This chief with two councillors form the first presidency.
Next in order come the twelve apostles who hold equal authority in
church matters with the president, though the presidency is the last
resort in case of appeal. Next comes the order of the seventies, which
consists of seven presidents, each having control or presiding over
seventy priests or lower presidents, each of whom in turn, presides over
a quorum of seventy. Out of this order of seventies come the patriarchs
who dispense the blessings of the church, the high council which is an
ecclesiastical court, all these orders making up a priesthood after the
order of Melchisedec. Then follows the Aaronic priesthood which is
composed of a senior bishop with two councillors acting as president of
the state of Zion, and an indefinite number of bishops of lower rank
with elders, teachers and deacons. The Mormons claim that this is the
only apostolic church, the only church having the sign of miracles, the
laying on of hands, the giving of tongues, the baptism for the dead, the
consecration of marriage, the only church through whom and with whom God
is talking as of old.
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