The Joseph Smith Papers: D&C 88 Manuscript

D&C 88 is known by modern scholars as the "Olive Leaf Revelation," a message of peace from the Lord to his Elders on the Earth. D&C 88 is also one of the longest revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants, although it is surprisingly mostly unedited from its original transcription. John Whitmer, the man who first wrote down the revelation, also made a majority of the corrections to the original vision, and these changes" are mainly grammatical in nature. An "&" is added between words in one section, for example, and "ye" is changed to "you."

I remember learning last semester from Dr. Underwood that the revelatory process in Latter-Day Saint tradition is often not a perfect verbal translation from the Lord to His servants. Rather, Joseph Smith often prayed, received impressions in his mind, and then tried to articulate them to scribes who could then write those thoughts down. Joseph Smith was not well-educated, so many of the original transcribed revelations had to be checked for grammatical errors, and occasionally, greater revisions would be made to what was written. Here, for example, we see occasional punctuation marks, verse number additions, and spelling changes from John Whitmer, Joseph Smith, and W.W. Phelps, although, interestingly enough, the second part of this revelation is only corrected by Joseph Smith.

This revelation, given by the Lord to the Elders of the church in two parts (December 27 and 28, 1832 and later on Jan 3 1833 in Kirtland to the priesthood from High Elders to Deacons), is an interesting section because of its length and also because of the minor corrections contained therein. With the exception of the occasional addition of the word "and," and William W. Phelps' addition of verse markers, this revelation appears to have come straight from the Lord to the mind of Joseph Smith and then to the scribe without difficulty. This, indeed, must be one of the rarer revelations where the Lord spoke to Joseph in such a way that he was simply able to retell the Lord's words to John Whitmer. I've never really realized that D&C 88 was such an important revelation that the Lord found it necessary to almost dictate his words to Joseph.

I understand the reasoning behind this now. This is an important two-part revelation because the Lord is addressing not only the Elders here but the whole of the Latter-Day church. He discusses the importance of missionary work, the signs of the Second Coming, and instructions on greetings for members of the School of the Prophets. A lot of things in this revelation correlate to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, which means that the Lord is preparing His people for the Second Coming, and He wants us to be clear about what is eventually going to happen to the world: it will be judged, the Resurrection will take place, and the righteous will rest with Him in the Celestial Kingdom.

I'm grateful for this revelation, and I know that it came from the Lord.

My Kindness Shall Not Depart from Thee: Joseph Smith and D&C 121-123

In class on Wednesday, we talked about Sections 121-123 of the Doctrine and Covenants, which were pieces of revelation that Joseph Smith received while in Liberty Jail in 1839. I’ve had the privilege of visiting the Liberty Jail historical site, and I remember being surprised when I heard about the conditions that prisoners endured there. Constructed in 1833, what could only be seen as a shack was the prophet’s dwelling place for five months from December 1838-April 1839. With low ceiling space, no lighting and no heat, Joseph, Sidney Rigdon, his brother Hyrum, Lyman Wight, Alexander McRae, and Caleb Baldwin spent this time worrying about the Saints abroad. The men had been brought to this jail unjustly for supposed crimes against the state of Missouri and their people had faced a simultaneous extermination order. With a long, cold winter ahead, these church leaders were doomed to remain anxious in an old ice house. Joseph Smith had been a mover and a shaker in the religious world for years, and now he was stuck with a few square feet of space and no word from or about the people he loved, who were now homeless and scattered.

This kind of pressure either makes or breaks a person, and Joseph Smith found himself almost broken in March of 1839. Grieving for his people's losses, Joseph prayed to God for vengeance against his people’s enemies and for answers to their prayers, and he consequently received the rest of Doctrine and Covenants Section 121 and subsequent sections.

Here, the Lord gives Joseph a sobering lesson about trial. He reminds Joseph that both Job and Jesus Christ suffered far more than Joseph, and that Joseph’s friends were still with him. Encouraging Joseph to stay faithful and true to the end, the Lord reminded him that He was always with His children and would take care of Joseph.

