church.
Every stake has a president, with his two councillors,
and a high-council, consisting of twelve high-priests.^^
The high-priests assemble in council, having its presi-
dent and two councillors, at stated times, usually once
a month, for conference and instruction. The presi-
dent of a stake, with his two councillors, presides over
the hisfh-council of that stake, which has original and
... . . ^
appellate jurisdiction, and whose decisions are usually,
but not invariably, final. Appeals are had to a gen- eral assembly of the several councils of the priesthood, but such appeals are seldom taken. The jurisdiction of the several councils is ecclesiastical, affecting fellow- ship and standing only, the extreme penalty being excommunication.
Each stake is divided into wards, the number being according to territory and population ; over each ^vard presides a bishop, with his two councillors. Each stake and each ward, as a rule, has its own meeting- house. There are about twenty-five stakes, divided into some three hundred wards. Salt Lake City is divided into twenty-one wards, each containing for the most part nine ten-acre blocks, though in the out- skirts they are larger. Each stake holds a quarterly conference ; and the church holds a general conference every April and October.
It will be observed that the orders of priesthood and organization of the church are copied essentially from the bible. As before remarked, the Mormons believe and practise what their sacred books teach, and all that they teach, without intended misinter-
^*Tho standing high-council at the stakes of Zion forms a quorum equal in authority in the affairs of the church, in all its decisions, to the quorum of t)ie presidency, or to the travelling high-council. Each order is gov- erned as follows: the seventy, by seven presidents, one of whom presides over the other six; and as many additional seventies may be organized as the in- crease of the church shall demand. The president of the high-priests is to preside over the whole church ; the president of the ciders presides over iiinety- Bix elders; the president of the Aaronic priesthood over forty-eight priests; the president of the teachers over twenty-four teachers, and the pi-esident of the deacons over twelve deacons. Should the president of the church trans- gress, he is to be tried before the common coun
