Did Women Ever Hold The Priesthood

[Elphaba]

I wrote this post for another thread, but it just didn't seem to fit anymore, so I decided to start a new thread. Hopefully this post is a different take on an old theme.

I’ve been thinking about the question of whether or not women were ever given the priesthood by Joseph. There was a time when this question fascinated me, and so I spent a few hours throwing papers all over my floor and tagging pages in my books looking for the answers I remember having found a few years ago.

I do know that fifteen elite women from Nauvoo were ordained with the priesthood in the 1840s.

But just like Elijah Able, who was ordained a Seventy on December 30, 1836, but had his priesthood rescinded in Utah, these women’s “priesthood” also subtley dissipated over time in Utah. Eventually, the thought that a woman might hold the priesthood became anathema to almost all members of the Church.

There is even a theory that Joseph ordained these women to the priesthood to make it easier for them to accept polygamy, and that he never really meant for them to behave as a true priesthood holder. Perhaps. Personally, I believe Joseph was more generous than that. Just as I believe he never expected to deprive Elijah of his priesthood, I also don’t believe he expected to deny Emma hers.

But I don’t spend any time worrying about it. It doesn’t matter as the Church has the right to decide these matters on its own, and its members seem very happy to follow.

For me, it’s just a fascinating part of the Church’s history. And what I discovered in my search was someting I had never heard of before, and it was really a beautiful thing.

So, what was this mysterious assembly of men and women? It was called “The Quorum of the Anointed.”

The Quorum of the Anointed, or “Holy Order of the Priesthood,” was organized in May of 1842 by Joseph, and at first initiated nine men into what would later become today’s “temple endowment.” That’s how incredibly important this was.

At first women are excluded. However, that was about to change.

In written documents, it reads: "On September 28, 1843, “Joseph Smith “& Companion” [Emma Hale Smith] received the second anointing and were both “ordained to the highest & holiest order of the priesthood”; Joseph Smith was also ordained president of “The Anointed Quorum.”

Notice it says “were both ordained to the highest & holiest order of the priesthood.” In plain English that means Joseph and Emma were ordained into the priesthood.

The ordinance by which Hyrum and Mary Fielding Smith received their Second Anointing is recorded as “My brother Hyrum and his wife were blessed, ordained and anointed.”

Again note it says “and his wife were blessed, ordained and anointed.”

On January 8, 1846, Brigham Young anoints Heber C. Kimball and his wife Vilate as the first couple to receive the sealing and anointing in a temple, in which they are ordained as eternal “king and queen, priest and priestess unto God.”

According to Joseph Smith’s Quorum of the Anointed, 1842-1845, A Documentary History, by Devery S. Anderson and Gary James Bergera:

“Throughout the remainder of 1843, the Anointed Quorum continued to expand the number of eternal sealings and second anointings. The Quorum also continued to address the most important issues confronting the church. For example, on November 12, after Alpheus and Lois Cutler received their second anointing: "I [Joseph Smith] spoke of a petition to Congress, my letter to [James A.] Bennett, and intention to write a proclamation to the kings of the earth."

In other words, for the first time in LDS history, men and women together took part in theocratic issues during these meetings of November and December 1843. This precedent would continue.

For example, on January 7, 1944, the Quorum of the Anointed vote one-by-one to expel William Law. The women voted on an equal basis. Obviously, this is something that would never happen today.

By the end of 1843, the Quorum counted more than thirty-eight individuals and had met on at least thirty-two occasions, mostly to endow new members, advance others in the ordinances, and attend to the true order of prayer. Eighteen women had been initiated into the quorum and had received their endowments. Fifteen members had received the second anointing, while as many as seventeen couples had been sealed for eternity.”

In conclusion, I’m amazed that I never knew about “The Anointed Quorum,“ when I was a member, as it is the foundational structure of today’s temple endowment. I find that fascinating.

I also am delighted at the role women played in this endeavor, and how their opinions and participation were so valued. I do believe women did hold the priesthood in Nauvoo in the late 1830s and up to Joseph’s death. I also believe Joseph intended for them to continue to hold the priesthood, but that is merely my opinion, and scholars far more learned about the issue than I disagree with me and are probably correct. I just see Joseph as such an expansive and generous man that I don’t think he could have denied it to them once he’d given it to them.

I thought I’d end with a quote by Brigham Young, who is responsible for subtly denying women the priesthood, just as he was responsible for rescinding Elijah Able’s priesthood. Yet, once I think I have Brigham’s bigotry pinned down, I find a gem like this one:

“Upon who[m] ever are bestowed the keys of the eternal Priesthood, by a faithful life, [they] will secure to themselves power to see the things of God, and will understand them as plainly as they ever understood anything by gazing upon it with their natural eyes. . . .”

It is in this theological context of priesthood that Young declared: “Now, brethren, the man that honors his Priesthood, the woman that honors her Priesthood, will receive an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of God.”

So, what did he mean by that?

Elphaba

[Jason]

My understanding of the "second anointing" included Priests and Priestesses...but somehow I never put it all together like you have.

Interesting.

[Snow]

My understanding of the "second anointing" included Priests and Priestesses...but somehow I never put it all together like you have.

That's because it is a bunch of hooey - popular among the lowly denizens of exmo.org - but hooey nevertheless.

Note the familar formula; instead of saying here is the straightup proof, woman x confered y priesthood and ordained to z office in which woman x served in such and such capacity during a particular time period, rather the worn and tired formula goes:

Arcane bit of wording a, plus esoteric bit of wording b, plus cryptic bit of wording c, divided by ambivalent phraseology d must therefore equal priesthood e.

Hooey.

[CrimsonKairos]

The problem is the word "priesthood" can be used in several contexts.

Women never held the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthoods. Women never administered the sacrament, baptized, conferred the Holy Ghost, etc... So in that sense, women never held the keys of the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthoods.

If a woman is to become a queen and priestess (as those quotes said), then she must obviously receive some sort of priesthood. However, the promise of becoming a priestess points to a future event.

