Revelation, 4 February 1831 [D&C 41]

  • 44 Commandment given Feb. 4th. 1831

    at Kirtland Geauga County Ohio given to the Church  in these parts it pointing at the office of Edward [Partridge] &c & there  was a man by the name of Coply [Leman Copley] in the Township of  Thompson who had requested <his>Brother & Sidney [Rigdon] & to live with  him & he would furnish them houses & provisions &c then  By Joseph enquired of the lord & Received as follows

    Hearken & hear oh! my People saith your lord & your  God ye whom I delight to bless with the greatest of  blessings ye that hear me & ye that hear me not will I  curse with that have professed my name with the heaviest  of all cursings hearken oh ye Elders of my Church  whom I have called Behold I give unto you a commandm ent that ye shall assemble yourselves to gether to agree  upon my my word & by the prayer of your faith ye shall  receive my law that ye may know how to govern my Church  Church & have all things right before me & I will be  your ruler & ye shall see that my law is kept he that  Receiveth my law & doeth it the same is my Deciple &  he that saith he Receiveth it & Doeth it not the same is  not my Deciple & shall be cast out from among you  for it is not meet that the things which belong to the [p. 61]

This revelation connects for the first time the name of Edward Partridge and the office of bishop. JS first met Ohio businessman Partridge in December 1830. Partridge had traveled with a recently converted friend and minister, Sidney Rigdon, to New York expressly to meet JS. While there, Partridge was baptized and ordained an elder.

Partridge accompanied the Smith family and Rigdon in their move to Ohio during the last week of January 1831. In Ohio, recent convert Leman Copley offered “houses & provisions” to the Smith and Rigdon families (even though the Rigdon family was established in nearby Mentor, Ohio). Praying about the matter, JS was also concerned with an earlier revelation promising that once he moved to Ohio, God would give him the “law” of the church. This resulting revelation addressed these concerns and called Partridge to full-time service as “bishop.”

John Whitmer copied this text into Revelation Book 1, where it is designated “44 Commandment given Feb 4th 1831,” sometime between March and June 1831. The 1833 Book of Commandments dates this revelation to February 1831 at Kirtland, Ohio. The 1835 Doctrine and Covenants gives the same date but no location. The revelation is also included in Revelation Book 2, which lists the specific date of 4 February 1831 without mentioning a location.

Facts

Editorial Title
Revelation, 4 February 1831 [D&C 41]
ID #
6501