DC 99:5a Voted: that whenever any vacancy shall
occur by the death, removal from office for transgression, or removal from the bounds of this church government, of any of the above-named councilors,
DC 124:5b and in like manner they may fill any other vacancy that has
occurred or may
occur; such selection and appointment to be made in the spirit of prayer and supplication and wisdom, and to be approved by the church.
DC 130:8b as it tends to destroy confidence and create distrust not only in those present at councils where they
occur, but to those to whom the knowledge of such a course of procedure comes by the voice of those who are present and witness what is said and done.
DC 144:1 As I am about to go overseas and realize the usual hazards of travel, and being ever conscious of the uncertainties of life and the certainty of death, and in order that my demise, whether soon or longer postponed, may not cause confusion, I hereby declare that in the event of my death, whenever it shall
occur, my brother, William Wallace Smith, should be selected to succeed me as president of the high priesthood of the church, this having been manifested to me by the Lord at the time he was chosen and set apart as an apostle and again when he was called to be a counselor and member of the Quorum of the First Presidency, at the General Conference of 1950.
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