The Papers
Reference
About
Revelation, 6 August 1833 [D&C 98]
Source Note
Source Note
Revelation, , Geauga Co., OH, 6 Aug. 1833. Featured version copied [ca. 6 Aug. 1833] in Revelation Book 2, pp. 66–71; handwriting of and JS; Revelations Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 2.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
JS dictated this 6 August 1833 revelation, which encouraged peace amid escalating violence, approximately two weeks after a and were tarred and feathered and the church was destroyed in , Missouri. Though he may have known about increasing tensions in , at this time JS had no knowledge of these specific events. In surviving documents, JS neither explained the immediate background of this revelation nor offered any interpretation of its text. On the same day JS dictated the revelation, the copied it into a letter that they sent to church leaders in Jackson County, noting simply, “Here follows another revelation received to day.” In the letter, following the transcription of this and two other revelations, the presidency commented briefly about the revelations’ contents, but nothing pertained to the 6 August revelation in particular.
Though contemporary sources provide little information as to what prompted the revelation, it may have come in response to the growing opposition against the church. On 9 July 1833, wrote a letter, no longer extant, to , Ohio. That letter and another, also not extant, from participants in the prompted JS and the presidency of the high priesthood to respond to Missouri leaders in the aforementioned 6 August letter. When Cowdery wrote to Kirtland, he may have expressed concern about the sporadic violence against church members in Jackson County and sought guidance from JS and the presidency of the high priesthood on how to respond to the problem. On 15 July, only days after Cowdery wrote his letter, an influential faction in issued a manifesto declaring their intent “to rid our society” of Mormons “peacably if we can, forcibly if we must.” A later article printed in Kirtland in an extra to The Evening and the Morning Star noted that some Jackson County residents had long made “every effort to fan the flames” of opposition “till this demoniac spirit became general.” Cowdery left Jackson County sometime in late July, just after violence had erupted, and arrived in Kirtland on 9 August 1833, three days after JS dictated the 6 August revelation. In a letter to church leaders in Missouri that he wrote on 10 August, Cowdery mentioned the presidency’s 6 August letter and described its contents as “three revelations concerning .” Yet the revelation featured here never specifically mentions Jackson County or the circumstances there.
Since this revelation is addressed to the presidency of the high priesthood, who were in , it may also reflect concerns about circumstances in . Although a 2 July letter written from Kirtland indicated that “the spirit of bitterness among the people is fast subsiding and a spirit of enquiry is taking its place,” and an area newspaper suggested that the church in Kirtland was “far removed from danger,” some evidence indicates that opposition against the church in Kirtland had been intensifying. In late June 1833, a excommunicated , and following a brief reinstatement by JS, a general council excommunicated Hurlbut again. JS recorded that after being cut off from the church, Hurlbut “then saught the distruction of the sainst [Saints] in this place and more particularly myself and family.” Less than two weeks after this revelation was dictated, JS wrote to and other church leaders that church members in Kirtland suffered “great persicution on account of” Hurlbut, who lied “in a wonderful manner and the peapl [people] are running after him and giveing him mony to b[r]ake down mormanism which much endangers our lives.” In the same letter, JS declared, “We are no safer here in Kirtland then you are in the cloud is gethering arou[nd] us with great fury and all pharohs host or in other words all hell and the com[bined] powrs of Earth are Marsheling their forces to overthrow us.” Thus, this revelation may be related to aggression and escalating tension in one or both of the church centers.
This revelation counseled church members to remain temperate in their reactions to violent confrontation. It advocated following constitutional law and supporting civil authority, though it says nothing explicit about using the laws of the land to respond to the violence perpetrated by enemies of the church. Rather, it advised church members to patiently bear their afflictions, to “renounce war and proclaim peace,” and to offer forgiveness to wrongdoers. At the same time, this revelation explained in detail the conditions under which self-defense was permissible.
Though this revelation proved to have great relevance for church members in their coming trials, it was rarely mentioned in contemporary sources. One possible contemporary allusion to this revelation appears in a letter written by an unidentified church member on 30 October 1833 in , Missouri. The letter echoed the instructions of the revelation, reporting that when “the mob, or at least some of the leaders began to move; strict orders were given with us not to be the aggressors—but to warn them not to come upon us.”
Several versions of this revelation exist. Two versions are contemporaneous: one was written in a letter sent to on 6 August 1833 and the second appears in Revelation Book 2. Insufficient evidence exists to determine which is the earliest extant copy. Since the 6 August letter is published in its entirety elsewhere in this volume, the version featured here is from the manuscript revelation book. Significant differences between the two versions are noted.
