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43990775
Revelation, 29 October 1831 [D&C 66]
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Behold thus saith the Lord u[n]to you my servant William [E. McLellin]. Blessed are you inasmuch as you have turned away from your inequities and have received my truths saith the Lord your Redeemer, the Saviour of the world, even of as many as believe on my name. Verily I say unto you blessed are you for receiving mine everlasting Covenant even the fulness of my Gospel1
sent forth unto the children of men that they might have life and be made par takers of the glories which are2 to be re vealed in the last days as it was written by the prophets and Apostles in days of old.3 Verily I say unto you my servant Wm. that you are clean but not all4 Repent therefore of those things which are not pleasing in my sight saith the Lord for the Lord will shew them unto you. And now Verily I the the Lord will shew unto you what I will concerning you or what is my will concerning you. Behold Verily I say unto you that it is my will that you should proclaim my Gospel from land to land and from City to City. Yea in those regions round about where it hath not been procla imed. Tarry not many days in this place5
Go not up unto the Land of Zion as yet But in as much as you can send. Send, otherwis[e] think not of thy property. Go unto Eastern lands. Bear testimony in every place, unto every people and in their synagogues6
reason ing with the people Let my servant [p. [9]]
18 Jan. 1806–14 Mar. 1883. Schoolteacher, physician, publisher. Born at Smith Co., Tennessee. Son of Charles McLellin and Sarah (a Cherokee Indian). Married first Cynthia Ann, 30 July 1829. Wife died, by summer 1831. Baptized into LDS church by Hyrum Smith...
View Full BioGenerally referred to the “fullness of [the] gospel”—the sum total of the church’s message, geared toward establishing God’s covenant people on the earth; also used to describe individual elements of the gospel, including marriage. According to JS, the everlasting...
View GlossaryThe revelatory additions and revisions JS made to the Bible; also called his “translation” of the Old and New Testaments. The Book of Mormon text stated that it contained “plain and precious things” that had been removed from the Bible and promised that these...
View GlossaryThe Saints believed that many “plain and precious things” had been removed from the Bible, but according to the “Articles and Covenants” of the church, the Book of Mormon “contains . . . the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and also to the Jews.” Likewise, the “Laws of the Church of Christ” counsel those proselytizing to “teach the scriptures which are in the Bible & the Book of Mormon in the which is the fullness of the Gospel.” At some point, the meaning of the term “fullness of the gospel” may have expanded to include JS’s revelations and visions. (Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 30, 36 [1 Nephi 13:24–29; 15:13]; Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830, in JSP, D1:XXX [D&C 20:9]; Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831, in JSP, D1:XXX [D&C 42:12]; Vision, 16 Feb. 1832, p. XXX herein [D&C 76:14].)
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The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi. Palmyra, NY: E. B. Grandin, 1830.
John Whitmer’s copy of the revelation in Revelation Book 1 has “was” instead of “are.” (Revelation Book 1, p. 111, in JSP, MRB:195.)
A title indicating one sent forth to preach; later designated as a specific ecclesiastical office. By 1830, JS and Oliver Cowdery were designated as apostles. The articles and covenants of the church explained that an “apostle is an elder” and, as such, had...
View GlossarySee 1 Peter 5:1; and Romans 8:18.
18 Jan. 1806–14 Mar. 1883. Schoolteacher, physician, publisher. Born at Smith Co., Tennessee. Son of Charles McLellin and Sarah (a Cherokee Indian). Married first Cynthia Ann, 30 July 1829. Wife died, by summer 1831. Baptized into LDS church by Hyrum Smith...
View Full BioSee John 13:10–11; and Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831, in JSP, D1:XXX [D&C 38:10].
According to McLellin, “I had expected to remain here and read and write for some weeks and probably months, but having received the will of the Lord I determined to obey it.” Therefore, McLellin continued, “I only remained here [in Hiram] about three weeks.” (McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct.–16 Nov. 1831.)
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McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
In JS’s earliest revelations “the cause of Zion” was used to broadly describe the work JS was called to do. However, the term Zion was soon used more specifically to describe a community of believers who live in harmony and equality. The Book of Mormon explained...
View GlossaryJohn Whitmer’s copy in Revelation Book 1 presents this list in a different order: “bear testimony unto every people & in every Place & in their synnagogues.” Although “synagogue” specifically refers to a Jewish house of worship, it is also used in the Book of Mormon to denote a general place of worship. (Revelation Book 1, p. 112, in JSP, MRB:197; see, for example, Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 492 [3 Nephi 18:32].)
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The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi. Palmyra, NY: E. B. Grandin, 1830.
