Church History
Joseph Smith’s Revelations, Doctrine and Covenants 115

“Doctrine and Covenants 115,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers (2020)

“Doctrine and Covenants 115,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations: A Doctrine and Covenants Study Companion from the Joseph Smith Papers

Doctrine and Covenants 115

Revelation, 26 April 1838

Source Note

Revelation, Far West, Caldwell Co., MO, 26 Apr. 1838. Featured version copied [ca. 26 Apr. 1838] in JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, pp. 32–34; handwriting of George W. Robinson; CHL. Includes use marks. For more information, see the source note for JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, on the Joseph Smith Papers website.

Historical Introduction

JS dictated a revelation on 26 April 1838 stating that the city of Far West, Missouri, “should be built up” by the gathering of the Saints and that they should build a temple there. Since the creation of Caldwell County in 1836, Latter-day Saints in Missouri and elsewhere had been gathering in Far West, the county’s principal Latter-day Saint community, and in surrounding settlements. In early 1837, about a year before JS’s arrival, Zion presidency members William W. Phelps and John Whitmer drew a plan for a temple and appointed a committee to superintend construction of the temple in Far West’s central lot. In April 1837, the high council questioned the Zion presidency’s authority to appoint such a committee and even to select the site for the city.1 This problem was somewhat resolved, and several hundred Saints assembled to begin excavating for the temple foundation in July.2 When JS and Sidney Rigdon visited Far West in November, they participated in a council meeting wherein the members resolved to expand the size of the existing city plat. This resolution suggests that JS and the other council members approved the location of the city and its central lot. Moreover, the council members apparently authorized the plan to build a temple and approved the location, but it was decided to suspend any construction work “till the Lord shall reveal it to be his will to be commenced.”3

After JS moved to Caldwell County in March 1838 and helped root dissension out of the church, he and the high council turned their attention to developing Far West as the church’s gathering center. On 21 April, they passed several resolutions to build the community, including improving the schoolhouse used for community meetings, building one or more storehouses, and reestablishing the church press.4 By this time, thousands of Saints were living in Far West and its vicinity and hundreds more were expected from Kirtland within the next few months.5 The gathering of the Saints, especially with heavy migration from Ohio, would eventually require settlement beyond the bounds of Far West, and church leaders had already begun efforts to locate other sites for settlement.

JS’s revelation of 26 April 1838 spoke to these recent developments. The revelation was addressed to JS, other church leaders, and all other members of the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints”—which the revelation specified was the new official name of the church. The revelation enjoined the church’s leaders and members to continue gathering to Far West, to sanctify the city through consecrated living, and to build the temple. The Saints were instructed to begin work on the temple on 4 July and to build it according to a pattern that would be revealed to the First Presidency. When church members resided in Clay County earlier in the 1830s, no revelations had instructed the Saints to establish a city of gathering or to construct a temple there. The plan for the Saints in Missouri up until this time had been one of temporary settlement while waiting for a return to the “centre place” of Zion in Jackson County. The 26 April 1838 revelation marked a change in Latter-day Saint plans in Missouri. Though the Latter-day Saints were not in Zion’s “centre place” at Independence and were not building “the City of Zion,” they were commanded to build up a city of Zion with a temple.6 The revelation concluded with a commandment to the Saints to build up Far West and to establish other communities “in the regions round about” as directed by their prophet.

The revelation was probably dictated orally and written down by a scribe, as was typical with JS’s revelations.7 George W. Robinson copied the revelation into JS’s “Scriptory Book,” apparently around the time JS dictated the revelation.8 The Latter-day Saints followed the direction of the revelation by laying the cornerstones of the temple on 4 July 1838, whereupon Rigdon gave a speech in which he vigorously asserted the rights of the Latter-day Saints to settle wherever they pleased.9

Temple lot in Far West, Missouri.

Temple lot in Far West, Missouri. 1907. A revelation Joseph Smith dictated on 26 April 1838 stated that “the City Far West should be built up” and directed the Latter-day Saints to build a temple there. The Saints were unable to construct the temple because they were expelled from the state in early 1839. (Church History Library, Salt Lake City. Photograph by George Edward Anderson.)

Revelation given in Far West, April 26<th>, 1838, Making known the will of God, concerning the building up of this place and of the Lord’s house &c.

