God is the same yesterday today, and forever. Whenever there has been priesthood, keys, and servants of the Lord authorized to proclaim the everlasting gospel and administer in its ordinances, there also has been the Church- the earthly kingdom of God. Perhaps Moroni, in writing to his latter-day readers, is showing that the foundational principles upon which the Nephite Church was built are the same today and in all generations. These verses also testify that the Nephite Church organized by the Savior himself operated under the power and authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood.
It is by this higher priesthood that the gift of the Holy Ghost can be conferred upon people who have entered the Church through proper baptism. In discussing the practices and principles that governed the Nephite Church, there is probably good reason why Moroni first records the disciples being empowered to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost and its accompanying gifts are imperative to the operation of the priesthood and the work of the Church. “We believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost being enjoyed now, as much as it was in the Apostles’ days,” the Prophet Joseph declared. “We believe that it [the gift of the Holy Ghost] is necessary to make and to organize the Priesthood, that no man can be called to fill any office in the ministry without it; we also believe in prophecy, in tongues, in visions, and in revelations, in gifts, and in hearings; and that these things cannot be enjoyed without the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Teachings, p. 243.)