Like the early narratives about how the Book of Mormon came to be, the early accounts of priesthood restoration are more nuanced and fascinating than the simple, unified story that is told today. The earliest reference to priesthood authority appeared in the 1833 Book of Commandments, the earliest version of, and precursor to, the Doctrine and Covenants (fig. 48). According to a revelation received in June 1829, Oliver Cowdery was "baptized [one month earlier on 15 May] by the hand of my servant Joseph Smith], according to that which I have commanded him."⁽¹⁾ Lucy Smith, the prophet's mother, explained the circumstances and medium by which she understood that this command from God had come to her son:

One morning however they sat down to their usual work [Joseph and Oliver were translating in Third Nephi in the Book of Mormon] when the first thing that presented itself to Joseph was a commandment from God that he and Oliver should repair to the water & each of them be baptized[. T]hey immediately went down to the susquehanae river and obeyed the mandate given them through the Urim and Thummin[. As they were on their return to the house they overheard Samuel [Smith] in a secluded spot engaged in secret prayer [.] They had now received authority to baptize ... and they [then] spoke to Samuel who went withe them straightway to the water and was baptized (fig. 49).⁽²⁾

At this early date the view was that the commandment received through the urim and thummim is what gave Joseph and Oliver the authority to baptize.

In 1885 David Whitmer, another New York church member and one of the three special witnesses to the Book of Mormon, told the same version of how Joseph and Oliver received their authority:

I moved Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to my father[']s house in Fayette[,] Seneca County New York, from Harmony, Penn. in the year [June] 1829 [so they could finish translating the Book of Mormon. O]n our way I conversed freely with them upon this great work they were bringing about, and Oliver stated to me in Joseph presence that they had baptized each other seeking by that to fulfill the command ... I never heard that an Angel had ordained Joseph and Oliver to the Aaronic priesthood until the year 1834[, 183]5[,] or [183]6--in Ohio. My information from Joseph and Oliver upon this matter being as I have stated, and that they were commanded so to do by revealment through Joseph. I do not believe that John the Baptist ever ordained Joseph and Oliver as stated and believed by some. I regard that as an error, a misconception.⁽³⁾

Shortly after arriving at the Peter Whitmer Sr. home, according to statements, Joseph and Oliver received additional authority in the same manner as before. Now they would be able to bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost. Because Joseph had been promised this higher authority when they were baptized, he was "anxious" and "diligent in prayer" to receive it. He explained how God gave them this greater authority in the Whitmer home in June 1829 (fig. 50):

We had for some time made this matter a subject of humble prayer, and at length we got together in the Chamber [upper story] of Mr Whitmer's house in order more particularly to seek of the Lord what we now so earnestly desired ... [w]e had not long been engaged in solemn and fervent prayer, when the word of the Lord, came unto us in the Chamber, commanding us; that I should ordain Oliver Cowdery to be an Elder in the Church of Jesus Christ, And that he also should ordain me to the same office, and then to ordain others ... [W]e were however commanded to defer this our ordination untill, such times, as it should be practicable to have our brethren, who had been and who should be baptized, assembled together ...⁽⁴⁾

This meeting and the anticipated ordinations took place on 6 April 1830, the day the church was organized.⁽⁵⁾ Two months later a revelation published in the Book of Commandments referred to their new, higher priesthood authority by affirming that "commandments were given to Joseph, who was called of God and ordained an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of this church; And also to Oliver, who was also called of God an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of this church, and ordained under his [Joseph's] hand." In other words, they received a calling in the Whitmer home and ordained each other at the first church conference, and this authorized the two men to function as elders; angelic ordinations were not mentioned. The Book of Commandments goes on to explain that an elder holds the authority to preside, ordain other elders, and bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost.⁽⁶⁾

