Divine Authority--Without it all Gospel Administrations Vain--It Cannot
be Acquired--The Priesthood, its Antiquity, Power and Blessings--The
Priesthood of Melchisedek--The Aaronic Priesthood--Priestcraft--The
Authority of God Must Come From God--Ordination--Value of the
Priesthood.
The ordinances of the gospel, being of divine origin, require divine
authority in their administration. Baptism at the hands of one not
appointed to attend to it is void. It is therefore without value
and without effect. If any unauthorized person were to lay hands
upon a baptized believer, even if the correct form of the ordinance
were observed, the Holy Ghost would not flow to the subject. No
matter how good the intentions of either party might be, the lack
of authority would vitiate the whole transaction. No company, firm,
society, court or government would acknowledge or become responsible
for the acts of any but its duly appointed and properly accredited
agents. Why then should the Great King endorse the doings of men who
take upon themselves duties not required of them, or bestow, through
their unauthorized performance, blessings that belong only to the
administrations of His chosen ambassadors?
It is strange that intelligent persons who clearly perceive the
necessity of valid authority in human affairs, should imagine that it
is not necessary in divine affairs; that while no earthly potentate
would be expected to pay the slightest attention to proceedings
of any pretended representative of a nation or ruler, the Eternal
Monarch of the universe must needs honor the acts of any individual
of a devotional cast of mind, who chooses to perform ceremonies and
ordinances in His great name.
A man may have such faith in God as to obtain choice blessings, behold
visions, receive heavenly gifts, and lay hold upon extraordinary
spiritual powers, and yet have no right to administer any ordinance in
the name of the Lord. Man cannot acquire this authority; it must be
conferred upon him in the appointed way.
In every age when the Almighty has had a church or organized body
of true worshipers on earth, He has sent among them men who were
authorized by Him to act in His name. Of such were Noah, Melchisedec,
Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John, and many others. They
were not only endowed with the Holy Ghost, but were also appointed and
set apart to administer needful rites in God's stead. What they sealed
on earth by this authority was sealed in heaven, and what they loosed
on earth was loosed in heaven. In other words, what they performed,
as directed of God, was accepted by Him and was of the same force as
though attended to by Him in person. Any authority less than this is
the same as no authority.
This delegated power from God to man is called the Priesthood.
Sometimes this term is used in reference to the men who hold this
authority. Properly speaking, however, it relates to the office rather
than the person. Melchisedec was a great high priest, and the authority
he held was eternal in its nature; without beginning of days or end of
life. It did not depend upon lineage either of father or mother, and
it is written that he who holds it in faithfulness "abideth a priest
continually;" that is, he retains it in this world, and also in the
world to come. Aaron received a Priesthood which was of another order,
and that ran in a family line, descending from father to son, and was
subordinate to the higher Priesthood after the order of Melchisedec.
John the Baptist held and administered the Aaronic or lesser
Priesthood, but Jesus received and acted in the Melchisedec or higher
Priesthood. So John could baptize the repentant for the remission of
sins, but could not confer the Holy Ghost as Jesus did. In like manner,
Philip, acting in the lesser Priesthood, could baptize the people of
Samaria, but had to send for Peter or some other apostle acting in the
higher Priesthood, to come down and lay hands upon them, that they
might receive the Holy Ghost.
Jesus did not take this authority upon Himself although he was the
Son of God. "He glorified not Himself to be made an High Priest," but
His Father called Him, saying, "Thou art a Priest forever, after the
order of Melchisedec." Moses and Elijah held similar authority in
their day and retained it when they left the sphere of mortality. And
they came and administered in that Priesthood to Jesus on the Mount of
Transfiguration. As the Father called Him, so called He the apostles,
and so, under divine direction, they called and ordained others.
Thus the Priesthood in both orders or branches was continued in the
early Christian Church, until through transgression, it was taken from
among men, and in its place a spurious priesthood, destitute of divine
authority, divine inspiration and divine power, was set up by ambitious
and designing men. This is priestcraft, the base counterfeit of the
true and heavenly coin.
When the Priesthood is once lost it cannot be regained merely by the
hopes, wishes or acts of men. No matter how strong a desire any one
may have to benefit his fellow man, he must not attempt to administer
to him any ordinance or ceremony of the gospel unless called of God so
to do. And this call does not come to men merely "in the heart" or the
imagination. A great many enthusiastic persons have felt themselves
"called" to the ministry. But this over-anxiety does not give them the
Priesthood, any more than strong wishes of a politician for the post
of minister to Berlin, clothe him with authority to represent this
government in the German empire.
The Priesthood is given by ordination. When there is no man living
in the flesh, who holds this authority, its restoration can only be
effected by the administration of heavenly beings who formerly held
it on the earth. They can return when so permitted and instructed,
as Moses and Elias did on the mount. But when the link is restored,
they never step over the line of the two spheres for this purpose
again, while there remains one man on the earth holding the legitimate
authority. For God's house is a house of order, and the rights and
powers of His Priesthood cannot be invaded with impunity either by
mortal men or the heavenly hosts.
Under divine inspiration and certain rules and provisions, those
who hold this Priesthood may ordain others by the laying on of
hands. Thus, while mankind are worthy of its administrations and
accompanying blessings, it may be perpetuated in the earth, a medium
of communication between God and man, a guide for the feet of erring
mortals to the straight and narrow path that leadeth unto life. Without
it, the inhabitants of the earth wander in spiritual darkness, and
those who presume to step forward as their teachers, are blind leaders
of the blind, and all their ministrations in the name of Him who never
sent them are vain, worthless and without force or virtue in time or
eternity.