Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

“ Jesus delegated unto Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that whatsoever he should bind on earth should be bound in heaven, as recorded in the sixteenth chapter of Matthew, thus delegating to the apostleship all authority essential to the preaching of the Gospel, and administering in all the ordinances thereof, at home and abroad, for the salvation of all who would render obedience. It is apparent that other men such as Paul and Barnabas received the apostleship, but while this was the case it is evident that the Twelve apostles constituted a quorum. ”

“ It must be remembered by the student that apostles are also high priests. In fact the apostleship circumscribes all priesthood, hence it happens that some men who have not been directly ordained high priests, but who were apostles, have acted in the quorum of the first presidency of the church. ”

“ The apostolic ministry divides itself broadly into the general and the local. There are 'ministers' or 'stewards' who are officers of the church catholic and have a general commission. Such general commission belonged, of course, to the apostles, though mutual delimitations were arranged among themselves and though St. James, who ranked with the apostles, was settled at Jerusalem. It belonged also, more or less, to 'evangelists' and other 'apostolic men,' who, however, might be temporarily located in particular churches and districts, like Timothy in Ephesus, and Titus in Crete. ”

“ After one Quorum had voted for the highest authority of the Church, then another Quorum or Council would be called upon to give their vote, and so on, until all had voted for the different authorities, and then it was presented to all the Church, male and female. ”

“ Since, therefore, the error is greater in an active election when those electing are forced by the devil to elect an individual whom God condemns—a thing manifestly certain from his works and his neglect of the spiritual office, that he is at variance with the life of the apostles—much more does it follow that such an individual is to be deemed not apostolic but an apostate.
Therefore, in view of these statements, the apostolic seat may be called the life of the priest who efficiently maintains the life of an apostle, just as the seat of an apostle is the life of an apostle. ”

“ The determination of a point so trifling being without any influence on matters of faith and doctrine, each evangelist might, without detriment to the sanctity and authority of the record which he bears, be left to follow his own private opinion of the most proper principle of arrangement to be followed in enumerating the apostles. Thus, while it is noticeable that the whole twelve were disposed in six pairs by each of the evangelists, yet the order and succession of these is somewhat changed, by different circumstances directing the choice of each writer. ”

“ Then the various offices of the Priesthood began to be conferred upon men who believed, and in due time the quorum of the Twelve was organized, whose commission was to proclaim this Gospel to every people, to every nation, to every kindred, to every tongue. ”

“ Surely, a blind man can perceive a strength from within which sets destruction at defiance. But this is not all. Not only is the power and authority in safe keeping, but the Lord has designated a special quorum to build up the Church whenever any of its offices become vacant, through death or otherwise. The revelation of March, 1835, says:
"It is the duty of the Twelve, also, to ordain and set in order ALL THE OTHER OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH, etc." ”

“ This is the authority of the Apostleship. If every Apostle anciently had been slain but John the Revelator, as they all were, and there had been faith and men enough left, he would have had the right to ordain other Apostles, and set in order the entire Church, and carry forward the work as the Lord should dictate it. So in our day. As I have stated, it is not necessary for a man who has received this power and these keys to be ordained and set apart to act; he can act in any position. ”

“ Paul we have both itinerant and local ministers; the itinerant ministers being chiefly apostles and prophets, whose functions do not seem to be marked off from one another very distinctly; and the local ministry consisting of two orders only, bishops and deacons, as in the address to the Church of Philippi. When we reach the Epistles of Ignatius and other documents of a date later than A.D. 110, we lose distinct traces of these itinerant apostles and prophets. The title “Apostle” is becoming confined to St. Paul and the Twelve, and the title of “Prophet” to the Old Testament prophets. ”

“ It is worthy of notice, that those who were Christ's apostles were first his disciples; to intimate, that men must be first taught of God, before they be sent of God. Jesus Christ never made an apostle of any man who was not first his scholar or disciple. These twelve apostles were chosen.
1. That they might be with our Lord, to see and witness his miracles, and hear his doctrine.
2. That they might bear testimony of the former, and preach his truth to mankind.
The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; etc. ”

“ To go and preach, or to be ordained into the quorums of the Seventies, does not make good men of them, if they are not so before. The ordination of a man to the High Priest's quorum does not make him a good man. Let every elder, priest, teacher, and deacon set that example before his family, his brethren, and the world, that the nations of the earth will hear of the good works of the Latter-day Saints, that the honest in heart may be constrained to say—"We are going up to Zion to join this people, of whom we hear nothing but that they are honest, upright, industrious, frugal, and intelligent. ”

“ It is very natural that the Presidents of the Seventies should feel after the condition of their members. These Quorums are divided up and scattered through the different settlements; one man belonging to one Quorum—another to another ”

“ If those who are heads of Quorums strictly attended to their duties, the man that does not live according to his late covenants, who violates the ordinances and laws of the house of God, would be severed from his Quorum and cut off from this Church; and if they will not do this, we will do it from this stand. Men must quit swearing and taking the name of God in vain; they must refrain from lying, stealing, cheating, and doing that which they know they ought not to do, or they must be severed from this Church and kingdom. ”