The term elder was also at this time synonymous with the term apostle and should not be confused with the later office or apostolic keys, both of which would not be introduced until early 1835. At first, anyone who was ordained an elder was considered to be an apostle. The Book of Commandments says, "An apostle is an elder."⁽⁷⁾ In an 1830 letter of introduction for Orson Pratt to the Colesville branch, Joseph Smith and John Whitmer called Pratt "another Servant and apostle.⁽⁸⁾ Pratt had just been ordained an elder the day before. Sidney Rigdon wrote on 4 January 1831: "I send you this letter by John Whitmer. Receive him, for he is a brother greatly beloved, and an Apostle of this church." Whitmer was an elder. Ezra Booth recorded in 1831 that Ziba Peterson, an early missionary who had committed a wrongdoing, "was deprived of his Elder and Apostleship."⁽⁹⁾ Jared Carter noted in his 1831 journal about being ordained an elder, "I received the authority of an apostle."⁽¹⁰⁾

The Book of Commandments outlines Joseph's authority to found the church. Section 24, dated June 1830, states that Joseph: (1) "received a remission of his sins"; (2) received a "call ... to his holy work" from an angel who gave him the means to translate the Book of Mormon; (3) that angels showed the book to others and thus "confirmed" it to them; (4) that the Church of Christ was organized on 6 April 1830; and that (5) on that same day, Joseph and Oliver ordained each other elders, having been "called of God" to do so; concluding, (6) "Wherefore having so great witnesses, by them shall the world be judged."⁽¹¹⁾ Nothing yet suggested that Joseph and Oliver had received authority by angelic ordination.

Significantly, teachings on ministerial authority in the Book of Commandments mirror what is found in the Bible as well as in the Book of Mormon and the Book of Moses. Aside from the New Testament influence on the Book of Moses, notice that Adam receives priesthood by the voice of God which directed him to open a gospel dispensation by baptizing, bestowing the Holy Ghost, and ordaining others (5:4-9; 6:51-7:1). Adam then gave these ordinances to his worthy descendants: "And thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity. Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons" (6:67-68).

In the Bible God's command to his prophets authorizes them to carry out various assignments and to ordain others. Moses was called by God's voice out of a burning bush, and it was God's spirit that commanded him to ordain Aaron. The voice of God called Samuel to be a prophet and judge and to anoint Saul and David as kings. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, as well as Lehi in the Book of Mormon, were called by the voice of the Lord in dreams and visions. Following the biblical pattern, Lehi ordained other Nephites.⁽¹²⁾

Four hundred and fifty years later the Nephite civilization divided into two separate geographical centers, one at Zarahemla and the other at Lehi-Nephi under the wicked king Noah. Abinadi, a citizen of Lehi-Nephi, said "the Lord ... commanded me" to preach. In preaching he converted Alma, a young man in Noah's court, who taught Abinadi's words and converted more than two hundred. By God's command alone. Alma baptized and ordained followers and organized a church: "Alma took Helam, he being one of the first, and went and stood forth in the water, and cried, saying: O Lord, pour out thy Spirit upon thy servant, that he may do this work ... and ... the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he [Alma] said: Helam, I baptize thee, having authority from the Almighty God ..." Alma and Helam both submerged themselves and "arose and came forth from the water rejoicing, being filled with the Spirit." They baptized each other, in other words. Afterwards, Alma baptized the rest of the multitude, who were "filled with the grace of God. And they were called the church of God, or the church of Christ, from that time forward. And it came to pass that whosoever was baptized by the power and authority of God was added to his church. And it came to pass that Alma, having authority from God, ordained priests."⁽¹³⁾

A generation passed and Noah's son King Limhi "and many of his people were desirous to be baptized; but there was none in the land that had authority from God ... Therefore they did not at that time form themselves into a church, waiting upon the Spirit of the Lord. Now they were desirous to become even as Alma and his brethren, who had fled into the wilderness" (Mosiah 21:32-34).

The Nephite model is a consistent one in that "the Spirit of the Lord" authorizes men to baptize and ordain each other and to organize a church. This corresponds exactly to the Book of Commandments pattern for receiving authority. There are periods during which ordinations occur in an orderly succession, but when the chain is broken, another prophet is called by God's voice or by his Spirit to begin the cycle anew.

