More Than an Index

The First Reference Guide to the Doctrine and Covenants as a Window into Early Mormonism

Article

Contents

When the Doctrine and Covenants came off the press in Kirtland, Ohio, in September 1835, readers found two reference tools in the back of the book. The first, a three-page section titled “Index,” is really more of a table of contents. It lists sequentially the seven lectures “of faith” and the 102 sections of “Part Second” found in that original edition, citing the page number where each begins. Then follows “Contents,” also somewhat mislabeled. As seen in the appendix below, “Contents” looks like an index in that it is organized alphabetically. However, entries within each letter grouping are not alphabetized; they are arranged sequentially in the order in which they appear in the book. And there is only one reference for each entry.1 In this way, “Contents” resembles a table of contents, although alphabetized.

Significantly, “Contents” is the only reference guide or finding aid to the Doctrine and Covenants known to have been prepared in the 1830s. Its authorship is uncertain, but its sponsorship is clear and important. “Contents” was prepared under the direction of the Doctrine and Covenants compilation committee, which consisted of Joseph Smith Jr., Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams (fig. 1).2

Preparing such a guide is a selective, interpretive act. Studying it today offers a window into the mental world of the people involved in its preparation and publication. Which passages of the Doctrine and Covenants stand out as most noteworthy in “Contents”? Where the wording of an entry summarizes or restates textual content rather than merely excerpts it, what does that tell us about how the Doctrine and Covenants was being interpreted? What general observations can be made about Latter-day Saint interests and emphases in the 1830s from an analysis of these entries? How does a close examination of “Contents” confirm or counter the findings of other studies of early Mormonism? The great value of “Contents” lies in the fact that it provides more than seven hundred authentic First Presidency–approved (if not authored) glimpses of what seemed noteworthy and significant to them about these revelations in the mid-1830s. The sheer quantity of these entries probably matches the combined total of Doctrine and Covenants interpretations from all other surviving 1830s sources. Accordingly, this article encourages historians to use “Contents” as an important interpretive source that offers an illuminating glimpse into these early understandings.

The Philosophy of a History of Interpretation

As a realm of scriptural study, history of interpretation is distinct from textual criticism. While textual criticism focuses on the preservation and transmission of the text,3 a history of interpretation broadens the inquiry to ask how the text has been read over time. In the spirit of Nephi “liken[ing] all scriptures” to his people (1 Ne. 19:23), it assumes that scriptural texts may well have many applications and meanings. Those who study literature have long emphasized that “meaning is not something embedded in a text to be extracted ‘like a nut from its shell,’ but is rather ‘an experience one has in the course of reading.’”4 In this literary sense, meaning is a creation of the reader in collaboration with the text. We “see” in a text what our interpretive principles and the Spirit allow or direct us to notice and understand in our specific situation.

In this light, it cannot be assumed that what a modern Saint understands by a given passage in the Doctrine and Covenants is necessarily what his or her counterpart in the 1830s or even 1930s would have understood by those same words. A classic example would be the modern interpretation of Doctrine and Covenants 59:6, “thou shalt not . . . kill, nor do anything like unto it,” which sees this as an injunction against abortion. That interpretation is not documented prior to the second half of the twentieth century, when the issue of abortion became more prominent.

It is also important to recognize that differing interpretations do not merely reflect changing personal views or circumstances. To one degree or another, there is always a communal quality to interpretation. Of some of these “communities” of thought we may be cognizant. Others, deeper in nature and even embedded in the very structure of our language, elude our consciousness but constrain our interpretations just the same. Discernible interpretive communities may be large-scale and institution-wide such as Latter-day Saint versus Community of Christ (RLDS) perspectives. Or they may be in-house, such as schools of thought or generational differences within the broader tradition. Since The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is partly shaped through interpretations of its foundational texts, to pursue interpretive history is to help illuminate the development of a religion’s beliefs and behaviors. This enables us to better discern the line-upon-line manner in which truth has been revealed.

Thematic Coverage in “Contents”

In an overall sense, the entries in “Contents” seem to fall into four broad categories: (a) entries that draw attention to priesthood and church government; (b) entries that highlight specific directives to the brethren; (c) entries on general exhortations about godly living; and (d) entries that can be loosely classified as doctrinal or theological. The number in each category is roughly the same. If one is inclined to view the entries in the first three categories as all having to do with church regulation, then roughly 70 percent of the entries draw attention to what the Lord would have his church do, institutionally or individually, as distinguished from what he would have them believe. Theologians would say that orthopraxis (right practice) received greater emphasis in the 1830s than orthodoxy (right doctrine).