Now if we get right down to it, women hold some amount of the priesthood de facto, by virtue of their performing initiatories in the temples. It is a priesthood ordinance. Someone else more knowledgeable might correct me in this. Seems pretty straightforward.

Now to say that this "Quorum of the Anointed," were ordained to some holiest order of the priesthood is not the same thing as saying the quorum members (women particularly) received the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthood.

I don't think any historical record shows that women baptized or blessed the sacrament, nor do I think that Joseph Smith or Brigham Young ever taught that women should do such. Not that women never can (God can do whatever He wants with His kingdom as far as I'm concerned), but there's been no revelation or teaching so far that would justify such a doctrine.

So when most members hear this statement, "Women once held the priesthood," they understand it to mean, "The Aaronic and/or Melchizedek priesthood." Is this your assertion? If so, what other records would bear this out.

Failing the existence of any such evidence, I think it'd be wise to clarify that women didn't once hold any Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthood keys or offices.

[Jason]

So we might be able to say that women were ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood, but never held an office in said priesthood?

Or that women can't hold an office in the priesthood?

Maybe?

[StrawberryFields]

Now if we get right down to it, women hold some amount of the priesthood de facto, by virtue of their performing initiatories in the temples. It is a priesthood ordinance. Someone else more knowledgeable might correct me in this. Seems pretty straightforward.

Is it possible to go into this a bit without crossing the lines of this sacred ordinance? The first time through I was like "what the heck"..... I have always wondered about this but have never 'questioned' it.

[Snow]

So we might be able to say that women were ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood, but never held an office in said priesthood?

Sure, we could say that - we'd be wrong, but we could say that.

Like I said above, the argument is not that Betty Smith was ordained to the Melchizdek Priesthood on March 15th by Bob Botox. Rather the argument is, you know, Joseph Smith once said something about women been priestesses on high and sort of women like gave health blessings, so you know it's sorta, kinda like they had something kinda sorta like the priesthood, if you squint and look at it out of the corner of your eye.

[Elphaba]

That's because it is a bunch of hooey - popular among the lowly denizens of exmo.org - but hooey nevertheless.

I haven’t been to exmo.org in literally years. Perhaps I ought to send them a copy of my post. I could use the accolades.

Note the familar formula; instead of saying here is the straightup proof, woman x confered y priesthood and ordained to z office in which woman x served in such and such capacity during a particular time period, rather the worn and tired formula goes:

There is truth to this statement in that the fifteen (maybe eighteen) women who received the priesthood at the Quorum of Anointed were not ordained to be bishops, counselors, or any similar sort of office in the fashion that men are today.

However, it would be a mistake to say that because they were not given official callings they were not ordained to the priesthood. Are all things the same with the Church today as they were then? Of course not. The Church is organic, and this was an admittedly brief period in its history.

I’ll try some chronology to put things into perspective. Joseph had spent some time translating the Book of Abraham and said it “contains writing that cannot be revealed unto the word; but is to be had in the Holy Temple of God.” Later, Smith began revealing those “grand key words of the Holy Melchizedek priesthood” to some men.

His intent regarding women can next be shown when on April 29, 1842, a household controversy “caused Smith to delay his plans to give the ‘grand key words of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood” to his wife and other women. . . . .”’

What reason would Joseph possibly want Emma and other women to have the words of he Melchizedek Priesthood unless it was for her to be ordained with it as well as the men?

Joseph’s expansive vision of a theocracy was coming together in 1842 and the Anointed Quorum was the safe haven where he could test out his doctrinal innovations and disclose his most important decisions. It seems apparent that giving women the priesthood was one of these innovations.

In fact, on September 28, 1843, a woman was one of “those holding the fullness of the Melchizedek Priesthood.” It was Emma Hale Smith. But then, who else would it be?

The minutes of this remarkable day read: "On September 28, 1843, “Joseph Smith “& Companion” [Emma Hale Smith] received the second anointing and were both “ordained to the highest & holiest order of the priesthood”; Joseph Smith was also ordained president of “The Anointed Quorum.”

Again, notice it says “were both ordained to the highest & holiest order of the priesthood.” In plain English that means Joseph and Emma were ordained into the Melchizedek Priesthood.

Why do I say the “Melchizedek Priesthood? Because of Joseph’s own words where he planned to give the ‘grand key words of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood” to his wife, combined with the words “highest & holiest order of the priesthood.” To me, that is the Melchizedek Priesthood. However, if one of you were to give me a different interpretation, I would be glad to have it and willing to listen.

So, what is it that Emma did with her priesthood? Well, she became an integral, functioning and relied upon member of the Quorum of the Anointed, and in point of fact, you could not be a member unless you held the Melchizedek Priesthood.

By the end of 1843 the Anointed Quorum had become a forum for political strategy. On November 15 the men and women of “the quorum” approved Joseph’s plan for a “Petition to Congress” and “a proclamation to the kings of the earth.”

On another occasion Joseph conducted another piece of business during an Anointed Quorum meeting where, on October 1, 1843, he anointed William Law and Amasa Lyman as counselors in the First Presidency of the Church.

And then, on March 3, 1844 Smith turned to the men and women of the Anointed Quorum for the nomination of his vice-presidential running mate.

These types of decisions were made by a formal vote after the “true order of prayer” and the announcement of God’s revelation on the subject. And all of the members participated in prayer circles, and were privileged to be the first to hear Joseph’s teachings

If Emma’s priesthood meant nothing, why did Joseph allow her not only to attend, but also to participate in such an important body that literally made the decisions that ran the Church, and that obviously required each member be a priesthood holder?

As Margaret Toscano asks, Why did Joseph continue to instruct the members, including the women? Why was he chosen as president of the holy order if the quorum itself had no special significance? Why did he allow this quorum to partake of the sacrament and engage in other activities beyond instruction in the temple endowment? The quorum conducted prayer circles, not merely for the purpose of instructing the members in the details of the prayer circle, but for the purpose of addressing in prayer problems affecting the whole Church.”

