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A Revelation to William W. Phelps and John Whitmer
Stephen O. Smoot and Brian C. Passantino, ed., "A Revelation to William W. Phelps and John Whitmer," Joseph Smith's Uncanonized Revelations (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 78–79.
November 8, 1835
William W. Phelps and John Whitmer were two important figures in the early history of the Restoration. Phelps, a printer and writer by trade, joined the restored Church of Jesus Christ in 1831 after obtaining a copy of the Book of Mormon and meeting Joseph Smith. He would go on to become a printer for the Church, a scribe for Joseph Smith, and an influential Latter-day Saint poet and hymnist.[1] For his part, Whitmer acted as a scribe in the translation of the Book of Mormon, was one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and served as the Church historian and recorder from 1831 to 1838.[2] Both men shared a close relationship with Joseph Smith and filled important leadership roles in the early Church.[3]
On November 8, 1835, Joseph Smith received a revelation wherein the Lord rebuked these two men for their “iniquities.” It is unclear what provoked this divine reprimand. Joseph Smith’s journal entry for that day, which preserves this revelation, provides no additional context, including what exactly may have been Phelps’s and Whitmer’s wrongdoing.[4] Instead of censuring these men for specific sins, perhaps the revelation was instructing them to rid themselves of “improper behavior and to prepare church members for the much-anticipated solemn assembly and endowment of power” that was to come with the imminent completion and dedication of the Kirtland Temple (compare Doctrine and Covenants 109; 110).[5] Whatever the case, sometime after this revelation was initially received, Phelps modified the entry in Joseph’s journal by replacing “iniquities” with “errors” and adding the detail that he and Whitmer had “made satisfaction the same day” for their offense.[6]
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The word of the Lord came unto me saying that President William W. Phelps and President John Whitmer are under condemnation before the Lord for their iniquities.
Notes
[1] For a recent biography of Phelps, see Bruce A. Van Orden, We'll Sing and We'll Shout: The Life and Times of W. W. Phelps (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2018).
[2] JSP, H1:308. For a biography of John Whitmer, see Ronald E. Romig, Eighth Witness: The Biography of John Whitmer (Independence, MO: John Whitmer Books, 2014).
[3] On July 3, 1834, for instance, they were made assistants to David Whitmer, president of the Church in Zion (Missouri). See JSP, D4:88–90. This undoubtedly accounts for why Phelps and Whitmer are referred to as “president” in Joseph Smith’s November 8, 1835, revelation.
[4] JSP, J1:86.
[5] JSP, D5:38–39. The Kirtland Temple was dedicated in March 1836, only four months after the receipt of this revelation. See Steven C. Harper, “Joseph Smith and the Kirtland Temple, 1836,” in Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer, ed. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Kent P. Jackson (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010), 233–60; on Phelps’s participation in the Kirtland Temple dedication and the attending “endowment of power,” see Van Orden, “The Kirtland Temple and Endowment of Power,” in We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout, 205–20; on Whitmer’s participation, see Romig, Eighth Witness, 248–55, 277–91.
[6] JSP, D5:39n160.