This observation is supported by several early expressions about the value and objectives of the Doctrine and Covenants. On September 24, 1834, when the high council in Kirtland appointed a committee—the First Presidency—to prepare this book, they commissioned them to “arrange the items of doctrine of Jesus Christ, for the government of his church of the Latter Day Saints.”5 Similarly, at the general assembly convened eleven months later to examine and approve the finished compilation, “President John Smith arose and testified his joy that we have at length received the long wished for document to govern the church in righteousness and bring the Elders to see eye to eye.” Representatives from all the assembled priesthood quorums and governing councils were requested to offer their feelings about the book. The teachers quorum representative, Erastus Babitt, stated that “he received it at the time, as coming from God, and that he was willing to be governed by the rules contained in the book.”6 In their preface to the volume, the Presidency explained, “The second part [the compilation of revelations, the first part being the “Lectures on Faith”] contains items or principles for the regulation of the church, as taken from the revelations which have been given since its organization, as well as from former ones.”7 These statements make clear that the first Doctrine and Covenants functioned primarily, but not exclusively, as an 1830s counterpart to the Church Handbook of Instructions today.

Quantitative Analysis of “Contents”

The compilers’ emphasis on church governance matters is confirmed statistically. Table 1 shows the priority of place given to major revelations on priesthood and church government, namely sections currently numbered 20, 84, 86, 102, and 107. In the 1835 edition, these five sections were positioned among the first seven in the Doctrine and Covenants. Their nonchronological placement in the front suggests that the First Presidency compilers wished to draw special attention to them.

Table 1
The First Seven Sections in the 1835 Edition of the Doctrine and Covenants

1835 Sec. No.

Title in the 1835 Index

1981 Sec.No.

1

Preface to the Commandments

1

2

Articles and Covenants

20

3

Priesthood

107

4

Revelation of September 22–23, 1832

84

5

Minutes of the High Council

102

6

Parable of the Wheat &c.

86

7

Revelation Called the “Olive Leaf”

88

Table 2 highlights the sections with the most “Contents” entries by raw scores, and table 3 attempts a more proportional comparison by ranking the ratios of entries to verses (using the modern versification) in each section.8 Either way, the main sections on priesthood occupy prominent positions. The largest number of entries for any section was forty-nine (see table 2, data on section 107). Section 107 also had the second-highest ratio (0.49) of references to verses.9 By contrast, the similarly sized section 76, the vision of the three degrees of glory—one of the most purely doctrinal revelations—received only 0.09 references per verse.10 These data indicate that in the 1830s, the Doctrine and Covenants was prized more as a handbook on church government than as a source book for theology.

Table 2
The Twelve Most Frequently Referenced Sections

1981 Sec. No.

No. of Entries in “Contents”

107*

49

88*

47

20*

35

84*

33

42

23

63

17

45

17

102*

16

1*

15

6

15

10

15

101

15

* These sections also appear in table 1.

Table 3
The Ten Most Referenced Sections by Ratio of Entries to Modern Number of Verses

1981 Sec. No.

No. of Entries in “Contents”

No. of 1981 Verses

Ratio of Entries to Verses

134

13

12

1.08

107*

49

100

0.49

102*

16

34

0.47

20*

35

84

0.42

6

15

37

0.41

11

12

30

0.40

1*

15

39

0.38

24

7

19

0.37

86*

4

11

0.36

88*

47

141

0.33

* These sections also appear in table 1.

Qualitative Analysis

A shift from quantitative to qualitative analysis brings us to an examination of the wording of “Contents” entries. Each of the four thematic categories will be sampled to show how this unassuming document opens windows of historical understanding for modern readers.