To continue the Nephite example, another prophet named Nephi is introduced, this one a son of Helaman in about 1 A.D. As a successor to a line of prophets from Alma's time, Nephi has the authority to baptize, to bestow the Holy Ghost, and to ordain. Christ appears in 34 A.D.and declares that the old law is fulfilled, then introduces a new covenant by orally reaffirming Nephi's authority to baptize. By this oral authority, the Nephite twelve are commissioned to bestow the Holy Ghost and to ordain others. Thereafter, these Nephites ordain other men in an orderly succession. As the twelve die, "there were other disciples ordained in their stead."⁽¹⁴⁾

These recitals in the Bible and in Joseph's revelations, including those in the Book of Commandments, are consistent. God calls a man by voice or by spirit to open a gospel dispensation or to commence a mission of preaching repentance. This call authorizes the individual to baptize and to ordain others. In none of these scriptural writings do we find other-worldly beings laying hands upon mortals to bestow priesthood authority.

Joseph Smith was commanded to search the Book of Mormon itself for instructions on how to receive and dispense priesthood authority. A revelation (BofC 15:3/D&C 18:3-4) given June 1829 instructed him: "I give unto you a commandment, that you rely upon the things which are written [on the gold plates]; For in them are all things written concerning the foundation of my church, my gospel, and my rock." When Joseph receives a spiritual prompting to begin to baptize and ordain others, he is following the pattern in the Book of Mormon.

Further evidence lies in the fact that early missionaries declared that they were called of God but did not say that their authority originated with heavenly messengers.⁽¹⁵⁾ Accounts of angelic ordinations from John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John are in none of the journals, diaries, letters, or printed matter until the mid-183 Os.⁽¹⁶⁾ Zenas H. Gurley, an RLDS apostle, asked David Whitmer in 1885:

Were you present when Joseph Smith received the revelation commanding him and Oliver Cowdery to ordain each other to the Melchizedek Priesthood?... [Whitmer:] "No I was not, neither did I ever hear of such a thing as an angel ordaining them until I got into Ohio about the year 1834, or later ... [and regarding the Aaronic Priesthood,] I never heard that an angel had ordained Joseph and Oliver to the Aaronic priesthood until the year 1834[, 183]5[,] or [183]6, in Ohio."⁽¹⁷⁾

An example would be the diaries of early convert and apostle William E. McLellin from 1831 to 1836, wherein he never mentioned that the church claimed angelic priesthood restoration.⁽¹⁸⁾ After leaving the church, McLellin recorded: "I joined the church in 1831. For years I never heard of John the Baptist ordaining Joseph and Oliver. I heard not of James, Peter, and John doing so."⁽¹⁹⁾ He elaborated in 1870: "I heard Joseph tell his experience of his ordination [by Cowdery] and the organization of the church, probably, more than twenty times, to persons who, near the rise of the church, wished to know and hear about it. I never heard of Moroni, John, or Peter, James and John."⁽²⁰⁾ Two years later he repeated: "But as to the story of John, the Baptist ordaining Joseph and Oliver on the day they were baptized; I never heard of it in the church for years, altho I carefully noticed things that were said."⁽²¹⁾

There is other corroborating evidence in an episode that occurred in September 1830 when Hiram Page, who held the office of teacher, claimed to receive revelations for the church through a seer stone. Many, "especially the Whitmer family and Oliver Cowdery," accepted Page's revelations as authoritative for "the upbuilding of Zion, the order of the Church [speaking for God] &c &c."⁽²²⁾ If Cowdery's authority came literally from the hands of John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John in an unequivocal bestowal of apostolic keys of priesthood succession, rather than in a more subtle apprehension of divine will, it should have been obvious to Cowdery that Page's claim lacked comparable weight. If this restoration of authority and truth which had been lost for centuries occurred dramatically and decisively in a show of glory in 1829, then it seems unlikely that a year later Cowdery would accept Page's authority over that of Joseph Smith. Why would those claiming to hold the exclusive keys of apostolic succession from Peter, James, and John seek direction and revelation from one holding the office of a teacher in the church? It seems more likely that simple and undramatic commandments were the source of these early authority claims.

