[JS’s arrival and purpose there?]

On 1 August 1831, JS dictated a revelation “to the Elders” of the church who had joined him for his stay in Independence, Missouri, which revelation several days earlier, on 20 July, had designated as “the land of promise & the place for the City of Zion.” […had arrived…] Having identified and arrived at the site for Zion, JS and other believers now confronted the challenge of transforming previous prophecies and promises of Zion into a practical reality.

Prior revelation had designated a leader who could direct many of the community’s affairs in JS’s absence, after his return to Ohio, calling Edward Partridge as bishop. In this office Partridge was to manage the properties of the church and “see to all things as it shall be appointed in my Laws.” [Add the agent too.] Shortly before the 25 or 26 July arrival of about sixty members of the church’s Colesville, New York branch, the revelation identifying Zion also commanded Partridge and Gilbert to make “preperations for those families which have been commanded to come to this land as soon as posible & plant them in their inheritance.” But an incident during JS’s Independence visit raised the question of whether Edward Partridge would run the Zion community consistent with JS’s vision and revelations or subordinate these to his own judgment. With his mandate over church properties, Partridge felt authorized, and perhaps, obligated, to object when JS and Oliver Cowdery selected for purchase land he saw as inferior.

Partridge was not alone among the church elders in his dissatisfaction with the physical development of Zion. A number of those who had journeyed with JS to Independence, having expected to find a burgeoning community of believers and a settlement that would soon be able to accommodate the immigration of the Ohio church, were disappointed with the frontier town’s paltry population, modest land quality, and

primitive state of economic development. And JS shared in the general disappointment, perceiving the Independence area as a century behind the times and wondering how soon Zion’s uncultivated “wilderness” could “blossom as the rose” and the community achieve its prophesied “glory.”

The following revelation, building on a promise in the 20 July revelation of further directions on Zion, responded to this disappointment among “the Elders of my Church” and established the means by which the incipient Mormon community at Independence could be built up in economy, infrastructure, and population. The revelation encouraged the elders to look beyond Zion’s undeveloped state and focus on its prophesied glorious future, visible then only to the eye of faith but later to become visible also to their “natural eyes.”

A <ref>Revelation</ref> given to the <ref>Elders</ref> who were assembeled in on the land of <ref>Zion</ref> Directions what to do &c &c &c Hearken oh ye Elders of my <ref>Church</ref> & give ear to my word & learn of me what I will concerning you & also concerning this land unto which I have sent you

The revelation below addresses this disappointment,

You cannot now behold with your natural eyes…

Edward Partridge was chastised for a lack of such vision, a “blindness of heart,” for … and his leadership role in Zion was more carefully defined: Partrtidge’s calling was not to be the law for Zion, but to enact the laws of God as they were given through JS, as the “judges” had assisted Moses in …

Partridge to be a judge to enact the law of God as given through JS—cf. Moses—not to think _he_ is ruler.

[To secure Edward Partridge’s humility in accepting Zion and his willingness to follow and “judge” by the revelations given through JS (i.e., to show him that his authority is not independent of JS’s revelations, but derivative from them).]

The new revelation promoted two ideas, [tension … a tension not resolved in the revelation itself.]

JS’s revelations were to provide governing law for Zion

The commandments given through him would have to be obeyed by the saints and enforced by the bishop.

People would have to act on their own spiritual guidance and initiative.

To establish a community that can function without Joseph Smith’s presence and immediate supervision.

To establish an active community—with everything it needs to get going: leadership, laws, a leader who’s on board with those laws, a process for obtaining money and land, a process for acquiring new community members, “workmen” to expedite the physical construction of the community…

In answer to a promise made in the 20 July revelation that “unto the residue of both Elders & members further directions” would be given, the “residue of the elders” were instructed not to expect permanent settlement in Zion for some years [ah, the time frame gets stretched out—expectations made more realistic] and to hold a conference …

shall be given hereafter

Trials…

Disappointment over the geography, economic development, and cultural condition of the land of Zion.

