Your Calling and Election in the Church
Historical Background and Reflections on Doctrine and Covenants 53
In his book The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Lyndon W. Cook describes the historical background for Doctrine and Covenants 53:
Date. June 1831 (on or before 19 June).
Joseph Smith left for Missouri on 19 June 1831; thus, section 53 would have been received before that date.
Place. Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio.
Historical Note. This revelation, received in response to A. Sidney Gilbert’s request, instructed him to “forsake the world” and preach the gospel. In obedience to verses 4-5, Gilbert traveled, with the Prophet and others, to Independence, Missouri, where he eventually opened a store and was appointed to serve as a Church agent.
Publication Note. Section 53 was first published as chapter 55 in the Book of Commandments in 1833.
Biographical Note. Algernon Sidney Gilbert.
Son of Eli Gilbert. Married Elizabeth Van Benthusen 30 September 1823. One known child: Loyal. Merchant and partner of Newel K. Whitney in Kirtland, Ohio, before 1830. Baptized about December 1830. Appointed by revelation to travel to Jackson County, Missouri, with Prophet and others June 1831. Ordained elder 6 June 1831. Arrived in Independence with wife about 25 July 1831. While in Missouri, appointed by revelation to locate in Jackson County and serve as bishop’s agent. Returned to Ohio with William W. Phelps August 1831. Arrived before 1 September 1831. Moved to Independence before December 1831. Operated branch of Gilbert-Whitney store in Independence 1831-33. Ordained high priest 26 April 1832. Member of United Firm 26 April 1832. Mission to East June-December 1832. Visited relatives in Connecticut. Returned to Independence before 3 December 1832. Suffered persecution from citizens of Jackson County, Missouri, 1833. Expelled from Jackson County in fall of 1833. Located in Clay County, Missouri, 1833. On 23 June 1834 appointed to receive “endowment” in Kirtland. Died of cholera 29 June 1834 in Clay County, Missouri. Widow died in Utah. (p. 84)
This is Hoyt W. Brewster, Jr.’s entry on Gilbert, Algernon Sidney in his Doctrine & Covenants Encyclopedia:
“The Lord had few more devoted servants in this dispensation,” said one historian of Algernon Sidney Gilbert. (HC 2:118). His able business skills made him an invaluable asset to the early Church. Gilbert was called by revelation to serve as “an agent” for the Church in its business dealings (D&C 53). “Business talents,” wrote Smith and Sjodahl, “when consecrated to the service of mankind, are just as good and necessary as so-called spiritual gifts. It is only when they are used to serve the purposes of selfishness and greed that they become a snare and a curse. In the service of the Lord they are a blessing. As an agent he [Gilbert] could help in building up the Church.” (SS. 313.)
Further mention of Gilbert throughout the Doctrine and Covenants is always in conjunction with his business stewardship for the Church (57:6, 8, 9; 61:7, 9, 12; 64:18, 26; 90:35; 101:96). Although he occasionally fell into human errors (D&C 90:35), for which he was chastized, his commitment to the Church was such that he not only sacrificed of his time but also offered his life as a ransom for his fellow Saints on one occasion (HC 1:394).
On June 23, 1833, the Prophet Joseph penned the following remarks: “Algernon Sidney Gilbert was called and chosen, and appointed to receive his endowment in Kirtland, and to assist in gathering up the strength of the Lord’s house, and to proclaim the everlasting Gospel until Zion is redeemed. But he said he ‘could not do it.’” (HC 2:113) Three days later he died of cholera. Of this event Joseph wrote, “He had been called to preach the Gospel, but had been known to say that he ‘would rather die than go forth to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles.’” Elder Heber C. Kimball added, “The Lord took him at his word” (HC 2:118).
See also: Mahalaleel (#1) (p. 211)
Like others before him, Algernon Sidney Gilbert (see also here and here) wanted to know what work the Lord had in store for him, and at his request, the Prophet Joseph Smith inquired of the Lord as to his work and appointment in the Church. The Prophet Joseph Smith received revelation on this topic on June 8, 1831 in Kirtland, Ohio, and this revelation is recorded in D&C 53:
Behold, I say unto you, my servant Sidney Gilbert, that I have heard your prayers; and you have called upon me that it should be made known unto you, of the Lord your God, concerning your calling and election in the church, which I, the Lord, have raised up in these last days.
Behold, I, the Lord, who was crucified for the sins of the world, give unto you a commandment that you shall forsake the world.
