Doctrine and Covenants 115-120

<p>The Lord explains that multiple stakes of Zion will be built in the regions surrounding Far West, but new stakes must be designated by the First Presidency, who hold the keys of the kingdom. This instruction aligns with a revelation given several months earlier, which was recorded in Joseph Smith’s journal but not included in the Doctrine and Covenants. The revelation reads: </p> <blockquote> <p>Kirtland Jan 12^th 1838</p> <p>Can any branch of the Church of Latter Day Saints be considered a stake of Zion until [until] they have acknowleged the authority of the First Presidency, by a vote of said Church[?]</p> <p>Thus saith the Lord verily I say unto you nay</p> <p>How then[?]</p> <p>Answer. No stake shall be appointed except by the First Presidency and this Presidency be acknowledged by the voice of the same, otherwise it shall not be counted as a stake of Zion, And again except it be dedicated by this Presidency it cannot be acknowledged as a stake of Zion, For unto this end, have I appointed them, in laying the foundation of and establishing my Kingdom.<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1" title="" class="see-footnote">[1]</a></p> </blockquote> <p>This revelation from January 12 was an important step toward establishing the First Presidency as the leaders of the entire Church. When this revelation was received, there were only two stakes in the Church. The two stake presidencies were seen as roughly equal in authority, which was problematic as the First Presidency was serving as the stake presidency of the Church in Ohio. This revelation, along with Doctrine and Covenants 115, firmly establishes the role of the First Presidency as the leaders of the entire Church. </p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a> Revelation, 12 January 1838–B, p. 1, JSP.</p> </div>

<p>In spring 1838, more and more Latter-day Saints continued to stream into Caldwell County in Northwest Missouri, the new gathering place for the Church. During this time Church leaders identified between “forty and fifty locations” north of the Church headquarters at Far West for possible settlement.<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1" title="" class="see-footnote">[1]</a> About a year earlier, Lyman Wight had traveled about twenty-five miles to the north of Far West, Missouri. Wight built a cabin and established a ferry near the Grand River in Daviess County at a place called Spring Hill. In mid-May of 1838, Joseph Smith traveled with a company of Church leaders to Wight’s settlement at Spring Hill, where they laid out a plan for a city. </p> <p>Doctrine and Covenants 116 is an excerpt from Joseph Smith’s journal, recorded on May 19, 1838. The entire entry for the day reads as follows:</p> <blockquote> <p><19 sat> The next morning we struck our tents, and marched [and] crossed Grand river at the mouth of Honey Creek at a place called Nelsons ferry, Grand River is a large[,] beautiful[,] deep[,] and rapid stream and will undoubtedly admit of steamboat and other water craft navigation, and at the mouth of honey creek is a splendid harbor for the safety of such crafts, and also for landing freight[.] We next kept up the river mostly in the timber for ten miles, until we came to Col. Lyman Wight’s, who lives at the foot of Tower Hill, a name appropriated by President Smith, in consequence of the remains of an old Nephitish Altar an[d] Tower, where we camped for the sabbath, In the after part of the day, Presidents Smith and Rigdon and myself, went to Wights. Ferry about a half mile from this place up the river, for the purpose of selecting and laying claims to [a] city plot near said Ferry, in Davis [Daviess] County Township 60, Range 27 & 28, and Sections 25, 36, 31, 30, which was called Spring Hill[,] a name appropriated by the brethren present, But after wards named by the mouth of [the] Lord and was called Adam Ondi Awmen [Adam-ondi-Ahman], because said he[,] it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of days shall sit as spoken of by Daniel the Prophet.<a href="#_ftn2" id="_ftnref2" title="" class="see-footnote">[2]</a></p> </blockquote> <p>The journal excerpt, which includes Doctrine and Covenants 116, was printed as part of the multivolume <em>History of the Church. </em>Acting under the direction of Brigham Young, Orson Pratt extracted the revelatory part of the journal excerpt and included it in the 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants.<a href="#_ftn3" id="_ftnref3" title="" class="see-footnote">[3]</a> </p> <p>See “Historical Introduction,” Journal, March–September 1838, pp. 43–44, JSP.</p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a> Lyndon W. Cook, <em>The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith, </em>1985, 228. </p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref2" id="_ftn2" title="" class="footnote-label">[2]</a> JS Journal, March–September 1838, pp. 43–44, JSP. </p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref3" id="_ftn3" title="" class="footnote-label">[3]</a> Robert J. Woodford, <em>Historical Development of the Doctrine and Covenants,</em> 1974,1518.</p> </div>

