Show ad T S 0 0 TJ IT ISM R S E BY S P GE 0 LT f j U R agnon I 1 DELIVERED in lit the tite tabernacle Tabe macle macie ogden sunday f 11 Iw orning ning I 1 october esth 1884 REPORTED BY JOHN jolis I 1 WILL read a portion of the 7 ath th chapter of pauls epistle epistle to the hebrews ithe the speaker read the whole of the ath eh chapter apter proceeding he said sald this chapter that I 1 have read in your hearing Is the I 1 ath th chapter of pauls epistle to the hebrews in this entire book of hebrews paul reasons with the jews unto whom the epistle was addressed to show them that jesus the son of god whom they had bad crucified was a priest after the order of and that the priesthood which ha had d been taken away during the days of moses in the wilderness nad been restored through him the jews the idea that priesthood necessarily came through the tribe of levi and that tue power and the authority thereof that isto lato minister in all things pertaining to the priesthood were coo confined fined to that tribe and that no one had bad the rig right ht outside of that tribe to officiate in 11 the ordinances pertaining to to god and to mediation between god and the people or the people and god but paul very clearly ohp proved roved in his reasoning with them that at there was a priesthood higher than that wh which ch had been exercised exercise by the descendants of aaron it is well for us who as a people believe in priesthood that we should understand the nature and character and power ot of the priesthood which god confirms u upon pon man when he calls him to act in his stead in the midst of the people A As s a people we differ in our views upon these points fromal from al most every other church there are one or two sec see sects ts in existence which attach a great importance to priesthood but the most of OIL them which form the so called christian world reject the idea of priesthood and deny that it is necessary for it to be bestowed upon man inan this feeling has doubtless arisen as a consequence ot of the abuses ab uses tha that have grown up through the of what is termed the priesthood in rebelling against the catholic church and its cretens pretensions ions lons men have gone to the other dextre extreme me and have discarded the idea of priesthood entirely and claimed that all men are alike before god that all men are equally endowed with authority from god and to exercise the power and the authority that were originally bestowed I 1 s upon those wt who held the truth in these last days in the tion of this church god in his infinite wisdom impressed upon his servant joseph smith the necessity of there being a are arc re bestowal of the Priestl rood food in order to give him the authority to officiate in the ordinances of the km king dom of god this must have been impressed upon the prophets mind at a from the fact that notwithstanding early da day very veri verk wi t yh he e had bad been brought up among the protestant sects and had doub doubtless fless FIess shared in the views which they entertained respecting the right of all mentho men who were impressed by the spirit and who were prompted by an inward call to act as ministers of god he refrained from attempting in the least degree to do anything in the name of god or of jesus christ until he had rec received elwed elied the pow power er and authority from through the bestowal of the high on priesthood upon him the revelations he had received from the lord with the ministration of bf holy angels did not he plainly perceived authorize him to act as a minister of the lord in the administration of ordinances ile he never attempted to do anything in administering ordinances or anything that a priest might do un until 11 he had geen been ocen ordained of god bod through throng i the administration of john the baptist then and not till then did he off officiate clate elate in the ordinance of baptism much as he and his bis companion desired that ordinance much as they desired to become participants in the blessings that flow from the reception of an ordinance anc e of that holy character he never attempted ur until dil all he had been thus empowered from 0 on n high to administer it ft now the pre prevalent valento idea in the world has been that if a man should be so favored as to 10 receive the ministrations visitations of angels or to receive or manifestations of what might be any character he termed a supernatural would be completely invested with the necessary to preach the gospel power unto his fellow men and to administer all the ordinances thereof but the prophet joseph not only received the ministrations of revelations from God which are written in the book of doctrine and covenants and which are now the wa word rd of god to the church lie he received these reve lations through tile the inspiration of the almighty he also by means of the arim and translated the book of mormon was in fact a seer a well as a revelator had bad the spirit of prophecy to predict those things that should take placa piam in the future and many events event s that have since taken place were prophesied of by him before he was really ordained of god to toad ad minister the ordinances of life and salvation I 1 know that this is an exceptional optional instance it may be possible cel cei that there is not