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A Revelation to William Allred and Henry W. Miller
Stephen O. Smoot and Brian C. Passantino, ed., "A Revelation to William Allred and Henry W. Miller," Joseph Smith's Uncanonized Revelations (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 113鈥14.
March 20, 1841
On January 19, 1841, the Prophet Joseph Smith received one of his most consequential revelations鈥攚hat one historian has called 鈥渁n ecclesiastical charter for the Church in Nauvoo鈥 (Doctrine and Covenants 124).[1] In this extensive revelation, the Lord commanded the Saints to 鈥渂uild a house unto my name, . . . that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people鈥 (verses 27, 40). After receiving this revelation, the Prophet dedicated much of his time and energy to assuring that the temple and the Nauvoo House were constructed in a timely manner in accordance with the instruction.[2]
A few months later, in March 1841, William Allred, bishop of the Pleasant Vale Stake, and Henry Miller, president of the Freedom Stake, both in Illinois, asked the Prophet to inquire of the Lord for 鈥渉is will concerning them.鈥 The present revelation counsels them to sell stock for the building up of the Nauvoo House and to help those who come there (presumably new converts) obtain employment and accommodations. Pursuant to the revelation, they each received stock certificates the following month to 鈥渟ell and account for.鈥[3]
鉂 鉂 鉂
Brother William Allred, bishop of the stake at Pleasant Vale, Illinois, and also Brother Henry W. Miller, president of the stake at Freedom, Illinois, desire President Joseph Smith to enquire of the Lord his will concerning them, City of Nauvoo, March 20, 1841.
Let my servants William Allred and Henry W. Miller have an agency for the selling of stock for the Nauvoo House and assist my servants Lyman Wight, Peter Haws, George Miller, and John Snider in building said house. And let my servants William Allred and Henry W. Miller take stock in the house, that the poor of my people may have employment, and that accommodations may be made for the strangers who shall come to visit this place. And for this purpose, let them devote all their properties, saith the Lord.
Notes
[1] Alex D. Smith, 鈥淥rganizing the Church in Nauvoo: D&C 124, 125,鈥 in Revelations in Context: The Stories Behind the Sections in the Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Matthew McBride and James Goldberg (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2016), 307.
[2] Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 423鈥24.
[3] JSP, D8:76; for further information on their work for the Nauvoo House and the temple, see JSP, D8:444 and William M. Allred, reminiscences and diary, MS 1871, CHL.