[Edward Partridge’s resistance: the one chosen to “judge” Zion is not on board with the revelatory directives establishing it!]

Partridge is like the judges under Moses!

JS was only to be temporarily present at this point, to help do the most foundational things to establish a community. JS and his entourage were establishing a community where he would not be present as revelator:

The commandments given through him would have to be obeyed by the saints and enforced by the bishop.

People would have to act on their own spiritual guidance and initiative.

There was an expectation, per previous revelation(?), that JS’s revelations would be obeyed as “law” in the land of Zion. But there were new neighbors and some civil government…

Martin Harris had been given his “last commandment” but it was hoped would consecrate his substantial resources.

To give comfort in the face of trials. To encourage the saints who were disappointed with the

condition of the land of Zion. To establish a community that can function without Joseph

Smith’s presence and immediate supervision.

To establish an active community—with everything it needs to get going: leadership, laws, a leader who’s on board with those laws, a process for obtaining money and land, a process for acquiring new community members, “workmen” to expedite the physical construction of the community…

To secure Edward Partridge’s humility in accepting Zion and his willingness to follow and “judge” by the revelations given through JS (i.e., to show him that his authority is not independent of JS’s revelations, but derivative from them).

To secure obedience to divine, revelatory laws while distinguishing these from civil law, to avoid conflict.

To introduce a notion of stewardship, delegating responsibilities to the various saints (including Partridge and Rigdon), for which they will be accountable. The saints in Zion will be accountable to Partridge, who in turn will be accountable for enacting and upholding the revelations of God.

To persuade Martin Harris to consecrate, despite his having already been given his “last commandment.”

This is the earliest revelation to identify the saints with Israel—by the reference to the horns pushing the people together (a prophecy on Ephraim) and the reference to the bishop as “a judge in Israel.”

Those gathering to the New Jerusalem were Israel!

Reinforces the gathering and offers a new and distinct identity

D&C 57: And concerning the gethering let the bishop & the agent

make preperations for th[♢]se families which have been commanded to come to this land as soon as posible & plant

them in their inheritance1 & unto the residue of both Elders & members further directions shall be given hereafter even So Amen—— [p. 94]

The central challenges of the new Zion:

To get it established and moving forward To prepare it to run independently, without JS’s presence

and immediate supervision

& unto the residue of both Elders & members further directions shall be given hereafter

Directions what to do &c &c &c

Promise of an endowment from on high…? – at a conference

Because JS, then living in [Kirtland/Hiram], Ohio, was not anticipated to be one of the early settlers of the new Zion,

July 25 or 26About sixty members of the Colesville branch under Newel

Knight arrived in Independence.

1 A 10 June 1831 revelation had instructed church members from Colesville, New York—who had migrated to Ohio— to “take your Journey into the regions westward unto Missorie unto the borders of the Lamanites” (see Revelation, 10 June 1831 [D&C 54:8], D1, XXX.

During this week the Colesville branch referred to in the latter part of the last revelation, and Sidney Rigdon, Sidney Gilbert and wife, and elders Morley and Booth arrived, and also I received the following Revelation, given Zion, August, 1831.

Joseph Knight, Sr.:

Now this Spring Joseph received anumber of Revelation. One was to purchase a thousand acres of Land which was Claimed by Leman Copley24 and not paid for. He had a little Before Come into the Church and apeard to Be Zelaus and faithful. We all went to work and made fence and planted and sowed the fields. About this time we ware Cald upon to Consecrate our properties. But Brother Copley would not Consecrate his property therefore he was Cut of[f] from the Church. Then we was Commanded to take up our Jorney to the Regions westward to the Boarders of the Lamanites. And we sold out what we Could But Copley took the advantege of us and we Could not git any thing for what we had done. So we left Copleys in June and moved our things to wellsvill on the ohio river which was about ninety miles. Then we went on Board the Steamer the third Day of July and we landed in uper Misouria the 26th of the same Month. We found our selves among strangers But the people seamed to Be frindley with us. And we found the Country to be Butiful rich and plesent and we made our selves as Comfortable as we Could. And in a few Day Joseph and Sidney and a number of Brotherin came and they looked out and Enterd a Considrible of Land, for the People to Settle on. We found it a new Country with some settlrs on it.