So while Emma wasn’t a bishop, she was a valued and competent member of the Quorum of the Anointed--the body that made all the decisions regarding the running of the Church. If she had not held the highest and holiest order of the priesthood, she simply would not have been a member.

However, let me be clear. It appears that the only function the women did perform as priesthood holders was as members of the Quorum of the Anointed. Additionally, once Joseph was murdered, and Brigham Young came into power, eventually their participation in the Quorum was no longer wanted or required. This leads many to ask today, did they really have the priesthood then.

Since I'm not a believer, I'm not in a position to answer that question. I know what I'd like to think. I do believe Joseph meant for them to have the priesthood. There are other examples of this, plus his innate sense of justice for all people makes me believe he did, especially once he had given it to Emma.

So, I am just happy to have the thought of these wonderful women being a part of the beginnings of the temple ordinances, with the added blessing of their own priesthood. Perhaps these women needed it at the time to put in motion something that would bring millions to temples all around the world someday. Perhaps what they were doing needed that much power.

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Arcane bit of wording a, plus esoteric bit of wording b, plus cryptic bit of wording c, divided by ambivalent phraseology d must therefore equal priesthood e.

Arcane wording? No. Minutes taken by various members of the Anointed Quorum, including abbreviations, pseudonyms, mistakes, poor handwriting, etc. Yes.

Esoteric wording. Perhaps, but then if there is ever a group that would use esoteric wording, this is it.

Cryptic wording. No. Minutes taking. Yes.

Ambivalent phraseology. No. Minutes taking. Yes.

Priesthood: Required if you were a member of the Quorum of the Anointed; gender irrelevant

Elphaba

[Elphaba]

The problem is the word "priesthood" can be used in several contexts.

Women never held the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthoods. Women never administered the sacrament, baptized, conferred the Holy Ghost, etc... So in that sense, women never held the keys of the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthoods.

If a woman is to become a queen and priestess (as those quotes said), then she must obviously receive some sort of priesthood. However, the promise of becoming a priestess points to a future event.

Now if we get right down to it, women hold some amount of the priesthood de facto, by virtue of their performing initiatories in the temples. It is a priesthood ordinance. Someone else more knowledgeable might correct me in this. Seems pretty straightforward.

Now to say that this "Quorum of the Anointed," were ordained to some holiest order of the priesthood is not the same thing as saying the quorum members (women particularly) received the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthood.

I don't think any historical record shows that women baptized or blessed the sacrament, nor do I think that Joseph Smith or Brigham Young ever taught that women should do such. Not that women never can (God can do whatever He wants with His kingdom as far as I'm concerned), but there's been no revelation or teaching so far that would justify such a doctrine.

So when most members hear this statement, "Women once held the priesthood," they understand it to mean, "The Aaronic and/or Melchizedek priesthood." Is this your assertion? If so, what other records would bear this out.

Failing the existence of any such evidence, I think it'd be wise to clarify that women didn't once hold any Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthood keys or offices.

I understand what you're saying, but what do you think is meant by:

On September 28, 1843, “Joseph Smith “& Companion” [Emma Hale Smith] received the second anointing and were both “ordained to the highest & holiest order of the priesthood”; . . . ?

As best as I can tell, and I've looked through every reference I have, Emma and Joseph received their second anointing on the same day. In other words, Joseph had not had a previous second anointing.

So this tells me this is also the day when he was initially ordained into the Melchizedek Priesthood. If "both" of them were ordained, then it has to be to the M.P.

If it were only one instance, as in only Joseph and Emma, I would say you're right. But it's either fifteen or eighteen couples. (I have to go back and recount them.)

I realize Emma never performed any other priesthood duties. But I do believe it's possible she held the M.P., but only used it as a member of the Quorum of the Anointed. Is it that impossible?

Elphaba

[checkerboy]

Elphaba you've given numerous "quotes" but no sources. Please source. Also I am wondering if you have been through any temple ceremony. It is always interesting to me how non-members seem to know more about the church then the members do. In my OPINION what you are describing is simply the introduction of the various temple ceremonies. And if you understood the purpose of the temple then you would know that the highest ordinance that a man and a WOMAN can receive is to be sealed together, thus entering into the Patriarchal Order of the priesthood. Yes both the man and the woman enter into this order, therefore it can be construed that the woman does indeed have a portion of priesthood power given to her. Yet just as we all have different roles in life, our roles in the priesthood remain divinely appointed, with the woman's role to be as mother.

There is a great missunderstanding in regards to the priesthood as well. There is but one priesthood and it's common name is Melchizedek Priesthood. But there are various divisions in that priesthood, one being the Aaronic, one being the Patriarchal. A man cannot receive the patriarchal order of the priesthood without being sealed to a woman and vice versa. Anyway hope that clears some things up.

[Elphaba]

Elphaba you've given numerous "quotes" but no sources. Please source.

The Mormon Hierarchy, Origins of Power by D. Michael Quinn

In Sacred Lonliness,The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith by Todd Compton

Rough Stone Rolling, Joseph Smith by Richard Lyman Bushman

Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith

Ehat, Andrew (1982). "Joseph Smith's Introduction of Temple Ordinances and the 1844 Mormon Succession Crisis", Thesis, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

Toscano, Margaret (1985). “The Missing Rib: The forgotten place of queens and priestesses in the establishment of Zion,” Sunstone Magazine, Issue 51, July 1985

A boxload of old papers I’ve had for years (that didn't really help a lot but I relived the '80s, so that was fun).

Also I am wondering if you have been through any temple ceremony. It is always interesting to me how non-members seem to know more about the church then the members do.

It’s always interesting to me how much time some members spend worrying about it. Non-members really don’t care.

No, I have not been through the temple.

In my OPINION what you are describing is simply the introduction of the various temple ceremonies.

Yes, well, that’s the understatement of this thread.

What I am describing is THE introduction of one of the various temple ceremonies--the endowments. In fact, the very first endowments ever performed by the restored Church. This occurred 165 years ago. Do you comprehend the enormity of that?

