Colesville

It is complicated.

And I also wanted to just check in real briefly with a map to remind you where the Colesville Saints are.

The groups of people that we're talking about today, we're starting with Revelations in Kirtland.

But the Colesville Saints, as you remember, were just north of the Pennsylvania border.

and they're in upstate New York, but it's sort of the southern portion of upstate western New York, I guess we should call it.

The Colesville branch is going to be the first group to arrive, but we also have the Fayette group that's coming, and also the Palmyra group.

So there's three groups coming there, but the Colesville branch will be the first ones to get there.

So they're going to come in the middle of May-ish, and so we've got a problem.

And soon afterward, he's going to become pretty conflicted in his loyalties between the church and the Shakers.

In fact, as a result of DNC 48 received back in March, Lehman had agreed to offer his large farm in Thompson, Ohio, for the saints from Colesville, New York, to come and live as they gathered to Ohio.

Remember Section 48 said to the Kirtland saints, give of your land if you have some.

He said, I have some.

Section 51 kind of focuses around the Knight family.

The Knights are sort of the heart of the Colesville branch of the church.

And they leave home in mid-April 1831 to travel to gather with the saints in Kirtland.

The leader of of the Colesville branch is Newell Knight.

And the members of the Colesville branch are delayed for two weeks in Buffalo because the harbor's frozen over.

After the ice thaws, they have to travel through stormy weather on Lake Erie.

Newell Knight, who keeps a great record of this, actually later writes, our voyage on the lake was very disagreeable.

However, we arrived in safety at the place of our destination.

Behold, I the Lord command, and he that will not obey... shall be cut off in my own due time after i have commanded and the commandment is broken okay given the context here the lord does not seem pleased with ezra thayer's delay uh is what i'm taking from these first three verses and then the lord says about his mission call he says wherefore i the lord command and revoke as it seemeth me good and all this to be answered upon the heads of the rebellious saith the lord So like you said, we don't know the exact details surrounding the actions of Ezra Thayer, but it's clear from the revelation that the Lord is displeased and concerned over more than just a financial transaction gone wrong.

Like, something's up, right? The actions taken by Ezra Thayer, whatever they were, combined with the complications arising from Lehman Copley evicting the Colesville Saints, we just talked about in section 54, that threatened the call of several missionaries going to Missouri.

And it's in that context, right? It's in response to these events that the Lord A expresses his displeasure and then B is going to adjust the earlier commandments given to the elders, revoking a portion of them.

Like he said, I command and I revoke.

And he always does, always will.

No individual can frustrate his work, but that doesn't mean it's not frustrating to the Lord, as you can hear his tone in the first three verses when people do this kind of stuff, right? Like verse eight, Verily I say unto you that my servant Ezra Thayer must repent of his pride and of his selfishness.

and obey the former commandment which i have given him concerning the place upon which he lives clearly the lord's like i'm not done with you you're released from this calling but i want to work with you i want you to i want you to be able to come back around verse six for behold i revoked the commandment which was given unto my servants selah griffin and new night in consequence of the stiff-neckedness of my people which are in thompson and their rebellions Remember, so Newell Knight was commanded to go on the mission to Missouri with Selah Griffin, but because Newell Knight was then nominated as the new leader of the Colesville Saints group to lead them to Missouri since Lehman Copley had broken his covenant, like the Lord is doing some shifting here, and he's just calling it what it was.

It was stiff-neckedness.

And they deal with several issues related to the building up the land of Zion, like you said.

And we're going to get the Colesville Saints that are going to be trickling in, and that's going to precede section 59.

And these revelations are filled with a lot of prophetic and practical counsel and correction, all while making known the next steps in establishing Zion.

All right, let's talk context for section 58 then.

In the summer of 1831, as a result of the Lord's commands to do so, in section 52 through 55, Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, 14 companionships of elders listed in section 52, and then some recent converts like Sidney Gilbert and W.W. Phelps.

And finally, the around 60 people in the Colesville branch of the church all travel to Missouri.

And they arrived there, like we mentioned last time, in section 57.

So shortly after Joseph Smith and some of his traveling companions arrive in Jackson County, Missouri, Section 57 was received, which identifies Independence, Missouri, as the center place of the promised land of Zion and the land which was appointed, according to the section, for the gathering of the saints.

But section 59 is addressed to the people that start to come, the really first people that are going to settle in Zion.

And that chiefly concerns the Colesville branch, which the heart of the Colesville branch is the Knight family.

So during the first week of August 1831, the members of this branch start to arrive in and around Independence.

And Polly Knight, who's the matriarch, she's the mother of the Knight family, is deeply involved in the context here.

She's sick the entire journey to Missouri.

In fact, Newell Knight, who's kind of leading the Colesville branch during the journey, was so concerned.

over his mother's health that he purchases lumber while they are travelling just in case he needs to make a coffin for her during the journey but he also notes and this is from his own record he said but the lord gave her the desire of her heart for she lived to stand upon that land meaning Missouri.

And then he later writes on the 6th of August, my mother died.

And we even see that in the temple.

In the wilderness between Harmony, Susquehanna County and Colesville, Broome County on the Susquehanna River, declaring themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom and of the dispensation of the fullness of times.

Are temple workers helping to facilitate the restoration to priesthood, authority, and power to the generations? In the handbook it says this, Temple ordinances for the deceased are generally performed in the following order.

Baptism, Confirmation, Melchizedek Priesthood Ordination for Men,