There was one Joshua Lewis that had Come into the Church the winter Before, he and his wife. And they ware faithful and good to us and took us in to their house, my wife Being sick as before stated. She Died the Seventh Day of August and Joseph and Sidney attended her funeral on the Eighth. She was Burried in the woods a spot Chosen out By our selves. I was along By where she was Buried a few Days after and I found the hogs had Began to root whare she was Buried. I being verry unwell But I took my

ax the nex Day and went and Bilt a pen round it. It was the Last I done for her.

Joseph at this time Looked out the Country and found the place for the City and Temple and set Mark, and after giving all other nesesary instructions he Returned Back for Kirtland. But as time Came along we often heard form him and Recevied Revelation. The next year in 1832 he Came again to Missouri28 and set things in order and Cald the Colesvill Church to gather and seald them up to Eternal Life. And this made some little feeling among others But I think he [k]new Best. So that passed of[f] and he Returned to Kirtland again and I think he Did not Come to Missouri the next year for the Mob Began to sho their Black heads in 1833. But Joseph Sent and Counsled During our troubles in Jackson County and after the worst Came to the worst thot we had Better leve the County.

While Lydia and the girls were traveling to Missouri, Partridge was preparing a place forthe saints to settle by buying land on a larger scale than he ever had before. Having arrived mid-July, Partridge lost no time, and by July 26, 1831, he had purchased four tracts of land abouttwelve miles southwest of Independence in Kaw township.39 Less than two weeks later, Partridgehad purchased two lots in Independence (ironically located on Liberty Street), one of whichincluded a brick structure that was used for a printing house. Over the course of the next severalmonths, Partridge purchased approximately twelve hundred acres, expending $8,449.90 for itand other necessary resources.40UT, 13.39 Max H. Parkin, “Joseph Smith and the United Firm: The Growth and Decline of the Church’s FirstMaster Plan of Business and Finance, Ohio and Missouri, 1832–1834,” Online Version (Definitive) BYU Studies 46,

no. 3 (2007), 24, http://byustudies.byu.edu/dailypdfs/46.3ParkinONLINE.pdf (accessed Nov. 29, 2008).

August

1 JS assisted Colesville branch in laying log of first house in Zion; Sidney Rigdon consecrated the land of Zion and dedicated it for the gathering of the Saints; D&C 58

Revelation to JS in ____ 1831 appointed a local leader over the community, a bishop, Edward Partridge, who was to serve as a “Judge” to enact the laws given in JS’s revelations and …

But Partridge bucked JS’s authority and complained…

In summer 1831 JS and other believers began working to make the [promised/hypothetical/…] Zion a practical reality.

The practicalities of establishing this community

To establish this community…

The callings of Edward Partridge and Sidney Gilbert:

D&C 41:

again I have called my Servent Edward & give him a commandment that he should be appointed by the voice of the

Church & be ordained a bishop unto the Church2 & leave his merchandise & spend all his time in the labours of the Church3 & see to all things as it shall be appointed4 in my Laws in the day that I shall give them

D&C 57:

And concerning the gethering let the bishop & the agent make preperations for th[♢]se families which have been commanded to come to this land as soon as posible & plant them in their inheritance5 & unto the residue of both Elders & members further directions shall be given hereafter even So Amen—— [p. 94]

Trials…

Disappointment over the geography, economic development, and cultural condition of the land of Zion.

Edward Partridge’s resistance: the one chosen to “judge” Zion is not on board with the revelatory directives establishing it!

Partridge is like the judges under Moses!

