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From: gdm-owner@xmission.com (gdm Digest) To: gdm-digest@xmission.com Subject: gdm Digest V1 #25 Reply-To: gdm@xmission.com Sender: gdm-owner@xmission.com Errors-To: gdm-owner@xmission.com Precedence: gdm Digest Tuesday, September 30 1997 Volume 01 : Number 025 In this issue: ---> Lesson 36 ---> Lesson 37 See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the gdm or gdm-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 27 Sep 1997 20:04:02 -0700 From: "Perry L. Porter" <plporter@xmission.com> Subject: ---> Lesson 36 Doctrine and Covenants 124 Lesson 36 Scriptural Highlights 1. The temple is a place of revelation and sacred ordinances. 2. The Nauvoo House is to be built. 3. Church officers hold keys and bless the Saints. Invite a class member to review the circumstances of the Saints at the time D&C 124 was revealed. (See the Class Member Study Guide for this lesson.) Discussion and Application Questions * What did the Lord command Joseph Smith to do in D&C 124:1-11? (See also D&C 1:23.) What instructions and promises was Joseph Smith to give to the leaders of nations? * What character traits did the Lord praise in Hyrum Smith and George Miller? (D&C 124:15, 20.) How can we develop greater love for the things that are right so that we serve the Lord willingly? * John C. Bennett and William Law received great promises from the Lord (D&C 124:16-17, 87-90, 97-102), but they later fell into apostasy. What things in our lives might cause us to lose the blessings we have been promised? What attitudes or practices have most helped you in enduring to the end in righteousness? * Why did the Lord command the early Church leaders to build a boarding house, later called the Nauvoo House? (D&C 124:22-24, 60-61.) What do these verses teach about how the Lord wants us to treat nonmembers? What can we do to help nonmembers feel welcome among us? * Why did the Lord want the Saints to build a temple in Nauvoo? (D&C 124:26-41, 55.) Where do we receive the fulness of the priesthood? (See the quotation from President Smith.) How do these passages help you understand the importance of building temples today? * The Saints did not build a temple in Missouri even though the Lord had commanded them to build one in Independence and one in Far West. (D&C 57:1-3; 115:7-12.) What principle did the Lord teach the Saints in D&C 124:49-53? How can this principle be a comfort to us today? * Hyrum Smith was released as a counselor in the First Presidency so he could serve as the Church Patriarch and as the Assistant President of the Church, the office Oliver Cowdery had held. (D&C 124:91-96.) Why does the office of Assistant President no longer exist in the Church? (See the quotation from Elder McConkie.) * In D&C 124:123-45 the Lord listed the names of the officers of the Church. What purposes were these officers to serve? (D&C 124:143; Ephesians 4:11 -15.) How can keeping these purposes in mind help us as we serve in the Church? Quotations President Joseph Fielding Smith: "You cannot receive the fullness of the priesthood and the fullness of eternal reward unless you receive the ordinances of the house of the Lord; and when you receive these ordinances, the door is then open so you can obtain all the blessings which any man can gain" (in Conference Report, Apr. 1970, p. 58). Elder Bruce R. McConkie: "When these two joint Presidents of the Church [Joseph and Hyrum Smith] sealed their testimonies with their blood, the full operation of the keys of the kingdom rested with the Twelve, and Brigham Young, the senior apostle, became the ranking officer of the Church. Since the kingdom was then fully established and the two witnesses had left a binding testimony, it was no longer necessary to continue the office of Assistant President" (Mormon Doctrine, p. 56). Next Week's Reading Assignment Doctrine and Covenants 125-28 Page 71 Class Member Study Guide Lesson 36 Joseph Smith and other Church leaders were in jail at Liberty, Missouri, the main responsibility for directing the Saints' flight from Missouri fell upon Brigham Young, President of the Twelve Apostles. To escape their persecutors, the Saints began crossing the ice-choked Mississippi River into Illinois in November and December of 1838. Missouri Officials became embarrassed for having illegally imprisoned Joseph Smith and his companions, so in April 1839 they allowed the men to escape. These leaders were then able to help the Saints get established in their new location at Commerce, Illinois. There were only a few scattered houses at Commerce, and much of the land was swampy. During the summer of 1839, the Prophet renamed the place Nauvoo, a Hebrew word meaning "beautiful." The Saints set to work draining the swamps, planting crops, and building homes. Along the swampy riverbanks, many of the Saints contracted malaria, and Joseph Smith himself became ill. On 22 July, though the Prophet was weak, he rose from his bed and healed many, even raising some from their deathbeds. In December 1840 the state of Illinois granted Nauvoo a charter that allowed the city to establish a militia, municipal court, and university. In the following month, the Lord commanded the Saints to build a temple and described how the Church was to be organized in Nauvoo (see D&C 124). Although the Saints had completed the Kirtland Temple, they had not yet received the full ordinances of the temple. The Lord restored these ordinances while the Saints were settling in Nauvoo, several years before the Nauvoo Temple was completed in 1845. Church members performed baptisms for their deceased relatives in the nearby Mississippi River until a font was built in the temple. On 4 May 1842, Joseph Smith gave temple endowments and scalings for the first time to a selected group in the small room above his store. As you study D&C 124, consider the following: John C. Bennett and William Law received great promises from the Lord (D&C 124:16-17, 87-90, 97-102), but they later fell into apostasy. What things in our lives might cause us to lose the blessings we have been promised? * Why