“Eternity Sketch’d in a Vision”: The Poetic Version of Doctrine and Covenants 76

“Eternity Sketch’d in a Vision”: The Poetic Version of Doctrine and Covenants 76

(Doctrine and Covenants 76)

Richard Neitzel Holzapfel

Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, “Eternity Sketch’d in a Vision”: The Poetic Version of Doctrine and Covenants 76,” in The Heavens Are Open: The 1992 Sperry Symposium on the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History, ed. Byron R. Merrill (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1993), 141–62.

Richard Neitzel Holzapfel is an emeritus professor of Church history and doctrine at BYU.

Early 1843 was a busy season for Joseph Smith as he, along with his clerks Willard Richards and William W. Phelps, began preparing proofs and making stereotype plates in order to print the second edition of the Doctrine and Covenants.[1] At the same time, the Prophet was also involved in preparing his personal history for publication, portions of which were already appearing serially in the Times and Seasons. In particular, he was reviewing the period of February and March 1832 for Richards and Phelps as they began to compose this portion of his history.[2] That period was, of course, the time when he received the “The Vision” (Doctrine and Covenants 76) in Hiram, Ohio.

At this time the Prophet and his people also had cause for great celebration. An Illinois court had advised Governor Thomas Ford that a writ issued for Joseph Smith’s extradition to Missouri was illegal, and a federal district judge discharged the Prophet on January 7, 1843. While accompanying the Prophet home from Springfield, Wilson Law and Willard Richards sang a jubilee song in honor of Joseph’s newfound freedom.[3] A day of fasting, prayer, and thanksgiving was held in Nauvoo on January 17 to express gratitude for the Prophet’s “release and delivery.”[4] The next day a group assembled at Joseph’s home for “a day of conviviality and rejoicing, and [that] might properly be called a day of jubilee or release.”[5] A printed handbill with several songs, including one composed by Eliza R. Snow, was distributed, and the songs were sung to the Prophet. At the end of the festivities Wilford Woodruff noted, “We returned to our homes rejoicing that [we] could again have the privilege of enjoying the society of our prophet seer.”[6] Two days later, on January 20, W. W. Phelps presented Joseph with a poem entitled “Vade Mecum,” or “Go with Me,” as part of the jubilee celebration.[7]

It was in this setting that a poetic version of “The Vision,” entitled “The Answer” was first published, under Joseph Smith’s name, in the Times and Seasons on February 1, 1843, as a rejoinder to Phelps’s jubilee poem, “Vade Mecum (Translated,) Go With Me”[8] The Prophet’s history states: “In reply to W[illiam] W. Phelps’ Vade Mecum or ‘Go with me’ of 20 January last, I dictated the following answer.”[9]

Naturally, the question of authorship of this poem arises. Did Joseph Smith compose it, or did someone else? Furthermore, can we be sure the ideas communicated represent the Prophet’s own expression? It is certain that Joseph often depended upon others to produce material under his direction. At one time he may have simply asked someone to compose something for him; at another time he may have given someone the main ideas; in other instances, he was involved heavily in the final literary creation. Although the Prophet’s ideas and teachings are present in any number of documents, the particular literary structure (grammar, punctuation, spelling, and other aspects of style) often depended upon who was writing for him at the time.

Many of the editorials in the Times and Seasons were not Joseph Smith’s own words, although he took over as editor of the newspaper in March 1842. Thereafter, he indicated that only those articles and editorials “having my signature” were those for which he was personally responsible.[10] It is therefore highly significant that the 1843 poem ends, “Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, Feb. 1843.” The first-person singular “I, Joseph, the prophet” in stanza 11 of the poem itself also seems to at least confirm his acceptance of the material, even if it had been drafted by someone else.[11]

John Taylor, a close associate with Joseph at the time and the new editor of the Times and Seasons, indicated that in a recent legal contest, Joseph Smith’s defense attorney had made some comments about biblical poetry. For Taylor, the poetic rendition of the Vision was ample proof that “modern Prophets can prophecy [sic] in poetry, as well as the ancient prophets and that no difference, even of that kind any longer exists.” He believed Joseph was responsible for the poem, and he emphasized the ideas as the most significant aspect when he stated in the published introduction to the poem: “The following very curious poetic composition, is at once both novel and interesting; for while the common landmarks of modern poetry are entirely disregarded; there is something so dignified and exalted conveyed in the ideas of this production, that it cannot fail to strike the attention of every superficial observer.”[12]

Whether or not someone else helped Joseph Smith compose the poetic rendition may be difficult to prove. On the other hand, the fact that he accepted it as representing his own ideas seems a reasonable proposition. It therefore can be argued that the poetic rendition can provide insights into how the Prophet understood the implications of “The Vision” or, alternatively, as he was willing to reveal it to the Saints in 1843.

THE ANSWER

to W. W. Phelps, Esq.

