Gospel Doctrine: Selections from the Sermons and Writings of Joseph F. Smith

by Joseph F. Smith

This brother must have had a misunderstanding of the authority of his office, or he was over diffident. Whatever the cause, he was not justified in his refusal. His authority to bless in the name of the Lord was not confined to his ward; no elder's opportunity for doing a purely good deed should be confined to a ward nor to any other limit, and when he went into a house and the head of that household made such a request of him it was clearly not only his privilege and right, but his duty to comply. Indeed, we believe that every man holding the priesthood, in good standing in the Church, who owns a home, is supreme in his own household, and when another brother enters it, and he requests the latter to perform any duty consistent with his calling, the latter should accede to his wishes; and if there should be anything wrong, he who makes the request as the head of the house into which the brother has come, is responsible therefor. If that head of a household asks anything to be done which for the sake of Church discipline, or to fulfil the revelations of the Lord, should be placed on the records of the Church, he should see to it that the necessary details are supplied and recorded.

We further believe that the rights of fatherhood in all faithful, worthy men are paramount, and should be recognized by all other men holding positions or calling in the priesthood. To make this idea plainer we will say, as an example of our idea, we do not consider it proper in a bishop or other officer to suggest that the son of such a man (the son himself not being the head of a family, but living with his father) be called upon a mission without first consulting the father. The priesthood was originally exercised in the patriarchal order; those who held it exercised their powers firstly by right of their fatherhood. It is so with the great Elohim. This first and strongest claim on our love, reverence and obedience is based on the fact that he is the Father, the Creator, of all mankind. Without him we are not, and consequently we owe to him existence and all that flows therefrom—all we have and all that we are. Man possessing the holy priesthood is typical of him. But as men on earth cannot act in God's stead as his representatives without the authority, appointment and ordination naturally follow. No man has the right to take this honor to himself, except he be called of God through the channels that he recognizes and has empowered.

Returning to the thought expressed in our opening paragraph, we recognize that there is a side to the question that must not be lost sight of, as to ignore that view would be to encourage a condition in the midst of the Saints pregnant with confusion. We have found occasionally that men blessed with some peculiar gift of the spirit have exercised it in an unwise—shall we say, improper—manner. For instance: brethren strongly gifted with the power of healing have visited far and near amongst the Saints (to the neglect sometimes of other duties), until it has almost become a business with them, and their visits to the homes of the Saints have assumed somewhat the character of those of a physician, and the people have come to regard the power so manifested as if coming from man, and he himself has sometimes grown to so feel, and not that he was simply an instrument in the hands of God of bringing blessings to their house. This view is exceedingly unfortunate, when indulged in, and is apt to result in the displeasure of the Lord. It has sometimes ended in the brother possessing this gift, if he encouraged such a feeling, losing his power to bless and heal. Departures from the recognized order and discipline of the Church should therefore be discountenanced and discouraged.—Juvenile Instructor, Vol. 37, pp. 50, 51, Jan. 15, 1902.

THE PRIESTHOOD GREATER THAN ANY OF ITS OFFICES. There is no office growing out of this priesthood that is or can be greater than the priesthood itself. It is from the priesthood that the office derives its authority and power. No office gives authority to the priesthood. No office adds to the power of the priesthood. But all offices in the Church derive their power, their virtue, their authority, from the Priesthood. If our brethren would get this principle thoroughly established in their minds, there would be less misunderstanding in relation to the functions of government in the Church than there is. Today the question is, which is the greater—the high priest or the seventy—the seventy or the high priest? I tell you that neither of them is the greater, and neither of them is the lesser. Their callings lie in different directions, but they are from the same Priesthood. If it were necessary, the seventy, holding the Melchizedek Priesthood, as he does, I say if it were necessary, he could ordain a high priest; and if it were necessary for a high priest to ordain a seventy, he could do that? Why? Because both of them hold the Melchizedek Priesthood. Then again, if it were necessary, though I do not expect the necessity will ever arise, and there was no man left on earth holding the Melchizedek Priesthood, except an elder—that elder, by the inspiration of the Spirit of God and by the direction of the Almighty, could proceed, and should proceed, to organize the Church of Jesus Christ in all its perfection, because he holds the Melchizedek Priesthood. But the house of God is a house of order, and while the other officers remain in the Church, we must observe the order of the priesthood, and we must perform ordinances and ordinations strictly in accordance with that order, as it has been established in the Church through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his successors.—Oct. C. R., 1903, p. 87.

