SIDNEY RIGDON AND EDWARD PARTRIDGE JOIN THE CHURCH—JOSEPH COMMENCES THE TRANSLATION OF THE SCRIPTURES—SAINTS COMMANDED TO GATHER AT OHIO —JOSEPH MIGRATES FROM NEW YORK—THE KIRKLAND SAINTS FALL INTO ERROR— GOD'S POWER MANIFESTED—IMPORTANT REVELATIONS.  
In December, 1830, two men came from Kirtland, Ohio, to visit the Prophet at Fayette. They were Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge. Both had accepted the gospel, as declared to them by the western missionaries, and Sidney Rigdon had been baptized. After reaching Fayette, Edward Partridge demanded and received baptism under the Prophet's hands. These two men offered to Joseph, for the work of the Lord, their time, their talents, and all they possessed. Like all the early members of the Church, having not yet gained full understanding of the purposes of God, having not yet gained confidence in their own ability to rightly determine their conduct, they desired that the Lord should give them His special commands. Joseph prayed for revelation on their behalf, and was speedily answered.
 
The Lord revealed many comforting and exalting truths to Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge. To Sidney He gave a special command that he should write for Joseph. The Lord made known to Sidney what Joseph already understood—that the Scriptures should be given, even as they were in God's own bosom, to the salvation of His elect. And soon after this time Joseph began a new translation of the Scriptures. While he labored, many truths, buried through scores of ages, were brought forth to his understanding, and he saw in their purity and holiness all the doings of God among His children, from the days of Adam unto the birth of our Lord and Savior. But before the close of December, after Sidney had been aiding Joseph some little time, the Lord required the Prophet to temporarily cease his work of translation. The enemy of all truth was drawing his forces around about Fayette to achieve the destruction of the Prophet, and the downfall of the newly-founded Church. But they were to be foiled. Fayette was not the region where the Lord designed His people to settle. Joseph's mind had been led to look to the western country for that purpose. Contact with Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge confirmed his inclination in that direction. The time had now arrived when it appeared necessary for the accomplishment of God's purposes, that His people (now increased to several score,) should have an abiding-place. It was made known to Joseph by revelation from the Lord, where this new resting-place should be. He himself, did not expect to escape personal suffering or persecution by this new move; nor was this in the providence of God concerning him. But he knew that every migration made by him under the direction of the Almighty had been followed by prosperity and increase to the work, and he, therefore, obeyed the command to move to the place designated by the Lord, without hesitation or doubt.
 
In the revelation now referred to, it was commanded that the people of God should assemble in the State of Ohio, and there await the return of Oliver Cowdery and his fellow-missionaries from their eventful journey into the wilderness. Thus early in the history of the Church was the destiny of the people outlined. Kirtland was to be a stake of Zion; blessed by the presence of God's anointed Prophet and the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; glorified by a temple built to the name of the Most High; and worthy to receive the ministrations in person of the Only Begotten Son of the Eternal Father. And yet it was to be but a temporary resting-place; for even while the Saints were to gather to Kirtland, the western missionaries were viewing the region in Missouri, yet to be known as the centre stake of Zion, which was to be built up and beautified for the visible presence of our Lord and Savior.
 
Before organizing his company for the migration from Seneca County, New York, into Ohio, the Prophet called a conference of the Church to be held in Fayette on the 2nd day of January, 1831. With the opening of the year, the Prophet saw a glorious prospect for the welfare of the kingdom. And at this conference all present seemed to partake of his faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit. In a revelation given for the comfort and sustenance of the Saints on this occasion, the Lord made known that in secret chambers there was much plotting for the destruction of the Saints of God. The command was renewed that they should go into Ohio, and some of the reasons for this movement were made known. Encouragement was also given to the people that the Lord intended to give unto them a land of promise—a land upon which there should be no curse when the Lord should come. If they would seek it with all their hearts the Lord made a covenant with them that it should be the land of inheritance for themselves and their children, not only while the earth shall stand, but in eternity, no more to pass away. It is upon this and kindred promises that is founded the hope so tenaciously clung to by the Latter-day Saints amid all the vicissitudes of their checkered career, that they will yet inherit that land where the centre stake of Zion is to be built.
 
