Description

The Lord Was With Him

It was early September 1830 when the Prophet Joseph Smith and Emma moved from Harmony, Pennsylvania to Fayette, New York to live with the Peter Whitmer family. Joseph was troubled when he discovered that Hiram Page, a son-in-law of the Whitmers, “had got in his possession, a certain stone, by which he had obtained to certain revelations….all of which were entirely at variance with the order of God’s house, as laid down in the New Testament.” Joseph labored with the brethren and, at Oliver Cowdery’s urging, inquired of the Lord and received a revelation now known as Doctrine and Covenants 28. On September 26, 1830, the conference of the Church convened at the Whitmer home in Fayette. The matter of Hiram Page was put to rest and the conference voted to sustain the revelation that declared Joseph was the one appointed of the Lord to receive commandments and revelations for the entire Church. Newel Knight who attended that conference gave the following remarkable witness of these events.

On my arrival I found Brother Joseph in great distress of mind on account of Hiram Page, who had managed to get up some dissension of feeling among the brethren by giving revelation concerning the government of the Church and other matters which he claimed to have received through the medium of a stone he possessed. He had quite a roll of papers full of these revelations, and many in the Church were led astray by them. Even Oliver Cowdery and the Whitmer family had given heed to them, although they were in contradiction to the New Testament and the revelations of these last days. Joseph was perplexed and scarcely knew how to meet this new exigency. That night I occupied the same room that he did, and the greater part of the night was spent in prayer and supplication. After much labor with these brethren, they were convinced of their error and confessed the same, renouncing the revelations as not being of God, but acknowledging that Satan had conspired to overthrow their belief in the true plan of salvation. In consequence of these things, Joseph inquired of the Lord before conference commenced and received a revelation in which the Lord explicitly stated his mind and will concerning the receiving of revelation. (See DC 28) During this time we had much of the power of God manifested among us, and it was wonderful to witness the wisdom Joseph displayed on this occasion, for truly God gave unto him great wisdom and power, and it seems to me that none who saw him administer righteousness under such trying circumstances could doubt that the Lord was with him. He acted not with the wisdom of man, but with the wisdom of God. The Holy Ghost came upon us and filled out hearts with unspeakable joy. Before this memorable conference closed, three other revelations besides the one already mentioned were received from God by our Prophet and were made to rejoice exceedingly in His goodness.

Sources:

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-september-1830-b-dc-28/1#historical-intro