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This article is Part 2 in a series on Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo Priesthood Teachings. While it can be read a stand alone article, I recommend reading the series of articles on this subject from the beginning.
The Nauvoo Priesthood Teachings Series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Some in the past have tried to dismiss the Patriarchal Priesthood as not really being an order of priesthood at all, but simply receiving the “temple endowment and eternal marriage”. However, a careful examination of the sources demonstrate that the Patriarchal Priesthood introduce in Nauvoo was an actual order of priesthood, conferred through the anointing of men and women to the offices of King and Priest and Queen and Priestess. And even after Nauvoo, though the terminology “Patriarchal Priesthood” was dropped and not used to reference temple authority, the apostles still understood that the temple ordinations of Kings and Priests and Queens and Priestess were patriarchal in nature.
As Joseph Smith said at the funeral of James Adams, he anointed him to the Patriarchal Priesthood:
So this priesthood was conferred through the anointing that James Adams had received. According to the sources, the anointing James Adams received on May 4, 1842 anointed him a King and Priest, so it was not the Endowment by itself, nor an Eternal Marriage ceremony (though Adams did receive both of those things), but the ordination he received through his anointing that conferred this priesthood upon him.
As George Miller wrote: “Joseph washed and anointed as Kings and Priests to God, and over the House of Israel the following named persons...and [thereby] conferred on us Patriarchal Priesthood. This took place on the 5th and 6th [i.e. 4th and 5th] of May, 1842”, and Heber C. Kimball also recorded that at this meeting they were washed, anointed, sealed, and ordained “priests and so forth”.2 Hence, if it is taken for granted that the offices of King and Priest and Queen and Priestess are the highest priesthood offices (as is accepted by some, and will be more fully developed in the next article), then those offices must be what Joseph Smith was referencing when he said a year later that the “greatest [priesthood] yet experienced in this church” was the Patriarchal Priesthood.3
There are many statements that reference the fact that the authority of Kings and Priests was patriarchal — that it was a priesthood authority pertaining to one’s family. Heber C. Kimball indicated as much in a speech he gave on December 31, 1844:
Similarly, Brigham Young taught the same thing on January 8, 1845:
Similar to how Joseph Smith counselled the saints regarding the Patriarchal Priesthood: “Go to and finish the temple, and God will fill it with power, and you will then receive more knowledge concerning this priesthood”6 Brigham Young also commented that the apostles intended to teach about the patriarchal nature of the authority of Kings and Priests in the Nauvoo Temple, just they did not have time to do so:
Even years later in Utah they still acknowledged that the authority of Kings and Priests was patriarchal, pertained to one’s family:
This article is Part 2 in a series on Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo Priesthood Teachings. Click here to continue to Part 3!
This article is supplementary material to information contained in the pamphlets The Nauvoo Priesthood Developments and King and Priest Endowments and the Washing of Feet.
References:
1. Joseph Smith sermon, 6 October 1843, published in Times and Seasons vol. 4 page 331; History of the Church vol. 6 page 51–52; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith page 326.
2. George Miller letter to The Northern Islander, 26 June 1855, published in The Annual Publications of the Historical Society of Southern California vol. 10 pages 120–121; Heber C. Kimball Journal, quoted in Devery Anderson and Gary Bergera, Joseph Smith’s Quorum of the Anointed page 4.
3. Joseph Smith sermon, 27 August 1843, recorded in “Scriptural Items” book kept by Franklin D. Richards, LDS Archives, published in Words of Joseph Smith <27 August 1843> page 245.
4. Heber C. Kimball sermon 31 December 1844, George Laub Nauvoo Journal page 22, emphasis added, accessed online at http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/GLaub-A.html
5. Brigham Young sermon, 8 January 1845, Complete Discourses of Brigham Young page 66, emphasis added.
6. Joseph Smith sermon, 27 August 1843, History of the Church vol. 5 page 555. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith page 323, emphasis added.
7. Brigham Young sermon, 16 February 1847, Complete Discourses of Brigham Young pages 180, 182, amalgamated, emphasis added.
8. Brigham Young sermon, 14 July 1855, Journal of Discourses vol. 3 pages 265-266, emphasis added.
9. Daniel Tyler article entitled “Temples” in Juvenile Instructor vol. 15 <1880> page 111, emphasis added.
10. John Taylor sermon, 7 October 1874, Journal of Discourses vol. 17 page 207, emphasis added.
The Patriarchal Priesthood of Kings and Priests
Published by Jacob Vidrine on Friday, November 15, 2019 at 10:00 AM
This article is Part 2 in a series on Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo Priesthood Teachings. While it can be read a stand alone article, I recommend reading the series of articles on this subject from the beginning.
The Nauvoo Priesthood Teachings Series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Some in the past have tried to dismiss the Patriarchal Priesthood as not really being an order of priesthood at all, but simply receiving the “temple endowment and eternal marriage”. However, a careful examination of the sources demonstrate that the Patriarchal Priesthood introduce in Nauvoo was an actual order of priesthood, conferred through the anointing of men and women to the offices of King and Priest and Queen and Priestess. And even after Nauvoo, though the terminology “Patriarchal Priesthood” was dropped and not used to reference temple authority, the apostles still understood that the temple ordinations of Kings and Priests and Queens and Priestess were patriarchal in nature.
As Joseph Smith said at the funeral of James Adams, he anointed him to the Patriarchal Priesthood:
“I anointed him to the patriarchal power — to receive the keys of knowledge and power, by revelation to himself.”1
So this priesthood was conferred through the anointing that James Adams had received. According to the sources, the anointing James Adams received on May 4, 1842 anointed him a King and Priest, so it was not the Endowment by itself, nor an Eternal Marriage ceremony (though Adams did receive both of those things), but the ordination he received through his anointing that conferred this priesthood upon him.
