Revelation, February 1829 [D&C 4]
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Source Note
Revelation, , Susquehanna Co., PA, to , [Feb.] 1829. Featured version, titled “A revalation from the Lord unto AD 1829,” copied [between ca. Dec. 1830 and spring 1831]; handwriting of ; one page; Edward Partridge, Copies of Revelations, ca. Dec. 1830–spring 1831, CHL.This text is the last extant item copied by in what likely would have been an eight-leaf collection of sacred writings. The extant collection contains a copy of the Old Testament revision by JS. Immediately following the Old Testament material is a copy of Revelation, August 1830 [D&C 27], followed by the featured revelation published below. Also in the same collection, a damaged leaf, apparently separate from this early notebook, contains Revelation, 6 April 1830 [D&C 21]; Revelation, September 1830–F [D&C 31]; and Revelation, October 1830–B [D&C 33]. Only four leaves of the likely original eight leaves are extant. A full leaf measures 12⅝ × 7⅝ inches (32 × 19 cm); the top quarter of the final leaf is missing.Physical evidence links these revelations to other papers that were in possession of the Partridge family until at least the mid-1880s, sometime after which they came into the possession of the Church Historian’s Office.No explicit copy date was written on the extant portion of the manuscript. If this was an assemblage of texts copied by for his neighbors, the copies could have been made as early as December 1830. However, the Old Testament material that Partridge copied may not have been created until early 1831, pushing forward the creation date of these documents. It seems likely, given the material copied, that these copies were made shortly after the documents were created in late 1830 or early 1831. If the version featured below was penned in the spring of 1831, both this version and the version found in Revelation Book 1 would have been created about the same time. This version is featured rather than the Revelation Book 1 version because the page in Revelation Book 1 on which this revelation concludes was removed from that volume at some point and is no longer extant. The text of the revelation found in the Partridge manuscript, therefore, is the earliest complete, extant version.
Footnotes
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1
The eight-leaf collection is missing the first four leaves, which would have contained the first several chapters of the Old Testament revision. The extant pages begin abruptly with current Moses 6:21 and finish with the material corresponding with Genesis 9:16. Factoring in the average word count per page for the extant portion of the Bible revision and counting the total number of words of the missing portion shows that the text would have likely fit on four leaves, or eight pages. In addition, sewing marks on the four extant leaves may indicate that at least four additional leaves existed as conjugate leaves. Finally, the last leaf bears the marks of wear common on exposed leaves in a folded packet, indicating that it likely was the final leaf. (See Old Testament Revision 1, pp. 12–21, 23–24 [Moses 6:21–8:30; Joseph Smith Translation, Genesis 9:1–16].)
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2
Some of Partridge’s personal papers came into the Church Historian’s Office piecemeal. This item was part of a group of materials published by the family in 1884 that all have similar physical damage not found on earlier manuscripts donated to the Church Historian’s Office, likely indicating that the papers were kept and donated separately. (See Orson F. Whitney, “The Aaronic Priesthood,” Contributor, Oct. 1884, 6:1–9.)
Whitney, Orson F. “The Aaronic Priesthood.” Contributor, Oct. 1884, 1–9.