another like it in tho history of our race where a man illah of god endowed W WM BO 50 highly favored w with ith such authority such po power and had bad such manifestations ot of the mind and will of god as he lie received without having the holy flocy priesthood but it havethe accor accords wi with t h the ideas so frequently expressed by the brethren respecting tiie the prophet joseph and many others that they were ordained before the foundations of the world were laid to come forth and accomplish tie tle labor and the work that they did there is no DO room for doubt in regard to the truth of this statement that is so frequently made in the early earl V boyhood of the itic prophet joseph he was moved upon in a mysterious manner to seek unto god by the exercise of a faith that was uncommon and in tact fact it may way be said unknown upon the earth he tic was able to receive the ministrations of god the father and of ills son jesus christ thus showing in the very beginning ginning of his career that he was a man roan ora or a spirit thac thad was high highly goli golf favored of god a man to whom god desired to give particular manifestations of his kindness and goodness and power andthil and this wa followed up ap from that time until his bis death by continued manifestations of the favor and the willand wili will and the power of god unto him but it is a remarkable fact tact ad and I 1 wish to impress it I 1 think it is worthy of reme remembrance orance Drance by all of us that notwithstanding the prophet joseph had all these manifestations and was as I 1 have said a prophet a abd aad ad seer a and n d a revelator lie he never attempted notwithstanding the ideas that were so prevalent among mail mati mankind kind and especially ally in the region where lie be lived and where he received his hi s education to officiate in any of the ordinances of the house of god or of the gospel of salvation until he received the everlasting priesthood when that was wa bestowed upon him when he received the priesthood after the order of aaron and was ordained by the angel who alone held the keys who was a literal descendant of aaron and by virtue of that descent entitle entitled a to the kelsof keys of that priesthood having exercised the authority thereof while in the flesh then and not till then did he admiel administer 8 ter the ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins and then theli he refrained from acting in ord ordinances ordinance inanc e s belonging to the priesthood that higher priesthood by the auth authority crity of which the baptism of fire and the holy ghost is administered unto the children of men having authority to baptise in water given unto him he did not go any fall fari farther iier lier until the lord in his kindness and mercy bestowed upon him through the administration oi of those apostles who held the keys keya till the death of our savior the authority to administer in those higher ordinances and to exercise tile the power and authority of this higher priesthood this illustrates most perfectly how careful men ought to be in acting in the name of god not to overstep the bounds sounds of the authority conferred upon them but to carefully care tully keep within those limits that are assigned to them in n which to exercise authority it is a lesson esson unto us as a people ve AVe should be particular ourselves and should I 1 impress m every man with the great care hat that he should exercise to confine his acts to the authority which he has received from the almighty jesus himself no doubt was equally careful in regard to the authority M i aich ile he held ile he was called to be a priest after the order of that Is this higher priesthood ile he exercised exercised the authority thereof among the children of men he still is a priest after that holy order it was bv by virtue of that priesthood that ile he officiated in the ordinances that he administered unto men though the son of god the savior himself did not attempt because of his ills because of his high descent to officiate among the tile celdren children of men aside from and ana independent of tile the authority of the holy priesthood that is the priesthood after the order orde of it was by virtue of that priesthood and authority that he officiated that he administered the baptism of tire and of the holy ghost which john the baptist announced unto the people he would do when he came jesus in administering that baptism and conferring that ble bie blessing asing g did so by virtue of and in the authority of the priesthood he would not as I 1 have sai sat said sald d have dared to do this independent of that authority so in laying his ills hands upon ills his apostles ile he co conferred interred upon them this power and this authority tho rity ile he commanded them to go forth and administer unto the children of men by virtue of that power and authority and the church that ile he built up and this church of ills his that is now established in th these e hsc hse last days and the officers of it de derive rive their authority from that source it has hag come down legitimate legitimately legit lelac lesac from froin the days of in tit alt has come down from our great father adam lie he received the priesthood of the son of god he was ordained to that priesthood hoo