Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, [, Geauga Co., OH], 1 Mar. 1835. Featured version copied [not before 25 Feb. 1836] in Minute Book 1, pp. 172–186; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 1.
Historical Introduction
On the morning of 1 March 1835, church members convened a meeting in , Ohio, apparently as a continuation of a meeting that had adjourned on 28 February. Several men appointed to the office of were given blessings in that 28 February meeting. The blessings continued in this 1 March 1835 meeting, and at least thirty-three individuals, including some not designated as seventies, were blessed. All those receiving ordinations and blessings in this meeting had participated in the expedition. According to later reminiscences, many of these blessings were performed by members of the church presidency, including JS, his , , and . The minutes indicate that several individuals who had recently been were also confirmed members of the church at the meeting, and the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was administered. JS also gave instructions on the necessity of worthiness when partaking of the sacrament.
It is unclear who originally recorded the ordination blessings or the minutes of the meeting. later copied them into Minute Book 1.
For examples, see Hutchings, Journal, 15 Feb. 1835; Burgess, Autobiography, 4; and “Biographies of the Seventies of the Second Quorum,” 22.
Hutchings, Elias. Journal, Dec. 1834–Sept. 1836. CHL. MS 1445.
Burgess, Harrison. Autobiography, ca. 1883. Photocopy. CHL. MS 893. Also available as “Sketch of a Well-Spent Life,” in Labors in the Vineyard, Faith-Promoting Series 12 (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1884), 65–74.
“Biographies of the Seventies of the Second Quorum,” 1845–1855. In Seventies Quorum Records, 1844–1975. CHL. CR 499.
unless he be a man of God. You shall (if very faithful) have all the powers necessary to fill this ministry. You shall travel and journey much, and do great things in the name of the Lord and bring many to the and return after having done much in the Ministry. Amen.
This being done arose and in the Spirit of God sung a song of Zion in a foreign tongue. After which he delivered a very animated address to to his brother ministers. Meeting proceeded.
Hiram Stratten [Stratton]
In the name of the Lord Jesus we you to be and and one of the . You shall have part in this ministry because the Lord has proved you, that you would lay down your life for your brethren. If you are faithful you shall have great power, and that which shall be peculiar to yourself. You have a part in this ministry and shall be able to fill it. You shall be sent afar off to preach the gospel to barbarous nations. You shall be preserved while afar off but you shall be drawn in close straits, but nevertheless you shall gather up those who will hear you: and when you return, you shall be altogether changed and be a man beloved of the Lord and of the faithful, amen
We your Ministry upon your ministry upon your head, and also you to be one of the and a President among the 70 Your mind shall become pure and chaste, and the importance of your calling shall lie near your heart from this hour. You shall preside with dignity and with honor forever. You shall have great affliction and persecution because of your office. Your enemies shall seek your life with great diligence, but if you dedicate [p. 179]
This appears to be an incident where Brigham Young was exercising the gift of tongues, which the Bible indicated was bestowed on an individual by God’s spirit. Kirtland church members first experienced this gift in 1830 and 1831, but it largely disappeared after JS “identified some of the ecstatic manifestations” of the Saints as excessive and “ungodly” at a June 1831 conference. However, when Brigham Young first met JS in November 1832, Young spoke in tongues, which, according to a later JS history, was the first time JS “had heard this Gift among the brethren.” Singing in tongues, which Young did in this meeting, had occurred previously. At a 27 February 1833 gathering, an individual later identified as David W. Patten sang a song in tongues. When William W. Phelps published the translation of this song in The Evening and the Morning Star, he placed it under the title “Songs of Zion.” (Staker, Hearken, O Ye People, 175; JS History, vol. A-1, addenda, 2nA; Song, 27 Feb. 1833, in Revelation Book 2, pp. 48–49; Mysteries of God, [no date], copy at CHL; “Songs of Zion,” The Evening and the Morning Star, May 1833, [8]; see also Acts 2:4; 1 Corinthians 12:8–10; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 586 [Moroni 10:15–17]; Revelation, ca. 8 Mar. 1831–A [D&C 46:24–25]; Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Drafts, 4; and Esplin, “Emergence of Brigham Young,” 92–94; for more information on the gift of tongues among church members, see Vogel and Dunn, “Tongue of Angels,” 1–34.)
Staker, Mark L. Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2009.
JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.
Murray, Joyce Martin, and Martin Richard Murray. Greene County, Tennessee, Deed Abstracts, 1810–1822. 2 vols. Dallas, TX: J. M. Murphy, 1996.Mysteries of God, As Revealed to Enoch, on the Mount Mehujah, and Sung in Tongues by Elder D. W. Patton, of the “Church of Latter Day Saints,” (Who Fell a Martyr to the Cause of Christ, in the Missouri Persecution,) and Interpreted by Elder S. Rigdon. Broadside, [After 1838]. Copy at CHL.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Esplin, Ronald K. “The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830–1841.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1981. Also available as The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830–1841, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2006).
Vogel, Dan, and Scott C. Dunn. “‘ The Tongue of Angels’: Glossolalia among Mormonism’s Founders.” Journal of Mormon History 19, no. 2 (Fall 1993): 1–34.