Church History
Joseph Smith’s Revelations, Doctrine and Covenants 57

“Doctrine and Covenants 57,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers (2020)

“Doctrine and Covenants 57,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers

Doctrine and Covenants 57

Revelation, 20 July 1831

Source Note

Revelation, Independence, Jackson Co., MO, 20 July 1831. Featured version, titled “60 Commandment,” copied [ca. Sept. 1831] in Revelation Book 1, pp. 93–94; 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

A 6 June 1831 revelation instructed JS, Sidney Rigdon, and certain elders to travel to “the land of Missorie,” which God would “consecrate” to his people. It further stated that if JS and Rigdon remained faithful, God would reveal to them the land of their inheritance.1 Leaving Kirtland, Ohio, on 19 June 1831, JS reached Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, on 14 July.2 After arriving in Independence, JS dictated this revelation on 20 July 1831 identifying “the land of Missorie” as the “land of promise.” John Whitmer recorded it in Revelation Book 1 as the “first Revelation given in Missorie.”3 In Independence, JS and his group—Martin Harris, Edward Partridge, William W. Phelps, and Joseph Coe4—met Oliver Cowdery, Ziba Peterson, Peter Whitmer Jr., and Frederick G. Williams, who had reached Missouri by January 1831 to proselytize among the American Indians living just west of the Missouri state line.5 Some of the others assigned by the 6 June revelation to travel to Missouri arrived later in the month—apparently after the dictation of the 20 July revelation.6

According to a history JS initiated in 1838, JS spent time upon his arrival in Independence ruminating on the situation of the American Indians living in the “wilderness” across the border. Perhaps because an earlier revelation explained that the city of Zion was to be built “among the Lamanites,”7 these meditations prompted him to ask questions about when and where the city would be built: “When will the wilderness blossom as the rose; when will Zion be built up in her glory, and where will thy Temple stand unto which all nations shall come in the last days?”8 In another account, JS remembered “viewing the country” before “seeking diligently at the hand of God”; according to that account, God “manifested himself unto me, and designated to me and others, the very spot upon which he designed to commence the work of the gathering, and the upbuilding of an holy city, which should be called Zion.”9 The revelation designated Missouri as the “Land of Zion,” established Independence as the place at which to build the city of Zion, and designated the spot on which to build the temple.10 It also provided instruction to Partridge, who was appointed a bishop in February 1831, and Sidney Gilbert, who was designated in June 1831 as an agent to the church, on purchasing lands and distributing them to church members so that the members could gather in Missouri.11 It further assigned Gilbert to open a store and Phelps to establish a printing operation.

The original manuscript of this revelation is not extant. John Whitmer, who did not go to Missouri at this time, later copied it into Revelation Book 1, probably sometime after JS returned to Ohio from Missouri.12 In August 1831, Partridge wrote to his wife that “the commandments” given in Missouri would be “carr[ied] home” to Ohio by “our brethren.”13

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Revelation identifying the Land of Zion.
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Revelation identifying the Land of Zion.

Revelation identifying the “Land of Zion.” This 20 July 1831 revelation identified Missouri as the “land of promise” and the “Land of Zion.” It stated that the town of Independence was the “centre place” at which to build the “City of Zion” and designated a lot just west of Independence for the temple site. The earliest extant versions of this and several other revelations featured in this volume are found in Revelation Book 1. Handwriting of John Whitmer, with revisions in handwriting of William W. Phelps and Sidney Rigdon. Revelation Book 1, pp. 93–94, Church History Library, Salt Lake City. (Photographs by Welden C. Andersen.)

6014 Commandment

Given in Missorie Independence Jackson Co July 20th. 1831 giving directions <to the Bishop & Agent> how to preceed concerning purchuseing Lands &c. &c.15

