In a sermon delivered on April 7, 1861, Heber C. Kimball taught that one’s foreordained mission does not end with their mortal life; instead, in the age to come, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and others (e.g., David W. Patten; Parley P. Pratt) will meet in Jackson County, Missouri, to play a role in the establishment of Zion:
We are richer now for moving to
the south than we should have been if we had not moved. What did we save by it?
It saved that difficulty that would have brought you into sorrow, probably, all
the days of your life, if you had withstood that army and shed blood. But by
that move you saved your blood and the blood of your enemies, and in this you
did a good deed. It cost considerable, but Father booked it against them, and
he will make them pay the debt. We might have to do such a thing again. I do
not know anything about it, but I am pretty sure of one thing —we shall go to
Jackson county, Missouri; that is, those who do right and honour their calling,
doing what they have been told to do. You will be blessed, and you will see the
day when Presidents Young, Kimball, and Wells, and the Twelve Apostles will be
in Jackson county, Missouri, laying out your inheritances. In the flesh? Of
course. We should look well without being in the flesh! We shall be there in
the flesh, and all our enemies cannot prevent it. Brother Wells, you may write
that. You will be there, and Willard will be there, and also Jedediah, and
Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and David [W. Patten]; and Parley [P. Pratt]; and the
day will be when I will see those men in the general assembly of the Church of
the First-Born, in the great council of God in Jerusalem, too. Will we want you
to be along?
I heard Joseph say twice that
brother Brigham and I should be in that council in Jerusalem, when there should
be a uniting of the two divisions of God's government. Now, you have got to
live for it. What would you not do to attain to those blessings? You would give
all you have in the world. You may give all you have got, and then keep it; and
if you keep the Commandments of God and live faithful, you shall every one see
it, and that is what will bring you to it.
When you are called upon to do a
thing, do it with all your heart, and God will add a hundredfold to your glory
and exaltation. When seed-wheat is sown, if it is not too thick, one seed will
produce thirty stalks, and a head on every stalk. Like the mite that the woman
gave, it will increase to you thousands, and much more to them that have more
in proportion to the kernel. (Heber C. Kimball, April 7, 1861, “Appreciation of
Divine Gifts and Blessings—Return to Jackson County—Encouragement of Home
Manufactures,” JOD 9:27, comments in square brackets added for clarification.
At this point in time, Patten and Parley Pratt were deceased)