Far West Revelations
Doctrine & Covenants Sections 114-118
Section 114 Origin
• Elder David W. Patten was second in
seniority in the quorum of twelve
apostles when he and his wife Ann
moved from Kirtland, Ohio to Far
West, Missouri, in late 1836 or early
1837. With his quorum president
Thomas Marsh, David led the Saints
in Missouri as several church leaders
apostatized in the early months of
1838. On 17 April 1838, a month
after Joseph Smith’s arrival at Far
West, Patten sought out the Prophet,
requesting a revelation. Section 114
was recorded in Joseph’s Scriptory
Book, his journal for 1838.
–
Dean C. Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith 2:212-31.
Section 114 Outcomes
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•
David Patten did not live to fulfill the
revelation. He was killed on 25 October
1838 after being wounded in a conflict
between Saints and Missouri militiamen.
But the apostles did go to Britain. On 8 July,
just over two months following the receipt
of this revelation, Joseph received another
with more details of their call (See Section
118).
The vacancies left by David Patten’s death
and the apostasy of Oliver Cowdery, the
entire presidency of the Church in Missouri,
and a third of the apostles, did not remain.
They were quickly, quietly, and efficiently
filled. Section 114 shows how the Lord
grants individual agency, including the
potential for apostasy, without
compromising the Kingdom. Sad as the
casualties are, the work rolls forward when
they opt out. Replacements are ready. In
this case men named John Taylor and
Wilford Woodruff, among others, were
called and filled in nicely. (See Section 118).
Section 115 Origin
• In December 1836, the Missouri state legislature created
Caldwell County for Mormon settlement and named Far
West its seat. As many as 2000 Saints gathered to Far West
with a few thousand more in the surrounding area. On
April 6, 1837, the Church’s seventh anniversary, they made
plans to build a temple like the one in Kirtland, Ohio. They
chose a site in the center of town and came together to
break ground. Then the work stopped. When Joseph
visited Far West in November a council decided that “the
building of the House of the Lord be postponed until the
Lord shall reveal it to be His will to have it commenced.” A
few weeks after Joseph moved to Far West for good in
March 1838, the Lord revealed his will concerning the
temple.
–
Far West Record, April 7, 1837, November 6, 1837, Church History Library, Salt Lake City; W. W. Phelps, 7 July
1837 letter in Latter Day Saints ‘ Messenger and Advocate 3, no. 10 [July 1837]: 529
Section 115 Outcomes
• The Saints gathered on July 4, 1838 to obey
Section 115’s command to begin work on the
temple. George Robinson, Joseph’s secretary,
reported, “We therefore met on this day in Far
West Mo. To make our decleration of
independence, and to Lay the cornerstones of
the house of the Lord agreeably to the
commandment of the Lord unto us given April
26th 1838.” The Saints then gathered building
materials so that construction could proceed
“in one year from this day,” namely 26 April
1839. Meanwhile, according to one Missouri
historian, the walls inched upwards to nearly
three feet before the Saints were driven from
the state by the governor’s executive order in
October.
–
Dean C. Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 2:243-48; William A. Wood, “An Old
Mormon City in Missouri,” American Magazine of History 16 (1886): 98-99; as
cited in Gentry, “A History of the Latter-day Saints in Northern Missouri,” 64,
note 77; See “Conference Minutes,” Elders’ Journal 1, no. 4 (August 1838): 6061
Section 115 Outcomes
• In obedience to verse 18, Joseph led
three expeditions in the spring of 1838,
primarily in Daviess County, to search
out locations for “stakes in the regions
round about.” Additional explorations
were conducted throughout the
summer and land surveys conducted in
anticipation of more Saints arriving in
the fall. On June 28, 1838, at a small
grove near the home of Lyman Wight
near Spring Hill in Daviess County,
Joseph Smith organized the Adam-ondiAhman stake, the third stake organized
in the Church.
–
Dean C. Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 2:243-48; William A. Wood, “An
Old Mormon City in Missouri,” American Magazine of History 16 (1886):
98-99; as cited in Gentry, “A History of the Latter-day Saints in Northern
Missouri,” 64, note 77; See “Conference Minutes,” Elders’ Journal 1, no. 4
(August 1838): 60-61
Section 116 Origin
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In late 1836 the Missouri legislature created two new counties to affect a peaceful solution to what
was commonly called the “Mormon problem,” the anti-Mormon feelings among many settlers. The
smaller county, created especially for Mormons, was named Caldwell. The northern county, called
Daviess, had a few scattered occupants and was open for settlement. Many Missourians
anticipated that the Saints would confine themselves to Caldwell County, but less than a year later
Church leaders were looking, as commanded, for more land on which to settle the gathering Saints
(See D&C 105:29-31; 115:18).
