Spent in the Cause of the Maker

In a revelation to Joseph Smith shortly after he arrived in Kirtland in 1831, the Lord said, “And again, I have called my servant Edward Partridge; and I give a commandment, that he should be appointed by the voice of the church, and ordained a bishop unto the church, to leave his merchandise and to spend all his time in the labors of the church” (Doctrine and Covenants 41:9). He thus became the first bishop in this dispensation, and the story of his life shows just how he did “spend all his time in the labors of the church.” Along with his wife Lydia, they made incredible sacrifices for the gospel and gave their whole lives to the Lord in service in His Church.     

               Soon after his call to be a bishop, Joseph received another revelation commanding him to take a journey to Missouri: “And again, let my servants Edward Partridge and Martin Harris take their journey with my servants Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith, Jun.” He went on this journey in the summer of 1831, leaving Kirtland and his family, “assuming he would return in a few months.” But that assumption turned out to be wrong, for Joseph received another revelation commanding some to stay to start to build up Zion: “And thus let those of whom I have spoken be planted in the land of Zion, as speedily as can be, with their families, to do those things even as I have spoken” (Doctrine and Covenants 52:24, 57:14) And so he stayed, writing to Lydia to have her bring their five daughters the 800 miles to Missouri: “We have to suffer & shall for some time many privations here which you & I have not been much used to for year[s].” That was certainly an accurate prophecy about the future as he chose to leave a life of comfort to one of great sacrifice for the Lord. He did indeed suffer much as tensions rose between the Saints and those who lived there. One account tells, “In July 1833, a mob of angry men entered Partridge’s home, where he was sitting with his wife and three-week-old son and namesake, Edward Partridge Jr. They dragged him to the center square of Independence, where they beat and tarred and feathered him.” They were forced to leave Jackson County, and later when the whole Church was forced out of the state, he was imprisoned in Richmond Jail.

               In the midst of the persecution, multiple forced moves, and overall stressful situation in Missouri, Bishop Partridge wrote to his friends, “I feel willing to spend and be spent, in the cause of my blessed Master.” And, it turns out, his life was indeed spent early and he died from sickness in May 1840 in Nauvoo, leaving behind his family. Though the Lord had chastised him at times, he repented and was a faithful servant to the end of his days. His daughter later wrote, “When I look and remember the great responsibility resting upon my father as bishop—his poverty and privations and hardships he had to endure, the accusations of false brethren, the grumblings of the poor, and the persecution of our enemies, I do not wonder at his early death; and when I remember his conversations with my mother, and can now comprehend in my mature years, his extreme weariness of soul, it brings to my mind a clause of his blessing, which says, ‘Thou shalt stand in thy office until thou shalt desire to resign it that thou mayest rest for a little season.’” Not long after his death, the Lord stated that Edward had returned to him: “My servant David Patten, who is with me at this time, and also my servant Edward Partridge, and also my aged servant Joseph Smith, Sen., who sitteth with Abraham at his right hand, and blessed and holy is he, for he is mine” (Doctrine and Covenants 124:19). The first bishop of this dispensation stands as a powerful example for all of sacrifice, endurance, and devotion to the work of the Lord.