A VISION

I will go, I will go, to the home of the Saints,
Where the virtue’s the value, and life the reward;
But before I return to my former estate
I must fulfil the mission I had from the Lord.
Wherefore, hear, O ye heavens, and give ear O ye earth;
And rejoice ye inhabitants truly again;
For the Lord he is God, and his life never ends,
And besides him there ne’er was a Saviour of men.
His ways are a wonder; his wisdom is great;
The extent of his doings, there’s none can unveil;
His purposes fail not; from age unto age
He still is the same, and his years never fail.
His throne is the heavens, his life time is all
Of eternity now, and eternity then;
His union is power, and none stays his hand,—
The Alpha, Omega, for ever: Amen.
For thus saith the Lord, in the spirit of truth,
I am merciful, gracious, and good unto those
That fear me, and live for the life that’s to come;
My delight is to honor the saints with repose;
That serve me in righteousness true to the end;
Eternal’s their glory, and great their reward;
I’ll surely reveal all my myst’ries to them,—
The great hidden myst’ries in my kingdom stor’d—
From the council in Kolob, to time on the earth.
And for ages to come unto them I will show
My pleasure & will, what my kingdom will do:
Eternity’s wonders they truly shall know.
Great things of the future I’ll show unto them,
Yea, things of the vast generations to rise;
For their wisdom and glory shall be very great,
And their pure understanding extend to the skies:
And before them the wisdom of wise men shall cease,
And the nice understanding of prudent ones fail!
For the light of my spirit shall light mine elect,
And the truth is so mighty ’t will ever prevail.
And the secrets and plans of my will I’ll reveal;
The sanctified pleasures when earth is renew’d,
What the eye hath not seen, nor the ear hath yet heard;
Nor the heart of the natural man ever hath view’d.
I, Joseph, the prophet, in spirit beheld,
And the eyes of the inner man truly did see
Eternity sketch’d in a vision from God.
Of what was, and now is, and yet is to be.
Those things which the Father ordained of old,
Before the world was, or a system had run,—
Through Jesus the Maker and Savior of all;
The only begotten, (Messiah) his son.
Of whom I bear record, as all prophets have,
And the record I bear is the fulness,—yea even
The truth of the gospel of Jesus—the Christ,
With whom I convers’d, in the vision of heav’n.
For while in the act of translating his word,
Which the Lord in his grace had appointed to me,
I came to the gospel recorded by John,
Chapter fifth and the twenty ninth verse, which you’ll see.
Which was given as follows:
“Speaking of the resurrection of the dead,—
“Concerning those who shall hear the voice of the son of man—
“And shall come forth:—
“They who have done good in the resurrection of the just.
“And they who have done evil in the resurrection of the unjust.”
I marvel’d at these resurrections, indeed!
For it came unto me by the spirit direct:—
And while I did meditate what it all meant,
The Lord touch’d the eyes of my own intellect:—
Hosanna forever! they open’d anon,
And the glory of God shone around where I was;
And there was the Son, at the Father’s right hand,
In a fulness of glory, and holy applause.
I beheld round the throne, holy angels and hosts,
And sanctified beings from worlds that have been,
In holiness worshipping God and the Lamb,
Forever and ever, amen and amen!
And now after all of the proofs made of him,
By witnesses truly, by whom he was known,
This is mine, last of all, that he lives; yea he lives!
And sits at the right hand of God, on his throne.
And I heard a great voice, bearing record from heav’n,
He’s the Saviour, and only begotten of God—
By him, of him, and through him, the worlds were all made,
Even all that career in the heavens so broad,
Whose inhabitants, too, from the first to the last,
Are sav’d by the very same Saviour of ours;
And, of course, are begotten God’s daughters and sons,
By the very same truths, and the very same pow’rs.
And I saw and bear record of warfare in heav’n;
For an angel of light, in authority great,
Rebell’d against Jesus, and sought for his pow’r,
But was thrust down to woe from his Godified state.
And the heavens all wept, and the tears drop’d like dew,
That Lucifer, son of the morning had fell!
Yea, is fallen! is fall’n, and become, Oh, alas!
The son of Perdition; the devil of hell!
And while I was yet in the spirit of truth,
The commandment was: write ye the vision all out;
For Satan, old serpent, the devil’s for war,—
And yet will encompass the saints round about.
And I saw, too, the suff’ring and mis’ry of those,
(Overcome by the devil, in warfare and fight,)
In hell-fire, and vengeance, the doom of the damn’d;
For the Lord said, the vision is further: so write.
For thus saith the Lord, now concerning all those
Who know of my power and partake of the same;
And suffer themselves, that they be overcome
By the power of Satan; despising my name:—
Defying my power, and denying the truth;—
They are they—of the world, or of men, most forlorn,
The Sons of Perdition, of whom, ah! I say,
’T were better for them had they never been born!
They’re vessels of wrath, and dishonor to God,
Doom’d to suffer his wrath, in the regions of woe,
Through the terrific night of eternity’s round,
With the devil and all of his angels below:
Of whom it is said, no forgiveness is giv’n,
In this world, alas! nor the world that’s to come;
For they have denied the spirit of God.
After having receiv’d it: and mis’ry’s their doom.
And denying the only begotten of God,—
And crucify him to themselves, as they do,
And openly put him to shame in their flesh,
By gospel they cannot repentance renew.
They are they, who must go to the great lake of fire,
Which burneth with brimstone, yet never consumes,
And dwell with the devil, and angels of his,
While eternity goes and eternity comes.
They are they, who must groan through the great second death,
And are not redeemed in the time of the Lord;
While all the rest are, through the triumph of Christ,
Made partakers of grace, by the power of his word.
The myst’ry of Godliness truly is great;—
The past, and the present, and what is to be;
And this is the gospel—glad tidings to all,
Which the voice from the heavens bore record to me:
That he came to the world in the middle of time,
To lay down his life for his friends and his foes,
And bear away sin as a mission of love;
And sanctify earth for a blessed repose.
’Tis decreed, that he’ll save all the work of his hands,
And sanctify them by his own precious blood;
And purify earth for the Sabbath of rest,
By the agent of fire, as it was by the flood.
The Savior will save all his Father did give,
Even all that he gave in the regions abroad.
Save the Sons of Perdition: They’re lost; ever lost.
And can never return to the presence of God.
They are they, who must reign with the devil in hell,
In eternity now, and eternity then,
Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quench’d;—
And the punishment still, is eternal. Amen.
And which is the torment apostates receive,
But the end, or the place where the torment began,
Save to them who are made to partake of the same,
Was never, nor will be, revealed unto man.
Yet God shows by vision a glimpse of their fate,
And straightway he closes the scene that was shown:
So the width, or the depth, or the misery thereof,
Save to those that partake, is forever unknown.
And while I was pondering, the vision was closed;
And the voice said to me, write the vision: for lo!
