[Footnote H: Page 24.]
Again, before the Prophet and his companions departed from Fayette, in the month of January, speaking of the provisions that he would make for the poor, the Lord said:
I have made the earth rich; and behold it is my footstool, wherefore, again I will stand upon it; and I hold forth, and deign to give unto you greater riches, even a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey, upon which there shall be no curse when the Lord cometh: and I will give it unto you for the land of your inheritance, if you seek it with all your hearts. And this shall be my covenant with you, ye shall have it for the land of your inheritance, and for the inheritance of your children forever, while the earth shall stand, and ye shall possess it again in eternity, no more to pass away.[I]
[Footnote I: Doc. & Cov. Sec. 380.]
After the Prophet's arrival in Kirtland, the branch of The Church there in the meantime having increased to about one hundred members, the elders of The Church were sent out into the surrounding country, two and two, to preach the gospel; and a promise of a future mission was given to them in which it was said:
And from this place ye shall go forth into the regions westward; and inasmuch as ye shall find them that will receive you, ye shall build up my Church in every region, until the time shall come when it shall be revealed unto you from on high, when the city of the New Jerusalem shall be prepared, that ye may be gathered in one, that ye may be my people and I will be your God.[J]
[Footnote J: Ibid Sec. 42.]
Moreover, in the same revelation, something of the law under which the holy city is to be built up unto the Lord was revealed, of which we shall say more in the course of this history.
In the latter part of February a brief revelation was given, making known that it was the will of the Lord that the elders who had been sent out to preach in the regions round about should be called together; and this led to the appointment of a somewhat notable conference of The Church that was called to meet on the sixth day of June ensuing. On the 7th of March (1831), the Lord gave a somewhat lengthy revelation setting forth the judgments that should come upon the generation in which this new dispensation of the gospel came forth, in the course of which it is said:
Wherefore I, the Lord, have said, gather ye out from the eastern lands, assemble ye yourselves together ye elders of my Church; go ye forth into the western countries, call upon the inhabitants to repent, and inasmuch as they do repent, build up churches unto me; and with one heart and with one mind, gather up your riches that ye may purchase an inheritance which shall hereafter be appointed unto you, and it shall be called the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the Most High God; and the glory of the Lord shall be there, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it, and it shall be called Zion.
And it shall come to pass, among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor, must needs flee unto Zion for safety. And there shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven; and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another. And it shall be said among the wicked, Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot stand.[K]