SECTION 78: THE UNITED FIRM
For more details on Section 78, The United Firm, and other historical events relating to these sections, please refer to a great source I just discovered: BYU Studies, a scholarly journal, has prepared links to pertinent previously-published articles for each "Come, Follow Me" lesson. Access them here.
SECTIONS 79-80 EARLY MISSIONARIES
It was standard in the early restored Church that men who joined the Church became missionaries almost immediately, even as they were learning the gospel themselves. Women also shared the gospel in their families and with their neighbors, but the "sister missionary" was still a thing of the future. In fact, becoming a member of the Church was basically a mission call in itself, a call to share the gospel with others. This orientation helped to grow the Church at a phenomonal pace.
Doctrine and Covenants 79 and 80 are mission calls. It's interesting how these two sections are so similar and yet, in one aspect, completely different.
Section 79:
1 Verily I say unto you, that it is my will that my servant Jared Carter should go again into the eastern countries, from place to place, and from city to city, in the power of the aordination wherewith he has been ordained, proclaiming glad tidings of great joy, even the beverlasting gospel.
2 And I will send upon him the aComforter, which shall teach him the truth and the bway whither he shall go;
3 And inasmuch as he is faithful, I will crown him again with asheaves.
4 Wherefore, let your heart be glad, my servant Jared Carter, and afear not, saith your Lord, even Jesus Christ. Amen.
Section 80:
1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servant aStephen Burnett: Go ye, go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every bcreature that cometh under the sound of your voice.
2 And inasmuch as you desire a companion, I will give unto you my servant aEden Smith.
3 Wherefore, go ye and preach my gospel, whether to the north or to the south, to the east or to the west, it mattereth not, for ye cannot go amiss.
4 Therefore, declare the things which ye have heard, and verily believe, and aknow to be true.
5 Behold, this is the will of him who hath acalled you, your Redeemer, even Jesus Christ. Amen.
JARED CARTER AND STEPHEN BURNETT
Jared Carter had just come from a mission to his home town and was called to go right back there in Section 79. His call was very specific. Stephen Burnett's call, however, was completely general. He could go wherever he saw fit "for ye cannot go amiss." He was only 18 and he and Eden Smith went east to New Hampshire. Levi B. Wilder wrote in a letter, "A small church was formed in [Dalton, New Hampshire] in the July of 1833, consisting of 15 members: brother Stephen Burnet was the first one that sounded the glad tidings of the everlastIng gospel in this place" (Susan Easton Black, Who's Who in the Doctrine and Covenants, 39-40).
Jared Carter went back to New York. He taught and baptized his brother-in-law Ira Ames who happened to be visiting in Benson, as mentioned in a previous post, and another 30-something people, for a total between the two missions of 79. (Brother Carter kept a detailed mission journal.) One of the people he taught on this second mission was a huge financial boon to the struggling Church: John Tanner. His story is told in a Church film posted in a September lesson on the "Come, Follow Me" website, but if you want to view it now, here is the link: Treasure in Heaven.
I suspect calls to service in the Lord's kingdom today follow both of these patterns. Sometimes there is something specific the Lord calls us to do, sometimes we get to choose. In both circumstances our consecrated service is acceptable and can be very productive and rewarding.
THE FIRST BLACK MEMBER AND MISSIONARY: PETE
Since there is so much focus on recognizing Black contributions in history this year, at least in the United States, I would like to highlight early Black members of the Church. We have to step back to 1830 when the gospel first came to Kirtland to find the Church's first Black convert/missionary, Black Pete.
The core of the new Kirtland Church in 1830 was the communal group centered at the Morley farm. This group had been trying to live with "all things common," after the example of the primitive Church in the New Testament. They called themselves "The Family."
As we read Church history, we must always keep in mind that there is no way we can fully understand it without having lived it. "History is a foreign land," but like all foreign lands, it is a fascinating place to visit.
The rapidity at which new members became leaders led to some interesting combinations of former religious practices with new religious truths. One thing these members were looking for in a restored church was the gifts of the Spirit. These members read of the conversion of King Lamoni, the great Lamanite king in the Book of Mormon. Lamoni had a profound spiritual experience that left him in a sort of trance or coma on the floor for days, after which he arose and taught the gospel. Isaac Morley, the "father" of The Family, was so taken by the story of this king that he named one of his sons Lamoni.