’Tis the end of the scene of the sufferings of those,
Who remain filthy still in their anguish and woe.
And again I bear record of heavenly things,
Where virtue’s the value, above all that’s pric’d—
Of the truth of the gospel concerning the just,
That rise in the first resurrection of Christ.
Who receiv’d and believ’d, and repented likewise,
And then were baptis’d, as a man always was,
Who ask’d and receiv’d a remission of sin,
And honored the kingdom by keeping its laws.
Being buried in water, as Jesus had been,
And keeping the whole of his holy commands,
They received the gift of the spirit of truth,
By the ordinance truly of laying on hands.
For these overcome, by their faith and their works,
Being tried in their life-time, as purified gold,
And seal’d by the spirit of promise, to life,
By men called of God, as was Aaron of old.
They are they, of the church of the first born of God,—
And unto whose hands he committeth all things;
For they hold the keys of the kingdom of heav’n,
And reign with the Savior, as priests, and as kings.
They’re priests of the order of Melchisedek,
Like Jesus, (from whom is this highest reward,)
Receiving a fulness of glory and light;
As written: They’re Gods; even sons of the Lord.
So all things are theirs; yea, of life, or of death;
Yea, whether things now, or to come, all are theirs,
And they are the Savior’s, and he is the Lord’s,
Having overcome all, as eternity’s heirs.
’Tis wisdom that man never glory in man,
But give God the glory for all that he hath;
For the righteous will walk in the presence of God,
While the wicked are trod under foot in his wrath.
Yea, the righteous shall dwell in the presence of God,
And of Jesus, forever, from earth’s second birth—
For when he comes down in the splendor of heav’n,
All these he’ll bring with him, to reign on the earth.
These are they that arise in their bodies of flesh,
When the trump of the first resurrection shall sound;
These are they that come up to Mount Zion, in life,
Where the blessings and gifts of the spirit abound.
These are they that have come to the heavenly place;
To the numberless courses of angels above:
To the city of God; e’en the holiest of all,
And to the home of the blessed, the fountain of love:
To the church of old Enoch, and of the first born:
And gen’ral assembly of ancient renown’d.
Whose names are all kept in the archives of heav’n,
As chosen and faithful, and fit to be crown’d.
These are they that are perfect through Jesus’ own blood,
Whose bodies celestial are mention’d by Paul,
Where the sun is the typical glory thereof,
And God, and his Christ, are the true judge of all.
Again I beheld the terrestrial world,
In the order and glory of Jesus, go on;
’Twas not as the church of the first born of God,
But shone in its place, as the moon to the sun.
Behold, these are they that have died without law;
The heathen of ages that never had hope,
And those of the region and shadow of death,
The spirits in prison, that light has brought up.
To spirits in prison the Savior once preach’d,
And taught them the gospel, with powers afresh;
And then were the living baptiz’d for their dead,
That they might be judg’d as if men in the flesh.
These are they that are hon’rable men of the earth;
Who were blinded and dup’d by the cunning of men:
They receiv’d not the truth of the Savior at first;
But did, when they heard it in prison, again.
Not valiant for truth, they obtain’d not the crown,
But are of that glory that’s typ’d by the moon:
They are they, that come into the presence of Christ,
But not to the fulness of God, on his throne.
Again I beheld the telestial, as third,
The lesser, or starry world, next in its place,
For the leaven must leaven three measures of meal,
And every knee bow that is subject to grace.
These are they that receiv’d not the gospel of Christ,
Or evidence, either, that he ever was;
As the stars are all diff’rent in glory and light,
So differs the glory of these by the laws.
These are they that deny not the spirit of God,
But are thrust down to hell, with the devil, for sins,
As hypocrites, liars, whoremongers, and thieves,
And stay ’till the last resurrection begins.
’Till the Lamb shall have finish’d the work he begun;
Shall have trodden the wine press, in fury alone,
And overcome all by the pow’r of his might:
He conquers to conquer, and save all his own.
These are they that receive not a fulness of light,
From Christ, in eternity’s world, where they are,
The terrestrial sends them the Comforter, though;
And minist’ring angels, to happify there.
And so the telestial is minister’d to,
By ministers from the terrestrial one,
As terrestrial is, from the celestial throne;
And the great, greater, greatest, seem’s stars, moon, and sun.
And thus I beheld, in the vision of heav’n,
The telestial glory, dominion and bliss,
Surpassing the great understanding of men,—
Unknown, save reveal’d, in a world vain as this.
And lo, I beheld the terrestrial, too,
Which excels the telestial in glory and light,
In splendor, and knowledge, and wisdom, and joy,
In blessings, and graces, dominion and might.
I beheld the celestial, in glory sublime;
Which is the most excellent kingdom that is,—
Where God, e’en the Father, in harmony reigns;
Almighty, supreme, and eternal, in bliss.
Where the church of the first born in union reside,
And they see as they’re seen, and they know as they’re known;
Being equal in power, dominion and might,
With a fulness of glory and grace, round his throne.
The glory celestial is one like the sun;
The glory terrestr’al is one like the moon;
The glory telestial is one like the stars,
And all harmonize like the parts of a tune.
As the stars are all different in lustre and size,
So the telestial region, is mingled in bliss;
From least unto greatest, and greatest to least,
The reward is exactly as promis’d in this.
These are they that came out for Apollos and Paul;
For Cephas and Jesus, in all kinds of hope;
For Enoch and Moses, and Peter, and John;
For Luther and Calvin, and even the Pope.
For they never received the gospel of Christ,
Nor the prophetic spirit that came from the Lord;
Nor the covenant neither, which Jacob once had;
They went their own way, and they have their reward.
By the order of God, last of all, these are they,
That will not be gather’d with saints here below,
To be caught up to Jesus, and meet in the cloud:—
In darkness they worshipp’d; to darkness they go.
These are they that are sinful, the wicked at large,
That glutted their passion by meanness or worth;
All liars, adulterers, sorc’rers, and proud;
And suffer, as promis’d, God’s wrath on the earth.
These are they that must suffer the vengeance of hell,
’Till Christ shall have trodden all enemies down,
And perfected his work, in the fulness of times:
And is crown’d on his throne with his glorious crown.
The vast multitude of the telestial world—
As the stars of the skies, or the sands of the sea;—
The voice of Jehovah echo’d far and wide,
Ev’ry tongue shall confess, and they all bow the knee.
Ev’ry man shall be judg’d by the works of his life,
And receive a reward in the mansion prepar’d;
For his judgments are just, and his works never end,
As his prophets and servants have always declar’d.
But the great things of God, which he show’d unto me,
Unlawful to utter, I dare not declare;
They surpass all the wisdom and greatness of men,
And only are seen, as has Paul, where they are.
I will go, I will go, while the secret of life,
Is blooming in heaven, and blasting in hell;
Is leaving on earth, and a budding in space:—
I will go, I will go, with you, brother, farewell.

