Question

Dear Gramps,

In your research have you ever come across an official or unofficial record that mentions the period of time (ie. Month and Year) when Peter, James, and John restored the Priesthood to Joseph and Oliver? Are there any journal entries or other records from primary or secondary sources that record the general time and place when the priesthood was restored to the earth? Thanks

Brandon

Answer

Dear Brandon,

The exact date of the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood is not known. The Aaronic Priesthood was first restored on May 15, 1829. The first official act by the Melchizedek Priesthood the organization of the Mormon Church on April 6, 1830. So that fixes the interval during which the Melchizedek Priesthood was restored.

However, there is evidence that the restoration may have occurred as early as May or June of 1829. Byron R. Merrill et al., in their treatise on the restoration given in the 1992 Sperry Symposium on the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History, state that

Although the exact date of the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood by the ancient apostles Peter, James, and John is not given in the Doctrine and Covenants nor in Church history, it is known to have occurred within a few weeks after the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood.

That approximate time interval comes from an account by Erastus Snow, which can be found in the Journal of Discourses, 23:183.

In due course of time, as we read in the history which he [Joseph Smith] has left, Peter, James and John appeared to him it was at a period when they were being pursued by their enemies and they had to travel all night, and in the dawn of the coming day when they were weary and worn who should appear to them but Peter, James and John, for the purpose of conferring upon them the Apostleship, the keys of which they themselves had held while upon the earth, which had been bestowed upon them by the Savior.

Gramps