The Councils of the Church

A court described in procedural detail: how many sit, how many speak, who speaks for the accused, when a decision may be re-heard, and where an appeal stops. One of these sections is not a revelation in the first-person voice at all — it is a record of a meeting, and the page marks the difference.

What this page maps. Two kinds of text. D&C 107 is expository and, in places, first-person divine address; D&C 102 reads as the minutes of an assembly — it reports actions in the past tense, records votes with the word “Voted:” (D&C 102:6, 102:8) and “Resolved:” (D&C 102:33), and ends with an adjournment. That difference in register is a fact of the frozen text and is reported, not resolved. Dates, places, and occasions are not in this wiki’s source text and are not stated.

Account

The council as constituted

The minutes state the body’s size and purpose in their first two verses: “This day a general council of twenty-four high priests assembled at the house of Joseph Smith, Jun., by revelation, and proceeded to organize the high council of the church of Christ, which was to consist of twelve high priests, and one or three presidents as the case might require” (D&C 102:1); “The high council was appointed by revelation for the purpose of settling important difficulties which might arise in the church, which could not be settled by the church or the bishop’s council to the satisfaction of the parties” (D&C 102:2).

Twelve councilors are named, and so are the three presidents (D&C 102:3). The record then does something a revelation would not: it reports the councilors’ consent as an answer given — “The above-named councilors were then asked whether they accepted their appointments, and whether they would act in that office according to the law of heaven, to which they all answered that they accepted their appointments” (D&C 102:4) — and it counts the voters by office: “The number composing the council, who voted in the name and for the church in appointing the above-named councilors were forty-three, as follows: nine high priests, seventeen elders, four priests, and thirteen members” (D&C 102:5). Those four figures sum to forty-three, the total the verse states.

A quorum rule follows: “Voted: that the high council cannot have power to act without seven of the above-named councilors, or their regularly appointed successors are present” (D&C 102:6), with a mechanism for filling vacancies “by the nomination of the president or presidents, and sanctioned by the voice of a general council of high priests” (D&C 102:8).

How a case is heard

The procedure is unusually concrete: “it shall be the duty of the twelve councilors to cast lots by numbers, and thereby ascertain who of the twelve shall speak first, commencing with number one and so in succession to number twelve” (D&C 102:12). How many speak depends on the case: “if it is not, two only of the councilors shall speak upon it” (D&C 102:13); “But if it is thought to be difficult, four shall be appointed; and if more difficult, six; but in no case shall more than six be appointed to speak” (D&C 102:14).

Then the protection that governs the whole arrangement: “The accused, in all cases, has a right to one-half of the council, to prevent insult or injustice” (D&C 102:15); “Those councilors who draw even numbers, that is, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12, are the individuals who are to stand up in behalf of the accused, and prevent insult and injustice” (D&C 102:17); “In all cases the accuser and the accused shall have a privilege of speaking for themselves before the council, after the evidences are heard” (D&C 102:18). The instruction to those who speak is stated as a standard rather than a side: “every man is to speak according to equity and justice” (D&C 102:16).

The decision can be reopened, and the conditions are stated exactly: the president decides and calls for the twelve to sanction it by vote (D&C 102:19); “But should the remaining councilors, who have not spoken, or any one of them, after hearing the evidences and pleadings impartially, discover an error in the decision of the president, they can manifest it, and the case shall have a re-hearing” (D&C 102:20); “And if, after a careful re-hearing, any additional light is shown upon the case, the decision shall be altered accordingly” (D&C 102:21); “But in case no additional light is given, the first decision shall stand, the majority of the council having power to determine the same” (D&C 102:22). And where the written law runs out: “In case of difficulty respecting doctrine or principle, if there is not a sufficiency written to make the case clear to the minds of the council, the president may inquire and obtain the mind of the Lord by revelation” (D&C 102:23).

Where an appeal ends

Two kinds of council are distinguished, and only one of them can be appealed from: “There is a distinction between the high council or traveling high priests abroad, and the traveling high council composed of the twelve apostles, in their decisions” (D&C 102:30); “From the decision of the former there can be an appeal; but from the decision of the latter there cannot” (D&C 102:31); “The latter can only be called in question by the general authorities of the church in case of transgression” (D&C 102:32).

The later section states the same ceiling from the other end.

[Textual] — paraphrase / allusion. () The two sections describe the same escalation, one as a purpose and one as a rule: - D&C 107:78: “Again, verily, I say unto you, the most important business of the church, and the most difficult cases of the church, inasmuch as there is not satisfaction upon the decision of the bishop or judges, it shall be handed over and carried up unto the council of the church, before the Presidency of the High Priesthood.” - D&C 102:2: “The high council was appointed by revelation for the purpose of settling important difficulties which might arise in the church, which could not be settled by the church or the bishop’s council to the satisfaction of the parties.”

