“The Long-Promised Day”

Continuing Revelation

“We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to

the Kingdom of God.”

– Ninth Article of Faith

Elijah Abel –

Ordained an Elder by Joseph Smith, Jr. on 3 March 1836

Ordained Seventy by Zebedee Coltrin on 4 April 1841

Served three missions

“In the spring of 1838 I heard the first Gospel sermon by a Latter-day Saint. His name was Elijah Abel …”

-- Eunice Kinney, 1891

1879: Elijah Abel applies for permission to be endowed

31 May 1879: A meeting is held by John Taylor with Joseph F. Smith, Abraham O. Smoot, Zebedee Coltrin, and others, to recall Joseph Smith’s teachings on men and women of color

Elijah Abel is denied permission to be endowed

“Died, Elijah Abel: In the Thirteenth Ward, December 25th, 1884, of old age and debility, consequent upon exposure while laboring in the ministry in Ohio. Deceased was born in Washington County, Maryland, July 23rd, 1810. He joined the Church and was ordained an Elder as appears by certificate dated March 3rd, 1836. He was subsequently ordained a Seventy, as appears by certificate dated April 4, 1841. He labored successfully in Canada and also performed a mission in the United States, from which he returned about two weeks ago. He died in full faith of the Gospel.”

Jane Manning James

Jane Manning James –

“We walked until our shoes were worn out, and our feet became sore and cracked open and bled until you could see the whole print of our feet with blood on the ground.”

“Inasmuch as this is the fullness of times and through Abraham's seed all mankind may be blessed, is there no blessing for me?”

“My faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is as strong today–nay it is if possible stronger–than it was the day I was first baptized. I pay my tithes and offerings, keep the Word of Wisdom. I go to bed early and arise early. I try in my feeble way to set a good example to all.”

Green Flake

Lucinda Flake

Daniel Bankhead Freeman

Mary Ann Perkins

Amanda and Samuel Chambers

Len and Mary Hope

“I’d be willing to be stripped of my skin if only I could hold that priesthood.”

Walker Lewis

Ordained an elder in 1843 or 1844 by William Smith (Joseph Smith’s brother)

“We have one of the best Elders -- an African -- in Lowell.” – Brigham Young, 26 March 1847

Emigrated to Utah 1851; returned East 1852; died 1856

William McCary

• Bi-racial: African and white? Native American?

• Baptized February 1846, and ordained an Elder, at Winter Quarters

• Claimed to be a prophet and to be the incarnation of Biblical and Book of Mormon figures

William McCary

• Excommunicated in 1847

• Gathered a group around him near Winter Quarters, and instituted his own brand of plural marriage

• First known Mormon sermons critical of blacks are preached against McCary

“There is not now, and there never has been a doctrine in this church that the negroes are under a divine curse. There is no doctrine in the church of any kind pertaining to the negro. We believe that we have a scriptural precedent for withholding the priesthood from the negro. It is a practice, not a doctrine, and the practice someday will be changed.”

– David O. McKay, 1954

“Day after day I went alone and with great solemnity and seriousness in the upper rooms of the temple, and there I offered my soul ... I wanted to do what he wanted. I talked about it to him and said, ‘Lord, I want only what is right. ... We want only the thing that thou dost want, and we want it when you want it, and not until.’”

-- Spencer W. Kimball

“We witnessed an outpouring of the Spirit which bonded our souls together in perfect unity – a glorious experience. In that bond of unity we felt our total dependence upon heavenly direction.”

-- David B. Haight

“The Spirit of the Lord rested mightily upon us all; we felt something akin to what happened on the day of Pentecost and at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. From the midst of eternity, the voice of God, conveyed by the power of the Spirit, spoke to his prophet ... And we all heard the same voice, received the same message, and became personal witnesses that the word received was the mind and will and voice of the Lord.”

-- Bruce R. McConkie

“It was a quiet and sublime occasion. There was not the sound ‘as of a rushing mighty wind,” ... No voice audible to our physical ears was heard. But the voice of the Spirit whispered with a certainty into our minds and our very souls.”

-- Gordon B. Hinckley

“He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the Church may receive the holy priesthood . . .”

-- Official Declaration 2, verse 8

“Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or President George Q. Cannon or whomsoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world. We get our truth and our light line upon line and precept upon precept. ...

… We have now had added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness and all the views and all the thoughts of the past. They don’t matter any more. ... It doesn’t make a particle of difference what anybody ever said about the Negro matter before the first day of June of this year.”

– Bruce R. McConkie (CES Symposium, August 1978)

“The folklore must never be perpetuated. ... They [early church leaders] were doing the best they knew ... All I can say is, however well intended the explanations were, I think almost all of them were inadequate and/or wrong. ...”

-- Jeffrey R. Holland

“Racial strife still lifts its ugly head. I am advised that even right here among us there is some of this. I cannot understand how it can be. It seemed to me that we all rejoiced in the 1978 revelation given President Kimball. …

… Now I am told that racial slurs and denigrating remarks are sometimes heard among us. I remind you that no man who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ. Nor can he consider himself to be in harmony with the teachings of the Church of Christ. …

… How can any man holding the Melchizedek Priesthood arrogantly assume that he is eligible for the priesthood whereas another who lives a righteous life but whose skin is of a different color is ineligible?”

-- Gordon B. Hinckley, General Conference, April 2006