Daviess County appealed to the Latter-day Saints because of the pre-emption laws that applied. In
other words, as newly opened federal land, northern Missouri could be settled by pioneers
claiming up to 160 acres while postponing actual purchase of the land until the government had
surveyed it and advertised it for sale. Church leaders took advantage of these laws to obey the
command to acquire land, including land in Daviess County. Lyman Wight purchased a pre-emption
claim for land near the Grand River and Spring Hill in Daviess County.
Shortly after Joseph moved to Missouri in March 1838, the Lord commanded him that “other places
should be appointed for stakes in the regions round about” (D&C 115:18). Anticipating that large
numbers of Saints would gather to the area from Ohio, Canada, and elsewhere, Joseph and other
leaders set off to explore Daviess County “for the purpose of . . . making Locations & laying claims
for the gathering of the Saints for the benefit of the poor.” Near Lyman Wight’s home, Joseph
revealed Section 116.
–
History of Caldwell and Livingston Counties, 103-10; Elders’ Journal 1, no. 2 (November 1837): 28; Dean C. Jessee,
editor, Papers of Joseph Smith, 2:244-45
•
•
Section116 links the past with the future, sacred
history with prophesy. Adam-Ondi-Ahman is the
place Adam and Eve went after being expelled
from Eden’s Garden. They offered sacrifices and
blessed their posterity. Joseph learned by
revelation in 1831 that Adam, prior to his death,
gathered his posterity in a valley called AdamOndi-Ahman and blessed them and they blessed
him. The Lord appeared to them and promised
Adam that he would preside over a multitude of
nations. Adam rose and, though aged, prophesied
what would happen to his posterity (D&C 78:1516 and 107:53-56). Section 116 identifies the
specific site of that impressive occasion and says
that it has a future role as Adam or the Ancient of
Days, as Daniel called him, will again gather his
righteous posterity there, presumably for the
sacrament and stewardship meeting prophesied
in Section 27.
Approximately 1500 Latter-day Saints settled at
Adam-Ondi-Ahman in 1838. They planned a
temple. They laid out a stake in obedience to
Section115. They obeyed the law of consecration
in obedience to Section 119. But the Saints were
driven from the land in October when Missouri
governor Lilburn Boggs issued an executive
“extermination” order that effectively enabled
Missourians to steal the land by preventing the
Saints from asserting their preemption rights.
Even so, because of Section 116, the Church has
quietly regained its land and preserves the sacred
site.
–
Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of
the Son of Man (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982), 578-79; Robert
J. Matthews, Adam-ondi-Ahman,” BYU Studies 13, no. 1 (1972): 2735; Leland H. Gentry, “Adam-ondi-Ahman: A Brief Historical
Survey,” BYU Studies 13, no. 4 (1973): 553-76.
Problems Arise
• Sidney Rigdon’s June 17th “Salt Sermon”
• Dissenters are forced out of the city
• July 4th Celebrations
– “We take God and all the holy angels to witness this day, that we warn all men in the
name of Jesus Christ, to come on us no more forever. For from this hour, we will bear it
no more, our rights shall no more be trampled on with impunity. The man or the set of
men, who attempts it, does it at the expense of their lives. And that mob that comes on
us to disturb us; it shall be between us and them a war of extermination; for we will
follow them till the last drop of their blood is spilled, or else they will have to
exterminate us: for we will carry the seat of war to their own houses, and their own
families, and one party or the other shall be utterly destroyed.—Remember it then all
MEN.” –Sidney Rigdon
• Start of the “Mormon War”
Section 117 Origin
•
•
The year 1838 began grimly as dissent from within and opposition from outside the Church pressured
Joseph Smith. The Church’s bank had failed, Joseph was mired in debt because of his efforts to turn
Kirtland, Ohio into a stake of Zion, including crowning it with a priceless but nevertheless expensive
temple. Creditors, some of whom were Joseph’s avowed enemies, hounded him. Some filed suits
against him. Some of his associates and friends rejected him as a prophet. Apostates started their own
Church.
Joseph sought counsel from the Lord and received a revelation on January 12 that is not canonized in the
Doctrine and Covenants:
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Thus saith the Lord Let the presidency of my Church take their families as soon as it is praticable . . . . let all
your faithfull friends arise with their families also and get out of this place and gather themselves together
unto Zion . . .
Joseph left Kirtland immediately following this revelation. His family and remaining members of the First
Presidency followed him. The question remained whether his “faithful friends” would also. Would they
“arise with their families also and get out of this place and gather themselves together unto Zion”?
Joseph moved to Far West, Missouri and began receiving a series of revelations that relocated,
reorganized, and reoriented the Church, whose headquarters had been in Kirtland, Ohio since 1831. One
of the new revelations, Section 115, declared Far West to be the new center of gathering for the Saints.