The first mention of authority from angels dates to 22 September 1832, a revelation that appears as section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants. This revelation elaborates on a Bible passage and states that John the Baptist was "ordained by the angel of God at the time he was eight days old ... to overthrow the kingdom of the Jews," while Moses, Jethro, Caleb, Elihu, Jeremy, Gad, and Esaias all received priesthood authority "under the hand" of men, "and Esaias received it under the hand of God." These examples do not refer to the actual physical laying on of hands by an angel, but one sees the seed of a concept here.⁽²³⁾

When Joseph Smith began writing his first history in November 1832, he described "thirdly the reception of the holy Priesthood by the ministering of Aangels to administer the letter of the Gospel-- (--the Law and commandments as they were given unto him--) and the ordinencs."⁽²⁴⁾ Here he begins to apprehend the significance of angels who were said to have attended his ordination. Finally, on 12 February 1834, Joseph mentioned in public for the first time that his priesthood "office" had "been conferred upon me by the ministring of the Angel of God, by his own will and by the voice of this Church."⁽²⁵⁾ This is still not an unequivocal assertion of authority by angelic ordination. That was yet to come in Oliver Cowdery's 7 September 1834 letter in the October issue of the Messenger and Advocate. Cowdery tells a highly dramatic, if poetic, version of how he and Joseph received the priesthood from an unnamed angel:

[T]he angel of God came down clothed with glory, and delivered the anxiously looked for message, and the keys of the Gospel of repentance!--What joy! what wonder! what amazement! ... [W]e were rapt in the vision of the Almighty! Where was room for doubt? No where: uncertainty had fled... [W]e received under his hand the holy priesthood, as he said, "upon you my fellow servants ..."⁽²⁶⁾

Notice that this experience occurred while they "were rapt in the vision of the Almighty," according to Cowdery. A year later, in September 1835, Cowdery repeated: "While we were in the heavenly vision the angel came down and bestowed upon us this priesthood."⁽²⁷⁾ Future apostle Franklin D. Richards recorded a sermon by Joseph Smith in 1844 that "related the vision of his ordination to the priesthood of Aaron."⁽²⁸⁾ The phrasing is similar to the accounts of how Cowdery and others visited the chambers within the Hill Cumorah (see chapter 6), occurring in a spiritual rather than physical dimension. Given the tendency to blend the spiritual and physical, we can understand how the angel's appearance was transmitted through church history as a literal, physical event.

When Joseph and Oliver began mentioning their angelic ordinations in late 1834 and early 1835, they were facing a credibility crisis that threatened the church's survival. In late 1833 a group in Kirtland, Ohio, denounced Joseph Smith for ministering "under pretense of Divine Authority." They employed D. P. Hurlbut to investigate Joseph's past, hoping to bring him down "from the high station which he pretends to occupy."⁽²⁹⁾ Hurlbut traveled to Palmyra, New York, and collected affidavits from residents about Joseph's early treasure seeking and other aspects of his youth. Hurlbut began a lecture tour starting in January 1834 to "numerous congregations in Chagrin, Kirtland, Mentor, and Painesville; and ... [he] fired the minds of the people with much indignation against Joseph and the Church."⁽³⁰⁾ Finding disillusionment spreading among the Saints, Joseph and Sidney Rigdon began preaching against Hurlbut.⁽³¹⁾ It was under these circumstances, exacerbated by problems associated with the failure of Zion's Camp--the paramilitary trek to assist fellow Saints in Missouri--that Joseph mentioned for the first time in public that his priesthood had "been conferred upon me by the ministering of the Angel of God."⁽³²⁾ Ironically, Hurlbut's, Rigdon's, and Joseph Smith's speeches all became advance publicity for E. D. Howe's scathing Mormonism Unvailed [sic].

By May 1834, Joseph's Pennsylvania in-laws had issued similar affidavits about Joseph's treasure digging and his supposed motivations for starting Mormonism. Howe published all of these in his book in November 1834. Meanwhile, Oliver Cowdery, with Joseph's assistance and sensitive to the negative impact of the recent disclosures, decided to write "on the subject of those affidavits.⁽³³⁾" Oliver's first refutation, published in the October 1834 Messenger and Advocate, included the narrative of being ordained by an unnamed angel. Shortly thereafter, this angel was identified as John the Baptist. Simultaneously, a statement about Peter, James, and John appearing to Joseph and Oliver was added to an earlier revelation.⁽³⁴⁾ This information appeared in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants. Thus, by degrees, the accounts became more detailed and more miraculous. In 1829 Joseph said he was called by the Spirit; in 1832 he mentioned that angels attended these events; in 1834-35 the spiritual manifestations became literal and physical appearances of resurrected beings. Details usually become blurred over time; in this case, they multiplied and sharpened. These new declarations of literal and physical events facilitated belief and bolstered Joseph's and Oliver's authority during a time of crisis.