Priesthood and Church Government References. “Contents” references dealing with priesthood and church government shed light on or are relevant to questions asked by Mormon historians about 1830s perceptions and practices. For instance, consider the discussion over whether the designations in the “Articles and Covenants” (section 20) of Joseph Smith as “first elder of this church” and Oliver Cowdery as “second elder” are best understood as two ecclesiastical titles or simply as a reference to chronology.11 This passage is referenced in “Contents” with the words “Two first elders.” The placement of the word “two” in front of “first,” as well as the plural “elders,” makes it clear that “Contents’” understood Joseph and Oliver both as “first elders.” There cannot be two firsts in a sequential sense, but if “first” is understood as “chief” or “presiding,” as in the expression “First Presidency,” then the entry “Two first elders” makes perfect sense. Moreover, in the text of the revelation, the word “elder,” especially as followed by the phrase “of the [this] church,” seems to reflect the common Christian usage of ecclesiastical leader or officer. Hence the phrase “first elder(s)” was not an attempt to identify the first two men ordained to the office of elder within the Melchizedek priesthood but rather to point to Joseph and Oliver as the two “presiding officers” of the newly organized church.12

Similarly revealing is how “Contents,” prepared just months after the first Twelve were called in 1835, uses the word “apostle.” Both in the text of the Doctrine and Covenants, as well as in “Contents,” the word “apostle” connotes function more than position. In the September 1832 revelation “On Priesthood” to Joseph Smith and “six elders,”13 the Lord declares, “As I said unto mine apostles, even so I say unto you, for you are mine apostles” (D&C 84:63). “Contents” references this passage with the words “Elders called as the ancient apostles.” In the common English of Joseph Smith’s day as well as in the New Testament, the word “apostle,” based on the Greek verb apostello (to send), could refer to anyone sent or deputized to conduct important business: a messenger, an envoy, or a missionary, as well as one of the apostles as such.14 Thus, elders could be referred to as apostles. In 1837, John Taylor reflected this broader apostle-as-missionary meaning of this term when he wrote to a friend in England: “You ask what is the number of the apostles. There are twelve that are ordained to go to the nations, and there are many others, no definite number.”15 With the passage of time, however, and especially after the Twelve returned from their successful mission to England in 1840–41, Joseph Smith called them “to stand in their place next to the first presidency” and taught the deeper significance of the holy apostleship.16 Eventually the term “apostle” came to refer almost exclusively to men who had been ordained to that particular office in the Melchizedek Priesthood; but in 1835 a “Contents” entry worded “Duty of apostles and elders” accurately referred to a paragraph listing the duties of an elder (D&C 20:38–44), reflecting the fact that in the Church’s earliest years these two terms were often synonymous.17

Elsewhere, “Contents” reflects word usages that have not been discussed by historians. In entries such as “Authority of the standing councils at the stakes” and “Authority of the standing council at Zion,” modern Latter-day Saints are reminded that the terms “stakes” and “Zion” did not have overlapping meanings in the 1830s. “Zion” generally referred not to the whole Church but to the revealed gathering place near Independence, Missouri, and to the Saints who inhabited it. “Other places . . . called stakes,” outposts from the main tent of Zion, were also to be appointed as authorized gathering centers for the Saints (D&C 101:21). In 1832, for instance, the Lord “consecrated the land of Shinehah [Kirtland] . . . for a stake to Zion” (D&C 82:13, italics added), and Kirtland was called “the city of the stake of Zion” (D&C 94:1). The two separate “orders” created in 1834 from the original, churchwide “united order” were known as “the United Order of the Stake of Zion, the City of Shinehah [Kirtland]” and “the United Order of the City of Zion [Missouri]” (D&C 104:48). Thus, Zion and the Church’s stakes were not coterminous in the early years. A stake of Zion did not originally mean a stake within Zion.

Likewise, one encounters in “Contents” the expression “confirming the church(es).” Today one speaks of confirming members of the Church, but not of confirming a, or the, Church. “Church” is used almost exclusively to refer to the overall organization, not, as it was in the New Testament and occasionally in the early years of this dispensation, to its constituent congregations. Yet the Lord told Joseph to confirm “the church at Colesville” (D&C 26:1), which reflects the idea of the church as a “congregation,” consistent with contemporaneous English and New Testament usages.

References to Situation-Specific Instructions. Many references in “Contents” draw attention to matters of contemporary and local importance. Often, “Contents” will repeat an exact phrase from the revelation that would have been more readily understood by people at that time. For example, the reference “Continue the work of translation” points to the work on the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. The entry “Buy lands for the present” directs readers to the revelation given to those who moved from New York in early 1831. The entries “Commandment to the first laborers” and “Children of Zion reproved” must have seemed more personal to readers in 1835 than they do today. Examples could be multiplied.