In the latter part of January, 1831, Joseph departed for Kirtland. In his company were his wife, and Elders Sidney Rigdon, Edward Partridge, Ezra Thayer, and Newel Knight. Before leaving Seneca County, and later at several points on their journey, they preached in public meetings to many searchers after the truth. On every occasion new converts came forward and accepted baptism at their hands. They reached their destination in the opening of February; Joseph and his wife at once found entertainment and comfort in the house of Elder Newel K. Whitney, one of the converts made in Kirtland by the western missionaries. For some weeks the Prophet dwelt here, solaced and sustained by the faith and prayers of some dear friends. But outside this little circle he found much to cause him concern of mind.
 
The branch of the Church at Kirtland had become numerically strong, for it numbered nearly one hundred members. But they had been led into strange errors and darkness. False spirits had crept in and had manifested themselves in the subjugation of the physical and mental powers of their victims—as Newel Knight had formerly been controlled and possessed by the evil power at Colesville. The Saints at Kirtland, not having had experience to enable them to distinguish between the powers of light and the powers of darkness, and believing these things to be divine manifestations, were yielding to them and imperiling their earthly and eternal salvation, when the Prophet came and by his presence and the prayers and faith of those Elders who accompanied him, banished all these dark influences from the congregation of the Saints. When the faith of the Saints was aroused and exercised, the miracle which had been wrought at Colesville was here repeated. Joseph, by the power of God, rebuked the vile one and his crew; and his brother Hyrum, under the Prophet's direction, laid his hands on the sufferers' heads and cast out the devils.
 
Immediately following the reconciliation wrought among the Saints of God by their faith and these miracles, a revelation was given from the Lord directing what the Elders should do to receive His law, that they might know how to govern His Church, and informing them that he who received his law and doeth it is His disciple; but he that saith he receiveth it and doeth it not, is not His disciple, and should be cast out from among them: and also appointing unto Edward Partridge that he should be ordained a Bishop, to leave his own affairs and devote his time to the service of the Lord. This was on the 4th of February, 1831. Five days later the word of the Lord again came to the Elders of the Church, saying:
 
And ye shall go forth in the power of my Spirit, preaching my gospel, two by two, in my name, lifting up your voices as with the voice of a trumpet, declaring my word like unto the angels of God; and ye shall go forth baptizing with water, saying—Repent ye! Repent ye! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
 
And from this place ye shall go forth unto 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 you may be gathered in one, that you may be my people and I will be your God.
 
In this revelation instruction was given that no one was to preach or to build up the Church of Christ without being properly ordained by one having authority; the Elders were taught the principles which they should declare, and they were particularly enjoined to teach by the Spirit of the Lord; and if they received it not, they were told not to teach; the moral law was plainly declared and the dreadful consequence of unchastity was strongly emphasized; he that sinned and repented not was to be cast out; consecration of property to sustain the poor was enforced; home manufacture was encouraged by the requirements that dress should be plain and its beauty the beauty which the Saints' own labor gave it; cleanliness was commanded and idleness was condemned; the proper treatment of the sick and the mourning for the dead were made known: that glorious promise—the complete fulfillment of which has been a solace and a source of unbounded joy to the Latter-day Saints through all the years which have intervened since it was given—was made, "that those that die in me [Jesus Christ] shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them;" to those who had various infirmities and had faith, miraculous healing was promised; honesty of dealing was enjoined; instructions concerning the new translation of the Scriptures were given; when asked for, revelation upon revelation and knowledge upon knowledge were promised; the converts in the east were to be taught by the Elders to flee to the west to escape future trouble: the Saints were to receive Church covenants sufficient to establish them in Ohio and in the New Jerusalem; he that lacked wisdom was encouraged to ask and he should be given liberally and without upbraiding; commandments were given respecting fornicators, adulterers, and other transgressors, and the manner they should be dealt with.
 
Altogether this was a most important revelation. It threw a flood of light upon a great variety of subjects and settled many important questions. Faithful men and wom............