Oliver Cowdery returned to the Church at Kanesville, Iowa, in 1848. He had been out of the Church for eleven years. On his re-admittance into the Church, he delivered a public discourse, in which he said, "I was present with Joseph when an holy angel from God came down from heaven and conferred on us, or restored, the lesser or Aaronic Priesthood, and said to us, at the same time, that it should remain upon the earth while the earth stands. I was also present with Joseph when the higher or Melchizedek Priesthood was conferred by the holy angels from on high. This Priesthood, we then conferred on each other by the will and commandment of God."[J] Less than three months later, under date January thirteenth, 1849, Oliver Cowdery gave a signed statement to Samuel W. Richards. In that statement Cowdery said, "John the Baptist, holding the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood; Peter, James, and John, holding the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood, have also ministered for those who shall be heirs to salvation, and with these administrations ordained men to the same Priesthood. These Priesthoods, with their authority, are now, and must continue to be in the body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. * * Accept assurances, dear brother, of the unfeigned prayer of him who, in connection with Joseph, the Seer, was blessed with the above administrations."[K]

[Footnote J: "History of the Church," Vol. I, p. 41, footnote.]

[Footnote K: "History of the Church," Vol. I, p. 42, footnote.]

Thus did Oliver Cowdery testify to the last—as he did to the testimony of the Book of Mormon—that he was with the Prophet when the Holy Priesthood was restored, and shared the restoration with him. It is certainly significant that the great manifestations in which John the Baptizer, and the apostles, Peter, James, and John, appeared to restore the Holy Priesthood, did not happen to Joseph Smith alone. A mere impostor would undoubtedly have had them so occur. Oliver Cowdery also received the Aaronic Priesthood. He, too, was ordained an apostle. He became the second elder in the Church—almost a joint president with the Prophet himself. Although he became estranged from the Prophet, he remained true to his testimony; and at the last, he returned to the fold. Not a single important step in the progress of the Restoration was taken without corroborative testimony or the presence of witnesses.[L]

[Footnote L: Since these chapters were written, the following invaluable testimony has appeared in the Improvement Era, for March, 1912. The testimony was written by Jacob F. Gates, of Salt Lake City, whose father, Jacob Gates, was in his day a member of the First Council of Seventy:

"My father, Jacob Gates, while on his way to England, in 1849, stopped at the town of Richmond, where lived at that time Oliver Cowdery. Hearing that Oliver was in poor health, and wishing to renew old acquaintance as they had been friends in earlier days, father called on him at his home. Their conversation, during the visit drifted to early Church history, and to their mutual experiences during the troublous times in Missouri and Illinois. Finally father put this question to him: 'Oliver,' said he, 'I want you to tell me the whole truth about your testimony concerning the Book of Mormon—the testimony sent forth to the world over your signature and found in the front of that book. Was your testimony based on a dream, was it the imagination of your mind, was it an illusion, a myth—tell me truthfully?'

"To question him thus seemed to touch Oliver very deeply. He answered not a word, but arose from his easy chair, went to the book case, took down a Book of Mormon of the first edition, turned to the testimony of the Three Witnesses, and read in the most solemn manner the words to which he had subscribed his name, nearly twenty years before. Facing my father, he said: 'Jacob, I want you to remember what I say to you. I am a dying man, and what would it profit me to tell you a lie? I know,' said he, 'that this Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God. My eyes saw, my ears heard, and my understanding was touched, and I know that whereof I testified is true. It was no dream, no vain imagination of the mind—it was real.'

"Then father asked him about the angel under whose hands he received the Priesthood, to which he made answer thus: 'Jacob, I felt the hand of the angel on my head as plainly as I could feel yours, and could hear his voice as I now hear yours.'

"Then father asked this question: 'If all that you tell me is true, why did you leave the Church?' Oliver made only this explanation; said he: 'When I left the Church, I felt wicked, I felt like shedding blood, but I have got all over that now.'

"State of Utah, County of Salt Lake,