Thursday, 18.—Elder George A. Smith attended a council of the officers and members of the Church at Leek, numbering sixty-three members, one Elder, six Priests, two Teachers, and two Deacons. Stephen Nixon was ordained an Elder; and John Hudson, Jacob Gibson, and Joseph Knight Priests; and Frederick Rushton and Edwin Rushton, Teachers.
Saturday, 20.
An Inquiry.
City Of Nauvoo, March 20, 1841.
Brother William Allred, Bishop of the stake at Pleasant Vale, and also Brother Henry W. Miller, president of the stake at Freedom, desire President Joseph Smith to inquire of the Lord His will concerning them.
I inquired of the Lord concerning the foregoing question, and received the following answer—
Revelation.
Let my servants, William Allred and Henry W. Miller, have an agency for the selling of stock for the Nauvoo House, and assist my servants Lyman Wight, Peter Haws, George Miller, and John Snider, in building said house; and let my servants William Allred and Henry W. Miller take stock in the house, that the poor of my people may have employment, and that accommodations may be made for the strangers who shall come to visit this place, and for this purpose let them devote all their properties, saith the Lord.
About this time I received a revelation, given in the City of Nauvoo, in answer to the following interrogatory—"What is the will of the Lord, concerning the Saints in the Territory of Iowa?"[[5]]
Revelation.
"Verily, thus saith the Lord, I say unto you, if those who call themselves by my name, and are essaying to be my Saints, if they will do my will and keep my commandments concerning them; let them gather themselves together, unto the place which I shall appoint unto them by my servant Joseph, and build up cities unto my name, that they may be prepared for that which is in store for a time to come. Let them build up a city unto my name upon the land opposite to the City of Nauvoo, and let the name of Zarahemla be named upon it. And let all those who come from the east, and the west, and the north, and the south, that have desires to dwell therein, take up their inheritances in the same, as well as in the City of Nashville, or in the City of Nauvoo, and in all the stakes which I have appointed, saith the Lord."
Sunday, 21.—Elder George A. Smith preached at Leek, and confirmed one.
Organization of the Lesser Priesthood at Nauvoo.
The Lesser Priesthood was organized in the City of Nauvoo, March 21, 1841, by Bishops Whitney, Miller, Higbee, and Knight. Samuel Rolf was chosen president of the Priests' quorum, and Stephen Markham and Hezekiah Peck, his counselors. Elisha Everett was chosen president of Teachers, and James W. Huntsman and James Hendricks, counselors. Phinehas R. Bird was chosen president of Deacons, and David Wood and William W. Lane counselors.