History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

342 M0RM0NISM AND POLYGAMY.
supervision. It comprises bishops, priests, teachers,
and deacons, who hold the keys of the ministering
angels, having power to administer in certain ordinances
and in the temporal affairs of the church, baptizing
and sitting as judges in Israel. The bishopric
is the presidency of the Aaronic priesthood. The
office of a bishop is to administer in temporal matters.
First-born sons, lineal descendants of Aaron, and
no others, have a legal right to the bishopric. But
a high-priest of the order of Melchisedek may officiate
in all lesser offices, including that of bishop, when
no lineal descendant of Aaron can be found, and
after he has been ordained to this power by the first
presidency. There is also the patriarchal priesthood, 7
7 About 1834, Joseph Smith had a revelation to the effect that it was the
will of the Lord that every father should bless his own children, and that
patriarchs should be set apart to bless those without a father in the church.
This revelation was due to an expressed desire on the part of Brigham Young's
father to bless his own children before dying, after the manner of the patriarchs
of old. Young's Wife No. 19, 5S1. Several years before this, it had
been directed that every member of the church having children should bring
them to the elders before the church, who were to lay their hands upon them
in the name of Jesus Christ, and bless them. Doctrine and Covenants, T2.
During the life of the first patriarch—Jos. Smith, sen.—these blessings were
nominally free to the recipients. A high-council held at Kirtland in Sept.
1835 decided that when the patriarch was occupied in blessing the church,
he should be paid at the rate of ten dollars a week, and his expenses; also
that Frederick G. Williams be appointed to attend blessing meetings, and
record the proceedings, for which services he should receive the same compensation.
The payment of twelve dollars for a book in which to record the
blessings caused discussion in this council, and brother Henry Green, who
had intimated that a suitable book could be procured for less money, was excluded
from the church for his pi-esumption. Mil. Star, xv. 308-9. In Jan.
1S36, Smith, sen., was anointed with oil by the prophet, blessed by each of
the presidency in turn, and was thenceforth known as Father Smith. Id., G20.
In 1837, the pay of the patriarch was fixed at a dollar and fifty cents a day,
and that of the recorder at ten cents for each 100 words. Mil. Star, xvi. 109.
When Hyrum became patriarch, says the author of Young's Wife No. 19, 581,
the demand for blessings had so increased that one dollar each was charged
for them; and in 1S75 the price had advanced to two dollars. Upon the
death of his father in 1840, Hyrum Smith succeeded to the office of patriarch,
pursuant to a revelation entailing it on the eldest son. The revelation is dated
in Jan. 1841. Doctrine and Covenants, 305-6; Mil. Star, xviii. 3G3. The following
notice appears in Times and Seasons, Nov. 1, 1841: 'The brethren are
hereby notified that our well-beloved brother, Hyrum Smith, patriarch of
the church, has erected a comfortable office opposite his dwelling-house [in
Nauvoo], where himself, together with his scribe and recorder, James Sloan,
will attend regularly every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, during the
entire day, or upon any other clay if urgent circumstances require it, to perform
the duties of his high and holy calling. A copy of the blessings can be
received immediately after being pronounced, so that the brethren who live