ORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS—THE TRANSLATION OF THE SCRIPTURES—THE WORD OF WISDOM REVEALED—JOSEPH SELECTS COUNSELORS— THE SAVIOR AND ANGELS APPEAR AFTER THE ORDINATION—LANDS PURCHASED IN AND AROUND KIRTLAND.  
The warnings, of which he had been the chosen proclaimer to the world, imbued the Prophet with a sense of mankind's physical danger, as he had formerly been made to understand their spiritual jeopardy; and we find from all his writings and utterances of this period that he repeated often and in various ways the message of alarm.
 
It was a busy winter of 1832-3 for Joseph. He organized a school of the Prophets, wherein such of the members of the Church as held the Melchisedek Priesthood and were worthy were permitted to assemble and receive instruction day by day in the things of God. He continued his translation of the scriptures; he directed letters to the Saints in Zion, exhorting them to repentance, to faithfulness and purification, admonishing them of the punishment in store for workers of unrighteousness; and he sat in many conferences in which the gifts of the gospel were made manifest in recognition and blessing of the humility of the people.
 
On the 22nd day of January, 1833, there were many manifestations of the Holy Spirit at a conference at Kirtland. The Prophet and many of his brethren of the higher Priesthood, together with several other members, both men and women, spoke in tongues. The restoration of this gift to man gave great joy to those who received it; but the gift of speaking in tongues was esteemed by the saints of that early day as a reward to patient trust and meekness and not as a necessary sign or proof of truth.
 
On the second day of February, 1833, the Prophet completed, for the time being, his inspired translation of the New Testament. No endeavor was made at that time to print the work. It was sealed up with the expectation that it would be brought forth at a later day with other of the scriptures. Joseph did not live to give to the world an authoritative publication of these translations.[1] But the labor was its own reward, bringing in the performance a special blessing of broadened comprehension to the Prophet and a general blessing of enlightenment to the people through his subsequent teachings.
 
The Lord revealed His purpose in this matter when He said to Joseph at a later time:
 
And, verily I say unto you, that it is my will that you should hasten to translate my scriptures, and to obtain a knowledge of history, and of countries, and of kingdoms, of laws of God and man, and all this for the salvation of Zion.[2]
 
On the 27th day of February, 1833, the Prophet received the revelation known as the Word of Wisdom, warning the people to abstain from impurities and grossness in their food and drink, and promising them rich blessings of physical strength and protection from the power of the adversary as a reward for their obedience. The requirement of bodily pureness, to be gained by clean and wholesome living, was not more directly made upon the children of Israel anciently than upon the Latter-day Saints through the Prophet Joseph. This revealed Word of Wisdom embodies the most advanced principles of science in the condemnation of unclean or gluttonous appetites; and if it were implicitly obeyed by the human family, it would be a power to aid in a physical redemption for the race. Its delivery to Joseph marks another step in the divine plan for man's eventual elevation to divine acceptability—a plan which had already proved itself of heavenly origin by its sublime character.
 
And now we are brought to the time when the Lord designed that the authority and power of the presidency of the Church should be shared by others and should be conferred upon them by Joseph. An intimation concerning the First Presidency of the Church was given in a revelation which the Prophet received in March, 1832, in which Frederick G. Williams was called of the Lord to be a counselor to Joseph. In previous revelations, also, mention was made by the Lord of the First Presidency of the Church, and some of the duties which belonged to that body. But it was not until the 8th day of March, 1833, that the Lord revealed His further will concerning this organization. At that time two men were designated to be associates of the Prophet—to be his counselors and members with him of the First Presidency of the Church. They were Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams, and on the 1............