child of God. God is in a very real sense the Father of the spirits of all men. This being the case, it naturally follows, first, that the Lord is very much concerned about our welfare both here and hereafter and, secondly, is both anxious and able to provide a means by which we, His children, may overcome any factors in our environment that do not make for our growth. That means is the Church. HTHE Church is therefore God- made, not man-made — God- made, because it requires higher wisdom than man possesses. It is the form through which the sub- stance works, the tangible through which the intangible operates, the pattern through which spiritual ideals manifest themselves. In a word, the Church is the incarna- tion of Christian truth. For as the human spirit expresses itself through the human body, so the Gospel — God's spell, or power — expresses itself through the Church. But the Church needs to be con- ducted by the same wisdom that brought it into existence in the first place. The vehicle requires to be guided so that its precious cargo shall be safe. Hence the Priest- hood. Moreover, Priesthood is in the main the channel through which communication between God and man is maintained. 'T'HUS questions as to whether the Church should be ruled by elders or bishops or apostles, whether baptism ought to be by immersion or by sprinkling, whether infants may properly be baptized, whether a priest may for- give sins, and a hundred other sim- ilar questions of government or principle or ordinance, become

The Improvement Era for April, 1930 381 matters ultimately for men to de- cide who hold the Priesthood by undisputed right, not by men who have arrogated this authority unto themselves. Also any alterations made in the Church, either in its form or its substance, are in them- selves of small moment. The all important point is, Have they been made by duly accredited represent- atives of God? But Priesthood, in the view of the Saints, is a matter that touches more than our present existence. It concerns the entire span of the eternal spirit, whether in its pre- earth life, its life here and now, or its life after this. PRIESTHOOD was known in ■. the unembodied state. Jere- miah, the Bible tells us, was "sanc- tified" before he was born and "ordained" to be "a prophet unto the nations." Abraham likewise, as we are informed in a modern translation of an old document, was "chosen before he was born" while he was still "in the midst" of the "intelligences that were or- ganized before the world was," and he was appointed one of God's "rulers" that were to be in the earth-life. That is, these two men were endowed with the Priesthood in the spirit-state. Not only these two great prophets, but others as well were "set apart" for specific work to be done after they should be incarnated in the flesh.. And after this life also, first in the intermediate state and then in the resurrection, Priesthood will be as necessary as in our present state. For organization inheres in human association, in all forms of exist- ence. It is a thing of the intelli- gent spirit, not of the body, and this irrespective of whether the spirit is embodied or not or wheth- er, if embodied, its tabernacle is mortal or immortal. Even in the next life there will be educative processes to be set going and car- ried on, and this work must be done by those who are properly qualified, both by nature and by credentials. And that means Priesthood. 'T'HIS importance attaching to ■■ Priesthood in the minds of the "Mormon" people it is that led the Prophet Joseph Smith, the founder of the modern Church, into an original and impressive line of con- duct in relation to his pre-destined work in this dispensation. The Heavenly Gift By RUTH MAY FOX ONE hundred times the bells have tolled the passing of a year Since Faith and Truth clasped hands and pledged the message they held dear Should roll the clouds of error back into oblivion's den, The Dove of Peace should yet find rest within the world of men. But first must come authority from Him who- rules the sun, To minister in His blest name, the All -transcendent One, Who holds the keys of life and death, who bids the silent tomb Give up its dead to glorious life, man's everlasting boon. Ambassadors must be sent forth en- dowed with heavenly power To raise His royal standard on every roof and tower; To preach repentance to a world beset with sin and woe, That every man might find a friend, the gift of love bestow. So Faith unlocked the heavenly gates and light came streaming through, The light that shines in darkness but only seen by few; And Truth rejoiced exceedingly and scattered jewels rare On hill and dale throughout the eatth for men to find and wear. Then progress from his slumber leapt and saw the splendrous gleam, Emitting rays that stirred the world and Science caught a beam; She spread her wings and waved her wand till earth and sea and air Responded to her magic touch, and marvels everywhere. Amazed mankind while nature sighed that she should be the slave Of mortal man who claimed the right the first commandment gave, To wrest earth's secrets from her breast, the elements subdue. To hold dominion in his grasp and make the old world new. What hath man wrought!' all living things in wonderment exclaim, The dwellers of the sea and air the mountain and the plain; All glory to the heavenly Light which zeals intelligence And gives man partnership in God's omnipotence. Once having decided in his own mind to set up a church, he might have assumed the prerogatives of religious leadership, as many others before him had done, without ask- ing himself any questions as to his priesthood. Or, having asked them, he might have imitated the prac- tice of many religious reformers be- fore his time, and sought to trace his authority back through dubi- ous channels to some one else. But he did not. He broke ut- terly with both past and present, so far as the churches were con- cerned. Instead he sought and ob- tained fresh contacts with God. T-J IS first great revelation is well known to those who are fa- miliar with the rise of "Mormon- ism." Likewise the story of how the Book of Mormon was revealed through the ministrations of the Angel Moroni. In the first vision he learned through a personal visi- tation, that God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ were veritable personages, that they were two be- ings and not one, as was generally taught in his day, and that the heavens were not as a canopy of impenetrable brass over man's head. In the second heavenly man- ifestation he learned of the an- cestors of the American Indians, of the history of these peoples, and of the numerous revelations and visions vouchsafed to the Jaredites and the Nephites. One would imagine that two such glorious manifestations as these would be sufficient warrant to proceed to the organization of a church. But Joseph Smith did not think so, even though he had been told in the earlier vision that the Church would be restored through him. For in neither of these revelations did he receive authority to establish the Church of Christ. A CCORDINGLY, as he tells us, rx in May, 1829, while he and Oliver Cowdery were praying "in the woods" near Harmony, Penn- sylvania, John the Baptist, act- ing, as he explained, under the direction of the ancient Apostles Peter, James, and John, appeared to them. Laying his hands on their heads, he ordained them to the "Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by im- mersion for the remission of sins." Subsequently — in May or June, 1829 — the Apostles Peter, James, and John appeared to Joseph and

