Revelations published in The Evening and the Morning Star (, MO), vol. 1, nos. 1–10 and 12, and vol. 2, no. 13; edited by . The copy used for this transcription is currently part of a bound volume held at CHL; includes marginalia, archival notations, stamps, and bookplates.
The initial issues of The Evening and the Morning Star present revelations prominently on the first or second page of the newspaper. Beginning with the November 1832 issue, however, revelations were placed near the end of each issue. Each issue comprises four leaves (eight pages) that measure 12½ × 9⅞ inches (32 × 25 cm). Each page is set in two columns.
The volume used for this transcription was donated to the Salt Lake Temple by Lycurgus A. Wilson on 8 September 1894, according to a bookplate on the inside front cover of the volume. It was transferred to the library of the Church Historian’s Office sometime before 1923.
“Library Record for the Listing or Cataloguing of Books.” Historian’s Office, Library Accession Records, ca. 1890–ca. 1930. CHL. CR 100 429.
Historical Introduction
Soon after his into the church in 1831, was instructed by revelation to relocate to , Missouri, “and be established as a printer unto the church.” , who had been previously appointed to work on church publications, was directed to assist him. In early 1832, Phelps and his associates in Independence began work on the church’s first newspaper, The Evening and the Morning Star. Because of the difficulty of getting paper and other supplies to Independence, however, months passed before the first issue of the newspaper was printed in June 1832.
The newspaper’s prospectus announced that it would, in part, “be devoted to the revelations of God as made known to his servants by the , at sundry times since the creation of man, but more especially in these last days.” Though a small number of JS’s revelations appeared first in non-Mormon newspapers elsewhere, the Star was the first official periodical of the church to print them. As the church’s only periodical at the time, the Star also published counsel to church members, local and world news, editorials, hymns, and letters from missionaries. The Star regularly published general announcements to missionaries serving throughout the country and letters from church members in other states, evidencing that its circulation reached well beyond .
The press owned by , which was operated under the direction of the , was the only press in and indeed the only press for roughly one hundred miles. Reading material was scarce on the frontier, and it is likely that the town’s non-Mormon residents read the Star in addition to the Upper Missouri Advertiser, the secular paper published on the same press. In July 1833, when religious and political tensions between the Mormons and their neighbors had already created a tinderbox environment, an article titled “Free People of Color” appeared in The Evening and the Morning Star, quoting from statutes respecting the immigration of free persons of African descent. Many Missourians, largely sympathetic to the practice of slavery, interpreted the article as an attempt to invite free black people to settle in Missouri and were outraged. Four days after the editors of The Evening and the Morning Star printed a broadside extra in an attempt to calm the situation by clarifying the message of the offending article, a and most of the sheets of the still-unfinished Book of Commandments.
The destruction of the caused a six-month hiatus in the publication of the Star. In September 1833, was established in , Ohio, for the purpose of printing church materials, and was sent to to purchase a printing press and type. Upon his return, Cowdery resumed printing the Star in Kirtland from January until September 1834. Beginning in October 1834, the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate succeeded the Star as the official church periodical.
Over the course of the Star’s fourteen-month run in , the paper printed nineteen full and seven partial revelation texts. Only two issues of the Missouri newspaper did not contain featured revelations: the April 1833 issue and the July 1833 issue, which was the final issue printed in Missouri. As in the Book of Commandments and the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants (1835), little, if any, introduction or commentary accompanied the featured revelations. In addition to publishing the revelations as stand-alone pieces, The Evening and the Morning Star often published articles that quoted from the revelations—both from those printed as featured documents in the paper and from those that had not been published therein. Well before the Book of Commandments was expected to be completed, the editors of the Star advised readers to “search the revelations which we publish,” an admonition that presumed that the Latter-day Saints had access to earlier issues. In fact, for Mormons in , as well as those scattered around the country, the Star became the most accessible source for JS’s revelatory texts.
