Minutes, circa 3–4 June 1831
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Source Note
Minutes, , OH, ca. 3–[4] June 1831. Featured version, titled “Minutes of a general Conference held in Geauga County Ohio June 3. 1831,” copied [between ca. 6 Apr. and 19 June 1838] in Minute Book 2, pp. 3–4; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 2.
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Historical Introduction
In early June 1831, JS presided over a “general ” of the in , Ohio. During one of the conference meetings, the first recorded to the occurred, several of them performed by JS himself. ’s history describes this conference as a fulfillment of a February 1831 revelation in which the voice of the Lord declared that “the of my Church should be called to gether from the East & from the West & from the North & from the South” and promised, “I will pour out my Spirit upon them in the day that they assemble themselves together.” JS had also dictated an earlier revelation on 2 January 1831 that commanded church members to move to and promised that there they would “be endowed with power from on high.”Although these minutes bear the date 3 June, multiple sources indicate that the conference occurred over the course of several days. The sources differ, however, on the exact date or dates of the conference. There was likely an initial meeting on 3 June, but the ordinations to the high priesthood probably did not occur until the next day. Another meeting was reportedly held on 5 June, and the final meeting, during which JS dictated a revelation, occurred on 6 June. It is possible that the 3 June date may simply represent the first day of the conference and that the clerk, , either did not modify the date as the conference continued or simply wrote the minutes at the end of the conference without clarifying the individual dates. In any case, the minutes focus primarily on attendance and ordinations to offices in the church, and no attempt was made to record the content of the discourses or the events of the individual meetings as they unfolded.The arrival of most of the church members during May 1831 meant that by the time of the June conference, nearly all members of the church were living in various settlements in . ’s later account captures the setting for the conference: “Previous to this there was a revelation received, requiring the prophet to call the together, that they might receive an . This was done, and the meeting took place some time in June. About fifty elders met, which was about all the elders that then belonged to the church.” The conference minutes identify sixty-two participants—forty-three elders, nine priests, and ten teachers—who assembled, according to ’s account, in a schoolhouse near the home of . A larger gathering apparently convened Sunday, 5 June, and that meeting included the preaching of sermons.As noted, this conference marked the first time elders in the church were “ordained to the High Priesthood,” but what this ordination meant to conference participants at the time is unclear. Although those ordained to the high priesthood at this conference were still listed as elders in the minutes of conferences that followed over the next four months, the minutes of the 25 October 1831 conference recorded the “names of those ordained to the High priesthood” separately from the elders, , , and , suggesting that the high priesthood was by then recognized as a distinct office in the church. Accounts suggest that the participants at the time of the June conference believed the ordination carried with it additional power. , for instance, associated the ability to perform miraculous healings with those ordained to the high priesthood. By October 1831, JS taught that “the order of the High priesthood is that they have power given them to seal up the Saints unto eternal life.”The phraseology used in the ordinations to the high priesthood likely included a reference to “the order of Milchesidec.” explained, in one of his denunciatory letters to the Ohio Star after he left the church, that many Mormons had been “ordained to the High Priesthood, or the order of Milchesidec; and profess to be endowed with the same power as the ancient were.” Booth was one of the elders thus ordained at the June conference, and his October 1831 account is the earliest to indicate that early Mormon believers linked the reception of the high priesthood to an “order of Melchizedek.” Although the term Melchizedek is absent from other records referencing the high priesthood in 1831, later accounts of the reception of the high priesthood also linked it to the term. In ’s 1839 history, he used the term Melchizedek priesthood instead of high priesthood as though the two were synonymous. He explained that “the Malchisedec priesthood was then for the first time introduced, and conferred on several of the elders. In this chiefly consisted the endowment—it being a new order—and bestowed authority.” JS’s history uses very similar language, further suggesting that Melchizedek was first publicly used in ordinations at the June 1831 conference: “The authority of the Melechisedec priesthood was manifested and conferred, for the first time, upon several of the elders.” While Melchizedek later became more commonly used in explanations of authority, it appears likely that the conference participants understood there to be a connection between the terms Melchizedek and high priesthood.Neither Melchizedek nor high priesthood would have been foreign terms to those familiar with the Bible or the Book of Mormon. In both, “high priesthood” is always connected to an office held by a high priest and usually associated with “Melchizedek.” A contemporary biblical commentary explained that “the high priesthood” among the ancient Israelites was originally limited to one person at a time and that this high priest was invested with special powers for life and passed the office generally in lineal