Some entries remind modern readers of matters that were important then but are almost entirely lost from the collective consciousness today. For example, one entry cryptically reads, “Oliver returns”: readers are sent to Doctrine and Covenants 37:3, in which the Saints are told to “assemble together at the Ohio, against the time that my servant Oliver Cowdery shall return unto them.” Forgotten today is the fact that in response to the fall 1830 revelations directing the Saints to gather “in unto one place” (D&C 29:8) and indicating that it would be “on the borders by the Lamanites” (D&C 28:9), Oliver had previously been dispatched to Missouri to “rear up a pillar as a witness where the Temple of God shall be built, in the glorious New Jerusalem.”18 At the time Doctrine and Covenants 37 was received, Oliver’s return from this assignment to select a suitable spot was seen as a crucial prerequisite to launching the promised gathering to Zion.

In section 104, certain real estate is allocated to the Prophet Joseph Smith with the proviso “I have reserved an inheritance for his father, for his support” (D&C 104:45). Though Joseph Smith Sr. is clearly secondary to his son in the passage, the compilers’ only entry for this paragraph is “Inheritance for his father.” Presumably, local attitudes and circumstances in 1835 justified a reminder that the Prophet’s father “shall be reckoned in the house of my servant Joseph Smith, Jun.”

More examples include “Children of Zion upbraided,” which targets an isolated passage in which the Lord commands that the “brethren in Zion” be “upbraided” for “their rebellion against you at the time I sent you” (D&C 84:76), meaning the Prophet’s spring 1832 visit to Missouri;19 the entry “Brother’s garment, &c.” relates to the passage “thou shalt not take thy brother’s garment; thou shalt pay for that which thou shalt receive of thy brother” (D&C 42:54), which provided a corrective to the attitudes reported by John Whitmer in his description of the communal “Family” living on Isaac Morley’s property:

The disciples had all things common, and were going to destruction very fast as to temporal things; for they considered from reading the scripture that what belonged to a brother, belonged to any of the brethren. Therefore they would take each others [sic] clothes and other property and use it without leave which brought on confusion and disappointment.20

Entries Targeting Exhortations to Godly Living. A third category of “Contents” entries refers readers to various hortatory passages. Examples of such entries include “Do good” (which sends readers to D&C 11:12), “Pray unto the Lord” (D&C 65:4), “Give heed” (D&C 12:9), “Gird up your loins” (D&C 106:5), “Go forth and preach” (D&C 44:3), “Repent speedily” (D&C 63:15), “Sin no more” (D&C 82:7), “Humble yourselves” (D&C 67:10), “Keep my commandments” (D&C 42:1), and “Live by every word” (D&C 98:11). The generic form of most of these entries implies that these references were understood as stating widely applicable principles. Presumably, the general orientation of “Contents” is disclosed in the entry “What I say unto one I say unto all” (D&C 92:1).

Of course, even though the revelations had been published for all the world to see, a sense of personal ownership may still have hovered around some of its passages, since nearly everyone mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants was still alive in 1835. The entry “Arise and be baptized,” for instance, references an invitation that was originally extended to James Covill (D&C 39:10). The entry “Call upon the inhabitants of the earth” cites words spoken to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon as they were sent on a brief mission to combat the adverse effects of the publication of the Ezra Booth letters (D&C 71:4). And the entry “Bosom shall burn” cites the explanation offered to Oliver Cowdery for how the translation process should have worked (D&C 9:8). Even the entry “What I say unto one I say unto all,” a phrase originally spoken to Frederick G. Williams at the time he was admitted to the “united order,” could be read as highlighting the interchangeability of counsel among the various members of the united order rather than as announcing the wider applicability of God’s word to all readers. Further study of the overall history of Doctrine and Covenants interpretation will likely help us understand how and when the book came to be read more as a devotional volume for personal guidance than as a historical document or a handbook for church government.

