“Cleave unto the
Covenants”
Exodus: Sustained by
Covenants
The first Relief Society sisters were, like
the ancient people of Ammon, “distinguished for their zeal towards God” and
were “firm in the faith of Christ.” They had been taught by the Prophet Joseph
Smith, and they had been blessed through their formal organization under the
authority of the priesthood. Now they needed the blessings of the temple. More
than 5,000 Saints thronged the Nauvoo Temple after its dedication so they could
receive the endowment and the sealing ordinance before embarking on their
journey into an unknown future. They came to the temple all day and long into
the night. President Brigham Young wrote that they were so anxious to receive
their ordinances that “I have given myself up entirely to the work of the Lord
in the Temple night and day, not taking more than four hours sleep, upon an
average, per day, and going home but once a week.”
The strength, power, and blessings of temple covenants
would sustain the Latter-day Saints during their journey, when they would
suffer cold,
heat, hunger, poverty, sickness, accidents, and death. They
were strengthened and empowered— spiritually prepared to leave Nauvoo on their
arduous journey into the wilderness. Sister Sarah Rich (a sister called to be a
temple worker by BYoung) implied that the exodus was not a “leap in the
dark” for faithful Latter-day Saint women. They were sustained by their covenants. Like
the children of Israel anciently, they followed a prophet into the
wilderness in the hope of deliverance. In
preparation for the exodus, President Brigham Young made
the following declaration to the Saints: “This
shall be our covenant—that we will walk in
all the ordinances of the Lord.” Latter-day Saints
walked into the wilderness bound by covenant to God, their families,
and their fellow sojourners.
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