Church History
Joseph Smith’s Revelations, Doctrine and Covenants 4

“Doctrine and Covenants 4,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers (2020)

“Doctrine and Covenants 4,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers

Doctrine and Covenants 4

Revelation, February 1829

Source Note

Revelation, Harmony Township, Susquehanna Co., PA, to Joseph Smith Sr., [Feb.] 1829. Featured version, titled “A revalation from the Lord unto Jos[eph Smith] AD 1829,” copied [between ca. Dec. 1830 and spring 1831]; handwriting of Edward Partridge; one page; Edward Partridge, Copies of Revelations, ca. Dec. 1830–spring 1831, CHL. For more information, see the source note on the Joseph Smith Papers website.

Historical Introduction

JS dictated this revelation for his father, Joseph Smith Sr., one of his earliest and staunchest supporters. When John Whitmer 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. Sidney Rigdon, likely in late 1831, added “Febr.” to the heading in Revelation Book 1 to further specify the date.1 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 Edward Partridge and was kept by him. Partridge dated the document to 1829, a date also used in JS’s history.2

Joseph Knight Sr., another early supporter of JS, wrote that Joseph Sr. and Samuel Smith stopped at his home in Colesville, New York, in January 1829 before going on to visit JS and Emma Smith. “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 Harmony] 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.”3 JS had apparently not translated 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 Martin Harris each acting briefly as scribe.4

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.5 Though addressed to Joseph Smith Sr., this revelation was written as if it could apply to all who read it.

The degree to which Joseph Smith Sr. acted upon this revelation is unknown, but his call “to the work” may have had a significant immediate impact when he returned to Palmyra, New York, where Oliver Cowdery was boarding at his house. Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith had met Cowdery when he began teaching school in the Manchester, New York, district late in the fall of 1828. Lucy wrote that although Cowdery had questioned Joseph Sr. about the gold plates, 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.6

Revelation, February 1829.

Revelation, February 1829. Edward Partridge likely made this copy of Joseph Smith’s February 1829 revelation sometime between December 1830 and the spring of 1831 as part of an eight-leaf collection of revelations. The revelation, directed to Joseph Smith Sr., spoke of a “marvelous work” about to come forth. The text of the revelation begins on the second fold where the document shows damage from age and wear. Revelation, Feb. 1829 [D&C 4], Edward Partridge, Copies of Revelations, ca. Dec. 1830–spring 1831, Church History Library, Salt Lake City. (Photograph by Welden C. Andersen.)

A revalation from the Lord unto Jos [page damaged]7 AD 1829

Saying [1]now behold a marvelous work is about to come among the [page damaged] [children]8 of men9 [2]Therefore O ye that embark in the service of God see that ye serve him with all your heart mind might mind & strenght10 that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day [3]therefore if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work [4]for behold the field is white already to harvest11 & lo he that thursteth in his sickle12 with his might the same layeth up his store that he perish not but bringeth Salvation to his own soul [5]& faith hope charity & love with an eye single to the glory of God constitutes13 him for the work [6]remember temperance patience humility diligence &C.14

[7]Ask & ye shall receive knock & it shall be opened unto you15 amen

Notes

  1. Revelation Book 1, pp. 2, [207], in JSP, MRB:11, 385. 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.

  2. JS History, vol. A-1, 11, in JSP, H1:266 (Draft 2). 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], herein.)

  3. Knight, Reminiscences, 5.

  4. JS’s earliest history states that prior to 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], in JSP, H1:16; 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, 21 Aug. 1878, 461; “Revelation Revisers,” Missouri Republican [St. Louis], 16 July 1884, 7; see also Skousen, Original Manuscript, 13–14.)

  5. See, for example, Revelation, Apr. 1829–A [D&C 6:1, 3], herein; Revelation, May 1829–A [D&C 11:1, 3], herein; Revelation, May 1829–B [D&C 12:1, 3], herein; and Revelation, June 1829–A [D&C 14:1, 3], herein.

  6. Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 7, [12]; JS History, vol. A-1, 15, in JSP, H1:284 (Draft 2).

  7. This heading likely named Joseph Smith Sr. as the recipient. It is unknown whether Partridge or someone else first created this heading.

  8. Missing text supplied from Revelation Book 1, p. 11.

  9. See Isaiah 29:14.

  10. See, for example, Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 106, 156, 587 [2 Nephi 25:29; Mosiah 2:11; Moroni 10:32].

  11. See John 4:35.

  12. See Revelation 14:15–16.

  13. The Book of Commandments has “qualifies,” possibly reflecting wording from the nonextant portion of Revelation Book 1. (Book of Commandments 3:1 [D&C 4:5].)

  14. This “etcetera” likely signaled to readers that it was standing in for the fuller description in 2 Peter 1:5–7. Later, editors of the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants replaced “&C” with the entire list of virtues from 2 Peter: “Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.” (Doctrine and Covenants 31:2, 1835 ed. [D&C 4:6].)

  15. See Matthew 7:7–8.