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IN SEARCH OF ZION.

The conference of The Church appointed for the 6th of June assembled on that date, in Kirtland. It was an occasion of great importance. In what way it was done is not recorded, but the Prophet in speaking of the matter says: "The Lord displayed his power in a manner that could not be mistaken." He further recounts that the Man of Sin was revealed, and the authority of the Melchisedek Priesthood was manifested and conferred for the first time upon several of the elders. "It is clearly evident," says the Prophet, "that the Lord gives us power in proportion to the work to be done, and strength according to the race set before us, and grace and help as our needs require."

The day following (June 7th), the Lord, in a revelation given through the Prophet, appointed the next conference to convene in Missouri, "upon the land which I will consecrate unto my people, which are a remnant of Jacob, and them who are heirs according to the covenant. Wherefore, 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 made known unto them what they shall do; and it shall also, inasmuch as they are faithful, be made known unto them the land of your inheritance."

This announcement caused great joy to the conference. The place for the Zion of God—the New Jerusalem—was to be made known! It was to be the land of their inheritance! The city which Enoch, the seventh from Adam, saw in its splendor—the city of refuge for the righteous in the last days; the city of peace; the joy of the godly; the terror of the wicked—this city was to be located, and they were to be instruments in the founding of it! Small wonder if the thought of it exalted them until even the weak felt strong, and the strong yet more powerful.

Twenty-eight elders in all were called by name to go in different directions through the western states, two by two—"preaching by the way in every congregation, baptizing by water and the laying on of hands by the water's side." They were to meet in western Missouri in a conference appointed at that place, and there learn the location of Zion.

Soon after the close of the conference the elders started upon this mission, some going on foot, others going part way by stage and steamboat. The Prophet, in company with Sidney Rigdon, Martin Harris, Edward Partridge, W. W. Phelps, Joseph Coe, A. S. Gilbert and wife, left Kirtland for Missouri via Cincinnati and St. Louis.

At Cincinnati the Prophet Joseph had an interview with Rev. Walter Scott, the associate of Alexander Campbell in founding the sect of "The Disciples," or "Campbellites." It was with these gentlemen that Sidney Rigdon was associated in a religious reform movement, to which reference has already been made. Their design was to re-establish primitive Christianity. This object they proposed to achieve by discarding all man-made creeds and accepting the Bible alone—and especially the New Testament—as the authority and groundwork of their faith. Their cardinal doctrines were, faith in God and in Jesus Christ, repentance of sin, and baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, followed by righteousness of life. This unquestionably was a good beginning in the way of restoring the primitive Christian faith. Most of the fundamentals of the Christian faith are here; and if Sidney Rigdon, as the Lord declared, was sent forth even as John the Baptist to prepare the way before the Lord Jesus and Elijah—though he knew it not—then undoubtedly Alexander Campbell and Walter Scott, who were engaged in the same work, were also sent forth to prepare the way before the Lord. Certain it is that Alexander Campbell did a great work among the Protestant sects of the United States in getting them to turn from the creeds of men to the scriptures; and the elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have found in the sect of "The Disciples" more who would listen to their teachings, and a greater proportion of them who would accept the fullness of the gospel, than among any other sect. And those among them who have rejected the fullness of the gospel when it was presented to them, have failed to understand aright the meaning of the Campbell-Scott-Rigdon reform movement—they have failed to recognize in that movement merely a preparation for the incoming of the fullness of the gospel.

That their teaching was not a complete return to the Christianity of the New Testament ought to have been clear to them, especially to the originators of the movement. They lacked divine authority—divine commission from God to administer the sacraments of the gospel. They baptized only with water for the remission of sins. The baptism of the Holy Ghost—apparently unknown to them—is equally a vital part of primitive Christianity, and is as plainly taught in the New Testament as an essential to salvation as water baptism. They lacked the organization of the primitive Church—apostles, prophets, bishops, elders, teachers, deacons, etc., etc.; and especially were they lacking in the enjoyment of those spiritual gifts of the gospel, so prominent a characteristic of the primitive Christian Church.