The revelations published in The Evening and the Morning Star appear to have been selected for their importance. Many of the published revelations addressed topics relating to church government, such as the roles of specific church officers, the laws and commandments to be kept by church members, and the proper administration of the of the Lord’s Supper. Other published revelations announced newly received theological principles or looked forward to the second coming of Christ. Revelations that were given to specific individuals providing counsel or were not published. After the Star moved to , no revelations were included in the ten issues of the newspaper published there.
The table that follows lists each of the revelatory items printed in the Star and its reprint, along with its bibliographic information. See Revelations Printed in The Evening and the Morning Star for a side-by-side comparison of the revelations printed in the Star and its reprint.
Key to column titles
Vol:Issue:
Volume and issue number
Star Print Date:
Month in which the item was printed in The Evening and the Morning Star
Star Pages:
Pages on which the item was printed in The Evening and the Morning Star
Reprint Print Date:
Month in which the item was printed in Evening and Morning Star
Reprint Pages:
Pages on which the item was printed in Evening and Morning Star
Date:
Date of item, followed by section number in Doctrine and Covenants, 1981 edition, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
William W. Phelps, The Evening and the Morning Star Prospectus, Evening and Morning Star, June 1832 (Jan. 1835), 1–2; Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:32.
Evening and Morning Star. Edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. Kirtland, OH. Jan. 1835–Oct. 1836.
Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.
See, for example, Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830, and Revelations, 16 Apr. 1830 and ca. Aug. 1830, in “The Mormon Creed,” Painesville Telegraph, 19 Apr. 1831, [4] [D&C 20, 22, and 27:1–5, 14–15, 18]; Revelation, 7 Dec. 1830, in “Miscellaneous,” Painesville Telegraph, 17 Jan. 1832, [1] [D&C 35]; Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831, in “Secret Bye Laws of the Mormonites,” Painesville Telegraph, 13 Sept. 1831, [1] [D&C 42:1–69]; and Revelation, Sept. 1830–B, in Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—Nos. VIII–IX,” Ohio Star, 8 Dec. 1831, [1] [D&C 28].
See, for example, Notice, The Evening and the Morning Star, Aug. 1832, [7]; “Letters,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Nov. 1832, [4]; “Extract” and “Letters,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Jan. 1833, [7]; and “Extracts of Letters from the Elders Abroad,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Feb. 1833, [5]–[6]. JS, in a November 1832 letter to Phelps, added ten new subscribers to the Star, nine from Guyandotte, Virginia (now West Virginia), and one from Wooster Township, Ohio. (JS, Kirtland, OH, to William W. Phelps, [Independence, MO], 27 Nov. 1832, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 1–4.)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.
The only known surviving copy of the Upper Missouri Advertiser—no. 3, dated 11 July 1832—is located at the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA.
“Free People of Color,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1833, 109; “To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 114–115.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
See, for example, Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830, in “The Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ,” The Evening and the Morning Star, June 1832, [1], and June 1833, 97–98 [D&C 20]; Revelation, 1 Nov. 1831–A, in “A Revelation, Given November 1831,” The Evening and the Morning Star,Oct. 1832, [3] [D&C 68]; and Revelation, 4 Dec. 1831, in “A Revelation Given December 4, 1831,” The Evening and the Morning Star,Dec. 1832, [5]–[6] [D&C 72].
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
See, for example, Revelation, 9 and 23 Feb. 1831, in “Extract from the Laws for the Government of the Church of Christ” and “Items of Law for the Government of the Church of Christ,” The Evening and the Morning Star,July 1832, [1], and Oct. 1832, [2] [D&C 42:11–93].
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
See, for example, excerpt of Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831, in “A Prophecy Given to the Church of Christ, March 7, 1831,” The Evening and the Morning Star,June 1832, [2] [D&C 45:1–67, 71].
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Revelations addressed to individuals were officially restricted “to the parties concerned” until they could be published in the Book of Commandments. (Minute Book 2, 30 Apr. 1832.)
Minute Book 2 / “The Conference Minutes and Record Book of Christ’s Church of Latter Day Saints,” 1838, 1842, 1844. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
HEAR, O ye Heavens, and give ear, O earth, and rejoice ye inhabitants thereof, for the Lord he is God, and beside him there is none else; and great is his wisdom; marvelous are his ways; and the extent of his doings, none can find out; his purposes fail not, neither are there any who can stay his hand: from eternity to eternity, he is the same, and his years never fail.