No contemporary narrative exists for a visitation to Joseph and Oliver by Peter, James, and John. In fact, the date, location, ordination prayer, and any other circumstances surrounding this experience are unknown. B. H. Roberts confirmed: "There is no definite account of the event in the history of the Prophet Joseph or, for matter of fact, in any of our annals."⁽³⁵⁾ Scholars have produced scenarios about when and where this may have occurred. The most popular views are May 1829, July 1830, and June 1831.⁽³⁶⁾

The earliest statement about the higher priesthood being restored in a literal, physical way, including named angels, appears in the September 1835 Doctrine and Covenants:

Which John I have sent unto you, my servants, Joseph Smith, Jun., and Oliver Cowdery, to ordain you unto the first priesthood which you have received ... And also with Peter, and James, and John, whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles, and especial witnesses of my name, and bear the keys of your ministry and of the same things which I revealed unto them; Unto whom I have committed the keys of my kingdom, and a dispensation of the gospel for the last times (27:8, 12-13, current LDS edition).

These verses plus two in section 7 pertaining to John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John and literal priesthood restorations do not appear in the 1833 Book of Commandments.⁽³⁷⁾

Section 7 tells us that "the keys" were given anciently to Jesus' three apostles to "minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation who dwell on the earth" (6-7). Section 27 has Peter, James, and John bestowing apostolic keys upon Joseph and Oliver, as already quoted.⁽³⁸⁾ It is difficult to explain why these important names and the bestowal of their keys of authority would not be included in the Book of Commandments. The most plausible explanation is that they were retrofitted to an 1829-30 time period to give the impression that an impressive and unique authority had existed in the church from the beginning.

It may be more than a coincidence that in February 1835 when the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was organized, the detail regarding Peter, James, and John was added to the revelations. It was sometime between January and May 1835 that Peter, James, and John were first mentioned as the restorers of apostolic keys to Joseph and Oliver.⁽³⁹⁾ This new link of succession undoubtedly bolstered President Smith's and Assistant President Cowdery's authority in the eyes of the new Quorum of the Twelve and the church.

The early claim to be "the only true ... church," with Christ's exclusive authority, may have caused members to ask how the church's authority was in fact unique (D&C 1:30). The attacks against the character and early life of Joseph Smith must have raised questions, as well (fig. 51). Howe's book, published less than twelve miles from Kirtland, posed a threat to the credibility and authority of the Restoration. This provided motivation for Joseph and Oliver to counter with detailed accounts of physical appearances by these impressive biblical figures. For the survival and continued growth of the young church, the changes appear to have been necessary. In a single stroke, the new accounts legitimized the leadership's religious authority, giving them exclusive rights and setting them apart from anyone who claimed a nonliteral or metaphysical reception of authority. ⁽⁴⁰⁾ Angelic ordinations and apostolic keys of succession provided an incontestable and singular credential for being the only true spokesmen for Christ on earth.

As in his accounts of an angel and the gold plates, Joseph was willing to expand on another foundational narrative. The events surrounding priesthood restoration were reinterpreted, one detail emphasized over another. A spiritually charged moment when participants felt that the veil between heaven and earth was thin became, in the retelling, an event with no veil at all. The first stories about how Joseph received his authority show that, like other prophets and religious founders throughout history, he and Oliver first received their callings in a metaphysical way. Within a few years, their accounts became more impressive, unique, and physical.

