Revelation, [, Seneca Co., NY], to , 7 Dec. 1830. Featured version, titled “38th Commandment AD 1830. Dec.m. 7th,” copied [ca. Mar. 1831] in Revelation Book 1, pp. 46–48; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.
A portion of another early copy of this revelation in the handwriting of survived through the family, coming into the Church Historian’s Office in the 1960s. Symonds Rider supplied the text to the editor of the Ohio Star (Ravenna), which published it in the 5 January 1832 issue. Rider claimed that he received his version from David Whitmer. The text featured here, the Star version, and the existing portion of the Whitmer version from the Rider family are all similar, with no significant variants.
Revelation, 7 Dec. 1830, in Revelations Collection, CHL [D&C 35:13–18]. The opposite side of this revelation fragment contains a few verses of Revelation, 9 Dec. 1830 [D&C 36].
Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.
“Mormonism,” Ohio Star (Ravenna), 5 Jan. 1832, [3]; Symonds Rider, Letter to the Editor, Ohio Star (Ravenna), 29 Dec. 1831, [3].
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
Historical Introduction
The conversion of and others in northeastern in fall 1830 transformed the new geographically and demographically. Within a few weeks after missionaries arrived in Ohio, more than one hundred individuals were , and by the end of December church members in were commanded to move to Ohio. , where the first baptisms in Ohio took place, became an important gathering place for church members for the next seven years. The visit of Sidney Rigdon and to only a few weeks after Rigdon’s baptism helped bring about this transition. According to ’s history, Rigdon made the trip because he had “much anxiety to see Joseph Smith Jr. the Seer whom the Lord had raised up in these last days.” Rigdon and Partridge arrived in early December 1830, and shortly thereafter JS dictated a revelation for each of them. This revelation, for Rigdon, praised his previous ministerial labors and positioned him as JS’s scribe for JS’s inspired of the Bible. Rigdon remained in New York with JS for the next two months until they both moved to Ohio.
Pratt, Autobiography, 50; Anderson, “Impact of the First Preaching in Ohio,” 478.
Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.
Say unto you tarry with him & he shall Journey with thee forsake him not & shurely these things shall be fulfilled & in as much as ye do not write behold it shall be given him to prophecy & thou shalt Preach my gospel & call on the Holy Prophets to prove his words as they shall be given him keep all the & covenants by which ye are bound & I will cause the Heavens to shake for your Good & satan shall tremble & shall rejoice upon the Hills & florish & Israel shall be saved in mine own due time & by the which have shall been given shall they be led & no more be confounded at all[.] lift up your hearts & be Glad your redemption draweth nigh fear not little flock the Kingdom is yours untill I come Behold I come quickly even so amen [p. 48]
Decades later, David Whitmer described Rigdon’s impact on JS: “He soon worked himself deep into Brother Joseph’s affections, and had more influence over him than any other man living. He was Brother Joseph’s private counsellor, and his most intimate friend and brother for some time after they met. Brother Joseph rejoiced, believing that the Lord had sent to him this great and mighty man Sydney Rigdon, to help him in the work.” (Whitmer, Address to All Believers in Christ, 35.)
Whitmer, David. An Address to All Believers in Christ. Richmond, MO: By the author, 1887.
Eber D. Howe, a vocal critic of JS, interpreted the revelation in this way: “[Rigdon was] very intimate with the scriptures, a close reasoner, and . . . was forthwith appointed to promulgate . . . Mormonism, ‘and call on the Holy Prophets to prove’ all the words of Smith.” An early account of JS prophesying and Rigdon “proving” his words from the Bible is found in John Whitmer’s history. Whitmer wrote that after this revelation was dictated, “Joseph prophesied saying: God is about to destroy this generation, and Christ will descend from heaven in power and great glory, with all the holy angels with him, to take vengeance upon the wicked, and they that know not God: Sidny preached the gospel and proved his words from the holy prophets: and so powerful were thier words, that the people who heard them speak were amazed, and trembled, and knew not whereunto this thing would grow.” (Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 110; Whitmer, History, 5.)
Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.
See, for example, Revelation 3:11; 27:7, 12, 20. This phrase was also used in the October 1830 revelation commanding specific church members to evangelize. (Revelation, Oct. 1830–B [D&C 33:18]; see also Revelation, 4 Nov. 1830 [D&C 34:12].)