Church History
Joseph Smith’s Revelations, Doctrine and Covenants 62

“Doctrine and Covenants 62,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers (2020)

“Doctrine and Covenants 62,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers

Doctrine and Covenants 62

Revelation, 13 August 1831

Source Note

Revelation, Bank of the Missouri River [at Chariton, Chariton Co.], MO, 13 Aug. 1831. Featured version copied [ca. Sept. 1831] in Revelation Book 1, p. 104; 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

On 13 August 1831, as JS and several elders were on their way back to Ohio after spending a few weeks in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, JS dictated this revelation outlining the responsibilities of elders traveling to Missouri who had not yet reached the land of Zion.1 At this time, some elders commanded to journey to Missouri had been delayed, in part because of their efforts to preach along the way and in part because of illness.2 John Murdock and Hyrum Smith, for example, were instructed in a June 1831 revelation to go to Missouri by way of Detroit, Michigan Territory.3 They followed this direction but were delayed when Murdock fell ill in the first part of August. Murdock and Hyrum Smith spent a week in Chariton, Chariton County, Missouri, while Murdock recovered, and were soon joined by David Whitmer and Harvey Whitlock, who were also en route to Independence.4 In anticipation of the arrival of these missionaries, a 1 August revelation had instructed “the residue of the Elders of this church which are coming to this land” to “hold a conference” in Jackson County once they arrived.5

On 13 August, JS and his companions crossed the Missouri River at Chariton and found Murdock, Hyrum Smith, Whitmer, and Whitlock there. “After the joyful salutations with which brethren meet each other,” a later history recounted, JS dictated the present revelation.6 The copy of the revelation made by John Whitmer locates the revelation “on the Bank of the river Missorie,” likely meaning the northern bank, at Chariton. The revelation instructed those elders to continue to Zion, to hold a meeting there, and then to return to their homes.

The original manuscript of this revelation is not extant. John Whitmer copied the text featured here into Revelation Book 1, probably shortly after JS, Sidney Rigdon, and Oliver Cowdery returned to Kirtland, Ohio, at the end of August.7 Some personal copies of the revelation were also made, including a copy Elizabeth Van Benthusen Gilbert showed to Levi Hancock when he came to Independence in late 1831.8

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Route of trip to and from Independence, Missouri, summer 1831.

Route of trip to and from Independence, Missouri, summer 1831. In accordance with instructions in a June 1831 revelation, Joseph Smith and several others traveled from Kirtland to Independence in summer 1831, where a revelation designated Independence as the “centre place” of the city of Zion. On the trip to Independence in June and early July, Smith and his party traveled down the incomplete Ohio and Erie Canal (to Newark, Ohio) and Miami and Erie Canal (from Dayton to Cincinnati, Ohio) before taking a steamboat on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to St. Louis, Missouri. They then traveled overland from St. Louis to Independence. On the return trip in August, Smith and his party took canoes down the Missouri River but were told by a 12 August 1831 revelation that it was not safe to travel by water. Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Oliver Cowdery therefore left the river and took a stagecoach the rest of the way to Kirtland, Ohio, stopping in Cincinnati. Although extant records do not indicate the route they traveled from Cincinnati to Kirtland, this map shows the course they likely took, given that a major stagecoach route existed between Cincinnati and Cleveland. (Research by Matthew C. Godfrey and Sherilyn Farnes. Design by Jonathan West.)

659 Commandment

given Aug 13th. 1831 on the Bank of the river Missorie at a meeting of some of the Elders which had not yet arived at their Journeys end &c10

[1]Behold & hearken oh ye Elders of my Church saith the Lord your God even Jesus Christ your advocate who knoweth the weakness of man & how to sucour they that are tempted11 [2]& verily mine eyes are upon you those who have not as yet gone up unto the Land of Zion12 wherefore your mission is not yet full [3]nevertheless ye are blessed for the testimony which ye have borne is recorded in heaven for the Angels to look upon13 & they rejoice over you & your sins are forgiven you [4]& now continue your Journey assemble yourselves upon the land of Zion & hold a meeting & rejoice together14 & offer a sacrament unto the most high15 [5]& then you may return to bear record16 yea even all together or two by two as seemeth you good it mattereth not unto me17 only be faithfull & declare glad tidings unto the inhabitants of the Earth or among the Congregations of the wicked [6]Behold I the Lord have brought you together that the promise might be fulfilled that the faithfull among you should be preserved & rejoice together in the Land of Missorie18 I the Lord promised the faithfull, & cannot lie [7]I the Lord am willing if any among you desireth to ride upon horses or upon mules or in chariots shall receive this blessing19 if he receive it from the hand of the Lord with <a> thankfullness hearts in all things [8]these things remain with you to do according to Judgement & the directions of the spirit20 [9]Behold the kingdom is yours21 And Behold & lo I am with the faithfull always even so Amen——

Notes

  1. JS History, vol. A-1, 142, 145.

  2. See, for example, Murdock, Journal, Aug. 1831; “Autobiography of Levi Ward Hancock,” ca. 1896, 27–40; and Whitmer, History, 32, in JSP, H2:45.

