History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Volume 2Smith, Joseph, Jr.
History
History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Volume 2
Smith, Joseph, Jr.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Smith, Joseph, Jr., 1805-1844
that they may be rightly interpreted. The function of the 'prophet' has
been already indicated. The work of an 'evangelist' mainly consists
in endeavoring to 'bring' in, those who are without. The 'angel' of
the Catholic Apostolic Church, corresponds with the bishop of other
Christian denominations. The ministers of each full congregation
comprise an angel, with a four-fold ministry (consisting of elders,
prophets, evangelists, and pastors;) and a ministry of deacons to take
charge of temporal matters. This ministry is supported by tithes,
the people giving a tenth of their income for the support of the
priesthood. Church affairs were managed by a council of ministers of
all classes, whose selection and arrangement are conceived to have
been foreshadowed in the structure of the Mosaic tabernacle." The
sympathy of the members of the Catholic Apostolic Church at Barnsley
who believed in the spiritual gifts of the Gospel, and what they
understood to be the New Testament organization of the Church, readily
explains the interest they would naturally feel in the Latter-Day
Saints in America, when they would come to hear of the things which
God had established among them; and it is regretted that they did not
send a more faithful representative than Mr. Hewitt to enquire into the
work of the Lord as developed in divine manifestations to the Prophet
Joseph. "This Mr. Hewitt," says John Whitmer in his manuscript history
of the Church, page 52, "did not obey the Gospel; neither would he
investigate the matter. Thus ended the mission of Mr. Hewitt."
4. Of the evangelical or patriarchal order of Priesthood in the Church
it is said in the revelations of God: "The order of this Priesthood was
confirmed to be handed down from father to son, and rightly belongs
to the literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the promises
were made. This order was instituted in the days of Adam, and came
down by lineage in the following manner." Then follow the names of
those who successively held the evangelical Priesthood in ancient
times (Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 107). According to the word of the
Lord, at the time this order of Priesthood was conferred upon Hyrum
Smith, brother of the Prophet, it is said "The Patriarch holds the
keys of the patriarchal blessings upon the heads of all my people,
that whoever he blesses shall be blessed, and whoever he curses shall
be cursed; that whatsoever he shall bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven; and whatsoever he shall loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven." (Doctrine and Covenants, 124, 92, 93.) It was undoubtedly upon
this order of priesthood that the Prophet spoke in the meeting of the
twenty-first of June.
5. Mr. Chandler is responsible for the English of the above
certificate, and I do not feel at liberty to edit it.
{238}
Chapter XVII.
Sundry Council Meetings in Vermont, Ohio, and New York.
_Minutes of the Vermont Conference_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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