[1]Hearken Oh ye Elders of my Church, saith the Lord your God, Who have assembelled yourselves together, according to my commandment in this land which is the land of Missorie which is the Land which I, have appointed & consecrated for the gethering of the Saints.16 [2]Wherefore, this is the land of promise17 & the place for the City of Zion. [3]yea thus saith the Lord your God, If ye will receive wisdom here is wisdom. Behold the place which is now called Independence is the centre place, & the spot for the Temple is lying westward upon a lot which is not far from the court-house.18 [4]Wherefore it is wisdom that the land should be purchased by the saints19 & also every tract lying westward even unto the line runing directly betwen Jew & gentile20 [5]And also every tract bordering by the Prairies21 in as much as my Deciples are enabled to buy lands. Behold this is wisdom that they may obtain it for an everlasting inheritance [6]& let my Servent Sidney Gilbert stand in the office which I have appointed to receive moneys to be an agent unto the church to buy lands in all the regions round about in as much as can be in righteousness, & as wisdom shall direct.22 [7]And let my servent Edward [Partridge] stand in the office which I have appointed him to [divide]23 unto the saints their inheritance even as I have commanded & also them whom he has appointed to assist him24 [8]And again verily I say unto you let my servent Sidney Gilbert plant himself in this place, & establish a store that his he may sell goods without frauds that he may obtain money to buy lands for the goods of the Saints & that he may [p. 93] Obtain provisions25 & whatsoever things the Deciples may need to plant them in their inheritance26 [9]& also let my servents Sidney obtain license (behold here is wisdom & whoso readeth let him understand) that he may send goods also unto the lamanites even by whom he will as clerks employed in his service [10]& thus the gospel may be preached unto them27 [11]And again verily I say unto you let my servent William [W. Phelps] also be planted in this place & be established as a Printer unto the Church [12]& lo. if the world receiveth his writings (behold this is wisdom) let him obtain whatsoever he can <obtain> in righteousness for the good of the saints. [13]And let my servents Oliver [Cowdery] assist him even as I have commanded in Whatsoever place I shall appoint unto him to copy & to correct & select &c28 that all things may be right before me as it shall be proved by the Spirit through him [14]& thus let those of whom I have spoken be planted in the Land of Zion as speedily as can be with their families to do these things even as I have spoken [15]And concerning the gethering let the bishop & the agent make preperations for th◊se families which have been commanded to come to this land as soon as posible & plant them in their inheritance29 [16]& unto the residue of both Elders & members further directions shall be given hereafter even So Amen——

Notes

  1. Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52:3, 5], herein. An earlier revelation indicated that land purchased for “an inheritance … shall be called the New Jerusalem.” The Book of Mormon contains references to God establishing the New Jerusalem, or the city of Zion, on the American continent. Nearly a year had passed since a September 1830 revelation had declared, “No man knoweth where the City shall be built But it shall be given hereafter Behold I say unto you that it shall be among the Lamanites.” (Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:65–66], herein; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 497, 566 [3 Nephi 20:22; Ether 13:3–6]; Revelation, Sept. 1830–B [D&C 28:9], herein.)

  2. William W. Phelps, “Extract of a Letter from the Late Editor,” Ontario Phoenix (Canandaigua, NY), 7 Sept. 1831, [2]; JS History, vol. A-1, 126.

  3. Revelation Book 1, p. [208], in JSP, MRB:387.

  4. Revelation, 20 July 1831, in Gilbert, Notebook, [34]–[36] [D&C 57]; JS History, vol. A-1, 126; William W. Phelps, “Extract of a Letter from the Late Editor,” Ontario Phoenix (Canandaigua, NY), 7 Sept. 1831, [2].

  5. See Covenant of Oliver Cowdery and Others, 17 Oct. 1830, in JSP, D1:200; Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 8 Apr. 1831, in JSP, D1:288; Knight, Reminiscences, 9; and Jennings, “First Mormon Mission to the Indians,” 288–299. A 29 January 1831 letter from Cowdery states that they had arrived “a few days since.” Peter Whitmer Jr.’s later account, however, says the group arrived on 13 December 1830. Accounting for the travel time to Independence in the winter, it is highly unlikely that the group, which left Kirtland by 22 November, could have arrived in mid-December, which suggests that Cowdery’s contemporary account is more accurate. (Oliver Cowdery, Independence, MO, to the Church in Ohio, 29 Jan. 1831, in Letter to Hyrum Smith, 3–4 Mar. 1831, in JSP, D1:272; Whitmer, Journal, Dec. 1831, [1]; Givens and Grow, Apostle Paul of Mormonism, 42; see also Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. VII,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 24 Nov. 1831, [1].)

  6. Rigdon and Sidney and Elizabeth Van Benthusen Gilbert, for example, had decided to go by water from St. Louis to Independence, rather than overland, which delayed their arrival. (JS History, vol. A-1, 126–127.)