succession, but that by the time of Christ “the high priesthood” through the means of Roman intervention had become more of a political appointment. The New Testament book of Hebrews states that Jesus Christ was “made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” and that Christ was “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession.” The term high priesthood was also in public use because it referred to an office in Freemasonry. In fact, the anti-Masonic movement attacked the order for its use of this office in its organization.Among JS’s revelatory texts, the Book of Mormon first introduced the term high priesthood and explained that some were “called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the High Priesthood of the holy order of God . . . this High Priesthood being after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the world; or in other words, being without beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from eternity to all eternity, according to his foreknowledge of all things. Now they were ordained after this manner: Being called with a holy calling, and ordained with a holy ordinance, and taking upon them the High Priesthood of the holy order, which calling, and ordinance, and High Priesthood, is without beginning or end.” The Book of Mormon further affirmed that “concerning the holy order of this High Priesthood: There were many which were ordained and became High Priests of God,” and it also referenced Melchizedek in relation to the high priesthood. In June 1830, about three months after publication of the Book of Mormon, JS dictated a revelatory text related to the Old Testament book of Genesis that also referenced Melchizedeck, saying that “he was ordained a high Preist after the order of the covenent which God made with Enock.” This account also linked high priesthood to the reception of power, declaring that “every one being ordained after this order and calling should have power by faith to break Mountains to divide the seas to dry up watters to turn them out of their course to put at defience the armies of nations to divide the earth to break every band to stand in the preasence of God to do all things according to his will.”Prior to the June 1831 conference, according to , several church members expected spiritual manifestations and declared themselves “perfectly assured, that the work of miracles would commence at the ensuing conference.” Several later accounts by those in attendance attest to supernatural occurrences that accompanied the ordinations to the high priesthood. recounted that he had witnessed “the visible manifestations of the power of God as plain as could have been on the day of pentecost,” including “the heeling of the sick, casting out devils, speaking in unknown tongues, discerning of spirits, and prophesying with mighty power.” related that following ’s ordination to the high priesthood, Whitlock was seized by a power that contorted his body and struck him dumb. Hancock added that JS eventually “commanded satan to leave Harvey.” Immediately after this episode, “turned a complete summerset in the house and came his back across a bench and lay helpless Joseph told Lyman to cast satan out he did.” Both ’s history and JS’s history describe these events as occasions in which the “man of Sin,” the devil, was “revealed.” In Whitmer’s words, “the Devil took occation, to make known his power,” though some thought God allowed it “for the express purpose that the Elders should become acquainted with the devices of Satan; and after that they would possess knowledge sufficient to manage him.” The absence of accounts of these manifestations in the featured text illustrates the narrow focus of many written minutes in the early church, which omitted most details of sermons and other events associated with the meetings.Another aspect of the conference not detailed in the minutes is the content and nature of JS’s instructions. Although the minutes report only the fact that JS spoke, several participants later recorded lengthy accounts of his teachings during the meetings. was impressed enough to write in his journal that “not with standing he is not naturaly talanted for a speaker yet he was filled with the power of the holy ghost so that he s[p]oke as I never heard man speak for god by the power of the holy Ghost spoke in him.” recalled that JS “spake in great power, as he was moved by the Holy Ghost; and the spirit of power and of testimony rested down upon the Elders in a marvellous manner.” remembered JS teaching that “the kingdom that Christ spoke of that was like a grain of musterd seed was now before him and some should see it put forth its branches And the of heaven would some day come like Birds to its branches just as the saviour said and some of you shall live to see it come with great glory some of you must die for the testemony of this work.” Hancock added that JS then addressed and said, “You shall see the Lord and me[e]t him nere the corner of the house.” Following a blessing from JS, Wight reportedly “stepted out on the floor and said I now see God and Jesus Christ at his right hand let them kill me I should not feel death as I am now.” wrote that “the Spirit of the Lord fell upon Joseph in an unusual manner” and that JS prophesied “that John the Revelator was then among the ten tribes of Israel . . . to prepare them for their return” and “many more things that I have not written.”Minute Book 2, the source for this document, was not inscribed until 1838 and contains parenthetical insertions that were not original to the minutes. They were likely added by sometime after the creation of the original minutes, probably as he copied the loose minutes into a single book. When copied Whitmer’s minutes (no longer extant) into Minute Book 2, he apparently copied these parenthetical redactions faithfully. The content of these insertions suggests that they were made between 26 February and 25 June 1833.
