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Source: Church History Vol. 1 Chapter 11 Page: 284 (~1833)

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284 and they were ordained under the hands of Sidney Rigdon, and set apart as general agents of the church for that purpose."-Times and Seasons, vol. 5, p. 738.

On Tuesday, March 26, 1833, a council of high priests met at Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.

Of this council Joseph writes:-

"On the twenty-sixth of March a council of high priests, twenty-one in number, convened for the general welfare of the church, in what was then called Zion, in Jackson County, Missouri, on account of a revelation, my letter, and an epistle from the church in Kirtland; a solemn assembly had been called, and a sincere and humble repentance manifested, insomuch, that on the twenty-sixth of February, one month previous, a general epistle had been written in conference, which was satisfactory to the Presidency and church at Kirtland.

"At the sitting of the council of the 26th of March, according to the plan taught at the solemn assembly, which was, that the seven high priests who were sent from Kirtland to build up Zion; viz., Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps, John Whitmer, Sidney Gilbert, Bishop Partridge, and his two counselors, should stand at the head of affairs, relating to the church, in that section of the Lord's vineyard; and these seven men, with the common consent of the branches, comprising the church, were to appoint presiding elders, to take the watchcare of the several branches, as they were appointed. Now, therefore, as many of the high priests and elders went up to Zion and commenced regulating and setting the branches in order, allowing themselves as much power by the authority of their priesthood and gift of the Holy Ghost as those set apart and appointed to preside over the branches, it became necessary to call the council now spoken of, to set in order the elders of Israel; when, after a long discussion, it was decided from the revelations that the order taught in the solemn assembly was correct; and that the elders, when they arrived at Zion, were bound by the authorities set in the church, to be submissive to the powers that be; their labors and callings being more particularly to push the people together from the ends of the earth to the

(page 284)

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