Minutes and Discourse, , Medina Co., OH, 21 Apr. 1834. Featured version copied [between ca. late Apr. and 5 May 1834] in Minute Book 1, pp. 43–47; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 1.
Historical Introduction
On 21 April 1834, in , Ohio, JS presided over a of that focused on the necessity of redeeming . This conference had a clear millenarian theme, with sermons indicating that Jesus Christ’s second coming was near and that the inhabitants of the earth needed to repent and gather to Zion in order to be saved. JS and other participants explained that it was imperative for church members to assist the Saints who had been expelled from , Missouri, so Zion could be reclaimed and reoccupied. Such assistance could take two forms: volunteering to go with JS and others on an expedition to or donating money to provision those volunteers. Without such aid, JS stated, Zion would not be redeemed and all of the church would be “persecuted and destroyed in like manner.” JS’s journal notes that “some few volunteered to go to Zion, and others donated $66.37. for the benefit of the scattered breth[r]en in Zion.”
JS also spoke at the conference about some of the foundational events of the church, topics he rarely discussed in public, including the of the Book of Mormon and the “revelation” of both the , or the lesser priesthood, and the . His presentation of these topics largely followed the history he wrote in summer 1832. then spoke on the necessity of redeeming Zion, the construction of the in , Ohio, and the of power that would come after the house was built.
Before the conclusion of the conference, the participants conducted a trial of Thomas Tripp, a church member accused of improprieties with various women. After voting to exclude Tripp from the church, the meeting concluded with the blessing of children by JS and the administration of the . According to JS’s journal, the conference was “a glorious time.”
As clerk of the conference, kept the minutes. later copied the minutes into Minute Book 1.
At an October 1831 conference, for example, Hyrum Smith suggested that JS explain “the coming forth of the book of Mormon,” but JS demurred, stating that “it was not intended to tell the world all the particulars of the coming forth of the book of Mormon.” (Minutes, 25–26 Oct. 1831.)
then related a few items of a vision which he gave as a testimony of those things contained in the revelations read by , and his remarks upon that part relative to the of the with power from on high. Bro. Joseph then occupied a few minutes by way of explanation of the revelation concerning the building of the .
Bro. then took up the third item, viz: The spreading of the word of the Lord. After which several brethren spoke.
The case of bro. Thomas Tripp who had been found in transgression, was then called in question. Bro. David Evans was called upon to state what he knew concerning the case, who said that he had been guilty of improprieties with a sister when going home from a meeting by takeing her by the hand. And also committed some other improprieties with another sister by drawing her breasts. He had sought witness against a sister in good standing from a wicked woman in the world. The then voted that Thomas Tripp be excluded from this with the privilege of an appeal to the at .
Bro. Joseph then laid hands upon certain children & blessed them in the name of the Lord. The was then administered by bro. .
The number of was— 7.
" D[itt]o " Elders "—— 13.
Adjourned to the Monday precedeing the second sunday in September. The conference then closed by singing, “Now my remnant of days,” &c.
A December 1832 revelation commanded the Saints to build a “house of God” in Kirtland, and a June 1833 revelation reiterated the command. Since the latter revelation also provided specific directions about constructing the house, it was probably the revelation that JS discussed here. (Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:119]; Revelation, 1 June 1833 [D&C 95].)
Thomas Tripp may be the same Thomas Tripp who appears in the 1830 census for Tyre, Seneca County, New York. The church was organized in Fayette, Seneca County, in 1830. There is little information available about Tripp, other than that he preached in Wayne County, Ohio, in April 1831 and, according to an Evans family history, baptized David Evans in 1833. Tripp may have also ordained Evans both a priest and an elder. (1830 U.S. Census, Tyre, Seneca Co., NY, 31; JS History, vol. A-1, 37; McBride, Autobiography, 22–23; “David Evans,” [10].)
Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.
JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.
McBride, James. Autobiography, 1874–1876. Microfilm. CHL. MS 8201.
The bishop’s council was a lower appellate body than the Kirtlandhigh council. According to the minutes of the meeting where the Kirtland high council was organized, the high council would act only as an appellate court in cases that could not be resolved “by the Church, or the bishop’s council” or in cases tried outside of church headquarters before a council of high priests. Because Tripp was tried by the conference of elders, his first recourse for appeal was the bishop’s council. (Revised Minutes, 18–19 Feb. 1834 [D&C 102:2, 24, 27–28].)
The “Articles and Covenants” of the church instructed “every member” with children “to bring them unto the elders before the church” so the elders could “lay hands on them in the name of the Lord, and bless them in the name of Christ.” (Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20:70].)
Possibly the Methodist hymn that began “Away with our fears: / The glad morning appears.” The final stanza of the hymn begins “My remnant of days / I spend in his praise.” (Hymn 642, Hymns for the Use of the Methodist New Connexion.)
Hymns for the Use of the Methodist New Connexion. Principally from the Collection of the Rev. John Wesley, M. A. Late Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. Manchester: W. Shuttleworth, 1836.