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Revelation, 1 December 1831 [D&C 71]

Source Note

Revelation, , OH, 1 Dec. 1831. Featured version copied [ca. 4 Dec. 1831]; handwriting of ; one page; Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.
This revelation was copied on the recto of the second leaf of a bifolium that also includes copies of JS’s three revelations of 4 December 1831. The leaf measures 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.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    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

After holding several early in November regarding the publication of the revelations, JS dictated a revelation on 1 December 1831 directing the Lord’s “Servents” to proclaim the gospel “in the regions round about . . . for the space of a season.” Later copies of this revelation identified the “Servents” as JS and . This revelation directed JS and Rigdon to pave the way for the publication of the revelations through preaching. The need to preach seems to have grown more urgent because of the actions of and , who had begun to antagonize the church. A conference of including JS disciplined Booth on 6 September 1831, and in October the Ravenna, Ohio, newspaper Ohio Star began publishing Booth’s letters criticizing JS and the . The issue of the Ohio Star published shortly before this revelation was dictated printed Booth’s seventh letter, which included a message to . Booth counseled Partridge to “place yourself from under the influence of the men who have deceived you” and to “fly from the habitations haunted by impostors.”
A couple of months earlier, , who had also become disaffected, provided a copy of the February 1831 revelation titled “Laws of the Church of Christ” to the Western Courier, another Ravenna newspaper, stating that “the Prophets or Preachers, declare it to be a Law revealed to them from heaven.” Rider requested that the newspaper publish the revelation, noting that church leaders “were commanded not to communicate it to the world, nor even to their followers, until they become strong in the faith.” Rider later declared that new converts could learn from these materials “that a plot was laid to take their property from them and place it under the control of Joseph Smith the prophet.” This 1 December revelation instructed JS and to counteract the work of such “enemies.”
In response to these criticisms and prompted by the revelation, invited to a lecture in Ravenna on 25 December, where he would “review” Booth’s letters and show them to be “an unfair and false representation of the subjects on which they treat.” Rigdon also challenged to a public debate on the Book of Mormon. Both men declined Rigdon’s invitations. Rigdon still lectured in Ravenna against Booth’s letters, and he and JS preached in Shalersville “and other places, setting forth the truth.”
JS probably dictated this revelation in the upstairs bedroom of the and Alice (Elsa) Jacobs Johnson home in , Ohio. , who was then serving as JS’s scribe on the Bible revision, likely wrote the revelation as JS dictated it. The original manuscript is apparently not extant. The copy featured here, which is in Rigdon’s handwriting, later came into the possession of in , Ohio. But because Rigdon wrote this copy of the 1 December revelation on the same sheet of paper as a 4 December 1831 revelation—with the 4 December revelation coming first—it is unlikely that Whitney’s copy is the original inscription.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    A copy of the revelation in Revelation Book 1, probably made around April 1832, calls it “A Revelation to Joseph & Sidney.” A copy in Revelation Book 2, probably made around March 1832, titles it “A commandment given to us Joseph and Sidney in these words.” (See Historical Introductions to Revelation Book 1 and Revelation Book 2; Revelation Book 1, p. 134; and Revelation Book 2, p. 11.)

  2. [2]

    Minutes, 6 Sept. 1831; Ezra Booth, Nelson, OH, to Rev. Ira Eddy, 12 Sept, 1831, Ohio Star (Ravenna), 13 Oct. 1831, [3].

    Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.

  3. [3]

    Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. VII,” Ohio Star (Ravenna), 24 Nov. 1831, [1].

    Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.

  4. [4]

    “Secret Bye Laws of the Mormonites,” Western Courier, (Ravenna, OH), 1 Sept. 1831, [1].

    Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.

  5. [5]

    Symonds Rider, Hiram, OH, to A. S. Hayden, 1 Feb. 1868, in Hayden, Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, 221.

    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.

  6. [6]

    Sidney Rigdon, “To the Public,” Ohio Star (Ravenna), 15 Dec. 1831, [3].

    Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.

  7. [7]

    See Sidney Rigdon, “To the Public,” Ohio Star (Ravenna), 12 Jan. 1832, [3].

    Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.

  8. [8]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 179; Hyrum Smith, Diary and Account Book, 25–26 Dec. 1831; Cahoon, Diary, Dec. 1831.

    Smith, Hyrum. Diary and Account Book, Nov. 1831–Feb. 1835. Hyrum Smith, Papers, ca. 1832–1844. BYU.

    Cahoon, Reynolds. Diaries, 1831–1832. CHL. MS 1115.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Revelation, 1 December 1831 [D&C 71] Revelation Book 2 Revelation Book 1 Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834] Doctrine and Covenants, 1844 “History of Joseph Smith”

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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Revelation, 1 December 1831 [D&C 71]
ID #
1468
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D2:144–146
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