| Show priesthood AND THE RIGHT OF succession A lecture by elder B 11 roberts delivered in the assembly halt hall salt lake city utah february 1892 at 7 30 p tn under the auspices 0 of f the y M M I 1 association of f the salt lake stake BY J M WHITAKER there Is in only one thing I 1 regret connected necked with the appointment of this thie evening Yent ng that ab 1 a great many and perhaps all of the mutual improve went associations in this ehte city have discontinued their regular meetings go fr for the purpose of being present at this meeting but I 1 trust the im importance of the subject to be considered efm in part at least reward us for that rather extraordinary proceeding the subject I 1 propose dealing with this evening is IF THIC THE AND THE RIGHT BIGHT or 11 to stand before an audience of this proportion is of itself sufficient to nume make one ones s heart quake to undertake before such an suai audience ence to deal with a subject so weighty in its importance Ar tainy is calculated to add to the perplexity laxity of a speaker ana an 1 I 1 do not dot enow w that at any aby time in my life I 1 have elt more in need of the assistance of oar father in heaven and his good forit than I 1 do ajio now I 1 have learned wad and that by a rather W d experience the truth of what wa at paul klong loog time ago de declared clarea that la is that W man the things of god but by the spirit of goi under abder the jD influence fluence of that chat spirit we may learn in part something pertaining to the things of god without it ir we may despair to arrive at any considerable knowledge in relation to those things therefore There forb I 1 earnestly ask you to remember the petition that was of by brother geddes in behalf of us all that the lord would deign to meet with us upon this occasion and by the outpouring of his holy spirit enable us to learn something pertaining to this great subject with these remarks we now turn our attention to the subject under consideration in the statement of the subject we are first confronted with the question what li Is priesthood the greater portion of this congregation are familiar with the definition the latter day saints bat ants have learned to give that word it is power which god delegates to man by which man is made m a de the agent of god by which he be way may by and in the name of god act for him that is ie priesthood as we it for the benefit of the younger brethren and sisters who may not gr grasp p the full import of these words without illustration I 1 offer the following there lis is such a thing known among men as power of attorney it is this a man possesses property in this city perhaps real estate perhaps a mershan me rohan roban daeing establishment establish ment 4 bonds stocks of various kinds but he does doe not reside here his home homel is sait at a distance and he is not able to give his a personal attention attena to his bis business interests in 1 this location he be therefore selects r some iome man in whom he has baa confidence la in whose business integrity he places great re clauce llauce and he says to him I 1 wish you to become my agent to act for me to take possession of this property to manipulate it with a view to in oreas cress ing my wealth and in order that the proceedings may be lawful and that the people may have confidence in your transactions we will go to a notary public anddrew and draw up an instrument stating that I 1 give to you this authority that you shall act for me and it shall be signed and the seal of the ahe court shall be placed upon it that is ia done aud and the agent equipped with bis power of attorney goes into busi ness circles be buys he sells be makes contracts signs them disposes uis poses of property orty pr and purchases purchased other property lie he does whatever his judg ment dictates as being wlee wine and profitable and by whatsoever he boesso long as he continues within the lines marked out in this power of attorney the principal is bound he to is compelled in law to respect the acts of his bis agent and whatsoever he shall do when acting under the law is just as good and valid as if the owner of the property himself were performing the transactions we call that power of attorney priesthood is something cometh i ng like that it is power which god gives to men by which they are made his agents and when operating in the same way that this agent we have been speaking of does they do whatever they are appointed to do by the lord almighty and so long as they act in accordance with the law of the gospel so go long as they act in harmony with the prescribed powers of the priesthood whatsoever they shall do is just fust as binding and valid as if the lord almighty from whom they receive or derive their authority had performed the act himself if a man clothed upon with the holy priesthood goes mong among the na eions of the earth and an d preaches the gospel and induces men to repent of their sins aud and then takes them down into the waters of baptism and buries them in the likeness of christ christs Chrls ts s birth and brings them up in the likeness or of christs resurrection thus baptizing them for the remission of their sins sino that is just as an well as t it ther the lord jews jesu christ himself