Like much else in Mormonism, the doctrine governing the
ministry of the seventy may properly be described as a process of unfolding in
which divine revelation and necessity (or common-sense practicality) merged to
produce a coherent scheme. (Lyndon W. Cook, The Office of Seventy 1835-1845 [Grandin
Lecture Series 1; Provo, Utah: Grandin Book Company, 2010], 25)
[Parley P.] Pratt clarified the official doctrine and
policy of the church:
“[T]he difference between the authority of the Seventies
and High Priests was this: the High Priests possessed the High Priesthood, but
the Seventies possessed the High Priesthood and the Apostleship which
was [the] highest power on the earth or in the Church” (General Record of the
Seventies, Book B, 25 January, 1846). (Lyndon W. Cook, The Office of Seventy
1835-1845 [Grandin Lecture Series 1; Provo, Utah: Grandin Book Company,
2010], 121, emphasis in original)