The following blessings, by the spirit of prophecy, were pronounced by Joseph Smith, jr.  the first elder, and first patriarch of the Church: for although his father laid hands upon, and  blessed the fatherless, thereby securing the blessings of the Lord unto them and their posterity, he was not  the first elder, because God called upon his son Joseph and ordained him to this power and delivered to  him the keys of the kingdom, that is, of authority and spiritual blessings upon the Church, and through  him the Lord revealed his will to the Church: he was ministered unto by the angel, and by his di riction he obtained the Records of the Nephites, and translated by the gift and power of God:  he was ordained by the angel John, unto the lesser or Aaronic priesthood, in com pany with myself, in the town of Harmony, Susquehannah County, Pennsylvania,  on Fryday, the 15th day of May, 1829, after which we repaired to the water, even to the Sus quehannah River, and were baptized, he first ministering unto me and after— I to him. But  before baptism, our souls were drawn out in mighty prayer— to know how we might ob tain the blessings of baptism and of the Holy Spirit, according to the order of God, and we dil [p. 8]