This has reference doubtless to the patriarchal office in the Priesthood, since in the subsequent verses he says, "But the records of the fathers, even the patriarchs, concerning the right of Priesthood the Lord my God preserved in mine own hands; therefore a knowledge of the beginning of the creation, and also of the planets, and of the stars, as they were made known unto the fathers, have I kept even unto this day, and I shall endeavor to write some of these things upon this record for the benefit of my posterity that shall come after me." The manner in which this sacred record "The Book of Abraham" came into the hands of the Prophet Joseph Smith, is to be found in the History of the Church, Vol. II, p. 236, 348-350 and foot note. _6. The "Call" of Abraham:_ "In that course of God's dealing with man which is traced in the sacred narrative, a new step was taken by the choice of a Family from which the promised seed of the woman was to spring, and which should meanwhile preserve the knowledge and worship of the true God. Jehovah, in the revelation of himself to man, retires, so to speak, from the whole compass of the race of Noah into the inner circle of the family of Abraham. It was a step required by the state of the world, which had relapsed into idolatry and profaneness before the death of Noah. This is clear from the story of the building of Babel, and it is implied in the subsequent history. Joshua expressly says that the family of Terah were idolaters. * * * * * The patriarch whom God made the head of his chosen family was born only two years after the death of Noah. * * * * * He was now seventy-five years old; and this is the period usually assigned to the 'Call' of Abraham; though it was, in fact, the second step of his career. In tracing these stages, it is important to observe the special form of promise and blessing of which each was the occasion. The first of these involves the germ of all the rest, though as yet but vaguely stated:--"I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and, thou shalt be a blessing (to others): and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." The last words already involve the crowning blessing of the Old Covenant, the Promise of the Messiah, and that to the Gentiles, "all families of the earth." (Dr. Smith's Old Testament History, p. 67 and 70.)