The First Presidency expected that William Marks, a bookseller who remained in Kirtland to preside over
the saints there, and Newel Whitney, the bishop in Kirtland, would obey the revelations to leave Kirtland
and come to Far West. These men dragged their feet. Whitney was Kirtland’s most prosperous
merchant. He owned a store and a profitable ashery situated ideally near the main intersection through
town. He was torn between his material prosperity and the revelations.
Almost all the faithful Kirtland saints left for Missouri in May, 1838. When neither Whitney nor Marks
had arrived in Missouri by July, Joseph received a revelation about their situations and about what to do
regarding his indebtedness and the bankruptcy of the First Presidency.
–
Revelation, Kirtland, Ohio, 12 Jan 1838, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, copied in to Joseph Smith, Journal, 8 July 1838, See Dean C. Jessee, editor, Papers of
Joseph Smith, 2:255.
Bishop Newel K. Whitney
Stake President William Marks
Section 117 Outcomes
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Oliver Granger returned from Missouri to Kirtland to obey his part of Section 117 by representing the
First Presidency in selling some property and settling some debts. One Saint on the scene noted
Oliver’s “strict integrity” and testified that his “management in the arrangement of the unfinished
business of people that have moved to the Far West, in redeeming their pledges and thereby
sustaining their integrity, has been truly praiseworthy, and has entitled him to my highest esteem and
ever grateful recollection. Still, “there was not much chance that he could succeed,” Elder Boyd K.
Packer taught, “and really, he did not succeed.” Elder Packer emphasized that Section 117 does not
praise Oliver for his success, but rather for his efforts, for earnestly contending at personal sacrifice.
Thus, for efforts with which Oliver himself may not have been entirely satisfied, his name and example
have been remembered.
When Oliver returned from Ohio ready to fulfill the instructions in 117:14, the First Presidency wrote
him a letter of recommendation. “We have entrusted vast business concerns to him,” the letter said,
“which have been managed skillfully to the support of our characters and interest as well as that of
the Church; and he is now authorized by a general conference to go forth and engage in vast and
important concerns as an agent for the Church, that he may fill a station of usefulness in obedience to
the commandment of God” (D&C 117:13-14). The First Presidency’s letter includes a short revelation
in which the Lord promises to “lift up my servant Oliver . . . because of the integrity of his heart,” and
commands the saints to be generous when Oliver solicits donations from them.
Oliver Granger delivered Section 117 together with a letter from the First Presidency to Newel
Whitney and William Marks. The revelation and the related letter put Newel and William in the
position of the rich ruler of Luke 18 who kept all of the commandments except the full measure of
consecration required to enter the kingdom of God. As Jesus counseled the rich man, so He counsels
Newel and William in Section 117 to sell what they have; distribute unto the poor; come, in their case
literally to Missouri; and choose “treasure in heaven” instead of the comparatively tiny if highly
coveted “drop” (117:8, Luke 18:18-25).
Section 117 Outcomes
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The First Presidency’s letter explained to Newel and William that with Section 117
“you will understand the will of the Lord concerning you & will doubtless act
accordingly.” The revelation compelled the brethren to act—either in obedience or
disobedience. They could not remain indecisive about obeying Jesus Christ. The
First Presidency was confident that they would “doubtless act accordingly” and
they did. Newel Whitney and his family left Kirtland in the fall of 1838, too late to
join with the Saints in Missouri who were being driven from the state, but soon
enough to continue serving as a bishop in Nauvoo, Illinois. William Marks obeyed
also and became the Nauvoo stake president.
Section 117 powerfully motivated Newel Whitney, William Marks, and Oliver
Granger. Each of them believed it was indeed said by the Lord and acted at great
personal sacrifice to reject their selfish interests in order to obey it as best they
could.
– Horace Kingsbury to all persons that are or may be interested, Painesville, Ohio, October 26,
1838, Joseph Smith, Letterbook 2, p. 40, Church History Library, Salt Lake City; oyd K. Packer,
“The Least of These,” Ensign (November 2004), 86. Howard W. Hunter, “No Less Serviceable,”
Ensign (April 1992), 64; Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Hyrum Smith, Commerce, Illinois, May
13, 1839, to all the Saints scattered abroad, Joseph Smith, Letterbook 2, p. 45-46, Church
History Library, Salt Lake City; Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Hyrum Smith, Far West, Missouri,
8 Jul 1838, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.
Section 118 Origin
• Sections 117-120 and several uncannonized revelations
were given on July 8, 1838, a veritable flood. They
were needed. Church headquarters had moved with
Joseph to Missouri in March. One-third of the apostles
had been released or excommunicated for apostasy.
The Church needed to be reoriented and rearranged. A
council including Joseph, his counselors, secretary, the
bishopric in Missouri, and Thomas Marsh, president of
the quorum of twelve Apostles, met to seek revelation.
“Show unto us thy will O Lord concerning the Twelve,”
Joseph prayed, and Section 118 followed.
