| 225 other elders, and this eldership ordained high priests and apostles, and this high priesthood ordained, by commandment, the President of the High Priesthood, the highest office in the church; so that the alleged lesser ordained the greater, is common to both the first organization and the Reorganization alike. The same class of facts justify both or condemn both.
"But this stream, rising higher than its fountain, is only seeming, not real. By what authority, according to the law of the church, is anyone ordained? Answer, 'By the power of the Holy Ghost which is in the one who ordains him.' Instead of this then being the stream, it is the fountain itself, from which flows the stream or authority of both priesthoods, from its highest to its lowest offices. Moreover, all ordinations are performed in the name and authority of the church, and is therefore the act of 'the Spirit and the Bride.' So that in addition to the authority which its adherence to truth guarantees, the Reorganization is technically right, and on legal grounds invulnerable; before which all the factions have melted away save the one -and they dare not assail it, but always 'decline,'"-The Messenger, vol. 2, pp. 26, 27.
It has been thought that there was an irregularity in the selection of Jason W. Briggs to preside, as he held no higher office in the days of Joseph Smith than that of elder, while others held the office of President of Seventy, and that of high priest; but it will be observed that, according to the instruction given, the presiding officer was not to preside by virtue of priesthood formerly held, but by virtue of his apostleship, and of his being the senior in the quorum. Senior does not necessarily mean the one most advanced in age, but will apply to the one highest in authority, so that when Elder Briggs was elected president of the quorum he was in fact "the senior of them," and as such entitled to preside. However, preference was shown to the oldest in years, and the honor was declined, first by Elder Gurley, and then by Elder Deam.
On October 6-8, 1853, a General Conference was in session at Zarahemla, Wisconsin. Elder Jason W. Briggs presided,
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