Unfortunately, and very unlike Sidney Rigdon, both Mr. Campbell and Mr. Scott violently opposed the work of God brought forth by Joseph Smith. Alexander Campbell, through his "Millennial Harbinger," bitterly assailed both the Book of Mormon and the character of Joseph Smith; and Mr. Scott in this Cincinnati interview with the Prophet, opposed the work strenuously for that it set forth that men accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ were now entitled to the same spiritual powers and gifts as were enjoyed in the primitive Church. "Before the close of our interview," says the Prophet, "he manifested one of the bitterest spirits against the doctrine of the New Testament, (that these signs shall follow them that believe, as recorded in the 16th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Mark), that I ever witnessed among men."

From St. Louis, those who continued in the company of the Prophet made the journey on foot to Independence, where they arrived about the middle of July.

In a few days the other elders of this mission through the western states began to arrive. These men had suffered all the hardships incident to a long journey performed for the most part on foot through a sparsely settled country and in the hot summer months; but the consciousness that they were seeking the place of the city of Zion; that they had been promised, on condition of their faithfulness, that its location would be revealed to them; that it should be the land of their inheritance—sustained them in every trial and made the journey pleasant to them.

The meeting between these brethren from the eastern states and the elders of the Indian mission who had remained at Independence since the departure of Elder Pratt to report their operations to the Prophet at Kirtland, was a memorable one. Those from the east could tell their brethren of the west of the expansion of The Church both in numbers and in doctrine; of the commandment of The Church to gather from New York to Ohio; of the appointment of a Bishop in The Church; of the revelation of the prophecy of Enoch, in which they had learned more about the city of Zion; of the other revelations that had been given upon that same subject—the city of Zion—the promise of God to reveal the place where eventually it is to be founded; the laws that must govern its inhabitants; of the glory which at last it shall possess; and finally of their God-commanded journey toward the place where it had been indicated its location was, and all the incidents that had happened on the way westward. All these and a thousand other things—their hopes for the advancement of the Kingdom; the peace of Zion that shall be; the safety, the glory;—all these were interesting themes for conversation.

Of their meeting the Prophet himself said:

The meeting with our brethren who had long waited our arrival, was a glorious one, and moistened with many tears. It seemed good and pleasant for brethren to meet together in unity. But our reflections were great, coming as we had from a highly cultivated state of society in the east, and standing now upon the confines or western limits of the United States, and looking into the vast wilderness of those that sat in darkness; how natural it was to observe the degradation, leanness of intellect, ferocity and jealousy of a people that were nearly a century behind the times, and to feel for those who roamed about without the benefit of civilization, refinement or religion; yea, and to exclaim in the language of the prophets: When will the wilderness blossom as the rose? When will Zion be built up in her glory, and where will Thy templestand, unto which all nations shall come in the last days?

The brethren were not long left in doubt upon this subject, for within a day or two—the date of the revelation is not definitely known further than the fact that it was given in July—a revelation was given in which the Lord made known that Missouri was the land which the Lord had appointed and consecrated for the gathering of his people: "Wherefore this is the land of promise," said the Lord, "and the place for the city of Zion," and "behold, the place which is now called Independence, is the center place, and a spot for the temple is lying westward, upon a lot which is not far from the court house." ^[A]

[Footnote A: Doc. & Cov. Sec. 57.]

The Saints were commanded to purchase this land, and that lying westward to the extent of their ability, that they might "obtain it as an everlasting inheritance."

Sidney Gilbert was appointed an agent to The Church to receive money and to purchase lands, and also to engage in the business of a general merchant, the proceeds of which business were to be used in the purchase of lands.

Edward Partridge, by virtue of his office as bishop, was to divide to the Saints their inheritance as the lands were purchased.

W. W. Phelps was to be established as a printer and publisher to The Church in Zion, assisted by Oliver Cowdery.

Immediate preparations were to be made by the bishop and his agents for settling the families then on their way from the east to settle in Zion.

