Doctrine and Covenants 51–57

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;And whoso is found a faithful, a just, and a wise steward shall enter into the joy of his Lord, and shall inherit eternal life&rsquo; The part of this promise &lsquo;shall enter into the joy of his Lord&rsquo; is even given to us for this life while we are here on earth. And if we are faithful and just and a wise steward now, we &lsquo;shall enter into the joy of [our] Lord&rsquo; and Savior now and prepare ourselves for eternal life. Now...we determine where we will be when we leave this mortal life, because when the hour of redemption has come, the hour of preparation has passed.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Obedient to the Lord’s commandment to “assemble together at the Ohio” (D&C 37:3), the Knight family and other members of the Colesville Branch departed from their homes in mid-April 1831 to gather with the Saints in Kirtland. Led by Newel Knight, the members of the Colesville Branch were delayed for two weeks in Buffalo, New York, because the harbor was frozen over. After the ice thawed, they weathered the stormy journey over Lake Erie on their way to Kirtland. “Our voyage on [the] lake [was] very disagreeable, nearly all the company being seasick,” Newel Knight later wrote. “However, we arrived in safety at our place of destination.”<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1" title="" class="see-footnote">[1]</a></p> <p>The arrival of the Colesville Saints and the other Church members from New York proved to be the first test of leadership for Bishop Edward Partridge, who had been called only a few months earlier to look after the temporal needs of the Saints and to implement the law of consecration (D&C 41:9; 42:31–32). At Bishop Partridge’s request, Joseph Smith sought instruction from the Lord and received a revelation providing guidance on how to help the refugees who were arriving from New York.</p> <p>Orson Pratt was present when this revelation was received. In 1874 he recounted the experience in a discourse given in Brigham City, Utah. An account of Orson’s discourse reads, </p> <p>Joseph was as calm as the morning sun. But he noticed a change in his countenance that he had never noticed before, when a revelation was given to him. Joseph’s face was exceedingly white, and seemed to shine. The speaker [Orson] had been present many times when he was translating the New Testament, and wondered why he did not use the Urim and Thummim, as in translating the Book of Mormon. While this thought passed through the speaker’s mind, Joseph, as if he read his thoughts, looked up and explained that the Lord gave him the Urim and Thummim when he was inexperienced with the Spirit of inspiration. But now he had advanced so far that he understood the operations of that Spirit, and did not need the assistance of that instrument.<a href="#_ftn2" id="_ftnref2" title="" class="see-footnote">[2]</a></p> <p>See “Historical Introduction,” Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51].</p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a> <em>Rise of the Latter-day Saints, </em>33.</p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref2" id="_ftn2" title="" class="footnote-label">[2]</a> <em>Millennial Star, </em>11 August, 1874, 498–499.</p> </div>

