ahead, but unless we can take hold of it with good assurance of its accomplishment it is his opinion we had better leave it till we can.
The said there is a Revelation wherein we are commanded to build the , and we have sent out men to fetch in the means to do it. The stone for the are about cut, and we will have a host of hands without work and unless we can devise means to find them something to do they will go away. If we take hold of this thing and lay it before the conference we will make sale of shares enough to build the , and this will also find employment for those who come here through the summer. and if we dont find them employment, they will go away. If we tell the people that if they dont build that they shall bear [p. [175]]
On 12 January 1845 Brigham Young told the Nauvoo high priests quorum that he needed fifty men from the quorum to go on a mission “as agents of the Church.” Three days later Young met with the chosen men, gave them assignments throughout the United States, and instructed them to “go into the branches and tell the presiding Elder what you want, and see what they can do for the temple. Tell them it is their duty to tithe themselves. Gather up all the means you can. Make depots, and bring up all the means and men you can to stay all summer.” Though providing means for the Nauvoo House was not listed among the earlier assignments for these missionaries, the renewed interest in that project likely meant that the resources the missionaries gathered would be divided between the Nauvoo temple and the Nauvoo House. The Times and Seasons explained that the missionaries would “collect donations and tithings for the Temple in the city of Nauvoo, and for other purposes.” (High Priests Quorum Record, 12 and 15 Jan. 1845; Newel K. Whitney and George Miller, “To Whom It May Concern,” Times and Seasons, 15 Jan. 1845, 6:780–781.)
High Priests Quorum Record, 1841–1845. CHL.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.