The first Sunday after the arrival of the elders of this western mission, a public meeting was held over the western boundary of the United States. Such a congregation was present as was only possible in an American frontier district—Indians, Negroes (then slaves), and all classes and conditions of people from the surrounding counties—Universalists, Atheists, Deists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, both priests and people—a motly crowd, truly! At the conclusion of the services two were baptized, but they were not the fruits of this meeting as they previously believed the gospel.

During the week following, the Colesville branch of The Church, which had emigrated bodily from Colesville, Broome County, State of New York, arrived and settled in the edge of an extensive prairie about twelve miles west of Independence, and in what must now be the suburbs of Kansas City. It is worth while observing as we pass, that this branch of The Church was made up wholly of northern people, and therefore constituted a different class of settlers from the old inhabitants of Independence, who came chiefly from the south. They had been commanded to come to western Missouri in a body, with a view to permanently settling in the land of Zion, when that place should be designated; and in this their mission differed from that given to the twenty-eight elders who were commanded to travel two and two, preaching the gospel through the western states en route for Missouri.

These people were unquestionably plunged into new conditions. They had been reared in a district of New York where the land was heavily timbered, and where to clear a farm for cultivation took well-nigh the lifetime of one generation. But here they found alternate woodland and prairie, great stretches of open country which only needed to be fenced to be ready for plowing, and doubtless their hearts swelled with gratitude when they contemplated the possibilities and prosperity that could come to the industrious in such a goodly land.

They soon set about their work of founding Zion, for on the 2nd day of August they began the erection of a log house. The first log was carried and placed by twelve men—of whom the Prophet was one—in honor of the twelve tribes of Israel; and Sidney Rigdon who had arrived at Independence sometime after the Prophet, from whom he separated at St. Louis, dedicated the land of Zion for the gathering of God's people. "It was a season of joy to those present," writes the Prophet, "and afforded a glimpse of the future which time will yet unveil to the satisfaction of the faithful."

Sidney Rigdon was also commanded to write a description of the land of Zion, but of that more later.

It will be remembered that a site for the temple in Zion was also revealed at the time Independence was declared to be the center place thereof, and that it was described as lying a short distance west from the court house. A scant half mile from the latter place one comes to the summit of a hill—

A gentle hill of mild declivity

—the crown of which is about an acre and a half in area, perhaps more. On the 3rd day of August, 1831, upon this spot then covered with a rich growth of timber, the Prophet and a number of the brethren, among whom were Sidney Rigdon, Edward Partridge, W. W. Phelps, Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris and Joseph Coe—assembled to dedicate the place as the temple site in Zion. In the course of the impressive ceremonies then conducted, the 87th Psalm was read:

His foundation is the holy mountains.

The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.

I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me; behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia: this man was born there.

And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her; and the Highest himself shall establish her.

The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there.

As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs [i.e. hopes] are in thee.

The Prophet Joseph then dedicated the spot where the temple is to be built—a temple, by the way, on which the glory of God shall visibly rest; yea, the Great God hath so declared it, saying: "Verily this generation shall not all pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house; * * * the sons of Moses and also the sons of Aaron shall offer an acceptable offering and sacrifice in the house of the Lord, which house shall be built unto the Lord in this generation, upon the consecrated spot as I have appointed." ^[B]

[Footnote B: Doc. & Cov. Sec. 84:4–6, 31.]

On the 4th of August a conference was held at the house of Joshua Lewis, in Kaw Township, Jackson County, among the Colesville saints. This was the conference that was appointed to convene by the revelation received on the 7th of June, directing the elders to go westward in search of Zion.

Thus the work of building up the center place of Zion was commenced, and although the commencement was humble in the extreme, the final result shall be the erection of a city that shall be the crowning glory of the western world—a city from which shall go forth the law of the Lord unto all nations, for it is written: "The law shall go forth from Zion." ^[C]

[Footnote C: Isaiah 2:3.]

It shall be a city of refuge, for the Lord has said that "every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor, must needs flee unto Zion for safety." ^[D]

[Footnote D: Doc. & Cov. Sec. 45:68.]

The wicked will consider her inhabitants terrible, while the righteous out of every nation will come unto her with songs of everlasting joy in their hearts.^[E]

[Footnote E: Doc. & Cov. Sec. 45:69–71.]