These early Saints had the feeling that Blacks and Natives Americans were somehow connected, and the "slave shout tradition" felt similar to the spiritual experiences noted in the Book of Mormon. The Family did not have any Native American members and most had never met one since Natives had already been forced from the area, but they did have Black Pete. (See Mark L. Staker, Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith's Kirtland Revelations, Kindle edition, 77)
"Peter Kerr, a formerly enslaved person, was living in Ohio when missionaries began preaching in the area. He had been freed through the will of his master, John Kerr, but stopped using his master’s name upon obtaining freedom and became known as 'Black Pete.' Pete joined Sidney Rigdon’s congregation and often stayed in the home of Newel K. Whitney. Like most members of Rigdon’s congregation, Pete was baptized a member of the Church after listening to missionaries in the fall of 1830, making him the first known black member of the Church.
"Among some early Saints, he was considered a leader and a revelator. He integrated his newfound faith into his existing religious worldview, which combined traditions of Christianity, African religions, and Islam (the religion practiced by his mother). Some evidence suggests that he manifested the gift of tongues" ("Black Members of the Church Research Guide: United States," ChurchofJesusChrist.org).
"After the departure of the initial [four] missionaries [who had come to Kirtland, Ohio], new converts had little concrete information to rely on in defining their new faith. Nor could they rely heavily on the Book of Mormon. Few copies of the book were available...With thousands interested in their message the need for missionaries to carry every copy of the book on their backs as they walked from New York to Missouri, there clearly were not enough copies to go around" (Staker, 74-75)
The young people of the new Church were particularly drawn to Black Pete. He was exotic and exciting and charismatic. Three young men in particular became his close friends and they taught the gospel together: Edson Fuller, Herman [also Heman] Bassett, and Burr Riggs. Black Pete was recognized in a newspaper article as the leader of the group. These young men tried to replicate the ecstatic spiritual experiences of King Lamoni, falling on the ground as if overcome by the Spirit. Some members (especially the teenagers) admired and emulated them; older people were repulsed by their behavior. Everyone was a little bit confused about how the Spirit worked. Remember: These people had never met Joseph Smith, the Church didn't even have a name yet, and there wasn't any sort of ecclesiastical authority. Everyone was just feeling it out, using their former religious practices (Black Pete's being African slave and Muslim traditions) as their starting spot.
Joseph Smith arrived in Kirtland the first week of February 1831. Then the Lord called the first bishop (Edward Partridge) and put forth the Law of the Church (Sections 41-42). It was then finally understood that one had to be called and ordained by authority to preach the gospel, which put an end to Pete's "mission." The wildest of the ecstatic spiritual practices were revealed to come from darkness rather than light. And, by the way, the revelation included the direction that "every family shall have place that they may live by themselves" (although this was not included in the canon), dissolving "The Family" commune. The nuclear family became the foundation of the religious community (Staker, 108). Black Pete then disappears from the record, but it's important to know that he was a part of the early Church in Kirtland and was admired and accepted by many.
You can listen to an interview with Dr. Mark Staker of the Church History Department speaking about Black Pete and the early ecstatic Church practices here.
THE FIRST BLACK ORDAINED MISSIONARY: ELIJAH ABLE (also ABLES--he signed his name both ways)
"Hunted by mobs, criticized by fellow Mormons, and denied temple [endowment and sealing] privileges by two priesthood leaders, Ables seldom received the welcoming hand of friendship.
"But Ables did not leave. He accommodated, waited, and occasionally pushed back. He ignored the snipings of critics, extended his hand to Mormonism's avowed enemies, and helped a large body of saints escape from a war zone" (Russell Stevenson, "'A Negro Preacher': The Worlds of Elijah Ables," Journal of Mormon History, University of Illinois Press: Mormon History Association, Spring 2013, Vol. 39, no. 2, 166, available on JSTOR).
And yet, Danor Gerald, the actor who portrays Elder Ables in a Church History Museum video, points out, "We were more progressive than any other church at the time, if you really think about it. Elijah Ables represents a progressive movement to allow a person of African descent to hold the priesthood and to be basically equal with white clergymen in that organization. Nobody was doing that at that time!" (Russell Stevenson and Danor Gerald, Mormon History Guy Podcast #16, June 21, 2016).
To be such an outlier as Elijah Able and his wife were, to live in such a white church during such a racist time, and to stay: That is faith.
For another story about Elijah Able and his convert Eunice Franklin, see Saints, Vol. 1, 317-319.
To read my personal take on Blacks and the priesthood, please refer to Doctrine and Covenants Lesson #42 from 2009.
No comments:
Post a Comment