Footnotes
Backman, Heavens Resound, 354–355. The influx of Saints from Kirtland was at least in part the result of a 12 January 1838 revelation directing the First Presidency to move to Far West as soon as possible and for loyal Latter-day Saints to follow. (Revelation, 12 Jan. 1838–C.)
Backman, Milton V., Jr. The Heavens Resound: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830–1838. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983.
See Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:1–3].
“Revelations,” Ensign of Liberty, Aug. 1849, 98–99; see also William E. McLellin, Independence, MO, to Joseph Smith III, [Plano, IL], July 1872, typescript, Letters and Documents Copied from Originals in the Office of the Church Historian, Reorganized Church, CHL; and Pratt, Autobiography, 65.
Ensign of Liberty. Kirtland, OH. Mar. 1847–Aug. 1849.
McLellin, William E. Letter, Independence, MO, to Joseph Smith III, [Plano, IL], July 1872. Letters and Documents Copied from Originals in the Office of the Church Historian, Reorganized Church, no date. Typescript. CHL. MS 9090. Original at CCLA.
Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.
Beginning with this 26 April revelation, the Scriptory Book appears to have been kept regularly, suggesting that the revelation was inscribed sometime in late April or early May. The revelation was later published in the church’s newspaper at the time, the Elders’ Journal. (JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, pp. 32–38; “An Extract of Revelation,” Elders’ Journal, Aug. 1838, 52–53.)
See Nehemiah 1:8; Matthew 9:36; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 216, 464, 496 [Mosiah 28:17; 3 Nephi 5:24; 20:13].
The first name used to identify the church that JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ.”a In 1834 a conference of church leaders changed the name to “The Church of the Latter Day Saints,” perhaps to avoid confusion with other churches named Church of Christ.b On occasion, the two names of the church were combined as “the church of Christ of Latter Day Saints.”c The Kirtland dissenters seem to have criticized church leaders for removing Christ’s name from the formal name of the church. In a June 1838 letter, Thomas B. Marsh wrote that the dissenters “claimed, themselves to be the old standard, called themslves the Church of Christ, excluded that of saints, and set at naught Br. Joseph and the whole Church, denounceing them as Heriticks.” Restoring the name of Christ to the name of the church may have answered this criticism.d The name specified in the revelation, a combination of the two earlier names of the church, began to be used in the early months of 1838.e
(aRevelation, 6 Apr. 1830 [D&C 21:11]; Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20:1]. bMinutes, 3 May 1834. cDoctrine and Covenants 5, 1835 ed. [D&C 102]; Minutes, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Feb. 1836, 2:266. dLetter to Wilford Woodruff, ca. 18 June 1838. eLetter from Thomas B. Marsh, 15 Feb. 1838; see also Letter to the Presidency in Kirtland, 29 Mar. 1838; JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, p. 15; and Resolution, ca. 8 Apr. 1838.)Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
See Isaiah 60:1.
See Jeremiah 50:2; 51:27; and Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:9].
JS dictated a revelation in 1831 that designated “the land of Missorie” as “the Land which I, have appointed & consecrated for the gethering of the Saints” and as “the Land of Zion.” The term stake, used by Saints to describe an approved place for gathering outside of the principal Mormon community in Missouri, derived from the biblical metaphor of Zion as a tent whose “curtains” were stretched out, with cords fastened to the ground by stakes. (Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:1, 14]; Isaiah 54:2–3; Revelation, 26 Apr. 1832 [D&C 82:13–14].)
See Psalm 59:16; see also Psalm 94:22.
See Isaiah 25:4.
See Revelation 14:10.
See Exodus 3:5; see also Acts 7:33. The Book of Mormon teaches that the Americas, like the land of Canaan in the Bible, are a “land of promise” and a “holy land.”a JS dictated a revelation in 1831 specifically designating Missouri as a “land of promise.”b In his 4 September 1837 letter to the Saints in Far West, JS began by blessing the name of the Lord, who “has delivered you many times from the hands of your enimies And planted you many times in an heavenly or holy place,” implying that Far West was a holy place.c On 23 July 1838, Reynolds Cahoon wrote a letter to Newel K. Whitney, reporting: “It is said by some that Jacson Co. is where the gardon of Edon was[.] Far west is where Adam dwelt after he was driven from the gardin[.] Adam on-di Ahman is where he built an alter & blest his sons this I have not heard from Br. Joseph but expect it is his teachings.”d
(aBook of Mormon, 1830 ed., 26, 143–144 [1 Nephi 12:1; Enos 1:10]. bRevelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:1–2]. cLetter to John Corrill and the Church in Missouri, 4 Sept. 1837. dReynolds Cahoon, Far West, MO, to Newel K. Whitney, Kirtland, OH, 23 July 1838, CHL; see also Reed Peck, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, pp. 19–20, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA; and Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, 219–220.)Cahoon, Reynolds, and Edward Partridge. Letter, Far West, MO, to Newel K. Whitney, Kirtland Mills, OH, 23 and 24 July 1838. CHL.
Peck, Reed. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Whitney, Orson F. Life of Heber C. Kimball, an Apostle; the Father and Founder of the British Mission. Salt Lake City: Kimball Family, 1888.
At the conclusion of the November 1837 reorganization conference in Far West, Rigdon “called upon the Lord” in prayer “to dedicate this land for the gathering of the Saints.” Previous JS revelations directed the Latter-day Saints to build temples at Independence and Kirtland. (Minutes, 7 Nov. 1837; Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:1–3]; Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:119]; Revelation, 1 June 1833 [D&C 95].)
The version of the revelation published in the August 1838 issue of the Elders’ Journal has “and let there be a beginning of this work, and a foundation, and a preparatory work for the foundation, in this following season, and let this beginning be made on the 4th day of July next.” An excavation for a cellar, measuring 110 by 80 feet, had been dug the previous summer. On 4 July 1838, church leaders laid the four cornerstones. (“An Extract of Revelation,” Elders’ Journal, Aug. 1838, 52; Letter from William W. Phelps, 7 July 1837; “Celebration of the 4th of July,” Elders’ Journal, Aug. 1838, 60.)
See 1 Kings 5:5; 8:19; Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–B [D&C 94:10]; and Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–A [D&C 97:15].
JS and other Latter-day Saints had gone into debt to finance the construction of the temple in Kirtland, and eventually the temple had to be mortgaged. In 1838 JS was deeper in debt than ever before. (Robison, First Mormon Temple, 99–101; Mortgage to Mead, Stafford & Co., 11 July 1837; Madsen, “Tabulating the Impact of Litigation,” 232–240.)
Robison, Elwin C. The First Mormon Temple: Design, Construction, and Historic Context of the Kirtland Temple. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1997.
Madsen, Gordon A. “Tabulating the Impact of Litigation on the Kirtland Economy.” In Sustaining the Law: Joseph Smith’s Legal Encounters, edited by Gordon A. Madsen, Jeffrey N. Walker, and John W. Welch, 227–246. Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2014.
See Exodus 25:9; 2 Kings 16:10; Hebrews 8:5; and Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–B [D&C 94:6, 12].