The Highest Order of the Melchizedek Priesthood
Published by Jacob Vidrine on Saturday, November 16, 2019 at 2:00 PM
This article is Part 3 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
On May 4, 1842 the Prophet Joseph Smith administered the Endowment ceremony with its creation story, signs, tokens, and covenants for the first time in this Dispensation. Sadly, the Prophet’s original journal entry for May 4, 1842 was guarded and cryptic, only listing the names of the men present and that they received certain “instruction on priesthood”. Fortunately however, 3 years later in April 1845, as the church historian tasked with completing the Prophet’s History of the Church (and one of the men present for this meeting), Willard Richards wrote a more detailed account of what the Prophet taught and did at this meeting:
“I spent the day in the upper part of the store, that is in my private office…in council with General James Adams, of Springfield, Patriarch Hyrum Smith, Bishops Newel K. Whitney and George Miller, and President Brigham Young and Elders Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards, instructing them in the principles and order of the Priesthood, attending to washings, anointings, endowments, and the communication of keys pertaining to the Aaronic Priesthood, and so on to the highest order of the Melchizedek Priesthood…”2
This entry candidly states that Joseph instructed these men on “order of the priesthood” during this meeting, and communicated to them keys “pertaining to the Aaronic Priesthood, and so on to the highest order of the Melchizedek Priesthood”. According to this entry the Prophet plainly equated the four signs and tokens of the Endowment to four different orders of Priesthood — two Aaronic Orders, and two Melchizedek Orders — a lowest Aaronic Priesthood “and so on” to the highest order of the Melchizedek Priesthood. A journal entry by apostle George F. Richards demonstrates that in the 1920s the Endowment still had such a reference, as he remarked that it spoke of a “higher order of the Aaronic Priesthood” transitioning to a “lower order of the Melchizedek Priesthood”.3
If one only stops to consider what is taught about the Signs and Tokens of the Melchizedek Priesthood in the Temple they will discover that the “highest order of the Melchizedek Priesthood” indeed is the “Patriarchal Priesthood” — representing the priesthood of Kings and Priests that George Miller and Heber C. Kimball understood they were anointed and ordained to at the May 4, 1842 meeting.
Moses, Elias, and Elijah Restored This Highest Order of Priesthood
According to the Prophet Joseph Smith’s teachings, Moses, Elias, and Elijah restored the keys to this “highest order” and “fullness of” the Melchizedek Priesthood on April 3, 1836 (see D&C 110). This was amply demonstrated when the Prophet taught on March 10, 1844 that the “spirit, calling, and power of Elijah” was the authority to bestow “endowments of the fullness of the Melchizedek Priesthood” and perform “all the ordinances belonging to the Kingdom of God”:
“The spirit, power, and calling of Elijah is, that ye have power to hold the key of the revelations, ordinances, oracles, powers and endowments of the fullness of the Melchizedek Priesthood and of the kingdom of God on the earth; and to receive, obtain, and perform all the ordinances belonging to the kingdom of God, even unto the turning of the hearts of the fathers unto the children, and the hearts of the children unto the fathers, even those who are in heaven.”4
This restoration was secret, never spoken about publicly during the Prophet’s lifetime, and so in Nauvoo the Prophet always referenced Elijah’s return as a futuristic event. However, by the April 1844 General Conference Hyrum Smith, in teaching Celestial Marriage to the saints, said that the Prophet had been given the “power” and “spirit of Elijah and Elias” to seal:
“The Lord has given Joseph the power to seal on earth and in heaven those who are found worthy; having the Spirit of Elijah and Elias, he has power to seal with a seal that shall never be broken, and it shall be in force in the morn of the resurrection.”5
Similarly, it may be noted that Alpheus Cutler referenced that seven angels gave Joseph Smith “his ordinations of priesthood”, namely, John the Baptist (angel #1), Peter, James, and John (#2, #3, and #4), then finally Moses, Elias, and Elijah (#5, #6, and #7):
“At one angel to your [claimed] authority, it took seven to confer on Joseph what he held...seven from Heaven, who came in their order to confer on him (Joseph) his ordination of Priesthood.”6
The First Anointing and the Second Anointing
When Joseph Smith originally gave the Endowment in Nauvoo, he actually anointed men Kings and Priests, rather than anointed only to eventually become as such as is done in LDS Temples today. This endowment anointing to be a King and Priest was sometimes called the “First Anointing”, and was understood to confer the authority of the “Highest Order of the Melchizedek Priesthood”, but not the full blessings of it. According to the Prophet’s doctrine, the full blessings connected to this authority would be conferred through a second endowment more commonly known as the Second Anointing. The Second Anointing ratifies and seals for Time and Eternity the probationary blessings offered in the Endowment and Eternal Marriage Sealing.