JOSEPH SMITH

Nauvoo, Feb. 1843[13]

A careful study of the poetic rendition “A Vision,” demonstrates that it is more than a reworking of the message of the 1832 revelation; indeed, it is a one-of-a-kind commentary. Surprisingly, until a few years ago, relatively few gospel scholars have explicitly used this poetic writing to help interpret various doctrinal aspects associated with Doctrine and Covenants 76 itself. That the poem did not receive much attention during the last half of the nineteenth century and the first part of the twentieth century may be because the early printed sources of the poem were not readily accessible. In the early 1900s, when Elder B. H. Roberts edited Joseph Smith’s “Manuscript History of the Church” for publication, in what came to be known as the History of the Church series, Roberts did not include the text of the poem under the date of February 1843 in the published volume (volume 5), thus causing a significant lapse in making the poem available to a wider audience in the early part of the twentieth century. It was not until N. B. Lundwall printed the poem in a book about the three degrees of glory in 1951 that the poetic version became generally available.[14] Although several significant studies on the Doctrine and Covenants authored by LDS scholars appeared in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, none of them made mention of, or reference to, the poetic version.[15] It was not until the 1980s that authors began referring to the poem or citing portions of it in their commentaries.[16]

The poetic version of Doctrine and Covenants 76 emphasizes some of the most profound truths revealed in our day relating to the premortal existence; the Savior’s mission and power; Satan and his kingdom; the telestial, terrestrial, and celestial kingdoms; and Joseph Smith’s life and mission, each of which will be briefly discussed.

