President Gordon B. Hinckley urged priesthood holders to live more worthily and not partake of "the mean and beggarly elements of life" during a special commemoration program of the 175th anniversary of the restoration of the priesthood.
"This authority can only be exercised in righteousness," he said to priesthood holders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the program Sunday night in the Conference Center. It was on May 15, 1829, that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the Aaronic Priesthood from a resurrected John the Baptist near Harmony, Pa.
Regarding the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood, President Hinckley said an exact date was not recorded in church history but is believed to have happened later in May of 1829.
"What a marvelous thing it was, the day of restoration," he said. "It came directly from the heavens."
He said there is a unique brotherhood in the priesthood, and it makes no difference if a priesthood holder is a priest or an apostle, as long as he magnifies his priesthood in righteousness.
President Hinckley said the Aaronic Priesthood includes the protection of angels, but priesthood holders must be worthy of such angelic companionship.
"Let the world do what it will. You have something the world does not."
He urged priesthood holders to keep the Word of Wisdom, which prohibits consumption of alcohol, coffee, tea and illicit drugs.
"They will rob you of self-mastery," he said.
President Hinckley also spoke against pornography in all its forms as an evil and addictive vice. Having body tattoos was also strongly denounced.
"If you have ever considered such an idea, pause and ask the Lord about it," he advised, stressing that the human body is a temple of God. "How can any boy who blesses or passes the sacrament have a tattoo?"
He also advised honoring women, avoiding sex outside of marriage and having no tolerance for domestic abuse. He said a sense of humility and not arrogance also comes with the priesthood.
"I plead and ask of you to live worthy. . . . The Lord expects that we will keep our lives in order."
President Boyd K. Packer, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve, also spoke at the meeting.
He said the restoration of the priesthood has created a "Kingdom of Priests." Priesthood holders are just ordinary men but are given power by the priesthood to proclaim the gospel to the world.
"It can bless the lives of every individual," he said.
President Packer said that when God gives his authority to men and boys, he shows his confidence and trust in them.
"That trust is very precious," he said.
Bishop H. David Burton, presiding bishop of the church, was the meeting's other speaker. He advised priesthood holders to listen up, smarten up and stand a little taller.
He said although the Aaronic Priesthood is many times referred to as a lesser or preparatory priesthood, it is significant and only lesser in its scope.
Bishop Burton also advised priesthood holders to be more righteous and said this anniversary date should remind them of sacred covenants made.
A choir, composed of young men from 10 Layton stakes, provided the meeting's music.
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