Scott Woodward: Breaking covenants breaks Zion. Here comes the scandal. He had absolutely seen the prophet come down from the room where he was engaged in translating the word of God, the Bible, and actually go to playing with the children.

Casey Griffiths: It’s funny how he depicts it, though, right? Hello, Scott.

Scott Woodward: Hello, Casey.

Casey Griffiths: Here we are once again.

Scott Woodward: We’re going to go in this episode, Section 51 to 54, and talk about some of the buildup here to the New Jerusalem. All of this is going to crescendo at Section 57 this week. Like, finally, finally, we’re going to find the place of the New Jerusalem. So lots to dig into today, Casey.

Casey Griffiths: But in many ways, these sections we’re going to go over today are kind of a culmination of an idea that has been bubbling in the earlier sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, the concept or idea of the New Jerusalem, of Zion.

Scott Woodward: The Lord has been teasing this in multiple revelations lately. We saw him do it in Section 48, most recently where he said, As soon as your brethren from the east come to Kirtland, those from New York, I will put together a committee, and to them I will reveal the location of the New Jerusalem. But he’s been doing it even earlier than that, even as early as the Lamanite mission. Oliver Cowdery, part of his mission was explicitly to identify the location of the New Jerusalem. But that’s not the earliest place. The Book of Mormon itself prophesied that in the latter days, there would be built up by the remnant of the seed of Lehi and those of the Gentiles. They would join together to build the New Jerusalem. It’s a prophecy that fired up the imaginations of early Church members from the very first printing of the Book of Mormon. Well said. This is a culmination today. We are going to do this in two episodes to mitigate our long windedness. Is that the right…

Casey Griffiths: To cover all the material is the right way to say it.

Scott Woodward: Oh, yes.

Casey Griffiths: Let’s dive in. The first one is Section 51. Here’s the context. We’re still dealing with the fallout of the Lord’s commandment in Section 37 to assemble together at the Ohio. This is no small task for the members of the Church that live in New York and Pennsylvania. Section 51 kind of focuses around the Knight family. The Knights are sort of the heart of the Colesville branch of the Church. They leave home in mid-April, 1831 to travel to gather with the Saints in Kirtland. The leader of the Colesville Branch is Newel Knight. The members of the Colesville branch are delayed for two weeks in Buffalo because the harbor is frozen over. After the ice thaws, they have to travel through stormy weather on Lake Erie. Newel Knight, who keeps a great record of this, actually later writes, “Our voyage on the lake was very disagreeable. Nearly all the company was seasick. However, we arrived in safety at the place of our destination.” But the Colesville Saints getting to Kirtland is going to be the first sort of structural test for the law of consecration and for Bishop Edward Partridge, who’s only been in his calling for a couple of weeks at this point.

Casey Griffiths: And so here we are, live, real-life test of these refugees coming into the Kirtland area. And understandably, Bishop Partridge asked Joseph Smith if he could provide a revelation, giving him guidance on how he’s supposed to help the Colesville branch that’s arriving from New York. Now, an interesting thing about this revelation, just a little historical footnote, put it in your gee whiz or that’s interesting file, is that Orson Pratt, this is Parley’s brother, is present when the revelation is received. And later on, he gives a discourse where he describes what it looked like. So last episode, Parley described a revelation. Here’s Orson describing it. He said, “Joseph was calm as the morning sun, but he,” meaning Orson, “noticed a change in his countenance that he had never noticed before when a revelation was given to him. Joseph’s face was exceedingly white and seemed to shine. The speaker,” this is Orson Pratt referring to himself in third person, “the speaker had been present many times when he was translating the New Testament and wondering why he did not use the Urim and Thummim, as in translating the Book of Mormon. While this thought passed through the speaker’s mind, Joseph, as if he read his thoughts, looked up and explained that the Lord gave him the Urim and Thummim when he was in experience with the spirit of inspiration. But now he had advanced so far that he understood the operations of that spirit and did not need the assistance of the instrument.”

Scott Woodward: So Edward Partridge is starting to feel the weight of his calling with a bunch of converts from New York coming to Kirtland. And Bishop Partridge, it’s on him to try to figure out a place for them to live and how to implement the law of consecration with them. And so understandably, he’s got questions. So let’s see what the Lord has to say here. “Hearken unto me, saith the Lord your God, and I will speak unto my servant, Edward Partridge, and give unto him directions, for it must needs be that he receive directions how to organize this people, for it must needs be that they be organized according to my laws; if otherwise, they will be cut off.” Okay, so as Church members from New York are beginning to arrive in Kirtland area, the Lord is being really explicit here. They must be organized according to my laws, which is a likely reference to the laws revealed just a few months earlier back in Section 42, which included the law of consecration of property. The Lord continues, “Wherefore, let my servant Edward Partridge and those whom he has chosen in whom I am well pleased, appoint unto this people,” meaning the New York Saints, “their portions, every man equal, according to his family, according to his circumstances and his wants and needs.”

Scott Woodward: So it’s clear in verse three the law of consecration that Bishop Partridge is being asked to administer is not a one size fits all affair, right? Yes, the Lord said to divide resources on an equal basis. But notice he said it was to be proportionately equal according to the family’s circumstances, wants and needs. So it’s not just a one size fits all, which is really interesting. And by the way, it’s also cool to note that instead of a family just approaching the bishop and throwing themselves on his good graces and hoping that he makes a good judgment as to what their family needs, we come to learn that Bishop Partridge administering this law of consecration was actually set up to be a negotiation in good faith between the bishop and the family in need of assistance. For instance, two years later, as Bishop Partridge was laboring to try to set up the law of consecration in Missouri, Joseph Smith wrote a letter to explain the mutual responsibilities of the bishop and the Church member in determining stewardship. Here’s what the prophet said, quote, “I will tell you that every man must be his own judge how much he should receive and how much he should suffer to remain in the hands the bishop. The matter of consecration must be done by the mutual consent of both parties.”

Scott Woodward: Great phrase. “To give the bishop power to say how much every man shall have and he be obliged to comply with the bishop’s judgment is giving to the bishop more power than a king has. And upon the other hand, to let every man say how much he needs and the bishop be obliged to comply with his judgment is to throw Zion into confusion and make a slave of the bishop.” So the fact is, Joseph says, “there must be a balance or equilibrium of power between the bishop and the people, and thus, harmony and goodwill may be preserved among you.” That feels like wisdom right there.

Casey Griffiths: Jump into verse 4 here, “Let my servant Edward Partridge, when he shall appoint a man his portion, give unto him a writing that shall secure unto him his portion, and he shall hold it even as his right inheritance.” We could see all kinds of examples of this. If you go to the Church history library site and you search for deed of consecration, you can actually see examples of this pulled up where there’s a written document that’s legally binding. That’s one thing that the Lord’s emphasizing. He says, verse 5, “If he shall transgress and is not accounted worthy to belong to the Church, he shall not have power to claim that portion which he has consecrated unto the bishop for the poor in need of a church. Therefore, he shall not retain the gift, but shall only have claim on that portion that is deeded unto him.” The law of consecration has these legal ramifications to it. It’s not just, Hey, let’s feel good. Everybody help everybody out.

Scott Woodward: There has to be structure to it. Verse 5 is saying, if someone consecrates their property to the Church, and then that person ends up leaving the Church, they can’t come back and say, Hey, I want my property because they legally deeded it to the Church.

