"Few things about Jesus are more striking or unquestionable than his sense of authority," says a noted theological student.[A] To Latter-day Saints this statement is of peculiar interest. They believe that "a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands, by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof."[B] A ceremony performed by a man not so called and ordained can be of no authoritative effect. The sense of authority, then, found so strikingly present in the ministry of Jesus, is but the divine appreciation and the divine manifestation of the necessity of authority. "I am not come of myself,"[C] He was wont to say; "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive."[D] That appreciation of the necessity of divine authority was so strongly marked in the ministry of Jesus, that He called attention to it even in the sending forth of His apostles. It was not enough that He should be called of God; they, too, must receive the call and be ordained. "Ye have not chosen me," He said, emphasizing the fact that a man cannot choose of himself to become an apostle of the Lord, "but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit;"[E] for "as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you."[F] And the apostles in their turn learned so well to understand the principle of divine authority that they challenged the ministry of any man who was not authorized by Jesus. "A man can receive nothing," explained John the Baptizer when his disciples complained that Jesus drew all men to Him, "except it be given him from heaven."[G] And Paul explained that no man can take the honor of the priesthood to himself, "but he that is called of God as was Aaron."[H] [Footnote A: Prof. Samuel Dickey, "The Significance of the Baptism of Jesus for His Conception of His Ministry," in "Biblical World," June, 1911.] [Footnote B: Fifth Article of Faith.] [Footnote C: John 7:28.] [Footnote D: John 5:43.] [Footnote E: John 15:16.] [Footnote F: John 20:21.] [Footnote G: John 3:27.] [Footnote H: Heb. 5:4.]