According to Joseph Smith, the “Those holding the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood are kings and priests of the Most High God” and that the “[second] anointing and sealing is to be called, elected, and made sure.” Yet, in this same speech the Prophet also taught the requirement for receiving these “keys of a kingdom of endless life” in remarking that “the sacrifice required of Abraham in the offering up of Isaac, shows that if a man would attain to the keys of the kingdom of an endless life; he must sacrifice all things.”8
The Prophet in other public discourses gave many other details about this ordinance, saying that it was the “last and most impressive” temple ordinance “without which we obtain celestial thrones”; that it involved being anointed a “King and Priest unto the Most High God” and receiving “all the keys and powers of the Priesthood.”9 In another speech the Prophet indicated that “all the keys” conferred upon the recipient included “sealing powers”.10 On March 10, 1844, the Prophet taught that this final sealing by the “Power of Elijah” was to be “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise”, that final marriage sealing referenced in D&C 132 that had to be done “by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power.” (D&C 132:7)11
The Prophet Joseph Smith and his wife Emma received this ordinance on September 28, 1843. The day they received this ordinance, it was recorded that they received their “Second Anointing” of the “Highest & Holiest Order of the Priesthood”:
“Baurak Ale [code name for Joseph Smith] was by common consent & unanimous voice chosen president of the Quorum & anointed & ordained to the highest & holiest order of the priesthood (& companion d[itt]o).”12
Another account of this event recorded by Willard Richards, and later copied by Wilford Woodruff, is slightly different:
”Joseph Smith led in prayer[.] He prayed that his days might be lengthened out & have dominion over his enemies, and all their households be blessed & all the church[.] Then by common consent Joseph Smith the Prophet received his second anointing of the Highest & Holiest order.”13
The reality that the First Anointing or “Patriarchal Priesthood” was a degree or part of the “Highest Order of the Melchizedek Priesthood” rather than a lesser distinct order of priesthood, is demonstrated in that when Brigham Young’s wife Mary Ann young received her First Anointing (not her sealing, as she had already been previously sealed to Brigham Young on May 29, 1843), Brigham Young wrote in his journal that she was admitted into the “Highest Order of Priesthood”:
“Nov 1st 1843 Mary A. Young admit[t]ed into the hiest [highest] orderer [order] [of] Preasthood.”14
After Nauvoo (and especially after 1847) references to the “Highest Order of the Melchizedek Priesthood” and the “Fullness of the Melchizedek Priesthood” disappear in the early Utah period, likely because of the succession threats other Kings and Priests posed to the apostles being able to unite and lead the Church — as the apostles were not alone in holding the highest priesthood and all of the keys!
Yet, God’s house is “a house of order, not a house of confusion” (D&C 132:8) and the saints were commanded to be united: “be [ye] one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.” (D&C 38:27) Part of this union involved there being a presiding Priest and King, who presided over and directed the work of God — and the majority of those who received the highest priesthood from the Prophet in his lifetime knew that Brigham Young and the Twelve were the right men to stand in the Prophet’s shoes to do so.
And so, because of the threats and opposition the apostles faced, they felt it necessary to forget about and minimize this order of priesthood, for the sake of preserving the union of the saints. However, one of the most direct statements about the authority of the “highest order” and “fullness of the priesthood” come from Brigham Young himself, to individuals who had just received their first anointing and endowments in the Nauvoo Temple, on December 26, 1845:
“Every man that gets his endowment, whether he is High Priest or Seventy, may go into any part of the worldand build up the kingdom if he has [been ordained to] the keys. We have been ordained to the Melchisedeck Priesthood, which is the highest order of Priesthood, it has many branches or offices — And those who have come in here and have received their washing and anointing will be ordained Kings and Priests [in the Second Anointing, if found faithful and worthy], and will then have received the fullness of the Priesthood, all that can be given on earth, for Brother Joseph said he had given us all that could be given to man on the earth.”15
This article is Part 3 in a series on Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo Priesthood Teachings. Click here to continue to Part 4!
