Revelations published in Evening and Morning Star (, OH), vol. 1, nos. 1–10 and 12, and vol. 2, no. 13; edited by . The copy used for this transcription is currently part of a bound volume held at CHL; includes marginalia and archival notations.
Evening and Morning Star, an edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star, presents revelations throughout its first thirteen issues, except for the April 1833 issue, which was printed in June 1836. When printing Evening and Morning Star, the editors revised the revelations found in The Evening and the Morning Star, changing wording and sometimes order and position on the page. One revelation printed in the earlier newspaper was not reprinted in this edition of the paper. The page size of Evening and Morning Star was smaller than that of its predecessor. Each issue has eight leaves (sixteen pages), with two columns on each page, each page measuring 9¼ × 5¾ inches (23 × 15 cm). Because Evening and Morning Star was a reprint, its issues maintained the dating of the original issues; thus, the first issue of Evening and Morning Star is dated June 1832, though it was printed in January 1835, as indicated by a publisher’s notice on the last page of the issue.
The original owner of the volume used for this transcription is unknown. The upper right corner of the second free endsheet is cut away, and based on a residual ink flourish on the recto near the cut, it appears that a signature was removed from the book at some point. This volume is held at the Church History Library, but its provenance is unknown.
Revelation,16 Apr. 1830, in “The Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ,” The Evening and the Morning Star,June 1832, [1]–[2] [D&C 22].
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Historical Introduction
In December 1833, six months after the in , Missouri, was and publication efforts there were permanently halted, printing commenced on a newly acquired press in , Ohio. That press, operated by , continued printing The Evening and the Morning Star, the newspaper begun in , through September 1834. The September 1834 issue of that paper contained a prospectus announcing that the paper’s two volumes would be reprinted.
The first issue of the reprinted newspaper, which appeared under the slightly modified title Evening and Morning Star, was published in January 1835. Though touted as a reprint that would correct typographical and other errors, Evening and Morning Star actually contained significant changes to the revelation texts. In the first issue, editor explained the revisions he was making in the reprinted versions of the revelations:
On the revelations we merely say, that we were not a little surprised to find the previous print so different from the original. We have given them a careful comparison, assisted by individuals whose known integrity and ability is uncensurable. Thus saying we cast no reflections upon those who were entrusted with the responsibility of publishing them in , as our own labors were included in that important service to the church, and it was our unceasing endeavor to have them correspond with the copy furnished us. We believe they are now correct. If not in every word, at least in principle.
Despite the implications of ’s statement, very few of the changes in the reprint represent a restoration back to the earliest text, though Cowdery consulted early manuscript sources when reprinting some of the revelations. Because the revelations were meant to be used as a guide for the current operations of the church, they were edited in 1835 to reflect current organization, doctrine, and practice, which had continued to develop since the revelations were first dictated. For example, the version of a 9 February 1831 revelation printed in Evening and Morning Star includes discussion of the duties of elders, priests, teachers, bishops, high priests, and the high council. Early versions of the revelation, however, make no mention of the office of high priest, which did not exist until June 1831, or of the high council, a body that was not organized until February 1834. The revelation was revised in 1835 to reflect these additional roles. Most of the changes made to revelations in the early issues of Evening and Morning Star are also reflected in the same revelations as published in the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants (1835), and the editing work on that volume, in turn, influenced the presentation of revelations in later issues of Evening and Morning Star.
The table that follows lists each of the revelatory items printed in the Star and its reprint, along with its bibliographic information. See Revelations Printed in The Evening and the Morning Star for a side-by-side comparison of the revelations printed in the Star and its reprint.
Key to column titles
Vol: Issue:
Volume and issue number
Star Print Date:
Month in which the item was printed in The Evening and the Morning Star
Star Pages:
Pages on which the item was printed in The Evening and the Morning Star
Reprint Print Date:
Month in which the item was printed in Evening and Morning Star
Reprint Pages:
Pages on which the item was printed in Evening and Morning Star
Date:
Date of item, followed by section number in Doctrine and Covenants, 1981 edition, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The title that appears in the newspaper’s nameplate was likely shortened because of a reduction in the newspaper’s size. The longer original title, The Evening and the Morning Star, is printed at the middle and end of each issue with other publication information. For the sake of clarity, the reprinted paper is referred to by its shortened title for all references in The Joseph Smith Papers.
Notice, Evening and Morning Star, June 1832 (Jan. 1835), 16. The prospectus to Evening and Morning Star also states “that in the first 14 numbers, in the Revelations, are many errors, typographical, and others, occasioned by transcribing manuscript; but as we shall have access to originals, we shall endeavor to make proper corrections.” (“Prospectus,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Sept. 1834, 192.)
Evening and Morning Star. Edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. Kirtland, OH. Jan. 1835–Oct. 1836.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
On 4 February 1835, Cowdery wrote to Newel K. Whitney requesting that the latter send “the original copy of the Revelation given to 12 elders Feb. 1831 called ‘The Law of the Church.’” Cowdery explained, “We are preparing the old Star for re-printing, and have no copy from which to correct, and kno[w] of no other beside yours.” (Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, to Newel K. Whitney, 4 Feb. 1835, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.)
Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831, in “Extract of Covenants for the Church of the Latter Day Saints,” Evening and Morning Star, July 1832 (Feb. 1835), 30–31 [D&C 42].
Evening and Morning Star. Edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. Kirtland, OH. Jan. 1835–Oct. 1836.
Minute Book 2 / “The Conference Minutes and Record Book of Christ’s Church of Latter Day Saints,” 1838, 1842, 1844. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
Hearken, O ye people of my church to whom the kingdom has been given: hearken ye and give ear to him who laid the foundation of the earth; who made the heavens and all the host thereof, and by whom all things were made which live and move and have a being. And again I say, hearken unto my voice, lest death shall overtake you: in an hour when ye think not the summer shall be past, and the harvest ended, and your souls not saved. Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him; saying, Father behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased: behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; wherefore, Father spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.
Hearken, O ye people of my church, and ye listen together, and hear my voice while it is called to-day and harden not your hearts; for verily I say unto you that I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the light and the life of the world, a light that shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not: I came unto my own and my own received me not; but unto as many as received me gave I power to do many miracles, and to become the sons of God, and even unto them that believed on my name, gave I power to obtain eternal life.— And even so I have sent mine into the world, to be a light to the world, and to be a standard for my people and for the to seek to it; and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way before me. Wherefore come ye unto it, and with him that cometh I will reason as with men in days of old, and I will show unto you my strong reasoning; wherefore hearken ye together and let me show it unto you, even my wisdom, the wisdom of him whom ye say is the God of Enoch, and his brethren, who were separated from the earth, and were received unto myself—a city reserved until a day of righteousness shall come—a day which was sought for by all holy men, and they found it not because of wickedness and abominations: and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth; but obtained a promise that they should find it, and see it in their flesh. Wherefore hearken and I will reason with you, and I will speak unto you and prophesy as unto men in days of old; and I will show it plainly as I showed it unto my , as I stood before them in the flesh, and spake unto them saying: As ye have asked of me concerning the signs of my coming, in the day when I shall come in my glory in the clouds of heaven, to fulfil the promises that I have made unto your fathers: for as you have looked upon the long absence of your spirits from your bodies to be a bondage, I will show unto you how the day of redemption shall come, and also the restoration of scattered Israel.
And now ye behold this temple which is in Jerusalem, which ye call the house of God, and your enemies say that this house shall never fall. But verily I say unto you, that desolation shall come upon this generation as a thief in the night, and this people shall be destroyed and scattered among all nations, and this temple which ye now see, shall be thrown down that there shall not be left one stone upon another. And it shall come to pass, that this generation of Jews shall not pass away, until every desolation which I have told you concerning them, shall come to pass.
Ye say that ye know, that the end of the world cometh; ye say also that ye know, that the heavens and the earth shall pass away; and in this ye say truly, for so it is; but these things which I have told you, shall not pass away, but all shall be fulfilled.— And this I have told you concerning Jerusalem, and when that day shall come, a remnant shall be scattered among all nations, but they shall be gathered again; but they shall remain until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And in that day shall be heard of wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be in commotion, and men’s hearts shall fail them, and they shall say that Christ delayeth his coming until the end of the earth. And the love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity shall abound; and when the time of the Gentiles is come in, a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness, and it shall be the fulness of my gospel; but they receive it not, for they perceive not the light, and they turn their hearts from me because of the precepts of men; and in that generation shall the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled: and there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a dessolating sicness shall cover the land; but my disciples shall stand in holy places and shall not be moved; but among the wicked men shall lift up their voices and curse God and die. And there shall be earthquakes, also, in divers places, and many desolations, yet men will harden their hearts against me; and they will take up the sword one against another and they will kill one another.
And now, when I the Lord had spoken these words unto my disciples, they were troubled, and I said unto them, be not troubled, for when all these things shall come to pass, ye may know that the promises which have been made unto you, shall be fulfilled; and when the light shall begin to break forth, it shall be with them like unto a parable which I will show you: you look and behold the fig trees, and ye see them with your eyes, and ye say, when they begin to shoot forth and their leaves are yet tender, that summer is now nigh at hand; even so it shall be in that day when they shall see all these things; for then shall they know that the hour is nigh.
And it shall come to pass that he that feareth me shall be looking for the great day of the Lord to come, even for the signs of the coming of the son of man; and they shall see signs and wonders, for they shall be shown forth in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and they shall behold blood and fire, and vapors of smoke; and before the day of the Lord shall come the sun shall be darkened, and the moon turned into blood, and stars fall from heaven; and the remnant shall be gathered unto this place, and then they shall look for me, and behold I will come; and they shall see me in the clouds of heaven, clothed with power and great glory, with all [p. [5]]
Excerpt of Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831, in “Extract of a Prophecy Given March 7, 1831,” Evening and Morning Star, June 1832 (Jan. 1835), 5–6 [D&C 45:1–71]. This version corresponds to the version in The Evening and the Morning Star, indicating that the latter was used as a source text for the former.
Evening and Morning Star. Edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. Kirtland, OH. Jan. 1835–Oct. 1836.