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Revelation, 5 January 1831 [D&C 39]

Source Note

Revelation, , Seneca Co., NY, to , 5 Jan. 1831. Featured version, titled “42nd Commandment Recd Jan. 5th. 1831,” copied [ca. Mar. 1831] in Revelation Book 1, pp. 58–60; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.

Historical Introduction

JS dictated this revelation in , New York, for , a Protestant minister, three days after the ’s third . When recorded this text in Revelation Book 1 a few months later, he wrote that Covel “ with the Lord that he would obey any that the Lord would give through his servent Joseph.”
The identity of the revelation’s recipient is not known with certainty. Two individuals living in at the time fit the general description, and no source definitively identifies either man as the recipient. The earliest extant manuscript copy of the revelation, featured below, provides only a given name. The first printed version in 1833 expanded “James” to “James (C.,)” with no additional information, and in 1835 the name was given as “James Covill” in the Doctrine and Covenants. JS’s history also uses this spelling because its editors relied on the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants for the revelation text. The history adds that Covill “had been a baptist minister for about forty years.” James Covill, a Baptist minister from Ellery, New York, who in 1831 was over seventy years old, fits this description, but he lived on the far western edge of the state, more than one hundred fifty miles away. JS and could have met Covill on their way to at the end of January, but according to this earliest copy of the revelation, it was “given at ” on 5 January 1831.
The recipient of the revelation was much more likely , a Methodist elder from Canadice, New York. The index to Revelation Book 1 describes the recipient as “a Methodist Priest,” not a Baptist. James Covel lived about twenty miles southwest of , New York, and had been associated with the Methodist church for nearly forty years. He may have heard JS or preaching in the Canandaigua area. After JS and several others preached “with great power” in ’s barn near Canandaigua in October 1830, they were invited to preach in Canandaigua. “They had promised that we should meet in the Methodist Meeting house,” Thayer later wrote, “but the Trustees could not agree.” As president of the regional Methodist conference, Covel was likely aware of the request. In December a Mormon preacher, probably JS or Rigdon, “delivered a discourse in the Town House [in Canandaigua] to an assembly of two or three hundred people.” Covel may have attended the December meeting and then traveled to , where the revelation was dictated.
Within a day after JS dictated this revelation, departed from without explanation, leaving JS and to wonder why he did not follow the commandment. A revelation on 6 January explained “why he obeyed not the word.”

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Book of Commandments 41; Doctrine and Covenants 59, 1835 ed.

  2. [2]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 91.

  3. [3]

    Coburn, Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, 735; 1830 U.S. Census, Ellery, Chautauque Co., NY, 317; see also 1840 U.S. Census, Ripley, Chautauque Co., NY, 271.

    Coburn, A. L. Wing. Encyclopedia of Illinois Including Genealogy, Family Records and Biography of McHenry County Citizens. Vol. 2, McHenry County Citizens. Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, edited by Newton Bateman and Paul Selby. Chicago: Munsell, 1903.

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

  4. [4]

    John Whitmer was likely not present when the revelation was dictated, but he did write the informative heading in this copy of the revelation within months of the event.

  5. [5]

    Revelation Book 1, p. [208].

  6. [6]

    1830 U.S. Census, Canadice, Ontario Co., NY, 263; Stevens, Memorials of the Introduction of Methodism into the Eastern States, 119; Doughty, Life of Samuel Stilwell, 44; Seaman, Annals of New York Methodism, 227, 229.

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

    Stevens, Abel. Memorials of the Introduction of Methodism into the Eastern States: Comprising Biographical Notices of Its Early Preachers, Sketches of Its First Churches, and Reminiscences of Its Early Struggles and Successes. Boston: Charles H. Peirce, 1848.

    Doughty, Samuel Stilwell. The Life of Samuel Stilwell, with Notices of Some of His Contemporaries. New York: Brown and Wilson, 1877.

    Seaman, Samuel A. Annals of New York Methodism: Being a History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the City of New York from A.D. 1766 to A.D. 1890. New York: Hunt and Eaton, 1892.

