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Revelation, 29 October 1831 [D&C 66]

Source Note

Revelation, , OH, 29 Oct. 1831. Featured version copied [between ca. 30 Oct. 1831 and 15 Nov. 1831]; handwriting of ; two pages; in back of William E. McLellin notebook, “W. E. Mc.Lellan Jan— 1877”; William E. McLellin, Papers, CHL. Includes redactive pagination.
The revelation is copied on the recto and verso of the fifth of five leaves measuring 6⅛ × 3 ⅝ inches (16 × 9 cm) found in the back of a notebook made up of larger leaves. These smaller leaves, bearing copies of a few revelations, may have originally been a gathering. They were apparently tucked into the back of the larger notebook, although it is possible that they were sewn in. The leaves of the larger notebook measure 7 × 4¼ × ⅛ inches (18 × 11 × ½ cm), and the reddish brown paper cover of the notebook measures 7¼ x 4½ inches (18 × 11 cm). The leaf containing the 29 October 1831 revelation—like the other smaller leaves—has suffered marked browning, brittleness, and wear. The primitive nature of the notebook, the worn edges of the leaves, and the conserved state of the document make the original sewing of the notebook, in general, and the sewing of the 29 October 1831 revelation, in particular, difficult to determine.
The notebook containing the revelation, along with other documents, was apparently inherited by McLellin’s widow, Emeline Miller McLellin, who gave the documents to J. L. Traughber Jr. of Doucette, Texas. Traughber apparently acquired these items in 1884, when he also obtained a copy of the Book of Commandments from McLellin’s widow. Traughber sold the documents to the LDS church in 1908. These documents were kept in the vault of the church’s First Presidency until 1986, when they were loaned to the Historical Department (now Church History Department). Later, custody was permanently transferred to the Church History Library.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Turley, “Provenance of William E. McLellin’s Journals,” 257–261; see also Turley, Victims, 248–250.

    Turley, Richard E., Jr. “The Provenance of William E. McLellin’s Journals.” In The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836, edited by Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, 257–261. Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994.

    Turley, Richard E., Jr. Victims: The LDS Church and the Mark Hofmann Case. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992.

  2. [2]

    Letter of Transfer, Salt Lake City, UT, 27 Nov. 2012, CHL.

    Letter of Transfer, Salt Lake City, UT, 27 Nov. 2012. CHL.

Historical Introduction

On 29 October 1831, wrote in his journal, “The Lord condecended to hear my prayr and give me a revelation of his will, through his prophet or (Joseph).” McLellin, a recent convert from , Illinois, met JS for the first time at the 25–26 October 1831 in , Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where McLellin was to the . At the conclusion of the conference, he accompanied JS to , Ohio, arriving there on 29 October. McLellin later recalled that on that day, he “went before the Lord in secret, and on my knees asked him to reveal the answer to five questions through his Prophet.” At McLellin’s request, JS dictated a revelation for him, perhaps in the southeast upstairs bedroom of the and Alice (Elsa) Jacobs Johnson home, where JS worked on his revision of the Bible. According to McLellin, the revelation answered the questions “to my full and entire satisfaction.” Although McLellin never explained what his five queries were, the revelation’s contents indicate that he was probably concerned about his standing before God and about what the Lord desired him to do.
recounted that he wrote the words of this revelation as JS spoke them. Two copies of the revelation in McLellin’s handwriting exist, but it does not appear that either is the original manuscript. One copy is in McLellin’s journal, probably made soon after the revelation was dictated. The other is the copy in McLellin’s notebook, featured below. McLellin apparently inscribed this copy sometime before 16 November 1831, when he departed on a mission. Three revelations precede the 29 October revelation in McLellin’s notebook, including one dated 30 October 1831, indicating McLellin did not make these copies before that date. McLellin’s journal corroborates this dating, stating that he stayed in from 29 October to 16 November and “read and copyed revelations, &c.” also copied the revelation into Revelation Book 1 sometime before he left for on 20 November.
’s notebook copy appears to be a more complete reflection of the original revelation than either the journal copy or the copy made in Revelation Book 1. The journal copy probably predates the other two versions, but the spelling of certain words (“shew” instead of “show,” which is in the journal copy, for example), the use of contractions, and the lack of punctuation suggest that the copies in McLellin’s notebook and in Revelation Book 1 were derived from a nonextant copy of the original. The notebook version also appears to be more complete than the copy in Revelation Book 1 because the notebook contains an endnote regarding McLellin belonging to the lineage of Ephraim in the Old Testament (a note that also appears in the journal copy).

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct. 1831.

    Murdock, John. Journal, ca. 1830–1859. John Murdock, Journal and Autobiography, ca. 1830–1867. CHL. MS 1194, fd. 2.