The Lord’s counsel during this time is said to have changed Joseph. When Joseph and the others were released in April, they traveled to meet the Saints, and from then on, Joseph became the official spokesman for the church. Until this point, Joseph had been unconfident with his own speaking and writing abilities, and had often utilized Sidney Rigdon and Parley Pratt as spokesmen for the church. However, it was after Joseph’s time in prison that he was able to understand his calling as prophet and become a speaker in the church. The Lord’s words gave Joseph confidence and courage to continue his Earthly journey.

For more information about Liberty Jail, feel free to check out this article by Lawrence R. Flake, a BYU professor: http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Liberty_Jail

You can also check out this Youtube video segment called “My Kindness Shall Not Depart from Thee.” It’s from the LDS concert “Joseph Smith the Prophet.” The song sung at the 3:00 minute mark is one of my favorite songs…ever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irX0E4-mc9U&feature=related

D&C 137 and the Intents of Our Hearts

There is nothing worse than reading a scripture that makes you feel guilty. D&C 137 is one of those sections of scripture. And why is this the case? Because D&C 137 says that we will be judged in the last day based on the intents of our hearts, and not necessarily based on our actions.

As a student at BYU, I have worked hard to make an image for myself. I join the right clubs, I get the right grades, and I spend my time doing the coolest activities. The only reason I do this is to make my facebook page and journal entries look cooler. I'm not the only person who does this, however. These days, people believe that happiness comes through popularity, and that popularity comes through having the right image. We advertise ourselves every day to the people around us, and we go the extra mile to gain new supporters and friends. While we get caught up in self-aggrandizing media, we become experts in the popularity game.

And then, of course, we forget ourselves. The person we know when nobody is around remains unpolished and unfocused, and we eventually crumble from the inside-out. I know that this sounds horrible. However, as a public health major and a student of D&C 137, it is my duty to warn myself as well as others of the dangers of self-aggrandizement.

Now, it is absolutely possible to prevent losing oneself in vanity. There is nothing more do-able than working on the inner vessel before the outer vessel. I'm not suggesting here that we don't forget about our public image. I'm suggesting that we recognize our inner strengths, polish and refine them, and use them to benefit others. Our actions speak louder than our image, and these are the foundations of true happiness and of popularity.

Right now, Audrey Hepburn comes to mind. It's controversial whether this quote can be attributed to her, but I like it anyway: "For Attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry, For Beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day, For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone." We don't live our lives to build an image. We live our lives to learn how to love. As we do this, we will become prized in the eyes of the Lord and prized in the eyes of those who need us the most.

That's what life is about, isn't it? Love?

HBLL's Special Collections

In the summer of 2009, I found myself working at a Shaker Museum in Enfield, New Hampshire, which is the basis of this my blog title. The Shakers were a popular American religious group that had its heyday in the mid-1800s, and I spent four months of my life talking about them to curious tourists last year. One thing I loved at the Shaker museum was opening up the exhibit rooms in the morning. The sun would start to shine through the old Great Stone Dwelling windows and I would just stand in the center of each room, alone with old Shaker furniture, photographs and tools, and the room smelled like New England forest. It was in those moments that I felt closest to these unique people, whose ideals and values were so little understood and so unappreciated.

I haven't felt that feeling in a long time, but as I walked down to the first floor of the BYU Harold B. Lee library for our D&C class Mormon Americana seminar, the smell of old books and artifacts hit me again. As I sat, viewing old illustrated manuscripts, sheets of papyrus, and cuneiform clay blocks, I remembered the medicinal bottles and bishop’s chairs from one of our exhibit rooms. And as I listened to our lecturer, and saw the twinkle in his eye as students asked questions, I remembered the excitement I felt when I met with curious museum visitors and shared Shaker stories with them on humid New England days. It was the first time I had found myself in Special Collections, but I felt like I was at home.

In this environment, I had an important realization that I think will help me as I continue to study the D&C. Over the previous summer, I had immersed myself in the Shaker world. I came to understand them not as two-dimensional characters in the books I was reading, but as real people with emotions and ideas just like us. I know that this sounds strange, but so often when we study history, we don’t realize that the events we read about and the people we see in pictures actually lived. However, seeing original copies of the Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Commandments made me remember that Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and Hyrum Smith were real men. They were as tangible and as human as anyone walking through the library that day. Their lives were models for ours, and if they could accomplish such great things, we can too.

I walked out of the HBLL with confidence today: confidence in the greatness of these men and in confidence in my own future. If they could make the pages of history, so can we.