Revelation, 14 June 1831 [D&C 55]
-
Source Note
Revelation, [, OH], to , 14 June 1831. Featured version, titled “58 Comandment June 14th. 1831,” copied [ca. June 1831] in Revelation Book 1, p. 91; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.
-
Historical Introduction
This revelation was directed to . In 1830, Phelps was the publisher of an anti-Masonic newspaper, the Ontario Phoenix, in , New York, about fourteen miles from . On 9 April, two weeks after the Book of Mormon was offered for sale, Phelps purchased a copy. He later wrote, “Notwithstanding my body was not into this church till . . . June, 1831, yet my heart was there from the time I became acquainted with the book of Mormon.” In December 1830 he traveled to , New York, to meet JS and came away from the experience further committed to the new movement and convinced that he needed to “quit the folly of my way, and the fancy and fame of this world, and seek the Lord and his righteousness.” In late April 1831, shortly after the majority of church members left for , Phelps was arrested and imprisoned for thirty days in Lyons, New York, apparently over a delinquent debt he owed in Canandaigua. While incarcerated, Phelps relinquished the editorship of the Phoenix, and immediately after his release he journeyed with his family to Ohio to join the Mormons. He reached , New York, on 12 June 1831 and was in , Ohio, by 14 June. His arrival prompted this revelation, which directed that he be an and that he assist in doing “the work of Printing.” Phelps was soon ordained an elder and later served as a printer for The Evening and the Morning Star.
Footnotes
-
1
William W. Phelps, “Letter No. 6,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Apr. 1835, 1:97.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
-
2
Phelps described his arrest, though he redacted the names of those responsible, in a letter written from prison which was afterward published in a competing newspaper: “While I was in Palmyra, comparing the ‘Book of Mormon’ with the Bible, to find out the truth, and investigate the matter for public good, —— —— —— ——, members of the [Presbyterian] church and pretended anti-masons, sent their foolish clerk from Canandaigua, and took me with a warrant, and obtained a judgment against me, on a balance of their account. This was done after I had engaged a passage home, having learned that my family were sick. An execution was sworn out on the spot, and I was hurried to jail in the course of the night, where I shall stay thirty days . . . for a double purpose.” Phelps later explained that he had been imprisoned as the result of actions taken by “a couple of Presbytetian traders, for a small debt, for the purpose, as I was informed, of ‘keeping me from joining the Mormons.’” (“Retribution,” Wayne Sentinel [Palmyra, NY], 13 May 1831, [3], italics in original; William W. Phelps, “Letter No. 6,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Apr. 1835, 1:97.)
Wayne Sentinel. Palmyra, NY. 1823–1852, 1860–1861.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
-
3
William W. Phelps, “Letter No. 6,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Apr. 1835, 1:97; News Item, Watch-Tower (Cooperstown, NY), 22 Aug. 1831, [2].
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Watch-Tower. Cooperstown, NY. 1817–1831.
-
4
[William W. Phelps], “Extract of a Letter from the Late Editor,” Ontario Phoenix (Canandaigua, NY), 7 Sept. 1831, [2].
Ontario Phoenix. Canandaigua, NY. 1828–1832.
-
1
Cite this page
