Footnotes
JS History, vol. A-1, 244.
“Revenge and Magnanimity,” Painesville (OH) Telegraph, 21 Dec. 1832, [1]; “The Plague in India,” Painesville Telegraph, 21 Dec. 1832, [2].
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.
“South Carolina Convention,” Painesville (OH) Telegraph, 21 Dec. 1832, [2]; “Nullification,” Painesville Telegraph, 21 Dec. 1832, [2]–[3].
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.
News Item, Painesville (OH) Telegraph, 21 Dec. 1832, [3]. For more information on what is known as the Nullification Crisis, see Ellis, Union at Risk, chap. 9.
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.
Ellis, Richard E. The Union at Risk: Jacksonian Democracy, States’ Rights and the Nullification Crisis. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
JS History, vol. A-1, 244.
Although it is unlikely that William W. Phelps saw this revelation before publishing the January 1833 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star, that issue contained an article titled “Signs of the Times.” Some of the signs Phelps listed included the trouble in South Carolina and the cholera epidemic. “Such strange movements of men; such dreadful sickness; oh! such fearful looking for the wrath of God to be poured out upon this generation,” Phelps declared, “ought to convince every man in the world, that the end is near; that the harvest is ripe, and that the angels are reaping down the earth!” (“Signs of the Times,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Jan. 1833, [6].)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
See Revelation Book 2, Index, [1]. Other manuscript copies of the revelation were also made around that same time, including one by John Whitmer in Revelation Book 1. The revelation was not published in the 1835 or 1844 editions of the Doctrine and Covenants, in part, according to Brigham Young, because “it was not wisdom to put that . . . in private escritoire.” In 1851, Franklin D. Richards published the revelation in England in a pamphlet titled The Pearl of Great Price: Being a Choice Selection from the Revelations, Translations, and Narrations of Joseph Smith, First Prophet, Seer, and Revelator to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Revelation Book 1, p. 157; Brigham Young, Discourse, 20 May 1860, in George D. Watt, Discourse Shorthand Notes, 20 May 1860, George D. Watt, Papers, as transcribed by LaJean Purcell Carruth, copy in editors’ possession; “A Mormon Prophecy,” Philadelphia Sunday Mercury, 5 May 1861, [2]; see also Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 2:234–238.)
Watt, George D. Papers, ca. 1846–1865. CHL.
Philadelphia Sunday Mercury. Philadelphia. 1860–1863.
Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.
TEXT: A later redaction in the handwriting of Frederick G. Williams inserts “Nations” at this point. All other early manuscript versions have “nations” here, suggesting that “Nations” was likely part of the original inscription. (See, for example, Gilbert, Notebook, [109].)
Gilbert, Algernon Sidney. Notebook of Revelations, 1831–ca. 1833. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583, box 1, fd. 2.
In the wake of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the United States continued to view Britain as both a political and economic rival in the Western Hemisphere. (Haynes, Unfinished Revolution, 8–9.)
Haynes, Sam W. Unfinished Revolution: The Early American Republic in a British World. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010.
Brigham Young, who was not present when the revelation was dictated, claimed in 1860 that the revelation was the result of “serious reflections” by “the brethren” about “African slavery on this continent” and “the slavery of children [of] men throughout the world.” “After much deliberation and reflection etc. and being tolerably well acquainted with the customs of the north and south,” he continued, “the Lord gave a revelation concerning slavery.” In August 1831, a slave named Nat Turner led a rebellion in southeastern Virginia that resulted in the deaths of approximately sixty white people and the execution of twenty-one black people (including Turner). Many white Virginians and other white Southerners feared that further rebellions would follow. (Brigham Young, Discourse, 20 May 1860, in George D. Watt, Discourse Shorthand Notes, 20 May 1860, George D. Watt, Papers, as transcribed by LaJean Purcell Carruth, copy in editors’ possession; Oates, Fires of Jubilee, 125–126.)
Watt, George D. Papers, ca. 1846–1865. CHL.
Oates, Stephen B. The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner’s Fierce Rebellion. New York: Harper and Row, 1975.
“Remnants” refers to the scattered descendants of ancient Israelites still found on the earth. The Book of Mormon uses the singular “remnant” to refer specifically to descendants of the family of Lehi but the plural “remnants” when discussing all descendants of Israel scattered throughout the world. A letter from JS to Noah C. Saxton, editor of the American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer, written just ten days after this revelation, used “remnants” in a similar way. In that letter, JS declared that God would “recover the remnants of his people which have been left from Assyria, and from Egypt and from Pathros &.c. and from the Islands of the sea.” (Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 31, 117, 23, 496–497 [1 Nephi 13:34; 2 Nephi 30:3; 1 Nephi 10:14; 3 Nephi 20:10–23]; Letter to Noah C. Saxton, 4 Jan. 1833; see also Ashurst-McGee, “Zion Rising,” 263–264.)
Ashurst-McGee, Mark. “Zion Rising: Joseph Smith’s Early Social and Political Thought.” PhD diss., Arizona State University, 2008.
See Isaiah 10:22; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 97 [2 Nephi 20:22].
See Jeremiah 30:11; 46:28. Earlier revelations described similar apocalyptic events. (See, for example, Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45]; Revelation, 3 Nov. 1831 [D&C 133]; and Revelation, 22–23 Sept. 1832 [D&C 84].)
“Sabaoth” is Hebrew for “hosts” or “armies.” “Lord of Sabaoth” is a militaristic title for God used in Romans 9:29 and James 5:4.
This theme from the book of Revelation also appears in the Book of Mormon. (See, for example, Revelation 6:10; 16:1–6; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 106, 473, 534 [2 Nephi 26:3; 3 Nephi 9:11; Mormon 8:27].)
A March 1831 revelation discussed similar millenarian episodes and instructed “my Deciples” to “stand in Holy places” and “not be moved.” These “holy places” were apparently the Mormon communities in Jackson County, Missouri, and Geauga County, Ohio. JS’s revelations particularly designated Zion, in Missouri, as a “holy land” and as a refuge from the wars of nations. (Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:26–32, 63–69]; Revelation, 22–23 Sept. 1832 [D&C 84:59]; Revelation, 13 Aug. 1831 [D&C 62:6]; Revelation, 30 Aug. 1831 [D&C 63:32–37].)