Casey Griffiths: Yeah, and that is actually going to be relevant in one of the later sections that we talk about today, where someone does actually do this, and the question is, can they? I mean, in some ways, it’s still relevant today. There’s been a lawsuit recently launched by several former Church members who basically were suing for back tithing. They wanted their tithing back, essentially. Same principle here to say, once you’ve donated to the Church, yes, what is in your stewardship can belong to you. But what has been given to the Church has to retain there, lest everything be thrown into confusion and disorder. The Lord also gives some other provisions here. He says, “Let every man deal honestly and be alike among this people, and receive alike that you may be one even as I have commanded you.” This maybe is one of the real challenges of consecration is that it works if everybody’s fair and equal and honest. It’s fundamental to the success of consecration that everybody’s honest. The bishop had to be honest about what they have and what they don’t have. The bishop was also expected to be above reproach in his personal conduct, and he was supposed to model integrity for the people that he served.

Casey Griffiths: When Bishop Partridge was called to serve, you’ll note one of the things the Lord says is, this is verse 11 in Section 41, “His heart is pure before me. He is like Nathanael of old, in whom there is no guile.” Likewise, not just the bishop, but the members have to be clear and honest about their wants and needs for consecration of work. We don’t know, for instance, particulars about how the law of consecration worked in the New Testament dispensation, just that Acts 5 says they had all things in common. But the Book of Acts also provides a pretty sternly worded story about Ananias and Sapphira, two Church leaders who tried to defraud the members of the Church. Remember the story, Scott? Acts 5:1-11. They both come in and lie, and then they die, and the young men of the Church have to carry them out, and it’s a mess. Now, nothing so dramatic happens in our time period. But without honesty, jealousy and contention can grow among Church members, and this can be really fatal for consecration, as we’re going to find out when we get to Section 54.

Scott Woodward: What we’re going to find, and this is a theme throughout these sections we’re looking at today, this week, is Zion, the place needs to be built by Zion, the people. We need to become Zion people first in order to then create the communities that the Lord is going for here. He’s laying out a couple of those right here. The qualities that you need in a covenant community to build Zion, one of them is honesty. One of them is being straightforward with the bishop and the bishop being straightforward with you. You guys working together in honesty to talk about what your family really needs and what’s available from Church resources to help. So honesty is one of the bedrocks. We’re going to find out a couple more as we go throughout these sections. But honesty, let’s call that bedrock number one.

Casey Griffiths: Another thing that’s maybe required is a wider perspective. Look at verse 11, “Wherefore, if another church should receive money of this church, let them pay unto this church again, according as they shall agree.” The idea was we’re going to have these smaller Church communities, like how we have wards and branches today. But consecrated funds will be spread among all the Churches. A modern example would be there’s probably a lot more tithing collected in a country like the United States than a country that might be a little less further along in its economic development. To that extent, Church leaders try and wisely and equally distribute Church funds among all the countries so that everybody can get what they need.

Scott Woodward: We’re able to put temples in places that, I think, frankly, wouldn’t be able to afford it. If it was left only to that area to raise the funds to do that, it just wouldn’t work. It seems like this policy has shifted since 1831, which is super cool. We’re able to bless everybody, and nobody needs to pay back the money. No branch in wherever. Chile needs to pay back a branch in Atlanta. It just works without any need for payback.

Casey Griffiths: I guess rather than saying you pay it back, you pay it forward, right? It just circulates and helps everybody. Then verse 13 picks up another one of those principles established in Section 42, “Let the bishop appoint a storehouse under this church and let all things, both in money and in meat, which are more than is needful for the wants of his people, be kept in the hands of the bishop.” Again, this principle that there’s going to be a storehouse that’s administered by the bishop, that’s part of the original instructions given here. But this emphasizes that consecration was meant to provide the means not only for people who were trying to survive, but also people who were flourishing. Church members who’ve consecrated themselves gained access to the fellowship, talents, and resources of a community. The Lord speaks of organizing according to his laws as a privilege. He uses that word actually in Section 42, verse 34. Another thing we need to keep in mind is sometimes we talk about consecration in Kirtland like it was a failed experiment, that they tried it, but it didn’t work, when in reality, we have evidence that there were failures.

Casey Griffiths: We’re going to talk about probably the most well-known one today, but it did work pretty well. There was a lady named Emily Coburn Austin, who was among the members of the extended Knight family who joined the Church in Colesville and then gathered to Kirtland. Now, years later, Emily looked back on consecration in Kirtland with fond memories. In fact, she’s reminiscing back and saying, Yeah, it worked. If we’d only kept the money in the hands of the rich, there would have been a lot of suffering. But we had this wise bishop who is first Edward Partridge, then Newel K. Whitney, who distributed and made sure that everybody was taken care of. Yeah, it was a great way to make sure that these refugees who were traveling here from out of state had means provided for them.

Scott Woodward: Now we get a twist in verse 16 and 17 to the narrative. He says, “I consecrate unto them this land,” meaning the area in Kirtland, “for a little season, until I, the Lord, shall provide for them otherwise, and command them to go hence. Wherefore, let them act upon this land as for years, and this shall turn unto them for their good.” So let these Saints assume they’re going to be here for years and act that way. Now, we know, Casey, we’re about to talk about it. That doesn’t happen for the Colesville Saints. They do not stay here for years. It’s like a month. But the Lord is making a point here that he’s made elsewhere, which is Kirtland is not the place. Kirtland is a way station place. For a little season, we need this place, but the game is further west. We’ll get there. In the meantime until you’re commanded to go, act upon this land as for years. The Lord concludes this section by saying, “This shall be an example unto my servant Edward Partridge , in other places, in all churches, and whoso has found a faithful, a just and a wise steward, shall enter into the joy of his Lord, and shall inherit eternal life.”

Scott Woodward: And then verse 20, “Verily I say unto you, I am Jesus Christ, who cometh quickly, in an hour you think not. Even so. Amen.” Just reminding them that all of this is building up to the Second Coming of Jesus. Okay, Casey, any controversies in Section 51 we need to cover?

Casey Griffiths: Just that this is further evidence that the law of consecration always had a lot of flexibility built in. I think it’s fair to say the Lord had a lot of trust. One important thing about this revelation, and maybe we’re getting into consequences here, is where the Lord says, “This shall be an example in other places in all churches.” He’s saying, Yeah, what’s happening here is the first test drive for the law of consecration. Some test drives doesn’t end super well. But later on, President Lorenzo Snow is actually going to use this verse to describe that consecration was intended to exist other places. Unfortunately, this pilot program, I guess you’d say, doesn’t last very long, as you mentioned. We’re going to talk about that in Section 54 when we get there. This group that Edward Partridge has been asked to take care of, the Colesville branch, eventually is going to be asked to relocate to Missouri instead. But we’ll get to that in just a minute. This is the pilot program for consecration. It’s going to have some consequences throughout the Church, but ultimately, the Colesville branch becomes key in the settlement of Zion. And not Kirtland necessarily.

Scott Woodward: Spoiler alert, that’s where this is going with the Colesville branch.

Casey Griffiths: Okay. Yeah. And spoiler alert, the next section tells us why Missouri is going to be a big deal, too.

Scott Woodward: All right, Section 52 of the Doctrine and Covenants, Casey. Drop us into the historical context here.