  7. Revelation, Sept. 1830–B [D&C 28:9], herein. Early church members sometimes referred to American Indians as “Lamanites.” The history of the people called the Lamanites is told in the Book of Mormon.

  8. JS History, vol. A-1, 127.

  9. JS, “To the Elders of the Church of Latter Day Saints,” Messenger and Advocate, Sept. 1835, 1:179. The “others” noted by JS may have referred to Harris, Partridge, Coe, Phelps, Cowdery, Whitmer, Peterson, and Williams. Sidney Gilbert’s copy of the revelation bears the notation “1st Commandment recd at Missouri after the arrival of Joseph Smith Jnr=M. Harris Edwd. Partridge=Joseph Coe & W.W. Phelps”—without mentioning himself or any of the others, who may not yet have arrived in Missouri at this point. (Gilbert, Notebook, [34].)

  10. When embarking on his mission to preach to the Indians, Cowdery promised “to rear up a pillar as a witness where the Temple of God shall be built, in the glorious New-Jerusalem.” But it was this 20 July revelation that gave the first clear designation of the temple’s location. (Covenant of Oliver Cowdery and Others, 17 Oct. 1830, in JSP, D1:204.)

  11. Revelation, 4 Feb. 1831 [D&C 41:9], herein; Revelation, 8 June 1831 [D&C 53:4], herein.

  12. See Historical Introduction to Revelation Book 1, in JSP, MRB:5.

  13. Edward Partridge, Independence, MO, to Lydia Clisbee Partridge, 5–7 Aug. 1831, Edward Partridge, Letters, 1831–1835, CHL.

  14. John Whitmer assigned this number to the revelation when recording it in Revelation Book 1.

  15. This heading likely did not appear in the original manuscript; John Whitmer likely added it when he copied the revelation into Revelation Book 1. It is not included in other manuscript copies of the revelation. At some point, Whitmer added “Not to be printed at present” to the copy in Revelation Book 1, and the revelation was not printed until the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. (Revelation Book 1, p. 93, in JSP, MRB:159; Gilbert, Notebook, [34]; Revelation Book 2, p. 89, in JSP, MRB:595; Doctrine and Covenants 27, 1835 ed.)

  16. A September 1830 revelation announced that Jesus Christ would “gether his People even as a hen gethereth her Chickens under her wings.” It also appointed the elders “to bring to pass the gethering of mine Elect.” (Revelation, Sept. 1830–A [D&C 29:1–2, 7], herein.)

  17. See Hebrews 11:9; see also Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 9 [1 Nephi 2:20]. A January 1831 revelation stated that God would lead church members to “a land of promise.” Later that month, Sidney Rigdon was reported to have proclaimed that the “land of promise” extended from Ohio to the Pacific Ocean. (Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831 [D&C 38:18], herein; Waterloo, NY, 26 Jan. [1831], Letter to the Editor, Reflector [Palmyra, NY], 1 Feb. 1831, 95; see also Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 110–111.)

  18. This courthouse was an almost-completed brick structure built in the center of Independence’s public square. The public square, on which the town of Independence was centered, was situated on the highest point of the gentle-sloped bluffs on the southern side of the Missouri River between the Blue and Little Blue rivers. (Parkin, “Courthouse Mentioned in the Revelation on Zion,” 451–456; U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey Topographic Map: Missouri, Independence, Quadrangle, 7.5 Minute Series, 1996.)

  19. The spot for the temple was on a western promontory of the same bluff as the courthouse but outside the town’s boundaries. Ezra Booth, who arrived in Missouri shortly after JS, wrote that the temple spot was “one half of a mile out of the Town” on “a rise of ground, a short distance south of the road.” The spot was marked at this time during JS’s stay in Missouri, and by the end of the year Bishop Edward Partridge purchased a parcel of land including the spot. (Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. VI,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 17 Nov. 1831, [3]; see also Richard P. Howard, “The Spot for the Temple,” Saints’ Herald, June 1987, 9–10; and Romig, Early Independence, Missouri, 15–18.)

