Revelation, [, OH], 23 Feb. 1831. Featured version, titled “February 23d 1831 the rules and regulations of the Law,” copied May 1831; handwriting of ; three pages; Revelations Collection, CHL.
Each of the two leaves, measuring 7½ × 6½–6¾ inches (19 × 17 cm), has a similar jagged cut on the left edge of the recto. Also running along the left edge of each recto are eight small holes, likely used for sewing the booklet together. Based on comparison of the cuts and tears of the pages, these pages, along with copies of Articles and Covenants, circa April 1830 [D&C 20], and Revelation, 9 February 1831 [D&C 42:1–72], were part of a notebook of at least sixteen leaves, likely created by . It is unknown when these pages were removed from the notebook.
This revelation was copied on the same manuscript as Revelation, 9 February 1831 [D&C 42:1–72]. The copy may have been made 23 May 1831 or anytime in May 1831. According to a letter filed with the manuscript, this document, with several other manuscript revelations, was donated to the Church Historian’s Office in the early 1960s by a descendant of . The rolled-up papers were discovered by the Rider family in 1958, having presumably been held by the family since Rider obtained them circa 1831.
Note, [27 May 1964], in Revelations Collection, CHL; Faulring, “Examination of the 1829 ‘Articles of the Church of Christ’ in Relation to Section 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants,” 87n70.
Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.
On 22 February 1831, JS wrote to referencing the “Laws of the ” that JS had dictated 9 February: “We have received the laws of the Kingdom since we came here and the in these parts have received them gladly.” The next day, 23 February, JS and seven elders met to determine “how the of the church of Christ are to act upon the points of the Law,” and the following revelation was recorded. In providing detailed guidance on how to discipline serious transgressors of the moral law, the revelation significantly elaborated on the few lines offered on the subject in the church’s earlier “Articles and Covenants.”
Early members evidently saw the 23 February revelation as building upon the 9 February revelation, also known as “the Law,” by expanding on the guidelines it provided. After this revelation was dictated, “the Law” comprised eight sections in all, five received on 9 February and three on 23 February. Of the earliest extant copies of the Law, only the copy, the version featured here, includes all eight sections; it separates the 9 February revelation from the 23 February revelation by including the date and an introductory heading between the fifth and sixth sections. The version found in Revelation Book 1 includes the first five sections, dictated 9 February, as well as a loose leaf containing only the eighth section, or final paragraph, of the 23 February dictation. Some later published versions also exclude the first two paragraphs of the 23 February revelation, possibly because those sections seem to summarize content found in the first five sections. Textually, only the eighth and final paragraph in this document employs the divine first-person, which is possibly the reason it was the only portion of the 23 February revelation to be copied into Revelation Book 1.
Revelation Book 1, pp. 62–67. A manuscript in Sidney Gilbert’s handwriting and one in Zebedee Coltrin’s both include only the first five parts. An early newspaper version includes only the first two parts. A manuscript in Orson Hyde’s hand includes parts two through four as well as parts seven and eight. (Gilbert, Notebook, [13]–[23]; Coltrin, Diary, [11]–[18]; “Secret Bye Laws of the Mormonites,” Western Courier [Ravenna, OH], 1 Sept. 1831, [1]; Hyde and Smith, Notebook, [12]–[22]; see also Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:1–72].)
Gilbert, Algernon Sidney. Notebook of Revelations, 1831–ca. 1833. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583, box 1, fd. 2.
Coltrin, Zebedee. Diaries, 1832–1834. CHL. MS 1443.
Western Courier. Ravenna, OH. 1826–1833.
Hyde, Orson, and Samuel Smith. Notebook of Revelations and Missionary Memoranda, ca. Oct. 1831–ca. Jan. 1832. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583, box 1, fd. 2.
he has offended and to God that the Brethren may not speak reproachfully of him and thus shall ye conduct in all things——
How to act in cases of adultery
Behold verily I say unto you whatsoever person among you having put away their companion for the cause of fornication or in otherwords if he shall testify before you in all Lowliness of heart that this is the case ye shall not cast them out from among you but if ye shall find that any person hath left their companion for the sake of adultery and they themselves are the offender and their companions are living they shall be cast out out from among you and again I say unto you that ye be watchful and careful with all inquiry that ye receive none such among you if they are married and if they are not married they shall repent of all their sins or ye shall not receive them—— [p. [8]]
The copy in Revelation Book 1 and the copy in Orson Hyde’s handwriting also include this heading but commence with the words “A commandment.” In Revelation Book 1, this paragraph appears on a separate slip of paper attached to page 67, at the conclusion of the 9 February revelation. On the paper’s obverse is written, “Feb. 23. 1831 Kirtland.” The version in Revelation Book 2 carries no descriptive heading, just “February 23d 1831.” (Revelation Book 1, p. 67; Hyde and Smith, Notebook, [21]; Revelation Book 2, pp. 117–118.)
Hyde, Orson, and Samuel Smith. Notebook of Revelations and Missionary Memoranda, ca. Oct. 1831–ca. Jan. 1832. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583, box 1, fd. 2.