did the Lord want the Saints to build a temple in Nauvoo? (D&C 124:26-41, 55.) * What principle did the Lord teach the Saints in D&C 124:49-53? How can this principle be a comfort to us today? The city of Nauvoo as seen from across the Mississippi River. Page 72 | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | ... At first designed for surplus stock, it soon became a special meeting hall. Various ecclesiastical functions, such as the organization of the Nauvoo Relief Society and numerous priesthood councils, were held in the room. It was also used for secular activities, including municipal meetings, school classes, theatrical presentations, debates, lectures, staff meetings of the Nauvoo Legion, and Masonic degree work. The room went by a variety of names, including the following: the Prophet's general business office, the Lodge Room of the Nauvoo Masons, the Council Chamber for priesthood and municipal bodies, and generally as the Assembly Room. Because of the variety of gatherings held in the room, it is perhaps most appropriate to refer to it as the Assembly Room. On 3 May 1842 Joseph Smith began to prepare the Assembly Room for the introduction of temple ceremonies. ... The completed arrangements provided for washings and anointings to be given in the Prophet's private office and the endowment in the Assembly Room. ... ... During the months after the Martyrdom, those who had been endowed ceased using the Assembly Room, probably at the request of Emma Smith, whose estrangement from the Twelve most likely resulted in her disassociation from the group. ...post-Martyrdom temple ordinances were given in the homes of business establishments of endowed members such as Brigham Young, John Taylor, Parley P. Pratt, Willard Richard, John Smith, and Joseph B. Noble. ... the Saints received their endowments in the "upper story" of the Tempe, in the attic instead of the mezzanine rooms.... ... ... In the center of this room was an altar with a Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants on it. On the east canvas wall was the veil of the Temple, "drawn on a wire across the vacancy in the partition," and a cotton curtain hung in front of it, shielding it from view. Four feet to the left of the veil was a doorway into the Celestial Room. ... ...the clerks' office was room one. This room also served as sealing room, in which couples were sealed in the Holy Order of Matrimony. It was also called the Holy of Holies. An altar was installed in the room on 7 January 1846 and was dedicated by the Brigham Young the same day. ... After the installation of the altar in room one, Brigham Young began sealing couples in the Holy Order of Matrimony. The highest ordinances of the temple were also performed in the same room. Apparently because it proved difficult to continue administering both marriages and these ordinances in the same room, Brigham Young later assigned rooms two and four for giving the most sacred ordinance, as he noted in his diary on 27 January. ... ... ... After the Temple's private dedication on 30 April 1846 and public dedication between 1-3 May 1846, the workman stripped the attic of any remaining vestige of the sacred work conducted within its precincts. ... Lisle G Brown, "The Sacred Departments for Temple Work in Nauvoo: The Assembly Room and the Council Chamber," BYU Studies, Vol. 19, Number 3 (Spring 1979). | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | Section 124 After the Prophet was freed from his Missouri imprisonment (16 April 1839), immediate plans were made to locate the Saints at another gathering place. Upon viewing properties in Lee County, Iowa, and Hancock County, Illinois, Church land agents purchased thousands of acres of unimproved land in these two counties, and soon Nauvoo (Commerce became the headquarters of the Church. ...balancing accounts for wrongs suffered in Missouri. With others, the Prophet traveled to Washington, D.C., November 1839-March 1840, where he held audience with President Martin Van Buren, presented Congress with claims against the State of Missouri, and lobbied for redress of Missouri grievances. After achieving little or no success in the East, Joseph Smith returned to Nauvoo.... Section 124, the first known revelation since July 838, was received about four weeks after the governor of Illinois had signed charters for the city of Nauvoo, the University of Nauvoo, the Nauvoo House Association, the Nauvoo Agricultural and Nechanical Association, and the Nauvoo Legion. The revelation had monumental importance to the Prophet and his associates because its fulfillment engaged nearly every waking moment of the Prophet's time until his death. ... The proclamation to the kings of the earth. (See verses 2-14, 16, and 107.) The revelation specified that Robert B. Thompson, the Prophet's scribe, was to help write the document, and that John C. Bennett should assist in its dissemination. However, Thompson's premature death and Bennett's apostasy precluded either contributing to the project. ... William W. Phelps reported in 1863 that he was specially commissioned in May 1844 to write the "great proclamation" under the direction of the Prophet and that he had in his possession twenty-two manuscript pages that Joseph Smith had approved. He lamented, however, that the project was dropped after the martyrdom. In 1845 the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles essentially fulfilled the instructions of section 124 by publishing their proclamation to the kings of the world. The construction of the Nauvoo House. (See verses 22-24, 56-82, 111-12, 117, and 119-22.) ... a hotel in the city of Nauvoo. ... Since the edifice was to be constructed on land donated by Joseph Smith, the Prophet and his heirs were to retain a set of rooms in the building for their use. Sale of spirituous liquors in the house was to be prohibited. The Prophet considered the construction of the Nauvoo House just as urgent and sacred as the completion of the Nauvoo Temple. ... Encouragement for the completion of the Nauvoo House came from the pulpit constantly. The cornerstone of the