Keys Committed.--The Prophet goes on to say that the Angels who hold the keys of spiritual powers and blessings--"authoritative characters"--men in heaven having children on earth--"will come down and join hand in hand in bringing about this work." [9] At the time of that utterance, this phase of the Latter-day Work had begun, the founder of the Church having received from heavenly messengers the keys of authority and power held by them in past dispensations. The Aaronic Priesthood had been conferred by John the Baptist, [10] and the Melchizedek Priesthood by Peter, James and John. [11] Without this divine authorization the Church could not have been established, the Ensign could not have been raised for the gathering of scattered Israel. Already have I related how the keys of the gathering were committed to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple. Elias and Elijah--But more was to follow. In that wonderful record of visions manifested to these Elders, and testified of by them, occurs this solemn affirmation: "Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the Gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed. "After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us, for Elijah the Prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us and said-- "Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi, testifying that he (Elijah) should be sent before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come, "To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse. "Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands, and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors." [12] The Same Yet Not the Same.--"Elias," considered as a name, is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew "Elijah." Compared references in the New and Old Testaments clearly establish their verbal identity. [13] But Joseph Smith distinguished between "the spirit of Elias" and "the spirit of Elijah," the former a forerunner, the latter holding the sealing powers necessary to complete the work of preparation for Messiah's advent. [14] Elijah, therefore, is not to be confounded with Elias--that is to say, with the Elias who committed the keys of the Abrahamic dispensation. There are many Eliases, in the sense of the lesser preparing the way before the greater; and by one of them Abraham's keys were restored, in order that the blessings anciently pronounced upon the Father of the Faithful might be extended to his posterity in modern times.