The Premortal Existence

The doctrine and teaching that individuals existed as premortal spirits before their birth into mortality was revealed to Joseph Smith as early as 1833 with the receipt of Doctrine and Covenants 93 (see vv. 23, 29). During the Nauvoo period, the Prophet also began teaching that there was a Mother in Heaven—the mother of our premortal spirits.[17] When the Book of Abraham was published in March 1842, the doctrine of premortality was further clarified (see Abraham 3:18).

The knowledge of the premortal life is positively affirmed in the poetic rendition:

I will go, I will go, to the home of the Saints,
Where the virtue’s the value, and life the reward;
But before I return to my former estate
I must fulfil the mission I had from the Lord.
(stanza 1; emphasis added)

Although not alluded to in the poem, Joseph Smith also emphasized the doctrine of the premortal foreordination when he stated on May 12, 1844, “Every man who has a calling to the world, was ordained to that very purpose in the grand Council of Heaven—I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that grand Council.”[18]

The Savior’s Mission and Power

The poetic version also expounds upon the power of Christ’s Atonement. Note the following stanzas:

Wherefore, hear, O ye heavens, and give ear O ye earth;
And rejoice ye inhabitants truly again;
For the Lord he is God, and his life never ends,
And besides him there ne’er was a Saviour of men.
. . . Jesus the Maker and Savior of all;
The only begotten, (Messiah) his son.
Of whom I bear record, as all prophets have,
And the record I bear is the fulness,—yea even
The truth of the gospel of Jesus—the Christ. . . .
. . . He’s the Saviour, and only begotten of God—
By him, of him, and through him, the worlds were all made,
Even all that career in the heavens so broad,
Whose inhabitants, too, from the first to the last,
Are sav’d by the very same Saviour of ours;
And, of course, are begotten God’s daughters and sons,
By the very same truths, and the very same pow’rs.
(stanzas 2, 12–13, 19–20; emphasis added)[19]

It important to note that the poem teaches that Christ’s redemption and Atonement was not limited to this world nor to a specific period. It reaches backward in time, forward into the future, and across the vastness of space. It was a final act that did not necessitate another sacrifice in the future.

Satan and His Kingdom

One of the most startling passages from the poetic rendition of Doctrine and Covenants 76 is the knowledge revealed concerning Lucifer’s authority and standing in the premortal life:

And I saw and bear record of warfare in heav’n;
For an angel of light, in authority great,
Rebell’d against Jesus, and sought for his pow’r,
But was thrust down to woe from his Godified state.
And the heavens all wept, and the tears drop’d like dew,
That Lucifer, son of the morning had fell!
Yea, is fallen! is fall’n, and become, Oh, alas!
The son of Perdition; the devil of hell!
(stanza 21–22; emphasis added)

It is certain that Lucifer held a position of prominence in the premortal life, but only in the poetic version of Doctrine and Covenants 76 is mention made of Lucifer’s “godified state” before he was cast out to become the devil.[20] Shortly after the publication of the poem, Joseph Smith taught that in the premortal world there were “a variety of spirits,” some of whom sought “to excell, & this was the case with the devil when he fell he sought for things which were unlawful hence he was cast down & it is said he drew away many with him.”[21]

The Kingdoms of Glory

A central facet of both the poem and the original revelation are descriptions of the eternal kingdoms of glory. The poem compares the kingdoms in an interesting fashion:

The glory celestial is one like the sun;
The glory terrestr’al is one like the moon;
The glory telestial is one like the stars,
And all harmonize like the parts of a tune.
As the stars are all different in lustre and size,
So the telestial region, is mingled in bliss;
From least unto greatest, and greatest to least,
The reward is exactly as promis’d in this.
(stanzas 68–69; emphasis added)

The Telestial Kingdom

To emphasize the final reward of those who inherit the telestial kingdom, the poem indicates it is because they

. . . never received the gospel of Christ,
Nor the prophetic spirit that came from the Lord;
Nor the covenant neither, which Jacob once had;
They went their own way, and they have their reward.
These are they that are sinful, the wicked at large,
That glutted their passion by meanness or worth;
All liars, adulterers, sorc’rers, and proud;
And suffer, as promis’d, God’s wrath on the earth.
(stanza 71, 73)

While the telestial kingdom is a “lesser, or starry world,” nonetheless it is a place where the Lord sends “the Comforter [or the Holy Spirit] . . . And minist’ring angels, to happify there,” it is a kingdom of “glory, dominion and bliss” (stanzas 58, 62, 64).