<p>The name of Adam-ondi-Ahman was revealed several years earlier to Joseph Smith during a patriarchal blessing given to his father on December 18, 1833. The blessing was later added to the Doctrine and Covenants as part of section 107 (D&C 107:53–57). The revelation in section 116 that designates Spring Hill as Adam-ondi-Ahman refers to a visitation from Adam which has not yet occurred, but this future event will likely be in the same location where Adam anciently gathered “the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing” (see commentary on D&C 107:53–57). </p> <p>The prophecy of Daniel the prophet that the Lord refers to in section 116 is found in Daniel 7:9–14, in which Daniel declared: </p> <blockquote> <p>I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire . . . behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Daniel 7:9, 13–14).</p> </blockquote> <p>On many occasions, the Prophet Joseph Smith positively identified the “Ancient of Days” as Adam. In an 1839 discourse recorded by Willard Richards, the Prophet declared: </p> <blockquote> <p>[When Daniel 7] speaks of the Ancient of days, he means the oldest man, our Father Adam, Michael; he will call his children together and hold a council with them to prepare them for the coming of the Son of Man. He, (Adam) is the Father of the human family and presides over the Spirits of all men, and all that have had the keys must stand before him in this grand council. This may take place before some of us leave this stage of action, the Son of Man Stands before him and there is given him glory & dominion. Adam delivers up his stewardship to Christ, that which was delivered to him as holding the Keys of the Universe, but retains his standing as head of the human family.”<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1" title="" class="see-footnote">[1]</a></p> </blockquote> <p>In an 1877 discourse Orson Pratt further enlightened the Saints on the meaning of the name “Adam-ondi-Ahman.” He explained, “We have then an understanding that it was the place where Adam dwelt. Perhaps you may be anxious to know what ‘Ondi-Ahman’ means. It means the place where Adam dwelt. ‘Ahman’ signifies God. The whole term means Valley of God, where Adam dwelt. It is in the original language spoken by Adam, as revealed to the Prophet Joseph.”<a href="#_ftn2" id="_ftnref2" title="" class="see-footnote">[2]</a></p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a> Discourse, between circa 26 June and circa 4 August 1839–A, as Reported by Willard Richards, pp. 63–64, JSP.</p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref2" id="_ftn2" title="" class="footnote-label">[2]</a> Orson Pratt, in <em>Journal of Discourses, </em>18:342–43; see also “Sample of Pure Language, between circa 4 and circa 20 March 1832,” p. 144, JSP. </p> </div>

<p>Shortly after Joseph moved to Far West, Missouri, in March 1838, the Lord commanded him that “other places should be appointed for stakes in the regions round about” (see section 115). Anticipating that large numbers of Saints would gather to the area from Ohio, Canada, and elsewhere, Joseph and other leaders set off to explore Daviess County “for the purpose of … making Locations &amp; laying claims for the gathering of the Saints for the benefit of the poor.”<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1" title="" class="see-footnote">[1]</a> Near Lyman Wight’s home, Joseph revealed section 116. </p> <p>Orson Pratt inserted the words “Spring Hill is named by the Lord Adam-ondi-Ahman” when he included this statement in the 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. The original entry in Joseph’s journal, made by his secretary George Robinson, reads: “Spring Hill a name appropriated by the bretheren present, But afterwards named by the mouth of [the] Lord and was called Adam Ondi Awmen, because said he it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of days shall sit as spoken of by Daniel the Prophet.”<a href="#_ftn2" id="_ftnref2" title="" class="see-footnote">[2]</a></p> <p>Section 116 links the past with the future, sacred history with prophecy. Adam-ondi-Ahman is a place Adam and Eve went after being expelled from Eden’s garden. They offered sacrifices and blessed their posterity there. Joseph learned by revelation in 1831 that Adam, prior to his death, gathered his posterity in a valley called Adam-ondi-Ahman and blessed them and they blessed him. The Lord appeared to them and promised Adam that he would preside over a multitude of nations. Adam rose and, though aged, prophesied what would happen to his posterity (D&C 78:15–16 and 107:53–56). </p> <p>Section 116 identifies the specific site of that impressive occasion and says that the site will host a future meeting. Adam, or the Ancient of Days, as Daniel called him, will again gather his righteous posterity there, possibly for the sacrament and stewardship meeting prophesied in section 27. </p> <p>Approximately fifteen hundred Latter-day Saints settled at Adam-ondi-Ahman in 1838. They planned a temple. They laid out a stake in obedience to section 115. They obeyed the law of consecration in obedience to section 119.<a href="#_ftn3" id="_ftnref3" title="" class="see-footnote">[3]</a> They were driven from the land later that year when Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issued an executive “extermination” order that effectively enabled Missourians to steal the land by preventing the Saints from asserting their preemption rights. Even so, because of section 116, the Church has quietly acquired and preserved the sacred site. </p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a> “<a href="https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-march-september-1838/28" target="_blank">Journal, March–September 1838</a>,” p. 42, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed December 2, 2020.</p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref2" id="_ftn2" title="" class="footnote-label">[2]</a>See Daniel chapter 7. </p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref3" id="_ftn3" title="" class="footnote-label">[3]</a> Robert J. Matthews, Adam-ondi-Ahman,” <em>BYU Studies</em> 13:1 (1972): 27–35; Leland H. Gentry, “Adam-ondi-Ahman: A Brief Historical Survey,” <em>BYU Studies</em> 13:4 (1973): 553–76.</p> </div>