Footnotes
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1
JS History, vol. A-1, 118; Whitmer, History, 27; Revelation, Feb. 1831–B [D&C 44:1–2].
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2
Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831 [D&C 38:32].
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3
For evidence of ordinations on 4 June, see Hancock, Autobiography, 90; Wight, Journal, in History of the Reorganized Church, 1:193; and Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. IV,” Ohio Star (Ravenna), 3 Nov. 1831, [3]. The minutes for the conference held 9 April explain that it adjourned “until the first Saturday in June next,” or 4 June. By contrast, John Whitmer’s history, which probably benefited from the use of the minutes later compiled in Minute Book 2, lists 3 June as the day of the conference. Jared Carter’s journal also lists “friday” (3 June) as the “memorable day when God first gave the fullness of the high priesthood to the Elders of the Church of Christ.” The accounts of both men are supported by John Smith, a recently baptized elder residing in North Hampton, Ohio, who recorded in his journal: “Friday June th[e] 3 went to Kirtland to attend Conference but did not reatch there till sat th[e] 4 & Conference was over & I Continued their untill th[e] 6 & after the Commadments had Come Forth for the Elders to go to the Mazura [Missouri].” Smith’s account may be indicating he missed meetings on both 3 and 4 June. Still other sources, likely associating the conference with the revelation dictated at the end of the several days of meetings, indicate that the conference was held 6 June. JS’s history adds to the confusion by stating that the elders met in conference “on the 6th of June” when ordinations to the high priesthood took place, but then indicates it was on the following day that the revelation was received that commanded dozens of men to go on missions. That revelation was dated 6 June 1831 in Revelation Book 1, meaning the conference would have convened on the fifth rather than the sixth. The local newspaper, the Painesville Telegraph, confused the dates of the conference and the 6 June revelation when it reported the meeting in a derogatory article published 14 June 1831: “After all the good followers of Jo. Smith from York state had got fairly settled down in this vicinity, which Sidney Rigdon had declared to be their ‘eternal inheritance,’ Jo must needs invent another ‘command from God.’ At a meeting of the tribe on 3d. inst. the fact was made known to them that 28 elders must be selected and ordained, to start immediately, for Missouri.” (Minute Book 2, 9 Apr. 1831; Whitmer, History, 27; Carter, Journal, 17; John Smith, Journal, 3–4; JS History, vol. A-1, 118; Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52]; “Mormonism on the Wing,” Painesville (OH) Telegraph, 14 June 1831, [3]; see also Murdock, Journal, 6 June 1831; and Pratt, Autobiography, 72.
Hancock, Levi. Autobiography, ca. 1854. Photocopy. CHL. MS 8174.
The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 8 vols. Independence, MO: Herald Publishing House, 1896–1976.
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
Carter, Jared. Journal, 1831–1833. CHL. MS 1441.
Smith, John (1781-1854). Journal, 1833–1841. John Smith, Papers, 1833-1854. CHL. MS 1326, box 1, fd. 1.
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.
Murdock, John. Journal, ca. 1830–1859. John Murdock, Journal and Autobiography, ca. 1830–1867. CHL. MS 1194, fd. 2.