A statement that Joseph Smith reportedly made on 18 December 1833 exists only in Oliver Cowdery's entry in the 1835 Book of Patriarchal Blessings. It reads:

These blessings shall come upon him [Cowdery] according to the blessings of the prophecy of Joseph [of Egypt], in ancient days, ... [and Cowdery] should be ordained with him [Smith], by the hand of the angel in the bush, unto the lesser priesthood, and after receive the holy priesthood under the hands of those who had been held in reserve for a long season; even those who received it under the hand of the Messiah ...⁽⁴¹⁾

There are researchers who consider this to be the earliest statement of literal priesthood bestowal.⁽⁴²⁾ I find it unconvincing. On 18 December 1833 Joseph gave blessings to Oliver Cowdery and four members of the Smith family--Hyrum, Samuel, William, and Joseph Sr.--all of which were recorded on that date in Joseph's personal diary.⁽⁴³⁾ Twenty-one months later Oliver began copying these blessings into the first volume of the Book of Patriarchal Blessings.⁽⁴⁴⁾ A comparison indicates that Oliver liberally added to and deleted from the original blessings.⁽⁴⁵⁾

For example, some sentences from Joseph's 1833 record are found scattered throughout the rewritten secondary version. In addition, some of the expansions contain motifs that derive from 1834-35 rather than from an earlier setting. The words "the church of the Latter Day Saints" are added; this was the name of the church between May 1834 and April 1838. The 1835 version of Joseph Sr.'s blessing says, "[H]e shall be called a prince over his posterity; holding the keys of the patriarchal priesthood over the kingdom of God on earth, even the church of the Latter Day Saints." This sentence is not in the diary. Furthermore, this and other references to "patriarchal priesthood" do not appear in the diary. The concept of a patriarchal priesthood comes from Joseph's attention to the Egyptian papyri scrolls and the resulting stories of Old Testament patriarchs Joseph and Abraham in July 1835. ⁽⁴⁶⁾ These ideas would have occupied Cowdery's mind in 1835 as well.

The diary version of William's blessing says: "[N]otwithstanding his rebellious heart ..." This phrase was deleted from the 1835 transcript probably because William had been ordained to be one of the twelve apostles in February. In Oliver's own blessing, the following words appear: "[N]evertheless there are two evils in him that he must needs forsake or he cannot altogether] escape the buffitings of the adver[sar]y ..." Again, this is deleted.

Cowdery also added a preface to the blessings for his 1835 transcript, including the following:

[W]e diligently sought for the right of the fathers, and the authority of the holy priesthood, and the power to administer in the same; for we desired to be, followers of righteousness, and the possessors of greater knowledge, even the knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God. [These phrases became part of Abraham 1:2 in 1835.] Therefore we repaired to the woods, even as our father Joseph [of Egypt] said we should, that is, to the bush ... [T]he angel came down and bestowed upon us this priesthood.⁽⁴⁷⁾

The similarities between this and the alleged 1833 statement are striking. I conclude that the 1833 statement, recorded by Cowdery in 1835 and cited as an early reference to the bestowal of priesthood by angels, has too many anachronisms to support this idea. The view of a literal, physical laying on of hands by angels is just one more of the many anachronisms in this document.

1. BofC 15:6-7 in Milford C. Wood, Joseph Smith Begins His Work: The Book of Commandments, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City: by the Author, 1962), vol.2; cf. D&C18:7.

2. . Lucy Smith's Preliminary Manuscript, dictated to Martha Jane Coray, 1844-45, original in the archives of the Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah (hereafter LDS archives); qtd. in Early Mormon Documents, ed. Dan Vogel, 3+ vols. (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996-), 1:381.

3. David Whitmer, interview by Zenas H. Gurley Jr., 14 Jan. 1885, typescript, LDS archives. See Edward Stevenson Journal, 9 Feb. 1886, cited in Joseph Grant Stevenson, Stevenson Family History (Provo, UT: by the Author, 1955), 1:177-78. Some have argued that the reason no one heard of angelic ministrations early on was because, as Joseph Smith said in 183 8: "[W]e were forced to keep secret the circumstances of having received the Priesthood and our having been baptized, owing to a spirit of persecution in the neighborhood ... [Harmony, Pennsylvania]. We had been threatened with being mobbed" (JS--History 1:74-75). In light of the David Whitmer and Lucy Smith statements, Joseph intended to keep his and Oliver's baptisms and receipt of authority to baptize from their enemies, not from devoted believers.

4. Dean C. Jessee, ed., The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1989), 1:299.

5. Ibid., 302-03.

6. BofC 24:3-4, 32-35; cf. D&C 20:2-3, 38-45.

7. BofC 24:32; cf. D&C 20:38; 21:1, 10-11.

8. Joseph Smith and John Whitmer to Colesville Saints, 2 Dec. 1830; qtd. in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:19.