Take upon you mine ordination, even that of an elder, to preach faith and repentance and remission of sins, according to my word, and the reception of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands;
And also to be an agent unto this church in the place which shall be appointed by the bishop, according to commandments which shall be given hereafter.
And again, verily I say unto you, you shall take your journey with my servants Joseph Smith, Jun., and Sidney Rigdon.
Behold, these are the first ordinances which you shall receive; and the residue shall be made known in a time to come, according to your labor in my vineyard.
And again, I would that ye should learn that he only is saved who endureth unto the end. Even so. Amen. (D&C 53:1-7)
The phrase calling and election should not escape our notice. Peter urged the original Saints to make their calling and election sure in the following exhortation:
Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.
Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (2 Peter 1:1-21)
Give diligence to make your calling and election sure.
What does it mean to make your calling and election sure?
Many times the Prophet Joseph Smith taught what it means to make your calling and election sure, and how to do it, for example:
The spirit of Elijah is that degree of power which holds the sealing power of the Kingdom to seal the hearts of the fathers to the children & of the children their fathers not only on earth but in Heaven both the living & the Dead to each other for they (the dead) cannot be made perfect without us Heb 11— 40
This power of Elijah is to that of Elias what in the architecture of the Temple of God those who seal or cement the stone to their places are to those who cut or hew the stones the one preparing the way for the other to accomplish the work By this we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise ie Elijah
To obtain this sealing is to make our calling and election sure which we ought to give all diligence to accomplish. (Discourse, 10 March 1844, as Reported by Franklin D. Richards, see also here and here)
The Lord commanded Sidney Gilbert to forsake the world, to be ordained an elder, to preach the Gospel, and to serve as a bishop’s agent. This was his calling and election in the Church. He received the blessing and privilege to travel with the Lord’s servants Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, and he also received a promise that more would be revealed to him later, according to his labor in the Lord’s vineyard. Finally, the Lord taught Sidney Gilbert that salvation requires enduring unto the end.
Smith and Sjodahl share the following insights on this section:
Elder B.H. Roberts, in a footnote on Page 118, Vol. II, Hist. of the Church, makes the remark that the Lord has had few more devoted servants in this dispensation than Algernon Sidney Gilbert. Where he was born is not known, but his father’s family resided in Connecticut. For some years he was a successful merchant in Painville, Ohio, and there the gospel found him in 1830. In the persecution that came upon the Saints in Jackson County he sacrificed all his goods. He was one of the six who offered their lives for their friends. He was a man of great practical sense, as is evidenced by the correspondence he and others engaged in with Governor Dunklin, on behalf of the brethren, but, nevertheless, he shrank from speaking publicly, and it appears that, when called to go on a mission to preach the gospel, he said he would rather die. Not long afterwards he was attacked by cholera, and the disease proved fatal.
Shortly after the Revelation in Section 52 was received, Gilbert requested the Prophet to inquire of the Lord for him. The Prophet Joseph did so, and this communication was given, in which the Lord called him to forsake the world and give his services to the Church, as an Elder and an agent (Business representative).
I have heard your prayers] This is a gracious assurance. Sidney Gilbert had asked his heavenly Father to make known to him his calling and election in the Church; the prayer had been heard and granted.
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Take upon you mine ordination] (See Sec. 52:15). The verse is an appeal from Him who was crucified for the sins of the world to His servant, to take up the calling as a preacher of the first principles of the gospel.
And also to be an agent] Sidney Gilbert was an able business man. The crucified Redeemer asks him to give his business talents to the Church. The Lord was about to gather His Saints in a new locality, even in Missouri, and they needed men like Sidney Gilbert to transact business for them. Business talents, when consecrated to the service of mankind, are just as good and necessary as so-called spiritual gifts. It is only when they are used to serve the purposes of selfishness and greed that they become a snare and a curse. In the service of the Lord they are a blessing. As an agent he could help in building up the Church.
You shall take your journey] He was next directed to join the Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon in their journey to Missouri (See Sec. 52:3).
These are the first ordinances] Others would be given in the future, as required by the labor in the vineyard.
That endureth unto the end] No on else is saved.
“If you all live your religion and are faithful to the end of your days, that proves that you were chosen as were Jesus and John, who were prophesied of many hundred years before they came, as were many others. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was raised up to bear the Savior. Elizabeth was ordained and set apart to come along near the meridian of time, and we were ordained to come along near the end of time” (Heber C. Kimball, Jour. of Dis., Vol. V., p. 34). (pp. 312-13)