Revelation, , OH, 4 Dec. 1831. Featured version copied [ca. 4 Dec. 1831]; handwriting of ; two pages; , Papers, BYU.
This text was inscribed between JS’s two other revelations dictated 4 December 1831, on the front and back of the first leaf of a bifolium measuring 12¾ × 8 inches (32 × 20 cm). For complete physical description, see Source Note for Revelation, 4 Dec. 1831–A [D&C 72:1–8].
This document and several other revelations, along with many other personal and institutional documents kept by , were inherited by his daughter Mary Jane Whitney, who married Isaac Groo. This collection was passed down in the Groo family and donated by members of the family to the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University during the period 1969–1974.
Andrus et al., “Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 1825–1906,” 5–6.
Andrus, Hyrum L., Chris Fuller, and Elizabeth E. McKenzie. “Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 1825–1906,” Sept. 1998. BYU.
Historical Introduction
JS dictated this revelation at the same 4 December 1831 in , Ohio, at which he dictated two other revelations, including one calling for the appointment of as a in . A November 1831 revelation explained that when other bishops were appointed, they would “act in the same office” as , bishop in . The revelation designating Whitney as bishop stated that his responsibilities would be “made known” both by revelation and “by the voice of the conference,” indicating that some of these duties may have been discussed at the conference at which the revelation was dictated. This 4 December revelation specified Whitney’s duties, in coordination with Partridge’s, and emphasized that Whitney and Partridge should maintain close ties. Whitney was to operate the in Ohio to provide for the needs of the preaching the gospel and of the over the revelations. Any debts these individuals incurred for obtaining goods from the storehouse but could not repay would be covered by funds or assets held by Partridge in . Whitney was also to receive accounts—apparently both temporal and spiritual—from the elders of their stewardships. He was then to recommend the faithful to Partridge as worthy to receive an in Zion. Since other revelations declared that JS and conferences of elders would decide who should relocate to Missouri, Whitney likely was not tasked with actually sending individuals to Zion—only with providing recommends when such individuals were designated to go.
Although early manuscript versions indicate that this was a separate revelation from the one appointing a bishop, the two revelations were combined with a third and presented as a single revelation when published.
Joseph Coe, for example, sent Whitney a letter detailing the missionary activities he undertook in fall 1831. Orson Hyde did the same in 1833. (Joseph Coe, Report, 7 Mar. 1832, Missionary Reports, 1831–1900, CHL; Hyde, Journal, 13 Mar. 1833.)
The word of the Lord in addition to the law which has been given making known the duty of the which has been ordained unto the church in this part of the vinyard which is verily this. To keep the Lords to receive the funds of the church in this part of the vinyard to take an account of the as before has been commanded and to administer to their wants who shall pay for that which they receive inasmuch as they have wherewith to pay that this also may be to the good of the church to the poor and needy and he who hath not wherewith to pay an account shall be taken and handed over to the in who shall pay the debt out of that which the Lord shall put into his hands and the labours of the faithfull who labour in spiritual things in [p. [1]]
A May 1831 revelation told the bishop to “appoint a storehouse unto this Church & let all things both in money & in meat which is more then is needful for the want of this People be kept in the hands of the Bishop.” The Lord’s storehouse in Kirtland, Ohio, was apparently to be Newel K. Whitney’s own store, which he was commanded in August 1831 to “retain . . . for a little season.” (Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51:13]; Revelation, 30 Aug. 1831 [D&C 63:42].)