NECESSITY OF ORGANIZATION. The house of God is a house of order, and not a house of confusion; and it could not be thus, if there were not those who had authority to preside, to direct, to counsel, to lead in the affairs of the Church. No house would be a house of order if it were not properly organized, as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is organized. Take away the organization of the Church and its power would cease. Every part of its organization is necessary and essential to its perfect existence. Disregard, ignore, or omit any part, and you start imperfection in the Church; and if we should continue in that way we would find ourselves like those of old, being led by error, superstition, ignorance, and by the cunning and craftiness of men. We would soon leave out here a little and there a little, here a line and there a precept, until we would become like the rest of the world, divided, disorganized, confused and without knowledge; without revelation or inspiration, and without Divine authority or power.—Apr. C. R., 1915, p. 5.

ACCEPTANCE OF THE PRIESTHOOD A SERIOUS MATTER. This makes a very serious matter of receiving this covenant and this priesthood; for those who receive it must, like God himself, abide in it, and must not fail, and must not be moved out of the way; for those who receive this oath and covenant and turn away from it, and cease to do righteously and to honor this covenant, and will to abide in sin and repent not, there is no forgiveness for them, either in this life or in the world to come. That is the language of this book, and this is doctrine and truth which was revealed from God to men through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith the prophet. And this word is reliable. It is God's word, and God's word is truth; and it becomes necessary for all those who enter into this covenant to understand this word, that they may indeed abide in it, and may not be turned out of the way. Apr. C. R., 1898, p. 65. See Doc. and Cov. 84:33-41; Book of Mormon, Mosiah 5.

HOW AUTHORITY SHOULD BE ADMINISTERED. No man should be oppressed. No authority of the priesthood can be administered or exerted in any degree of unrighteousness, without offending God. Therefore, when we deal with men we should not deal with them with prejudice in our minds against them. We should dismiss prejudice, dispel anger from our hearts, and when we try our brethren for membership or fellowship in the Church we should do it dispassionately, charitably, lovingly, kindly, with a view to save and not destroy. That is our business; our business is to save the world, to save mankind; to bring them into harmony with the laws of God and with principles of righteousness and of justice and truth, that they may be saved in the kingdom of our God, and become, eventually, through obedience to the ordinances of the gospel, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. That is our mission.—Apr. C. R., 1913, p. 6.

AUTHORITY GIVES ENDURING POWER. The Church has two characteristics—the temporal and the spiritual, and one is not without the other. We maintain that both are essential and that one without the other is incomplete and ineffectual. Hence, the Lord instituted in the government of the Church two priesthoods—the lesser or Aaronic, having special charge of the temporal, and the higher or Melchizedek, looking to the spiritual welfare of the people. In all the history of the Church, there has never been a time when considerable attention was not given to temporal affairs, in the gathering places of the Saints, under all the leaders up to the present time as witness the building of Kirtland, the settlement of Missouri, Nauvoo, and the founding of cities and towns in the far west, our present home. The Saints have lived and helped each other to live, have worked out their temporal salvation with zeal and energy, but withal, have neither neglected nor forgotten the spiritual essence of the great work inaugurated by divine order, as witness their temples, and other houses of worship, that have marked their every abiding place.

And so, while we have devoted much time to temporal affairs, it has always been with a view to better our spiritual condition, it being apparent that the temporal, rightly understood, is a great lever by which spiritual progress may be achieved in this earthly sphere of action. Besides, we have come to understand that all we do is indeed spiritual, for before the Father there is no temporal. Hence, in our labors of redeeming the waste places, a strong spiritual vein underlies the outward temporal covering.—Improvement Era, Vol. 8, pp. 620, 623, 1904-5.

MINISTRY SHOULD KNOW ITS DUTIES AND THE USE OF AUTHORITY. Of course it is very necessary that those who preside in the Church should learn thoroughly their duties. There is not a man holding any position of authority in the Church who can perform his duty as he should in any other spirit than in the spirit of fatherhood and brotherhood toward those over whom he presides. Those who have authority should not be rulers, nor dictators; they should not be arbitrary; they should gain the hearts, the confidence and love of those over whom they preside, by kindness and love unfeigned, by gentleness of spirit, by persuasion, by an example that is above reproach and above the reach of unjust criticism. In this way, in the kindness of their hearts, in their love for their people, they lead them in the path of righteousness, and teach them the way of salvation, by saying to them, both by precept and example: Follow me, as I follow our head. This is the duty of those who preside.—Apr. C. R., 1915, p. 5.