  20. This apparently refers to the border between Missouri and land to the west occupied by American Indians. An earlier revelation referred to this boundary as “the borders of the Lamanites.”a Both the Book of Mormon and JS’s revelations sometimes identified the “Lamanites” (the name by which JS and his followers referred to American Indians) as Jews.b The Book of Mormon also refers to those Europeans who would colonize the Americas as “gentiles,” as do some of JS’s revelations.c Prophecies in the Book of Mormon stated that, in the last days, those Gentiles who accepted the “fulness of the gospel” would be “numbered” with the “remnant of Jacob”—believed by the Saints at that time to be the American Indians—and would help them build the New Jerusalem. The Book of Mormon also taught that the New Jerusalem “should be built up upon this land, unto the remnant of the seed of Joseph.”d (a. Revelation, 10 June 1831 [D&C 54:8], herein. b. See, for example, Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 117 [2 Nephi 30:4]; and Revelation, ca. Summer 1829 [D&C 19:27], herein. c. See, for example, Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 29 [1 Nephi 13:13–19]; and Revelation, June 1829–A [D&C 14:10], herein. d. Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 36, 501, 566 [1 Nephi 15:13; 3 Nephi 21:22–24; Ether 13:6].)

  21. Likely a reference to the land west of Missouri. Early church member Elizabeth Godkin Marsh reported that those who went with JS to Missouri said that “a little beyond Jackson Co[unty] … there is one continued prairies to the rocky and shining Mountain.” Likewise, gazetteers portrayed the Indian lands—especially those bordering Missouri—as “fertile prairie land.” The commandment to purchase additional tracts “bordering by the Prairies” apparently meant to purchase not only a strip of land between the temple lot and the border between Jackson County and the Indian lands but additional land along the border. (Elizabeth Godkin Marsh, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Lewis Abbott and Ann Abbott, East Sudbury, MA, Sept. [1831], Abbott Family Collection, CHL; Baldwin and Thomas, New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States, 522; Goodrich, World as It Is, 125.)

  22. A June 1831 revelation appointed Gilbert as an agent to the church. (Revelation, 8 June 1831 [D&C 53:4], herein.)

  23. Missing text supplied from versions of this revelation in Gilbert, Notebook, [35]; and Revelation Book 2, p. 90, in JSP, MRB:597. Whitmer also later added “divide” to the manuscript in Revelation Book 1. (Revelation Book 1, p. 93, in JSP, MRB:159.)

  24. See Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51:3], herein; see also Numbers 33:54. Those previously “appointed to assist” Partridge were Isaac Morley and John Corrill, who were “ordained assistants to the Bishop” in a June 1831 conference. (Minutes, ca. 3–4 June 1831, in JSP, D1:327.)

  25. A May 1831 revelation directed that an agent be appointed to take money consecrated to the church and “provide food & raiment according to the wants of this people.” (Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51:8], herein.)

  26. See Exodus 15:17.

  27. Oliver Cowdery and the others appointed to preach the gospel to the American Indians had been ordered off Indian lands; this revelation therefore provided another means for proselytizing. Ezra Booth, who arrived in Missouri just a few days after JS, later explained this provision as follows: “‘the Lord’s store-house,’ is to be furnished with goods suited to the Indian trade, and persons are to obtain license from the government to dispose of them to the Indians in their own territory; at the same time, they are to disseminate the principles of Mormonism among them.” Booth further claimed, “In addition to this, and to co-operate with it, it has been made known by revelation, that it will be pleasing to the Lord, should they form a matrimonial alliance with the Natives; and by this means the Elders, who comply with the thing so pleasing to the Lord, and for which the Lord has promised to bless those who do it abundantly, gain a residence in the Indian territory, independent of the agent.” Three decades later, William W. Phelps also recounted that JS dictated a revelation to this effect. (Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—Nos. VIII–IX,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 8 Dec. 1831, [1]; William W. Phelps to Brigham Young, 12 Aug. 1861, Revelations Collection, CHL.)

  28. A June 1831 revelation instructed Phelps, who had previously worked as a newspaper editor, to “assist my servent Oliver to do the work of Printing & of Selecting & writing Books for Schools in this Church.” (Van Orden, “‘By That Book,’” 208; Revelation, 14 June 1831 [D&C 55:4], herein.)

  29. Aside from the Partridge, Gilbert, and Phelps families, the only families who had been commanded to migrate to this point were church members originally from Colesville, New York, who had relocated to Ohio. A June 1831 revelation instructed these members to continue to the western Missouri border. (Revelation, 10 June 1831 [D&C 54:8], herein.)