_3. The Presidency:_ The idea of Presidency of the Church like all things else seems to have passed through a course of development. At the first organization effected on the 6th of April, 1830, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were sustained as the First and Second Elders of the Church (Doc. & Cov. Sec. xx and Sec. xxi, History of the Church, vol. I, pp. 76-78.) Subsequently on the 25th of January, 1832, Joseph Smith was ordained President of the High Priesthood at a conference at Amherst, Ohio; in which position he was sustained by a general conference of the Church held in Zion (Independence, Mo.), on the 26th of April, 1832. On March 8th, 1833, a revelation was given announcing Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams to be equal with the Prophet in holding the keys of the kingdom (Doc. & Cov. Sec. xc:6); on the 18th of the same month, these brethren expressed the desire to be ordained to their office. "Accordingly," remarked the Prophet, "I laid my hands on Brother Sidney and Frederick, and ordained them to take part with me in holding the keys of this last kingdom and to assist in the Presidency of the High Priesthood, as my counselors." (History of the Church, vol. I, p. 334.) On the 5th of December, 1834, Oliver Cowdery was brought into the Presidency of the High Priesthood--which is also the Presidency of the Church--taking his place as "Second Elder" of the Church (see History of the Church vol. II, p. 176 and foot note). In pursuance of this arrangement it will be found on the title page of the "Doctrine and Covenants" Issued at Kirtland in August, 1835, that these four brethren are set forth is the Presiding Elders of the Church, as follows: _Compiled by_ Joseph Smith, Junior, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams, (Presiding Elders of Said Church). On March the 28th, 1835, however, a revelation was received in which it is said: "Of the Melchisedek Priesthood, three presiding High Priests, chosen by the body, appointed and ordained to that office, and upheld by the conference, faith, and prayer of the church, form a quorum of the Presidency of the church." (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 107, ver. 22.) And to this law the matter of Presidency of the High Priesthood and of the Church, the latter always goes with the former, has been conformed.