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Revelation, 12 January 1838–C

Source Note

Revelation, , Geauga Co., OH, 12 Jan. 1838. Featured version copied [ca. 12 Jan. 1838]; handwriting of ; one page; Revelations Collection, CHL. Includes docket.
Second page of bifolium, each page measuring 10 × 8 inches (25 × 20 cm). This document contains two horizontal folds, and tears along the folds and edges have undergone conservation work. The docket on the verso of the second leaf reads, “Revelation | To The Presidency | Jan 12th, 1838”. The document contains docketing and other wear that are similar to those on other documents that have been in the custody of the church since the , Ohio, era, indicating that this document has likely been in continuous institutional custody since the time of its creation. Revelation, 12 January 1838–B is inscribed on the first page of the bifolium.

Historical Introduction

This revelation directed the to leave , Ohio, with their families and move to , Missouri, “as soon as it is praticable.” The members of the First Presidency had already contemplated such a move; in the November issue of the Elders’ Journal, JS wrote that his family would relocate to Far West “as soon as our circumstances will admit.” similarly wrote in a 1 January 1838 letter that JS, , and “mean to go to the west as soon as they can Settle their affairs here.”
A central factor in JS’s departure from was the conflict that had recently intensified there. In late December 1837 the Kirtland excommunicated twenty-eight dissenters, who then came together in early January 1838 to form their own . The dissenters claimed that JS was a fallen prophet who had led the church astray and that his followers were heretics. Their fervor led to threats of violence, and on 22 December 1837 left Kirtland to evade former church members who were threatening his life. According to JS’s history, the dissenters were incensed with Young “because he would proclaim publicly and privately that he knew by the power of the holy Ghost that I was a prophet of the most high God, that I had not transgressed and fallen as the apostates declared.” Hepzibah Richards wrote on 18 January 1838 that “we do not dare to have Cousin B[righam] return to this place.”
Like , JS and were in danger in . Fearing mob violence and facing arrest for debts and spurious legal claims made by dissenters and other enemies, they heeded the direction of this revelation and left Kirtland the same day, on the evening of 12 January. JS and Rigdon arrived in , Ohio, on 13 January and waited there until 16 January, when their families arrived and they began their journey to . The third member of the First Presidency, , did not leave Kirtland until March 1838; he may have delayed his departure because he had just married on 24 December 1837 in Kirtland. Hyrum also may have remained to aid the new church leadership in Kirtland after the departure of JS and Rigdon. He played a vital role later in 1838 when he helped organize the Kirtland Camp, the largest body of church emigrants to Missouri.
The text of the revelation featured here was written on a loose sheet of paper, and textual analysis indicates it is likely the original text, written down as JS dictated the words. This revelation and Revelation, 12 January 1838–B are copied on the same sheet of paper. The three revelations dictated on 12 January 1838 were copied into JS’s journal in July 1838, when the revelations were read to the Saints in . There are no substantive differences between the versions.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Travel Account and Questions, Nov. 1837.

  2. [2]

    John Smith and Clarissa Lyman Smith, Kirtland, OH, to George A. Smith, Shinnston, VA, 1 Jan. 1838, George Albert Smith, Papers, CHL.

    Smith, George Albert. Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322.

  3. [3]

    John Smith and Clarissa Lyman Smith, Kirtland, OH, to George A. Smith, Shinnston, VA, 1 Jan. 1838, George Albert Smith, Papers, CHL; Thomas B. Marsh, Far West, MO, to Wilford Woodruff, Vinalhaven, ME, ca. 18 June 1838, Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, CHL; see also Historical Introduction to Revelation, 12 Jan. 1838–A; and Introduction to Part 5: 5 Oct. 1836–10 Apr. 1837.

    Smith, George Albert. Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  4. [4]

    Vilate Murray Kimball, Kirtland, OH, to Heber C. Kimball, Preston, England, 19–24 Jan. 1838, Heber C. Kimball, Collection, CHL; Thomas B. Marsh, Far West, MO, to Wilford Woodruff, Vinalhaven, ME, ca. 18 June 1838, Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, CHL.

    Kimball, Heber C. Collection, 1837–1898. CHL. MS 12476.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  5. [5]

    JS History, vol. B-1, addenda, 6nT.

  6. [6]

    Hepzibah Richards, Kirtland, OH, to Willard Richards, Bedford, England, 18–19 Jan. 1838, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL.

    Richards, Willard. Journals and Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490.