Additionally, these first endowments also included ordaining women to the priesthood. Things sure change in 165 years, don't you think?

And if you understood the purpose of the temple then you would know that the highest ordinance that a man and a WOMAN can receive is to be sealed together, thus entering into the Patriarchal Order of the priesthood. Yes both the man and the woman enter into this order, therefore it can be construed that the woman does indeed have a portion of priesthood power given to her. Yet just as we all have different roles in life, our roles in the priesthood remain divinely appointed, with the woman's role to be as mother.

There is a great missunderstanding in regards to the priesthood as well. There is but one priesthood and it's common name is Melchizedek Priesthood. But there are various divisions in that priesthood, one being the Aaronic, one being the Patriarchal. A man cannot receive the patriarchal order of the priesthood without being sealed to a woman and vice versa. Anyway hope that clears some things up.

Darlin’, I was a member for 25 years, but I sincerely appreciate your efforts. The truth is, I‘m interested in history, and none of this has anything to do with what happened 165 years ago. But, again, thanks for your help.

Elphaba

[Adomini22]

Most of the quotes are regarding to something called the "second annointing", which topic has held some facsination for me years ago when I studied it.... I wont go into any details, sorry gents, but its different than just giving women priesthood. And I still have alot of quotes regarding such saved on my laptop..... Good thread.

[pushka]

That's a shame Adomini, since I'm not LDS but have a great interest in it, I would love to see anybody's sources/quotes/etc. that refute the findings of Elphaba..or which agree with it.

Anybody up to the challenge? I don't pretend to know enough about the LDS church to provide evidence of either stance.

[prisonchaplain]

I'm convinced Eve held the priesthood, but have zero evidence to prove it. :-)

On second thought...she's the one that dialogued with the Serpent. Afterward, Adam just did what she said. Hmmm.

[Adomini22]

Well, here are a couple of paragraphs. The total sources I have expand pages and pages. I am just including the last two on the annointings(and thats it), and the rest speaking of the elect. Here goes:

"Thursday 22 [1846] At nine oclock a.m. I went to the Temple with L. C. C. who went thro' the ordinances of washing and anointing. Received into the Cel[estial]. Room by Levi Hancock.119 saw Pres. B. Young who shook me by the hand very cordially. He told me to take my wife and L. C. tomorrow evening at dusk to receive their second anointings and sealing. His words were as the Lord whispering peace to my Soul. I feel very happy for the blessings and privileges that I am receiving at the hands of the Lord. May I ever have the same Spirit within me, and then I shall always feel well. Staid in the Celestial Room until about 3 when I called at the Temple office. Then to bro. Wm. Clayton's. Staid about an hour. Alls well. Then went home. L. rejoicing at the intelligence she has received this day" ("Journal of Thomas Bullock [1816-1885]", BYU Studies 31:1, p. 44).

"Beginning 28 September 1843, the wives of previously endowed men were given the ordinances of anointing and endowment in order to join the prayer circle, and other men and women were admitted to the Anointed Quorum each week. By the time Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith were murdered in June 1844, more than sixty-five persons were members of the Quorum of the Anointed. Following the example of Joseph and Emma Smith, many of the members of this group received the second anointing during the lifetime of Joseph Smith, to which President Wilford Woodruff publicly testified. Others, like Sidney Rigdon and Orson Pratt, participated alone, and therefore did not receive the second anointing in connection with a spouse. Male membership in the first prayer circle included only the most prominent leaders of the Church and Kingdom of God; in most cases they were General Authorities, or prominent in the bishopric of the Church or leadership of the Nauvoo Stake, whereas the other men in the Anointed Quorum who were still faithful to Joseph Smith in the spring of 1844 also became members of the Council of Fifty" (D. Michael Quinn, "Latter-day Saint Prayer Circles", BYU Studies 19:1, p. 86).

Elect/chosen

In the New Testament, the adjectives "elect" and "chosen" come from the Greek eklektos.

"I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day" (Romans 11:4-8). I wonder if some or all of the elect/chosen are also those mentioned in D&C 49:8, "I will that all men shall repent, for all are under sin, except those which I have reserved unto myself, holy men that ye know not of."

"But behold, verily I say unto you, that there are many who have been ordained among you, whom I have called but few of them are chosen. They who are not chosen have sinned a very grievous sin, in that they are walking in darkness at noon-day. . . . Yea, verily I say unto you, I gave unto you a commandment that you should build a house, in the which house I design to endow those whom I have chosen with power from on high" (D&C 95:5-6, 8).

"There has been a day of calling, but the time has come for a day of choosing; and let those be chosen that are worthy. And it shall be manifest unto my servant, by the voice of the Spirit, those that are chosen; and they shall be sanctified; And inasmuch as they follow the counsel which they receive, they shall have power after many days to accomplish all things pertaining to Zion" (D&C 105:35-7).

D&C 35:20-1 states that "the scriptures shall be given, even as they are in mine own bosom, to the salvation of mine own elect; For they will hear my voice, and shall see me, and shall not be asleep, and shall abide the day of my coming; for they shall be purified, even as I am pure."

[pushka]

Thank you for posting those Adomini...I'm still no clearer on which conclusion I support, but thanks for taking the time to post as I requested. :)

[Adomini22]

Thank you for posting those Adomini...I'm still no clearer on which conclusion I support, but thanks for taking the time to post as I requested. :)

No problem. All I had to do was copy and paste. I love technology (when its working)...

[Elphaba]

I am normally adamantly against cutting and pasting in posts. But I feel the subject matter is so important in this one that I am going to make an exception.

D. Michael Quinn's Mormon Women Have Had the Priesthood Since 1843 addresses every single question that has come up since I began this thread. Since reading it I realize how clumsy I have been in describing what occurred in the 1840s, and I want to correct it, but it's all right here, so why should I fix what's not broken.

This is from the book: Women and Authority:Re-emerging Mormon Feminism, Edited by Maxine Hanks

Signature Books; Salt Lake City, Utah, © 1992 by Signature Books.

