, Letter, , Essex Co., NY, to JS and Kirtland high council, , Geauga Co., OH, 20 Oct. 1834. Featured version copied [not before 25 Feb. 1836] in Minute Book 1, pp. 78–80; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 1.
But I have felt very uneasy, while the has gone forth for the Eastern to flee unto the West. The first, or about the first of Sept. I with 2 of my brethren, took the revelation concerning the redemption of , and read it, and then we agreed to ask God to enable us to obey the same. as we live in the Eastern States our minds lit over these important lines, [“]therefore a commandment I give unto all the churches, that they shall continue to together unto the places which I have appointed, nevertheless, as I have said unto you in a former commandment, let not your gathering be in haste nor by flight, but let all things be prepared before you, & in order that all things be prepared before you, observe the commandment which I have given concerning these things which saith or teacheth to purchase all the lands, by money, which can be purchased for money, in the region round about the land which I have appointed to be the land of Zion. for the beginning of the gathering of my saints; all the land which can be purchased in , and the counties round about and leave the residue in mine hand.
[“]Now verily I say unto you, let all the churches gather together all their monies, let these things be done in their time, be not in haste, and observe to have all things prepared before you, and let honorable men be appointed even wise men and send them to purchase these lands, and every church in the Eastern countries, when they are built up, if they will hearken unto this council, they may by buy lands and gather together upon them, and in this way they may establish Zion.[”] And after further consideration and much prayer, we carried the case before the church in this place which met the approbation of the same. Accordingly we strove to become of one heart and one mind, appointed a day for fasting & prayer, and asked the Lord to enable [p. 79]
The December 1833 revelation referred to here was published as a broadsheet soon after its dictation and was distributed to the different branches of the church. (Verily, I Say unto You, concerning Your Brethren Who Have Been Afflicted [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834], copy at CHL [D&C 101]; “A Scrap of Mormonism,” Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 24 Jan. 1834, [1]; Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 147–155; Letter to the Church in Clay Co., MO, 22 Jan. 1834.)
Verily, I say unto you, concerning your brethren who have been afflicted. [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834]. Copy at CHL.
Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.