  7. [7]

    JS History, vol. B-1, 780. Hepzibah Richards noted that if JS and Rigdon had remained in Kirtland that it was “thought the lives of the presidents would have been taken” in a confrontation over the printing office that erupted on 15 January. (Hepzibah Richards, [Kirtland, OH], to William Richards, 22 Jan. 1838, in Historical Department, Journal History of the Church, 22 Jan. 1838. For more on the threats of arrest, see Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 14, [11]–[12]; “History of Luke Johnson,” 6, in Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL; and Adams, “Grandison Newell’s Obsession,” 179–184.)

    Historical Department. Journal History of the Church, 1896–. CHL. CR 100 137.

    Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.

    Adams, Dale W. “Grandison Newell’s Obsession.” Journal of Mormon History 30 (Spring 2004): 159–188.

  8. [8]

    Hyrum Smith was still in Kirtland on 17 March but left sometime that month. He and his family arrived in Far West in late May 1838. (Kirtland Camp, Journal, 17 Mar. 1838; Hyrum Smith, Commerce, IL, to “the Saints Scattered Abroad,” Dec. 1839, in Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:21.)

    Kirtland Camp. Journal, Mar.–Oct. 1838. CHL. MS 4952.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  9. [9]

    Hyrum’s first wife, Jerusha Barden Smith, had died in childbirth on 13 October 1837. (Hyrum Smith Family Bible; Geauga Co., OH, Probate Court, Marriage Records, vol. C, p. 262, microfilm 873,461, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    Hyrum Smith Family Bible, 1834. In Hyrum Smith, Papers, ca. 1832–1844. BYU.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  10. [10]

    Kirtland Camp, Journal, 6 Mar. 1838.

    Kirtland Camp. Journal, Mar.–Oct. 1838. CHL. MS 4952.

  11. [11]

    See JS, Journal, 8 July 1838; Revelation, 12 Jan. 1838–A; and Revelation, 12 Jan. 1838–B.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Revelation, 12 January 1838–C
Journal, March–September 1838

Page [1]

Thus saith the Lord Let the of my take their families as soon as it is praticable and a door is open for them and move on to the west as fast as the way is made plain before their faces and let their hearts be comforted for I will be with them
Verily I say unto you the time [has] come that your laibours are finished in this place, for a season, Therefore arise and get yourselves on to a land which I shall show unto you even a land flowing with milk and honey you are clean from the blood of this people and wo unto those who have become your enimies who <​have​> professed my name saith the Lord, for their judgement lingereth not and their damnation slumbereth not, let all your faithfull friends arise with their families also and get out of this place and gather themselves together unto and be at peace among yourselves O ye inhabitants of Zion or there shall be no saf[e]ty for you [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Revelation, 12 January 1838–C
ID #
4924
Total Pages
3
Print Volume Location
JSP, D5:500–502
Handwriting on This Page
  • George W. Robinson

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    TEXT: “[Page damaged]”. Text supplied based on the copy of the revelation in JS, Journal, 8 July 1838.

  2. [2]

    See Exodus 3:8. This language was used in earlier revelations to describe Zion in Missouri. (Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831 [D&C 38:18–20]; Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:1–5].)

  3. [3]

    For more information on those individuals identified as dissenters in contemporary records, see Historical Introduction to Revelation, 12 Jan. 1838–A; and Introduction to Part 5: 5 Oct. 1836–10 Apr. 1837.

  4. [4]

    Writing to her husband in January 1838, Vilate Murray Kimball noted, “The Presidency have advised the wives of the Elders to write to their husbands to come home as soon as posable, and get there families out of this place.” In a January 1838 letter John Smith wrote that “it seems to be the will of the Lord that those who came here first and have Done their Duty to their friend abroad Should go to the west with their families as soon as is convenient.” Receiving news of the events in Kirtland in March 1838, Wilford Woodruff wrote in his journal that “Joseph & Sidney had gone to the far west with their family & the faithful are to follow them for Kirtland will be scorged.” (Vilate Murray Kimball, Kirtland, OH, to Heber C. Kimball, Preston, England, 19–24 Jan. 1838, Heber C. Kimball, Collection, CHL; John Smith and Don Carlos Smith, Kirtland, OH, to George A. Smith, 15–18 Jan. 1838, George Albert Smith, Papers, CHL; Woodruff, Journal, 8 Mar. 1838.)

    Kimball, Heber C. Collection, 1837–1898. CHL. MS 12476.

    Smith, George Albert. Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  5. [5]

    The copy of this 12 January revelation in JS’s journal adds “Even so Amen” to the end of the revelation. (JS, Journal, 8 July 1838.)

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