On 29 October 1831, William E. McLellin wrote in his journal, “The Lord condecended to hear my prayr and give me a revelation of his will, through his prophet or Seer (Joseph).”1
McLellin, a recent convert from Paris, Illinois, met JS for the first time at the 25–26 October 1831 conference in Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where McLellin was ordained to the high priesthood. At the conclusion of the conference, he accompanied JS to Hiram, Ohio, arriving there on 29 October.2
McLellin later recalled that on that day, he “went before the Lord in secret, and on my knees asked him to reveal the answer to five questions through his Prophet.”3
At McLellin’s request, JS dictated a revelation for him,4 perhaps in the southeast upstairs bedroom of the John and Alice (Elsa) Johnson home, where JS worked on his revision of the Bible.5
According to McLellin, the revelation answered the questions “to my full and entire satisfaction.”6
Although McLellin never explained what his five queries were, the revelation’s contents indicate that he was probably concerned about his standing before God and about what the Lord desired him to do.
18 Jan. 1806–14 Mar. 1883. Schoolteacher, physician, publisher. Born at Smith Co., Tennessee. Son of Charles McLellin and Sarah (a Cherokee Indian). Married first Cynthia Ann, 30 July 1829. Wife died, by summer 1831. Baptized into LDS church by Hyrum Smith...
View Full BioMcLellin, Journal, 29 Oct. 1831.
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Murdock, John. Journal, ca. 1830–1859. CHL.
Seat of justice located in rich agricultural area ten miles west of Illinois-Indiana border. Area settled, 1821. Land for village donated, 1823. Functioned as county seat, by 1833. Incorporated 1849. Population in 1837 about 280. Population in 1840 about ...
More InfoLocated about five miles south of Kirtland Township. Area settled, 1815. Organized 1820. Population in 1830 about 300. Population in 1838 about 800. Sixty-five Latter-day Saints lived in township, by Nov. 1830. Joseph and Julia Murdock, twins adopted by JS...
More InfoArea settled by immigrants from Pennsylvania and New England, ca. 1802. Located in northeastern Ohio about twenty-five miles southeast of Kirtland. Population in 1830 about 500. Population in 1840 about 1,100. JS lived in township at home of John and Alice...
More InfoMcLellin, Journal, 26–29 Oct. 1831; see also Minutes, 25–26 Oct. 1831, p. XXX herein.
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Murdock, John. Journal, ca. 1830–1859. CHL.
William E. McLellin, Editorial, Ensign of Liberty, Jan. 1848, 61.
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Ensign of Liberty. Kirtland, OH. Mar. 1847–Aug. 1849.
JS History, vol. A-1, 156.
14 Apr. 1779–30 July 1843. Farmer, innkeeper. Born at Chesterfield, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire. Son of Israel Johnson and Abigail Higgins. Married Alice (Elsa) Jacobs, 22 June 1800. Moved to Pomfret, Windsor Co., Vermont, ca. 1803. Settled at Hiram, Portage...
View Full BioThis “translating” room was the largest room upstairs and probably originally the bedroom of John and Alice (Elsa) Johnson. The Johnsons created a new bedroom by partitioning off a “single large work space on the west end of the second floor” into two smaller rooms while JS was attending the October conference in Orange. Much of the work was done by the time JS and McLellin reached the Johnson home on 29 October, but the partition wall was not plastered until that evening. (Staker, Hearken, O Ye People, 314.)
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Staker, Mark L. Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2009.
William E. McLellin, Editorial, Ensign of Liberty, Jan. 1848, 61. McLellin noted that these questions “had dwelt upon my mind with anxiety yet with uncertainty.” (McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct. 1831.)
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Ensign of Liberty. Kirtland, OH. Mar. 1847–Aug. 1849.
McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
McLellin recounted that he wrote the words of this revelation as JS spoke them.7
Two copies of the revelation in McLellin’s hand exist, but it does not appear that either is the original manuscript.8 One copy is in McLellin’s journal,9
probably made soon after the revelation was dictated. The other is the copy in McLellin’s notebook, featured below. McLellin apparently inscribed this copy sometime before 16 November 1831, when he departed on a mission. Three revelations precede the 29 October revelation in McLellin’s notebook, including one dated 30 October 1831, indicating McLellin did not make these copies before that date. McLellin’s journal corroborates this dating, stating that he stayed in Hiram from 29 October to 16 November and “read and copyed revelations, &c.”10
John Whitmer also copied the revelation into Revelation Book 1 sometime before he left for Missouri on 20 November.11
18 Jan. 1806–14 Mar. 1883. Schoolteacher, physician, publisher. Born at Smith Co., Tennessee. Son of Charles McLellin and Sarah (a Cherokee Indian). Married first Cynthia Ann, 30 July 1829. Wife died, by summer 1831. Baptized into LDS church by Hyrum Smith...
View Full BioMcLellin, Journal, 29 Oct. 1831.
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McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
Both are fairly clean copies written in small script and with an even hand.
McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct. 1831.
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McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
Area settled by immigrants from Pennsylvania and New England, ca. 1802. Located in northeastern Ohio about twenty-five miles southeast of Kirtland. Population in 1830 about 500. Population in 1840 about 1,100. JS lived in township at home of John and Alice...
