occupies the position.  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.  Many of the ordinances of the church are performed in secret and are still more complicated.  Although some of these rites and ceremonies have been revealed by apostates, yet there are others of such a character that even the bitterest seceder from the church would not dare unfold them.  With this complex system conceived after the manner of the Jewish priesthood, and with the various revelations that have been added from time to time, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints stands to-day as a very curious monument to the ingenuity of men, the most prominent of whom were descended from Puritan fathers.

The ordinance that has given so much unpleasant notoriety to this church is that of polygamy, or plural marriage as the Mormons designate it.  There are three kinds of marriage; the marriage for this world as in other churches, “till death do us part;” the marriage for this world and for eternity combined; and the marriage for eternity alone, independent and separate from this world’s relationship.

The Mormon woman has no place in the future state excepting as she enters under the protection of her husband, so this last marriage or sealing for eternity was instituted to enable all unmarried women, or those who were only married for this world, to gain a foothold in the life to come.  The motto of the Mormon church is, the greater the family, the greater the reward.  Brigham Young with his nineteen families excelled in this respect, and he will be awarded the highest seat in Heaven.  His sealed wives are said to number two hundred and fifty.

Joseph Smith has also been very popular and has had scores sealed to him.