¶ When Moses had led the children of Israel through the wilderness to Mount Sinai, he went before the Lord seeking a revelation of that holy order by which the Lord would have his people governed.
When Moses had petitioned the Lord for this revelation, the Lord instructed him to administer certain of the ordinances of the House of the Lord unto the people that they might be sanctified, preparatory to receiving his holy order. (Exodus 19:10-11)
Only when this had been accomplished did the Lord call Moses up into the mountain to receive the fulness of his law, for that people which receives God's holy order must be a sanctified people, pure and holy, without spot before the Lord.
"And the Lord called unto Moses out of the mountain, saying, Come unto me, for I would give thee the Law for thy people, which shall be a covenant for the Children of Light. And Moses went up unto God. And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Law, thy God, which hath brought thee out from the depths of the bondage of darkness. Thou shalt have no other Laws before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any image of the Law in heaven above or in the earth beneath. I am the invisible Law, without beginning and without end. Thou shalt not make unto thee false laws, for I am the Law, and the whole law of all laws. If thou forsake me, thou shalt be visited by disasters for generation upon generation. * * * And Moses heard the voice of the Lord, and sealed within him the covenant that was between the Lord and the Children of Light. And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tablets of the Law were in his hand. And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tablets." (Essene Gospel of Peace 2:25, 28)
¶ While Moses was upon the mountain learning the covenants and commandments pertaining to the holy order of God, the children of Israel, growing impatient at his absence, turned to the worship of the idols of Egypt—the golden calf.
When Moses descended the mountain and saw the people participating in the abominations of the Egyptians, he threw the tablets which the Lord had given him upon the ground, breaking them into small pieces which he subsequently ground into powder, mixed with water and required the people to eat as a testimony against them.
"And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people. Ye have sinned a great sin, ye have denied thy creator. I will go up unto the Lord and plead atonement for thy sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Lord, thou hast seen the desecration of thy Holy Law. For thy children lost faith, and worshipped the darkness, and made for themselves a golden calf. Lord, forgive them, for they are blind to the light. And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, at the beginning of time was a covenant made between God and man, and the holy flame of the Creator did enter unto him. And he was made the son of God. * * * And the Lord spoke, saying, Only the Children of Light can keep the Commandments of the Law." (Essene Gospel of Peace 2:28-29)
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two other tables of stone, like unto the first, and I will write upon them also, the words of the law, according as they were written at the first on the tables which thou brakest; but it shall not be according to the first, for I will take away the priesthood out of their midst; therefore my holy order,and the ordinances thereof, shall not go before them; for my presence shall not go up in their midst, lest I destroy them.
But I will give unto them the law as at the first, but it shall be after the law of a carnal commandment; for I have sworn in my wrath, that they shall not enter into my presence, into my rest, in the days of their pilgrimage." (Exodus 34:1-2)
"And Moses hid the invisible Law within his breast, and kept it for a sign to the Children of Light. * * * And the broken tablets of the Invisible Law lived hidden in the breast of Moses, until it came to pass that the Children of Light appeared in the desert, and the angels walked the earth." (Essene Gospel of Peace 2:29)
¶ The principles of the holy order—the invisible law— Moses taught to Joshua and Caleb and those of the younger generation who prepared themselves to receive them.
These were passed down as a sacred treasure from generation to generation and those who were prepared to live after the holy order of God were called forth and organized into communities, called the Sons of the Prophets because they were instructed by and sealed into the line of the prophets.
Such a society is mentioned in connection with Samuel (I Samuel 10:5, 10; 19:20), Elijah and Elisha (II Kings 2:3,5; 4:1,38; 6:1-17; 9:1-2) and others (I Kings 20:35-42).
Elijah was particularly active in organizing such communities and the Lord revealed through him many principles by which they should be governed.
At length it was revealed to Elijah that he was to be caught up to the City of Enoch.
Previous to this event he wrote down the principles by which the Order should be governed and left this book for his heir Elisha to assist him in administering the law to the Sons of the Prophets.
This book, which was found by Elisha after Elijah’s translation, is the Book of the Order of Elijah the Prophet.
¶ These communities of the Sons of the Prophets were perpetuated until the time of Christ.
They called themselves by various names including the Children of Light (cf. John 12:36; Ephesians 5:8; I Thessalonians 5:5), Essenes, meaning People of the Spirit, and Qumran, meaning Latter-day Saints (cf. Nibley, Since Cumorah, p. 21).
It was to them that the mother of John the Baptist fled after her husband was martyred in the temple at Jerusalem so that John grew up in the desert among the Essenes. (cf. Times and Seasons 3:902)
Jesus also was a familiar figure among them and some of his greatest teachings were preserved in their libraries, while Paul's epistle to the Hebrews was written to these Essene Hebrew saints.
¶ During the interim stretching from the translation of Elijah to the destruction of the Qumran communities in the first century A.D., the Book of the Order was many times transcribed with resulting alterations, additions and deletions.
Its name was changed to the Manual of Discipline, reflecting the position which it had taken among the people.
When their communities were threatened by invading Romans in the first century A.D., the Essenes buried their libraries which remained undisturbed in the earth until the twentieth century, long after the Lord revealed through Joseph that the Book of Mormon was the first of many ancient records which were to come forth. (cf. Book of Commandments 5:11-12; 7:1; 8:1)
When a copy of the Manual of Discipline fell into our hands, its importance to any people seeking to live after the holy order of God was evident.
Desiring to know of its accuracy, we inquired through the Stone of Ephraim whereupon the Lord gave us the following translation, both the Hebrew and the English characters appearing in the stone.
¶ We take the restoration of these holy writings to be a pearl of great price given to us as a test of our desires to live after the holy order of God.
If we incorporate the principles contained herein into our lives, surely the Lord will bestow yet further light upon us, but if we fail to heed Elijah's instructions, surely we will fall under the same curse as those who received the Book of Mormon but did not obey its teachings.
To these the Lord said, "And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received, which vanity and unbelief hath brought the whole church under condemnation, And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all; and they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written, that they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father's kingdom, otherwise there remaineth a scourge and a judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion: for shall the children of the kingdom pollute my holy land? Verily, I say unto you, Nay." (K.D.C. 4:8)
¶ Let us be wise stewards that the Lord may continue to use us to lay a foundation for Zion that the day may be hastened when our Lord will return with ten thousands of his saints to reign personally upon the earth.