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Revelation, 15 March 1832 [D&C 81]

Source Note

Revelation, , OH, 15 Mar. 1832. Featured version copied [between 15 Mar. and ca. 1 Apr. 1832] in Revelation Book 2, pp. 17–18; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 2.

Historical Introduction

The index to Revelation Book 2 identifies “” as the subject of this 15 March 1832 revelation, although the revelation refers to him only as “Jesse.” Gause had recently been called as a counselor to JS in the . A November 1831 revelation declared that presidents were to be appointed to preside over groups of men who held various offices, including the office of . JS was president of the at a 25 January 1832 in , Ohio. On 8 March 1832, JS appointed Gause and as “councillers of the ministry of the presidency of th[e] high Pristhood.” While Rigdon had been associated with JS almost since Rigdon’s in November 1830, Gause was a relatively new member, baptized sometime in late 1831 or early 1832. This 15 March 1832 revelation instructed Gause in his duties as counselor. In addition, it acknowledged JS as president of the high priesthood and stated that “the keys of the Kingdom” rested with him.
Because apparently acted as a scribe for JS’s revisions of the New Testament between 8 and 20 March 1832, it is likely that the nonextant original manuscript of this revelation was in Gause’s own handwriting. copied the revelation into Revelation Book 2, probably sometime before 1 April 1832. At a later point—sometime after the appointment of Williams as a counselor to JS in January 1833— replaced Gause’s name with Williams’s in the Revelation Book 2 copy (which is the version featured below). Someone—likely Cowdery—crossed out Gause’s name as well. The published versions of this revelation in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, the 1844 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, and the 15 August 1844 issue of the Times and Seasons all have Williams’s name instead of Gause’s. This indicates that JS and others regarded this revelation as containing general information about the duties of a counselor, rather than instructions specific to Gause.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Revelation Book 2, Index, [1]; Note, 8 Mar. 1832.

  2. [2]

    Revelation, 11 Nov. 1831–B [D&C 107:60–65].

  3. [3]

    Minute Book 2, 26–27 Apr. 1832.

  4. [4]

    For more information on the appointment of Gause and Rigdon as counselors, see Historical Introduction to Note, 8 Mar. 1832.

  5. [5]

    No record of Gause’s baptism has been found. In October 1831, he was living in North Union, Ohio, a Shaker community fifteen miles from Kirtland, which indicates that his baptism did not occur until sometime after that. (Jennings, “Consequential Counselor,” 198–199.)

    Jennings, Erin B. “The Consequential Counselor: Restoring the Root(s) of Jesse Gause.” Journal of Mormon History 34 (Spring 2008): 182–227.

  6. [6]

    Jennings, “Consequential Counselor,” 183.

    Jennings, Erin B. “The Consequential Counselor: Restoring the Root(s) of Jesse Gause.” Journal of Mormon History 34 (Spring 2008): 182–227.

  7. [7]

    Williams replaced Gause, who was excommunicated in December 1832. (JS, Journal, 3 Dec. 1832.)

  8. [8]

    Revelation Book 2, pp. 17–18; Minute Book 1, 18 Mar. 1833. In the copy of this revelation made by John Whitmer in Revelation Book 1, Gause’s name was also later crossed out and Williams’s name inserted. (Revelation Book 1, p. 139.)

  9. [9]

    Doctrine and Covenants 79, 1835 ed.; Doctrine and Covenants 80, 1844 ed.; “History of Joseph Smith,” Times and Seasons, 15 Aug. 1844, 5:609.

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

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Revelation, 15 March 1832 [D&C 81] 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”

Page 18

to the calling wherewith your called even to be a in my and councellor unto my servant Joseph unto whom <​I​> have given the of the Kingdom which belongs to always to the ; therefor verily I acknowledge him and will bless him and also thee inasmuch as thou art faithful in councel in the office which I have appointed unto you and in prayer always vocally and in thy heart in public and in private also in the ministry in proclaiming the gospel in the Land of the living and among thy Brethren and in doing these things thou wilt do the greatest good unto thy fellow beings and will promote the glory of him who is your Lord wherefore be faithful stand in the office I have appointed you succour the weak lift up the hands that hang down and strengthen the weak knees and if thou act faithfully unto the end thou shalt have a crown of Immortality and eternal life in the mansions which I have prepared in the house of my father, Behold and lo these are the words of Alpha and Omega even Jesus Christ Amen [p. 18]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Revelation, 15 March 1832 [D&C 81]
ID #
2953
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D2:207–208
Handwriting on This Page
  • Frederick G. Williams

Footnotes

  1. [2]

    The date of Gause’s ordination to the high priesthood is not known.

  2. [3]

    “Prisidency of the high Priesthood” likely refers here to the office of president, since JS’s counselors were not made “equal in holding the keys of the Kingdom with Brother Joseph Smith” until 18 March 1833. (Minute Book 1, 18 Mar. 1833.)

  3. [4]

    See Hebrews 12:12; and Isaiah 35:3.

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