17 It is the duty of the Twelve, in all large branches of the church, to ordain evangelical ministers, as they shall be designated unto them by revelation.
18 The order of this priesthood was confirmed to be handed down from father to son, and rightly belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the promises were made. This order was instituted in the days of Adam, and came down by lineage in the following manner:
19a From Adam to Seth, who was ordained by Adam at the age of sixty-nine years, and was blessed by him three years previous to his (Adam's) death, and received the promise of God by his father, that his posterity should be the chosen of the Lord,
19b and that they should be preserved unto the end of the earth, because he (Seth) was a perfect man, and his likeness was the express likeness of his father, insomuch that he seemed to be like unto his father in all things; and could be distinguished from him only by his age.
20 Enos was ordained at the age of one hundred and thirty-four years, and four months, by the hand of Adam.
21 God called upon Cainan in the wilderness, in the fortieth year of his age, and he met Adam in journeying to the place Shedolamak: he was eighty-seven years old when he received his ordination.
22 Mahalaleel was four hundred and ninety-six years and seven days old when he was ordained by the hand of Adam, who also blessed him.
23 Jared was two hundred years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam, who also blessed him.
24a Enoch was twenty-five years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam, and he was sixty-five and Adam blessed him--and he saw the Lord:
24b and he walked with him, and was before his face continually: and he walked with God three hundred and sixty-five years: making him four hundred and thirty years old when he was translated.
25 Methuselah was one hundred years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam.