Doctrinal Entries. As a reference guide to significant doctrinal passages in the Doctrine and Covenants, “Contents” is somewhat of a disappointment. It appears that mining the book’s theological insights was not a primary objective for “Contents.” To be sure, its compilers drew attention to some points of doctrine in entries such as “Eternal punishment” (D&C 19:11) and “Earth [to be] crowned with the celestial glory” (D&C 88:14–20). Occasionally, “Contents” moves beyond its usual style of merely excerpting a phrase from the revelation and offers something approaching an interpretation as, for instance, with the entry “No knowledge no repentance,” which cites the passage “I say unto you, that whoso having knowledge, have I not commanded to repent? And he that hath no understanding, it remaineth in me to do according as it is written” (D&C 29:49–50).

More noticeable, however, is what is overlooked. Absent are entries to such now-popular passages as “whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (D&C 1:38); “if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work” (D&C 4:3); “if they would not repent they must suffer even as I” (D&C 19:17); “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say” (D&C 82:10); and “the glory of God is intelligence” (D&C 93:36).

On the other hand, the millenarian character of early Mormonism plainly shows through in “Contents.”21 A sample of such eschatological entries includes: “Great day shall come” (D&C 34:9); “I come quickly” (D&C 88:126); “Millenial [sic] shall come” (D&C 43:27–33); “Vengeance cometh speedily upon the ungodly” (D&C 97:22); “Field ready to be burned” (D&C 31:4); “Mine when I come to make up my jewels” (D&C 101:3); “Signs in the heavens” (D&C 88:87); “Ruler when I come” (D&C 41:4); and “Signs of his coming” (D&C 45:39–44). Not only are major prophetic sections, such as section 45, amply cited, but in some places unusual detail is provided. For instance, in that portion of the Olive Leaf (D&C 88) which deals with the end times, a separate entry is made for the events of each of the seven trumpets: “Trump second,” “Trump third,” and so on to “Trump seventh” (D&C 88:93–107), where a single reference to the sounding of the seven might have been sufficient. The compilers even drew attention to the fact that, following the sequence of events associated with the sounding of each trump, the trumps would sound again to “reveal the secret acts of men”(D&C 88:108–10) a thousand years at a time (“First angel again sound his trump”). For the overall minority of entries that can be classified as theological, the branch of theology known as eschatology is clearly the best represented.

Conclusion

In dealing with the more than seven hundred references in “Contents,” this study has painted its portrait with only the broadest of strokes. It seems clear on several grounds that “Contents” reflects a high concern about matters pertaining to priesthood and church government and the expectation that readers would use the Doctrine and Covenants to delineate Church policies and procedures. This observation reminds modern readers of what distinguished early Mormons from those of other faiths. People who had broken away from other churches because they saw those churches as the works of men prized revelations from God that directed church government. The ordinances and orders of the Church were tangible evidence of the divine sponsorship of the church they had joined. Of course, they cared about doctrine too, but even within the Church, in that first generation, the Bible was still the prime arena for theological reflection and elaboration.22 Usage patterns would change over the years, but to the degree that other early sources corroborate the orientation of “Contents,” it seems that during the lifetime of the Prophet Joseph Smith the most-used portions of the Doctrine and Covenants were its numerous instructions on how to govern both the affairs of the Church and the lives of individual Saints and to prepare the Saints for the future state of rewards and punishments.

In the end, a comprehensive history of Doctrine and Covenants interpretation would require attention to a great variety of source materials over the entire sweep of this dispensation. Diaries and discourses, treatises and tomes, periodicals and pamphlets would all need to be carefully consulted. So, too, would overlooked but illuminating sources such as the 1835 “Contents.” This article plows but a single furrow in an immense and fascinating field of study waiting to be thoroughly cultivated. It does so in hopes of stimulating others to search out all the inspired and inspiring ways in which the Doctrine and Covenants has been understood over the years. That work would stand as an appropriate act of gratitude as well as a valuable contribution to learning.

Appendix

What follows is a reproduction of the entries in “Contents,” as printed in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants (fig. 2). The corresponding 1981 edition sections and verses have been added on the right. “Contents” is like an alphabetical index in that entries are grouped according to their first letter, but the entries under each letter are arranged according to section number, not alphabetical order. Thus, if the user is interested in “Melchizedek priesthood,” for instance, one must read through all the “M” entries to make sure that none are missed.

CONTENTS.

(The arrangement of the Lectures [on Faith, in Part First] supercedes the necessity of any other reference than the Index.)

PART SECOND

1835 Edition

1981 Edition

A

Sec.

Par.

Sec.

Verse

Aaronic or lesser priesthood an appendage, &c.

3

8

107

13–17

Authority of the standing councils at the stakes,

3

14

107

36

———— of the standing council at Zion

3

15

107

37

Adam blessed his posterity in Adam-ondi-Ahman,

3

28

107

53–55

Adam prophesied concerning his posterity,

5a

29

107

56–57

Authority of bishops,

3

32

107

68–73

Appeal from the bishop’s council to the high council,

3

35

107

78–80

Appendages of the high priesthood,

4

5

84

29–30

Appeal to the seat of the first presidency,

5

11

102

24–27

Another comforter,

7

1

88

1–3

All things of God,

7

10

88

39–41

All kingdoms receive of the Lord’s presence,

7

14

88

56–60

Arm of mercy atoned

10

1

29

1–3

Adam transgressed,

10

11

29

40–41

Authority necessary to preach,

13

4

42

11

Adulterers cast out,

13

7

42

19–28

Ask God for wisdom,

13

18

42

63–69

All gifts to some,

16

8

46

28–30

All things done in the name of Christ,

16

9

46

31–33

Abominations in the church,

17

2

50

4–6

Ask the Father,

17

7

50

31–36

After much tribulation cometh the blessing,

18

2

58

3–4

Assemble to Zion, &c.

20

8

63

24–31

Agent unto the disciples,

20

12

63

42–46

An ensample, &c.

23

4b

51

13–17

Assist to translate,

35

1

9

1–2

Altered those words,

36

5

10

29

Arise and be baptized,

59

3

39

7–11

All things done according to law,

62

3

44

6

— grain for man,

80

2

89

10–15

Axe is laid at the root of the tree,

81

2

97

3–9

Agency of man,

82

5

93

29–35

Alam, and others,

86

4

82

11–19

Account to bishop in Zion,

87c

3

72

9–15

Apocrypha not translated,

92

1

91

1–6

Angel flying through heaven,

100

4

133

36–45

B

Baptism necessary,

2

7

20

37

Bishop to sit in judgment,

3

33

107

74–75

Bishops who are literal descendants of Aaron to sit in judgment in certain cases,

3

34

107

76–77

Be faithful,

8

16

6

34–37

Bearing my name,

9

5

24

10–12

Baptize by water,

11

2

35

3–6

Bishop received consecrations,

13

9

42

32

Brother’s garment, &c.

13

14

42

53–55

Behold ye are little children,

17

9d

50

37–46

Blessed is he that keepeth my commandments,

18

1

58

1–2

Bear record by the way,

18

14

58

59–60

Blessed are they, &c.

19

1

59

1–4

By blood, law, &c.

20

8

63

24–31

Blood of Ephraim,

21

7

64

34–39

Bishop tried, &c.

22

3

68

22–24

Bishop appoint a storehouse,

23

4

51

13–17

Book of commandments,,

25

2

67

4–9

Buy land, in all the regions,

27

2

57

6

Be patient,

35

2

9

3–6

Bosom shall burn,

35

3

9

7–9

Be faithful,

35

5

9

13–14

Blessing upon this land,

36

11

10

49–51

Build up churches to get gain,

36

13

10

53–56

—— upon my rock,

37

11

11

23–27

Bring forth the gospel from among the Gentiles,

39

5

14

9–11

—— souls unto me,

41

3

16

6

Bearing my name,

46

3

21

9–12

Build up my church, &c.

52

2

30

5–8

Be patient in afflictions,

53

3

31

6–9

Book of Mormon, &c.

