A very remarkable feature in the religious sentiment of modern "Christianity" is the indifference which prevails as to the question of legitimate authority to speak and officiate in the name of the Lord. Should an unauthorized man operate in matters of human government, or an impostor pretend to be the agent of a mercantile institution and deceive the people by taking their orders for goods and receiving their money, no one with sound reason would expect the government or firm to make good the unauthorized contracts of such an impostor; but the deceiver would be arrested and thrust into prison for his fraudulent acts. Why should the consideration of sacred ordinances involving the salvation of mankind be treated with less concern?

There seems to have grown up in the hearts of the people a feeling that mere belief and intellectual assent to the theories of the Gospel is all-sufficient to secure salvation in the presence of the Lord. But this is an unscriptural delusion. "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe and tremble." "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? . . . For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (St James ii:17, 19, 20 and 26.)

We have shown from the Scriptures that baptism and confirmation are essential ordinances to salvation; and to these might be added other sacred rites, instituted by the Savior of the world for the redemption of man. He has said that "not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matt. vii:21.)

Can anyone reasonably suppose that baptism, confirmation, the sacrament, or any other sacred ceremony administered by one not sent of God will be followed by the blessings which attended the primitive saints? Will unauthorized acts secure the remission of sins, or the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are manifest in visions, dreams, healings, prophecies, tongues, etc.? Not by any means; and the reason the signs do not follow professed believers of the present day is because their ministers are not called of God according to the pattern instituted by Him. The condemnation of the Lord will rest upon all who speak presumptuously and who willfully usurp authority to officiate in sacred things.

The Lord said in the days of Jeremiah, concerning certain men who spoke without authority: "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied." (Jer. xxiii:21.) The whole history of the dealings of God with His people as it is recorded in the Bible, proves the constant necessity of living, divine authority.

Upon this branch of the subject we cite the reader to the Scriptures. When Moses was about to depart from Israel he sought the Lord to designate his successor, knowing full well that without succession of authority the work of God could not continue. He said, "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd." (Num. xxvii:16-17.) In Romans x., 14 to 17, we have the following: "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?"

The Savior, who called Twelve apostles and other seventy to continue the work which He, by the direction of His Father, had inaugurated, was so particular that they should not "run before they were sent" that He said to them, "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." (Luke xxiv:47, 49.)

This emphatic injunction was given, notwithstanding that these apostles had been already called and ordained as recorded in Mark iii:14, and notwithstanding their great experience by personal association with the Savior of mankind, who was pure, without guile, and perfect in all things, "who spake as never man spake." The apostles had witnessed the sick healed, the blind see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, the dead raised. Three of them, Peter, James and John, had been with Christ when He was transfigured on the holy mount. Moses and Elias had ministered unto them. These Twelve were the living oracles of Almighty God, but for all that, they must not "run before they were sent, nor speak before they were spoken to." They must enjoy especial power. Are men in modern times as particular to avoid speaking in the name of the Lord before they are truly called?

Let us ascertain how men are called of God and His authority perpetuated in the earth. In speaking of the honor and authority of the Holy Priesthood, Paul says, "And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron." By reading the fourth and twenty-eighth chapters of Exodus, the information as to how Aaron was called can be obtained. He was called by a revelation through a prophet of God. That prophet was called by revelation and ordained by one having authority to ordain him. This method of calling men to the ministry was ever adhered to by true Saints, and when departed from, the departure has been of men and not of God. Aaron received the anointing literally at the hands of the prophet Moses, as recorded in Exodus xl:15, 16, and thus conferred the Levitical priesthood upon Aaron, which was to be transmitted by the holy anointing from generation to generation, as long as they should observe the statutes of the Holy One of Israel.

When Joshua was called to succeed Moses in leading Israel into the promised land, it was done by revelation from God and the laying on of hands by one having authority. "And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him. * * * And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses." (Num. xxvii:18 23.) "And Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him." (Deut. xxxiv:9.) During the entire history of ancient Israel, men were called by revelation, and when any person presumed to officiate without such a call, their acts were invalid and were rejected of the Almighty.

The New Testament furnishes direct evidence of the plan of calling men to the ministry and perpetuating the authority of God among men. Jesus said to His apostles, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you." (St. John xv:16.) "Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away." (Acts xiii: 1, 2, 3.) "And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed." (Acts xiv: 23.) Men thus called have authority to speak in the name of the Lord, to officiate in His name; and their acts are valid, binding in time and eternity.

When Paul found a number of disciples at Ephesus who had received baptism, but in answer to his question, said that they had not "so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost," he promptly baptized them; yet they had received this ordinance after the form of John's baptism, that is, by immersion, which was correct. It was evident, however, that their first baptizing was done without authority, otherwise the person officiating would have told them of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, as did John the Baptist. Under these circumstances Paul had to rebaptize them, or rather administer the true baptism, he having authority from God to administer it, and then he conferred the Holy Ghost upon them by the laying on of hands. This example is a lesson as applicable to similar conditions of today as it was in the New Testament dispensation. All ceremonies, ordinances, rites, etc., administered without the administrator being "called of God as was Aaron," are null and void.

The dispensation of the fullness of times has been ushered in. The Father and the Son and other heavenly messengers have visited the earth and restored authority to act in the name of Jesus as in days of old. This authority has been transmitted from the Prophet Joseph Smith to others, as designated by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and by the laying on of hands. In this manner the authority of the Holy Priesthood will be perpetuated without interruption until the "kingdoms of this world shall have become the kingdom of our God and His Christ."