If the "feminism" aspect bothers you, please don't let it. I've only pasted an excerpt here, which I thouht covered the discussion, and should satisfy everyone's questions.

Even if afterwards not everyone agrees, at least my position will have been clarified. I do need to make it clear, however, that Quinn's premise is that women have held the priesthood since 1843. That is not my premise. My premise is that they held it while they were members of The Quorum of the Anointed.

I'd like to thank Adomini for giving me the reference, as he posted it in his post.

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For 150 years Mormon women have performed sacred ordinances in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Every person who has received the LDS temple endowment knows that women perform for other women the “initiatory ordinances” of washing and anointing.1 Fewer know that LDS women also performed ordinances of healing from the 1840s until the 1940s.2 Yet every Mormon knows that men who perform temple ordinances and healing ordinances must have the Melchizedek priesthood. Women are no exception.3

Two weeks after he organized the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph Smith announced his intention to confer priesthood on women. He told them on 30 March 1842 that “the Society should move according to the ancient Priesthood” and that he was “going to make of this Society a kingdom of priests as in Enoch's day—as in Paul's day.”4 In printing the original minutes of the prophet's talk after his death, the official History of the Church omitted Joseph's first use of the word “Society” and changed the second “Society” to “Church.” Those two alterations changed the entire meaning of his statement.5 More recently an LDS general authority removed even these diminished statements from a display in the LDS Museum of Church History and Art which commemorated the sesquicentennial of the Relief Society.6

On 28 April 1842 the prophet returned to this subject. He told the women that “the keys of the kingdom are about to be given to them that they may be able to detect everything false, as well as to the Elders.”7 The keys “to detect everything false” referred to the signs and tokens used in the “true order of prayer,” still practiced in LDS temples.8 Then Joseph Smith said, “I now turn the key to you in the name of God, and this society shall rejoice, and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time. . . .”9 For nineteenth-century LDS women, Joseph's words were prophecy and inspiration to advance spiritually, intellectually, socially, professionally, and politically.10

Mormon women did not request priesthood—Joseph Smith would soon confer it on them as part of the restoration of the gospel. His private journal, called the Book of the Law of the Lord, specified the priesthood promise in his instructions to the women on 28 April 1842: “gave a lecture on the pries[t]hood shewing [sic] how the Sisters would come in possession of the privileges & blessings & gifts of the priesthood & that the signs should follow them. such as healing the sick casting out devils &c. & that they might attain unto these blessings. by a virtuous life & conversation & diligence in keeping all the commandments.” Joseph clearly intended that Mormon women in 1842 understand their healings were to be “gifts of the priesthood,” not simply ministrations of faith.11

Apostle Dallin H. Oaks observed in a 1992 general conference talk, “No priesthood keys were delivered to the Relief Society. Keys are conferred on individuals, not organizations.” The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve as organizations are not even exempt from the limitation he describes for the Relief Society. Elder Oaks noted, for instance, that “priesthood keys were delivered to the members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, not to any organizations.”12

The conferral of priesthood on individual women occurred through what Joseph Smith and associates called the “Holy Order” or “Anointed Quorum” (men and women who had received the priesthood endowment). On 4 May 1842, six days after his remarks to the Relief Society, Joseph introduced nine men to the endowment.13 The following year, on 28 July 1843, Presiding Patriarch Hyrum Smith, an original member of the Holy Order, blessed Leonora Cannon Taylor: “You shall be blesst [sic] with your portion of the Priesthood which belongeth to you, that you may be set apart for your Anointing and your induement [endowment].”14

Two months earlier Joseph Smith and his wife Emma were the first couple to be “sealed” in marriage for time and eternity on 28 May 1843.15 Then in September the Presiding Patriarch blessed Olive G. Frost, one of Joseph Smith's plural wives, that “you shall be blessed with a knowledge of the mysteries of God as well as the fullness of the Priesthood.”16

The men who received the Holy Order endowment in 1842 did not constitute a fully organized “quorum” until a woman was initiated in 1843. At 7 p.m. on 28 September 1843, Joseph Smith was “by common consent and unanimous voice chosen president of the Quorum” by eleven other previously endowed men. Next, Emma Hale Smith became the first woman to receive priesthood and its fullness.17 Willard Richards had referred to the men as “the quorum” in their prayer meeting of 11 September 1843, but Joseph did not officially become the Anointed Quorum's president until the day he admitted the quorum's first woman.18

As newly sustained president of the Anointed Quorum, Joseph administered the initiatory ordinances and priesthood endowment to his wife in an upper room of the Nauvoo Mansion.19 The record of “Meetings of the Anointed Quorum” shows that at this same meeting, Joseph and Emma also became the first couple to receive the “second anointing” or “fullness of the priesthood.” By this ceremony they were each “anointed & ordained to the highest & holiest order of the priesthood.”20 Later church historians in Utah deleted Emma's name from the 1843 description of the prophet's “second Anointing of the Highest & Holiest order.”21

However, church historians were more direct about the second anointing for Hyrum and Mary Fielding Smith. Apostle and Church Historian Wilford Woodruff specifically called the ordinance a “second anointing,” and the History of the Church describes the ordinance as: “My brother Hyrum and his wife were blessed, ordained and anointed.”22

Even in the nineteenth century church publications usually called the second anointing by such euphemisms as “fulness of the priesthood,” “higher ordinances,” “higher blessings,” or “second blessings.” However, LDS publications in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries sometimes identified the ordinance by its actual name: second anointing.23

Of the relationship between the endowment's initiatory anointing and the second anointing, Heber C. Kimball explained: “You have been anointed to be kings and priests [or queens and priestesses], but you have not been ordained to it yet, and you have got to get it by being faithful.”24 In the second anointing, the husband and wife are ordained “King and Queen, Priest and Priestess to the Most high God for Time and through out all Eternity.”25

Thus Emma Smith began the fulfillment of the prophet's promise to make the Relief Society “a kingdom of priests.” She was anointed to become a “queen and priestess” in the initiatory ordinance of the endowment and was ordained to the fulness of those offices by the second anointing.26 First counselor Sidney Rigdon later commented on this event: “Emma was the one to whom the female priesthood was first given.”27

A common misunderstanding claims that women receive priesthood only through temple marriage or through the second anointing—both of which a husband and wife must receive together.28 However, such was not the view expressed by many of the Anointed Quorum's original members, who learned about the endowment directly from Joseph Smith.