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1
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Historical Introduction
JS dictated this revelation for his father, , one of his earliest and staunchest supporters. When copied this text into Revelation Book 1, he included this heading: “A Revelation to Joseph the Father of the Seer he desired to know what the Lord had for him to do & this is what he Received as follows.” Revelation Book 1 initially gave the date of 1828. An unidentified scribe wrote a “9” over the “8,” thus changing the date from 1828 to 1829, apparently correcting a scribal error. The index to Revelation Book 1 also lists 1829 as the date of the revelation. , likely in late 1831, added “Febr.” to the heading in Revelation Book 1 to further specify the date. The copy featured below is a more complete and probably an earlier version than that inscribed in Revelation Book 1, which is missing the page that includes the final portion of this revelation. The version below is in the handwriting of and was kept by him. Partridge dated the document to 1829, a date also used in JS’s history., another early supporter of JS, wrote that and stopped at his home in , New York, in January 1829 before going on to visit JS and . “I told him [Joseph Smith Sr.] they had traviled far enough,” Knight wrote, “[and] I would go with my sley and take them Down [to ] to morrow[.] I went Down and found them well and the[y] were glad to see us[.] we conversed about many things. in the morning I gave the old man a half a Dollar and Joseph a little money to Buoy [buy] paper to translate.” JS had apparently not since June 1828, and Knight’s provision of paper may have allowed him to resume translation. Within weeks of Knight’s visit, JS began translating again, with Emma, Samuel, and each acting briefly as scribe.Dictated shortly before the translation work resumed, this revelation spoke of a “marvelous work” about to come forth and added that the “field is white already to harvest.” These phrases, also used in several JS revelations in the spring of 1829, invoked a sense of urgency and an impending spiritual harvest. Though addressed to , this revelation was written as if it could apply to all who read it.The degree to which acted upon this revelation is unknown, but his call “to the work” may have had a significant immediate impact when he returned to , New York, where was boarding at his house. Joseph Sr. and had met Cowdery when he began teaching school in the , New York, district late in the fall of 1828. Lucy wrote that although Cowdery had questioned Joseph Sr. about the , he “did not succeed in eliciting any information” for “a long time.” This revelation may have prompted Joseph Sr. to share a “sketch of the facts which related to the plates” with Cowdery, who became convinced that he had been called by God to assist JS as his scribe.
Footnotes
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1
Revelation Book 1, pp. 2, [207]. It is not clear who changed the “8” to a “9.” Whitmer may have corrected his initial mistake, or Sidney Rigdon may have made the change when he inserted the month.
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2
JS History, vol. A-1, 11. An 1828 date is also unlikely for other historical and textual reasons. Joseph Smith Sr. made his only known 1828 visit to Harmony around September, and neither JS nor Lucy Mack Smith made any mention of a revelation for Joseph Sr. being dictated at that time. In addition, the language of this revelation is much more similar to several 1829 texts than to the only surviving JS revelation from 1828. (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 7, [8], [11]; Revelation, July 1828 [D&C 3].)
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3
Knight, Reminiscences, 5.
Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.
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4
JS’s earliest history states that prior to Oliver Cowdery’s arrival in Pennsylvania on 5 April 1829, “my wife had writen some for me to translate and also my Brothr Samuel H Smith.” Isaac Hale and David Whitmer both indicated that Martin Harris, who wrote for JS in 1828, also served briefly as a scribe for the Book of Mormon translation around March 1829. Additional information was provided in interviews with Emma Smith and David Whitmer conducted in the 1870s and 1880s. Emma identified herself, Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, and her brother Reuben Hale as Book of Mormon scribes. David Whitmer named Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, Emma Smith, Emma’s brother Alva Hale, John Whitmer, and Christian Whitmer as scribes who contributed to the 1829 Book of Mormon manuscript. (JS History, ca. Summer 1832, [6]; Isaac Hale, Affidavit, Harmony, PA, 20 Mar. 1834, in “Mormonism,” Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian [Montrose, PA], 1 May 1834, [1]; Edward Stevenson, Sandusky, OH, to Franklin D. Richards, 10 Jan. 1887, in Stevenson, Journal, Oct. 1886–Mar. 1887, pp. 106–113; Joseph Smith III, “Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” Saints’ Herald, 1 Oct. 1879, 289–290; Stevenson, Journal, 22 Dec. 1877; “Interview with David Whitmer,” Deseret News [Salt Lake City], 21 Aug. 1878, 461; “Revelation Revisers,” Missouri Republican [St. Louis], 16 July 1884, 7; see also Skousen, Original Manuscript, 13–14.)
Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian. Montrose, PA. 1831–1836.
Stevenson, Edward. Journals, 1852–1896. Edward Stevenson, Collection, 1849–1922. CHL. MS 4806, boxes 1–4.
Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1919.
Skousen, Royal, ed. The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon: Typographical Facsimile of the Extant Text. Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, 2001.
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See, for example, Revelation, Apr. 1829–A [D&C 6:1, 3]; Revelation, May 1829–A [D&C 11:1, 3]; Revelation, May 1829–B [D&C 12:1, 3]; and Revelation, June 1829–A [D&C 14:1, 3].
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6
Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 7, [12]; JS History, vol. A-1, 15.
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