In his 1957 PhD dissertation on the growth of the LDS Church in Kirtland, Ohio, Robert Kent Fielding wrote the following concerning the financial status of the Church in 1834:
Undoubtedly the lowest point in the
finances of the Church came in the early winter of 1834. So desperate was the situation
that when members living in Lewis, New York, sent in money to be used in
purchasing inheritances in Zion, Smith eagerly sought to borrow it to aid the
Kirtland Church, although it was only four hundred and thirty dollars. (Smith, History,
II, p. 175) From this depression the only direction was up. When the missionaries
began to come in to school in November, each with his stories of newly won
converts and their plans to come to Zion or to Kirtland in the Spring, there
was room for optimism. If the Church could survive the winter its crisis would be
past. The spirit of the gathering was powerfully affecting the Saints and would
soon directly said the Kirtland cause. Smith prophesied that in a short time,
God would deliver them from bondage and from debt. (Ibid.)
Peculiarly does he note the
fulfillment of this prophecy in his journal. In January, John Tanner, a well to
do merchant, came to Kirtland in response to an impression that he was needed.
(Ibid., I, p. 410. Tanner had inquired more than a year before he had
been advised to come to Kirtland at that time but had not done so. See “Scraps
of Biography, John Tanner—Sketch of an Elder’s Life,” Faith Promoting Series.
[Salt Lake City, 1882-1884[, book 10) His impression was entirely justified and
surely no person was ever more welcome. He had sold his holdings in Boston, New
York, and was prepared to aid the Church. He loaned Joseph two thousand dollars
to pay the mortgage on his farm, loaned the temple committee thirteen thousand dollars
in merchandise at New York prices and signed a note with his Prophet for thirty
thousand dollars worth of goods to be shipped to New York. Tanner’s contributions
brought the Church through a great financial crisis. With the coming of spring
1835, the gathering to Kirtland assumed new momentum. The newly formed Quorum
of the Twelve Apostles and the Quorums of Seventies were active among the
scattered Saints and stirred them up with enthusiasm to gather with the Church.
By mid-summer of 1835, there were one thousand members in the Kirtland area;
five or six hundred worshipped regularly with their leaders in that place.
(Smith, History II; p. 296) (Robert Kent Fielding, “The Growth of the
Mormon Church in Kirtland, Ohio” [PhD Dissertation; Indiana University, May
1957], 91-93)
Here
is the prophecy Fielding refers to, from November 29, 1834:
After commencing and
rejoicing before the Lord in this occasion, we agreed to enter
into the following covenant with the Lord: viz.—
<Covenant
of Joseph & Oliver.> That if the Lord will prosper
us in our business, and open the way before us, that we may obtain means
to pay our debts, that we be not troubled nor brought into disrepute
before the world, nor his people, after that of all that he shall give us,
we will give a tenth, to be bestowed upon the poor in his church, or,
as he shall command; and that we will be faithful over that which he
has committed entrusted to our care that we may obtain
much; And that our children after us shall remember to observe this sacred
and holy covenant; and that our children and our children’s children may
know of the same, we have subscribed our names with, our own hands.
(Signed) Joseph Smith Junr. <A Prayer.> Oliver
Cowdery.— And now O, Father, as thou didst prosper our Father Jacob, and
bless him with protection and prosperity whereever he went, from the time
he made a like Covenant before and with thee; as as thou didst, even the same
night, open the heavens unto him and manifest great mercy and power, and
give him promises, So wilt thou do by us his sons; and as his blessings
prevailed above his progenitors unto the utmost bounds of
the everlasting hills, even so may our blessings prevail like his;
and may thy servants be preserved from the power and influence of wicked
and unrighteous men; may every weapon formed against us fall upon the head
of him who shall form it; may we be blessed with a name and a place
among thy Saints here, and thy sanctified when they shall rest. Amen. (History,
1838–1856, volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838], p. 562)
Further Reading: