Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52]

Source Note

Revelation,
Kirtland Township
Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Latter-day Saint missionaries visited township, early Nov. 1830; many residents joined Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and...
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, OH, 6 June 1831. Featured version, titled “55th. Commandment given at Kirtland June 6th. 1831,” copied [ca. June 1831] in Revelation Book 1, pp. 87–89; handwriting of
John Whitmer
27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...
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; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.
Historical Introduction
In June 1831 a
conference
A meeting where ecclesiastical officers and other church members could conduct church business. The “Articles and Covenants” of the church directed the elders to hold conferences to perform “Church business.” The first of these conferences was held on 9 June...
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was held in
Kirtland
Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Latter-day Saint missionaries visited township, early Nov. 1830; many residents joined Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and...
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, Ohio, which all of the
elders
A male leader in the church generally; an ecclesiastical and priesthood office or one holding that office; a proselytizing missionary. The Book of Mormon explained that elders ordained priests and teachers and administered “the flesh and blood of Christ unto...
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of the church had been directed to attend by a February revelation.
1
Revelation, Feb. 1831–B [D&C 44:1–2]; see also Minutes, ca. 3–4 June 1831.
As part of the conference, according to
Levi Hancock
7 Apr. 1803–10 June 1882. Born at Springfield, Hampden Co., Massachusetts. Son of Thomas Hancock III and Amy Ward. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 16 Nov. 1830, at Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio. Married Clarissa Reed, 20 Mar. 1831....
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, many church members gathered on 5 June “on the hill in a field whare there was a larg concours of people collected.” JS addressed the congregation and told them that “from that time the Elders would have large congregations to speak to and they must soon take there departure into the Reagions west.”
2
Hancock, Autobiography, 92.
Comprehensive Works Cited
Hancock, Levi. Autobiography, ca. 1854. Photocopy. CHL. MS 8174.
The next day, 6 June, the conference continued, and that night JS dictated the text featured here, later writing that he received it “by an heavenly vision.”
3
Hancock, Autobiography, 94; John Smith, Journal, 3–4; JS, “To the Elders of the Church of Latter Day Saints,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Sept. 1835, 1:179.
Comprehensive Works Cited
Hancock, Levi. Autobiography, ca. 1854. Photocopy. CHL. MS 8174.
Smith, John (1781-1854). Journal, 1833–1841. John Smith, Papers, 1833-1854. CHL. MS 1326, box 1, fd. 1.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

The revelation declared that the next conference would be held in
Missouri
Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Latter-day Saint ...
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and directed the elders to travel to Missouri two by two, by different routes, preaching along the way. Nearly all the men who had been
ordained
The conferral of power and authority; to appoint, decree, or set apart. Church members, primarily adults, were ordained to ecclesiastical offices and other responsibilities by the laying on of hands by those with the proper authority. Ordinations to priesthood...
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to the “
high priesthood
The authority and power held by certain officers in the church. The Book of Mormon referred to the high priesthood as God’s “holy order, which was after the order of his Son,” and indicated that Melchizedek, a biblical figure, was a high priest “after this...
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” a few days earlier were now called to preach, as were several others.
4
Minutes, ca. 3–4 June 1831.
The revelation further instructed JS and
Sidney Rigdon
19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...
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to leave for Missouri as soon as possible, promising that if they were faithful, the Lord would make known the location in Missouri of “the land of your inheritance.”

Footnotes
1. 1
  Revelation, Feb. 1831–B [D&C 44:1–2]; see also Minutes, ca. 3–4 June 1831.
2. 2
  Hancock, Autobiography, 92.
  
  Hancock, Levi. Autobiography, ca. 1854. Photocopy. CHL. MS 8174.
3. 3
  Hancock, Autobiography, 94; John Smith, Journal, 3–4; JS, “To the Elders of the Church of Latter Day Saints,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Sept. 1835, 1:179.
  
  Hancock, Levi. Autobiography, ca. 1854. Photocopy. CHL. MS 8174.
  Smith, John (1781-1854). Journal, 1833–1841. John Smith, Papers, 1833-1854. CHL. MS 1326, box 1, fd. 1.
  Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
4. 4
  Minutes, ca. 3–4 June 1831.

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Taught them by the Comforter through the prayer of faith[.] let them go two by two & thus let them Preach by [the] way in every congregation & t by waterhe laying on the hands by the water side for thus sayeth the lord I will cut my work short in righteousness for the days cometh that I will send forth Judgement unto victory & let my Servent be aware for Satan desireth to sift him as Chaff & behold he that is faithfull shall be made ruler over many things & again I will give unto you a Pattern in all things that ye may not be deceived for Satan is abroad in the land & he goeth forth deceiveing the Nations wherefore he that prayeth whose spirit is contrite the same is accepted of me if he obey mine ordinances[.] he that speaketh whose spirit is contrite whose language in is meek & edifieth the Same is of God if he obey mine & again he that trembeleth under my power shall be made strong & shall bring forth fruits of Praise & wisdom according to the Revelations & truths which I have given you & again he that is overcome & bringeth not forth fruits even according to this Pattern is not of me wherefore by this Pattern ye shall know all the spirits in all cases under the whole Heavens & the days have come according to mens faith it shall be done unto them behold this is given unto all the whom I have chosen & again verily I say unto you let my Servents & my Servent take their Journey also preaching the word by the way unto this same land & again let my servent & my Servent take their Journey also preaching the word by the way to the same land let my Servent