55

3

33

12–18

Baptism of fire,

59

2

39

5–6

Bring forth Zion,

59

4

39

12–15

Buy lands for the present,

64

1

48

1–3

Better for him that he was drowned,

67

1

54

1–6

Blessed are the poor,

69

6

56

18–20

Be of good cheer little children,

71

6

61

33–39

Bishop search diligently,

84

6

90

19–27

Brethren of Zion,

84

3

90

6–10

Beware of those judgments,

86

1

82

1–6

Blessings of the promise made to the fathers,

96

2

96

6–9

Builded the earth as a handy work,

98

2

104

10–18

C

Cammandments given to proclaim to the world,

1

4

1

17–23

——————— shall all be fulfilled

1

8

1

38–39

Certificates and licences for priests, teachers, and deacons,

2

15

20

64

Children to be blest,

2

20

20

70

Certificates to be given,

2

27

20

84

Cainan ordained by Adam,

3

21

107

45

Choosing bishops,

3

32

107

68–73

Calling and authority of John,

4

4

84

23–28

Confirmation of the high priesthood,

4

6

84

31–42

Children of Zion reproved,

4

8

84

54–59

———– of Zion upbraided,

4

12

84

74–76

Cleansing feet with water,

4

16

84

89–99

Council abroad called only on difficult matters,

5

12

102

28–29

Christ, the Light of the world,

7

2

88

4–10

Come unto the Lord,

7

16

88

62–65

Call a solemn assembly,

7

19

88

69–72

Commandment to the first laborers,

7

20

88

73–75

Cease to do evil, &c.

7

37

88

121–22

Confirming the churches,

9

4

24

7–9

Commandments are spiritual,

10

9

29

34–35

Christ the Son of God,

11

1

35

1–2

Church in every region,

13

3

42

8–10

Consecration for various purposes,

13

10

42

33–36

Christ’s words to his ancient apostles,

15

3

45

18–25

Confirmation meetings,

16

3

46

6–7

Commandment to them,

26

2

70

6–8

Continue the work of translation,

29

2

73

3–6

Course is one eternal round,

30

1

3

1–2

Commandment is strict,

30

3

3

5–8

Children of men stirred up, &c.

43

2

18

6–8

Contend against no church save one, &c.

43

4

18

16–25

Covet not thy neighbor’s wife;

44

3

19

25–27

Conduct thyself wisely,

44

6

19

38–41

Continue in the spirit of meekness,

48

4

25

14–16

Confirm the church, &c.

49

1

26

1–2

Call faithful laborers,

59

5

39

16–22

Conference next held in Missouri,

66(1)e

1

52

1–2

Called and chosen,

68

1

55

1–3

Chastened for your sins, that you might be one,

71

2

61

7–13

Commit not adultery,

74

5

66

9–13

Committee to build houses,

83

4

94

13–16

Consecrated unto me,

84

7

90

28–31

Constitutional law, &c.

85

2

98

4–7

Certificate from the elders,

89

5

72

24–26

Call upon the inhabitants of the earth,

90

2

71

2–11

Chastisement prepares for deliverance,

95

1

95

1–7

Claim and hold claim,

97

13

101

96–101

City of the saints,

98

6

104

34–38

Crowned with glory in Zion,

100

3

133

16–35

D

Duty of apostles and elders,

2

8

20

38–44

Deacon’s duty,

2

11

20

53–59

Directions for ordaining presiding elders, bishops,

high counsellors, and high priests,

2

17

20

67

Duty of members on sacrament,

2

18f

20

68–69g

Dealing with transgressors,

2

25

20

80

Divisions of the priesthood,

3

2

107

5–6

Duty of the presiding deacons,

3

38

107

85

Duty of the presiding teacher,

3

39

107

86

Duty of the presiding priest of the priesthood of Aaron,

3

40

107

87–88

Duty of the president of the elders,

3

41

107

89–90

Duty of the president of the high priesthood,

3

42

107

91–92

Distinction of the righteous and wicked,

4

7

84

43–53

Directions to those who preach,

4

14

84

81–85

———— and promises to those who preach,

4

15

84

86–88

———— to the elders,

4

18

84

103–4

———— to the strong,

4

19

84

105–6

———— to the lesser priesthood

4

20

84

107–8

———— for the high priests, elders, and lesser priests,

4

24h

84

111

Duties of deacons and teachers,

4

24i

84

111

Duty of N. K. Whitney,

4

22j

84

112–16

Duty of the twelve counsellors,

5

7

102

12

Destinction between high council and travelling high council,

5

13

102

30–32

Do no more to you than to me,

8

14

6

29–31

Dead come forth,

10

3

29

12–13

Devil thrust down to hell,

10

10

29

36–39

Desolations upon Babylon,

11

3

35

7–8

Dealing with adulterers and thieves &c.

13

22

42

80–87

Dealing according to offences,

13

23

42

88–93

Day of redemption,

15

3

45

18–25

Desolating sickness shall cover the earth,

15

4

45

26–33

Diversities of operations,

16

6

46

15–16

Directions to Martin Harris,

18

8

58

38–39

Dedicate this land,

18

13

58

57–58

Discern by the Spirit,

20

11

63

41

Direction to organize this people,

23

1

51

1–6

Divide the saints their inheritance,

27

3

57

7

Director trampled on,

30

5

3

12–15

Desired a witness,

32

1

5

1–4

Do good,

37

6

11

12

Drink with Moroni, Elias, John, &c.