Brigham Young's 1843 diary associated the endowment of women with receiving priesthood. On 29 October 1843, for example, he noted that Thirza Cahoon, Lois Cutler, and Phebe Woodworth were “taken into the order of the priesthood.” That was the day those three women individually received their endowment. They did not join with their husbands to receive the second anointing until 12 and 15 November 1843, respectively. When his own wife received the endowment on 1 November 1843, Brigham Young wrote: “Mary A. Young admitted in to the hiest [highest] orderer [order of] Preasthood [sic].” She did not receive the second anointing with him until three weeks later.29

On 3 February 1844, William Clayton's diary noted that he “was permitted to the ordinance of washing and anointing, and was received into the Quorum of Priesthood.” On that same occasion, Jane Bicknell Young was also endowed and received “into the Quorum of the Priesthood.” The prophet's secretary later noted: “All the first quorum with one or two exceptions were present both male and female.”30

Joseph Smith's uncle John Smith subsequently pronounced a patriarchal blessing on Maria Turnbow which specified that it was through the endowment ceremony that a woman receives the priesthood: “Thou shalt have an Endowment in the Lord's house [and] be clothed with the Power of the Holy Priesthood [to] be able to redeem thy fathers house. . . .”31

Bathsheba W. Bigler Smith shared this view. She entered Joseph Smith's Anointed Quorum in December 1843. “I have always been pleased that I had my endowments when the Prophet lived. He taught us the true order of prayer. I never like to hear a sermon without hearing something of the Prophet, for he gave us everything, every order of the priesthood,” Bathsheba remarked. “He said he had given the sisters instructions that they could administer to the sick and he wanted to make us, as the women were in Paul's day, `A kingdom of priestesses.'”32

In February 1844 stake patriarch John Smith told an LDS woman that she had a right to priesthood from her birth. “Thou art of the blood of Abraham thru the Loins of Manasseh & lawful heir to the Priesthood,” he said to Louisa C. Jackson. She was not among the elite Mormon women who received the endowment before the opening of the Nauvoo temple in December 1845.33 Referring to her eventual sealing and second anointing, the patriarch added that this woman “shall possess it [priesthood] in common with thy companion.” Louisa's blessing showed that any Mormon woman had a birthright to priesthood which depended on no man.34

John Smith's blessings to Maria Turnbow and Louisa Jackson clearly show that a Mormon woman receives the priesthood for herself through the endowment. A Mormon woman and a Mormon man receive the higher priesthood blessings only as a couple through the sealing of marriage and through the second anointing (or “fullness”). As Apostle James E. Talmage wrote: “True, there are certain of the higher ordinances to which an unmarried woman cannot be admitted, but the rule is equally in force as to a bachelor.”35

Uncle John Smith's church standing and experience make it difficult to regard him as misinformed when he affirmed that there is a female birthright to priesthood. A special counselor in the First Presidency since 1837, John Smith became a member of the Anointed Quorum on 28 September 1843, the same day his nephew Joseph received the second anointing. From then until he blessed Louisa Jackson, John Smith received four months of private instruction from the prophet about the Holy Order of the Priesthood during the frequent meetings of the Anointed Quorum.36

In fact after his ordination as patriarch to the church in 1849, John Smith also described the ancient dimension of this female birthright to priesthood. In his blessing to Caroline Cottam in March 1853, he referred to the “Priesthood which Abraham sealed upon his daughters.” He also blessed Elizabeth Bean in May 1853: “I seal upon you all the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and all the priesthood that was sealed upon the daughters of Joseph in the land of Egypt. . . .” He made a similar statement in a blessing to another LDS woman in November 1853.37 According to the presiding patriarch, a female priesthood continued throughout the centuries until the sojourn of the twelve tribes in Egypt.38

According to first counselor Heber C. Kimball in 1857, Jewish women continued to have priesthood in the early Christian era. “Was every woman qualified to raise that child [Jesus]?” Kimball asked. “No. You will find that Mary was of the Royal Priesthood, which is after the order of God. . . .” 39 Like her ancestors among the Hebrew women of ancient Egypt, Mary of Nazareth also held the “Royal Priesthood” which is now called Melchizedek.

On 7 December 1845 Apostle Kimball had recorded the names of twenty-three men and nineteen women who “are members of the Holy Order of the Holy Preasthood [sic] having Recieved [sic] it in the Life time of Joseph and Hirum, the Prophets.” Of these nineteen women, three had not yet received the second anointing.40 In the temple a week later, Kimball's diary noted that Brigham Young “appointed W. W. Phelps and P. P. Pratt to instruct the brethren and sisters . . . more fully into the nature and importance of the blessings and powers of the Holy Priesthood which they had received . . .”41 Kimball's observations that women received the priesthood through the endowment are significant because he usually expressed misogynous views.42

That same month Patriarch John Smith made it clear that a woman did not need a man to receive and use the priesthood. To a woman whose husband was a non-Mormon, the patriarch said on 16 December 1845: “thou hast a right to the Priesthood by inheritance from thy Fathers, and if thy companion refuses to take his place and receive the gospel and you abide faithful you shall not be deprived of the privilege of haveing [sic] it sealed upon you in fullness in due time.” Eleven days later, he told Mehitable Duty that she would use her priesthood to bless both her non-Mormon husband and children: “the Priesthood in its fullness shall be confer[r]ed upon thee in due time [—] thou shalt have pow[e]r ov[e]r thy relatives & friends & thy husband & children to lead them whethersoever [sic] thou wilt in as much [sic] as you seek faithfully & truly to preserve them in the bonds of the new & ev[e]rlasting covenant.”43 When he gave these blessings in December 1845, John Smith was serving as the church's presiding patriarch after Patriarch William Smith's excommunication two months earlier.44

