| 488 with power and great glory. Israel shall be hunted up from the rock and corners where they have been hid from the gaze of the world, many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased."
From the Gospel Reflector.
On Priesthood.
By Elder Erastus Snow.
"Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenants, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation."-Exodus, xix, 5-6.
"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood."-Peter.
In all ages from Adam to the latest generation, when God acknowledged a people to be his, there has been a priesthood among them or a delegation of authority by which all the ordinances of God's house were administered. The are in the book of Doctrine and Covenants, recent revelations on Priesthood, which say, there are in the church two Priesthoods, viz: the Melchizedek, and the Aaronic, including the Levitical Priesthood. Before the days of Melchizedek the church called the former the holy priesthood after the order of the Son of God; but Melchizedek being a mighty man, and a great high priest, they from, and after his day called it the Melchizedek priesthood, to avoid the too frequent repetition of the name of the Supreme Being. The latter was called the Aaronic priesthood, because it was confered [conferred] upon Aaron, and his sons throughout all their generations, to be a perpetual covenant of priesthood. (See Exodus, xl. 15 and xxix 9; Num. xxv. 13.) It is called the lesser priesthood because it is an appendage to the greater: for all lesser authorities, and offices in the church in all ages, are appendages to the Melchizedek priesthood; but there are two divisions of grand heads. The office of an elder comes under the Melchizedek; that of a teacher, and deacon under the Aaronic, or lesser priesthood. Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews says much concerning these two priesthoods, and of the superior excellence of the Melchizedek over the Levitical order.
This Melchizedek flourished in the days of Abraham, about two thousand years before Christ. Moses tells us-Gen. xiv. 18, that he blessed Abraham, and he was priest of the Most High God, and king of Salem, which was the original name of Jerusalem. Many eminent writers are of the opinion that he was the founder of that city, and that it subsequently fell into the hands of the Jebusites, from whom it received the prefix Jeru: and Jerusalem was governed buy Adonizedec the Amorite, at the time of its capture by Joshua, about fourteen hundred and fifty years before Christ. (See Josh. x. 1.)
This priesthood did not originate with Melchizedek; neither was it confined to him, as many suppose; but was confered [conferred] on many, both before, and after him: and it is as ancient as the Son of God himself, who was with the Father from the beginning: for it is said of him-Ps. cx. 4, "Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
When we speak of an order of priesthood we convey an idea of a succession of priests and various smaller offices in the priesthood; as when Paul speaks of the order of Melchizedek, and the order of Aaron.-Heb. vii. 11. As there were many who had the priesthood after the order of Aaron, would it not be nonsense to talk about the order of Melchizedek if he was the only man who ever had the priesthood? As Moses' account of his ancestors was very brief, he necessarily said but little about the church, or order of priesthood, which existed before his day; but the hints he as given are sufficient to show us there was such an order existing from the beginning. Alma in the Book of Mormon, page 253, 3rd edition, is very plain on this subject. He shows that there were many, both before, and after Melchizedek; but none were greater, and he was king in the land of Salem, and when his people had corrupted themselves before the Lord, he exercised mighty faith, took upon himself the high priesthood and preached repentance unto his people, aud [and] they did repent and he established peace in the land. Therefore, he was called the Prince of peace. He moreover shows that this priesthood, being the priesthood
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