  2. [2]

    McLellin, Journal, 26–29 Oct. 1831; see also Minutes, 25–26 Oct. 1831.

    Murdock, John. Journal, ca. 1830–1859. John Murdock, Journal and Autobiography, ca. 1830–1867. CHL. MS 1194, fd. 2.

  3. [3]

    William E. McLellin, Editorial, Ensign of Liberty, Jan. 1848, 61.

    Ensign of Liberty. Kirtland, OH. Mar. 1847–Aug. 1849.

  4. [4]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 156.

  5. [5]

    This “translating” room was the largest room upstairs and probably originally the bedroom of John and Alice (Elsa) Jacobs Johnson. The Johnsons created a new bedroom by partitioning off a “single large work space on the west end of the second floor” into two smaller rooms while JS was attending the October conference in Orange. Much of the work was done by the time JS and McLellin reached the Johnson home on 29 October, but the partition wall was not plastered until that evening. (Staker, Hearken, O Ye People, 314.)

    Staker, Mark L. Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2009.

  6. [6]

    William E. McLellin, Editorial, Ensign of Liberty, Jan. 1848, 61. McLellin noted that these questions “had dwelt upon my mind with anxiety yet with uncertainty.” (McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct. 1831.)

    Ensign of Liberty. Kirtland, OH. Mar. 1847–Aug. 1849.

    McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

  7. [7]

    McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct. 1831.

    McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

  8. [8]

    Both are fairly clean copies written in small script and with an even hand.

  9. [9]

    McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct. 1831.

    McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

  10. [10]

    McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct.–16 Nov. 1831.

    McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

  11. [11]

    See Historical Introduction to Revelation Book 1; and Revelation Book 1, pp. 111–112. For the date of Whitmer’s departure, see Whitmer, History, 38.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Revelation, 29 October 1831, as Recorded in McLellin, Journal [D&C 66]
*Revelation, 29 October 1831 [D&C 66]
Revelation Book 1 Revelation Book 2 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 [9]

Behold thus saith the Lord u[n]to you my servant . Blessed are you inasmuch as you have turned away from your inequities and have received my truths saith the Lord your Redeemer, the Saviour of the world, even of as many as believe on my name. Verily I say unto you blessed are you for receiving mine even the fulness of my Gospel sent forth unto the children of men that they might have life and be made partakers of the glories which are to be revealed in the last days as it was written by the prophets and Apostles in days of old. Verily I say unto you my servant that you are clean but not all Repent therefore of those things which are not pleasing in my sight saith the Lord for the Lord will shew them unto you. And now Verily I the the Lord will shew unto you what I will concerning you or what is my will concerning you. Behold Verily I say unto you that it is my will that you should proclaim my Gospel from land to land and from City to City. Yea in those regions round about where it hath not been proclaimed. Tarry not many days in this place Go not up unto the Land of as yet But in as much as you can send. Send, otherwis[e] think not of thy property. Go unto Eastern lands. Bear testimony in every place, unto every people and in their synagogues reasoning with the people Let my servant [p. [9]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Revelation, 29 October 1831 [D&C 66]
ID #
3236
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D2:87–92
Handwriting on This Page
  • William E. McLellin

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The Saints believed that many “plain and precious things” had been removed from the Bible, but according to the “Articles and Covenants” of the church, the Book of Mormon “contains . . . the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and also to the Jews.” Likewise, the “Laws of the Church of Christ” counsel those proselytizing to “teach the scriptures which are in the Bible & the Book of Mormon in the which is the fullness of the Gospel.” At some point, the meaning of the term “fulness of the gospel” may have expanded to include JS’s revelations and visions. (Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 30, 36 [1 Nephi 13:24–29; 15:13]; Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20:9]; Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:12]; Vision, 16 Feb. 1832 [D&C 76:14].)

  2. [2]

    John Whitmer’s copy of the revelation in Revelation Book 1 has “was” instead of “are.” (Revelation Book 1, p. 111.)

  3. [3]

    See 1 Peter 5:1; and Romans 8:18.

  4. [4]

    See John 13:10–11; and Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831 [D&C 38:10].

  5. [5]

    According to McLellin, “I had expected to remain here and read and write for some weeks and probably months, but having received the will of the Lord I determined to obey it.” Therefore, McLellin continued, “I only remained here [in Hiram] about three weeks.” (McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct.–16 Nov. 1831.)

    McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

  6. [6]

    John Whitmer’s copy in Revelation Book 1 presents this list in a different order: “bear testimony unto every people & in every Place & in their synnagogues.” Although “synagogue” specifically refers to a Jewish house of worship, it is also used in the Book of Mormon to denote a general place of worship. (Revelation Book 1, p. 112; see, for example, Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 492 [3 Nephi 18:32].)

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