Revelation, , OH, [Feb.] 1831. Featured version, titled “45th. Commandment AD 1831,” copied [ca. Mar. 1831] in Revelation Book 1, pp. 67–70; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.
Historical Introduction
JS dictated this revelation following his arrival in , Ohio. It clarified JS’s position as the only person authorized to “receive & Revelations” for the . Before JS’s arrival in Kirtland, the converts in the area were left for several months without any experienced leadership. and many of his followers in had been into the church in November 1830, and Rigdon then left Ohio to meet JS in while and other missionaries who had baptized the Ohio believers left for the western borders of the . Concerned about the lack of leadership, JS sent to Ohio with copies of the revelations “to comfort and strengthen my brethren in that land.” When Whitmer arrived in mid-January, the conduct of the Ohio members surprised and concerned him. He wrote, “The enemy of all righteous had . . . made them think that an angel of God appeard to them, and showed them writings on the outside cover of the Bible, and on parchment, which flew through the air, and on the back of their hands, and many such foolish and vain things, others lost their strength, and some slid on the floor, and such like maneuvers, which proved greatly to th[e] injury of the cause.” Whitmer concluded that it was “ne[ce]ssary that this people should have instruction, and learn to decern between the things of God and the works of Satan.”
In this atmosphere of religious excess came a specific challenge to JS’s authority. In February 1831, the same month that JS and other members arrived from , a woman referred to as Mrs. “Hubble” claimed to receive revelations, which she shared publicly with other members. As explained in his later history: “About these days there was a woman by the name of Hubble who professed to be a prophetess of the Lord. and professed to have many revelations, and knew that the Book of mormon was true; and that she should become a teacher in the Church of Christ. She appeard very sanctimonious and deceived some, who were not able to detect her in her hypocracy.” According to Whitmer, “The Lord gave [this] Revelation that the saints might not be decived.” Similarly, the introduction to this revelation in JS’s history notes that “a woman came with great pretentions to revealing commandments, laws and other curious matters” and that JS felt it was “necessary to inquire of the Lord.”
This revelation appears to have been dictated between 9 February and the end of the month. copied it into Revelation Book 1 directly after a 9 February 1831 revelation and before a revelation dated “Febu. 1831.” Sometime later a revelation dated 23 February was inserted on a loose sheet immediately following the 9 February 1831 revelation and before the revelation featured here.
For an earlier event that resulted in similar clarification, see Revelation, Sept. 1830–B [D&C 28]; and Minutes, 26 Sept. 1830. The instruction in the September 1830 text was a response to revelations that Hiram Page had received from a seer stone and that Oliver Cowdery and others had accepted as divine communications. The September revelation stated that only JS had “the keys of the mysteries of the Revelations which are sealed until I shall appoint unto him another in his stead.” (Revelation, Sept. 1830–B [D&C 28:7].)
Sidney Rigdon apparently arrived in Kirtland 1 February 1831, and JS arrived three days later. ([Matthew S. Clapp], “Mormonism,” Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 15 Feb. 1831, [1] –[2]; see also JS History, vol. A-1, 92.)
Whitmer, History, 18. This was possibly Laura Fuller Hubbell, older sister of Edson Fuller, who had joined the church and been ordained an elder, but the woman was more likely “Mrs. Louisa Hubbell,” who had converted from the Disciples of Christ and later rejoined the Disciples in May 1831. (Hayden, Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, 472; Staker, Hearken, O Ye People, 79–80, 111–114.)
Hayden, Amos Sutton. Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, Ohio; with Biographical Sketches of the Principal Agents in Their Religious Movement. Cincinnati: Chase and Hall, 1875.
Staker, Mark L. Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2009.
Whitmer, History, 18. Critic Ezra Booth reported that Hubbell “so ingratiated herself into the esteem and favor of some of the Elders, that they received her, as a person commissioned to act a conspicuous part in Mormonizing the world.” Booth added, “Rigdon, and some others, gave her the right hand of fellowship, and literally saluted her with what they called the kiss of charity. But Smith viewing her as encroaching upon his sacred premises, declared her an impostor, and she returned to the place from whence she came.” (Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—Nos. VIII–IX,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 8 Dec. 1831, [1].)
Revelation Book 1, pp. 62–70. Although the insertion of the 23 February 1831 revelation immediately after the 9 February 1831 revelation may indicate that Whitmer thought the text featured here was written after 23 February, it is equally plausible that Whitmer simply meant to bring together the 9 and 23 February revelations, which were later published as a single text. (Revelation, 9 and 23 Feb. 1831, in Doctrine and Covenants 13, 1835 ed. [D&C 42].)
Heaven the Hevens shall shake & the Earth shall tremble & the Trump of God shall sound both long & loud & shall say to the sleeping Nations ye saints arise & live ye sinners stay & sleep untill I shall call again Wherefore gird up your loins lest ye are found among the wicked lift up your voices & spare not call upon the Nations to repent both old & young both bond & free saying prepare yourselves for the great day of the Lord for if I who am a man do lift up my voice & call upon you to repent & ye hate men what will you say when the day cometh when the Thunders shall utter their voices from the ends of the Earth speaking in the ears of all that live saying repent & prepare for the great day of the Lord yea & again when the lightning shall streak forth from the East unto the west & shall utter forth their voices unto all that live & make the ears of all tingle that hear saying these words repent ye for the great day of the Lord is come & again the lord shall utter his voice out of Heaven saying hearken O ye Nations of the Earth & hear the words of that God who made you O ye Nations of the Earth how often would I have gethered you as a hen gethereth her chickens under her wings but ye would not how oft have I called upon you by the mouth of my Servents & by the ministering of Angels & by the voice of lightnings & by the voice of tempests & by the voice of Earthquakes & great hailstorms & by the voice of famines & pestilences of evry kind & by the great sound of a trump & by the voice of Judgements & by the voice of mercy all the day long & by the voice of Glory & honour & the riches of eternal life & would have saved you with an everlasting salvation but ye would not Behold the day has come when the cup of the wrath of mine indignation is full Behold verily I say unto you that these are the words of the Lord your God Wherefore Labour ye Labour ye in my vineyard for the last time for the last time call ye upon the inhabitants of the Earth for in mine [p. 69]