Saturday Night Thoughts: A Series of Dissertations on Spiritual, Historical, and Philosophic ThemesWhitney, Orson F. (Orson Ferguson)
Religion
Saturday Night Thoughts: A Series of Dissertations on Spiritual, Historical, and Philosophic Themes
Whitney, Orson F. (Orson Ferguson)
Latter Day Saint churches
Administration of Ordinances.--The Aaronic Priesthood administers in
outward ordinances, such as baptism, and the sacrament of the Lord's
supper. The higher ordinances--confirmations, sealings, adoptions, and
other temple ceremonies--must be administered by the Priesthood of
Melchizedek.
Offices in the High Priesthood--Quorums and Councils.--The Melchizedek
Priesthood comprises, in an ascending scale, the offices of Elder,
Seventy and High Priest. The Patriarch, the Apostle, and the President
must all be high priests after this order. Each specific body of
priesthood is called a quorum, though most of the general priesthood
organizations are termed councils.
The General Authorities.--The highest council in the Church is the
First Presidency. It is composed of three high priests, one of whom is
the President, the others being his First and Second counselors. These
three preside over the entire Church. The President is its Prophet,
Seer and Revelator, and also its Trustee-in-Trust, holding the legal
title to its property.
Next to the First Presidency are the Twelve Apostles. Their special
calling is to preach the Gospel or to have it preached, in all nations.
The Twelve are equal in authority to the First Presidency, but they
exercise the fulness of their powers only in the absence of the higher
council. They have the right to regulate and set in order the whole
Church, but they act under the direction of the First Presidency. The
death of the President dissolves that council, and makes necessary a
new organization thereof. The Apostles nominate the President, who then
chooses his Counselors, and the three are upheld and sustained by the
Church in its public assemblies, called conferences. The duty of the
Presiding Patriarch is to bless the Church, give individual blessings
to its members, and comfort them with spiritual ministrations. He
also assists the Apostles in visiting conferences and missions, and
performing other duties as required.
The First Council of the Seventy, seven in number, preside over
the entire body of the Seventies. These, however, are divided into
quorums of seventy, each quorum having seven presidents of its own.
In the absence of the First Presidency and the Twelve, the First
Council of the Seventy would preside over the Church, associated with
sixty-three others, the senior presidents of the first sixty-three
quorums of seventy. The Seventies labor under the direction of the
Twelve Apostles. They are independent of the stake presidencies and
bishoprics, as quorums, but not as individual members. They are the
"minute men" of the Church, subject to sudden calls into the mission
field.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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