building was laid by Joseph Smith on 2 October 1841, and several records were deposited therein. ... Joseph Smith envisioned the Nauvoo House as a means whereby the Saints could entertain "men of wealth, character and influence" and "teach them the truth." ... Despite the efforts of the four trustees and their hired help, however, work progressed very slowly on the hotel because means were meager. ... Ultimately the desire to finish the temple led to a decision ... to postpone completion of the Nauvoo House. ...the Saints met at the Nauvoo House and dedicated the finished portion to the Lord; afterward the first brick was laid. During the next four weeks, work on the building progressed rapidly: the walls were laid up to the second story. However, on 16 September 1845, work on the house was once more discontinued, because Church leaders sensed a renewed urgency to complete the temple. ... With the settlement of the Prophet's estate and the liquidation of Mormon properties in nauvoo, title to the Nauvoo House was retained by Emma Smith. Lewis C. Bidamon, Emma's second husband, later dismantled a large portion of the walls of the Nauvoo House down to the stonework of the basement and erected a two-story structure on the southwest corner of the original foundation. This building, known as the Riverside Mansion, was used as a residence by the family beginning in 1871. The lot and building are now owned by the Reorganized LDS Church. The construction of the Nauvoo Temple. Prior to the reception of section 124, plans for the erection of a temple in Nauvoo had been disclosed by the Prophet. The official public announcement came at a general conference of the Church on 3 October 1840 in Nauvoo. ... Land for the temple, acquired from Daniel H. Wells, was located on the east bench of the new city, overlooking the Mississippi River. Grandest of all Nauvoo construction projects, the building of the temple would dominate the activities of the Mormon city for nearly five years. ...the Prophet asked that work on the temple begin within ten days and that every tenth day be given to labor on the building. ... ... The foundation of the temple was laid out by the temple committee in early February 1840, and digging of the basement began on 18 February. To better organize the donated labor, the city was divided into wards on 22 February 1841, and each ward was assigned a particular day for working on the building. ... The Priesthood ordinances of the temple. (See verses 28, 40-42, 55, 95, and 97). Whereas the term endowment has come to be kown as the embodiment of certain priesthood ordinances performed in the temple, Kirtland usage of the term connoted, not the ordinances themselves, but rather the outpouring of the spirit upon those who had participated in the ordinances. ... In Nauvoo the temple ordinances ... were known as the "ancient order of the Priesthood" or simply as the "endowment," there being no particular attempt to distinguish between the ceremony and the spiritual outpouring. On 4 may 1842, before the completion of the temple, the Prophet initiated nine men into the ancient order. ... By June 1844, just before his death, the Prophet had selected twenty-five males and thirty-two females to receive the ordinances of the endowment. On 10 December 1845 endowment work commenced in the attic story of the temple. There, during the next eight weeks, nearly 5,600 members ... participated in these ceremonies. Related ordinances administered by the Prophet before the completion of the temple included eternal marriages, baptisms for the dead, and conferring the fulness of the priesthood. ... The reorganization of priesthood quorums. ... The death of Patriarch Joseph Smith, Sr., in 1840 left a vacancy which was filled by his son, Hyrum (see verse 124). The latter also assumed the "same blessing, and glory, and honor, and priesthood" that Oliver cowdery had held before his escommunication in 1838.... The vacancy left in the First Presidency by Hyrum Smith's new appointment was filled by William Law.... Brigham Young was named president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.... The Nauvoo High Council had been organized on 6 October 1839 with William Marks as president. ... Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), p. 242-281. | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | Specifically related to the University of Nauvoo, the Prophet said that it is "necessary for the great work of the last days".... Considering the relative lack of formal education among the early Latter-day Saints, the faculty appointed to teach at the university is astonishing. The following are listed among the faculty: Orson Pratt, Orson Spencer, Sidney Rigdon, Gustavus Hills and John Pack .... Of those on this list, Orson Orson Pratt played the most prominent role at the university. ... Appointed as a member of the original Quorum of the Twelve in 1835, he published several tracts and pamphlets, including An Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions. Throughout his life Orson Pratt pursued a strong interest in mathematics and astronomy, fields in which he was essentially. Elder Pratt's greatest impact on the Church came as a result of his carefully written theological studies. He was selected by Brigham Young to make the Church's first public announcement of plural marriage in 1852. David Whittaker in his Encyclopedia of Mormonism article on Orson Pratt noted, "he was an elaborator, a systematizer, and popularizer of LDS thought, rather than an innovator or an originator"... In relation to the University of Nauvoo, Orson Pratt played a very important part. It is perhaps helpful to view Joseph Smith as the architect and Orson Pratt as the builder of the university. He took the ideas of the Prophet and translated them into reality. Orson Pratt's name appears more frequently in the historical records pertaining to the university than any other name. There is good evidence to show that he taught classes at the university during 1841, 1842, and 1843, serving as Professor of English literature and mathematics. [John Henry