I the Lord am merciful and gracious unto them who fear me, and delight to honor them who serve me in righteousness, and in truth; great shall be their reward, and eternal shall be their glory; and unto them will I reveal all mysteries; yea, all the hidden mysteries of my Kingdom from days of old; and for ages to come will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things; yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to come will I show them, even the things of many generations; their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to Heaven; before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall come to nought; for by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will; yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.
We, Joseph and , being in the Spirit on the sixteenth of February, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty two, and through the power of the Spirit, our eyes were opened, and our understandings were enlightened, so as to see and understand the things of God; even things which were from the biginning before the world was, which was ordained of the Father, through his only begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, even from the beginning, of whom we bear record, and the record which we bear is the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is in the Son whom we saw and with whom we conversed in the Heavenly Vision; for as we sat doing the work of , which the Lord had appointed unto us, we came to the twenty ninth verse of the fifth chapter of John, which was given unto us thus: speaking of the resurrection of the dead who should hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth; they who have done good in the resurrection of the just, and they who have done evil in the resurrection of the unjust. Now this caused us to marvel, for it was given us of the Spirit; and while we meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings, and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about; and we beheld the glory of the Son, on the right hand of the Father, and received of his fulness; and saw the holy , and they who are sanctified before his throne, worshiping God and the Lamb forever and ever. And now after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him, that he lives; for we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the only begotten of the Father; that by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are made, and were created; and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God. This we saw also and bear record, that an angel of God, who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the only begotten Son, (whom the Father loved, and who was in the bosom of the Father,) and was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son, and was called Perdition; for the Heavens wept over him; for he was , even the son of the morning; and we beheld and lo, he is fallen! is fallen! even the son of the morning. And while we were yet in the Spirit, the Lord commanded us that we should write the Vision; for behold satan, that old serpant, even the devil, who rebelled against God, and sought to take kingdoms of our God, and of his Christ; wherefore he maketh war with the saints of God, and encompasses them about: And we saw a vision of the eternal sufferings of those wtth whom he maketh war and overcometh, for thus came the voice of the Lord unto us.
Thus saith the Lord, concerning all those who know my power, and who have been made partakers thereof, and suffered themselves, through the power of the devil, to be overcome unto the denying of the truth, and the defying of my power: they are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say it had been better for them never to have been born; for they are vessels of wrath doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels, throughout eternity: concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness for them in this world nor in the world to come; having denied the Holy Ghost after having received it, and having denied the only begotten Son of the Father, crucifying him unto themselves, and putting him to an open shame: these are they who shall go away into the lake of fire and brimstone, with the devil and his angels, and the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power; yea, verily the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath, who shall be brought forth by the resurrection of the dead, through the triumph & the glory of the Lamb; who was slain, who was in the bosom of the Father before the worlds were made. And this is the Gospel, the glad tidings which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us, that he came into the world, even Jesus to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness; that through him all might be saved, whom the Father had put into his power; and made by him who glorifieth the Father; and saveth all the work of his hands, except those sons of perdition, who denieth the Son after the Father hath revealed him: wherefore he saveth all save them, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, which is endless punishment, which is eternal punishment, to reign with the devil and his angels throughout eternity, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched, which is their torment, but the end thereof, neither the place thereof, and their torment, no man knoweth, neither was revealed, neither is, neither will be revealed unto man, save to them who are made partakers thereof: nevertheless I the Lord showeth it by vision unto many, but straihgtway shutteth it up again: wherefore the end, the width, the height, the depth, and the misery thereof, he understandeth not, neither any man save them who are ordained unto this condemnation. And we heard the voice saying, Write the Vision for lo, this is the end of the vision of the eternal sufferings of the ungodly!