2Partridge’s bishop’s license affirms that he was “appointed Bishop . . . with and by the consent of the whole church agreeable to the appointment of God and ordained” on the same day this revelation was received (License, Bishop’s, 1831, XXX herein).3Partridge owned a hatter’s shop near the town square in Painesville, Ohio, a few miles from Kirtland. On 8 September 1829, the Painesville Telegraph carried notice of Partridge’s intent to liquidate his stock and sell his shop. No record of sale survives, however, and the wording of the revelation suggests that he was unable to do so by February 1831. Partridge’s daughter later recalled that after this revelation was received, “my father placed his business in the hands of a young man by the name of Harvey Redfield. His property was sold at a great sacrifice (as much as was sold at all), so much so that his friends pronounced him insane. They could not see what there was in religion to make a man give up all worldly consideration for it” (Young, “Autobiography,” 8). <<KB: see source file>>4The phrase “uto him” was added prior to publication.<<see source file.>>5 A 10 June 1831 revelation had instructed church members from Colesville, New York—who had migrated to Ohio— to “take your Journey into the regions westward unto Missorie unto the borders of the Lamanites” (see Revelation, 10 June 1831 [D&C 54:8], D1, XXX.

JS was only to be temporarily present at this point, to help do the most foundational things to establish a community. JS and his entourage were establishing a community where he would not be present as revelator:

The commandments given through him would have to be obeyed by the saints and enforced by the bishop.

People would have to act on their own spiritual guidance and initiative.

There was an expectation, per previous revelation(?), that JS’s revelations would be obeyed as “law” in the land of Zion. But there were new neighbors and some civil government…

Martin Harris had been given his “last commandment” but it was hoped would consecrate his substantial resources.

To give comfort in the face of trials. To encourage the saints who were disappointed with the

condition of the land of Zion. To establish a community that can function without Joseph

Smith’s presence and immediate supervision. To establish an active community—with everything it needs

to get going: leadership, laws, a leader who’s on board with those laws, a process for obtaining money and land, a process for acquiring new community members, “workmen” to help physically build up the community…

To secure Edward Partridge’s humility in accepting Zion and his willingness to follow and “judge” by the revelations given through JS (i.e., to show him that his authority is not independent of JS’s revelations, but derivative from them).

To secure obedience to divine, revelatory laws while distinguishing these from civil law, to avoid conflict.

To introduce a notion of stewardship, delegating responsibilities to the various saints (including Partridge and Rigdon), for which they will be accountable. The saints in Zion will be accountable to Partridge, who in turn will be accountable for enacting and upholding the revelations of God.

To persuade Martin Harris to consecrate, despite his having already been given his “last commandment.”

This is the earliest revelation to identify the saints with Israel—by the reference to the horns pushing the people together (a prophecy on Ephraim) and the reference to the bishop as “a judge in Israel.”

This document is part of a series of revelations JS received after arriving in Missouri in July 1831 and having it confirmed that Missouri was “the land of promise & the place for the City of Zion.”1 More than two dozen elders were directed to make the same journey from Ohio to Missouri, preaching along the way, and in the days immediately prior to this revelation they began arriving in Independence. Among them was Sidney Rigdon, who, along with several who had previously arrived with JS—Edward Partridge, William W. Phelps, and Martin Harris—is addressed in this revelation. Also, the first group of church members to “gather” to Zion, a congregation of some sixty Saints known as the “Colesville Branch,” arrived. Getting these ten or more families settled several miles west of Independence in Kaw Township, and the prospect of similarly “planting” in their “inheritances” the many others who might wish to participate in

“the gathering,” occupied JS’s time and attention. Not surprisingly, this revelation addresses the general principles as well as specific procedures that were to govern the gathering. It mingles reflection on the eschatological future of Zion with direction on how to meet the immediate practical needs of “laying [its] foundation.” The revelation’s detail and substantiveness are captured in the use of multiple ampersands in its heading—“Directions what to do &c &c &c.”

D&C 58 Thoughts

After your present physical tribulations—the journey and all that—will come glory that you can’t _yet_ physically behold—i.e., the completed City of Zion. – The emphasis is physical-tangible.