Footnotes
- [1]
- [2]
- [3]
In a later history, Missouri bishop Edward Partridge, one of the men harmed in the violence, wrote that in early summer 1833, the “mob spirit” began to “show itself openly, in the stoning of houses and other insults.” Partridge’s history indicates that attacks on church members’ homes took place as early as spring 1832 and again in 1833 and were a precursor to more widespread violence that took place in the latter half of 1833. ([Edward Partridge], “A History, of the Persecution,” Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:17.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
- [4]
Letter from John Whitmer, 29 July 1833; Whitmer, History, 39–42; see also “To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 114–115; and Memorandum of Agreement, 23 July 1833, CHL.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Memorandum of Agreement, 23 July 1833. CHL.
- [5]
Parley P. Pratt et al., “‘The Mormons’ So Called,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Extra, Feb. 1834, [1].
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
- [6]
- [7]
Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 2 July 1833; Editorial, Painesville (OH) Telegraph, 30 Aug. 1833, [3]; JS, Journal, 28 Jan. 1834; Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 18 Aug. 1833.
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.
- [8]
Minutes, 23 June 1833; JS, Journal, 28 Jan. 1834; see also Historical Introduction to Appeal and Minutes, 21 June 1833.
- [9]
- [10]
- [11]
that they shall be fulfilled and all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good and to my names glory saith the Lord and now verely I say unto you concerning the Laws of the land it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them and that Law of the land which is constitutonal suporting the principles of freedom in maintaning rights and privealiges belonging to all mankind is justifyable before me therefore I the [Lord] justify you and your Brotheren of my Chirch in befriending that Law which [is] the constitutoonal Law of the land and as pertaining to law of man whatsoever is more or less then this cometh of evil I the Lord your God maketh you free therefore ye are free indeed and the law also maketh you free— nevertheless when the wicked rule the people mourn wherefore honest men and wise men should be sought for dilligently and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold otherwise whatsoever is less then these cometh of evil and I give unto you a that ye shall forsake all evil and cleave unto all good that ye shall live by evry word that procedeth forth out of the mouth of God for he will give unto the faithful line <line> upon line precept upon precept and I will try you and prove you herewith and whoso layeth down his life in my cause for my name sake shall find it again even life eternal therefore be not afraid of your enemies for I have decreed in my heart saith the Lord that I will prove you in all things whether you will abide in my even unto death that ye may be found worthy for if ye will not abide in my covenant ye are [p. 67]
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
- [2]
See Romans 8:28. The copy in the 6 August 1833 letter includes the word “God” here. (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:3].)
Frederick G. Williams handwriting ends; JS begins.
- [3]
See Matthew 28:20.
- [4]
The copy in the 6 August 1833 letter includes the word “and” here. (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:5].)
- [5]
Missing word supplied from the copy in the 6 August 1833 letter. Frederick G. Williams later inserted “Lord” in the Revelation Book 2 copy. (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:6]; Revelation Book 2, p. 67 [D&C 98:6].)
Revelation Book 2 / “Book of Revelations,” 1832–1834. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.
- [6]
Instead of “justify,” the copy in the 6 August 1833 letter has “justifieth.” (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:6].)
- [7]
Missing word supplied from the copy in the 6 August 1833 letter. Frederick G. Williams later inserted “is” in the Revelation Book 2 copy. (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:6].)
- [8]
Several earlier revelations instructed church members to abide by the laws of the land. (See, for example, Revelation, 23 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:79, 84–86]; Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51:4–6]; and Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:21].)
JS handwriting ends; Frederick G. Williams begins.
- [9]
See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 479 [3 Nephi 11:40].
- [10]
See Proverbs 29:2.
- [11]
Later in August 1833, after receiving Oliver Cowdery’s firsthand report of the trouble in Missouri, JS emphasized the church’s fundamental commitment to obey civil law. “We think it would be wise,” he wrote to church officers in Missouri, “to try to git influence by offering to print a paper in favor of the goverment as you know we are all friends to the Constitution yea true friends to that Country for which our fathers bled.” (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 18 Aug. 1833.)
- [12]
Several months later, Oliver Cowdery echoed the sentiments of this paragraph in a letter to his friend John Whitmer: “We are pleased to hear that the Governor is likely to give you aid; for we pray continually that the Lord will stir up the hearts of the Rulers & men in authority, to avenge his children. The Law is sufficient, the constitution was established according to the will of Heaven, and all the lack, is, for those whose duty it is to see that they are kept inviolable do their duty; pray that this may be the case; for God is able to turn the hearts of all men sufficiently to bring his purposes to pass.” (Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, to John Whitmer, Missouri, 1 Jan. 1834, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 14.)
Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
- [13]
See Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4; and Luke 4:4.
- [14]
See Isaiah 28:10, 13; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 114 [2 Nephi 28:30].
- [15]
See Malachi 3:10; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 504 [3 Nephi 24:10].
- [16]
See Matthew 10:39; 16:25.