This article is supplementary material to information contained in the pamphlet The Nauvoo Priesthood Developments.
Sources:
1. This was the first meeting of a body of men that would be called the “Holy Order of God”, “Holy Order”, or “Anointed Quorum” — anointed quorum because everyone who was initiated into this body was initiated by receiving their Endowment. This body meet regularly in their temple robes for prayer circles, to endow / initiate other men into the body (and later also endow and initiate women). This body was also called the “Highest Order of Priesthood” or “Highest Priesthood Lodge” on occasion, because those initiated into it were ordained to the highest priesthood offices of King and Priest and Queen and Priestess.
2. History of the Church vol. 5 <4 May 1842> pages 1-2, emphasis added; also published in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith page 237 with Joseph Fielding Smith adding a heading for this event entitling it “Highest Order of Priesthood Revealed”. It should be noted that William Law and William Marks’ names were stricken from the published record because of their apostasy. As Heber C. Kimball commented in the Nauvoo Temple “About 4 years ago next May nine persons were admitted [by Joseph Smith] into the Holy Order[.] 5 are now living — B[righam] Young — W[illard] Richards[,] G[eorge] Miller — N[ewel] K. Whitney & H[eber] C. Kimball[.] Two are dead [i.e. James Adams and Hyrum Smith], and two are worse than dead.” (William Clayton diary kept for Heber C. Kimball, quoted in The Nauvoo Endowment Companies <21 December 1845> page 116.) According to the record, Joseph first endowed 8 men on May 4, 1842, then those men administered to Joseph and Hyrum their endowment the next day, May 5, 1842:
“General Adams started for Springfield, and the remainder of the council of yesterday continued their meeting at the same place, and myself and Brother Hyrum received in turn from the others, the same that I had communicated to them the day previous.” (History of the Church vol. 5 <5 May 1842> pages 2–3)
3. George F. Richards diary, 3 June 1922, quoted in The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000 page 186, he was noting that they removed this reference to a “higher” Aaronic and “lower” Melchizedek at this time to simply say “Aaronic” transitioning to the “Melchizedek”.
4. History of the Church vol. 6 <10 March 1844> page 261; also found inTeachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith page 337.
5. Hyrum Smith sermon, 8 April 1844, LDS Archives, emphasis added. (Discourse not published.) Transcript. On Richard E. Turley, Jr. Selected Collections from the Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,vol. 1, DVD # 1, volume 6, pages 1984-91. A small portion of this sermon is quoted and published in History of the Church vol. 6 page 320.
6. Alpheus Cutler letter to Zenos Gurley, 29 January 1856, emphasis added; quoted in Drew Briney, Silencing Mormon Polygamy page 292.
7. Brigham Young sermon, 6 August 1843, History of the Church vol. 5 page 527, emphasis added.
8. Joseph Smith sermon, 27 August 1843, History of the Church vol. 5 page 555; also in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith page 322–323 .
9. Joseph Smith sermon, 8 April 1844, History of the Church vol. 6 page 319; also in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith pages 362–363.
10. Joseph Smith sermon, 20 January 1844, History of the Church vol. 6 page 184; also in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith page 330.
11. “This power of Elijah is to that of Elias what in the architecture of the Temple of God those who seal or cement the Stone to their places are to those who cut or hew the stones the one preparing the way for the other to accomplish the work By this we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise ie Elijah. To obtain this sealing is to make our calling and election sure which we ought to give all diligence to accomplish.” (Joseph Smith sermon, Franklin D. Richards “Scriptural Items” notebook, published in Words of Joseph Smith <10 March 1844> page 335, emphasis added.)
12. Joseph Smith diary, 28 September 1843, quoted in Devery Anderson and Gary Bergera, Joseph Smith’s Quorum of the Anointed pages 25–26.
13. Willard Richards account of Joseph Smith’s Second Anointing, copied into the “Historian’s Private Journal” on 26 February 1867 by Wilford Woodruff, quoted in Devery Anderson and Gary Bergera, Joseph Smith’s Quorum of the Anointed pages 26–27.
14. Brigham Young Journal, 1 November 1843, LDS Archives.
15. Brigham Young sermon, 26 December 1845, recorded in William Clayton diary kept for Heber C. Kimball, published in The Nauvoo Endowment Companies page 192.
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