Casey Griffiths: Okay, this is a big one because you remember we covered this really quickly, but in Section 44, the Lord told them to hold a conference, gather together the elders of the Church. He says, “They should be called together from the east and the west, from the north, and from the south.” That’s Section 44, verses one through two. In obedience to this, a big conference was held in early June, 1831, in Kirtland, Ohio, with all the elders of the Church that could attend. The conference last several days, probably from around June 3rd to the 6th. The sources are a little unclear. But the conference minutes identify 62 participants. That includes 43 elders, 9 priests, and 10 teachers, and they assemble in a schoolhouse near the farm of Isaac Morley. This conference is a big deal for a couple of reasons. One, the Lord tells them that if they gather together, he said in Section 44, “I will pour my spirit out upon them.” In fulfillment of this, there’s several unusual spiritual experiences that take place at the conference. For instance, Church historian, John Whitmer, records, “The spirit of the Lord fell upon Joseph in an unusual manner and prophesied that John, the revelator, was then among the 10 tribes of Israel who had been led away to prepare them for their return from their long dispersion to again possess the lands of their fathers. And he prophesied many more things.”

Casey Griffiths: And Joseph Smith isn’t the only one who prophesies at this conference. Lyman White, according to records that we have, prophesied, quote, “Concerning the coming of Christ, he will appear in his brightness and consume all before him.” Lyman White also prophesied a little ominously that, “Some of my brethren shall suffer martyrdom for the sake of the religion of Jesus Christ, and seal the testimony of Jesus with their blood. He said that God could work a work in these days that the tongue cannot express and the mind is not capable to conceive.” And John Whitmer also wrote that Joseph Smith prophesied that “the man of sin would be revealed,” fulfilling the prophecy found in 2 Nephi 2:3. Have you heard about this?

Scott Woodward: Yeah. Last week, we talked about Section 50, how there have been lots of weird spiritual manifestations happening in the Church. Here’s an example of some weird things. At this conference, when the Spirit of the Lord is being poured out, we get this opposite force, the devil, who starts to do some really interesting things. Like John Whitmer says that, “When the Lord poured out his spirit upon his servants, the devil took occasion to make known his power. He bound Harvey Whitlock and John Murdock so that he could not speak, and others were affected. But the Lord showed to Joseph the Seer the design of this thing. He commanded the devil in the name of Christ, and he departed to our joy and comfort.” John Corrill, another member there, he said, Yeah, some curious things took place. He said, “Some visionary, marvelous spirits, spoken of before, got hold of some of the elders, and it threw one of them from his seat to the floor. It bound another so that he couldn’t use his limbs or speak, and some other curious effects were experienced. But by a mighty exertion,” he says, “in the name of the Lord, it was exposed and shown to be from an evil source.”

Scott Woodward: Another account, I remember, says that Leman Copley, a guy we’ve already talked about, he came flying through the window and landed on the ground and doing some shaking and stuff. This wasn’t a boring conference, Casey, but there was some question as to whether or not this was all from God. Joseph, discerning that some of it was not, begins to rebuke as Section 50 had commanded him to do. Really interesting.

Casey Griffiths: I can’t decide if it would be better to have an interesting conference, but having the devil be cast out of your conference, not something that happens a lot in the Church today, but maybe because we’ve gotten better at conferencing or things like that. The other major milestone is the way Joseph Smith writes about this conference. In his own history, he writes something that’s kind of curious that we’re going to have to talk about. He says, “I conferred the high priesthood for the first time upon several of the elders. It was clearly evident,” he continues, “that the Lord gave us power in proportion to the work to be done and the strength according to the race set before us, and grace and help as our needs required.” Now, what this means isn’t exactly clear. It’s confusing because later on in the Church, the term high priesthood becomes synonymous with Melchizedek priesthood. The Book of Mormon uses the phrase high priesthood in several places and ties it to Melchizedek, but does not connect the two names directly. I’m looking at Alma 13 there. The ordinations of the conference appear to have bestowed a higher authority upon those already ordained to the office of an elder.

Casey Griffiths: These were the first distinctive ordinations the high priesthood, and those who ordained were later referred to as occupying the office of high priest. Some people simplify this by just saying, Hey, this is the first time the office of high priest was introduced. Scott, I think you would say it’s probably a little bit more complicated than that.

Scott Woodward: Yeah, and maybe we’ll tackle this during the controversy section. How does that sound?

Casey Griffiths: Okay. The other thing is a lot of Church members saw this as this conference and the massive spiritual outpourings, the huge spiritual experiences as fulfillment of the Lord’s promise that if the Saints came to Ohio, they would be endowed with power from on high, like it says in Section 37, 32. For instance, Parley P. Pratt, who’s present at the meeting, said, “Several were then selected by revelation through President Smith and ordained to the high priesthood after the order of the Son of God, which is after the order of Melchizedek. This was the first occasion, and this priesthood had been revealed and conferred upon the elders in this dispensation, although the office of an elder is the same in a certain degree, but not in the fullness. On this occasion, I was ordained to this holy ordinance and calling by President Smith.” And John Corrill says, “The Melchizedek priesthood was then for the first time introduced and conferred on several of the elders. In this chiefly consisted the endowment, it being a new order and bestowed authority.” Some people think that this greater priesthood authority that’s manifested at this conference is the endowment that the Lord is promising.

Scott Woodward: You can see where they’re coming from, right? Because the Lord had said, If you go to the Ohio, I will give you my law, which he did in Section 42, check, and I will endow you with power from on high. They had just witnessed the power of God manifest, and now people are being ordained to the high priesthood. I can totally see how they made the connection. This is a fulfillment of God endowing his people with power. Of course, that was an example of that, but it’s not the endowment that we will talk about that comes a couple of years later in Kirtland, which is different still from the Nauvoo endowment, which we often think of with our temples. We’ll get there in time, but the endowment of power that happens in Kirtland is still a couple of years away. I’m kind of with John Corrill on this one. I think this is an example of a gift of power being given to the Saints.

Casey Griffiths: We read the word endowment the way we use it today into these sources, realizing they didn’t have the endowment back then the way we do now. We assume when the Lord says, I’m going to give you an endowment, that that’s what it means, that he’s going to give the ceremony we’re familiar with in the temple. When in reality, endowment means gift. They’re probably correct in saying, Yeah, this was partial fulfillment of that. Another thing is that in October 1831, a few months later, they do, in the minutes, record the names of those ordained to the high priesthood, separately from elders, teachers, and deacons, implying that the high priesthood was recognized as a distinct office within the Church. Other sources seem to indicate this, too. Jared Carter, just to use one example, believe that those ordained to the high priesthood gain the ability to perform miraculous healings. Joseph Smith taught in October 1831, quote, “The order of the high priest is that they have power given to them to seal up the Saints unto eternal life.” Again, what’s going on? What’s being revealed to this conference? We’re not exactly sure, but we’ll talk about it. Now, Section 52 is given the last day of the conference.

Casey Griffiths: Joseph Smith said that the revelation was given, in his words, “by an heavenly vision.” The revelation commands 14 pairs of elders, including Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, to travel all the way to Independence, Missouri, preaching the gospel along the way. And then here’s the big deal. The Lord promised that upon their arrival, this is in verse 5 of the revelation, “It shall be also, inasmuch as they are faithful, be made known unto them the land of your inheritance,” which is a reference to the New Jerusalem, the city of Zion. At last, if you’ll go to Missouri, I’m going to reveal the land of your inheritance, the place where the city is going to be built.

Scott Woodward: This is the very first revelation we have in the Doctrine and Covenants that mentions Missouri.

Casey Griffiths: Yeah, the first reference to the state of Missouri in verse 2, that’s where the word actually shows up.

