FOR ORDINATION.
Ordinations to offices in the holy Priesthood are sometimes mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments, when it is not stated in the context that it was by the imposition of hands. The apostle Paul exhorted Timothy, "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery;" 1 Tim. 4. 14. The inference is reasonable, that Paul here refers to an ordination to some office in the Priesthood.
Paul again said to Timothy, "Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands;" 2 Tim. 1. 6.
The Lord revealed to Joseph the prophet, that the Priesthood descended from Adam to Noah under the HANDS OF THE FATHERS; Doc & Cov. 107. 40-52.
We are further informed that "Abraham received the Priesthood from Melchisedek, who received it through the lineage of his fathers, even till Noah;" 84. 14. Esaias, who lived in the days of Abraham, "received it under the hands of God;" from him it descended under the hands of the fathers to Moses; 6-13.
In this dispensation all the offices and authority of the Priesthood are conferred by the laying on of hands. The first ordination to the Priesthood, in this dispensation, was under the hands of John the Baptist; Doc. & Cov., sec. 13. The angel, John the Baptist, commanded Joseph Smith and O. Cowdery to baptize each other. The prophet says: "Accordingly we went and were baptized, I baptized him first, and afterwards he baptized me, after which I laid my hands upon his head and ordained him to the Aaronic Priesthood, afterwards he laid his hands on me and ordained me to the same Priesthood—for so were we commanded;" His. of J. Smith, May 15, 1829.
The same order as was observed in the ordination to the Aaronic Priesthood, was also observed by Joseph Smith and O. Cowdery in their ordination to the Melchisedek Priesthood; Doc. & Cov. 20. 3, 4, sec. 21. 10-12.