The Aaronic priesthood--the lesser division of the priesthood of God--was restored through the ministration of one heavenly being. It appears that John the Baptizer was the man of presiding authority to hold that division of the priesthood during the dispensation of the Meridian of Time. When it became necessary to restore the Aaronic Priesthood, in the new Gospel dispensation, John the Baptizer came to perform the important ceremony. Joseph Smith relates how this great forerunner of Messiah came down from heaven, and in awe-inspiring words, conferred upon him the Holy Priesthood after the order of Aaron. The relation is plain, ungarnished. There is no comment; there is no argument; there is no embellishment; there is no ecstatic eloquence. It is a matter of fact that has happened, and the Prophet states it in his usual, simple, matter of fact way. The Holy Priesthood after the Order of Aaron had been restored, May fifteenth, 1829. But the Aaronic priesthood did not endow the Prophet with full authority to establish the Church of Christ, or even to officiate in the higher ordinances of the Church. The authority of the Higher Priesthood was still necessary to the full accomplishment of the mission of the Prophet. That authority was not long in coming. Less than two months after the appearance of John the Baptizer, Peter, James and John appeared on the banks of the Susquehanna river, and conferred upon the Prophet the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek. Peter, James, and John constituted the presidency of the primitive Church after the crucifixion of Jesus. They formed the presidency of the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek before the dispensation of the fulness of times. When it became necessary in the new dispensation to restore this Priesthood, Peter, James, and John attended personally to the holy ordinance. Again the narrative is plain and simple. The Prophet, however, comes nearer to ecstatic utterance in speaking of the sublime manifestation than is customary with him. Yet, it is after all a matter-of-fact narration of a matter of fact. The Holy Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek was restored through the ministration of Peter, James, and John. Can Joseph Smith be believed in these assertions? Fortunately, he was not alone in these two marvelous manifestations, as he had been in those earlier visions that laid the foundation for the superstructure of the Church. When Joseph Smith went into the wood to pray on May fifteenth, 1829, that he might get light on the ordinance of baptism, Oliver Cowdery was with him. When John the Baptizer appeared, it was not Joseph Smith alone who saw him. Oliver Cowdery saw him as well. And when the Baptizer restored officially the Aaronic Priesthood, it was not Joseph Smith alone whom he ordained. Oliver Cowdery received the same ordination with the Prophet. And Oliver Cowdery has described the event in words of power and vividness.