Scott Woodward: So things are starting to become clear, and they’ll become more clear once they go to Missouri. But okay, good context. Let’s dive into the content. “Behold, thus saith the Lord to the elders whom he hath called and chosen in these last days by the voice of his Spirit.” Verse one began, “Saying: I, the Lord, will make known unto you what I will that you should do from this time until the next conference, which shall be held in Missouri, upon the land which I will consecrate unto my people, which are a remnant of Jacob and those who are heirs according to the covenant.” There you go. So first mention of Missouri in a revelation. The Lord is being really clear here that I’m going to consecrate that land to my people who are a remnant of Jacob. Usually the word remnant of Jacob is a reference to the seed of Lehi. This could be both the Gentiles who join the Church, but it’s also likely a reference to the Native Americans that they are really interested in helping to receive the gospel out there and build the center place with both Gentiles and Jews working together here.

Scott Woodward: Really interesting. We’re going to come back to that theme again and again. So stay tuned for that over in Section 57. But this theme of God’s covenant people inheriting a promised land, this is highly biblical, very Old Testament-y. This is Abrahamic covenant, that God covenants with Abraham, that he and his posterity would inherit the land of Canaan and promising the house of Israel at Mount Sinai and in Moab that they would receive the promised land Now we’re seeing that theme come up in a latter-day context where the Lord is saying, in modern Israel, we’ll have a place, a land of inheritance. As we mentioned earlier, Oliver Cowdery, as part of his Lamanite mission, was also to go and locate the place for the New Jerusalem. By the way, we haven’t seen Oliver Cowdery for a couple of sections here, right? That’s because he’s been out in Missouri this whole time. They’re actually going to go out there and meet him because Oliver feels like he’s found the general area where the New Jerusalem would be. That’s been simmering in the background Oliver Cowdery’s special mission.

Casey Griffiths: Verse 3 calls them on this journey. “Verily I say unto you, let my servants, Joseph Smith, Jr. and Sidney Rigdon take their journey as soon as preparations can be made to leave their homes and journey to the land of Missouri. And inasmuch as they are faithful unto me, it shall be known unto them what they shall do. And inasmuch as they are faithful, be made known unto them the land of your inheritance, and inasmuch as they are not faithful, they shall be caught off, even as I will as seemeth me good.” Now, they’re not the only ones called on a mission. If you read through the rest of the section, there’s 14 companionships called total. It’s fair to say, Scott, that this journey to Missouri is like a pivotal event in the existence of the young Church. The journey is challenging, and like the Lord says here, for some people, it’s a revelation of their inheritance, and for others, it breaks them when it comes to their associations in the Church.

Scott Woodward: Yeah, we’ve got a couple individuals here that in this very moment, when this revelation is given, they are willing, their hearts are good, they want to go to Missouri. These are elders of the Church who are ready to go. I mean, who wouldn’t be excited about going to the New Jerusalem, being part of the group that gets to see it? Like you said in the beginning of the section, the next conference we’re going to hold of elders is going to be in Missouri. It’s going to be on the land of promise. A lot of these companionships that are called here, these elders are excited to go. But we are introduced to a couple of names that are going to become anathema in Church history. Names like Ezra Booth and Symonds Ryder and others that are less well known, but Joseph Wakefield. These are people who are going to leave the Church, and some of them are not going to leave it alone. Like, Ezra Booth will become one of the first anti writers. He’ll publish a bunch of letters to try to take the Church down. After he experiences what he experiences as a missionary, he is no longer interested.

Scott Woodward: Some of them are disillusioned with Joseph Smith. They’ll disparage him. I don’t know if you’ve been on a road trip with people that you like at the beginning of the trip, but by the end of the trip, you’re fed up with them and you don’t want to be around them. Imagine going over a thousand miles. That’s what these guys are doing, over a thousand miles, round trip. You’re going to be with these people for a long time, and some of them don’t make it.

Casey Griffiths: That’s a great way to boil this down to, they’re going on a big road trip, and it is good for some people and not good for some people. Let’s take Ezra Booth, for instance. He’s mentioned in verse 23, Ezra is a Methodist minister who gets converted after he sees Joseph Smith heal Elsa Johnson’s arm. He’s all in, but during the journey to Missouri, he becomes disillusioned with Joseph. He disparages the land that the Lord chose for Zion, seeing it as dreary and difficult to develop. Then when he comes back, he writes basically the first anti-Mormon literature, a series of nine letters in the Ohio Star. Here’s the way he describes the trip. He says, “A journey of 1,000 miles to the West has taught me far more abundantly than I should have probably learned from any other source. It has taught me the imbecility of human nature, especially my own weakness. But thanks be to God, the spell is dissipated.” Now, other people that knew Ezra, like George A. Smith said, Ezra apostatized saying he’d formerly been a Methodist minister. This is George A.’s words. “He commenced preaching the gospel without purse or scrip, and he did so until he found, using a common expression, that it did not pay.”

Casey Griffiths: It seems like the Lord is setting them up deliberately for this journey to sort the wheat from the tares, right? Figure out who’s going to journey to Zion and see it as miraculous who’s going to journey and find out imbecility, including their own. Those are Ezra’s words, not mine.

Scott Woodward: To get a clear picture of what the Lord is asking them to do here, they’re going to go from Kirtland to Missouri, a thousand miles, and he tells them to preach on the way, verse 10, “Let them go two by two and thus let them preach by the way in every congregation, baptizing with water, laying on their hands,” et cetera. They’re not to go in each other’s tracks, he says later. Split up, and you’re supposed to preach, not just go a thousand miles to Missouri, but preach all along the way a thousand miles to Missouri. When they get there, they’re going to hold a conference. Then after the conference, guess what they get to do? Turn around and go back a thousand miles and preach all along the way. It’s a preaching mission there, preaching mission back. They’re going to have a conference in Missouri. This isn’t easy what the Lord is asking to do. This is going to be physically demanding. So Ezra Booth, shortly after he comes back from his mission, he’s going to come out as an apostate, Joseph Smith recorded. He says that “he came into the Church,” this is quoting Joseph Smith, “he came into the Church upon seeing a person healed of an infirmity of many years standing,” like you said, Elsa Johnson’s arm.

Scott Woodward: And then he says, “he went up to Missouri as a missionary, but when he actually learned that faith and humility and patience and tribulation go before the blessing and that God brings low before he exalts, that instead of the Savior’s granting him power to smite men and make them believe, as he said he wanted God to do in his own case, then he was disappointed. He turned away and he became an apostate.” If you look at Ezra’s own experience, he says that when he got to Missouri, he was disappointed. He expected to receive revelations. He expected to experience miraculous manifestations of the spirit of Zion. All he really saw was Church leaders unimpressively laying a small stone in a shrub oak, he said, as a cornerstone and foundation of Zion. This little meager cornerstone ceremony for the building of a future temple. He just saw the humanity of the prophet and other Church leaders. Like you said, he became disillusioned. It’s a difficult trip, physically demanding. Then some of them had expectations of like, miraculous things that turned out to not come to fruition. I don’t think Ezra Booth is alone in that case. I don’t know if you ever fantasized about your mission and what it would be like.

Scott Woodward: Then you went on your mission, and I don’t know, maybe yours was filled with miracles every day. But most missions are not like that. Most of them are just hard, and you’re going to get a convert here and there from time to time. Your expectations can be violated. If you think a mission is going to be this, and it turns out to not be as miraculous as you hoped. That’s Ezra Booth’s experience.