[1]Verrily thus Saith the Lord unto you my Servant Joseph Smith Jr. and also my Servant Sidney Rigdon, and also my Servant Hyrum Smith, and your counselors who are and who shall be hereafter appointed,10 [2]and also unto my Servant Edward Partridge and his Councilors,11 [3]and also unto my faithfull Servants, who are of the High Council of my Church in zion (for thus it shall be called) and unto all the Elders and people of my Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Scattered abroad [p. 32] in all the world,12 [4]For thus shall my Church be called in the Last days even the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,13 [5]Verrily I say unto you all; arise and shine forth forth14 that thy light may be a standard for the nations15 [6]and that thy gathering to-gether upon the land of zion and upon her stakes16 may be for a defence and for a reffuge17 from the storm18 and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole Earth,19 [7]Let the City Far West, be a holy and consecrated land unto me, and <it shall> be called <most> holy for the ground upon which thou standest is holy20 [8]Therefore I command you to build an house unto me for the gathering togethering of my Saints that they may worship me,21 [9]and let there be a begining of this work; and a foundation and a preparatory work, this following Summer; [10]and let the begining be made on the 4th day of July next;22 and from that time forth let my people labour diligently to build an house, unto my name,23 [11]and in one year from this day, let them recommence laying the foundation of my house; [12]thus let them from that time forth laibour diligently untill it shall be finished, from the Corner Stone thereof unto the top thereof, untill there shall not any thing remain that is not finished.

[13]Verrily I say unto you let not my servant Joseph neither my Servant Sidney, neither my Servant Hyrum, get in debt any more for the building of an house unto my name.24 [14]But let my house be built unto my name according to the pattern which I will shew unto them,25 [15]and if my people build it not according to the pattern which I Shall shew unto their presidency, I will not accept it at their hands, [16]But if my people do build it according to the pattern which I shall shew unto their presidency, even my servant Joseph and his Councilors; then I will accept it at [p. 33] the hands of my people,26 [17]And again; Verrily I say unto you it is my will, that the City Far West should be built up spedily,27 by the gathering of my Saints, [18]and also that other places should be appointed for stakes in the regions round about as they shall be manifested unto my Servant Joseph from time to time.28 [19]For behold I will be with him and I will Sanctify him before the people for unto him have I given the Keys of this Kingdom and ministry29 even so— Amen.

Notes

  1. Minute Book 2, 3 Apr. 1837; Letter to Wilford Woodruff, ca. 18 June 1838, in JSP, D6:157–160.

  2. Minute Book 2, 7 Apr. 1837; Letter from William W. Phelps, 7 July 1837, in JSP, D5:402–403.

  3. Minutes, 6 Nov. 1837, in JSP, D5:467; Minutes, 10 Nov. 1837, in JSP, D5:475; see also Letter to Wilford Woodruff, ca. 18 June 1838, in JSP, D6:157–160.

  4. See Minutes, 21 Apr. 1838, in JSP, D6:109–112.

  5. Backman, Heavens Resound, 354–355. The influx of Saints from Kirtland was at least in part the result of a 12 January 1838 revelation directing the First Presidency to move to Far West as soon as possible and for loyal Latter-day Saints to follow. (Revelation, 12 Jan. 1838–C, in JSP, D5:501–502.)

  6. See Revelation, 20 July 1831, in JSP, D2:7–8 [D&C 57:1–3], herein.

  7. “Revelations,” Ensign of Liberty, Aug. 1849, 98–99; see also William E. McLellin, Independence, MO, to Joseph Smith III, [Plano, IL], July 1872, typescript, Letters and Documents Copied from Originals in the Office of the Church Historian, Reorganized Church, CHL; and Pratt, Autobiography, 65.

  8. Beginning with this 26 April revelation, the Scriptory Book appears to have been kept regularly, suggesting that the revelation was inscribed sometime in late April or early May. The revelation was later published in the church’s newspaper at the time, the Elders’ Journal. (JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, pp. 32–38, in JSP, J1:257–264; “An Extract of Revelation,” Elders’ Journal, Aug. 1838, 52–53.)

  9. JS, Journal, 4 July 1838, in JSP, J1:275–276; “Celebration of the 4th of July,” Elders’ Journal, Aug. 1838, 60; Discourse, ca. 4 July 1838.

  10. In the September 1837 reorganization conference held in Kirtland, JS presented the names of Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams as his counselors in the First Presidency, with Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith Sr., Hyrum Smith, and John Smith as “assistant councillors.” The full group constituted “the heads of the Church.” In the November 1837 reorganization conference held in Far West, Hyrum Smith replaced Williams as JS’s second counselor in the First Presidency; the names of the other assistant counselors were not presented in that meeting. (Minutes, 3 Sept. 1837, in JSP, D5:422–423; Minutes, 7 Nov. 1837, in JSP, D5:469–470.)

