Documents, Volume 1, Part 3 Introduction: April–September 1830
Part 3: April–September 1830
On 6 April 1830 the Church of Christ was officially
established at a meeting at ’s home in , New
York.
JS’s
history recorded: “Having opened the meeting by solemn prayer to our Heavenly Father
we proceeded, (according to previous commandment) to call on our brethren to know
whether they accepted us as their teachers in the things of the Kingdom of God, and
whether they were satisfied that we should proceed and be organized as a Church
according to said commandment which we had received. To these they consented by an
unanimous vote.”
According to JS’s history, the “said commandment” had been given in June 1829, also at the home of Peter Whitmer Sr.
Obtaining consent of the believers and carrying out other procedures at this
organizational meeting fulfilled specific 1829
instructions. As part of the commencement, JS and ordained each other elders and
then confirmed previously baptized believers as members of the new church. The small
congregation partook of the sacrament, and additional men were ordained “to
different offices of the Priesthood.” A revelation dictated just after the meeting stated that JS was
to be called “a seer & Translater & Prop[h]et
an Apostle of Jesus Christ an Elder of the Church” and instructed Cowdery to ordain
him. Cowdery later affirmed that
on this date he ordained JS “to be a Prophet, Seer, &c., just as the revelation
says.”
JS’s
history noted that “several persons” who attended the organizational meeting “got
convinced of the truth, came forward shortly after, and were
received into the church, among the rest My own and
were baptized to my great joy and consolation, and about the same
time
.” No specific dates are given for these
baptisms, however, and although the reminiscent accounts of and imply that the baptisms took place on
6 April near the Smith home in the / area, the two
reminiscences are problematic. JS’s history nonetheless allows for the possibility that JS
returned to his parents’ home shortly after the organization in . If so, the stay was a
short one. JS was probably back in Fayette on 11
April, when preached the first sermon of the church
to a large crowd and baptized several people. Also in April, JS visited
believers in , New York.
Within days of the organizational meeting, therefore, he had visited all three
communities with groups of believers, meeting with them and likely informing them of
the conference of the church to be held in June.
When JS
returned to he apparently faced
opposition from residents in the area for the first time. He and other church
members, however, “continued to preach and to give information to all who were
willing to hear.” On 9 June 1830, at the
house of , members gathered for the first conference of the church,
where by unanimous vote they approved “Articles and Covenants,” a foundational document outlining
the governing beliefs, principles, and offices of the church. JS and
then ordained officers and signed licenses signifying their positions within the
Church of Christ. Following the June conference JS returned to , Pennsylvania, probably accompanied by Cowdery and . Also in June, JS dictated
“a Revelation given to Joseph the Revelator,” which was later known as the “Visions of Moses.” At the end of the month, JS traveled to , where he met
with and baptized several believers, even though opponents had the previous night
torn down a dam prepared for the baptisms.
The group then
gathered at the home of so that JS could
confirm them as new members of the church. Before the meeting started, however,
Constable Ebenezer Hatch arrested JS on the charge of being “a disorderly person,”
for looking in a glass or seer stone. The following morning JS appeared before
Joseph P. Chamberlain, justice of the peace in South
Bainbridge, New York, who acquitted him of the charge. Despite his acquittal
and before he could leave, JS was served with another warrant and taken the ten
miles back to , where he
appeared before Joel K. Noble and likely two other justices at a court of special
sessions. Noble later wrote that JS was
“discharged” because “he had not looked in the glass for two years to find money”;
the justices also dismissed other charges related to JS’s character. JS’s history stated, “The Court finding the charges
against me, not sustained, I was accordingly acquitted, to the great satisfaction of
my friends, and vexation of my enemies, who were still determined upon molesting me,
but through the instrumentality of my new friend, the Constable; I was enabled to
escape them.” After slipping out the back of the courtroom, JS met at
,
New York, and the two journeyed back to their home in . Only a few days later JS and again attempted to confirm the
recently baptized believers in Colesville, but as soon as they arrived, angry
residents chased them from the town.
In July, JS dictated three revelations while he and
worked on his farm in . By mid-July, Cowdery left Harmony
for , where he soon wrote
to JS, commanding him to change a verse in the recently approved Articles and
Covenants. After a brief exchange of letters, JS traveled to Fayette to
resolve the conflict that had expanded to involve the Whitmers. The issue was
apparently settled amicably, and JS returned to Harmony.
In early August,
and his wife, , visited JS and
at , where they all partook of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and
the two men confirmed their wives as members of the Church of Christ. To prepare for
this meeting JS “set out to go to procure some wine” for the sacrament and was “met
by a heavenly messenger” who directed him to use only wine made by church members
for the ordinance. JS again returned to by late August to confirm the
remainder of the believers baptized in June and July. Those opposing the Church of Christ in Colesville remained
antagonistic, and JS stayed only long enough to perform the confirmations. Back in
Harmony, JS’s history notes, “a spirit of persecution began again to manifest itself
against us in the neighborhood where I now resided,” and this apparently turned his
father-in-law, , against him. By early September, JS and Emma
moved to to live at the home of
Upon arriving at the
Whitmer home, JS learned that “had got in his possession, a
certain stone, by which he had obtained to certain revelations” and that and
several others believed the revelations to be authentic. Before the members of the church gathered for the second
conference, which was held 26 September 1830,
JS
dictated a revelation declaring that as the head of the church, he was the only
authorized individual to whom revelation could be given. The revelation also called
Cowdery to preach among the American Indians. At the conference itself,
“Brother Joseph Smith jr. was appointd . . . to receive and write Revelations &
Commandments for this Church.” After Cowdery read Articles and Covenants
aloud, JS gave some remarks, and the meeting proceeded with ordinations, singing,
and prayer.