[Also, a general message on enduring trials: endure them well and the blessings will follow.]

A feast of fat things:

The present order will be overturned—and upturned—as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount—the rich will be made low and the poor will be exalted.

Partridge a Judge in Israel:

Like the biblical judges who derived political/temporal authority from Moses. JS stands in the place of Moses.

My laws shall be kept on this land:

The church laws are binding temporal laws, as in ancient Israel.

order and keeping the law: a distinct polity nested within that of the United States and its divisions

a dual system of law and government: the human and the divine!

- “the laws of the land” and “the laws of the Church”- They’re rebuilding the nation of Israel, complete with

Moses, the law, and the judges, within and as part of the United States

- “in this light ye shall hold them forth”—to avoid misunderstanding and trouble with outsiders who believe there is sedition

A slothful and not a wise servant:

Wise servant: From Matthew 24:45, in which Jesus speaks of the good man of the house returning to find the faithful and wise servant doing the work he’s supposed to.

Slothful servant: From the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:26

—both of which they’ve probably translated just before departing for Zion on 19 June 1831 (They translated through Matthew 26:71).

Anxiously engaged…of their own free will; not commanded in all things:

JS shouldn’t have to give commandments for everything. People should live their lives and build up their economic state as the individuals themselves do best, rather than being micro-managed.

The goal is to avoid _having_ to give incessant commandments!

- e.g., Martin Harris, who had once been given a “great and last commandment” to suffice him for the rest of his days (D&C 19)

o Martin is addressed very next, though indirectly and without any actual commandment. The Lord says only that “it is wisdom in me that my servant Martin should be an example unto the church in laying his money before the bishop…”

Other directions for Martin Harris to be given him by the Spirit and he is to receive his inheritance as seemeth him good:

Again individual initiative; also individual guidance—the inspiration of the followers is trusted too!

The time has not yet come for many years – for most of the elders to receive their inheritance:

The vital importance not only of _building_ the New Jerusalem but of _gathering_ people to it. Some are tasked to one work (e.g., gathering) and some to another (e.g., building).

Push the people together from the ends of the earth:

Deuteronomy: a prophecy about the line of _Joseph_, and about the “pushing together” of those who are of Ephraim and Manasseh!!

I give unto my servant Sidney…that he shall write…as it shall be made known by the spirit unto him:

Trusts Sidney’s inspiration too!

______________________________________

You cannot now behold with your natural eyes…

Partridge to be a judge to enact the law of God as given through JS—cf. Moses—not to think _he_ is ruler.

Trials…

Disappointment over the geography, economic development, and cultural condition of the land of Zion.

Edward Partridge’s resistance: the one chosen to “judge” Zion is not on board with the revelatory directives establishing it!

Partridge is like the judges under Moses!

Partridge’s independent-mindedness may have raised the question of whether he would run the new Zion community in accordance with JS’s judgment and revelations or subordinate these to his own judgment and will.

JS was only to be temporarily present at this point, to help do the most foundational things to establish a community. JS and his entourage were establishing a community where he would not be present as revelator:

The commandments given through him would have to be obeyed by the saints and enforced by the bishop.

People would have to act on their own spiritual guidance and initiative.

There was an expectation, per previous revelation(?), that JS’s revelations would be obeyed as “law” in the land of Zion. But there were new neighbors and some civil government…

Martin Harris had been given his “last commandment” but it was hoped would consecrate his substantial resources.

To give comfort in the face of trials. To encourage the saints who were disappointed with the

condition of the land of Zion. To establish a community that can function without Joseph

Smith’s presence and immediate supervision. To establish an active community—with everything it needs

to get going: leadership, laws, a leader who’s on board with those laws, a process for obtaining money and land, a process for acquiring new community members, “workmen” to expedite the physical construction of the community…

To secure Edward Partridge’s humility in accepting Zion and his willingness to follow and “judge” by the revelations given through JS (i.e., to show him that his authority is not independent of JS’s revelations, but derivative from them).

