Without Disclosing My True Identity
Women With the Priesthood
Belonging to this “holy order” is not limited to white males only, nor is it only men
who can act “after the manner of the holy order of God.” As mentioned above, there were
those before the foundation of this world who volunteered to help Christ do his work. Some
of these volunteers became mortal males and others became mortal females. Some were
born with a darker skin tone than others. Regardless of what type of mortal body they find
themselves in, any mortal can help the cause of Christ simply by desiring to do so.
Before the Church was organized, Joseph did not choose anyone to help him in the
work. He had been promised that those so inspired would come to him and volunteer. After
Martin Harris lost the 116-page manuscript, Joseph was a little more careful about
appointing a scribe from among the “volunteers.” Joseph’s wife Emma assisted him during
the winter of 1828, but had too many other everyday pressures that kept her from
completing the assignment. She transcribed very little of the record, but enough to keep
Joseph’s work going forward.^72
Emma did things throughout her life that the Mormons would later come to accept
as things done only with “priesthood authority.” Nevertheless, she was the first woman
“ordained under [Joseph’s] hand to expound scriptures, and to exhort the church.”^73 Emma was
“ordained” long before most of the men who would later spurn the idea that a woman
could be “ordained [a priestess]...after the order of [the son of God], to teach these things
unto the people.”^74 As mentioned above, Joseph turned the tables on the men and snubbed
their idea of a woman not being ordained under the same priesthood as a male when he
completed the temple endowment. In it, he revealed everything for which the men would
have rejected and killed him.
Although Joseph suffered the men to establish whatever priesthood authority they
desired, Joseph’s true feelings (i.e., not “revealing [his] true identity”) about the matter
never changed. The real priesthood had nothing to do with power and authority, but all to
do with a sincere desire to serve one’s fellowmen and to treat them according to the
universal code of humanity lived by God in advanced human societies. It was an order of
people that anyone could join—both black and white, bond and free, male and female, and
even the heathen—because all are alike unto God.^75 The only requirement was a desire to
“follow after the order of the son of God.” In the early days of the Church, this was the
only concept of authority taught by Joseph.
Called to the Work
Hearing of his son’s dilemma and struggle to translate the plates, Joseph’s father,
Joseph Sr., visited his son in the latter part of February 1829^76 to see if there was anything he
could do. Joseph Jr. was looking for someone to take Harris’ place as his scribe. It was an
important role, one that Joseph did not want to entrust to the wrong person again.
During Joseph Sr.’s visit, the subject of authority to do God’s work came up in
discussion. Joseph Sr. wanted to know what qualified a person to do God’s work. The
discussion was between a father and his son, and no one else. Emma made a few notes of
the things she felt were interesting as she overheard the discussion. At a later date, when
asked by others about these qualifications, Joseph composed a “revelation from God”^77
from Emma’s notes and what he remembered, outlining the requirements of one being “in
the service of God.”