  7. [7]

    “Testimony of Brother E. Thayre,” True Latter Day Saints’ Herald, Oct. 1862, 83. In addition to JS, Hyrum Smith, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, John Whitmer, Peter Whitmer Jr., Parley P. Pratt, and Ziba Peterson preached at the October meeting in Thayer’s barn.

    Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.

  8. [8]

    On 13 February 1830, Covel was elected president of the Methodist regional conference that included the districts of Rochester, Conhocton, Genesee, and Oneida. (Drinkhouse, History of Methodist Reform, 243–244.)

    Drinkhouse, Edward J. History of Methodist Reform Synoptical of General Methodism 1703–1898 with Special and Comprehensive Reference to Its Most Salient Exhibition in the History of the Methodist Protestant Church. Vol. 2. Board of Publication of the Methodist Protestant Church, 1899.

  9. [9]

    “Credulity,” Pennsylvania Inquirer and Morning Journal (Philadelphia), 29 Dec. 1830, [2]; see also “Testimony of Brother E. Thayre,” True Latter Day Saints’ Herald, Oct. 1862, 83.

    Pennsylvania Inquirer and Morning Journal. Philadelphia. 1830–1834.

    Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.

  10. [10]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 92; Revelation, 6 Jan. 1831 [D&C 40].

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Revelation, 5 January 1831 [D&C 39] Revelation Book 1 Book of Commandments, 1833 Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834] “History of Joseph Smith” Doctrine and Covenants, 1844

Page 59

Cometh the Baptism of fire & the Holy ghost yea even the comforter which knoweth all things & teacheth the peacibl things of the Kingdom & Now Behold I say unto you my servent I have looked upon thee & thy works & I know thee & now verily I say unto the[e] thine heart is right before me at present Behold I have bestowed great blessings upon thy head Nevertheless thou hast seen great Sorrow for thou hast rejected me many times because of pride & be cause of the world but behold the days of thy deliverance is come arise & be & wash away your sins calling on my name & ye shall receive my spirit & a blessing so great as ye have never known & I have prepared thee for a greater work thou shalt Preach the fulness of my Gospel which I have sent forth in these last days. yea even the covenant which I have sent forth to recover my People which are of the house of Israel & it shall come to pass that power shall rest upon thee thou shalt have great faith & I will be with thee & go before thy face yea thou art called to Labour in my Vineyard & to build up my & to bring forth that it may Rejoice upon the hills & flourish Behold Verily Verily I say unto you thou art not called to go to unto the Eastern countries but thou art called to go to & in asmuch as my People shall assemble themselves at the I have kept in store a blessing such as is not known among the children of men & it shall be poured forth upon your their heads & from thence ye shall go forth into all Nations Behold Verily Verily I say unto you that the people in call upon me in much faith believeing I would stay my hand in Judgement upon the Nations but I cannot deny my word Wherefore lay to with your might & call forth Labourers into my Vinyard that it may be pruned for the last time & inasmuch as they do Repent & receive the fulness of my Gospel & become sanctified & I will stay my hand in Judgement wherefore go forth crying with a loud voice saying the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand crying Hosannah blessed is the name of the most high God go forth [p. 59]
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Page 59

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Revelation, 5 January 1831 [D&C 39]
ID #
6498
Total Pages
3
Print Volume Location
JSP, D1:233–236
Handwriting on This Page
  • John Whitmer

Footnotes

  1. [5]

    See Acts 22:16.

  2. [6]

    See Revelation, 7 Dec. 1830 [D&C 35:3].

  3. [7]

    This is likely a reference to the eastern seaboard of the United States, including New York City, where Covel had earlier established a medical practice and was active in the Methodist church. (Longworth, Longworth’s American Almanac, 146–147; Doughty, Life of Samuel Stilwell, 44.)

    Longworth, Thomas. Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, and City Directory, for the Forty-Seventh Year of American Independence. Containing a List of Banks, Insurance Companies, Post-Office Establishments, &c. &c. New York: By the author, 1822.

    Doughty, Samuel Stilwell. The Life of Samuel Stilwell, with Notices of Some of His Contemporaries. New York: Brown and Wilson, 1877.

  4. [8]

    See Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831 [D&C 38:32–33].

  5. [9]

    See Revelation, July 1830–A [D&C 24:19].

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