9. Ezra Booth to Edward Partridge, 20 Sept. 1831; Sidney Rigdon to Ohio Brethren, ca. 4 Jan. 1831, in E. D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville OH: by the Author, 1834), 110, 208.

10. Jared Carter Journal, Sept. 1831, 35, LDS archives.

11. BofC 24: 1-12; also D&C 20:1-13, which dates this as April 1830.

12. Ex. 3:1-12; 40:13-16; 1 Sam. 3:1-18; 9:15-17; 10:1; 16:1-13; Isa. 6:1-10; Jer. 1:1-10; Ezek. 1:1, 26-2:3; Zech. 1:1-16; 1 Ne. 1:4-8, 18-2:3; 2 Ne. 5:26; Jac. 1:18.

13. Mosiah 11:20-25; 17:1-4; 18:1, 12-18; 21:30. The bestowal of the Holy Ghost follows the Pentecostal pattern of Joseph Smith's day and our own. In Mosiah 18:14, 16, the Holy Ghost fell upon the newly baptized as they emerged from the water. In Alma 31:36, the Holy Ghost is not associated with baptism but falls upon members when Alma "clapped his hands upon them." I have seen a Pentecostal congregation exhibit this phenomenon when the minister poured water onto the ground or touched congregants with one or both hands (cf. Alma 19:12-17, 29-30; 3 Nephi 7:21-22). In 3 Nephi 18:36-37, Jesus "touched with his hand the disciples whom he had chosen ... [and thereby] gave them power to give the Holy Ghost." Moroni 2:3 adds, "On as many as they [the disciples] laid their hands, fell the Holy Ghost."

14. 3 Ne. 7:21-25; 11:18-22, 33-36; 12:1; 13:25; 4 Ne. 14. For other Book of Mormon examples, see G. St. John Stott, "Ordination and Ministry in the Book of Mormon," in Restoration Studies III (Independence, MO: Herald Publishing House, 1986), 244-53.

15. BofC 5:2; 10:2, 11; 11:2; 12:2; 15:30; cf. D&C 6:4; 11:4, 27; 12:3-4; 14:4; 18:28. Note that whoever has desire is called to the work, and if he does the work, he is "called of God."

16. LaMar Petersen, Problems in Mormon Text (Salt Lake City: by the Author, 1957), 8. Some scholars view an 18 December 1833 statement as the first evidence that Oliver and Joseph were ordained under the hands by angels (see appendix to this chapter).

17. David Whitmer, interview by Zenas H. Gurley Jr., 14 Jan. 1885. An apostle in the RLDS church, Gurley believed in the ordination by John the Baptist and the verbal command but not in a physical ordination by Peter, James, and John.

18. Jan Shipps and John W Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831-1836 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994), 29-225.

19. William E. McLellin to J. L. Traughber, 25 Aug. 1877, J. L. Traughber Collection, 1446/2, Manuscripts Division, Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City. See also "Notebook of William E. McLellin," 10, J. L. Traughber Collection, Ms. 666, Manuscripts Division, Marriott Library.

20. William E. McLellin to D. H. Bays, 24 May 1870, True Latter Day Saints' Herald, 15 Sept. 1870, 556.

21. . William E. McLellin to Joseph Smith III, July 1872, 3, Library-Archives, Community of Christ (RLDS).

22. Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 1:322-23; D&C 28; Donald Q. Cannon and Lyndon W Cook, eds., Far West Record: Minutes of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1844 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983), 1. The minutes for 9 June 1830 list Hiram Page as a teacher in the church.

23. D&C 84:28, 6-12. See Moses 8:19: "And the Lord ordained Noah after his own order." This probably refers to ordination by a mortal being already possessing authority since D&C 36:2 said concerning the gift of the Holy Ghost: "And I [God] will lay my hand upon you [Edward Partridge] by the hand of my servant Sidney Rigdon."

24. Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 1:3.

25. Kirtland Council Minutes, (12 Feb. 1834), 27, LDS archives; qtd. in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:32.

26. Oliver Cowdery, "History of the Rise of the Church of the Latter Day Saints," Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate 1 (Oct. 1834): 15-16; qtd. in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2:420-21. The statement is also in JS--History after verse 75.

