=1. Scriptural Examples.=--It is not less agreeable to the dictates of human reason, than it is conformable to the plan of perfect organization which characterizes the Church of Christ, that all who minister in the ordinances of the Gospel should be called and commissioned for their sacred duties by the authority of heaven. The scriptures sustain this view most thoroughly; they present to us an array of men whose Divine callings are specially attested, and whose mighty works declare a power greater than that of man. On the other hand, not an instance is set down in holy writ of anyone taking to himself the authority to officiate in sacred ordinances, and being acknowledged of the Lord in such administration. =2.= Consider the case of Noah, who "found grace in the eyes of the Lord"[534] in the midst of a wicked world. Unto him the Lord spake, announcing His displeasure with the wicked inhabitants of earth, and the Divine intention concerning the deluge; and instructed him in the manner of building and stocking the ark. That Noah declared the word of God unto his perverse contemporaries is shown in Peter's declaration of Christ's mission in the spirit world,--that the Savior preached to those who had been disobedient during the period of God's long suffering in the days of Noah, and who had in consequence endured the privations of the prison house in the interval.[535] Surely none can question the Divine source of Noah's authority, nor the justice of the retributive punishment following the wilful rejection of his teachings, for his words were the words of God. [534] Gen. vi, 8. [535] I Peter iii, 19-20. =3.= So also with Abraham, the father of the faithful; the Lord called him[536] and made covenant with him for all the generations of his posterity. Isaac[537] was similarly distinguished; likewise Jacob,[538] to whom, as he rested upon his pillow of stones in the desert, the Lord appeared. Unto Moses[539] came the voice of God amidst the fierceness of fire, calling and commissioning the man to go into Egypt and deliver therefrom the people whose cries had come up with such effect before the throne of heaven. In this great work Aaron[540] was called to assist his brother; and later, Aaron and his sons[541] were chosen by Divine direction from the midst of the children of Israel to minister in the priest's office. When Moses[542] saw that his days were numbered, he solicited the Lord to appoint a successor in his holy station; and by special command, Joshua, the son of Nun, was so selected. [536] Gen. xii-xxv; Pearl of Great Price: Book of Abraham. [537] Gen. xxvi, 2-5. [538] Gen. xxviii, 10-15. [539] Exo. iii, 2-10. [540] Exo. iv, 14-16, 27. [541] Exo. xxviii, 1. [542] Numb, xxvii, 15-23.