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.
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4
Some evidence indicates JS met preliminarily with some elders on the first day of the conference and then conducted most of the conference business on the second day. (Whitmer, History, 28.)
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5
Corrill, Brief History, 18.
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6
Hancock, Autobiography, 89, 92.
Hancock, Levi. Autobiography, ca. 1854. Photocopy. CHL. MS 8174.
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7
Minute Book 2, 25–26 Oct. 1831.
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8
Carter, Journal, 16–17. Ezra Booth’s antagonistic account of the conference also indicates that attendees expected to be able to perform acts of healing as a result of the ordinations. (Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. II,” Ohio Star (Ravenna), 20 Oct. 1831, [3].)
Carter, Jared. Journal, 1831–1833. CHL. MS 1441.
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
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9
Minute Book 2, 25–26 Oct. 1831.
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10
Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. II,” Ohio Star (Ravenna), 20 Oct. 1831, [3].
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
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11
Corrill, Brief History, 18.
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12
JS History, vol. A-1, 118.
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13
Parley P. Pratt later explained the ordination to the high priesthood in this way: “Several were then selected by revelation, through Presdent Smith, and ordained to the High Priesthood after the order of the Son of God; which is after the order of Melchisedec. This was the first occasion in which this priesthood had been revealed and conferred upon the Elders in this dispensation, although the office of an Elder is the same in a certain degree, but not in the fulness. On this occasion I was ordained to this holy ordinance and calling by President Smith.” (Pratt, Autobiography, 72.)
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.
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14
Clarke, New Testament, 573–574.
Clarke, Adam. The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Text Carefully Printed from the Most Correct Copies of the Present Authorised Version, Including the Marginal Readings and Parallel Texts, with a Commentary and Critical Notes. . . . Vol. 1. New York: B. Waugh and T. Mason, for the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1833.
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15
Hebrews 6:20; 3:1.
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16
For example, an Ohio newspaper reporting on Masonic activities in 1828 stated that a number of men had “duly received the order of High Priesthood.” The article further stated that a forthcoming meeting would be “for the purpose of conferring the order of High Priesthood upon all who are legally entitled thereto.” (“Masonic,” Norwalk [OH] Reporter and Huron Advertiser, 9 Feb. 1828, [2].)
Norwalk Reporter and Huron Advertiser. Norwalk, OH. 1827–1830.
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17
In 1828, for instance, a convention held in New York by a Baptist association adopted a resolution that it would “have no fellowship with or for the institutions of speculative Freemasonry . . . Because it confers the office of High Priest upon those who are not called of God as was Aaron, and because its high priesthood is said to be after the order of Melchizedeck, when Christ is the only priest after that order.” Samuel Findley’s Ohio-based Religious Examiner reported in 1831 that the New York Synod of the Associate Reformed Church had also condemned Masonic rituals as “a sinful trifling with the word of God” for including in the ceremony of the “consecration of a masonic high priest” phraseology reserved for Christ in the Bible: “Thou art a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedeck.” (“Moral & Religious,” Western Intelligencer, 1 Nov. 1828, 57; “Freemasonry,” Religious Examiner, Feb. 1831, 48.)
Western Intelligencer. Cleveland, OH, 1827; Hudson, OH, 1828–1830.
Religious Examiner. Washington, OH. 1827–1834.
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18
Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 259 [Alma 13:6–10].
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19
Old Testament Revision 1, pp. 33–34 [Joseph Smith Translation, Genesis 14:27, 30–31].
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20
Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. IV,” Ohio Star (Ravenna), 3 Nov. 1831, [3]. Booth’s complete statement is as follows: “As the 4th of June last, was appointed for the sessions of the conference, it was ascertained, that that was the time specified, when the great and mighty work was to commence, and such was the confidence of some, that knowledge superseded their faith, and they did not hesitate to declare themselves perfectly assured, that the work of miracles would commence at the ensuing conference. With such strong assurances, and with the most elevated expectations, the conference assembled at the time appointed. To give, if possible, additional energy to expectation, Smith, the day previous to the conference, professing to be filled with the spirit of Prophecy, declared, that ‘not three days should pass away, before some should see their Savior face to face.’”