Shared: a case that the bishop’s level cannot settle “to the satisfaction” of those involved, carried upward. Divergences reported: the minutes name the high council as the receiving body and the bishop’s council as the level below it (D&C 102:2); the later section names the Presidency of the High Priesthood as the receiving body and “the bishop or judges” as the level below (D&C 107:78). The later section also states a terminus the minutes do not: “And after this decision it shall be had in remembrance no more before the Lord; for this is the highest council of the church of God, and a final decision upon controversies in spiritual matters” (D&C 107:80). Registered as allusion rather than shared phrasing: the concepts align, the wording does not run together.

The rule is then stated with no exceptions on either end: “There is not any person belonging to the church who is exempt from this council of the church” (D&C 107:81); “And inasmuch as a President of the High Priesthood shall transgress, he shall be had in remembrance before the common council of the church, who shall be assisted by twelve counselors of the High Priesthood” (D&C 107:82); “Thus, none shall be exempted from the justice and the laws of God, that all things may be done in order and in solemnity before him, according to truth and righteousness” (D&C 107:84).

Quorums, and the unanimity rule

Alongside the courts the text describes deliberative bodies of equal standing: “Of the Melchizedek Priesthood, three Presiding High Priests, chosen by the body, appointed and ordained to that office, and upheld by the confidence, faith, and prayer of the church, form a quorum of the Presidency of the Church” (D&C 107:22); the Twelve “form a quorum, equal in authority and power to the three presidents previously mentioned” (D&C 107:24); the Seventy “form a quorum, equal in authority to that of the Twelve special witnesses or Apostles just named” (D&C 107:26); “The standing high councils, at the stakes of Zion, form a quorum equal in authority in the affairs of the church, in all their decisions, to the quorum of the presidency, or to the traveling high council” (D&C 107:36).

The decision rule is stated as an absolute with one stated relaxation: “And every decision made by either of these quorums must be by the unanimous voice of the same; that is, every member in each quorum must be agreed to its decisions, in order to make their decisions of the same power or validity one with the other—” (D&C 107:27); “A majority may form a quorum when circumstances render it impossible to be otherwise—” (D&C 107:28); “Unless this is the case, their decisions are not entitled to the same blessings which the decisions of a quorum of three presidents were anciently, who were ordained after the order of Melchizedek, and were righteous and holy men” (D&C 107:29). The manner is prescribed as well as the arithmetic: decisions “are to be made in all righteousness, in holiness, and lowliness of heart, meekness and long-suffering, and in faith, and virtue, and knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity” (D&C 107:30), and an unrighteous decision “may be brought before a general assembly of the several quorums, which constitute the spiritual authorities of the church; otherwise there can be no appeal from their decision” (D&C 107:32).

One further short revelation assigns a decision to a named combination of councils: “Verily, thus saith the Lord, the time is now come, that it shall be disposed of by a council, composed of the First Presidency of my Church, and of the bishop and his council, and by my high council; and by mine own voice unto them, saith the Lord. Even so. Amen.” (D&C 120:1). The verse is the whole section, and what “it” refers to is not stated within it; the wiki does not supply an antecedent the text withholds.

Significance

The most notable feature of this material is the amount of it spent on protecting the accused. Half the council stands up for him by lot rather than by choice (D&C 102:15, 102:17); he speaks last and for himself (D&C 102:18); an error noticed by a councilor who never spoke reopens the case (D&C 102:20); and the presiding officer is himself subject to the same body (D&C 107:82).

The second is the register. A book of revelations includes, as one of its sections, a set of minutes with a vote count and an adjournment — “After prayer the conference adjourned.” (D&C 102:34). The wiki reports that, and reports that the same section says the council itself “was appointed by revelation” (D&C 102:2). What the mixture of registers implies about the book is not the wiki’s to assert.

Key references

D&C 102:1–8 — the council constituted; the vote counted; the quorum rule
D&C 102:12–23 — lots, how many speak, the accused’s half, re-hearing
D&C 102:30–34 — which decisions may be appealed; the adjournment
D&C 107:22–37 — the quorums and the unanimity rule
D&C 107:72–84 — the bishop as judge; the highest council; no one exempt
D&C 120:1 — a council named to dispose of a matter the verse does not identify

Offices of the Church · Common Consent · The Two Priesthoods · The Twelve and the Seventy · Index · Connections

Sources

Doctrine and Covenants sections 102, 107, and 120 (verse text only; headnotes excluded). No text outside the Doctrine and Covenants is quoted on this page.

Every quote is verbatim from the frozen source text, cited to its exact reference and checked character-for-character; no quote crosses a verse boundary. One connection record is registered on this page, [textual] and asserted_by: wiki; both of its endpoints are Doctrine and Covenants verses. The sum of the four voter figures at D&C 102:5 is an arithmetic check on that verse’s own stated total, not a claim added to it.