The great powers enumerated, then, center in the First Presidency. On the right of the First Presidency may be said to be the Twelve Apostles, clothed with the authority to officiate in the name of the Lord, under the direction of the First Presidency to build up the church and regulate all the affairs of the same in all the world. Next to them stand the Seventies as their assistants in the great work assigned to them. To these two orders of the Priesthood more especially is assigned and upon them rests the responsibility of the foreign ministry of the church. They are witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ in all the nations of the earth, and their special duty is that of preaching the gospel and regulating the affairs of the church abroad.
On the left of the First Presidency may be said to stand the high priests, to which order of Priesthood belongs the right of local Presidency in the church. From their ranks patriarchs, presidents of stakes, high councilors, and bishops and their counselors are chosen.[[11]]
Next to the high priests stand the elders, who are to assist them in the performance of their duties. These quorums of Priesthood constitute the standing ministry of the stakes of Zion, upon whom more especially devolve local presidency, and the duty of preaching the gospel within the stakes of Zion.
The presidency of the Aaronic Priesthood centers in the Presiding Bishopric of the church, which presides over all traveling and local bishops. The former are bishops appointed to preside over large districts of country and who travel from place to place therein, setting in order the temporal affairs of the church; the latter are bishops appointed to preside over regularly organized wards and whose jurisdiction is confined within such wards respectively.
To aid the bishops in the duties of their several bishoprics are the quorums of priests, teachers and deacons
The duty of the priests is to visit the homes of the Saints, to teach the people, to expound the scriptures, baptize believers and administer the sacrament. Forty-eight priests form a quorum of which the bishopric is the presidency.
The duty of teachers is to be the standing ministers in the respective wards where they reside, to ferret out iniquity in the church, and see that the members perform their duties. Twenty-four of them constitute a quorum, which is presided over by a president and two counselors chosen from the members.
The duty of the deacons is to assist the teacher, and they may also expound, teach, warn and invite all to come unto Christ. Twelve of them form a quorum, and from their number a president and two counselors are chosen to preside.
Before proceeding to a description of the judiciary system of the church it may be well to briefly explain the territorial division of it. A stake of Zion is a division of the church territorially that embraces several villages or towns or ecclesiastical wards. A stake is presided over by a presidency comprised of a president and two counselors, all of whom must be high priests. In each stake is a high council, composed of twelve high priests. The presidency of the stake is also president of the high council, which constitutes the highest judicial tribunal in the stake. The stakes are divided into ecclesiastical wards, presided over by a bishopric, assisted in its labors by the quorums of the lesser Priesthood as already explained.
The judicial powers of the church are vested in the ordinary bishop's court, the standing high councils of the stakes of Zion, temporary high councils of high priests abroad, the Traveling Presiding high council, which is also the quorum of Twelve Apostles, and a special court consisting of the presiding bishop of the chuch and twelve high priests—of which more is to be said presently—and finally in the Presidency of the church.