Revelation, 7 May 1831 [D&C 49]

  • 51st. Commandment May 7th. 1831

    A Revelation given to Sidney [Rigdon] & Parley [P. Pratt] & Leman [Copley]  Received at Kirtland Geauga Ohio th[e]ir mission to the  Shakers & thus saith the Lord unto them as follows

    Hearken unto my word my Servent Sidney & Parley & Leman  for Behold verily I say unto you that I give unto you a comm andment that you shall go & preach my Gospel which ye have  received even as ye have received it unto the Shakers. Behold  I say unto you that they desire to know the truth in Part but  not all for they are not right before me & must needs repent  wherefore I send you my Servents sidney & Parley to preach the  Gospel unto them & my servent Leman shall be ordained unto  this work that he may reason with them not according to that  which he hath received of them but according to that which shall  be taught them him by you my Servents & by so doing I will  bless him otherwise he shall not prosper thus saith the Lord  for I am God & have sent mine only begotten Son into the  world for the redemption of the world & have decreed that he that  receiveth him shall be saved & he that receiveth him not shall  be damned & they have done unto the Son of man even as they  listed & he hath taken his power on the right hand of his  glory & now reigneth in the Heavens <& will> till he decends on the  Earth to put all enemies under his feet which time is nigh  at hand I the Lord hath spoken it but the hour & the day no  man knoweth neither the angels in Heaven nor shall they know  untill he come wherefore I will that all men <shall> repent for all  are under sin except them which I have reserved unto myself Holy  men that ye know not of wherefore I say unto you that I have  sent unto you mine everlasting Covenant even that which was [p. 80]

This revelation instructed a delegation of church elders to visit a community of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing—popularly called Shakers—in North Union, Ohio. Leman Copley, a recent convert to the church and former Shaker, was anxious to reach out to his former associates with his new faith.

The previous autumn, while en route west, Oliver Cowdery and his companions had made initial contact with the North Union congregation, but the Shakers had dismissed the missionaries’ message. Copley and his company subsequently reported that they did not fare well either.

The revelation, addressed to Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt, and Copley, was copied by John Whitmer into Revelation Book 1 as “51st Commandment May 7th 1831” sometime between May and June 1831. The 1833 Book of Commandments dates the revelation to March 1831 at Kirtland, Ohio, while the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants gives the same date but no location.

Facts

Editorial Title
Revelation, 7 May 1831 [D&C 49]
ID #
6508