At a conference of the Church held at Amherst, Ohio, January 25, 1832, and again at a general council held at Independence, Missouri, April 26, 1832, the Prophet Joseph was acknowledged and sustained as the President of the High Priesthood. The Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, consisting of three members, was not effected, however, until March 18, 1833. Ten days before, on March 8th, the Prophet had received a revelation in which it was commanded that he should continue in the ministry and the presidency. Moreover, the Lord said: "Verily, I say unto thy brethren, Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams, their sins are forgiven them also, and they are accounted as equal with thee in holding the keys of this last kingdom. * * * that through your [the Prophet's] administration they may receive the word, and through their administration, the word may go forth unto the ends of the earth, unto the Gentiles first, and then, behold, and lo, they shall turn unto the Jews."[D] [Footnote D: Doc. and Cov. 90:6-9.] Accordingly, on the eighteenth of the month, Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams were ordained to be first and second counselors to President Joseph Smith. Thus was the earthly presidency of the Church established in the dispensation of the fulness of times. Other quorums and positions of presidency were likewise organized as need demanded. On December 18, 1833, Joseph Smith, Sr., father of the Prophet, was ordained patriarch of the Church, by the Prophet Joseph, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams. And less than two years later it was decreed in a special revelation on Priesthood that--"It is the duty of the Twelve, in all large branches of the church, to ordain evangelical ministers (patriarchs) as they shall be designated unto them by revelation. The order of this Priesthood was confirmed to be handed down from father to son, and rightly belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the promises were made."[E] [Footnote E: Doc. and Cov. 107:39, 40.]