Revelation, , Jackson Co., MO, 26 Apr. 1832. Featured version, titled “78 Revelation Independence Jackson County Missori April 26. 1832,” copied [between 26 Apr. and ca. Aug. 1832] in Revelation Book 1, pp. 128–129; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.
Historical Introduction
This revelation was dictated in the second half of the first day of a of and held 26–27 April 1832 in , Jackson County, Missouri. Its contents reflected some of the business transacted by that council, including the resolution of a disagreement between and . The first part of the revelation acknowledged Rigdon and Partridge’s reconciliation, forgave them for the offenses in their earlier conflicts, and required the recipients of the revelation to forgive each other and obey God’s . The second part of the revelation reiterated the need to organize a governing for the church’s business and publishing interests and named the individuals who were to participate in this organization. They included five men living in (Partridge, , , , and ) and four living in (JS, Rigdon, , and ). The revelation indicated that each of these individuals had a over some aspect of church business and that uniting them in the firm would allow them to draw on each other’s resources to manage these endeavors, thereby producing more “tallents,” or surplus, for the church’s .
The revelation also highlighted the evolving relationship between the church in , Ohio, and the church in . A January 1831 revelation designated Kirtland as a temporary place for members of the church to stay until the Lord identified the location of the . Subsequent revelations indicated, however, that the Mormon settlement at Kirtland was not to be quite so short lived. A May 1831 revelation stated that the Lord had consecrated Kirtland “for a little season untill I the Lord shall provide for them otherwise.” In July 1831, a revelation designated as the “centre place” of , where the church would build the New Jerusalem in preparation for Christ’s second coming, but a September 1831 revelation explained that the Lord would still “retain a strong hold in the Land of Kirtland for the space of five years.” The 26 April revelation featured here, evoking imagery used in Isaiah 54:2–3, designated Kirtland as a “” of Zion, or a place that would support the establishment of Zion.
As the clerk of the 26–27 April council, likely recorded this revelation as JS dictated it, though the original manuscript is no longer extant. Whitmer likely copied the revelation into Revelation Book 1 shortly after its dictation. Sometime later, Whitmer wrote “Not to be published now” on the first page of the manuscript in Revelation Book 1. The second page of the manuscript was crossed out, likely also to indicate the intention not to publish the revelation at that time. This is consistent with a similar notation, “Not to be printed at present,” in the manuscript of a 20 July 1831 revelation mandating extensive acquisition of land for in . Church leaders apparently believed that publication of plans for their commercial and real estate ventures could be detrimental to their larger goals. The 26 April revelation was not published in the Book of Commandments, but it was published in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, with pseudonyms for the names of the elders in the revelation and for the name of the church’s governing business firm, which by 1835 had been discontinued.
Although Jesse Gause was a counselor to JS and accompanied him on this trip, there is no evidence that he was made a member of the firm. This may have been because, unlike the nine listed here, Gause did not already have a role in the management of the church’s publishing and mercantile endeavors. (See JS History, vol. A-1, 209; and Note, 8 Mar. 1832.)
The revelation that precedes this in Revelation Book 1 was likely recorded in that volume by Whitmer before he left for Missouri in late 1831. This 26 April revelation begins on a new page and is followed by several revelations given in Kirtland and Hiram, Ohio, which Whitmer presumably entered in Missouri after receiving copies of them from JS in April. (Revelation, 1 Nov. 1831–B, in Revelation Book 1, pp. 125–127 [D&C 1].)
her must in be strengthened yea I verily I say unto you must arise & put on her beautyful garments Therefore I give unto you this that ye bind yourselves by this covenant & it shall be done according to the Laws of the Land behold here is wisdom also in in me for your good & your are to be equal or in other words you are to have equal claims on the properties for the benefits of managing the concerns of your every man according to his wants & his needs inasmuch as his wants are Just & all this for the benefit of the of the living God that every man may improve upon his tallents that he may gain other tallents yea even an hundred fold to be cast into the Lords to become the common property of the whole conduct Churc[h] every man seeking the interest of his neighbour & doing al[l] things with an eye single to the glory of God this I have [appointed] to be an everlasting firm unto you & unto your Successor◊ inasmuch as you sin not & the soul that sins against th[e] covenant & holdeth hardeneth his heart against it shall be dealt with according according to the laws of my Church & shall be delivered over to the buffitings of Satan untill the day of Redemtion And now verily I say unto you & this is wisdom make unto yourselves friends with the mamon of unrightness & they will not destroy you leave Judgement alone with me for it is mine & I will repay Peace be with you my blessings continue with you for even yet the kingdom is yours & shall be forever if ye fall not from your Steadfastness even so Amen [p. 129]
This reiterated a commandment given in a 12 November 1831 revelation. The assets of the firm at its organization were likely not extensive. Whitney and Gilbert both had stores, and Phelps had his printing operation in Independence. Partridge, meanwhile, had bought around twelve hundred acres of land to be used as “inheritances” for the Saints. Eber D. Howe, editor of the Painesville Telegraph and a persistent critic of JS, later observed that by the end of 1831, the church had “a capital stock of ten or fifteen thousand dollars.” However, Howe probably did not have access to such information, and the lack of precision casts doubt on the accuracy of Howe’s estimate. (Revelation, 12 Nov. 1831 [D&C 70:14]; Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 28 Jan. 1832; Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 128–129.)
Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.
Those acting as stewards over the revelations were to place any “profits” above “their necessities & their wants” into the storehouse, “& the benefits thereof shall be consecrated unto the inhabtants of Zion & unto their generations.” (Revelation, 12 Nov. 1831 [D&C 70:7–8].)
The March 1832 revelation directing the organization of the church’s publishing and mercantile endeavors similarly stated that these entities were to be organized “by an everlasting covinent which cannot be broken & he who breaketh it shall loose his office & standing in the church and shall be delivered over unto the buffitings of satan.” (Revelation, 1 Mar. 1832 [D&C 78:11–12].)