  11. Bishop Partridge’s two counselors were Isaac Morley and Titus Billings. (Minutes, 7 Nov. 1837, in JSP, D5:471.)

  12. See Nehemiah 1:8; Matthew 9:36; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 216, 464, 496 [Mosiah 28:17; 3 Nephi 5:24; 20:13].

  13. The first name used to identify the church that JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ.”a In 1834 a conference of church leaders changed the name to “The Church of the Latter Day Saints,” perhaps to avoid confusion with other churches named Church of Christ.b On occasion, the two names of the church were combined as “the church of Christ of Latter Day Saints.”c The Kirtland dissenters seem to have criticized church leaders for removing Christ’s name from the formal name of the church. In a June 1838 letter, Thomas B. Marsh wrote that the dissenters “claimed, themselves to be the old standard, called themslves the Church of Christ, excluded that of saints, and set at naught Br. Joseph and the whole Church, denounceing them as Heriticks.” Restoring the name of Christ to the name of the church may have answered this criticism.d The name specified in the revelation, a combination of the two earlier names of the church, began to be used in the early months of 1838.e (a. Revelation, 6 Apr. 1830, in JSP, D1:130, in JSP, D1:130 [D&C 21:11], herein; Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830, in JSP, D1:120 [D&C 20:1], herein. b. Minutes, 3 May 1834, in JSP, D4:44. c. Doctrine and Covenants 5, 1835 ed. [D&C 102], herein; Minutes, Messenger and Advocate, Feb. 1836, 2:266. d. Letter to Wilford Woodruff, ca. 18 June 1838. e. Letter from Thomas B. Marsh, 15 Feb. 1838; see also Letter to the Presidency in Kirtland, 29 Mar. 1838, in JSP, D6:57; JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, p. 15, in JSP, J1:236; and Resolution, ca. 8 Apr. 1838, in JSP, D6:76.)

  14. See Isaiah 60:1.

  15. See Jeremiah 50:2; 51:27; and Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831, in JSP, D1:276 [D&C 45:9], herein.

  16. JS dictated a revelation in 1831 that designated “the land of Missorie” as “the Land which I, have appointed & consecrated for the gethering of the Saints” and as “the Land of Zion.” The term stake, used by Saints to describe an approved place for gathering outside of the principal Latter-day Saint community in Missouri, derived from the biblical metaphor of Zion as a tent whose “curtains” were stretched out, with cords fastened to the ground by stakes. (Revelation, 20 July 1831, in JSP, D2:7, 12 [D&C 57:1, 14], herein; Isaiah 54:2–3; Revelation, 26 Apr. 1832, in JSP, D2:236 [D&C 82:13–14], herein.)

  17. See Psalm 59:16; see also Psalm 94:22.

  18. See Isaiah 25:4.

  19. See Revelation 14:10.

  20. See Exodus 3:5; see also Acts 7:33. The Book of Mormon teaches that the Americas, like the land of Canaan in the Bible, are a “land of promise” and a “holy land.”a JS dictated a revelation in 1831 specifically designating Missouri as a “land of promise.”b In his 4 September 1837 letter to the Saints in Far West, JS began by blessing the name of the Lord, who “has delivered you many times from the hands of your enimies And planted you many times in an heavenly or holy place,” implying that Far West was a holy place.c On 23 July 1838, Reynolds Cahoon wrote a letter to Newel K. Whitney, reporting: “It is said by some that Jacson Co. is where the gardon of Edon was[.] Far west is where Adam dwelt after he was driven from the gardin[.] Adam on-di Ahman is where he built an alter & blest his sons this I have not heard from Br. Joseph but expect it is his teachings.”d (a. Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 26, 143–144 [1 Nephi 12:1; Enos 1:10]. b. Revelation, 20 July 1831, in JSP, D2:7–8 [D&C 57:1–2], herein. c. Letter to John Corrill and the Church in Missouri, 4 Sept. 1837, in JSP, D5:427. d. Reynolds Cahoon, Far West, MO, to Newel K. Whitney, Kirtland, OH, 23 July 1838, CHL; see also Reed Peck, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, pp. 19–20, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA; and Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, 219–220.)