Evans]: "In the first century 'Mormonism' there is no leader of the intellectual stature of Orson Pratt." The courses offered by the University of Nauvoo varied widely. Orson Pratt offered several mathematics courses including arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, geometry, conic sections, measuration, surveying, navigation, analytical, plane and spherical trigonometry, analytical geometry, and differential calculus. Professor Pratt also taught astronomy, chemistry [can't get any better than that!!], and philosophy.... Sidney Rigdon offered courses in English literature, language, rhetoric, and Church history. Professor Gustavus Hills offered various courses in music, including science of music, and the art of sacred singing. ... some foreign language courses were offered, including German, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, but it is not certain who taught these course.... Orson Pratt received an honorary degree of Master of Arts to help "compensate for his lack of formal education" and to provide stature for the university.... At least three honorary degrees were conferred upon men who had given the Latter-day Saints favorable treatment. Two editors received such degrees, John Wentworth of the Chicago Democrat and James Gordon Bennett of the New York Weekly Herald. In both origin and its operation the Prophet Joseph Smith was intimately involved in the University of the City of Nauvoo. To properly evaluate his overall contribution as a Church leader, one must assess his work related to the university. The University of Nauvoo had a short-term impact of Nauvoo, but it has also had a long-term impact on the Church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the twentieth century is fully committed to education and sponsors worldwide educational programs. Much of the current program had its basic beginnings in the University of Nauvoo. Donald Q. Cannon, "Joseph Smith and the University of Nauvoo," Joseph Smith: The Prophet, The Man, (Religious Studies Center Brigham Young University, 1993). | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | ... One tract of 20,000 acres was offered at two dollars an acre on a tweny-year contract by land agent Isaac Galland, a resident of Commerce, Illinois. ... ... Commerce was soon being promoted as the central gathering place. By summer it was unofficially renamed Nauvoo, a word that the Prophet said was derived from the Hebrew and suggested a beautiful place of rest. ... ... The area was swampy and unhealthy, and malaria was endemic in the region. As soon as the Saints began to settle, an epidemic struck. ... The Prophet called upon the power of God and, according to Woodruff, went among the sick on both sides of the river. Many miraculous healings were reported. ... ... ... These reasons prompted 4,733 British Mormons to sail to America before the end of the Nauvoo period, and boosted the population of Nauvoo by nearly one-third. This great movement of new members from Britain resulted primarily from a special mission of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, whose members had been called by revelation in July 1838 "to go over the great waters" to preach the gospel. ... ... Williard Richards, already in England, was added to the council in April 1840, making a total of eight apostles in the British Isles. ... ... In early March Elder Woodruff noted in his diary the "the Lord warned me to go to the South." ... In the Benbow home and some United Brethren chapels, Elder Woodruff preached the gospel to hundreds of willing listeners. The converted United Brethren soon formed the nucleus for many Latter-day Saint branches. ... Before he finished his mission he had baptized more than 600 persons in a pool at the Benbow farm, and a total of more than 1,800 converts in southern England. ... In January 1840, about 1500 Saints lived in Great Britain, but when the apostles left fifteen months later, there were 5,814 members--and another 800 had emigrated to America. The mission had indeed been prosperous. ... ...members were instructed to contribute one-tenth of all their possessions at first, then one-tenth of their annual increase. ... ... The settlers established farms, homes, and businesses. Major farming was relegated to land outside the city, but garden plots flourished inside city limits. Lots in Nauvoo included flower and vegetable gardens, orchards, fences, and outbuildings--summer kitchens, smokehouses, privies, barns, and stables. Construction quickly became Nauvoo's principal industry and employed hundred of craftsmen. ... ... Major industry, however, did not develop in Nauvoo. English emigrants seemed particularly interested in establishing corn mills, weaving enterprises, textile mills, potteries, and carriage manufactories, but such dreams did not materialize. ... ... Considering contemporary economic conditions, the Saints at nauvoo accomplished an amazing feat. ... Despite the general appearance of prosperity in Nauvoo, the First Presidency carried heavy debts, including several thousand dollars in obligations from the years at Kirtland. ...suggested that members voluntarily cancel debts to eliminate internal discord and animosity in preparation for temple blessings. ... ... A national Bankruptcy Act ... allowed individuals to legally petition for relief. In April, Joseph Smith and several other leading Latter-day Saints engaged lawyers and filed bankruptcies under the untried law, hoping to eliminate debts and losses suffered in the removal from Missouri. The courts did not accept Joseph Smith's appeal, however, and his debts were ultimately left for settlement by his estate after his death. ... Entertainments for larger groups were held in the Concert hall, north of the temple, or in the Masonic hall. The Mansion House, an official residence built for the Church president in 1843, rapidly became a social center. Self-improvement was fostered by the Nauvoo Lyceum, organized in 1842 to conduct weekly debates on current issues, and by the Nauvoo Library ad Literary Institute, founded two years later to encourage the