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Revelation, circa June 1835 [D&C 68]

Source Note

Revelation, , Portage Co., OH, 1 Nov. 1831; substantial revisions, , Geauga Co., OH, ca. June 1835. Featured version published in Evening and Morning Star, Oct. 1832 [June 1835], pp. 73–74.
Evening and Morning Star, reprint (, Geauga Co., OH), edited by . The copy used for this transcription is currently part of a bound volume held at CHL; includes marginalia and archival notations.
The last issue of The Evening and the Morning Star, dated October 1834, announced that the full run of the original paper, two volumes (twenty-four issues), would be reprinted in an octavo format more suitable for binding. The reprint issues comprise four octavo leaves (sixteen pages). Each page measures 9⅜ × 5¾ inches (24 × 15 cm) and is set in two columns. The reprint edition title was shortened to Evening and Morning Star, and numerous significant editorial revisions were introduced into the text. Each reprinted issue ended with listed as printer and the date of the reprint issue. Citations to the reprint include both the original 1832–1834 dates and the 1835–1836 reprint dates.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    “Prospectus,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Sept. 1834, 192.

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

Historical Introduction

In June 1835, as part of a larger project commenced in November 1834, reprinted the October 1832 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star, the church newspaper published from June 1832 to September 1834. The issue included the text of a 1 November 1831 revelation that and had recorded in Revelation Book 1 soon after its dictation by JS. In its reprinted form, featured here, the revelation has several significant additions and changes not present in either the 1831 Revelation Book 1 version or the October 1832 publication.
The original November 1831 revelation addressed some of the responsibilities of and in the church and provided additional instructions for church members in . The version in the reprinted Evening and Morning Star contained substantial additions, including new passages about who could serve as a and how bishops were to be appointed. Extant records are silent on how or when the additions were made, but JS was undoubtedly involved in the process. In November 1831, a resolved that JS should review his revelations and provide corrections to them as instructed “by the holy Spirit.” That same process was likely used with this revelation. As new offices developed in the church, and as JS’s understanding of these offices increased, he likely reviewed the revelation and made the additions. Some of the additions—such as the information about literal descendants of Aaron holding a right to the office of bishop—originated (and in places are nearly verbatim) with the Instruction on Priesthood that JS presented to the sometime in spring 1835. Other additions first appeared in the Evening and Morning Star reprint of the revelation featured here. With the Instruction on Priesthood and the additional information included in this revelation, church members had a significant body of instructions about the roles and responsibilities of church officers, as well as important information about the priesthood governing the church.
In addition to the doctrinal additions, some typographical changes were made to the revelation. These resulted from the process of reprinting The Evening and the Morning Star. In September 1834, announced that would be reprinting the Star, partly to present it in a smaller, more convenient size and partly to correct typographical and other errors in the original publication. Cowdery was especially interested in correcting the “many errors, typographical, and others,” in the published revelations. These mistakes, “occasioned by transcribing manuscript[s],” were to be corrected by comparing the printed material to the original manuscripts. When the first issue of the Star was reprinted in January 1835, Cowdery noted that he and others were “not a little surprised to find the previous print so different from the original.” However, Cowdery wrote, he and others “whose known integrity and ability is uncensurable” were able to make the necessary corrections. Since JS, , and had been appointed, along with Cowdery, as a committee “to arrange the items of the doctrine of Jesus Christ for the government of the church of Latter-Day Saints,” they may have assisted Cowdery in this effort. and , who began working in the in May 1835, may have helped as well.
This revelation was included in the church’s Doctrine and Covenants, which was available by September 1835. The version in that publication is almost exactly the same as the reprinted version here. Differences between the featured version and the versions in Revelation Book 1 and the 1832 publication are noted herein.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    “Prospectus,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Sept. 1834, 192; Evening and Morning Star, Oct. 1832 (June 1835), 65–80.

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

    Evening and Morning Star. Edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. Kirtland, OH. Jan. 1835–Oct. 1836.

  2. [2]

    Revelation, 1 Nov. 1831–A [D&C 68]; “A Revelation, Given November, 1831,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Oct. 1832, [3].

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  3. [3]

    Revelation, 1 Nov. 1831–A [D&C 68].

  4. [4]

    Minutes, 8 Nov. 1831.

  5. [5]

    Instruction on Priesthood, between ca. 1 Mar. and ca. 4 May 1835 [D&C 107].

  6. [6]

    When the 1833 Book of Commandments was published, it did not include this revelation, likely because of the destruction of the church’s printing office in Jackson County, Missouri, which prevented the sixth gathering of the book from being printed. If it had been printed, it is likely the text would have followed the version in the October 1832 Star, which had a few changes from the manuscript version in Revelation Book 1. (“Proposed Sixth Gathering of the Book of Commandments.”.)

  7. [7]

    “Prospectus,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Sept. 1834, 192; “Address to the Patrons of the Evening and the Morning Star,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Sept. 1834, 185.

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  8. [8]

    Notice, Evening and Morning Star, June 1832 (Jan. 1835), 16.

    Evening and Morning Star. Edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. Kirtland, OH. Jan. 1835–Oct. 1836.

  9. [9]

    Minutes, 24 Sept. 1834; JS History, vol. B-1, 592.

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

  10. [10]

    Revelation, 1 Nov. 1831–A, in Doctrine and Covenants 22, 1835 ed. [D&C 68]; William W. Phelps, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Sally Waterman Phelps, Liberty, MO, 16–18 Sept. 1835, private possession, copy at CHL.

    Phelps, William W. Letter, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Sally Waterman Phelps, Liberty, MO, 16–18 Sept. 1835. Private possession. Copy at CHL. MS 4587.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Revelation, circa June 1835 [D&C 68] Revelations printed in Evening and Morning Star, January 1835–June 1836 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 74

with the inhabitants of , for there are idlers among them; and their children are also growing up in wickedness: They also seek not earnestly the riches of eternity, but their eyes are full of greediness. These things ought not to be, and must be done away from among them: wherefore let my servant , carry these sayings unto the land of . And a commandment I give unto them, that he that observeth not his prayers before the Lord in the season thereof, let him be had in remembrance before the judge of my people. These sayings are true and faithful: wherefore transgress them not, neither take therefrom. Behold I am Alpha and Omega, and I come quickly: Amen. [p. 74]
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Page 74

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Revelation, circa June 1835 [D&C 68]
ID #
5323
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D4:354–359
Handwriting on This Page
  • Printed text

Footnotes

  1. [31]

    The “Laws of the Church of Christ” specifically prohibited idleness, stating “he that is Idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garment of the labourer.” (Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:42].)

  2. [32]

    Oliver Cowdery and John Whitmer were directed in a November 1831 revelation to take copies of JS’s revelations to Independence, Missouri, where the church was to publish them. The two departed for Missouri on 20 November 1831 and arrived in Independence on 5 January 1832. Cowdery stayed in Missouri until summer 1833, when he returned to Kirtland, Ohio. (Revelation, 11 Nov. 1831–A [D&C 69:1–2]; Whitmer, History, 38; Minute Book 2, 23 Jan. 1832; Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 10 Aug. 1833.)

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