In a published 1845 sermon, Apostle Orson Pratt also spoke of women receiving priesthood, but he did not specify how it was conferred. “You too, my sisters, will take a part therein,” the Times and Seasons reported, “for you will hold a portion of the priesthood with your husbands, and you will thus do a work, as well as they, that will augment that glory which you will enjoy after your resurrection.”45

Another member of Joseph Smith's Anointed Quorum, Joseph Young, also affirmed that LDS women received the Melchizedek priesthood when they were endowed—not through the sealing or second anointing with their husbands. He gave this blessing to Zina Young Card in 1878: “These blessings are yours, the blessings and power according to the holy Melchisedek Priesthood you received in your Endowments, and you shall have them.”46 Young had been senior president of the First Council of Seventy since 1837 and an ordained patriarch since 1873. Zina was his niece and Brigham Young's daughter. In 1877, Edward Tullidge's Women of Mormondom reflected the view expressed by general authorities for thirty-five years: “The Mormon women, as well as men, hold the priesthood.”47

Several other early LDS general authorities held similar views about women and priesthood. However, they were more tentative than Joseph Smith and those who received the prophet's personal instruction about the endowment. “They have the Priesthood,” Presiding Bishop Edward Hunter preached in 1877, “a portion of priesthood rests upon the sisters.”48 With even greater reserve, in 1888 Apostle Franklin D. Richards asked of the men “present who have received their endowments” the following question: “Is it possible that we have the holy priesthood and our wives have none of it? Do you not see, by what I have read, that Joseph [smith] desired to confer these keys of power upon them in connection with their husbands?”49 However, Joseph Smith's 1842 promise, Hyrum Smith's patriarchal blessings in 1843, Brigham Young's 1843 diary, William Clayton's 1844-45 diary, Heber C. Kimball's 1845 diary, and patriarchal blessings by John Smith from 1844 on and by Joseph Young in 1878 all show that LDS women receive the Melchizedek priesthood through the endowment alone.

Local patriarchs in pioneer Utah also referred to women's priesthood rights. For example, stake patriarch Charles W. Hyde blessed a woman in 1875 that she was “a daughter of Ephraim and [had] a right to the fullness of the Priesthood and thy children to the fourth generation.” Hyde was the last man admitted to Nauvoo's Anointed Quorum and had given similar blessings to women since his ordination as a patriarch in 1853.50 Patriarch Ola N. Liljenquist indicated that this female birthright to priesthood was by premortal foreordination. He told Mary Ann Dowdle that she “was chosen in the eternal worlds to receive the fulness of the holy Priesthood with crowns and principalities and powers. Thou art of the lineage of Ephraim and an heir to all the blessings by birthright and election.”51

Patriarch Liljenquist made explicit what is implied in Mormon theology—that women were also forechosen to priesthood authority before birth. In 1844, Joseph Smith made that specific claim regarding LDS men: “Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before the world was.” This reflected Old Testament and Book of Mormon statements about foreordination of men to priesthood office and to an “order” of the priesthood (such as Melchizedek).52 However, Mormon scripture's most detailed view of the premortal world did not differentiate between men and women in this forechoosing to authority: “Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these [not just the male ones] there were many of the noble and great ones; and God . . . said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits [not just male spirits], and he saw that they were good . . .” (Abr. 3:22-23). This includes females among “all” God's intelligences and spirits who were noble, good, and forechosen (or foreordained) to be leaders and to receive authority.

Currently for males this foreordination to authority is fulfilled in LDS priesthood office. For females this foreordination is fulfilled in their receiving the priesthood endowment and opportunities for church service. This foreordination is the theological basis for Patriarch John Smith's blessings during Joseph Smith's lifetime that women have a “birthright” to priesthood.

For those who marshal other proof-texts that women do not hold priesthood separate from their husbands,53 the earliest example came from Brigham Young. LDS women “have no right to meddle in the affairs of the Kingdom of God,” he preached in March 1845. “Outside the pale of this they have a right to meddle because many of them are more sagacious & shrewd & more competent [than men] to attend to things of financial affairs.” Then he added, “They never can hold the keys of the Priesthood apart from their husbands.”54

This earliest limitation on women's ecclesiastical authority did not deny that endowed women receive a conferral of Melchizedek priesthood. Instead Brigham Young first denied that women had any claim to administrative authority within the church, “to meddle in the affairs of the Kingdom of God.” Second, he denied that a woman “can hold the keys of the Priesthood” by herself, for the reason that this right of presidency comes to women only through the second anointing.

These were not denials that Mormon women receive priesthood through the endowment, as indicated by President Young later. In January 1846, he wrote of “the anxiety menifested [sic] by the Saints [not just men] to recieve [sic] the ordinances of the Endowment & no less on our part to have them get the Keys of the Priesthood . . .” In 1867 he preached that God was “bestowing upon His sons and daughters, who are worthy, this priesthood, and kingly power to increase subjects and obtain territory, to extend the greatness of their kingdom forever . . .” In an 1874 sermon he also said: “Now brethren, the man that honors his Priesthood, the woman that honors her Priesthood, will receive an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of God.”55

As indicated in Brigham Young's 1843 diary and the Nauvoo blessings by Hyrum Smith and John Smith, women receive priesthood through the endowment. Women receive the keys of presidency with their husbands through the second anointing. This “fullness of priesthood” confers on women the right to rule and reign as eternal queens and priestesses.56

The historical evidence that women hold priesthood is also consistent with the definition of priesthood “keys” in the LDS church's Encyclopedia of Mormonism. “The keys of the priesthood refer to the right to exercise power in the name of Jesus Christ,” explains the article and then adds, “or to preside over a priesthood function, quorum, or organizational division of the church.”57 In the previously cited, uncensored minutes of the Nauvoo Relief Society, Joseph Smith promised “keys of the kingdom” to women in 1842. As indicated, Brigham Young and Franklin D. Richards reaffirmed the conferral of priesthood keys upon women through the temple ordinances.