The Terrestrial Kingdom

Those who receive a terrestrial glory seem to fit into four distinct groups. The first are those “that have died without law” (i.e., the Savior’s gospel), but they also did not receive it in the postmortal spirit world, and consisted of those who were

The heathen of ages that never had hope,
And those of the region and shadow of death,
The spirits in prison, that light has brought up.
(stanza 54)

A second group represents the

. . . spirits in prison [to whom] the Savior once preach’d,
And taught them the gospel, with powers afresh;
And then were the living baptiz’d for their dead,
That they might be judg’d as if men in the flesh.
(stanza 55)

The third group includes

. . . They that are hon’rable men of the earth;
Who were blinded and dup’d by the cunning of men:
They receiv’d not the truth of the Savior at first;
But did, when they heard it in prison, again.
(stanza 56)

The fourth and final category are those

Not valiant for truth, they obtain’d not the crown,
But are of that glory that’s typ’d by the moon;
They are they, that come into the presence of Christ,
But not to the fulness of God, on his throne.
(stanza 57)

The Celestial Kingdom

Stanzas 40–52 discuss the requirements and promises made to those who are heirs of the celestial kingdom. The fourth line of stanza 45 is particularly worth noting:

They’re priests of the order of Melchisedek,
Like Jesus, (from whom is this highest reward,)
Receiving a fulness of glory and light;
As written: They’re Gods; even sons of the Lord.
(stanza 45; italics added)

In the original 1832 revelation, the word gods is not capitalized. However, in the poem, Gods is in the uppercase, suggesting possibly a deliberate attempt, either by Joseph Smith or those employed in printing office who set the type, to indicate a higher or elevated future spiritual status of those who obtain the highest degree of the celestial kingdom.[22]

Although the 1832 revelation used the phrase “kings and priests” to describe celestial beings, the full implications of such titles certainly were not understood by the Saints until Joseph Smith began to reveal the ordinances associated with the holy endowment beginning May 4, 1842.[23] The 1832 revelation indicated that these righteous Saints “are they who are the church of the first-born: they are they into whose hands the Father has given all things: they are they who are priests and kings.”[24] But the 1843 poetic rendition expands upon this description and states that they are those into “whose hands he [God] committeth all things; [even] the keys of the kingdom of heav’n” (stanza 44, emphasis added).

As early as April 1842, Joseph began introducing a theme regarding the “keys of the kingdom” in his public and private discourses. During an early Relief Society meeting he “exhorted the sisters always to concentrate their faith and prayers for, and place confidence, in those who God has appointed to honor, whom God has plac’d at the head to lead [Church leaders]—that we should arm them with our prayers—that the keys of the kingdom are about to be given them.”[25] The keys referred to were given in the endowment, when the term took on greater meaning than before.

While the poetic rendition emphasizes the stature of the celestial Saints, it also indicates that the Holy Spirit of promise can be sealed upon an individuals by authorized servants of God:

For these overcome, by their faith and their works,
Being tried in their life-time, as purified gold.
And seal’d by the spirit of promise, to life,
By men called of God, as was Aaron of old.
(stanza 43; emphasis added)

While the glorious doctrines of exaltation were being opened to them, Joseph cautioned the Saints:

’Tis wisdom that man never glory in man,
But give God the glory for all that he hath.
(stanza 47)

Joseph Smith’s Life and Mission

Just a few days before the poem was published in the Times and Seasons, Joseph declared: “I understand my mishion [mission] & business. God Almighty is my shield & what can man do if God is my friend I shall not be sacrafised until my time comes then I shall be offered freely.”[26] Significantly, contemporary sources confirm the Prophet’s awareness of his mortal timetable and the knowledge he had regarding his death.[27] Thus it is not surprising that the first stanza of the poem begins with the following:

I will go, I will go, to the home of the Saints,
Where the virtue’s the value, and life the reward;
But before I return to my former estate
I must fulfil the mission I had from the Lord.
(stanza 1)

A foreboding feeling is found in the words “I will go, I will go.” This theme is emphasized again:

I will go, I will go, while the secret of life,
Is blooming in heaven, and blasting in hell;
Is leaving on earth, and a budding in space:—
I will go, I will go, with you, brother, farewell.
(stanza 78)

Early in his mission, Joseph Smith felt confident of the protection God had promised him. However, in Nauvoo, he began to discover for himself and reveal to the Saints his mortal destiny—martyrdom—and he began to prepare the Saints for his early departure. On April 9, 1842, during a funeral address, he reflected upon the sadness of parting prematurely from family and friends. He said, “Some has supposed that Br Joseph could not die but this is a mistake it is true their has been times when I have had the promise of my life to accomplish such & such things, but having accomplish those things I have not at present any lease of my life & am as liable to die as other menn.”[28] Less than three weeks later, Eliza R. Snow reported that he told the Nauvoo Female Relief Society that he “did not know as he should have many opportunities of teaching them—that they were going to be left to themselves,—they would not long have him to instruct them—that the church would not have his instruction long, and the world would not be troubled with him a great while and would not have his teachings.”[29] Clearly, these statements, along with many others, demonstrate the Prophet’s foreknowledge of his impending death.