And again, we bear record for we saw and heard, and this is the testimony of the Gospel of Christ, concerning them who come forth in the resurrection of the just: they are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name, and were after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the which he hath given, that, by keeping the commandment, they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive the by the laying on of the hands of him who is and sealed unto this power; and who overcome by faith, and are sealed by that Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father shedeth forth upon all those who are just and true: they are they who are the church of the first-born: they are they into whose hands the Father hath given all things: they are they who are priests and kings, who having received of his fulness, and of his glory, are of the most High after the order of Melchisedek, which was after the order of Enoch, which was after the order of the only begotten Son: wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God: wherefore all things are theirs, whether life or death, or things present, or things to come, all are theirs, and they are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s; and they shall overcome all things: wherefore let no man glory in man, but rather let him glory in God, who shall subdue all enemies under his feet; these shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever: these are they whom he shall bring with him, when he shall come in the clouds of heaven, to reign on the earth over his people: these are they who shall have part in the first resurrection: these are they who shall come forth in the resurrection of the just: these are they who are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly place, the holiest of all: these are they who have come to an innumerrable company of angels; to the general assembly and church of Enoch, and of the first born: these are they whose names are written in Heaven, where God and Christ is the judge of all: these are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood: these are they whose bodies are , whose glory is that of the Son, even of God the highest of all; which glory the Sun of the firmament is written of as being typical.
And again, we saw the world, and behold and lo! these are they who are of the terrestrial, whose glory differeth from that of the church of the first born, who have received of the fulness of the Father, even as that of the Moon differeth from the Sun of the firmament. Behold, these are they who died without law; and also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the Son visited and preached the Gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it: these are they who are honorable men of the earth, who were blinded by the craftiness of men: these are they who receive of his glory, but not of his fulness: these are they who receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fulness of the Father: wherefore they are bodies terrestrial, and not bodies celestial, and differeth in glory as the Moon differeth from the Sun: these are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus: wherefore they obtained not the crown over the kingdoms of our God. And now this is the end of the vision which we saw of the terrestrial, that the Lord commanded us to write while we were yet in the Spirit.
And again, we saw the glory of the , which glory is that of the lesser, even as the glory of the stars differeth from that of the glory of the Moon in the firmament: these are they who receive not the Gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus: these are they who deny not the Holy Ghost: these are they who are thrust down to hell: these are they who shall not be redeemed from the devil, until the last resurrection, until the Lord, even Christ the Lamb, shall have finished his work: these are they who receive not of his fulness in the eternal world, but of the Holy Ghost through the administration of the terrestrial; and the terrestrial through the administration of the celestial; and also the telestial receive it of the administering of angels, who are appointed to minister for them, or who are appointed to be ministering spirits for them, for they shall be heirs of salvation.— And thus we saw in the Heavenly vision, the glory of the telestial which surpasseth all understanding; and no man knoweth it except him to whom God hath revealed it. And thus we saw the glory of the terrestrial, which excelleth in all things the glory of the telestial, even in glory, and in power, and in might, and in dominion. And thus we saw the glory of the celestial, which excelleth in all things where God, even the Father, reigneth upon his throne forever and ever: before whose throne all things bow in humble reverence and giveth him glory forever and ever. They who dwell in his presence are the church of the first born; and they see as they are seen, and know as they are known, having received of his fulness and of his grace; and he maketh them equal in power, and in might, and in dominion. And the glory of the celestial is one, even as the glory of the Sun is one. And the glory of the Terrestrial is one, even as the glory of the Moon is one. And the glory of the Telestial is one, even as the glory of the stars is one: for as one star differeth from another star in glory, even so differeth one from another in glory in the telestial world: for these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and Cephas: they are they who say, there are some of one and some of annother; some of Christ; and some of John; and some of Moses; and some of Elias; and some of Esaias; and some of Isaiah; and some of Enoch, but received not the Gospel; neither the testimony of Jesus; neither the prophets; neither the ; last of all: these are they who will not be gathered with the saints, to be caught up into [p. [2]]
Vision, 16 Feb. 1832, in “A Vision,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1832, [2]–[3] [D&C 76]. This version reflects editing marks made in Revelation Book 1, indicating that the latter was used as a source text for the former.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.