To secure obedience to divine, revelatory laws while distinguishing these from civil law, to avoid conflict.

To introduce a notion of stewardship, delegating responsibilities to the various saints (including Partridge and Rigdon), for which they will be accountable. The saints in Zion will be accountable to Partridge, who in turn will be

accountable for enacting and upholding the revelations of God.

To persuade Martin Harris to consecrate, despite his having already been given his “last commandment.”

This is the earliest revelation to identify the saints with Israel—by the reference to the horns pushing the people together (a prophecy on Ephraim) and the reference to the bishop as “a judge in Israel.”

Those gathering to the New Jerusalem were Israel!

Reinforces the gathering and offers a new and distinct identity

D&C 57: And concerning the gethering let the bishop & the agent

make preperations for th[♢]se families which have been commanded to come to this land as soon as posible & plant them in their inheritance6 & unto the residue of both Elders & members further directions shall be given hereafter even So Amen—— [p. 94]

The central challenges of the new Zion:

To get it established and moving forward To prepare it to run independently, without JS’s presence

and immediate supervision

6 A 10 June 1831 revelation had instructed church members from Colesville, New York—who had migrated to Ohio— to “take your Journey into the regions westward unto Missorie unto the borders of the Lamanites” (see Revelation, 10 June 1831 [D&C 54:8], D1, XXX.

Directions what to do &c &c &c

Promise of an endowment from on high…? – at a conference

Because JS, then living in [Kirtland/Hiram], Ohio, was not anticipated to be one of the early settlers of the new Zion,

1Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:2]. ↑2The opening portion of this revelation in part may be a response to the disappointment that some reportedly felt and expressed upon arrival in this culturally distinct frontier area. Either stimulated by remarks JS previously made or by their own enthusiastic imaginations, they apparently expected the home of the future Zion to be a much more propitious location and one where a sizeable group of recent converts waited to receive them (“Mormonism—No. VII, Ohio Star, 24 Nov. 1831). This passage reminds them that the future glory of Zion could be seen only with the eye of faith. Reportedly, even JS’s “natural eyes” saw little that was impressive or encouraging (see JS History, vol. A-1, 127). Incorporating this passage’s perspective, however, the subsequent assessment was, “But all these impediments vanish when it is recollected what the prophets have said concerning Zion in the last days” (JS History, vol. A-1, 139; see also Anderson, “Jackson County in Early Mormon Descriptions,” 270–293). ↑3Compare Isaiah 25:6. William W. Phelps quoted these same words from Isaiah to celebrate the future glory of Zion in his February 1832 prospectus for the Evening and Morning Star (see Star [1835 reprint], 1). [KB: I couldn’t find prospectus in

anything earlier than the reprint, though style guide says generally we shouldn’t use this] “Fat things” refers to rich food and “wine on the lees well refined” to well-aged wine strained clear. Both are representative of sumptuous fare. ↑4Compare Matthew 22:1–10.  ↑5It is difficult to be certain about the nature of Partridge’s “unbelief & blindness of heart,” but it appears to have been rooted in his expressed disagreement with JS over the suitability of a particular plot of land selected for Zion. Sidney Rigdon later accused Edward Partridge of “having insulted the Lord’s prophet” while they were together in Missouri, presumably on this occasion (Minute Book 2, 10 Mar. 1832). An estranged Ezra Booth wrote sarcastically to Partridge that “the spirit considered your insolence to Joseph, too intolerable, too be passed over unnoticed. Hence the commandment: ‘if he repent not of his sins, which is unbelief and blindness of heart, let him take heed lest he fall’” (see “Mormonism—No. VII,” Ohio Star, 24 Nov. 1831, [1]). Partridge responded to this reproof with humility. Four days later he wrote to his wife: “as I am occasinally chastened I sometimes feel as though I must fall, not to give up the cause, but I fear my station is above what I can perform to the acceptance of my Heavenly Father. . . . Pray for me that I may not fall” (Edward Partridge Jr., “Journal of Bp. Edward Partridge,” 7). [See JSP website>Church Archives>Personal papers>Partridge, Edward>E Partridge Genealogical Record]  ↑6See Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:7]. ↑7Isaac Morley and John Corrill were “ordained assistants to the Bishop” at a conference on 3 June 1831 (see Minutes, Conference, 3 June 1831, XXX herein). ↑8These included the recently revealed “Laws of the Church of Christ” declared therein to be “sufficient for <you> both here & in the New Jerusalem” (Revelation, 9 and 23 Feb. 1831, par. [5] [D&C 42:66–67], XXX herein). ↑15These purchases are detailed in Romig, Early Independence, Missouri, 29–36. Gilbert’s store and Phelps’s printing shop were eventually located half a block apart on Liberty Street in “downtown” Independence. ↑19Compare Deuteronomy 33:17. JS construed this unusual phrase as a metaphor for preaching the gospel and gathering converts