and it has come down byll byli by lineal neal descent from him unto all his children who have that authority toda to da dai and und who eker exercise eise else it upon the earth itcan it can be traced in the same manner as the descent of man mail is traced it cali can call be traced to father adam ile he received it th through angelic anelle administration it was bestowed him and upon his son abel and upon lii lit his son seth and from them thein it has come down through the line of the priesthood from seth to enos from enos to calnan cainan from cainan to and so on down until the days of noah who received it from his grandfather these men were ordained in their various generations to this priesthood the priesthood after atter the holiest hollest order the priesthood after the order of the son aon of god by virtue of this priesthood noah and his sons ministered and labored as we are told among the children of men to persuade thein them to forsake their sins and to turn to tn righteousness lest the lord should overwhelm them with wit wha tha a flood this flood hood had been predicted long iong before it came enoch had bad beheld it in vision and he went forth as we are told in lit the record that has come i down to us from him and labored to the best ot of his ability among the children of men to avert the dreadful consequences of this threatened nood hood which he had been informed by the lord would overwhelm the inhabitants because of their wickedness lie lle labored in this priesthood for years and upwards that is he walked with god for tor that length of time and by the exercise of that priesthood he obtained such great power from god that he and his people were translated zion was not it was taken to the bosom of the lord the priesthood however was still left his ills son methuselah received it and he bestowed it upon lamech lam Lar mech and noah re received lafrom it from methuselah and the sons of noah received and exercised the authority of it in the midst of the childr enof men in order to save them but were unsuccessful received it and because of his greatness and the power that he attained unto with god be he became so distinguished that the priesthood after the order of the son of god has been called alter his name dame from that time until the present to avoid as we are told in it the E e revelations the too frequent repetition of the name of our lord and ahoi savior jesus christ then abraham received it and he be bestowed towed it upon his children Moses however received it through a dlf dif different feren line tine as we are told lie ile received it i om his father in law Jeth roand exe ased it ft among the people it was t same priesthood that his bis ancestor A ballam hold hoed held heid and by it be tie per perform performs forna i 1 the mighty ty works that he tied to return again to Melchised rc we find here that paul in s speaking about him says that he was ang ong king of peace and he goes on to say as we have it translated that helas be was without father without mother without descent having neither beginning of days nor end ot oi life and the whole christian world have gone astray oyer this expression pres slon sion of paul not being able to understand der stand it thinking that that which I 1 read in your hearing re referred ferrod to ch himself when in reality it was the priesthood he bore it was after the power of an endless life it had no be beginning inning no end it is eternal as our father and god and it extends lutt into the eternities to come and it is as endless as eternity is endless and as our god la endless for it is the power and authority by which our father and god sits upon ills his throne and wields the power ile he does throughout the innumerable numera ble bie worlds over which ile he exercises dominion it Is the power authority by which tife toe son of lord and savior jesus christ has attained unto to that which has promised unto him film and by which he has become the havior and the redeemer of the world Q this priesthood as I 1 have sald said came down unto mose but the children of israel would not have itin it in their midst we are told very plainly in the revelations that moses diligently to sanctify his people and ad to lead them into the presence of god by means of this priesthood but they would not have it the ordinances of godliness that were administered by it were not acceptable to that generation they rejected them and besought moses alases to stand between them and their father and god for they could not endure his tits presence hence the priesthood was taken away and there was no exercise ot of the power and the authority of it among the tile jews except occasionally when prophets received authority from the lord until the days of the savior when it was restored once more in its falness and in the plenitude of ats ts power to the earth and men be bean began an to exercise the authority thereof my nl brethren and sisters we are b building ng temples at the present time in which we have ordinances administered unto us for those who have died why is this necessary it is because the priesthood of the son of god was way withdrawn foe for a long period of time from the earth the children of men have bave been born they have lived rived 9 they have died without any of the ordinances being |