Casey Griffiths: Yeah. Let’s contrast Ezra Booth with, say, John Murdock. John Murdock is mentioned in verse 8. It says, “My servant John Murdock and my servant Hyrum Smith take their journey under the same place by way of Detroit.” It tells them to preach along the way and “preach in the way in every congregation,” this is verse 10, “baptizing by water and laying on of hands.” Now, contrast Ezra Booth. It’s a tough journey with John Murdock. I got to admit, being partial to John Murdock, he’s from my parents’ hometown. He died in Beaver, Utah. I visited his grave. But just to set you up, when John’s asked to go on this journey by the Lord, his wife, Julia, had just died a couple months earlier after giving birth to twins. In fact, these are the twins that Joseph and Emma adopt that come into the story. John has five other kids to take care of when he’s called on the mission, but he agrees to fulfill the calling. He places his five remaining children in the care of other families in the area and then goes. On his journey, he really struggles with health. In fact, later on, he records, “I was so weak, I fell from the horse, and I lay until the brother in came and picked me up.”

Casey Griffiths: When he gets to Jackson County, he’s so sick. He said, “I lay sick two or three months, so much so that two or three days was lost to me. And although I was very sick and could not pray vocally, yet my belief was so firm that I could not be moved. I believe I could not die because my work was not yet done.” He has all these challenges on the journey, but he’s like, No, I know that I’m going to be okay because my work isn’t done. And he even writes, “During another bout of sickness,” he said, “I lay and thought on our mission or a calling of God. We had but very little money, and while sick, we were continually on expense. I saw we could not stand it, so I determined in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to arise and pursue my journey. I called brother Parley P. Pratt to the bed and told him my determination and requested him to lay hands on me in the name of the Lord. I arose from my bed, we took dinner, and gave the widow a Book of Mormon for her kindness and started our journey.”

Casey Griffiths: Now, strengthened by this, he makes it home from Missouri. But when he gets there, he finds out that one of his infant twins has died as part of a mob attack that happened to Joseph Smith at the John Johnson home. He notes the baby’s death. He also writes, “My daughter was still doing well with Brother Joseph, the Prophet.” This guy goes on to see a vision of the Savior. In fact, John Murdock serves several missions for the Church. He goes to Australia. When he’s reflecting back on this time in his life, he wrote, “I would that I could thunder it loud enough to be heard throughout the world, that the mountains might tremble and the inhabitants thereof, and those on the valleys and everywhere else give heed and strength in truth and righteousness, and a candid upright step act accordingly.” He dies firm in the faith. This journey is probably harder for him than maybe anybody else, but it doesn’t destroy his faith. It strengthens his faith. So much of it is what we bring to the table.

Scott Woodward: Yeah, that’s a really good point. His mission was not any easier than Ezra Booth’s mission. In fact, it seems like it was, like you said, a lot harder. And yet he doesn’t lose his faith. Why not? In fact, let me give you another example. Over in verse 35, the Lord says, “Again, I say, do you let my servants Joseph Wakefield and Solomon Humphrey take their journey into the eastern lands.” So joseph Wakefield goes with Solomon Humphrey, and they take their journey to Missouri, and on their way, they teach and baptize a man named George A. Smith. This man will become an apostle in the Church. St. George, Utah is named after him. This is George. This is St. George. George A. Smith. He gets converted by Joseph Wakefield, and then he’s saddened when he finds out that upon returning home, Joseph Wakefield is going to leave the Church. He starts to fight against the Church. When George A. Smith reflects on this in a General Conference later, he explains it like this. He said, “Joseph H. Wakefield, who baptized me, after having apostatized from the Church, he announced to the astonished world the fact that while he was a guest in the house of Joseph Smith,” here comes the scandal.

Scott Woodward: “He had absolutely seen the prophet come down from the room where he was engaged in translating the word of God, the Bible, and actually go to playing with the children. This convinced Joseph Wakefield that Joseph Smith was not a man of God and that the work was false, which to me and hundreds of others, he,” Joseph Wakefield, “had testified that he knew came from God. He afterwards headed a a mob meeting and took the lead in bringing about a persecution against the Saints in Kirtland and the regions roundabout.” His story is not incredibly unique, is it, Casey? There are some that go on missions and then they come home and then they fall away. They’ve been out there testifying, like George A. Smith said to me and hundreds of other people, that they knew this was the work of God, and then they come home from their missions and they fall away. In his case, he actually turns around and fights against the Church and the Saints. And what was it that got him to see the light and leave the Church? He saw Joseph Smith come down from translating and play with his children.

Scott Woodward: He had an assumption in his heart, that true prophets of God don’t play with children or something like that. I don’t know exactly how he would articulate his assumption, but his story is sad. There’s others here that are equally sad. Verse 37, there’s another man here named Symonds Ryder, who is called to take the place of a guy named Heman Bassett. Symonds Ryder is going to be another tragedy of the Restoration. He’s in the, it’s called the Disciples’ Movement. It’s like a reformed Baptist movement, and he was a preacher for them. He joins the Church. He’s good friends with Ezra Booth. They join around the same time. And then Symonds Ryder, when everybody goes west to go out to Missouri on their missions. He stays back and he discovers something, Casey. In a letter that he wrote to a guy named A. S. Hayden, he explains what he discovered. He says, quote, “When they,” meaning Joseph Smith and those with him, “went to Missouri to lay the foundation of the splendid city of Zion,” he’s saying that sarcastically now when he’s writing this, “and also of the temple, they left their papers behind,” he said.

Scott Woodward: “This gave their new converts an opportunity to become acquainted with the internal arrangement of their Church, which revealed to them the horrid fact that a plot was laid to take their property from them and place it under the control of Joseph Smith, the Prophet.” Close quote. So Joseph leaves, all the people called in Section 52 leave, and they go to Missouri. That leaves Joseph’s revelations laying around, and Symonds read them. Okay, so what do you think he’s talking about, this plot, this horrid plot, to take the property of the Church and place it in Joseph Smith’s power? What do you suppose he stumbled upon there?

Casey Griffiths: The law of consecration, Section 42. It’s funny how he depicts it, though, right? Is this sinister plot, which is received in a revelation intended for the whole Church. I mean, I just don’t… Were they trying to keep it secret? It seems like they’re pretty obvious about it.

Scott Woodward: Yeah, but he was unaware, and his assumptions were violated. And because his assumptions were violated, Symonds is going to go right back to becoming a Campbellite preacher in the Disciples’ Church. He’s going to join Ezra Booth in publishing smack about the Church, and he’s also going continue to fuel hatred and persecution against the Saints in Kirtland, and especially Hiram, Ohio. The famous mob attack that’s going to happen to Joseph in Hiram, where that little twin son will die is fueled on by Symonds Ryder. Symonds’ in the mob. We know that for sure. And so this is super sad. Can we just pause for a second and just ask, what’s going on here? Why would Ezra Booth and Joseph Wakefield and Symonds Ryder leave the Church? They all state different reasons, but it feels like they all have something in common here, right?

Casey Griffiths: I mean, a lot of it has to do with their expectations, right? And not being able to adjust those as they go. A lot of times, reality comes crashing down around us when a Church leader doesn’t measure up to our expectations or we have a bad experience or something happens within the Church. But again, this is another one of those examples of people who maybe weren’t firmly rooted in the gospel to begin with. Ezra Booth joins because he sees a miracle, and then aren’t ready for the difficult times that might come along the road to Zion.