& take their Journey with my servents & Joseph let my Servent & also take their Journey & preach by the way

let my Servent & also take their Journey & Preach by the way unto this same land & my Servent & also take their Journey to the same land & preach by the way let my Servent & Jacob (Schott [Scott]) also take their Journey let my servent

& take their Journey let my Servent [p. 88]

Taught them by the Comforter through the prayer of faith. let them go two by two & thus let them Preach by [the] way in every congregation & t by waterhe laying on the hands by the water side for thus sayeth the lord I will cut my work short in righteousness for the days cometh that I will send forth Judgement unto victory & let my Servent be aware for Satan desireth to sift him as Chaff & behold he that is faithfull shall be made ruler over many things & again I will give unto you a Pattern in all things that ye may not be deceived for Satan is abroad in the land & he goeth forth deceiveing the Nations wherefore he that prayeth whose spirit is contrite the same is accepted of me if he obey mine ordinances. he that speaketh whose spirit is contrite whose language is meek & edifieth the Same is of God if he obey mine & again he that trembeleth under my power shall be made strong & shall bring forth fruits of Praise & wisdom according to the Revelations & truths which I have given you & again he that is overcome & bringeth not forth fruits even according to this Pattern is not of me wherefore by this Pattern ye shall know all the spirits in all cases under the whole Heavens & the days have come according to mens faith it shall be done unto them behold this is given unto all the whom I have chosen & again verily I say unto you let my Servent & my Servent take their Journey also preaching the word by the way unto this same land & again let my servent & my Servent take their Journey also preaching the word by the way to the same land let my Servent

& take their Journey with my servents & Joseph let my Servent & also take their Journey & preach by the way

& take their Journey let my Servent [p. 88]

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Document Information
Editorial Title
Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52]
ID #
6513
Total Pages
3
Print Volume Location
JSP, D1:327–332
Handwriting on This Page
- John Whitmer
Footnotes
1. 5
  See Romans 9:28.
2. 6
  See Matthew 12:20.
3. 7
  This “Pattern” provided further guidance in dealing with the persistent problem of what JS deemed unacceptable spiritual phenomena since his arrival in Ohio four months earlier. (See Historical Introduction to Revelation, 9 May 1831 [D&C 50]; see also Letter to Hyrum Smith, 3–4 Mar. 1831.)
4. 8
  Ezra Booth later noted that he preached in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri before reaching Independence, Missouri. (Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. V,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 10 Nov. 1831, [3].)
  
  Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
5. 9
  Lydia Clisbee Partridge left an account of the circumstances under which her husband, Edward, received this revelatory injunction. Their children had all contracted the measles from some of the recently arrived New York members who were staying with their family. She wrote that their “eldest daughter was taken down with lung fever, and while she was at the worst, my husband was called by revelation to go with a number of others to Missouri to locate a place for the gathering of the Saints, the unbelievers thought he must be crazy or he would not go. And I thought myself that I had reason to think my trials had commenced, and so [they] had, but this trial like all others was followed with blessings for our daughter recovered.” (Partridge, Genealogical Record, 6.)
  
  Partridge, Edward, Jr. Genealogical Record. 1878. CHL. MS 1271.
6. 10
  On their way to Missouri, Whitmer and Whitlock passed through Paris, Illinois, where William E. McLellin heard them preach. He recorded in his diary that they “expounded the Gospel the plainest I thot that I ever heard.” Whitmer “bore testimony to having seen an Holy Angel who had made known the truth of this record to him.” As a result, McLellin decided to accompany the Mormon elders to Missouri and listen to them preach along the way. Though the men eventually separated in their travels, McLellin went on to Independence, Missouri, where on 20 August he was baptized by JS’s brother Hyrum Smith. (McLellin, Journal, 1, 6–7.)
  
  McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
7. 11
  Hancock later related how he felt after being named in this revelation: “At knight A Revelation came from Joseph to many Elders to go to Missouri and preach by the way Among the rest was my name with Zebed[ee] Coltrin this was a tryal indeed I had not thought of being called upon to go so far I had a little money to be sure left but I spent nearly all for other Elders that I had traveled with I began to think that all I traveled with depended of me for money and I must not look back I had just hired a room and moved my tooles there I had left it nearly filled with furnature and I knew that some people must be disapointed all of these things together with a promis to a young Lady wrought on my mind all manner of impressions but when I would think of the old jack and the man of sin who had bin revealed before us all I found myself harnessed and I said let all other things go I will do as I am told in the Revelation.” (Hancock, Autobiography, 94–95.)
  
  Hancock, Levi. Autobiography, ca. 1854. Photocopy. CHL. MS 8174.

Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52]

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