Revelation, 9 December 1830 [D&C 36]
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Source Note
Revelation, [, Seneca Co., NY], to , 9 Dec. 1830. Featured version, titled “39th. Commandment Decm. 9th. AD 1830,” copied [ca. Mar. 1831] in Revelation Book 1, pp. 48–49; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.A portion of another early version of this revelation in unidentified handwriting survived through the family, coming into the Church Historian’s Office in the 1960s. Because the manuscript that came from the Rider family is incomplete, it was not selected as the featured version.
Footnotes
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Revelation, 9 Dec. 1830, in Revelations Collection, CHL [D&C 36:3–8]. The opposite side of this revelation fragment contains a few verses of Revelation, 7 Dec. 1830 [D&C 35].
Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.
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Historical Introduction
This revelation was dictated for , an an who had come to to meet JS. Partridge, a hatter living in , Ohio, and his wife, Lydia, were members of ’s reformed Baptist congregation. In early November 1830 they became interested in the when , , , and began preaching to and many individuals from Rigdon’s congregation. Lydia soon converted, but her husband remained skeptical and insisted on visiting JS in New York before becoming a member. Partridge and Rigdon traveled to the area and then went on to Waterloo in Seneca County. They arrived at the home of while JS was giving a sermon. When JS finished speaking, “a request was made that any who felt to speak should,” and Partridge stood and stated that he and Rigdon had visited the Smith family’s farm and had spoken with their neighbors about the character of the Smith family. Based on those conversations, Partridge declared that the Smiths “had sacraficed for the truth’s sake” and that he was ready to be baptized. After Partridge asked JS to baptize him, JS replied, “You have traveled a long way this morning and you are much fatigued and I think you had better rest and take some refreshment and tomorrow morning be baptized.” Soon thereafter, JS dictated this revelation for Partridge. Two days later, on 11 December, JS baptized Partridge, and on 15 December, Sidney Rigdon ordained him an .This revelation included language similar to several revelations dictated in 1829 and 1830 that called members of the church to preach. The earliest revelation expressing these sentiments, in February 1829, stated, “If ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work.” Like the revelations given to missionaries in September and October of 1830, this revelation also declared with an eschatological urgency that the second coming of Jesus Christ was imminent.
Footnotes
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1
Advertisement, Painesville (OH) Telegraph, 8 Sept. 1829, [3]; Partridge, Genealogical Record, 2, 5.
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.
Partridge, Edward, Jr. Genealogical Record. 1878. CHL. MS 1271.
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Pratt, Autobiography, 50.
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.
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Walter Scott, “Mormon Bible.—No. V,” Evangelist, 1 June 1841, 132–136; Partridge, Genealogical Record, 5.
Evangelist. Carthage, OH. 1832–1844.
Partridge, Edward, Jr. Genealogical Record. 1878. CHL. MS 1271.
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Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 10, [7]; [Matthew S. Clapp], “Mormonism,” Painesville (OH) Telegraph, 15 Feb. 1831, [1] –[2]; JS History, vol. A-1, 78; Dibble, Reminiscences, 2.
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.
Dibble, Philo. Reminiscences, no date. Typescript. CHL. MS 15447.
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5
License for Edward Partridge, 15 Dec. 1830, Edward Partridge, Papers, CHL. JS recorded in his history that “on the 11th of December I baptised him [Partridge] in the Seneca river.” Partridge’s daughter Emily gave the same date in her later reminiscence of the event, but it is possible that she was using JS’s history as her source. (JS History, vol. A-1, 94; Emily Dow Partridge Young, “Autobiography of Emily D. P. Young,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Dec. 1884, 102–103; see also Young, “Incidents,” 3.)
Partridge, Edward. Papers, 1818–1839. CHL. MS 892.
Woman’s Exponent. Salt Lake City. 1872–1914.
Young, Emily Dow Partridge. “Incidents of the Life of a Mormon Girl,” ca. 1884. CHL. MS 5220.
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Revelation, Feb. 1829 [D&C 4:3]; see also Revelation, Apr. 1829–A [D&C 6:3]; Revelation, May 1829–A [D&C 11:3]; Revelation, May 1829–B [D&C 12:3]; and Revelation, June 1829–A [D&C 14:3].
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See Revelation, Sept. 1830–F [D&C 31:4]; Revelation Oct. 1830–B [D&C 33:3, 7]; see also Revelation, Sept. 1830–A [D&C 29:8–28].
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