“Doctrine and Covenants 80,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers (2020)
“Doctrine and Covenants 80,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers
Doctrine and Covenants 80
Revelation, 7 March 1832
Source Note
Revelation, Hiram Township, OH, 7 Mar. 1832. Featured version copied [between 15 Mar. and ca. 1 Apr. 1832] in Revelation Book 2, pp. 18–19; handwriting of Frederick G. Williams and JS; CHL. For more information, see the source note for Revelation Book 2 on the Joseph Smith Papers website.
Historical Introduction
The index to Revelation Book 2, which Frederick G. Williams was keeping in Ohio in March 1832, identifies the subject of this 7 March 1832 revelation as Stephen Burnett.1 At age seventeen, Burnett was ordained to the high priesthood at the October 1831 conference held in Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio.2 Three months later, at the 25 January 1832 conference in Amherst, Ohio, JS dictated a revelation appointing Burnett to travel and preach with Ruggles Eames, though it is not known if Burnett and Eames fulfilled that assignment.3 This 7 March revelation appointed Burnett to travel and preach again, this time with Eden Smith. However, the two did not preach together until August 1832 because Eden Smith became sick on 7 March and remained ill “for sometime.”4 Instead, two weeks after this revelation was dictated, Burnett began his mission with John Smith, Eden’s father.
The revelation was probably originally inscribed by Sidney Rigdon, Jesse Gause, or Frederick G. Williams, who served as scribes to JS in 1832.5 JS and Williams copied the revelation into Revelation Book 2, probably sometime before JS departed for Missouri on 1 April. The date on this copy of the revelation is 7 March 1832, written in JS’s handwriting. The copy of the revelation in Revelation Book 1, made sometime after April 1832, bears the date 17 March. However, the ink flow of the “1” is heavier than that of the surrounding text, suggesting that it was inserted at a later time.6 When the revelation was published, the date was given as March 1832 and the revelation followed a 12 March revelation.7 Because JS originally inscribed the date of 7 March on the copy in Revelation Book 2 so close to the time of the original inscription, that date is probably correct.
Hiram Portage County Ohio March 7th 18328
[1]Verily thus saith the Lord u[n]to you my sevent [servant] Stephen [Burnett] go ye go ye into the world & preach the Gospel to every creature9 that cometh under the Sound of your voice [2]/10and inasmuch as you desire a companion I will give unto you my servant Eden Smith [3]therefore go ye and preach my gospel whither to the North or to the South, to the East or to the west it mattereth not for you cannot go amiss [4]therefore declare the things [p. 18] which you have heard and verily believe and know to be true. [5]Behold this is the will of him who hath called you Your Redeemer even Jesus Christ Amen——