As George Miller wrote: “Joseph washed and anointed as Kings and Priests to God, and over the House of Israel the following named persons...and [thereby] conferred on us Patriarchal Priesthood. This took place on the 5th and 6th [i.e. 4th and 5th] of May, 1842”, and Heber C. Kimball also recorded that at this meeting they were washed, anointed, sealed, and ordained “priests and so forth”.2 Hence, if it is taken for granted that the offices of King and Priest and Queen and Priestess are the highest priesthood offices (as is accepted by some, and will be more fully developed in the next article), then those offices must be what Joseph Smith was referencing when he said a year later that the “greatest [priesthood] yet experienced in this church” was the Patriarchal Priesthood.3
There are many statements that reference the fact that the authority of Kings and Priests was patriarchal — that it was a priesthood authority pertaining to one’s family. Heber C. Kimball indicated as much in a speech he gave on December 31, 1844:
“If we become to be kings and priests unto God, we must make our children just as happy as they can be and we must be rulers over them to give them their inheritance.”4
Similarly, Brigham Young taught the same thing on January 8, 1845:
“If our Grand Father Goddard is permitted to rule as King and Priest over his posterity, and [his] posterity are raised up as kings and priests to rule over their posterity, our Grand-Fathers Goddard would call together a numerous host. I will show you the order of the Kingdom as regards my own family; one of my sons is placed here, another there, another there, and so on. Yet I should be their ruler, savior, dictator, and governor. They would have an innumerable posterity but all would join in harmony with my counsel; I should console, comfort, and advise them all.”5
Similar to how Joseph Smith counselled the saints regarding the Patriarchal Priesthood: “Go to and finish the temple, and God will fill it with power, and you will then receive more knowledge concerning this priesthood”6 Brigham Young also commented that the apostles intended to teach about the patriarchal nature of the authority of Kings and Priests in the Nauvoo Temple, just they did not have time to do so:
“I am entitled to the Keys of the Priesthood according to descent, lineage and blood, and so is Brother Heber C. Kimball and many others — have taken kingly power and grades of the Priesthood. This we would have taught in the Temple if time would permit.”7
Even years later in Utah they still acknowledged that the authority of Kings and Priests was patriarchal, pertained to one’s family:
“We understand that we are to be made Kings and Priests unto God; now if I be made the king and lawgiver to my family, and if I have many sons, I shall become the father of many fathers, for they will have sons, and their sons will have sons, and so on, from generation to generation, and, in this way, I may become the father of many fathers, or the king of many kings. This will constitute every man a prince, king, lord, or whatever the Father sees fit to confer upon us.
In this way we can become King of kings, and Lord of lords, or Father of fathers, or Prince of princes, and this is the only course, for another man is not going to raise up a [family] kingdom for you. If I did not feel disposed, in my poverty, to enlarge my family and to build up the kingdom, I could not be acquainted with the difficulties thereof, neither should I be counted worthy to enjoy the blessings conferred upon those who are faithful.”8
“These additional powers [given in the temple ordinance of the ‘Fullness of the Priesthood’] include all of the keys that belong to the holy priesthood on the earth, or were ever revealed to man in any dispensation, and which admit men and women within the veil. They enable them to pass by the angels and the gods, until they get into the presence of the Father and the Son. They make of them Kings and Priests, Queens and Priestesses to God, to rule and reign as such over their posterity and those who may be given to them by adoption.”9
“We find that after the days of Noah an order was introduced called the Patriarchal Order, in which every man managed his own family affairs, and prominent men among them were kings and priests unto God, and officiated in what is known among us as the Priesthood of the Son of God, or the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek. Man began again to multiply on the face of the earth, and the heads of families became their Kings and Priests, that is, the fathers of their own people, and they were more or less under the influence and guidance of the Almighty.”10
This article is Part 2 in a series on Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo Priesthood Teachings. Click here to continue to Part 3!
This article is supplementary material to information contained in the pamphlets The Nauvoo Priesthood Developments and King and Priest Endowments and the Washing of Feet.
References:
1. Joseph Smith sermon, 6 October 1843, published in Times and Seasons vol. 4 page 331; History of the Church vol. 6 page 51–52; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith page 326.
2. George Miller letter to The Northern Islander, 26 June 1855, published in The Annual Publications of the Historical Society of Southern California vol. 10 pages 120–121; Heber C. Kimball Journal, quoted in Devery Anderson and Gary Bergera, Joseph Smith’s Quorum of the Anointed page 4.
3. Joseph Smith sermon, 27 August 1843, recorded in “Scriptural Items” book kept by Franklin D. Richards, LDS Archives, published in Words of Joseph Smith <27 August 1843> page 245.
4. Heber C. Kimball sermon 31 December 1844, George Laub Nauvoo Journal page 22, emphasis added, accessed online at http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/GLaub-A.html
5. Brigham Young sermon, 8 January 1845, Complete Discourses of Brigham Young page 66, emphasis added.
6. Joseph Smith sermon, 27 August 1843, History of the Church vol. 5 page 555. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith page 323, emphasis added.
7. Brigham Young sermon, 16 February 1847, Complete Discourses of Brigham Young pages 180, 182, amalgamated, emphasis added.
8. Brigham Young sermon, 14 July 1855, Journal of Discourses vol. 3 pages 265-266, emphasis added.
9. Daniel Tyler article entitled “Temples” in Juvenile Instructor vol. 15 <1880> page 111, emphasis added.
10. John Taylor sermon, 7 October 1874, Journal of Discourses vol. 17 page 207, emphasis added.
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