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Revelation, 15 March 1832 [D&C 81]

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Revelation, 15 March 1832 [D&C 81]

Source Note

Revelation, , OH, 15 Mar. 1832. Featured version copied [between 15 Mar. and ca. 1 Apr. 1832] in Revelation Book 2, pp. 17–18; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 2.

Historical Introduction

The index to Revelation Book 2 identifies “” as the subject of this 15 March 1832 revelation, although the revelation refers to him only as “Jesse.” Gause had recently been called as a counselor to JS in the . A November 1831 revelation declared that presidents were to be appointed to preside over groups of men who held various offices, including the office of . JS was president of the at a 25 January 1832 in , Ohio. On 8 March 1832, JS appointed Gause and as “councillers of the ministry of the presidency of th[e] high Pristhood.” While Rigdon had been associated with JS almost since Rigdon’s in November 1830, Gause was a relatively new member, baptized sometime in late 1831 or early 1832. This 15 March 1832 revelation instructed Gause in his duties as counselor. In addition, it acknowledged JS as president of the high priesthood and stated that “the keys of the Kingdom” rested with him.
Because apparently acted as a scribe for JS’s revisions of the New Testament between 8 and 20 March 1832, it is likely that the nonextant original manuscript of this revelation was in Gause’s own handwriting. copied the revelation into Revelation Book 2, probably sometime before 1 April 1832. At a later point—sometime after the appointment of Williams as a counselor to JS in January 1833— replaced Gause’s name with Williams’s in the Revelation Book 2 copy (which is the version featured below). Someone—likely Cowdery—crossed out Gause’s name as well. The published versions of this revelation in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, the 1844 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, and the 15 August 1844 issue of the Times and Seasons all have Williams’s name instead of Gause’s. This indicates that JS and others regarded this revelation as containing general information about the duties of a counselor, rather than instructions specific to Gause.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Revelation Book 2, Index, [1]; Note, 8 Mar. 1832.

  2. [2]

    Revelation, 11 Nov. 1831–B [D&C 107:60–65].

  3. [3]

    Minute Book 2, 26–27 Apr. 1832.

  4. [4]

    For more information on the appointment of Gause and Rigdon as counselors, see Historical Introduction to Note, 8 Mar. 1832.

  5. [5]

    No record of Gause’s baptism has been found. In October 1831, he was living in North Union, Ohio, a Shaker community fifteen miles from Kirtland, which indicates that his baptism did not occur until sometime after that. (Jennings, “Consequential Counselor,” 198–199.)

    Jennings, Erin B. “The Consequential Counselor: Restoring the Root(s) of Jesse Gause.” Journal of Mormon History 34 (Spring 2008): 182–227.

  6. [6]

    Jennings, “Consequential Counselor,” 183.

    Jennings, Erin B. “The Consequential Counselor: Restoring the Root(s) of Jesse Gause.” Journal of Mormon History 34 (Spring 2008): 182–227.

  7. [7]

    Williams replaced Gause, who was excommunicated in December 1832. (JS, Journal, 3 Dec. 1832.)

  8. [8]

    Revelation Book 2, pp. 17–18; Minute Book 1, 18 Mar. 1833. In the copy of this revelation made by John Whitmer in Revelation Book 1, Gause’s name was also later crossed out and Williams’s name inserted. (Revelation Book 1, p. 139.)

  9. [9]

    Doctrine and Covenants 79, 1835 ed.; Doctrine and Covenants 80, 1844 ed.; “History of Joseph Smith,” Times and Seasons, 15 Aug. 1844, 5:609.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Revelation, 15 March 1832 [D&C 81]
Revelation Book 2 Revelation Book 1 Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834] Doctrine and Covenants, 1844 “History of Joseph Smith”

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Portage Co Ohio March 15th 1832
Verily Verily I say unto you my servant listen to the voice of him who speaketh to thee the word of the Lord your God, and hearken [p. 17]
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Source Note

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Revelation, 15 March 1832 [D&C 81]
ID #
2953
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D2:207–208
Handwriting on This Page
  • Frederick G. Williams

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    It is unknown whether this heading appeared in the original manuscript; Frederick G. Williams may have added it when he copied the revelation into Revelation Book 2.

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