Scott Woodward: Sometimes we are shocked to hear that someone that we love has left the Church, or we hear a mission companion is no longer active or whatever, and you’re like, Why? What? How? Why? I think somewhere along the way, this is more common than not. We have expectations, like you said, or assumptions about prophets or about God or about the Church about what kind of blessings I’ll see if I am faithful in service. It kills me. You just read that story of John Murdock. He got home from his mission. His wife had died just before that. When he comes home from his mission, he finds out that one of his babies has died. He could have, he didn’t, but he could have shaken a fist at heaven and said, I was serving you. Why would you let bad things like this happen? But he doesn’t. He’s solid. He’s rock solid, and he does not murmur against the Lord. Stuff like that can violate people’s expectations. Sometimes we have in our minds, if we serve God, if we’re faithful, if we do good things, then life is going to be more comfortable. We’re going to have less bad things happen.

Scott Woodward: We’ll be in good health. The people we love will be safe. I don’t know how we get those assumptions in our heart, but I think we’ve all got them to some degree. We got to check that from time to time and recognize that’s not a promise that God makes. It’s not a promise he’s given us. Whether in life or in death, the blessings will come, but he never promises an unbroken chain health and success and green lights and good parking spots and everyone you love is going to be happy. Those assumptions definitely get into our hearts. When things go haywire, that’s when people pull out. Sometimes it’s not even that big of a deal. Watching Joseph Smith play with children was enough for Joseph Wakefield. Now, maybe George A. Smith doesn’t have the whole story. I’m okay with that. Maybe there’s more going on with Joseph Wakefield. But to protect ourselves from personal apostasy, I think one of the key skills is to check our assumptions about God and prophets and the Church to make sure we don’t have any of those dangerous barbs somewhere in our heart that could go off if things turned bad, if someone that we love died or got hurt, or if we suddenly saw Joseph Smith in a different light, like happened with Symonds Ryder was like, Wait, there’s a financial element to this Church.

Scott Woodward: It looks like Joseph’s trying to take our money. He gets soured against Joseph somehow. What would we do? What would we do if we found out X, Y, or Z? How would we handle that? Is there another way to stay faithful in the midst of that? More like John Murdock.

Casey Griffiths: The point is, they’re being asked to go on a journey, and it seems like the intent is, one, let’s reveal the location of the New Jerusalem, but two, let’s reveal the character of these individuals in the Church, what they’re really made of, and which ones are going to endure to the end, and which ones will not. That’s the major focus of Section 52, is it sets us up for this journey, which the next few sections, right up until about Section 64, are dealing with what happens when they’re on the road to Zion, when they get to Zion, and on the return home from Zion. Controversy. I mentioned this, and we dealt with it a little bit, but Joseph Smith says this was the first time the high priesthood was manifested at this conference. How would you explain that?

Scott Woodward: That is an assumption we make, right? In Joseph’s history, when he talks about this conference, he says, speaking about rebuking Satan and casting him out of people, that weird stuff that was happening. He said, “The man of sin was revealed, and the authority of the Melchizedek priesthood was manifested, and I conferred the high priesthood for the first time upon several elders.” First time, high priesthood. Parley P. Pratt said, “Elders were selected by Joseph and ordained to the high priesthood after the order of the Son of God, which is after the order of Melchizedek.” He says, “This is the first occasion in which this priesthood had been revealed and conferred upon the elders in this dispensation.” That’s enough to twist your brain a little bit, right? And think like, Hold on, how could you be an elder and not be ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood? Today, that wouldn’t make any sense, but that did make sense in 1831. I think it’s helpful to back up and think about what was said and what wasn’t said, and maybe to shift a paradigm a little bit that we have about the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood.

Casey Griffiths: We tend to talk about the Melchizedek priesthood and the Aaronic priesthood as being restored in one singular event. John the Baptist appears, Peter, James, and John appear, the voice of the Lord in the chamber of Old Father Whitmer. But really this kind of reiterates that it’s several events. Yes, Peter, James, and John appear. Yes, the voice of the Lord speaks in the chamber of Father Whitmer. This is another milestone where the high priest is manifest, and it seems like the office of high priest is placed upon people for the first time. But that’s not the whole thing, too, that there really was something new, restored and given here at this June 1831 conference.

Scott Woodward: If you watch Joseph Smith’s language carefully when he says that Peter, James, and John came, like Section 27 is a great place to look, it says that they did not restore the Melchizedek priesthood. That’s not what Joseph says. He says that they restored the apostleship and the keys of the kingdom of the last dispensation. That’s important to notice what he is saying and what he’s not saying. The restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood is not one event, but it’s a process that’s going to unfold over the span of several years. This little piece that’s coming, which they’re going to call Melchizedek priesthood or the Holy Order or the high priesthood, is another piece in the unfolding restoration of the fullness of the Melchizedek priesthood, which is how Joseph will refer to this in Nauvoo. A piece of crucial context and background to this high priesthood restoration is to note that Joseph Smith had been working on his Joseph Smith translation of the Bible just that February, where he received what is now JST Genesis 14:25-40, which speaks about the man Melchizedek who was, quote, “ordained a high priest after the order of the covenant that God made with Enoch, it being after the order of the Son of God.”

Scott Woodward: It was about that same time in February of 1831 that the Lord commanded all the elders of the Church to be called together to this meeting in Kirtland, right? Section 44. Then at this meeting, which is now happening in June, which was sparked by the 44 revelation, which came on the heels of the JST, learning about the Holy Order of God. It’s at this meeting that the high priesthood, after the order of the Son of God, spoken of in the JST Genesis 14, was conferred for the first time in our dispensation. This is one more step in the restoration of the fullness of the Melchizedek priesthood. Even after this, we find out later, this was not the last thing. Fast forward five years, we’re going to get Moses, Elias, and Elijah restoring keys. So that’s 1836. Now are we done? We thought so until we got to Nauvoo, 1841, and the Lord says, Build the Nauvoo temple. Why? He says, So that I can restore the fullness of the the Melchizedek priesthood, or the fullness of the priesthood, he calls it. We see this is continuing to happen all the way until we get the Nauvoo temple, where we have priesthood, line upon line, piece by piece, coalescing until we have what the Lord calls the fullness of the Melchizedek priesthood.

Scott Woodward: That’s how I would characterize this. It is true that this was the first time the high priesthood had been revealed in this dispensation. That’s different than the keys of the apostleship that Peter, James, and John brought. Those keys were sufficient to organize the Church. Those keys are sufficient to call elders. Those keys are sufficient to do everything that’s been done up to this point. But now there’s more. And what we’re going to find out is this more has something to do with the temple. By Section 84, we’re going to find out the Lord is going to start talking about low priesthood, high priesthood, and the high priesthood has everything to do with the temple. So this is one line in a line upon line process that is building toward and culminating in the temple in helping to prepare men and women as kings and queens and priests and priestesses in preparation to rule and reign with Jesus when he comes. That’s how I would answer that.

