[James E. Talmage]
At intervals for years past, the Presiding Patriarch of the Church has called the attention of the brethren, mostly in private conversation, to the fact that he finds an inconsistency in the order of presiding officials of the Church as they are presented today for the vote of the people, in comparison with D&C Section 124 verses 124 and 125. He has repeatedly asked for a consideration of the matter. Today the decision of the First Presidency and Twelve was made a matter of record to the effect that the Presiding Patriarch of the Church ranks in order of office between the Council of the Twelve and the First Council of Seventy, and that his name should be presented in such order for the vote of the people as has hitherto been done. Revelation to and the history of the Church combine in making plain the fact that no officer stands between the Council of the Twelve and the First Presidency of the Church. However, this was not the plan to which Presiding Patriarch Hyrum G. Smith asserted any claim, but he asked whether, in view of the Lord's having mentioned his great-grand father, Hyrum Smith, first in order of the Priesthood (D&C 124:124), the place of the Presiding Pat. is not that of first officer in the Church, ahead of the First Presidency. As stated, it was the unanimous decision of the Council that the order heretofore observed shall be maintained, unless the Lord reveals another course as the one to be followed.
[Grant has patriarch's chair removed from its place next to First Presidency in the temple and placed after junior apostle's chair.]
[James E. Talmage, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
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