Minutes of September 8, 1834

Joseph and Oliver heal a sick woman. Joseph explains the gift of tongues is for missionary work, not for administrative hearings §. A brother is disfellowshipped for refusing to come to order in a disciplinary court and criticizing the branch president.
Date		September 8, 1834		Kirtland council, 49–51.
Location		New Portage, Ohio
Description		…a council of the Elders of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints held …
Presiding		Joseph Smith Jr.
Clerk		Oliver Cowdery
Open		Joseph opens with prayer.
Bless sick		Joseph and Oliver anoint a sick sister with oil and lay their hands on her. She says she is healed. Asks the brethren to pray that her faith will not fail so she will not be afflicted any more.
False spirits		Joseph makes "a few introductory remarks" on "false spirits and other items."
Brother shown leniency		Brother A. Palmer presents the case of a Brother Carpenter, who has been "tried … before the church." He was given time to decide whether he would admit his fault.
Gift of tongues says that was wrong		Brother Gordon at the time spake in tongues and declared that brother Carpenter should not have any lenity.
Ask Joseph		Brother Carpenter is dissatisfied with the leniency given and Brother Palmer requests instruction.
Gift of tongues		Joseph explains that the gift of tongues:
For preaching the gospel		was particularly instituted for the preaching of the Gospel to other nations and languages, but it was not given for the government of the Church.
Not used for making decisions		[50] Also decisions must be made on the basis of "actual testimony."
		Brother Gordon: the decision was rendered "before the gift of tongues was manifest."
Use our own language so devil cannot trick us		Joseph: we should speak in our own language in such instances so "the adversary cannot lead our minds astray."
Branch president: brethren speak out of order		Brother Palmer: in a conference where he presided, several brethren spoke out of order. J. B. Bosworth would not respond to his request for order. Should Brother Palmer continue to preside over the branch? Should conduct as Brother Bosworth's be allowed in conferences?
		Brother Gordon comments on the subjects under discussion at the time.
Joseph corrects Brother Gordon		[Joseph:] … brother Gordon's tongues in the end, did operate as testimony, as, by his remarks in tongues, the former decision was set aside, and his taken. … [and] his manifestation was incorrect and from a suspicious heart.
Reverses decision		He approves the first decision and "discarded the second."
Joseph Keeler confesses		Joseph Keeler admits that he had "acted hastily" in urging Brother Carpenter "to make acknowledgment" and asks forgiveness.
Brother Gordon recants		[51] Brother Gordon realizes he was in error, is satisfied with the counsel, and is "willing to ask forgiveness of the brethren and of the Lord."
Bosworth out of order		Decision: Brother Bosworth was out of order when he failed to accept Brother Palmer's request for order.
Conference votes on decsions Clerk to notify Bosworth		The conference votes to approve the decisions and votes to send a letter, signed by clerk Oliver Cowdery, to Brother Bosworth, informing him that he acted out of place.
False prophecies		It is proven that Milton Stow has delivered two untrue prophecies. In one he said that Zion was redeemed, in the other, that Brother Carpenter was excommunicated forever and Sister Carpenter was dead.
Disfellowshipped		Vote: Milton Stow is "suspended from the privileges" of the church and "from acting in the authority of an elder" until he makes satisfaction to the bishop's council in Kirtland.
Close		Prayer by Oliver Cowdery.
Letter to Joseph Bosworth		[A copy of the letter addressed to Joseph B. Bosworth, "a High Priest in the Church of the Latter-Day Saints" in New Portage follows several pages later, with the note that it should have been appended to the September 8 minutes:]		Kirtland council, 73–74.
Refused to be seated Spoke disrespectfully of the branch president		On behalf of the conference Oliver writes Brother Bosworth that [74] the difficulty between him and Ambrose Palmer has been considered. As president of the branch, Brother Palmer asked him to be seated, he refused and spoke disrespectfully of him, thereby wounding the conference.
Therefore,		The conference has decided that Brother Bosworth should:
Confess		make the proper confession required in the Law of the Lord. Why I say disrespectfully is because when you were requested to be seated and desist speaking, you said that you had as much right to speak as he (brother Palmer) had.
				Minutes Home