  3. Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52:8–9], herein.

  4. Murdock, Journal, Aug. 1831.

  5. Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:61], herein.

  6. JS History, vol. A-1, 145; see also Cahoon, Diary, Aug. 1831; and McLellin, Journal, 15 and 24 Aug. 1831.

  7. See Historical Introduction to Revelation Book 1, in JSP, MRB:5; and JS History, vol. A-1, 146.

  8. According to Hancock’s account, when the Saints in Jackson County saw a copy of this revelation—probably brought to them by one of the four elders to whom it was directed—it “tried” their faith. The revelation’s contents, which included commendations of those who had borne testimony and which implied high expectations for proselytizing success, apparently struck the Missouri Saints as incongruous with the results of the elders’ preaching. As Elizabeth Van Benthusen Gilbert explained to Hancock, “Their faith almost failed them because they had heard that nothing was done.” In reference to the elders, she said that “many had appostatized.” After Hancock, Zebedee Coltrin, Simeon Carter, and Solomon Hancock arrived later in the fall with news that they had baptized over a hundred individuals, the “drooping Spirits” of the Missouri saints were “revived.” (“Autobiography of Levi Ward Hancock,” ca. 1896, 40–41; see also History of the Reorganized Church, 1:195; and Minutes, 1 Sept. 1831, in JSP, D2:56.)

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

  10. TEXT: “&c” possibly inserted at a later time. This heading likely did not appear in the original manuscript; John Whitmer likely added it when he copied the revelation into Revelation Book 1.

  11. See Hebrews 2:18.

  12. Although this is a clear reference to John Murdock, Hyrum Smith, Harvey Whitlock, and David Whitmer, who were present at this revelation’s dictation, it apparently also applied to other elders traveling to Missouri, including Zebedee Coltrin and Levi Hancock. Coltrin and Hancock were shown the revelation when they arrived in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, in late 1831. (“Autobiography of Levi Ward Hancock,” ca. 1896, 40–41.)

  13. For examples of these testimonies, see Murdock, Journal, June 1831; and “Autobiography of Levi Ward Hancock,” 27–40.

  14. This instruction reiterates direction given in an August 1831 revelation. (Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:61–62], herein.)

  15. The elders held a conference in Kaw Township, Missouri, on 24 August 1831 “to fill the commandment which they received at Charatin.” According to William E. McLellin, the conference “offer[ed] a sacrament to the most High.” The 2 August date of the minutes as recorded in Minute Book 2 is in error. The meeting was held on 24 August, as McLellin’s journal relates. Several of the individuals listed in the minutes as attending, including McLellin, David Whitmer, Hyrum Smith, and Harvey Whitlock, were not in Jackson County on 2 August. (McLellin, Journal, 24 Aug. 1831; see also Minute Book 2, 2 Aug. 1831; and Revelation, 7 Aug. 1831 [D&C 59:12], herein.)

  16. See Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:59, 63], herein.

  17. John Murdock, Hyrum Smith, Harvey Whitlock, and David Whitmer traveled to Independence together. Smith and Whitmer apparently traveled back to Ohio in September, though whether they went together is not certain. Both men were listed as attending conferences in Ohio in October 1831. Murdock stayed in Missouri until 26 January 1832, when he departed with Parley P. Pratt, Lyman Wight, and Levi Hancock on a preaching mission. When Whitlock departed is not known, but he was still in Missouri in January 1832. (Murdock, Journal, Aug. 1831 and Jan. 1832; Minutes, 25–26 Oct. 1831, in JSP, D2:80; Minutes, 11 Oct. 1831, in JSP, D2:75; see also Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 28 Jan. 1832, in JSP, D2:165.)

  18. See Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52:42], herein.

  19. John Murdock, Hyrum Smith, Harvey Whitlock, and David Whitmer subsequently purchased a horse that Murdock rode because he was still ill. (Murdock, Journal, Aug. 1831.)

  20. The 1 August 1831 revelation told the elders to “do many things of their own free will” because “the power is in them wherein they are agents unto themselves.” (Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:26–28], herein.)

  21. See Revelation, 7 Dec. 1830 [D&C 35:27], herein; and Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831 [D&C 38:9, 15], herein.