President Lorenzo Snow said
that Joseph Smith could see God because of the power of the Priesthood which he
held before he came here. Without any doubt men chosen to positions of trust in
the spirit world, held priesthood. (Joseph Fielding Smith, Letter to Neil H.
Purdie, January 3, 1947, repr. Bruce E. Dana, The Holy Apostleship in the
Dispensation of the Fulness of Times [2025], 10)
Here is a scan of the original letter from the Neil H. Purdie correspondence, 1938-1971, MS 3661, Church History Library:
