Priesthood and the Law of Succession - Part 1 A Secret Priesthood - Part 2 The Restoration of the Higher Order and Fulness of the Patriarchal Priesthood - Author: Fred C. Collier (Doctrine of the Priesthood, Vol. 1 No. 5)

Author: Fred C. Collier - Over the years a tremendous amount of material has been written on the subject of Succession in the Priesthood and the crisis which occurred shortly after the Prophet's death between President Rigdon and the Quorum of the Twelve. For the most part, these have been written from the perspective of the different claimants, ranging from the lineal claims which were made by the Prophet's children, to those of the Apostleship and the Quorum of the Twelve. The great weakness or flaw in these writings has been that they have universally resorted to the Prophet's Kirtland Revelations on Priesthood as the foundation for understanding the succession issues as they existed years later at the time of the Prophet's death. In doing this they have neglected to take into account the restoration of the Higher Order and Fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood which took place on April 3rd, 1836. The natural consequences of this oversight is that they have failed to recognize the significance of the Fulness of the Priesthood as well as that of the Priesthood organizations which grew out of it - namely the Holy Order and Council of Fifty. This then is the focus of this issue, to lay the essential foundation for understanding the Priesthood restoration which took place on April 3rd, 1836, when Moses, Elias and Elijah appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Kirtland Temple.