Church History
Joseph Smith’s Revelations, Doctrine and Covenants 13

“Doctrine and Covenants 13,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers (2020)

“Doctrine and Covenants 13,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers

Doctrine and Covenants 13

Excerpt from JS History, vol. A-1, circa May 1838–B

Source Note

JS, History, [ca. June 1839–ca. 1841]; handwriting of James Mulholland and Robert B. Thompson; sixty-one pages; in JS History, 1838–1856, vol. A-1, CHL. Includes redactions, use marks, and archival marking. For more information, see the source note for JS, History, [ca. June 1839–ca. 1841], on the Joseph Smith Papers website.

Historical Introduction

The following is an excerpt from JS’s manuscript history of the church. For more information on this and other JS histories, see the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers and the Joseph Smith Papers website. 

While we were thus employed praying and calling upon the Lord,1 a Messenger from heaven,2 descended in a cloud of light, and having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, saying unto us; [1]“Upon you my fellow  servants in the name of Messiah I confer the priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministring of angels and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion  for the remission of sins, and this shall never be taken again from the earth, untill the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.”3

Notes

  1. This passage describes a day in May 1829 when JS and Oliver Cowdery went to some woods to pray to God regarding baptism. (JS History, vol. A-1, 17, in JSP, H1:292.)

  2. JS’s history identifies this heavenly messenger as New Testament figure John the Baptist. (JS History, vol. A-1, 17, in JSP, H1:294.)

  3. The earliest known account of this event, written by Oliver Cowdery, gives the angel’s statement thus: “Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer this priesthood and this authority, which shall remain upon the earth, that the sons of Levi may yet offer an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.” (Oliver Cowdery, Norton, OH, to William W. Phelps, 7 Sept. 1834, Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:16 [see also later version, in JSP, H1:43]; see also Malachi 3:3.).