Casey Griffiths: All right, so what are the consequences of this section? Consequences of the section are huge because following the Lord’s instructions, the missionaries take off, and they also follow his instructions to take different paths as they go to Missouri. So according to John Corrill, who’s one of the elders called in the revelation, the missionaries were commanded to travel two by two, and no two were to travel on the track of the others, and they were to preach the gospel by the way. Now, their destination is about 800 miles away, and they’re going to travel by wagon, by stagecoach, by steamboat. After they arrive in St. Louis, Missouri, Joseph and most of the other missionaries cross the state of Missouri on foot, a distance of about 240 miles, by the way, and they get to Independence on July 14, 1831. Now, remember, this conference was held early June, first week of June. So they obey the commandment immediately, even though it’s a huge request of them. The Lord also, in this section, provides kind of an ominous warning. Verse 42 of Section 52, he says, “The land of Missouri is the land of your inheritance, which is now the land of your enemies.”

Casey Griffiths: So this journey is going to be hugely consequential for the rest of Joseph Smith’s life because for the remainder of his time on earth, his fate is tied to the state of Missouri. The sacred land promised to the Saints as the place where the city of peace would be built would instead become a site of strife and sorrow and bloodshed, maybe more than any other place in the history of the Church. At the same time, Joseph Smith going to Missouri in the summer of 1831 was a key to unlocking the role that the city of Zion would play in the last days and the promise it held for the Saints to become a land of peace, a city of refuge, place of safety, and all those things that God has referred to it for. This is starting us down the road to the effort to build Zion, which we’re still working on today, and we’re still arguing over what it means and how we accomplish it.

Scott Woodward: That’s so interesting, verse 42. It’s both the land of your inheritance and the land of your enemies right now. There’s some foreshadowing in that, that the things are going to be rough there because of the people who live there. Didn’t you say recently, you told me that there was a PhD student who just finished a dissertation that talked about some of the makeup the people in there, this group of his enemies. He’s never met them yet, and the Lord’s calling them enemies already because the Lord knows the makeup of those people. Didn’t you say that the conclusion of this dissertation was that the Lord could not have chosen a more difficult place to try to establish Zion?

Casey Griffiths: Yeah, Sherilyn Farnes is a friend of mine. She just wrote her dissertation on the demographic makeup of Zion, of Missouri at this time. And that was her conclusion. She said, The Lord could not have chosen a more challenging place in North America to build the city of Zion than where they did right there. But more on that to come.

Scott Woodward: That is Section 52.

Casey Griffiths: Let’s keep going to Section 53. Just a quick section here. This one has to do with a man named Algernon Sidney Gilbert. He’s the business partner of Newel K. Whitney. The two men opened a store in Kirtland, still there under the name N. K. Whitney & Company. And their store, which is going to become kind of the hub for Church activity. The School of Prophets are held there. It’s kind of the first bishop’s storehouse. It’s where a lot of key revelations are received, is owned and partially operated by Sidney Gilbert. So Sidney Gilbert gets baptized in 1830. He’s among the first converts that joined when Oliver Cowdery and the first missionaries were there. He may have been present at the conference of elders held in Kirtland in early June, but he was not among those called to travel to Missouri in the revelation given at that time. However, two days after that revelation was given, Sidney Gilbert requested this revelation, which is given on his behalf, and that’s the context. All right, let’s dive into the content.

Scott Woodward: Yeah, so the Lord opens this revelation, speaking directly to Sidney Gilbert. His first name is Algernon. Friends call him Sidney. So the Lord calls him Sidney Gilbert here, assures him that he’s heard his prayers. “You’ve called upon me that it should be made known unto you of the Lord your God concerning your calling and election in the Church, which I, the Lord, have raised up in these last days.” He bears his testimony, the Lord does to Sidney Gilbert, that he “was crucified for the sins of the world.” He says, I’m now giving you “a commandment to forsake the world.” By the way, what a way to say forsake the world, right? Coming from the one who willingly gave his life to die for the world, he said, Will you give up some of the things that you love in this world for the things of the better? Like, what an invitation. He invites him to be ordained an elder, to preach faith, repentance, remission of sins, reception of the Holy Ghost. Then verse 4, a unique calling, he says, “And also to be an agent unto this church in the place which shall be appointed by the bishop, according to the commandments which shall be hereafter.”

Scott Woodward: An agent is one who is authorized to act for another. He’s going to become the bishop’s agent. So Bishop Partridge is going to have a lot on his plate to do. And so Sidney Gilbert is here being called to act for the bishop, to be able to financially transact for the bishop and other types of things that the bishop will be involved in. Purchasing lands, food, all that kind of stuff. He is going to be Bishop Partridge’s right-hand man. He’s already got that skillset, right? This is like you said, he’s the business partner of Newel K. Whitney. He’s got that skillset. The Lord said, Let’s bring those skills you’ve developed and let’s put them to work in the Kingdom of God. Then, significantly, the Lord pairs him up with Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, who had just been called in the previous section to go to Missouri and identify the location of Zion. The Lord puts him in their party. Remember, the missionaries are splitting up and some are going this way and some are going that way. Then Joseph Smith and Sidney, they’re in the beeline company, meaning they’re not actually called to preach as they go.

Scott Woodward: They are supposed to just beeline it to Missouri. Sidney Gilbert is being asked to join their group to beeline it there. That’s essentially Section 53. We’re going to find out in Section 57 why that is, that he was not called to preach, but to get there quickly. So stay tuned for that.

Casey Griffiths: This is the first time the phrase “calling and election” appears in the Doctrine and Covenants. Now, don’t read too much into it. This isn’t a mystical promise of fulfilled blessings. It’s just referring to his calling, his Church calling. Sidney is also the first person appointed to act as an agent for the Church, which has to do with this temporal side of things. He travels to Zion, and he does establish the Whitney and Gilbert store, which there’s still a Whitney and Gilbert store there in Zion. Scott, you and I saw it when we were there. A fun connection to this section. That’s all I would add is the Lord is looking to the temporal well-being of the Saints in Zion, knowing they’re going to need a store, they’re going to need a person that knows business, knows what to do. He recognizes those talents in Sidney Gilbert, and calls him to go with Joseph and Sidney Rigdon on their journey.

Scott Woodward: I think you just covered the consequences of this section. That’s exactly right. Sidney will go with them to Missouri and establish a store which the Lord will command a little bit later. That store is going to be the location of some serious mob persecutions. It’ll be ransacked. It’ll be violated deeply. He’ll be arrested in Jackson County. He’s going to be put through the ringer. He only lives four years after this, but his influence will live on. He dies faithful. He’s a good man.

Casey Griffiths: Sidney is the uncle of a very famous woman in church history named Mary Elizabeth Rollins. When her father is killed in a shipwreck on Lake Ontario, Mary Elizabeth’s mom and her brothers and sisters move in with Sidney. She’s there when she finds the Book of Mormon. She tells this great story that we’ve talked a little bit about where she reads the Book of Mormon and has an impact on her. And later on, and this story will come up when the printing press is destroyed in Missouri, she’s one of the people that runs in and saves copies of the revelations there. So just to work a female voice in the story.

Scott Woodward: Okay, that’s Section 53. Let’s move on to Section 54.

Casey Griffiths: All right, this is a sequel to Section 51, which we talked about the Colesville Saints are showing up in Ohio. Edward Partridge has been tasked with using the principles of consecration to make sure that the Colesville Saints are taken care of. Now, here’s where kid of the law of consecration undergoes its first serious test. You remember our old friend Leman Copley? This is the guy who was a former Shaker, who went meet with the Shakers in Section 49. Copley is initially so enamored with the gospel, he actually offers for Joseph and Sidney Rigdon to live at his home in Thompson, Ohio, so that they can get their work done. Now, Joseph and Sidney decline the offer. They don’t go there. But when the Colesville branch, led by the Knight family, show up, they think of Leman Copley. Oh, he’s got a farm in Thompson, Ohio. Oh, he can take care of them. He can consecrate, and he can assist them. And so the Colesville Saints, the Knight family, are assigned to travel to Thompson, Ohio, and stay on his place. However, the consequences of Section 49 start to make themselves know here. When the mission to the Shakers doesn’t convert anybody, it seems like Copley has a kind of faith crisis.

