Saints Volume 1, Chapter 9
The Sunday after the church was organized, Oliver preached to the Whitmer family and their friends in Fayette. Many of them had supported the Book of Mormon translation but had not yet joined the church. After Oliver finished speaking, six people asked him to baptize them in a nearby lake.
After the baptisms in Fayette, Joseph began the hundred-mile trip back to his farm in Harmony. As busy as he was with the new church, he had to plant his fields soon if he wanted a successful fall harvest. His payments to Emma’s father on the farm were already late, and if his crops failed, he would have to find another way to pay off his debt.
On his way home, Joseph stopped at Joseph and Polly Knight’s farm in Colesville, New York. The Knights had long supported him, but they still had not joined the church. Joseph Knight in particular wanted to read the Book of Mormon before he embraced the new faith.4
Joseph stayed a few days in Colesville, preaching to the Knights and their friends. Newel Knight, one of Joseph and Polly’s sons, often talked with the prophet about the gospel. One day, Joseph invited him to pray at a meeting, but Newel said he would rather pray alone in the woods.
The next morning, Newel went to the woods and tried to pray. An uneasy feeling came over him, and it grew worse as he started for home. By the time he reached his house, the feeling was so oppressive that he begged his wife, Sally, to get the prophet.
Joseph hurried to Newel’s side and found family members and neighbors watching fearfully as the young man’s face, arms, and legs contorted wildly. When Newel saw Joseph, he cried, “Cast the devil out!”
Joseph had never tried to rebuke the devil or heal someone before, but he knew Jesus had promised His disciples the power to do so. Acting quickly, he caught Newel by the hand. “In the name of Jesus Christ,” he said, “depart from him.”
As soon as Joseph spoke, the contortions stopped. Newel slumped to the floor, exhausted but unharmed, muttering that he had seen the devil leave his body.
The Knights and their neighbors were astonished by what Joseph had done. Helping them carry Newel to a bed, Joseph told them it was the first miracle performed in the church.
“It was done by God,” he testified, “and by the power of godliness.”5
In late June 1830, Emma traveled with Joseph and Oliver to Colesville. Word of Joseph’s miracle that spring had spread throughout the area, and now the Knights and several other families wanted to join the church.
Emma was also ready to be baptized. Like the Knights, she believed in the restored gospel and in her husband’s prophetic call, but she had not yet joined the church.9
After arriving in Colesville, Joseph worked with others to dam a nearby stream so they could hold a baptismal meeting the following day. When morning came, however, they discovered that someone had wrecked the dam overnight to prevent the baptisms from taking place.
Disappointed, they held a Sabbath-day meeting instead, and Oliver preached on baptism and the Holy Ghost. After the sermon, a local minister and some members of his congregation broke up the meeting and tried to drag one of the believers away.
Emma was all too familiar with opposition to Joseph and his message. Some people called him a fraud and accused him of trying to profit off his followers. Others mocked believers, calling them “Mormonites.”10 Wary of trouble, Emma and the others returned to the stream early the next day and repaired the dam. Once the water was deep enough, Oliver waded into the middle of the pool and baptized Emma, Joseph and Polly Knight, and ten others.
During the baptisms, some men stood along the bank, a short distance back, and heckled the believers. Emma and the others tried to ignore them, but when the group headed back to the Knight farm, the men followed, shouting threats at the prophet along the way. At the Knights’ house, Joseph and Oliver wanted to confirm the newly baptized women and men, but the group of hecklers outside swelled to a noisy mob of fifty.
Worried they might be attacked, the believers fled to a neighboring house, hoping to finish the confirmations in peace. But before they could perform the ordinances, a constable arrested Joseph and carried him off to jail for causing an uproar in the community by preaching the Book of Mormon.
Joseph spent the night in custody, unsure if the mob would capture him and carry out their threats. Emma, meanwhile, waited anxiously at her sister’s house while she and their Colesville friends prayed for Joseph’s safe release.11
Over the next two days, Joseph was tried in court and acquitted, only to be arrested and tried again on similar charges. After his second hearing he was set free, and he and Emma returned to their farm in Harmony before she and the Colesville Saints could be confirmed as members of the church.12
Back home, Joseph tried again to work on his farm, but the Lord gave him a new revelation on how he should spend his time. “Thou shalt devote all thy service in Zion,” the Lord declared. “In temporal labors thou shalt not have strength, for this is not thy calling.” Joseph was told to plant his fields and then set off to confirm the new members in New York.13
The revelation left much uncertainty in Emma’s life. How would they earn a living if Joseph devoted all his time to the Saints? And what would she do while he was away serving the church? Was she supposed to stay at home, or did the Lord want her to go with him? And if He did, what would be her role in the church?
Knowing Emma’s desire for guidance, the Lord spoke to her in a revelation given through Joseph. He forgave her sins and called her an “elect lady.” He directed her to go with Joseph in his travels and promised, “Thou shalt be ordained under his hand to expound scriptures, and to exhort the church.”
He also calmed her fears about their finances. “Thou needest not fear,” He assured her, “for thy husband shall support thee.”
The Lord then instructed her to make a selection of sacred hymns for the church. “For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart,” He said.14
Soon after the revelation, Newel and Sally Knight visited from Colesville, and Sally and Emma were confirmed. As the two women received the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the Lord filled the room. Everyone rejoiced and praised God.15
