Sunday, the 3rd of April, 1836, was a momentous day in the history of the Church. Since the day of its organization, the Church had increased and had prospered in all things. The first conference of the Church was held June 9th, 1830. It is estimated that the membership then was twenty-seven. On the twenty-sixth of September of the same year, the second conference of the Church was held. There were then sixty-two devotees of the restored Gospel. In January of the following year, 1831, the Prophet moved to Kirtland, Ohio. His followers then could not have numbered more than eighty, since he wrote in the previous month that the Church "from Colesville to Canandagua, New York, numbered about seventy members." In Kirtland the restored faith soon took root and grew rapidly. A conference was held there from the third to the sixth of June, 1831, and the "congregation at this conference numbered two thousand souls." Thus the Church increased in membership from year to year until it soon numbered ten thousand and more. But it was not in increased membership only that the Church showed prosperity. In temporal matters the blessings of the Lord soon became abundantly manifest. The Saints acquired lands, and built houses; and they began to take possession of the promised land of Zion. In spiritual matters, too, the Saints were made to feel that the Lord was near at hand. Many revelations were given to them through the Prophet Joseph Smith. And in the year 1836, a Temple was completed in Kirtland. It was eighty feet long, sixty feet wide, fifty feet high to the top of the walls, with a tower one hundred ten feet high. On Sunday, March twenty-seventh, this temple was dedicated to the Lord; and one week later, Sunday, April 3rd, there were given to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery some of the most glorious manifestations recorded in the annals of history.

The day had been devoted to service in the Lord's House. Joseph Smith had taken part in the ceremonies of the day, and had listened to discourses delivered by the brethren. After the administration of the Lord's supper in the afternoon service, "I retired to the pulpit," writes the Prophet, "the veils being dropped, and bowed myself, with Oliver Cowdery, in solemn and silent prayer."^[A] After rising from prayer, the visions of heaven burst open before these divinely appointed men. First appeared to them the Lord Jesus Himself. He stood upon the breast-work of the pulpit. Under His feet appeared a paved work of pure gold in color like amber. His eyes shone like a flame of fire. His hair was white, like pure snow. His countenance was more radiant than the sun. His voice was like the rushing of great waters.

[Footnote A: "History of the Church," Vol. II, p. 435.]

"I am the first and the last," he said, "I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain, I am your advocate with the Father. * * * Behold, I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here, and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house. * * * Yea, the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endownent with which my servants have been endowed in this house; and the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands, and this is the beginning of the blessing which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people. Even so. Amen."^[B]

[Footnote B: Doc. and Cov. 110:1-10.]

In this wise did the Lord Jesus accept the work of His servants. In this wise did He appear personally before them. And in this wise did He inaugurate marvelous manifestations fraught with blessings to the Saints. Twice before in this dispensation it is recorded that the Lord manifested Himself in vision to His chosen Prophet. Once He had appeared together with the Father in answer to the boy's earnest prayer. Again He had appeared to the Prophet and his associate, Sidney Rigdon, to declare the glories of the world to come. And now He comes again, to approve the labor accomplished by His servants, and to inaugurate the actual work of redemption for both the living and the dead.

Immediately after the vision of the Savior there opened to the seer another vision of heaven. Ages before, the Lord God had selected the children of Israel to become His chosen people. The divine plan of salvation for the human race anticipated a fall from grace and an atonement. Through the fall came death to all men; and through the atonement came eternal life. As the fall came through the sin of one, so the atonement came through the voluntary sacrifice of another. But that this Savior might become the living hope of the world, it became necessary to designate the people—even the family—from among whom He should spring. Hence the Chosen people—Israel—to whom the promise of Messiah was made. All might have been well with Israel had they not been a stiff-necked people. But through their perverseness of heart, they called down upon them the wrath of God. Along with promises of deliverance and salvation, came predictions of evil to follow disobedience. And Israel was disobedient. Finally, when the Savior had come as predicted to redeem the world, and the iniquity of Israel was full, the Chosen People was broken; the nation to whom the Savior had come became scattered, and was sifted like dust among the peoples of the earth. It was the punishment foretold. To consummate the plan of salvation, must come a gathering of the dispersed tribes of Israel.

Accordingly, the vision that followed upon that of the Savior on the memorable 3rd of April, 1836, revealed to Joseph and Oliver, Moses, the Prophet of the deliverance of old. "After this vision was closed," we read, "the heavens were again opened unto us, and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north."^[C]

[Footnote C: Doc. and Cov. 110:11.]

The nature of this commission is plain. First, the great Prophet Moses, to whom had been committed the authority of restoring once before a captive Israel to their promised land and freedom, now commits those keys of gathering and restoration to the Prophet Joseph Smith and his associate Oliver Cowdery. Then, with the power of this authority conferred upon them, Joseph and Oliver may commission others; the story of the restoration of the Gospel may be carried to the scattered house of Jacob; the actual work of redeeming Israel may be begun. This, as the Lord had said in the vision before, was the beginning of the blessing which should be poured out upon the heads of His people.

But it was not the house of Israel alone that should profit by the restoration of the Gospel. Even before the twelve sons of Jacob had been chosen to become the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, the God of heaven had promised that the blessing of a Savior should attend all the children of the world.

"I will make of thee a great nation," the Lord had said to Abraham, "and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."^[D] Not only to the children of Abraham, then, should the Gospel be preached, but to all people, and through obedience to the Gospel they should become the children of Abraham. If the restored Gospel were, then, to become the power of God unto salvation to all the earth-children of God, there must needs be a restoration, not only of the authority to gather and to redeem Israel, but also of the authority to preach the Gospel to the world at large.

[Footnote D: Gen. 12:2, 3.]

Accordingly, after the vision of Moses was closed, there appeared another glorious vision to the two young chosen prophets. "After this," we read, "Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the Gospel of Abraham, saying, that in us, and our seed, all generations after us should be blessed."^[E]

[Footnote E: Doc. and Cov. 110:12.]

The nature of this commission, too, is plain. It becomes the sacred mission of the Saints to do all in their power, not to save Israel alone, but to become a blessing to all generations of all men—to cry the Gospel of repentance to the world, that all men, whether Jew or Gentile, may hear it and obey it. Elias—a prophet of whom we know but little^[F]—apparently held last the keys of the dispensation of the Gospel of Abraham. In proper time he comes, in harmony with the divine plan, and commits those keys to the men who are to carry off the labors of the dispensation of the fulness of times. This, again—as the Lord had said in the vision before—was the beginning of the blessing which should be poured out upon the heads of His people. And thus was consummated another act in the great drama of the Restoration. The authority for accomplishing the salvation of the living was restored in full. The story of the restoration of the authority for the salvation of the dead we must leave for another chapter.

[Footnote F: Doc. and Cov. 27:6, 7.]