reading of good books. University music professor Gustavus Hills helped create the Teacher's Lyceum of Music in December 1841 to foster improvements. The church choir offered occasional concerts, as did two brass bands, one led by William Pitt. The bands played for private among the Latter-day Saints. Useful pastimes included corn husking and rag and quilting bees. Young men enjoyed swimming and exploring small islands in the river. Horsemanship and sports, including running, jumping, wrestling, and weight throwing, filled rare idle afternoons. For the Nauvoo resident seeking diversion from the routine of daily life, a great variety of homemade recreation was available. Another important voluntary activity opened with installation of a lodge of York Rite Freemasons in nauvoo. ... ...the Grand Lodge of Illinois launched an investigation of "irregularities" in Nauvoo. A major concern was the rapid advancement of applicants, particularly Joseph Smith and sidney rigdon, who moved immediately to the highest degree of Freemasonry within a day of the lodge's formal installation. ... The Nauvoo lodge was temporarily suspended until October 1844, when recognition was formally withdrawn. ... Ultimately most adult males in Nauvoo affiliated with one of the lodges, and despite the suspension, Freemasons in the city completed their Masonic temple and dedicated it on April 5, 1844. ... ...the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo was organized on March 17, with Emma Smith as its founding president. The Prophet counseled the women to "provoke the brethren to good works in looking to the wants of the poor, searching after objects of charity, and in administering to their wants--[and] to assist, by correcting the morals and strengthening the virtues of the community." ... The last meetings of the Nauvoo Relief Society were held in March 1844. The organization was later revived in the Salt Lake Valley. ... When Joseph Smith addressed the informal Young People's meeting, he encouraged them to organize not for self-improvement but for service to the poor. ... ... The general conference of October 1839 appointed a stake presidency and high council for Nauvoo and a similar organization for the Saints in Lee County, Iowa, later known as Zarahemla Stake. A bishop served Lee County as a stake officer, continuing an earlier pattern. But in Nauvoo the conference appointed three bishops for the cit and gave them geographical jurisdictions: the upper, middle, and lower wards. This introduced the bishop's ward as a geographical subdivision of the Church. Not yet a fully developed administrative unit, the ward was simply a convenient division for administering financial and welfare concerns. In many American cities the term "ward" had been used to designate political precints, and the first Latter-day Saint ecclesiastical wards were apparently created with this precedent in mind. ... To guide Nauvoo's development, the Prophet called on the experienced Council of the Twelve and, in the process, significantly expanded the council's ecclesiastical authority. For nearly two years, until the municipal government became effective, the Nauvoo high council had managed city affairs. In addition, this and other high councils were authorized to handle all affairs within their own stakes, and at first not even the Twelve could intervene in their decisions. At a special conference on August 16, 1841, the prophet announced it was time for the Twelve, who had so ably proved themselves in their European missions, to remain at home where they could support their families, relieve the First Presidency of some financial duties, and attend to the needs of immigrants. They would also continue to direct missionary work, but "the time had come," said the Prophet, "when the Twelve should be called upon to stand in their place next to the First Presidency." Originally a "travelling high council," the apostles, under the direction of the First Presidency, were now given responsibility for the business of the Church within the stakes. The relationship between the stakes and the council was now changed, and the Twelve became general Church authorities in the stakes as well as in the missions. ... ...every Sunday at 10:00 A.M. the Saints in Nauvoo, across the river in Iowa, and in other nearby settlements knew that, wheather permitting, an outdoor preaching meeting would convene. Joseph Smith was often the principal speaker. ... James B. Allen and Glen B. Leonard , The Story of the Latter-day Saits, chapter 5, "Building the City Beautiful, 1839-1842," (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1976). | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | http://www.srv.net/~sro/Notepad/Notepad.html | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 20:20:00 -0700 From: "Perry L. Porter" <plporter@xmission.com> Subject: ---> Lesson 37 Doctrine and Covenants 1 25-28 Lesson 37 Scriptural Highlights 1. The Lord has prepared a way for the dead to be redeemed. 2. Careful records should be kept. 3. Saints should press forward in building the kingdom. As you prepare this lesson, think about the blessings you have received from the sealing power that Elijah restored to the earth. Encourage class members to consider how this power has blessed their lives. Discussion and Application Questions What do you think the Prophet Joseph Smith meant when he said that he gloried in tribulation? (D&C 127:2-4; see also 3 Nephi 12:11-12.) How could we develop a similar attitude toward tribulation? * Regarding temple work, the Lord said, "Let your diligence, and your perseverance, and patience, and your works be redoubled, and you shall in nowise lose your reward" (D&C 127:4). How can we perform family history and temple work with more diligence and patience? What blessings have come into your life as a result of this work? * Why is keeping accurate and complete records of ordinances important in the Lord's Church? (D&C 127:5-9; 128:2-9, 24.) * What is required for an ordinance that is performed on earth to be bound in heaven? (See D&C 128:8, 10-11, and the first quotation