Church History
Joseph Smith’s Revelations, Doctrine and Covenants 26

“Doctrine and Covenants 26,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers (2020)

“Doctrine and Covenants 26,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers

Doctrine and Covenants 26

Revelation, July 1830–B

Source Note

Revelation, Harmony Township, Susquehanna Co., PA, to JS, Oliver Cowdery, and John Whitmer, [July] 1830. Featured version, titled “26th Commandment AD 1830,” copied [ca. Mar. 1831] in Revelation Book 1, p. 34; handwriting of John Whitmer; CHL. Includes redactions. For more information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1 on the Joseph Smith Papers website.

Historical Introduction

From the time that JS took possession of the gold plates in September 1827, his days were increasingly filled with work relating to the translation. After the publication of the Book of Mormon in March 1830, he spent much of his time building up the church and ministering to its members. He traveled back and forth between Harmony, Pennsylvania, and the three branches of the church in New York, leaving him less time to work on his farm and care for his material needs.1 Around mid-July 1830, a revelation addressed these matters, instructing him to “magnify thy office & after that thou hast sowed thy fields & Secured them then go speedily unto the Church which is in Colesvill Fayette & Manchester & they shall support thee.”2 Shortly thereafter, this revelation called JS, Oliver Cowdery, and John Whitmer to study the scriptures, preach, confirm the Colesville believers, and work on JS’s farm until the next conference.

26th Commandment AD 1830

A Revelation to Joseph Oliver [Cowdery] & John [Whitmer] given at Harmony Susquehannah County State of Pennsylvania3

[1]Behold I say unto you that ye shall let your time be devoted to the studying the Scriptures4 & to preaching & to confirming the Church at Colesvill5 & to performing thy labours on the Land such as is required until after ye shall go to the west to hold the next conference6 then it shall be made known what thou shalt do [2]& all things shall be done by common consent in the Church7 by much prayer & faith for all things ye shall receive by faith & thus it is amen

Notes

  1. From April to June of both 1828 and 1829, JS was almost completely consumed by translation work; between June and October 1829 he was away from home completing the translation and negotiating the printing of the Book of Mormon; and from late March to late June 1830 he was traveling back and forth between Manchester, Fayette, and Colesville, New York. Once he returned home to Harmony, he traveled multiple times to Colesville, attempting to confirm believers notwithstanding significant opposition there. (See JS History, vol. A-1, 9, 13, 15, 37–42, in JSP, H1:244, 276, 284, 364–390 [Draft 2]; “Mormonism,” Kansas City Daily Journal, 5 June 1881, 1; Letter to Oliver Cowdery, 22 Oct. 1829, in JSP, D1:94; Knight, Reminiscences, 6; and Historical Introduction to Revelation, July 1830–A [D&C 24], herein.)

  2. Revelation, July 1830–A [D&C 24:3], herein.

  3. John Whitmer likely created this heading when he copied the text into Revelation Book 1.

  4. A revelation in June 1830, the month before this directive, promised that missing portions of the Bible would “be had again among the Children of men” and presented the expansive visions of Moses. The ambitious work of Bible revision occupied JS for much of the next three years. (Visions of Moses, June 1830, in JSP, D1:156 [Moses 1:41]; see also Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 3–13.)

  5. Because of persecution, prior efforts to confirm people who had been baptized in Colesville had been unsuccessful. (See JS History, vol. A-1, 44, 47, in JSP, H1:396, 414 [Draft 2]; see also Historical Introductions to Revelation, July 1830–A [D&C 24], herein; and to Revelation, July 1830–C [D&C 25], herein.)

  6. This conference was held 26–28 September 1830 at Fayette, New York, about eighty miles northwest of Harmony. (See Minutes, 26 Sept. 1830, in JSP, D1:190; see also Minutes, 9 June 1830, in JSP, D1:139.)

  7. The term “common consent” likely referred to seeking the agreement of church members for a particular course of action. (See JS History, vol. A-1, 37, in JSP, H1:364–366 [Draft 2].)