27. The Book of Patriarchal Blessings 1:8-9, LDS archives; qtd. in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2:453.

28. Joseph Smith, sermon of 10 Mar. 1844, in Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W Cook, eds., The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, 1980), 334.

29. "To the Public," Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 31 Jan. 1834, [3].

30. Joseph Smith Jr. et al., History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. B. H. Roberts (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1978 printing), 1:475.

31. Donna Hill, Joseph Smith: The First Mormon (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1977), 157.

32. Kirtland Council Minutes, (12 Feb. 1834), 27, LDS archives; qtd. in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:32. Cowdery wrote in December 1834 about "... the angel while in company with President Joseph] Smith, at the time they received the office of the lesser priesthood" (Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 1:21).

33. Oliver Cowdery, "Answer," The Evening and the Morning Star (Kirtland, OH) 2 (Sept. 1834): 190.

34. See D&C 27:8,12-13. "In 1835 the original edition of the Doctrine and Covenants gave the first precise published account of the appearance of Peter, James, and John to Joseph and Oliver," writes Brian Q. Cannon et al., "Priesthood Restoration Documents," BYU Studies 35 (1995-96): 167.

35. History of the Church, l:40n.

36. For May 1829, see Larry C. Porter, "The Restoration of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods," Ensign 26 (Dec. 1996): 30-47; for July 1830, see Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984), 162-3, 240n55; for June 1831, see Marvin S. Hill, Quest for Refuge: The Mormon Flight from American Pluralism (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), 25-26.

37. Cf. D&C 27 and D&C 7 with Book of Commandments chaps. 28 and 6 in Wood, Joseph Smith Begins His Work, vol. 2.

38. Joseph Smith, in speaking to the newly formed high council, said: "The apostle, Peter, was the president of the Council in ancient days and held the keys of the Kingdom of God on the earth" (Kirtland Council Minutes, 17 Feb. 1834, 30, LDS archives). This may be the beginning of the development for D&C 7:7. In later recollections by Philo Dibble and Benjamin Winchester, published in the 1880s, their statements about Peter, James, and John were probably influenced by D&C 27:12-13. See "Philo Dibble's Narrative," Early Scenes in Church History: Eighth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1882), 80; Benjamin Winchester, "Primitive Mormonism," The Daily Tribune (Salt Lake City), 22 Sept. 1889, 2.

39. Joseph revised his earlier revelations between January and May 1835. Section 20 represents the first textual evidence of his revisions in the January 1835 Kirtland reprint of the Evening and Morning Star, 1:2-4. By June, the Doctrine and Covenants was being printed (ibid., 80).

40. After Joseph's death, recent convert James J. Strong claimed that an angel appointed him to be the successor. Strang first said that this angel metaphysically granted him authority, then later said it ordained him by the laying on of hands. This embellishment led Reuben Miller, a stake president in Strang's church, to disillusionment. Miller converted to Mormonism in 1843 and was apparently unaware of Joseph's similar priesthood development. Richard L. Anderson, "Reuben Miller: Recorder of Oliver Cowdery's Reaffirmations," BYU Studies 8 (Spring 1968): 280-85.

41. The Book of Patriarchal Blessings 1:8-9,LDS archives; qtd. in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2:454.

42. Gregory A. Prince, Power from on High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1995), 8-9n24. Prince believes that this document has "integrity," meaning that it is a valid copy of the original blessing. See also Bruce R. McConkie, comp., Doctrines of Salvation: Sermons and Writings of Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City: Book-craft, 1956), 3:101.

43. Jessee, The Papers of Joseph Smith, 2:15-17.

44. The Book of Patriarchal Blessings 1, LDS archives.

45. Scott H. Faulring, ed., An American Prophet's Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, 1987), 19n8. Faulring writes: "In September 1835, Oliver Cowdery recorded Joseph Smith's blessings to members of his immediate family into what would become the first volume, 8-20, of the Patriarchal Blessing Books, located in the archives of the Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In so doing, however, Cowdery greatly expanded the blessings beyond their contents as initially recorded."

46. History of the Church, 2:235-36.

47. The Book of Patriarchal Blessings, 1:9-10, LDS archives; qtd. in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2:452-53.