from President Smith.) When has the sealing power been on the earth? (D&C 128:9.) * What does the ordinance of baptism symbolize? (D&C 128:12-13; Romans 6:4-5.) * Joseph Smith explained that the salvation of the dead is essential to our salvation. (D&C 128:15-18.) Why is this so? What responsibilities do these statements place on us today? Why would the earth be smitten with a curse if Elijah had not restored the sealing power? (See the second quotation from President Smith.) * Why is the work of the redemption of the dead among the "most glorious of all subjects belonging to the everlasting gospel"? (D&C 128:17). * In D&C 128:19-21, Joseph Smith reviewed some of the events in the restoration of the gospel. Why did the Lord reveal keys and knowledge "line upon line, precept upon precept"? (D&C 128:21). How has the Lord followed this pattern in your life? * How can the Prophet's message in D&C 128:22 help you? * When Joseph Smith wrote D&C 128, he was hiding from his enemies and the Saints were facing great difficulties. Why was Joseph Smith able to rejoice at this time? (D&C 128:19-23.) How could his example help us in times of adversity? Quotations President Joseph Fielding Smith: "Elijah came to restore to the earth . . . the fulness of the power of priesthood. This priesthood holds the keys of binding and sealing on earth and in heaven of all the ordinances and principles pertaining to the salvation of man, that they may thus become valid in the celestial kingdom of God" (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:117). President Joseph Fielding Smith: "Why would [the earth] be smitten? Because there could be no sealing up against the day of destruction, no sealing of parents to each other, no sealing of children to parents, no contracts, bonds, obligations entered into here that would be valid on the other side; . . . and it was necessary that Elijah should come and bestow those thing's spoken of as all things in the scriptures" (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:122). Next Week's Reading Assignment Doctrine and Covenants 129-31 Page 73 Class Member Study Guide Lesson 37 The letters that became D&C 127 and 128 were written in Nauvoo by the Prophet Joseph Smith while he was hiding to avoid being arrested by his persecutors from Missouri. During the latter part of 1842, he was able to associate with his family and the Saints only occasionally. Despite these difficult circumstances, his thoughts centered on what he regarded as one of the "most glorious of all subjects pertaining to the everlasting gospel, namely, the baptism for the dead" (D&C 128:17). Even though only baptisms for the dead are mentioned specifically in these sections, most of the information also applies to endowments and scalings for the dead. As you study D&C 125-28, consider the following: * How can you perform family history and temple work with more diligence and patience? (D&C 127:4.) Why is the salvation of the dead necessary to our salvation? (D&C 128:15-18.) Why was Joseph Smith able to rejoice at a difficult time? (D&C 128:19-23.) How can you use his example in your times of adversity? The Nauvoo Temple and surrounding buildings. Photograph by Lucian Foster, 1846. Page 74 | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | [Commentary, the lesson suggest that good record keeping is a must, but was not allows done, as explained below.] ... Because many of those who have had a hand in preserving his biography seem to have enhanced their sources by making him either more or less respectable, according to their personal bias, Isaac Galland still remains an enigma today. ... ... At the age of thirteen, he entered William and Mary College, where he studied theology. ... Shortly after 1820, Isaac Galland moved to Edgar County, Illinois, where he is said to have associated with the "Messac gang" of outlaws, with whom he engaged in horse-stealing and counterfeiting. ... In 1829 Isaac and his family crossed the Mississippi River into what would later become Lee County, Iowa, and established the town of Nashvill, located three miles below Montrose. At Nashville, he established another trading post, began practicing medicine, and started the first school in the Territory of Iowa, in 1830. ... ... ... Isaac Galland began his notorious career of land speculation in Iowas. Much of Gallands' land dealings involved the Half-Breed Tract, a 119,000-acre parcel of land lying between the DesMoins and Mississippi rivers in the southeast corner of Iowa, which had been set aside as a reservation for half-breed Sac and Fox Indians. ... In 1836, the New York Land Company ... made extensive land purchases in teh reservation. Isaac Galland was one of five trusteess for the New York Land Company. He also purchased large tracts of land in his own name.... This same year, the ubiquitous Dr. Galland began a literary career which was of some note. By the winter of 1838-1839, Isaac Galland had settled in Commerce.... Isaac Galland's association with the Mormons began in October or November of 1838 when he met Israel Barlow, who with other Mormons had fled northeastward towards Quincy, Illinois, from Far West, Missouri, but, by missing their way, had arrived at the Des Moines River in Iowa. ... Israel Barlow and his associates talked with Dr. Galland, who, after hearing of the Mormons' difficulties in Missouri, began negotiations with these destitue Mormons to sell them his lands and buildins in Commerce as well as in the Half-Breed Tract. ... Whereas one source suggests an earlier date, Lee County, Iowa, land records indicate that on 29 May and 26 June 1839 isaac and Elizabeth Galland sold large tracts of land in the Half-Breed Tract to Church agents Oliver Granger and Vinson Knight. The History of the Church records that on 24 Juhe 1839 "the Church purchased the town of Nashville, in Lee County, Iowa Territory, together with twenty thousand acres of land adjoining it." Lnad records fail to confirm this date (24 June 1939). The reference to the above purchase is obviously the 26 June 1839 purchase, but the properties do not total 20,000 