administered theorda theor di naves nance or it if in a further pursuance of their duty they shall shah lay jay their hands bands upon the beads of adf those they have baptized and confirm them members member of the church of christi and say my acre receive ye the holy ghost that is J just as valid as if the lord himself had performed that ordinance hence it comes that we have it written in the scripture that whoso choso receive th you messiah speake speaking 0 of f the servants of god recel hetvin e and he that reject eth you reject eth me and him that sent me furthermore we have it recorded in modern revelation that k whether by mine own voice or the voice ofay of my servants it is the same from this you will see how bow great the power of the priest hood Is ie the power from god to act in his name for the salvation of the children of men such is in priesthood I 1 scarcely need to dwell upon the ibe greatness of this power upon its im port anoe upon its value value can you value it can you measure its worth by anything known to the children of men it Is in sometimes amusing to see how self belt important a little authority even worldly authority will make men take those for instance who are noticed by the kings and queens and emperors of the world those who are made ministers and representatives of foreign nations what airs they assume assumed how important they esteem their position why it causes them to don special apparel that they may bed be distinguished from the rest of their dellowe fello fel lowe wp and if this were wanting you can pick them them thein out by the extraordinary strut in their walk they attach very great importance to being the representatives of kings and potentates tec tep and sometimes clothed with this little brief authority as an one of our chief poets has said they play ouch euch fan bastic tricks before high heaven as make the bagels angels weep 29 2 9 I 1 have wondered sometimes if they do not laugh compare this brief worldly authority with the priesthood what is it nay dont look upon the agents or ministers of kings but go to the principal princ apal go to the king or emperor himself and what is his authority A thing which today is and tomorrow is not the privilege of waving a sceptre for a few brief years over a portion of gods footstool and a very small portion at that and after a few troubled yea years rs of unsatisfied ambition the sceptre falls from his hand and the king like the pea peasant hant passes away his reign is over his glory at an end not so with those who receive the y authority of which I 1 am speaking priesthood the man who receives that receives an everlasting inheritance an everlasting power if he will but be true to it if he will but be aith faithful and continue in righteousness thing which will not be stripped from him when life shall have run mn its coursed course no the priesthood is in no such power as that but it has leen beed conferred upon men that they may be agents of god here in time and agents of god in eternity the priesthood that man receives is not laid aside even at death but follows him into the world of spirits spirl te where he way may continue to minister to those who sit in daran darkness to those who have lived upon the tee earth eart when the truth was obscured in the rubbish ru libish of human traditions tradition and when people were deceived by the cunning and craft of men there they have the privilege of enlightening the minds of their fellows and leading them to the truth as they did here and when their spirits shall again be reunited with their bodies their priesthood does riot not end there either but so long as time shall last or immortality itself endure just so long shall this power continue with those who are faithful unto it and they shall have the everlasting privilege of doing good aud being the representatives for or god and help him in the work of redeeming the children of men I 1 come to this conclusion from one of the revelations to the church through the prophet joseph smith which says that they of the celestial glory speaking of the be time after the resurrection shall minister to those of the terrestrial glory and they theyon of the terrestrial glory shall minister to those of the glory and what to is the object of this thia ministration why it must be for the purposed leading the children of men to the truth or of taking them by the hand and going higher and still higher in the scale of intelligence and or of progression until every son ron and every daughter of god shall receive all the honor all the glory all the power and happiness that jt it is possible for their natures to encompass such then is the priesthood we are considering this priesthood Js divided juto into two great divisions better not say divided rather say its powers are grou grouped ped under two great heads one called the edek and the other the the power and authority of the lower lesser or priesthood is to hold the keys of the ministering of angels and to administer outward ordinances the letter of the Goop elthe baptism of repentance for the remission of sins sine agreeable to the covenants and commandments 1 the officers in this priesthood are priests teachers and deacons de acone and the bishopric is the presidency of that