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
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21
Lyman Wight, Mountain Valley, TX, to Wilford Woodruff, [Salt Lake City, Utah Territory], 24 Aug. 1857, pp. 5–6, Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, ca. 1858–1880, CHL; see also History of the Reorganized Church, 1:193.
Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.
The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 8 vols. Independence, MO: Herald Publishing House, 1896–1976.
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22
Hancock, Autobiography, 90; see also Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. IV,” Ohio Star (Ravenna), 3 Nov. 1831, [3].
Hancock, Levi. Autobiography, ca. 1854. Photocopy. CHL. MS 8174.
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
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23
Hancock, Autobiography, 90–91. John Corrill also summarized some of these events in his later history: “Some curious things took place. The same visionary and marvellous spirits, spoken of before, got hold of some of the elders; it threw one from his seat to the floor; it bound another, so that for some time he could not use his limbs nor speak; and some other curious effects were experienced, but, by a mighty exertion, in the name of the Lord, it was exposed and shown to be from an evil source.” (Corrill, Brief History, 18.)
Hancock, Levi. Autobiography, ca. 1854. Photocopy. CHL. MS 8174.
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24
Whitmer, History, 28–29; JS History, vol. A-1, 118; see also 2 Thessalonians 2:3.
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25
Whitmer, History, 29; Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. IV,” Ohio Star (Ravenna), 3 Nov. 1831, [3].
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
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26
Carter, Journal, 17.
Carter, Jared. Journal, 1831–1833. CHL. MS 1441.
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27
Pratt, Autobiography, 72.
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.
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28
Hancock, Autobiography, 89–90.
Hancock, Levi. Autobiography, ca. 1854. Photocopy. CHL. MS 8174.
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29
Whitmer, History, 27–28.
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30
For instance, a parenthetical notation states that Joseph Brackenbury “died on a mission to preach,” a redaction that necessarily occurred after 7 January 1832, the date Brackenbury reportedly passed away in Pomfret, New York. Similarly, Burr Riggs’s name also carries with it a parenthetical notation explaining that he “was cast out.” Burr Riggs was excommunicated on 26 February 1833. He was out of the church only a short time, however, and accompanied the Camp of Israel expedition to Missouri in 1834. This redaction to the featured text, therefore, appears to have occurred following Riggs’s excommunication but before his 1834 return to the church. The absence of notations next to certain names elsewhere in Minute Book 2 is also helpful in narrowing the time frame in which such redactions likely occurred. For example, in the minutes dated 4 August 1831, though Ezra Booth is again noted parenthetically as having “denied the faith,” there is no similar notation accompanying the name of Ziba Peterson, who was turned “over to the buffetings of Satan,” according to a letter written by Joseph Smith on 25 June 1833. This means that Whitmer’s parenthetical redactions were most likely made between 26 February and 25 June 1833, after Riggs was excommunicated but before Peterson was cut off. (“Death of a Mormon Preacher,” Vermont Gazette [Bennington], 6 Mar. 1832, [2]; Minute Book 2, 4 Aug. 1831; Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, Missouri, 25 June 1833.)
Vermont Gazette. Bennington, VT. 1832–1842.
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1
| Present. | Elders Present. |
| Joseph Smith jr. | William Carter (denied the faith) |
| (denied the faith) | |
| (was cast out) | |
| Ebenezer Abbott (denied the faith) | |
| John Woodard (Denied the faith) | |
| (Died on a mission to preach) | |
| (denied the faith) | William Mitchell |
| Ebenezer Page | |
| Alpheus Gifford | |
| (denied the faith) | |
| Solomon Chamberlain | |
| Lorin Page | |
| Jacob Sherman (cut off) | |
| Jacob Scott (denied the faith) | Benjamin Bragg (denied the faith) |
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