acres. The composite of the two purchases on 29 May and 26 June 1839, however, do approximate the 20,000 acres mentioned in History of the Church. ... The following day, 3 July 1839, in Commerce, Joseph Smith baptized Isaac Galland and ordained him and elder in the Church two hours later. ... ... While en route to Ohio he did some proselyting by selling a copy of the Book of Mormon to a Delaware senator. ... It is doubtful that Isaac Galland received much cash for these land transactions. In January 1841, the First Presidency declared that Dr. Galland had sold the Church "large estates on very reasonable terms, and on long credit, so that we might have an opportunity of paying for them without being distressed, and has since taken our lands in Missouri in payment for the whole amount." ...destroyed by fire in 1860, and therefore, the preceding statement cannot be verified. ... ... In a proclamation of the First Presidency, dated 15 January 1841, Isaac Galland as showered with praise and named a benefactor of the Mormon cause for his unselfishness in helping to locate the Saints. ... ... Dr. Gallands' interview with the Prophet in February 1842 may not have been his last, but evidence (or the lack of it) suggests that it marked the beginning of Isaac Galland's estrangement from Church fellowship. The unusual thing concerning Dr. Galland's agency for the Church is that no formal action was taken against him for any wrongdoing. ... ... Another possibility is that Dr. Galland used monies in his possession to assist Oliver Granger in settling Kirtland debts. Whatever the reason, research to date does not reveal that any Church leader ever reprimanded Dr. Galland for any impropriety either as a land agent or as a private member of the Church. ... Isaac Galland, who remained in Lee County the remainder of his life, had constant association with Mormons but discontinued his life as an active Saint. ... Lyndon W. Cook, "Isaac Galland--Mormon Benefactor," BYU Studies, Volume 19, Number 3 (Spring 1979) | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | ...the terms ward, stake, and district had meanings looser than do today's definitions. ... ...the term ward had a different meaning that it does today. ... Wards in Nauvoo were civil divisions for police, tax election, school, and other municipal purposes. When Church leaders needed to collect funds or to aid the poor, for convenience they let the city's political ward boundaries serve as assignment districts. They placed a bishop in charge of each. Those ward units, however, were not Latter-day Saint entities conducting their own sacrament meetings or having their own quorums. Nauvoo quorums for deacons, teachers, priests, and elders were stake entities, not ward ones, as was the case in stakes before and after Nauvoo. ...because Nauvoo was the Church's headquarters, Church general conferences were held in Nauvoo. These conferences served as Nauvoo Stake's stake conferences as well; the stake had no stake conferences of its own. Nauvoo Stakes' presidency, high council, and quorum presidents were sustained during general conference sustainings. ... ...Aaronic Priesthood offices were held by men, although some older boys were ordained. ... ...men generally were ordained to fill specific needs, not just to receive an ordination. ... ... The Church's first two stakes, created at Kirtland and in Missouri in 1834, were each headed by a stake presidency (which was the First Presidency in Kirtland), a high council that handled administrative and judicial matters, and a quorum presidency (irregularly organized ) for deacons, teachers, priests, and elders. Each stake had one bishop: Newel K. Whitney for Kirtland and Edward Partridge for Missouri. The bishops' tasks were mainly judicial and financial--collecting and expending Church funds and assisting the worthy poor. Both stakes had high priests quorums. Above the stake level but below the Apostles, the Church by 1840 had three quorums of seventies, sometimes termed "Seventy Apostles." ... By 1839 the Church's main local officers were the ordained teachers, who under the direction of the stake (usually stake bishop), visited house to house. They also served as local arbitrators and peacemakers among the Saints. Teachers and priests sometimes were the local presiding officers because high priests and elders were expected to forsake the "standing ministry" in order to proselyte and travel. ... ... The Nauvoo Stake High Council exercised authority over the ward bishops. ...integration within the Nauvoo Stake's structure was ambiguous. ... ... The Nauvoo High Council minutes for August 20, 1842, record that the council divided Nauvoo into ten wards, matching the new divisions made by the Temple Committee for raising donations and labor, and appointed a bishop for each ward. ... ... the council instructed Hosea Stout to ascertain the exact boundaries of the ten city wards "that the Bishopric may be more perfectly set in order." ... Sacrament meetings were generally Nauvoo-wide meetings held in the open, in groves, or at the temple site. General Authorities conducted these meetings. ... ... Lesser priesthood quorums in Nauvoo were stake, not ward, units. ... During the Joseph Smith period, in between the uprootings and movings of the members, bishops presided over all of the Aaronic Priesthood, including the quorum presidents, but a priest presided over the priests quorum, no a bishop. ... ... During the Nauvoo years, some priesthood teaching in homes was done, but how much is not known. ... ... In 1845 leaders proposed that deacons should take care of the poor. ... Leaders periodically wanted "to fill up" the quorums. By that they meant they wanted enough men in the quorums so quorum meetings and assignments happened, not that quorums must have the twelve, twenty-four, and forty-eight members set for the deacns, teachers, and priests quorums. ... Aaronic Priesthood offices at Nauvoo were filled almost entirely by adults. Because of the duties assigned deacons, teachers, and priests in the revelations, leaders felt that maturity, not age, was