“ But bishops do not possess that three-fold Apostolic power of which I spoke in the beginning of this chapter. The power of bishops only extends to their own dioceses, but that of the Apostles to all nations throughout the whole world.
Andrew his brother. Mark places James and John before Andrew, making him the fourth. Luke does the same in Acts i., 13, but in his Gospel he places him before them as Matthew does. These variations in the order of the names is to show that the Apostles are all equal in dignity and office. ”

“ Bishop, we thought we would meet once a week as Seventies or High Priests; can we have your permission?" "Yes; go to the school-house and sound life eternal to the people."
Told by their President to have a muss Quorum meeting here! No; no such power is vested in the Seventies anywhere. No man gets power from God to raise disturbance in any Branch of the Church. Such power is obtained from an evil source. ”

“ But enough has surely been said to admonish men against that easy and off-hand way of getting rid of those texts which imply high apostolic power, by saying, that such passages only suit the primitive days and the Apostles’ own ministry. ”

“ Now, reason and common sense teach, that if men are real successors to apostolicity, they will be like Peter and Paul in all their qualifications and attributes; but reason also teaches, that after the ascension of Jesus, no man can be qualified for the apostleship unless the Lord appear to him, as in the case of Paul. But the truth is, that this claim of apostolic succession is as groundless as the claim of the clergy of the apostasy to tithes on the ground of their succession to the rights of the Levitical priesthood. ”

“ To them belongs the sphere of presidency of government in the church. From these quorums, so far as the most suitable men can be found in them, are chosen men to act as bishops—where no literal descendant of Aaron can be found,—the bishops' counselors; presidents of stakes and their counselors; and also high counselors. When men more suitable for these positions are found in other quorums of the priesthood, then they are ordained high priests, and appointed to the presiding positions enumerated. In every stake there is a high priests' quorum, presided over by a president and two counselors. ”

“ For no one will disregard our admonitions if he believes that the decrees of the pope have the same authority as the words of the apostle himself. For if our Lord commanded the apostles out of reverence for the seat of Moses to observe the sayings of the scribes and Pharisees who occupied that seat, then surely the faithful ought to receive with all reverence the apostolic and evangelical doctrine through those who are chosen to the ministry of preaching. ”

“ But the state-clergies are not alone in their assumption of apostolicity; the Dissenters are condemnable on the same account. They claim to be ambassadors of Jesus Christ; and they permit none to "administer ordinances" who are not ordained by the imposition of hands. The ordained do not undertake to forgive sins after the manner of the apostles; but they apply to themselves scriptures which relate only to the apostles, by which they constitute themselves their successors. ”

“ In the first place, it is clear from the Scripture that St. Peter's supremacy was to continue. A number of the ablest Protestant writers have proved most conclusively what is called the Apostolic succession, that is, that Bishops are the successors of the Apostles, tracing their authority and descent in an unbroken line of ordination to the Apostles. ”

“ When they returned from that missionary journey it was with much rejoicing because even the devils were subject unto them. What other officers the Lord ordained and set apart, the scriptures do not reveal. That the Twelve Apostles were empowered to set in order all things pertaining to the Church, is, nevertheless, beyond dispute. We learn that under their direction and ministry, as branches were formed and the work of the ministry required it, high priests, evangelists, patriarchs, elders, bishops, deacons, priests, pastors and teachers were called into the service of the Church. ”

“ The Romish church, the eldest in apostasy, prides itself upon its apostolic character. In the language of Paul to the Thessalonians, already quoted, that great Antichristian body may indeed find its claim to an origin in apostolic times vindicated, but its apostolic character most emphatically denied. And herein is found a striking illustration of the fact that an evil thing is not rendered good by the accidental circumstance of [196] its originating in the days of the apostles. Every thing, at its commencement, is either right or wrong. ”

“ But those who remain in sin should not be baptized: therefore neither should those who remain in unbelief.
On the contrary, Gregory writing to the bishop Quiricus says: "We have learned from the ancient tradition of the Fathers that when heretics, baptized in the name of the Trinity, come back to Holy Church, they are to be welcomed to her bosom, either with the anointing of chrism, or the imposition of hands, or the mere profession of faith." But such would not be the case if faith were necessary for a man to receive Baptism. ”

“ In addition to these officers of the wards and the stakes, there is in each stake a quorum of High Priests, and one or more quorums of Elders. These constitute the standing ministry in the stakes of Zion, and are authorized to teach the gospel, to warn all men against evil, and to invite and persuade all men to come unto Christ. These are the provisions made for the home ministry, in the Church organization proper. Time will not admit reference to the auxiliary organizations—the Sabbath schools, Improvement associations, Relief societies, Primary societies, and Religion classes. ”

“ This change of conception helped to further the notion of a certain devolution of apostolic powers to successors constituted by act of ordination. The earliest idea of an apostolical succession meant simply the re-emergence in others of the apostolic spirit of missionary enthusiasm. “The first rank in the succession of the apostles” consisted of men eminent as disciples of theirs, and so fitted to continue their labours (Euseb. iii. 37) ; and even under Commodus (A.D. 180–193) there were “evangelists of the word” possessed of “inspired zeal to emulate apostles” (v. 10) . ”

“ This is the challenge they will receive from those Churches, which though they can show none of the Apostles, or Apostolic men, for their authority, as being much later, those even that are rising every day; yet conspiring in the same faith, are held no less apostolical on account of their kindred doctrine. Thus let all heresies, challenged by our Churches to either trial, prove themselves Apostolic in whatever way they think right. ”