The next day, Thursday, March 31st, the ceremonies in the temple were repeated for the benefit of those Saints who could not find room in the house on the preceding Sabbath.
On Sunday, the 3rd day of April, 1836, after the regular service of the day, the Prophet and Oliver Cowdery retired to the pulpit and dropped the veils by which it was separated from the body of the house, and bowed in solemn and silent prayer. After rising, a vision of supernal sublimity and beauty was opened to the eyes of their understanding. They saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, and under his feet they saw a paved work of pure gold in color like amber. His eyes were as a flame of fire, the hair of His head was white like the pure snow, His countenance shone above the brightness of the sun, and His voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying:
I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain, I am your advocate with the Father;
Behold, your sins are forgiven you, you are clean before me, therefore lift up your heads and rejoice.
Let the hearts of your brethren rejoice, and let the hearts of all my people rejoice, who have with their might built this house to my name.
For behold, I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here, and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house;
Yea, I will appear unto my servants, and speak unto them with mine own voice, if my people will keep my commandments, and do not pollute this holy house.
Yea, the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servants have been endowed in this house;
And the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands, and this is the beginning of the blessing which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people. Even so. Amen.
This vision closed, and then the heavens were again opened. Moses appeared and committed unto them the keys of the gathering of Israel. After this came Elias, who gave to them the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham. When this vision had closed, Elijah, the prophet who was taken to heaven without tasting death, appeared unto them, testifying that the time had fully come which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi concerning the coming of Elijah—before the great and dreadful day of the Lord—to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers, lest the earth should be smitten with a curse.
During several weeks following the dedication of the temple the Prophet and his associates were constantly engaged in measures for the spiritual advancement of the people and with the building up of Kirtland. A comforting thing came to Joseph at that time. It was in the month of May, 1836, when his uncles Asael and Silas Smith arrived in Kirtland with their families, bringing with them the Prophet's grandmother, Mary Smith. This noble woman was ninety-three years of age; she was the widow of Asael Smith, who had prophesied concerning the coming forth of Joseph and who had lived to accept the Book of Mormon. The aged Mary had traveled five hundred miles to see her grandson, the Prophet. For ten days all her relatives in Kirtland enjoyed the pleasure of her presence, and then she gently fell asleep in death.
On the 25th day of July, 1836, the Prophet departed with his brother Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon and Oliver Cowdery, on a mission to the Eastern states. He labored diligently in the vicinity of Salem in Massachusetts, and while there received a revelation in which the Lord declared that many people from that part would in His due time be gathered out to journey to Zion.
Joseph returned to Kirtland in the month of September.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
CLAY COUNTY SORROWFULLY BIDS THE SAINTS TO MIGRATE INTO THE WILDERNESS—JOSEPH SENDS A DIGNIFIED LETTER TO THE CITIZENS— CONTINUANCE OF MOB AUTOCRACY IN JACKSON—DUNKLIN'S HELPLESSNESS—THE SAINTS FORM THE NEW COUNTY OF CALDWELL AND LAY OUT FAR WEST.
They were eastern men, whose manners, habits, customs, and even dialect, are essentially different from our own. They are non-slaveholders, and opposed to slavery, which in this peculiar period, when Abolitionism has reared its deformed and haggard visage in our land, is well calculated to excite deep and abiding prejudices in any community where slavery is tolerated and protected.