–
Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 2:256.
Section 118 Outcomes
• The day after the revelation the apostles who
were in Far West met with the First Presidency
and acted on Section 118’s command to officially
notify the new apostles. Sidney Ridgon wrote to
Willard Richards, who was already serving in
England. Willard was later ordained there by
Brigham Young in 1840. Wilford Woodruff was
serving in the Fox Islands off the coast of Maine
in August 1838 when, according to his journal, “I
received a letter from Thomas B. Marsh,
informing me of my appointment to fill the
place, in the Quorum of the Twelve, of one who
had fallen, and I was requested to come to Far
West as soon as possible, to prepare for a
mission to England in the spring.”
–
Wilford Woodruff, Journal, August 9, 1838; Thomas B. Marsh to Wilford Woodruff, July
14, 1838, Church History Library , Salt Lake City
Section 118 Outcomes
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Obeying the rest of the revelation proved to be more problematic. In
October 1838 the governor of Missouri issued an executive order to the
state militia to drive the Saints from the state. The Saints lost their
property and retreated east to the relative safety of Illinois. There, as April
1839 approached, the apostles and others counseled about Section 118’s
specific instructions to leave for England from the Far West, Missouri
temple site on April 26. Quorum president Thomas Marsh had been
excommunicated for apostasy and apostle David Patten had been killed in
the Missouri violence, leaving Brigham Young as the senior apostle.
Wilford Woodruff reported that “as the time drew nigh for the
accomplishment of this work, the question arose, ‘What is to be done?’
Here is a revelation commanding the Twelve to be in Far West on the 26th
day of April, to lay the cornerstone of the Temple there; it had to be
fulfilled. The Missourians had sworn by all the gods of eternity that if
every other revelation given through Joseph Smith should be fulfilled, that
should not be, for the day and date being given they declared it would fail.
The general feeling in the Church, so far as I know, was that, under the
circumstances, it was impossible to accomplish the work; and the Lord
would accept the will for the deed.” But Brigham Young was presiding
over the Apostles, and the Lord had commanded them to leave from the
Far West temple site on April 16, 1838. Those who wonder whether the
apostles would do so are not familiar with the iron resolve of Brigham
Young.
–
Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 13:159.
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Wilford Woodruff reported that on April 17 he got his family settled in Quincy, Illinois and
“prepared myself to accompany the twelve to fulfill a certain revelation & commandment of
the Lord which required us to take our leave of the Saints at far west on the 26th day of April
1839 for the nations of the earth.” He joined Brigham Young and others on a journey west over
the Mississippi and into hostile Missouri. He noted that the roads were full of Saints heading
east, “fleeing from Missouri to Illinois for they were driven from their houses & lands by the
State.” On April 25 Brigham, Wilford, and their party arrived at Far West at the abandoned
home of Brother Morris Phelps, who remained in prison with apostle Parley Pratt in Columbia,
Missouri.
“April 26th 1839 The events of this day are worthy of record for a Revelation of God &
commandment is this day fulfilled & that to under Circumstances which to all human
appearance could not have been done. The Lord had given a Commandment to the Twelve to
assemble upon the building spot of the house of the Lord in far west Caldwell Co Mo on the
26th day of April & there take the parting hand with the Saints to go to the nations of the earth.
But persecution had arisen to such an highth that about ten thousand souls of the Saints had
been driven from the State, & the city far west almost made desolate & lade waste while at the
same time the Presidency Joseph & his council with other Elders were in prision & they had
been under the sentance of death several times because of their religion & they would have
been put to death had not the Lord saved them for their lives were in his hands &
notwithstanding the lives of those men were preserved yet there were about thirty five souls
martered & put to death. David W. Patten one of the Twelve Apostles were among the marterd.
And not ownly so but the Missourians had sworn that the revelation above alluded to should
not be fulfilled.
It was in the midst of these imbaressments that we mooved forward to the building spot of the
house of the Lord in the City of far west & held a Council & fulfilled the revelation &
Commandment.” Wilford noted that they also fulfilled Section 115’s command to begin to lay
the foundation for the temple on that day. “Elder [Alpheus] Cutler the Master workman of the
house then recommenced laying the foundation of the LORD'S house agreeable to revelation by
rooling up a large stone near the South east corner (D&C 115:11). Wilford sat on that stone as
the apostles led by Brigham Young ordained him an apostle. George A. Smith was also ordained
to replace Thomas Marsh. Brethren recently freed from prison in Missouri were ordained
seventies. Each of the apostles prayed before, as Wilford put it, “in consequence of the peculiar
situation of the Saints he thought it wisdom to adjourn untill some future time when the Lord
should open the way expressing his determination then to procede with the building.”
–
Wilford Woodruff, Journal, April 16, 1839, Church History Library, Salt Lake City