to Zion. In October 1831, a revelation told one elder to “magnify thine office & push many people to Zion with songs of everlasting Joy upon their heads” (Revelation, 29 Oct. 1831 [D&C 66:11], XXX herein). ↑22Rigdon wrote such an “Epistle & subscription” (no longer extant), but it was not acceptable (see Revelation, 30 Aug. 1831 [D&C 63:56]). ↑23Bishop Partridge and agent Sidney Gilbert were to be co-workers in purchasing land in Zion and in communicating to the church the status of land holdings there. Partridge mentioned this partnership in a letter to his wife written a few days after this revelation was received: “As bro. Gilbert or I must be here to attend the [land] sales in Dec, & not knowing that he can get back by that time I have thought it advisable to stay here for the present” (cited in Edward Partridge Jr., “Journal of Bp. Edward Partridge,” 6). ↑24This reiterates direction given in Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:4–5]. 28The words “not in haste nor by flight” echo Isaiah 52:12. ↑30On 2 August, the day after this revelation was received, church members gathered in Kaw Township for a formal dedication of the land of Zion. In symbolic representation of the twelve tribes of Israel, twelve men laid the first log. Sidney Rigdon followed with an exhortation in which he committed those assembled “to keep the laws of God on this land.” He then prayed and dedicated the land “for a possession and inheritance for the Saints.” The next day a small group of elders gathered on the western edge of Independence, where JS laid a cornerstone for the contemplated temple and Rigdon pronounced the ground “dedicated unto the Lord forever” (Whitmer, History, 32). [KB: see source file] “The scene was solemn and impressive” (JS History, vol. A-1, 139). ↑31On 4 August 1831, the day after the temple dedication, a “special Conference” was held in Kaw Township at the home of Missouri convert Joshua Lewis and near where the immigrant Colesville Saints were settling. Fourteen elders and thirty-one members attended the conference and listened to ‘exhortations” by JS and Sidney Rigon and partook of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper together (see Minute Book 2, 4 Aug. 1831). ↑

33Ziba Peterson, one of the first elders ordained after the church was formally organized, traveled to Missouri with Oliver Cowdery and several other missionaries ten months earlier (see Revelation, Oct. 1830 [D&C 32:3], XXX herein). Two of them, Peter Whitmer and Frederick Williams, reportedly told Ezra Booth that at some point Peterson’s conduct was “on a parallel” with a man who “enters into a matrimonial contract with a young lady, and obtains the consent of her parents; but as soon as his back is turned upon her, he violates his engagements, and prostitutes his honor by becoming the gallant of another, and resolves in his heart, and expresses resolutions to marry her” (“Mormonism—No. VII,” Ohio Star, 24 Nov. 1831; “Mormonism—Nos. VIII–IX,” Ohio Star, 8 Dec. 1831). After this rebuke, Peterson made satisfactory confession at the 4 August conference (Minute Book 2 , 4 Aug. 1831), and a week later he married Rebecca Hopper of Lafayette County, Missouri (“Lafayette County Marriage Record”). ↑