A Cornerstone of Zion

I’m impressed by the story of Newel Knight and his faithfulness. He was the son of Joseph and Polly Knight, and they were earlier followers of the Prophet. Newel received a miracle at the hand of Joseph Smith in 1830 when he was possessed of a devil. He had declined to pray in public in a meeting shortly after the official organization of the Church, and then when he tried to pray in private, he felt too guilty and started to feel terrible in mind and spirit. He went home but his situation worsened and he requested Joseph to come to see him. One account summarizes what happened after Joseph arrived, “Joseph finally caught hold of Newel’s hand. Newel said he knew he was possessed of the devil and he also knew that Joseph had the power to cast him out. Acting on Newel’s faith as well as his own, Joseph commanded the devil to depart in the name of Jesus Christ. ‘Immediately Newel spoke out and said that he saw the devil leave him and vanish from his sight. This was the first miracle which was done in the Church … , and it was done not by man, nor by the power of man, but it was done by God, and by the power of godliness.’ Newel Knight’s facial expressions returned to normal, and his body relaxed. ‘The Spirit of the Lord descended upon him [Newel], and the visions of eternity were opened to his view.’” This is considered the first miracle performed in the Church, and Newel showed his great faith in the Lord and in His prophet.

                  Newel soon thereafter led the Saints from Colesville, New York to Kirtland. The Colesville branch settled on Leman Copley’s farm, but that didn’t last long because Leman broke his covenant and kicked them off. The Lord gave a revelation to Newel, now section 54, instructing him and the Colesville Saints to go to Missouri. The Lord gave him this counsel applicable to all of us: “And again, be patient in tribulation until I come; and, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, and they who have sought me early shall find rest to their souls” (Doctrine and Covenants 54:10). He would indeed have many tribulations to be patient through. Newel and these Saints would subsequently be kicked out of Jackson County, Missouri in 1833. When the mob attacked they shot Philo Dibble, and a doctor told him he would die, but Newel administered to him through the power of the priesthood. The Saints book recounts, “Newel Knight then came, sat beside his bed, and silently placed his hand on Philo’s head. Philo felt the Spirit of the Lord rest over him. As the feeling spread through his body, he knew that he would be healed.” In 1834 Newel’s wife Sally died, and after much grief in 1835 Newel participated in another first: he and his second wife, Lydia, became the first couple that Joseph Smith married. This came after Newel “fasted and prayed for three days” to know if it was right given that Lydia’s first husband had abandoned her and it was unknown whether he was alive (according to FamilyTree, he had in fact died in 1833). They were in Missouri in 1838 when the mobs came again, and it was a time of terrible anxiety for Newel and Lydia. When the Prophet was captured, he said to Lydia, “Pray as you never prayed before.”  She said in their distress, “How will this end? My heart is torn with anxious fears, and yet the Spirit tells me all will yet be well.” They did indeed make it to Nauvoo, and he served on the high council there. He stayed faithful through that difficult period as well, and he and his family went west with the Saints in 1846 when they were once again uprooted. That made at least six times that he left his home with his family in order to follow the Lord’s prophet and people. That would be his last, though, because he died on the trail in January 1847 in Nebraska. Like his mother Polly who was the first to die in Zion in 1831 after arriving in Missouri, he also died with his eyes on Zion and fully committed to the work of the Lord. When he had been called to the high council in Nauvoo, the revelation had named him and said that he and the others called would be “the cornerstone of Zion” (Doctrine and Covenants 124:131-132). Indeed, his life was spent building up Zion and lived as a cornerstone of the work of the Lord in the latter days.