The poetic version of section 76 is yet another contemporary source that details Joseph Smith’s own sense of mission and his knowledge concerning his mortal destiny. His knowledge that he would be a martyr for the cause made him melancholy on occasion, as revealed in the emotionally charged phrase in the poem, “I will go, I will go, with you, brother, farewell.”

Additional Insights

The poetic version of Doctrine and Covenants 76 also includes a number of other doctrinal insights. For example, the poem clarifies the meaning of the phrase “meridian of time” when it states that “he [Christ] came to the world in the middle of time” (stanza 33). The destiny of apostates who had turned from the truth was also emphasized in these words:

And which is the torment apostates receive,
But the end, or the place where the torment began,
Save to them who are made to partake of the same,
Was never, nor will be, revealed unto man.
(stanza 37)

And the eternal nature of the gospel was reemphasized:

Who receiv’d and believ’d, and repented likewise,
And then were baptis’d, as a man always was,
Who ask’d and receiv’d a remission of sin,
And honored the kingdom by keeping its laws.
(stanza 41; emphasis added)

Conclusion

The poetic rendition of Doctrine and Covenants 76 adds significantly to our understanding of the original principles communicated in the revelation as Joseph understood it or, alternatively, as he was willing to reveal it to the Saints in 1843. And, as the poem states:

I, Joseph, the prophet, in spirit beheld,
And the eyes of the inner man truly did see
Eternity sketch’d in a vision from God,
Of what was, and now is, and yet is to be.
(stanza 11)

Notes

[1] Wilford Woodruff, journal (January 1, 1843–December 31, 1844), February 1, 1843, 18, www.wilfordwoodruffpapers.org.

[2] On February 10, 1843, Joseph Smith reviewed the mobbing of March 24, 1832, in Hiram, Ohio; see Minutes, 10 February 1843, in JSP, D11:411–13.

[3] JSP, J2:236–40, also 236n246. Later, Wilson Law authored a poem about Joseph Smith’s release. See Wilson Law, “All Hail to Our Chief!,” in Times and Seasons, February 15, 1843, 112.

[4] Woodruff, journal (January 1, 1843–December 31, 1844), January 17, 1843, 11, www.wilfordwoodruffpapers.org.

[5] See Times and Seasons, February 1, 1843, 96.

[6] Woodruff, journal (January 1, 1843–December 31, 1844), January 18, 1843, 12.

[7] JSP, J2:246–47 and 247n293. See also History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 (1 August 1842–1 July 1843), 20 January 1843, 1456, www.josephsmithpapers.org; see also Times and Seasons, February 1, 1843, 81–82; Deseret News, May 14, 1856, 1–2.

[8] Times and Seasons, February 1, 1843, 81–82; Deseret News, May 14, 1856, 1–2.

[9] History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 (1 August 1842–1 July 1843), 24 February 1843, 1476–83.

[10] “To Subscribers,” Times and Seasons, March 15, 1842, 710.

[11] Concerning the authorship of the poem, the editors of the Joseph Smith Papers have written the following: “Given his lack of experience, JS likely relied on the help of one of his scribes, presumably Phelps, to draft the poem. In his journal, Phelps noted on 19 January that he had recommenced ‘writing on the history of the church for B[rother] Joseph,’ and the next day he gave JS the poem to which this poem responded. However, there is not conclusive evidence that Phelps was involved with JS’s poem, and JS may have also worked with others such as Parley P. Pratt, who returned to Nauvoo in early February, or Eliza R. Snow, who continued to live in JS’s home until mid-February, both of whom were accomplished poets. Nevertheless, the poem was written in JS’s voice, even including the phrase ‘I, Joseph, the prophet.’” JSP, D11:422–23.

Two leading LDS scholars have argued for Phelps’s authorship. In his biography of W. W. Phelps, Bruce A. Van Orden provides convincing evidence that Phelps was the author. Van Orden maintains that in 1832 when Phelps published Doctrine and Covenants 76 in The Evening and the Morning Star, he became enamored with the doctrine and teachings in the revelation. For years “Phelps mused how ‘The Vision’ could be put into poetic form,” writes Van Orden, noting that he “worked on this project gradually until on February 1, 1843, he published his own poem that invited the Prophet to provide detail to eternal themes . . . and published a poem entitled ‘The Answer’ in the name of Joseph Smith.” 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), 394. See also Bruce A. Van Orden, “William W. Phelps’s Service in Nauvoo as Joseph Smith’s Political Clerk,” BYU Studies 32, nos. 1 and 2 (Winter and Spring 1991): 90. Sam Brown also surmises that Phelps was the author. See Sam Brown, “The Translator and the Ghostwriter: Joseph Smith and W. W. Phelps,” Journal of Mormon History 34, no. 1 (Winter 2008): 41–42.

