Abraham understood that this right could only be bestowed by ordination, by one of the fathers who had received it from the fathers in regular descent from Adam. He states that this right was conferred upon him from the fathers, according to his desire. That this right included the authority to regulate the marriage relations, in the future generations of his children, is evident from the further statement, "I sought for mine appointment unto the Priesthood according to the appointment of God unto the fathers concerning the seed." That is, he sought for that especial authority in the Priesthood, through which he had obtained the power of eternal increase. The priest's office was bestowed upon Aaron and his posterity forever, by ordinance and covenant; _Exodus_ 40. 15. Could this have been the case unless his posterity was made an eternal heritage through the everlasting covenant of marriage? This power of uniting husband and wife by an everlasting covenant of marriage, and by that ordinance giving them an eternal right over their posterity, descended from Abraham through the fathers, until Israel, by transgression, forfeited the blessing. From the sharpness with which the prophet Nathan reproved David, and the statement that the Lord had given him the wives of his master Saul; 2 _Sam_. 12. 1-12, it is probable that the prophet held this authority. The great sin of David, apart from the murder of Uriah, was, that he had taken from another man that which the Lord had given him, and stepped outside of his own covenant limits. Whether the prophet Malachi held the keys of this power or not, he evidently saw in prophetic vision, that it would be taken from the earth, and be restored again, that the broken links of past generations might be welded together. For the Lord said, through him, "I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse;" 4. 5, 6. Or as it is rendered in _P. of G. P., page_ 50, "And he shall plant in the hearts of the children, the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers; if it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming." Evidently a very important part of these promises was, that the children would open up the way of salvation to the fathers, through the ordinances of the Gospel, and through them the broken links of past generations would be connected.