Church History
Joseph Smith’s Revelations, Doctrine and Covenants 55

“Doctrine and Covenants 55,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers (2020)

“Doctrine and Covenants 55,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers

Doctrine and Covenants 55

Revelation, 14 June 1831

Source Note

Revelation, [Kirtland Township, OH], to William W. Phelps, 14 June 1831. Featured version, titled “58 Comandment June 14th. 1831,” copied [ca. June 1831] in Revelation Book 1, p. 91; 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

This revelation was directed to William W. Phelps. In 1830, Phelps was the publisher of an anti-Masonic newspaper, the Ontario Phoenix, in Canandaigua, New York, about fourteen miles from Palmyra. On 9 April, two weeks after the Book of Mormon was offered for sale, Phelps purchased a copy. He later wrote, “Notwithstanding my body was not baptized into this church till … June, 1831, yet my heart was there from the time I became acquainted with the book of Mormon.” In December 1830 he traveled to Fayette, New York, to meet JS and came away from the experience further committed to the new movement and convinced that he needed to “quit the folly of my way, and the fancy and fame of this world, and seek the Lord and his righteousness.”1 In late April 1831, shortly after the majority of church members left New York for Ohio, Phelps was arrested and imprisoned for thirty days in Lyons, New York, apparently over a delinquent debt he owed in Canandaigua.2 While incarcerated, Phelps relinquished the editorship of the Phoenix,3 and immediately after his release he journeyed with his family to Ohio to join the Saints. He reached Buffalo, New York, on 12 June 18314 and was in Kirtland, Ohio, by 14 June. His arrival prompted this revelation, which directed that he be ordained an elder and that he assist Oliver Cowdery in doing “the work of Printing.” Phelps was soon ordained an elder and later served as a printer for The Evening and the Morning Star.

58 Comandment June 14th. 1831

A Revelation to William [W.] Phelps & Joseph Coe their Calling &c5——

[1]Behold thus saith the lord unto you my servent William yea even the lord of the whole Earth thou art called & chosen & hast after thou hast been baptized by water6 which if you do with an eye single to my glory you shall have a remission of your sins & a reception of the Holy spirit by the laying on of hands [2]& then thou shalt be ordained by the hand of my servent Joseph to be an Elder7 unto this Church to Preach repentance & remission of sins by way of baptism in the name of Jesus Christ the son of the living God [3]& on whomsoever you shall lay your hands & if they are contrite before me you shall have power t◊ give the holy spirit [4]& again thou shalt be ordained to assist my servent Oliver [Cowdery] to do the work of Printing8 & of Selecting & writing Books for Schools in this Church that little Children also may receive instruction before me as is pleasing unto me9 [5]& again verily I say unto you for this cause thou shalt take thy Journey with my servents Joseph & Sidney [Rigdon] that thou mayest be planted in the land of thine inheritance to do this work [6]& again let my servent Joseph (Coe)10 also take his Journey with them the residue shall be made known hereafter even as I will Amen

Notes

  1. William W. Phelps, “Letter No. 6,” Messenger and Advocate, Apr. 1835, 1:97.

  2. Phelps described his arrest, though he redacted the names of those responsible, in a letter written from prison which was afterward published in a competing newspaper: “While I was in Palmyra, comparing the ‘Book of Mormon’ with the Bible, to find out the truth, and investigate the matter for public good, —— —— —— ——, members of the [Presbyterian] church and pretended anti-masons, sent their foolish clerk from Canandaigua, and took me with a warrant, and obtained a judgment against me, on a balance of their account. This was done after I had engaged a passage home, having learned that my family were sick. An execution was sworn out on the spot, and I was hurried to jail in the course of the night, where I shall stay thirty days … for a double purpose.” Phelps later explained that he had been imprisoned as the result of actions taken by “a couple of Presbytetian traders, for a small debt, for the purpose, as I was informed, of ‘keeping me from joining the Mormons.’” (“Retribution,” Wayne Sentinel [Palmyra, NY], 13 May 1831, [3], italics in original; William W. Phelps, “Letter No. 6,” Messenger and Advocate, Apr. 1835, 1:97.)

  3. William W. Phelps, “Letter No. 6,” Messenger and Advocate, Apr. 1835, 1:97; News Item, Watch-Tower (Cooperstown, NY), 22 Aug. 1831, [2].

  4. [William W. Phelps], “Extract of a Letter from the Late Editor,” Ontario Phoenix (Canandaigua, NY), 7 Sept. 1831, [2].

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

  6. Phelps later dated his baptism to 16 June 1831, two days after the dictation of this revelation. (William W. Phelps, “Letter No. 6,” Messenger and Advocate, Apr. 1835, 1:97.)

  7. The date of Phelps’s ordination has been disputed because of an apparent contradiction in the sources. The text of this revelation indicates that he had been neither baptized nor ordained an elder by 14 June 1831, but an entry in Minute Book 2 under a 6 June 1831 date lists his name among those ordained elders. By Phelps’s own account, he was still in New York on 6 June. This and other evidence indicates that the entry in Minute Book 2 is a record of ordinations beginning on 6 June and occurring over at least the next ten days. (Note on Ordinations, ca. 16 June 1831, in JSP, D1:343; [William W. Phelps], “Extract of a Letter from the Late Editor,” Ontario Phoenix (Canandaigua, NY), 7 Sept. 1831, [2].)

  8. See Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:11], herein.

  9. In the first publication of The Evening and the Morning Star in Missouri, Phelps apparently referenced this portion of the revelation when he explained to the readers that “those appointed to select and prepare books for the use of schools, will attend to that subject, as soon as more weighty matters are finished.” No known copies of such books are extant and it is unknown if any were actually produced. (“Common School,” The Evening and the Morning Star, June 1832, [6].)

  10. Coe was listed as an elder in attendance at the early June conference. (Minutes, ca. 3–4 June 1831, in JSP, D1:317.)