the prerequisite for ordination. Nevertheless, in the pre-1846 period, many young men served the Church well in official callings. ... An elders quorum formally existed during most of the Nauvoo years. ... ... During the October 1844 conference, President Brigham Young gave the high priests a major task. ...he wanted to select a number of high priests to preside in each congressional district in the United States. ...take their families along and to settle down in those districts. ...turn them into stakes as large as the Nauvoo Stake. ...but for some reason the plan to send high priests eastward was not carried out. ... ... Nauvoo had a greater influence on the priesthood office of seventy than on any other office, because both the number of men ordained to be seventies and the number of quorums mushroomed. ... Seventies were not local ministers but were considered General Authorities, traveling ministers, witnesses unto the Gentiles and in all the world, and "seventy apostles." Seventies were called from among the experienced elders. Records indicate that from one-third to one-half of all missionaries set apart between 1837 and 1843 were seventies. By 1839 a second and third quorum of seventies had been organized. Their work was directed by the seven presidents of the first quorum, who together formed what is termed the First Council of the Seventy. ... In Nauvoo the seventies quorums met for edification, instruction, and worship. ... At the October 1844 conference, President Brigham Young, in addition to calling high priests "to go abroad and preside" in the eastern states, called for a major expansion of seventies quorums. He wanted at least ten quorums of seventy, so one purpose of the conference was "to ordain the presidents of the seventies and then fill the quorums of seventies from the elders quorum." ... This expansion of seventies quorums was a major priesthood development during the Nauvoo years. Before the conference concluded, the seventies presidents had ordained approximately four hundred men into seventies quorums. They filled eleven quorums and put forty men into a twelfth quorum. After the conference and for the next several months, more quorums were created and more seventies ordained. ... By early 1846, seventies units numbered thirty-four. Why the Twelve called for this build-up of seventies is not explained. Apparently the Twelve had in mind a massive missionary labor in the near future.... This seventies recruitment apparently was part of a two-pronged expansion the Twelve wanted for the kingdom: sending out a large missionary force to convert and baptize new members and sending out high priests to preside over areas where these converts lived. ..."the Seventies are ordained Apostles and when they go forth into the ministry, they are sent with power to build up the kingdom in th all the world and consequently they have power to ordain High Priests, and also to ordain and organize a High Council." ...Nauvoo quickly had more seventies than any other Melchizedek Priesthood office. ... ...the seventies constructed their own Seventies Hall.... ... Nauvoo continued a barely established precedent that stakes were the basic local Church unit. ...new clustering or settlement of Saints would begin with a presiding officer, who might be called a branch, district, stake, or settlement president or presiding elder. Then the clustering needed a bishop to handle court case, moneys, and the poor. Finally, a high council was needed to handle discipline cases and disputes and to make decisions for the settlement. If population grew, more bishops would be added, the settlement subdivided into wards.... This pattern continued to be followed in Utah for decades. Local priesthood quorums continued to be stake entities as they had been in Missouri and Kirtland. These included deacons, teachers, priests, and elders quorums. This pattern continued in Utah. ... Visiting priesthood teachers continued to be the most important local priesthood officers in contact with the members. ... Quorum meetings before, during, and after Nauvoo were the most important self-learning sessions that male Latter-day Saint members attended. When ward Sunday Schools first started in the 1860s, they were for children and youths. Not until the late 1800s was Sunday School generally attended by adults. ... The assumption was that a stake should have one quorum each of elders, priests, teachers, and deacons. ... ... Like a very fertile seed, wards headed by bishops became within the decade following the exodus from Nauvoo the essential church unit that cared for, trained, provided ordinances and worship services for, and otherwise served Saints at the local level. ... ...the endowment became required of all men going on missions or receiving temple marriages. ... This policy increased the numbers of elders and seventies by siphoning off practically all men who had staffed the deacons, teachers, and priests quorums. By the earliest days in Utah, Church leaders, lacking non-Melchizedek Priesthood men, had to call elders, seventies, and high priests to be acting deacons, acting teachers, and acting priests in order to keep Aaronic Priesthood word going. ...the unusual and massive expansion of seventies quorums. ... one-fifth of Nauvoo's 12,000 residents, about 2,400, were men. Of those 2,400, there were 1,823 men by late 1845 who were seventies (making up thirty-four quorums). ...about 300 high priests, including bishops and Apostles, and a score or more of Aaronic Priesthood bearers, and the number of priesthood holders exceeds 2,000. ...three-fourths or more of Nauvoo's males held some priesthood office. About 80 percent were seventies.... William G. Hartley, "Nauvoo Stake, Priesthood Quorums, and the Church's first Wards," BYU Studies, Volume 32, Numbers 1 and 2 (Winter and Spring 1991). ------------------------------ End of gdm Digest V1 #25 ************************ To subscribe to gdm Digest, send the command: subscribe gdm-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@xmission.com". 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