16. Later revelations called the elders of the Church to assemble in western Missouri,[1054] and designated that place as the land appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the Saints.[1055] "Wherefore this is the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion."[1056] The town of Independence was named as "the center place," and the site for the temple was designated, the Saints being counseled to purchase land there, "that they may obtain it for an everlasting inheritance."[1057] On August 3rd, 1831, the temple site thus named was solemnly dedicated by the prophet, Joseph Smith, and his associates in the priesthood.[1058] The region round about was also dedicated, that it might be a gathering place for the people of God.
17. Such, then, is the belief of the Latter-day Saints; such are the teachings of the Church. But the plan of building up Zion has not yet been consummated. The Saints were not permitted to enter into immediate possession of the land, which was promised them as an everlasting inheritance. Even as years elapsed between the time of the Lord's promise to Israel of old that Canaan should be their inheritance, and the time of their entering into possession thereof,—years devoted to the people's toilsome and sorrowful preparation for the fulfilment,—so in these latter-days, the Divine purpose is held in abeyance, while the people are being sanctified for the great gift, and for the greater responsibilities associated with it. In the meantime, the honest in heart are gathering to the valleys of the Rocky Mountains; and here, in the tops of the mountains, exalted above the hills, temples have been erected, and all nations are flowing unto this region. But Zion shall yet be established on the chosen site; she "shall not be moved out of her place," and the pure in heart shall surely return, "with songs of everlasting joy to build up the waste places of Zion."[1059]
18. But gathered Israel cannot be confined to the "center place," nor to the region immediately adjacent; other places have been and will be appointed, and these are called Stakes of Zion.[1060] Many stakes have been established in the regions inhabited by the Latter-day Saints, and these are to be permanent possessions; and thence will go those who are appointed from among the worthy to receive possession of their inheritances. Zion is to be chastened, but only for a little season,[1061] then will come the time of her redemption.
19. That time will be appointed of God, yet it is to be determined according to the faithfulness of the people. Their wickedness causeth the Lord to tarry; for, saith He:—"Therefore, in consequence of the transgression of my people, it is expedient in me that mine elders should wait for a little season for the redemption of Zion."[1062] And again,—"Zion shall be redeemed in mine own due time."[1063] But the Lord's time in giving blessings unto His people is dependent upon them. As long ago as 1834 came the word of the Lord unto the Church:—"Behold, I say unto you, were it not for the transgressions of my people ... they might have been redeemed even now."[1064]
NOTES.
1. Jerusalem.—"The city has, in different ages, borne a variety of names, and even in the Bible it has several designations. Salem, mentioned in Gen. xiv, 18, was perhaps its name in the time of Melchizedek, and it is certainly so called in Psa. lxxvi, 2. Isaiah (xxix, 1, 7) calls it Ariel. Jebus, or Jebusi, the city of the Jebusites, was its name in the days of Joshua and the Judges (Josh. xv, 8; xviii, 16, 28; Judges xix, 10, 11), and this name continued in use till David's time (I Chron. xi, 4, 5). Some have thought that Jerusalem is itself a corruption of Jebus-Salem, but it is a theory unsupported by facts. Jerusalem is also termed 'the city of David,' 'the city of Judah,' 'the holy city,' 'the city of God' (II Kings xiv, 20; II Chron. xxv, 28; Neh. xi, 18; Psa. lxxxvii, 3). To this day it is called el-Kuds, or 'the holy,' in most countries of the East. No city in the world has received more honorable appellations; our Savior himself called it 'the city of the great King.'"—Bible Dictionary, Cassell & Co., p. 600.
2. The Founding of Zion in Missouri.—"... A company of Saints known as the Colesville Branch—from their having lived at Colesville, Broome County, New York—had arrived in Missouri, and having received instructions to purchase the lands in the regions around about Zion, they secured a tract of land in a fertile prairie some ten or twelve miles west of Independence, in Kaw township, not far from the present location of Kansas City. On the 2nd of August [1831]—the day preceding the dedication of the temple site—in the settlement of the Colesville Saints, the first log was laid for a house as the foundation of Zion. The log was carried by twelve men, in honor of the Twelve Tribes of Israel; and Elder Sidney Rigdon consecrated and dedicated the land of Zion for the gathering of the Saints."—Outlines of Ecclesiastical History, by Elder B. H. Roberts, p. 352.
3. Temple Site, Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.—"Taking the road running west from the Court House for a scant half mile, you come to the summit of a crowning hill, the slope of which to the south and west is quite abrupt, but very gradual toward the north and east.... This is the temple site. It was upon this spot on the third day of August, 1831, that Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Edward Partridge, W. W. Phelps, Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, and Joseph Coe, and another person whose name I cannot learn, for there were eight in all—men in whom the Lord was well pleased, assembled to dedicate this place as the temple site in Zion. The eighty-seventh psalm was read. Joseph [the prophet] then dedicated the spot, where is to be built a temple on which the glory of God shall rest. Yea, the great God hath so decreed it, saying: 'Verily this generation shall not pass away, until an house shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house.... And the sons of Moses, and also the sons of Aaron, shall offer an acceptable offering, and sacrifice in the house of the Lord, which house shall be built unto the Lord in this generation, upon the consecrated spot as I have appointed.'—(Doc. and Cov. sec. lxxxiv, 5, 31.)"—Elder B. H. Roberts, Missouri Persecutions. See "The House of the Lord," by James E. Talmage, Chapter V.