  21. At the conclusion of the November 1837 reorganization conference in Far West, Rigdon “called upon the Lord” in prayer “to dedicate this land for the gathering of the Saints.” Previous JS revelations directed the Latter-day Saints to build temples at Independence and Kirtland. (Minutes, 7 Nov. 1837, in JSP, D5:472; Revelation, 20 July 1831, in JSP, D2:7–8 [D&C 57:1–3], herein; Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832, in JSP, D2:345 [D&C 88:119], herein; Revelation, 1 June 1833, in JSP, D3:104–108 [D&C 95], herein.)

  22. The version of the revelation published in the August 1838 issue of the Elders’ Journal has “and let there be a beginning of this work, and a foundation, and a preparatory work for the foundation, in this following season, and let this beginning be made on the 4th day of July next.” An excavation for a cellar, measuring 110 by 80 feet, had been dug the previous summer. On 4 July 1838, church leaders laid the four cornerstones. (“An Extract of Revelation,” Elders’ Journal, Aug. 1838, 52; Letter from William W. Phelps, 7 July 1837, in JSP, D5:403; “Celebration of the 4th of July,” Elders’ Journal, Aug. 1838, 60.)

  23. See 1 Kings 5:5; 8:19; Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–B, in JSP, D3:206 [D&C 94:10], herein; and Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–A, in JSP, D3:202 [D&C 97:15], herein.

  24. JS and other Latter-day Saints had gone into debt to finance the construction of the temple in Kirtland, and eventually the temple had to be mortgaged. In 1838 JS was deeper in debt than ever before. (Robison, First Mormon Temple, 99–101; Mortgage to Mead, Stafford & Co., 11 July 1837, in JSP, D5:407–410; Madsen, “Tabulating the Impact of Litigation,” 232–240.)

  25. See Exodus 25:9; 2 Kings 16:10; Hebrews 8:5; and Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–B, in JSP, D3:206, 207 [D&C 94:6, 12], herein.

  26. This directive followed the precedent set with the design of the temple in Kirtland. In 1833 JS dictated a revelation stating that the Lord would reveal the pattern of the Kirtland temple.a Within a few days, JS and his counselors in the church presidency reported a vision in which they saw a model of the temple.b Soon thereafter, they sent drawings of the model, which they called a “pattern,” to the church in Jackson County to use in building a temple there.c (a. Revelation, 1 June 1833, in JSP, D3:107 [D&C 95:14], herein; see also Minutes, ca. 1 June 1833, in JSP, D3:104. b. Angell, Autobiography, 14–15; see also Truman Angell, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to John Taylor, 11 Mar. 1885, First Presidency [John Taylor] Correspondence, CHL; and Orson Pratt, in Journal of Discourses, 9 Apr. 1871, 14:273. c. Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 25 June 1833, in JSP, D3:152; Plan of the House of the Lord, between 1 and 25 June 1833, in JSP, D3:145; see also Robison, First Mormon Temple, 9.)

  27. See Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–A, in JSP, D3:201 [D&C 97:11], herein.

  28. Earlier revelations directed the church to purchase land not only at Independence and other areas in Jackson County but also “in the adjoining Counties round about.” The Saints may have interpreted these revelations to mean that church members could venture to new settlements outside of Caldwell County.a A committee was created in November 1837 to explore the land northward, searching for locations for additional settlements.b By April 1838, Lyman Wight moved north to Daviess County, and the church was considering settling Saints to the east in De Witt, Carroll County.c This expansion conflicted with the understanding of Missourians in neighboring counties that the Latter-day Saints would confine themselves to Caldwell County.d (a. Revelation, 20 July 1831, in JSP, D2:7–12 [D&C 57:3–6, 14], herein; Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833, in JSP, D3:395 [D&C 101:71], herein; Revelation, 22 June 1834, in JSP, D4:76 [D&C 105:28], herein. b. Travel Account and Questions, Nov. 1837, in JSP, D5:481; Minute Book 2, 6–7 Dec. 1837; Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 21 Jan. 1838. c. Minutes, 7–8 Apr. 1838, in JSP, D6:73; JS, Journal, 18 May–1 June 1838, in JSP, J1:271; Letter from David Thomas, 31 Mar. 1838, in JSP, D6:65–66. d. See LeSueur, “Missouri’s Failed Compromise,” 113–144.)

  29. See Matthew 16:19. JS’s revelations affirmed that God had given him the “keys” of the kingdom. (See, for example, Revelation, 11 Sept. 1831, in JSP, D2:63 [D&C 64:4–5], herein; Revelation, ca. Aug. 1835, in JSP, D4:411 [D&C 27:12–13], herein; and Questions and Answers, between ca. 16 and ca. 29 Mar. 1838–A, in JSP, D6:54 [D&C 113:6], herein.)