More InfoMcLellin, Journal, 29 Oct.–16 Nov. 1831.
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McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...
View Full BioArea acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Mormon missionaries...
More InfoSee Historical Introduction to Revelation Book 1, in JSP, MRB:5; and Revelation Book 1, pp. 111–112, in JSP, MRB: 195–197. For the date of Whitmer’s departure, see Whitmer, History, 38, in JSP, H2:49.
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JSP, H2 / Davidson, Karen Lynn, Richard L. Jensen, and David J. Whittaker, eds. Histories, Volume 2: Assigned Historical Writings, 1831–1847. Vol. 2 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City, Church Historian’s Press, 2012.
McLellin’s notebook copy appears to be a more complete reflection of the original revelation than either the journal copy or the copy John Whitmer made in Revelation Book 1. The journal copy probably predates the other two versions, but the spelling of certain words (“shew” instead of “show,” which is in the journal copy, for example), the use of contractions, and the lack of punctuation suggest that the copies in McLellin’s notebook and in Revelation Book 1 were derived from a nonextant copy of the original. The notebook version also appears to be more complete than the copy in Revelation Book 1 because the notebook contains an endnote regarding McLellin belonging to the lineage of Ephraim in the Old Testament (a note that also appears in the journal copy).
18 Jan. 1806–14 Mar. 1883. Schoolteacher, physician, publisher. Born at Smith Co., Tennessee. Son of Charles McLellin and Sarah (a Cherokee Indian). Married first Cynthia Ann, 30 July 1829. Wife died, by summer 1831. Baptized into LDS church by Hyrum Smith...
View Full Bio27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...
View Full BioRevelation, Hiram Township, OH, 29 Oct. 1831. Featured version copied [between ca. 30 Oct. 1831 and 15 Nov. 1831]; handwriting of William E. McLellin; two pages; in back of William E. McLellin notebook, “W. E. Mc.Lellan Jan— 1877”; William E. McLellin, Papers, CHL. Includes redactive pagination.
Area settled by immigrants from Pennsylvania and New England, ca. 1802. Located in northeastern Ohio about twenty-five miles southeast of Kirtland. Population in 1830 about 500. Population in 1840 about 1,100. JS lived in township at home of John and Alice...
More Info18 Jan. 1806–14 Mar. 1883. Schoolteacher, physician, publisher. Born at Smith Co., Tennessee. Son of Charles McLellin and Sarah (a Cherokee Indian). Married first Cynthia Ann, 30 July 1829. Wife died, by summer 1831. Baptized into LDS church by Hyrum Smith...
View Full BioThe revelation is copied on the recto and verso of the fifth of five leaves measuring 6⅛ × 3 ⅝ inches (16 × 9 cm) found in the back of a notebook made up of larger leaves. These smaller leaves, bearing copies of a few revelations, may have originally been a gathering. They were apparently tucked into the back of the larger notebook, although it is possible that they were sewn in. The leaves of the larger notebook measure 7 × 4¼ × ⅛ inches (18 × 11 × ½ cm), and the reddish brown paper cover of the notebook measures 7¼ x 4½ inches (18 × 11 cm). The leaf containing the 29 October 1831 revelation—like the other smaller leaves—has suffered marked browning, brittleness, and wear. The primitive nature of the notebook, the worn edges of the leaves, and the conserved state of the document make the original sewing of the notebook, in general, and the sewing of the 29 October 1831 revelation, in particular, difficult to determine.
The notebook containing the revelation, along with other William E. McLellin documents, was apparently inherited by McLellin’s widow, Emeline Miller McLellin, who gave the documents to J. L. Traughber Jr. of Doucette, Texas. Traughber apparently acquired these items in 1884, when he also obtained a copy of the Book of Commandments from McLellin’s widow. Traughber sold the documents to the LDS church in 1908. These documents were kept in the vault of the church’s First Presidency until 1986, when they were loaned to the Historical Department (now Church History Department).1
Later, custody was permanently transferred to the Church History Library.2
18 Jan. 1806–14 Mar. 1883. Schoolteacher, physician, publisher. Born at Smith Co., Tennessee. Son of Charles McLellin and Sarah (a Cherokee Indian). Married first Cynthia Ann, 30 July 1829. Wife died, by summer 1831. Baptized into LDS church by Hyrum Smith...
View Full BioTurley, “Provenance of William E. McLellin’s Journals,” 257–261; see also Turley, Victims, 248–250.
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Turley, Richard E., Jr. “The Provenance of William E. McLellin’s Journals.” In The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836, edited by Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, 257–261. Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994.
Turley, Richard E., Jr. Victims: The LDS Church and the Mark Hofmann Case. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992.
Letter of Transfer, Salt Lake City, UT, 27 Nov. 2012, CHL.
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Letter of Transfer, Salt Lake City, UT, 27 Nov. 2012. CHL.