<p>In the spring of 1831 Bishop Edward Partridge had a problem. It was his job to organize and settle the Saints who were gathering from New York to Ohio. Leman Copley was a member of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing when he converted to the restored gospel in Ohio. He offered to let the Colesville, New York, Saints settle on some of his 759 acres in Thompson.<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a> Bishop Partridge asked Joseph how to organize the immigrant Saints. Joseph asked the Lord, who gave Section 51, “A revelation given to the Bishop at Thompson Ohio May 20^th1831 concerning the property of the Church.”<a href="#_ftn2" id="_ftnref2" title="" class="footnote-label">[2]</a> </p> <p>This revelation begins to implement the law of consecration. Initially it instructed Bishop Partridge to obtain a deed from Leman Copley for his land “if he harden not his heart.” Copley returned to his former faith, however, and rescinded his offer for the gathering Saints to settle on his land. He did not give consent to Bishop Partridge obtaining the title to it.<a href="#_ftn3" id="_ftnref3" title="" class="footnote-label">[3]</a> When Section 51 was first published in 1835, its instructions about Bishop Partridge obtaining a deed to Copley’s land were long since irrelevant and were omitted from the published version.<a href="#_ftn4" id="_ftnref4" title="" class="footnote-label">[4]</a> </p> <p>The Saints who had gathered on Copley’s property were told by the Lord to gather to Missouri instead (section 54). Bishop Partridge implemented section 51 in Missouri. He purchased hundreds of acres and established a storehouse to supply the needs of the Saints. He was sued by a fellow named Bates who had donated fifty dollars to purchase land and then decided he wanted it back.<a href="#_ftn5" id="_ftnref5" title="" class="footnote-label">[5]</a> The suit was granted, apparently on the grounds that the bishop did exactly what section 51 originally said: he purchased the land in his own name and then leased parts of it to individual stewards while he remained, on behalf of the Lord, the legal owner. </p> <p>Bishop Partridge must have felt like the law of the land prohibited him from carrying out section 51. Joseph wrote to Bishop Partridge in Missouri in May 1833 to counsel him what to do, explaining much of section 51 in the process. Bates had expected something tangible in return for his fifty dollars.<a href="#_ftn6" id="_ftnref6" title="" class="footnote-label">[6]</a> Joseph assured the bishop that he remained bound by the law of the Lord to receive consecrated property to purchase inheritances for the poor. Joseph emphasized that such offerings were legal and in no way coerced. “Any man has a right … agreeable to the laws of our country, to donate, give or consecrate all that he feels disposed to give.” Joseph counseled the bishop to ensure that all offerings were legal by making sure that donors understood they were giving money freely for the poor, not in exchange for anything temporal. “This way no man can take advantage of you in law,” Joseph wrote. </p> <p>He also counseled the bishop to apply section 51 by deeding pieces of land to Saints as their “individual property.” Joseph called this “private stewardship,” not ownership. Bishop Partridge issued several such deeds based on section 51. (See the Titus Billings example below.) When section 51 was first published in 1835, much of verse 5 was added to keep folks like Bates from suing the Lord’s bishop. Joseph wrote to Bishop Partridge that the revelation in D&C 51:5 was given so “that rich men cannot have power to disinherit the poor by obtaining again that which they have consecrated.” <a href="#_ftn7" id="_ftnref7" title="" class="footnote-label">[7]</a></p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a> Geauga County Tax Records 1832, 230; Dean C. Jessee, editor, <em>The Papers of Joseph Smith</em> (Salt Lake City: Deseret, 1989), 1:480; Dean C. Jessee, editor, “Joseph Knight's Recollection of Early Mormon History,” <em>BYU Studies</em> 17:1 (1976).</p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref2" id="_ftn2" title="" class="footnote-label">[2]</a> “<a href="https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-20-may-1831-dc-51/1" target="_blank">Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51]</a>,” p. 86, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 30, 2020. </p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref3" id="_ftn3" title="" class="footnote-label">[3]</a> Newel and Joseph Knight sources.</p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref4" id="_ftn4" title="" class="footnote-label">[4]</a> Compare “<a href="https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-20-may-1831-dc-51/1" target="_blank">Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51]</a>,” p. 86, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 30, 2020, with “<a href="https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/doctrine-and-covenants-1835/158" target="_blank">Doctrine and Covenants, 1835</a>,” p. 150, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 30, 2020. </p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref5" id="_ftn5" title="" class="footnote-label">[5]</a> “The Elders Stationed in Zion to the Churches Abroad,” <em>The Evening and the Morning Star</em> 2:14 (July 1822): 109.</p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref6" id="_ftn6" title="" class="footnote-label">[6]</a> Painesville, Ohio <em>Telegraph</em> April 26, 1833, printed in Cook, 135. </p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref7" id="_ftn7" title="" class="footnote-label">[7]</a> “<a href="https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-edward-partridge-2-may-1833/1" target="_blank">Letter to Edward Partridge, 2 May 1833</a>,” p. [1], The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 30, 2020. </p> </div>

<p>The Lord specifies that as the Church members from New York begin to arrive in the Kirtland area they must be organized according to His laws, a likely reference to the law of consecration and other laws revealed a few months earlier (D&C 42). Throughout the history of the Church, the law of consecration has been a dynamic set of principles designed to be adjusted to fit the current needs of Church members. Consecration was not going to be a one-size-fits-all affair. While it is true that the Lord counseled Bishop Partridge to divide resources on an equal basis, He also directs him to make determinations based on a family’s circumstances, wants, and needs (D&C 51:3).</p> <p>Rather than an arbitrary function, consecration was set up to be a negotiation in good faith between the bishop and the family in need of assistance. Two years later, as Bishop Partridge was laboring to set up the law of consecration in Missouri, Joseph Smith wrote a letter to explain the roles of the bishop and the church member in determining stewardships. He wrote, </p> <blockquote> <p>I will tell you that every man must be his own judge how much he should receive, and how much he should suffer to remain in the hands of the Bishop. . . . The matter of consecration must be done by the mutual consent of both parties—For, to give the Bishop power to say how much every man shall have and he be obliged to comply with the Bishops judgment, is giving to the Bishop more power than a King has and upon the other hand, to let every man say how much he needs and the Bishop obliged to comply with his judgment, is to throw Zion into confusion and make a Slave of the Bishop. The fact is, there must be a balance or equilibrium of power between the bishop and the people, and thus harmony and good will may be preserved among you.<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1" title="" class="see-footnote">[1]</a></p> </blockquote> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a> Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, Missouri, 25 June 1833, 2, JSP.</p> </div>