In concert with the Encyclopedia of Mormonism's first definition of priesthood keys, Apostle Richards also affirmed the right of women to “exercise power in the name of Jesus Christ” (see below). Joseph Smith's wife Emma presided over the Relief Society, but the record does not indicate whether he promised women the keys of priesthood presidency within the church, which is the second part of the Encyclopedia's definition.58

As in Brigham Young's 1845 statement, church administrative power is the real context for all subsequent denials that women have priesthood. If women have priesthood, the often unexpressed fear goes, they might challenge the administrative powers of males who have been ordained deacons, teachers, priests, elders, seventies, high priests, and apostles. Conversely the argument is that since women have not been ordained to one of those offices, they do not have priesthood. First Presidency counselor Charles W. Penrose made this argument specific in 1921: “Sisters have said to me sometimes, `But I hold the Priesthood with my husband.' `Well,' I asked, `what office do you hold in the Priesthood.' Then they could not say much more. The sisters are not ordained to any office in the Priesthood. . . .”59

However, such reasoning ignores Joseph Smith's earliest revelation defining the priesthood in Doctrine and Covenants 84. Ordained offices are not the priesthood but only “appendages” to the priesthood: “And again the offices of elder and bishop are necessary appendages belonging unto the high priesthood. And again, the offices of teacher and deacon are necessary appendages belonging to the lesser priesthood which priesthood was confirmed upon Aaron and his sons” (D&C 84:29-30). According to an 1835 revelation, even the apostleship is an appendage to the Melchizedek priesthood, for “all other authorities or offices in the church are appendages to this priesthood” (107:5).

Priesthood exists independently of church offices, but church offices are appendages which cannot exist without the priesthood. As church president Joseph F. Smith told general conference, “If an Apostle has any authority at all, he derives it from the Melchisedek Priesthood.” He added that “all the offices in the Church are simply appendages to the Melchisedek Priesthood, and grow out of it.”60

A woman does not need an appendage to have priesthood. According to Joseph Smith's teachings to the Relief Society and to the Anointed Quorum, a woman receives Melchizedek priesthood when she receives the endowment. The confusion of priesthood office with priesthood has characterized many contemporary discussions of women and priesthood.61

However, just as counselors in the First Presidency were “ordained” by Joseph Smith, Emma Smith was “ordained to expound the Scriptures,” and her counselors were ordained to preside over the Nauvoo Relief Society.62 In the nineteenth century the word “ordain” was also used for appointing persons to proselyting missions and to heal.63 However, I find no evidence that Mormon men ever ordained a woman to a specific priesthood office of the church.

[pushka]

My limited (to the internet) research on the Priesthood of Women brought me the following link:

http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2005/10/wom...esthood-part-i/

It's an interesting article, which states that the highest ordinances of the Temple (ordinances to the Fullness of the Priesthood) is not common, and that 30% of the people sealed at Nauvoo received the Fullness but very few do today. It states that the highest ordination received today by couples is Sealing only, and that this curtailing started in the 20th Century. I tried to copy/paste the relevant paragraph, but couldn't so I paraphrase here.

The remainder of the article presents positions for and against the fact that women held the priesthood...

Thanks Elphie, for this thread, it is interesting.. :)

[Adomini22]

Well said. Well said. Elphie..... that was alot of info. I hope you didnt have to type that......

[boyando]

My wife holds the Priesthood, every time she hugs me. Sorry, I know I should not make fun, but that is why I am

allmosthumble

[Snow]

There is truth to this statement in that the fifteen (maybe eighteen) women who received the priesthood at the Quorum of Anointed were not ordained to be bishops, counselors, or any similar sort of office in the fashion that men are today.

However, it would be a mistake to say that because they were not given official callings they were not ordained to the priesthood. Are all things the same with the Church today as they were then? Of course not. The Church is organic, and this was an admittedly brief period in its history.

I’ll try some chronology to put things into perspective....

Sounds to me that you've been reading a bunch of Quinn. Do you have some sources that aren't disaffected scholars excommunicated for apostasy (read heresy)?

The Mormon Hierarchy, Origins of Power by D. Michael Quinn

In Sacred Lonliness,The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith by Todd Compton

Rough Stone Rolling, Joseph Smith by Richard Lyman Bushman

Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith

Ehat, Andrew (1982). "Joseph Smith's Introduction of Temple Ordinances and the 1844 Mormon Succession Crisis", Thesis, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

Toscano, Margaret (1985). “The Missing Rib: The forgotten place of queens and priestesses in the establishment of Zion,” Sunstone Magazine, Issue 51, July 1985

A boxload of old papers I’ve had for years (that didn't really help a lot but I relived the '80s, so that was fun).

Egads woman. You claim to be an attorney and yet you post a bunch of quotes and then cite the references by listing a half dozen books?

Give us a break.

[Elphaba]

Well said. Well said. Elphie..... that was alot of info. I hope you didnt have to type that......

No, silly. I got it from one of your refrences. D. Michael Quinn wrote it, and I agree, it was well said. Exactly what I was trying to say, but wasn't.

Elphaba

My wife holds the Priesthood, every time she hugs me. Sorry, I know I should not make fun, but that is why I amallmosthumble

Your wife is the queen amongst all who claim to be, whomever she is hugging.

And I could use a bit of priesthood hugging myself.

Love,

Elphaba, sister of humble

[Adomini22]

Interesting topic. God will do what needs to be done. As of now, I dont believe women do nor should have the priesthood.... and only because God has said as much in these latter days aka right now. Now, in the future, if women do get the priesthood....... not a bad thing at all, I harbor no ill feelings towards that responsibility. I dont know if it would happen though.

[Snow]

Interesting topic. God will do what needs to be done. As of now, I dont believe women do nor should have the priesthood.... and only because God has said as much in these latter days aka right now.

Actually God isn't saying anything on the matter. As usual he is silent. What we have is certain men who speak and say that's what God would say if God were saying.