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“Therefore, thus said the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers – for ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God.”

- Doctrine and Covenants 86:8-9

“Joseph Smith was entitled to the keys of the Priesthood according to Blood. Still He was the fourth son.”

- Prophet Brigham Young, as recorded in The Journal of Wilford Woodruff, v. 3, pp. 131, Feb. 16, 1847

“Joseph Smith, Sen., inherited the Patriarchal Priesthood, by right from the fathers over the house of Israel in this dispensation.”

- Apostle Franklin D. Richards, Apostle, A Compendium of the Doctrines of the Gospel, p. 74

“Son of Promise... on whoom [sic] the Preasthood [sic] shall rest from his birth to all Eternity even so Amen.”

- Prophet Brigham Young, Blessing given to Brigham Willard Kimball at birth, Jan. 29, 1845, recorded in On the Potter's Wheel: The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, p. 95

“The order of this Priesthood was confirmed to be handed down from father to son, and rightly belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the promise were made.”

- Doctrine and Covenants 107:40

“It was conferred upon me from the fathers; it came down from the fathers from the beginning of time... even the right of the firstborn.”

- Pearl of Great Price, Abraham 1:3

“It is the priesthood after the order of Melchisedec [sic], which is after the order of the Son of God, that is handed down from Father to son, not the offices of Prophet, Patriarch, Apostle, High Priest, Elder, Priest, Teacher, and Deacon.”

- Apostle William Smith to David Powell, Dec. 25, 1851, published in The Messenger of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, v. 2, p. 5

“It is not hereditary, passed by inheritance from father to son (even the LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD was conferred by ordination0.

- Encyclopedia of Mormonism, v. 3, pp. 1134-1135

“By definition, a natural patriarch is one who has entered the patriarchal order of celestial marriage in the house of the Lord...”

- Elder Mark L. McConkie, Father of the Prophet, p. 74

Joseph Smith Sr. functioned as an ordained patriarch without entering “the patriarchal order of celestial marriage in the house of the Lord.