[12] John Taylor, “Ancient Poetry,” Times and Seasons, February 1, 1843, 81.

[13] See Times and Seasons, February 1, 1843, 82–85; also JSP, D11:424–35.

[14] See N. B. Lundwall, comp., The Vision; or, The Degrees of Glory (Kaysville, UT: Inland Printing, 1951), 156–64.

[15] These studies include Hyrum Mack Smith and Janne Sjodahl, Doctrine and Covenants Commentary (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1951, 1960); Sidney B. Sperry, Doctrine and Covenants Compendium (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1960); Roy W. Doxey, The Latter-day Prophets and the Doctrine and Covenants, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1964); and Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Doctrine and Covenants, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1978).

[16] For example, see Richard Cowan, The Doctrine and Covenants: Our Modern Scripture, rev. ed. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1984), 115; Monte Nyman, “Six Visions of Eternity: Section 76,” in Hearken, O Ye People: Discourses on the Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: Randall Book, 1984), 105–18; Larry E. Dahl, “The Visions of Glory (D&C 76),” in Studies in Scripture: The Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson (Salt Lake City: Randall Book, 1984), 295–305; and Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), 158–66. For more recent commentaries on the Doctrine and Covenants in which the authors discuss the doctrinal contributions associated with the poem, see Joseph Fielding McConkie and Craig J. Ostler, Revelations of the Restoration (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 508–50; and Stephen E. Robinson and H. Dean Garrett, A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2001), 2:285–333.

[17] Zina Diantha Huntington Young recalled that when her mother died in 1839, Joseph Smith consoled her by telling her that in heaven she would see her own mother again and become acquainted with her eternal Mother. See Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 15–16. See also “Mother in Heaven,” www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[18] Joseph Smith, Discourse, May 14, 1844, in JSP, D11:482.

[19] When the poem has been cited, it has usually been these two stanzas. See for example, Edward Wheelock Tullidge, Life of Joseph the Prophet (New York, 1878), 361; Truman G. Madsen, Eternal Man (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1966), 34; and Cowan, The Doctrine and Covenants: Our Modern Scripture, 115.

[20] The phrase “godified state” has been changed to “glorified state” in several twentieth-century versions of the poem. For example, see Richard A. Cracroft and Neal A. Lambert, A Believing People: Literature of the Latter-day Saints (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1974), 186.

[21] Woodruff, journal (January 1, 1843–December 31, 1844), May 14, 1843, 40, www.wilfordwoodruffpapers.org.

[22] During the early years of the Church, the use of uppercase and lowercase for many words was not consistent in manuscript and printed sources, and it would be difficult to determine with certainty whether Joseph Smith directed on this occasion the typesetting of the poem for publication. That it was intentional may be argued, however. Wilford Woodruff was employed at the Nauvoo Times and Seasons printing establishment during 1843, and two years while in Europe, he used the uppercase Gods for this verse in the first European edition of the Doctrine and Covenants (1845). See The Book of Doctrine & Covenants (Liverpool: James and Woodburn, 1845), 267. This capitalization continued in the next five European editions (1849, 1852, 1854, 1866, and 1869). The 1844 American edition was reprinted in 1845 and 1846, unchanged, from the same plates. The third American edition (1876) was prepared for publication by Orson Pratt, under the direction of Brigham Young. In this edition, Pratt changed the word gods to Gods, following the lead of Wilford Woodruff’s 1845 European edition. Later, Pratt prepared a new European edition in 1879, and the plates of this edition were used to print the 1880 American edition in Salt Lake City. Pratt retained the capitalization of Gods in both editions. From 1880–1920, the Church produced at least twenty-eight printings of this edition. The lowercase gods was reintroduced into the text of the 1921 edition.

[23] See JSP, J2:53–54.

[24] Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams & Co., 1835), 228, CHL; this is Doctrine and Covenants 91:5.

[25] Nauvoo Female Relief Society minutes, April 28, 1842, in The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-Day Saint Women’s History, ed. Jill Mulvay Derr et al. (Salt Lake City: The Church Historian’s Press, 2016), 57.

[26] Woodruff, journal (January 1, 1843–December 31, 1844), January 22, 1843, 18, www.wilfordwoodruffpapers.org.

[27] For example, see Ronald K. Esplin, “Joseph Smith’s Mission and Timetable: ‘God Will Protect Me until My Work Is Done,’” in The Prophet Joseph: Essays on the Life and Mission of Joseph Smith, ed. Larry C. Porter and Susan Easton Black (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1988), 280–319.

[28] Woodruff, journal (January 1, 1841–December 31, 1842), April 9, 1842, 147, www.wilfordwoodruff.org.

[29] Nauvoo Female Relief Society minutes, April 28, 1842, in The First Fifty Years, ed. Derr et al., 56.

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The Voice of the Lord

Exploring the Doctrine and Covenants

Alexander L. Baugh, Editor