Revelation, July 1830–B [D&C 26]
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Source Note
Revelation, , Susquehanna Co., PA, to JS, , and , [July] 1830. Featured version, titled “26th Commandment AD 1830,” copied [ca. Mar. 1831] in Revelation Book 1, p. 34; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.
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Historical Introduction
From the time that JS took possession of the in September 1827, his days were increasingly filled with work relating to the . 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 , Pennsylvania, and the three of the church in , leaving him less time to work on his farm and care for his material needs. 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 & & they shall support thee.” Shortly thereafter, this revelation called JS, , and to study the , preach, the Colesville believers, and work on JS’s farm until the next .
Footnotes
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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; “Mormonism,” Kansas City Daily Journal, 5 June 1881, 1; Letter to Oliver Cowdery, 22 Oct. 1829; Knight, Reminiscences, 6; and Historical Introduction to Revelation, July 1830–A [D&C 24].)
Kansas City Daily Journal. Kansas City, MO. 1878–1891.
Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.
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2
Revelation, July 1830–A [D&C 24:3].
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1
Document Transcript
Footnotes
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1
John Whitmer likely created this heading when he copied the text into Revelation Book 1.
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2
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 [Moses 1:41]; see also Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 3–13.)
Faulring, Scott H., Kent P. Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds. Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2004.
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3
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; see also Historical Introductions to Revelation, July 1830–A [D&C 24]; and to Revelation, July 1830–C [D&C 25].)
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4
This conference was held 26–28 September 1830 at Fayette, New York, about eighty miles northwest of Harmony. (See Minutes, 26 Sept. 1830; see also Minutes, 9 June 1830.)
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5
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.)