priesthood the power and authority of the higher or Melchi sedek 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 theato commune with the general assembly and church of the firstborn first born and to enjoy the communion com munion and presence of god the father and jesus the mediator of the new covenant the officers of this priesthood are apostles patriarchs seventies high priests and elders in the section of the doctrine and covenants from which I 1 have been reading section concerning the he powers of the Priest hoods boods I 1 find it said that of necessity there are presidents or presiding officers growing out of or appointed of or from among those who are ordained to the several offices jn in these two Priest hoods 01 I 1 wish to here make a distinction between the priesthood and the rights of presidency dendy over these quorums qu presidency is a thing quite quate distinct from priesthood itself ILIS simply an appointment for instance a high priest way may be appointed a president of a stake and after a time some circumstance or other may arise that makes his bis resignation necessary hie priesthood ho however wimer is ie not taken from him by any means but his bis appointment has been discontinued in the church there are three great presiding quorums equal in authority I 1 fro read from the doctrine and covenants Covo nants in support of this statement 61 of the th melt melchus bleed priesthood three presiding high priests chosen by the body lap appointed pointed and ordained to that office and upheld by the confidence faith faita and prayer of the church form a quorum of the presidency of the church the twelve traveling counselors are called to te be the twelve apostles or special witnesses of the name of christ ina in all the world thus differing from other officers in the church hi the duties of their calling and they form a quorum equal in authority and power to the three presidents previously mentioned W the seventies are also called to preach the gospel and to be forcial especial witnesses unto the gentiles and in U an all the world thus di differing frering from other officers of the church in the duties of their calling and they form a quorum equal in authority to that of the twelve special witnesses or apostles just named 11 doe doc cov COT section 10 however it is stated in a subsequent paragraph that the twelve apostles act under under the direction of the first presidency and the seventies are directed in their labors by the quorum of the twelve apostles it to is not necessary for me to dwell at any length indeed I 1 have not time to do so upon the duties and various responsibilities of the different quorums of the priesthood it is not necessary that I 1 should do so in treating the question under consideration it is enough for my purpose on this occasion to call your attention to these three general councils in the church which when unanimous in their decision are equal in authority one would think no argument was necessary to establish the fact that it if for any cause whatsoever ver the first of these theme councils the first presidency should be destroyed or removed from the church that the next quorum in power would have the right to preside over the church and regulate the affairs thereof pending the reorganization of the first presidency and yet in the experience of the saints saint away back in 1844 when the prophet joseph who was at the time the president of the church and his brother hyrum who was his counselor were laid low by the hand band of assa assassins sollis the church for a brief period was at a loss lose to know upon whom or upon what quorum the responsibility of the presidency of the church would fall ambitious men arose tin in the church and for a time distracted the minds of the sainte at that time the twelve apostles were scattered through the eastern states upon various missions the only members at nauvoo were willard richards and john taylor john taylor being severely wounded at the massacre of the prophets was not able tobe to be very active in asserting the rights of the twelve apostles to take charge of the affairs of the church and direct them in the midst of these difficulties the remaining counselor in the first presidency sidney rigdon returned from began laying claims to the right of succession to the prophet joseph he did not make this claim directly perhaps he was fearful that if he did so he be would be rejected by the church for I 1 am sorry to have it to say that this man who w was as so gifted by nature whose tongue was sufficiently eloquent to hold spellbound spell bound congregations while he expounded in great clearness the principles of eternal life this man for fora a few years previous to the death of the prophet was unfaithful in his bis calling it was notorious throughout the church that joseph the prophet had made an effort to gut got rid gid of him a year or two before his death inthe in the presence of the congregation of the saints sainta assembled in nauvoo he declared that he would carry barry him no longer and yet his brother hyraw who perhaps more than any other man in this dispensation was the personification of mercy arom before abal conference and pleaded for sidney rigdon bigdon and anda asked aked ehst ht he he |
