See Hebrews 4:16.

See Matthew 7:3–5; and Luke 6:41–42.

In 1839, Bishop, who had earlier been brought before the Kirtland, Ohio, high council for “advancing heretical doctrines which were derogatory to the character” of the church, was suspended by the Seventy from ecclesiastical duties for taking charge of a branch in North Carolina without authorization. Bishop appealed the suspension to the Nauvoo high council. On 2 February 1840, the high council ruled that the suspension was “null and void & considered illegal” because Bishop was a high priest and should be “placed immediately under the care of the High Priesthood.” There was no record, however, that Bishop was ordained a high priest, although Bishop claimed that an angel ordained him in 1832. (Minutes, 28–29 Sept. 1835; Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 2 Feb. 1840, 45; Saunders, “Francis Gladden Bishop,” 71–81.)

Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.

Saunders, Richard LaVell. “Francis Gladden Bishop and Gladdenism: A Study in the Culture of a Mormon Dissenter and His Movement.” Master’s thesis, Utah State University, 1989.

In 1837 JS made a similar statement during a dispute between some of the seventies and high priests as to who held a higher office. He explained that “the seventies are to be taken from the quorum of elders and are not to be high priests.” (Discourse, 6 Apr. 1837; see also “Diary of L. John Nuttall,” 31 May 1879.)

“Diary of L. John Nuttall, (1834–1905) Dec. 1876–Mar. 1884.” Typescript, 1948. CHL.

In the mid-1830s, Emma Smith compiled a hymnal that was published in Kirtland. Rogers’s publication, which appeared in New York in 1838, drew largely from this official church hymnal, although Rogers omitted over forty hymns and included approximately forty additional ones. (A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints [Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835]; A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints [New York: C. Vinten, 1838].)

At the 5–7 October 1839 general conference, unspecified charges were levied against Rogers, and his case was referred to the high council. The high council did not act on the case until its 8 March 1840 meeting, when JS charged Rogers with unchristian conduct. George W. Harris, David Dort, and Thomas Grover were assigned to work with Rogers and then report to the high council. On 15 March 1840, the high council again took up the charges and designated 29 March 1840 as the date of a hearing. None of Rogers’s accusers attended the 29 March meeting, however, so Rogers was acquitted. In August 1840, the Nauvoo high council and First Presidency considered a dispute between John Patten and Elijah Fordham, which involved Patten’s claims that Fordham had helped promote “pill nostrums” that Rogers was peddling. (Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 8, 15, and 29 Mar. 1840, 49, 50, 53; Minutes, 17 Aug. 1840.)

Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.

Lawson and Edwards were members of a branch in Pittsfield, Illinois. The two had both been disfellowshipped and had appealed their cases to the Nauvoo high council. The high council considered the cases on 1 March 1840, but because neither Lawson nor Edwards was present, the council did not conduct a hearing at that time. It is unknown exactly what issues the men had with the Word of Wisdom—an 1833 revelation that prescribed certain dietary restrictions on the Saints. In 1869 Lawson recalled that after reading the Word of Wisdom for the first time in about 1834, he “took hold of it as the word of God” and was “very strenuous to observe and teach it to this day.” (Journal of Jesse Nathaniel Smith, 6; Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1 Mar. 1840, 48; Revelation, 27 Feb. 1833 [D&C 89]; John Lawson, New Harmony, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 18 July 1869, George Albert Smith, Papers, CHL.)

Journal of Jesse Nathaniel Smith: The Life History of a Mormon Pioneer, 1834–1906. Salt Lake City: Jesse N. Smith Family Association, 1953.

Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.

Smith, George Albert. Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322.

According to Hyde, around 1832 or 1833, JS had given him a blessing, saying to him, “In due time, thou shalt go to Jerusalem, the land of thy fathers, and be a watchman unto the house of Israel; and by thy hands, shall the Most High do a good work, which shall prepare the way, and greatly facilitate the gathering together of that people.” (Orson Hyde, London, England, to Solomon Hirschell, in Times and Seasons, 1 Oct. 1841, 2:552–553; Hyde, Voice from Jerusalem, iii.)

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Hyde, Orson. A Voice from Jerusalem, or a Sketch of the Travels and Ministry of Elder Orson Hyde, Missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to Germany, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. Liverpool: P. P. Pratt, 1842.

Recommendation for Orson Hyde, 6 Apr. 1840.