382 The Improvement Era for April, 1930 Oliver "on the banks of the Sus- quehanna river" and ordained them to the apostl-eship, making them "special witnesses" to the name of Christ and giving them "the keys of the kingdom and of the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times." Thus the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rests upon the secure foundation of an authority conferred upon its "first elder" by men who were ordained under the hands of the founder of Christi- anity himself. And every man now holding any degree of spiritual au- thority in the "Mormon" Church, if he wished to do so, could trace his Priesthood back directly to that "first elder" in the organization — Joseph Smith. A DISTINCTIVE feature of ^ - Priesthood among the Latter- day Saints is its democracy. In the religious history of the world it would appear that the men holding the priesthood in any community were limited to a com- paratively small group of carefully selected persons trained to the serv- ice. And this is true of Christian as well as of pagan peoples, in modern as in ancient times. It is true of even the Israelites before our Savior's time. But Priesthood in the "Mor- mon" Church is in striking con- trast to this. For with us it is very widely distributed. In a total male membership of almost two hundred ninety-five thousand, ap- proximately one hundred fifty thousand hold the Priesthood in one of its grades. Deducting those under twelve years of age, at which time the Priesthood is first con- ferred, we have a situation where practically the entire male member- ship of the Church holds the Priesthood. This is altogether without parallel in the long his- tory of religion. If there is any man in the or- ganization who does not have the Priesthood, it is either because he does not want it or because he does not care to live for it. For every boy is urged to aspire to the office of elder, that being the grade which entitles him to all the rights, priv- ileges, and blessings of Priesthood In general. Nor is there any special •qualification or discipline necessary to hold the Priesthood, other than faith, good works, and a desire to ""magnify" the calling. A GREAT social leveler, this "^ "Mormon" idea of Priest- hood. It tends to make all men the same height so far as concerns access to spiritual blessings. And it brings about this religious equal- ization, not by lowering the high, but by raising the lowly. The president of a big business corpor- ation and the man who runs his elevator not only stand on the same plane in their Priesthood meeting, but the hired man may even be a presiding officer in the "quorum" of which his employer is a mem- ber. And nothing is thought of it. Than this power of Priesthood there could be no greater stimulus to individual achievement and self- respect. Another striking characteristic of Priesthood among th^e Latter- day Saints is the method by which it is exercised. T T is commonly believed by non- ■ members of the Church that force, compulsion, coercion, threats, are the means by which government is conducted in "Mor- mon" communities, and that this element of external control is all the more potent because it is under- ground. That indeed has too often been the method used by religions in the past, even by churches that bore the name of the lowly Na- zarene. But that has never been the method sanctioned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The founder of "Mormonism," when asked how he managed to govern such a heterogeneous body as he had gathered in Nauvoo, Illi- nois, is said to have replied, "I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves." And that this statement was more than an off-hand remark spoken on the spur of the moment, is evident by the policy he laid down very de- liberately and included in a volume intended to be for the direction of his people. "The rights of the Priesthood," he says, "are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and the powers of heaven cannot be con- trolled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to ex- ercise control, or dominion, or compulsion, upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heav- ens withdraw themselves, the Spirit of the Lord is grieved ; and when it is withdrawn, amen to the Priest- hood, or the authority, of that man." HTHAT has always been the ideal ■■ held by the Church, and if any man has presumed to employ the Priesthood as a means of compul- sion, he has deviated from the spirit as well as the letter of this standard requirement. The only element the Church considers legit- imate as an instrumentality of re- ligious government is love. For, according to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the same statement quot- ed above, "no power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the Priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned." Such then, in brief, is the char- acter of Priesthood, in theory and practice, among the Latter-day Saints. It is of the very essence of the Church here below. . It furnishes the groundwork of revealed relig- ion. It is co-extensive with the eternal spirit of man, and inheres in human associations. It was given anew in modern times to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and not in- herited by him in a manner in- volved in doubts and questionings. And its motivating power is love rather than compulsion. TN the hundred years since the -■ organization of the Church in this dispensation, Priesthood has undoubtedly been the most potent factor in religious education among the Saints. Accessible, as it has been, to every man, it has given him a dignity and a self-respect, and furnished him with an incen- tive to character-building through thought and work, such as could not have come to him in any other way. It is therefore safe to say that without the Priesthood the "Mor- monism" we know today could not possibly persist, and that with it there is a power in the Church of incalculable value making for righteousness here and for salva- tion and exaltation in the world to come.