Casey Griffiths: He starts to kind of go back and forth between the Saints and the Shakers. He reconciles with them, and apparently afterwards, when he comes back to his home, he brings along our old friend, Ashbel Kitchell, the Shaker elder that we’ve talked about, with the intent to evict any Church members who are living on his property. This is the first person we know of that goes back on a consecrated covenant. When Kitchell arrives on Copley’s farm, the members of the Colesville branch are there. They’re already making improvements, building a fence. Kitchell gets involved in a discussion with Newel Knight, who’s the leader of the Colesville branch, and that elevates into a shouting match that eventually comes to involve Joseph Knight, Sr. Now, following this altercation, the members of the Colesville branch are forced to leave Leman Copley’s land. Joseph Knight. Jr. later recalls bitterly, “We had to leave Copley’s farm and pay $60 for damage for fitting up his houses and planting his ground.” With no place to go, the evicted Saints approach Joseph Smith for direction and guidance. Newel K. Whitney later says, “We commenced work in all good faith, thinking to obtain a living by the sweat of the brow. We had not lingered long before the above named Copley broke the engagement which he had made with us. And at this time, I went to Kirtland to see Brother Joseph.”

Casey Griffiths: So there’s the setup. Our first crisis with the law of consecration, where Leman Copley basically backs out of his agreements, and that leaves the poor Knight family and the Colesville Saints in the lurch. That’s the context when the revelation is given.

Scott Woodward: Can you imagine being part of the Colesville Saints coming from New York, having made that sacrifice to join the Saints. Then here’s this great Saint named Leman Copley, who’s like, You guys can come to my farm. I won’t even charge you. A wonderful man. One day, he returns angry and evicts you from your property. How confusing would that be? What does the Lord say? He begins this revelation speaking directly to the leader of the Colesville Saints, Newel Knight. He mentions him in verse 2, “Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, my servant Newel Knight, you shall stand fast in the office whereunto I have appointed you. And if your brethren desire to escape their enemies, let them repent of all their sins and become truly humble before me and contrite. And as the covenant which they made unto me has been broken, even so it has become void and of none effect. Woe to him by whom this offense cometh, for it had been better for him that he had been drowned in the depths of the sea.: Is he talking about Leman Copley here? “But blessed are they who have kept the covenant and observed the commandment, for they shall obtain mercy.”

Scott Woodward: Man. So Leman Copley’s actions did not destroy the work of consecration in Kirtland, but it does demonstrate one of its vulnerabilities. Consecration, remember, this depends upon the voluntary contribution of resources from those who are participating. And the Lord had urged the Saints to enter into a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken when they’re consecrating. But at the same time, Church leaders are going to respect the principle of agency. The Lord is lamenting here the selfish and incorrect decisions that Copley had made in reneging on his promise to consecrate his property for the Saints there. Now, Church leaders are going to continue to work with Copley. They’re going to continue to work with and try to bring him to repentance. They will withdraw a fellowship from him in the summer of 1831, but that’s extended back to him by October of 1832 until the Saints left the Kirtland area entirely. Then Copley is not going to follow them to Missouri or to Nauvoo. He continues to be involved in the Church there in that area, but he’s never quite the same consecrated Leman that we saw who eagerly consecrated his farm. The Lord is not taking well to the breaking of his covenant.

Casey Griffiths: Strong words, right? At the same time, too, part of the problem here is his actions are affecting other people. In verse 2, Newel Knight is told to stand fast, and Newel is in a difficult position here. Basically, they don’t have anywhere else to go. They’ve sold their farms and property back in New York, and he’s being affected because Leman Copley makes a bad decision. Sometimes that’s, unfortunately, how it works, especially in consecrated efforts. It works when everybody is committed and honest. Leman Copley, in this case, goes back on it. It gets really tough. In verse 7, the Lord does have a backup plan. He says, “Go to now and flee the land lest your enemies come upon you. Take your journey and appoint whom you will to be your leaders and pay moneys for you. And thus you shall take your journey into the regions westward, unto the land of Missouri, unto the borders of the Lamanites.” This is sort of a milestone, too. The Colesville branch is being transplanted from Kirtland to Missouri. They’re going to be the first people to go and establish a branch in the land of Zion. This has big consequences as well, because it’s not long after Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon arrive in Missouri, that the Colesville branch comes, too.

Casey Griffiths: Some of the first revelations given there, specifically, Section 59, is given specifically to the Knight family.

Scott Woodward: These are the very first settlers of the New Jerusalem, the very first settlers of Zion, which may have been premature. I mean, who knows what would have happened if Leman Copley had not done this. But because of the situation that he creates, the Lord says, Okay, let’s have you guys go west to Missouri. There is another place for you. From then to the end of time, these are the first people in the latter days to settle Zion, Casey. That’s kind of cool, though.

Casey Griffiths: Should we talk controversies? This is the test of what the Lord brings up in Section 51, which is what if someone breaks the covenant of consecration, then what do we do? This is tough. Because the Lord said, and established the rules, the property that they’ve consecrated belongs to the Church. Their stewardship belongs to them, and they can leave with it. But it seems like Leman Copley isn’t willing to submit to those terms. So should there be legal consequences? Should they have sued the guy? Or do they try and work with him and influence him through love and fellowship? Tough stuff.

Scott Woodward: This is the kind of behavior that makes it really difficult to establish Zion. We’re seeing kind of a mix in the last couple of revelations we’ve been looking at. We need honest people, we need committed people, we need those who are willing to work with others and give of their stuff to help lift the whole group. Now we’re seeing what happens when selfishness and anger and pride enter into the scene. Just like that, an entire group of people is affected.

Casey Griffiths: I don’t know what Leman Copley is going to turn up in the latter days, but it is a shame when someone breaks their covenants. This illustrates sometimes when someone breaks their covenants, unfortunately, it affects other people, too.

Scott Woodward: Breaking covenants breaks Zion.

Casey Griffiths: Let’s talk consequences here.

Scott Woodward: Newel Knight recorded, quote, “We now understood that Ohio was not the land of our inheritance, the land of promise.” He said, “It was made known in a revelation,” this one, Section 54, “that Missouri was the place chosen for the gathering of the Church, and several were called to lead the way to that state.” The Colesville Saints will choose Newel to continue to preside over them. The Lord said that they could choose their leader. They chose him. So he is released from his previous calling as a missionary, which was back in Section 52, and he’s given leave to look after his family during this journey. Now, Newel will later reflect. He said, quote, “This was the first branch of the Church which had emigrated to the land of Zion. I had found it required all the wisdom I had to lead this company through so long a journey in the midst of enemies, yet so great were the mercies and blessings of God to us that not one of us were harmed, and we made our journey in safety.” That brings us to the conclusion of our first part of this week’s Come, Follow Me. So stick with us.

Scott Woodward: We have episode 2 coming out here covering Section 55 through 57. You’re not going to want to miss 57. This is the crescendo of this entire week’s study. So stay tuned.

Casey Griffiths: Stay tuned. We’ll see you next time.