50

2

27

5–11

Delight to bless,

61

1

41

1–3

Declare glad tidings,

72

2

62

4–6

Destroying angel,

80

3

89

16–21

Dedicated unto me,

83

3

94

10–12

Detestable things,

85

4

98

19–22

Diligent in all things,

87

5

75

28–36

Defending themselves,

102

11

134

11

E

Everlasting covenant broken,

1

3

1

11–16

Elders conferences for church business

2

13

20

61–62

Evangelical ministers to be ordained in large

branches of the church,

3

17

107

39

Enos ordained and blessed by Adam,

3

20

107

44

Enoch ordained by Adam–translated,

3

24

107

48–49

Every man to learn his duty,

3

44

107

99–100

Elders commanded to bear testimony to the world,

4

9

84

60–61

——– called as the ancient apostles,

4

10

84

62–65

——– called friends,

4

13

84

77–80

Every man to labor in his own calling,

4

21

84

109–10

Earth crowned with the celestial glory,

7

4

88

14–20

Establish an house,

7

36

88

117–20

Eternal life, &c.

8

3

6

6–7

Enlightened by the spirit of truth,

8

7

6

15–17

Expound scriptures,

9

3

24

5–6

Eternal damnation–fall, &c.

10

12

29

42–45

Elect hear his voice,

11

5

35

19–23

Eternity is pained,

12

3

38

10–12

Endowed with power,

12

7

38

31–33

Elders to go forth,

13

2

42

4–7

——– to be called,

13

12

42

40–47

Edify each other,

14

3

43

8–14

Everlasting covenant sent into the world,

15

2

45

6–17

Earth shall hear the voice of the Lord,

15

8

45

47–50

Elders to conduct meetings &c.

16

1

46

1–4

Every man take righteousness, &c.

20

9

63

32–38

————– deal honestly,

23

2

51

7–9

————– in his stewardship,

26

3

70

9–14

Engravings of Nephi,

36

10

10

44–48

Establish the cause of Zion,

37

3

11

6–7

Eternal damnation,

44

2

19

7–24

——— punishment,

44

2

19

7–24

Expound scriptures,

48

2

25

5–9

Elders called together,

62

1

44

1

Election in this church,

66(2)k

1

53

1

Ezra Thayre must repent,

69

3

56

8–11

Every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel,

84

4

90

11

Eastern countries,

87

2

75

6–12

Expounding scriptures,

90

1

71

1

End of the vision,

91

7

76

81–113

Endow those whom I have chosen,

95

2

95

8–10

Enmity of man shall cease,

97

5

101

22–42

F

Fulness preached by the weak and the simple,

1

4

1

17–23

Fulness of the gospel to the Gentiles and Jews,

2

3l

20

5–12

Form of baptism,

2

22

20

72–74

—— of administering bread,

2

23

20

75–77

————————— wine,

2

24

20

78–79

Further duty of the twelve,

3

30

107

58

Face of the Lord unveiled,

7

27

88

95–98

First angel again sound his trump,

7

34

88

108

Faithful salute

7

43

88

135

Field is white,

8

2

6

3–5

Faithful and diligent,

8

9

6

20

Fear not to do good,

8

15

6

32–33

Flies sent forth,

10

5

29

18–21

First last, &c.

10

8

29

29–33

Faith to be healed and not to be healed,

13

13

42

48–52

Fulness of the scriptures given,

16

16m

42

12–17

Faith comes not by signs,

20

3

63

8–11

Forbidden to get in debt,

21

6

64

27–33

Faith, virtue, &c.

31

2

4

6–7

Fear not but give heed, &c.

52

2

30

5–8

Field ready to be burned,

53

2

31

3–5

—— is white for harvest,

55

1

33

1–4

Father and I are one,

82

1

93

1–11

Family must needs repent,

82

8

93

45–49

Forgiving 70 times 7

85

7

98

39–48

Feigned words,

98

1

104

1–9

Flee to Zion,

100

2

133

8–15

——– Jerusalem,

100

2

133

8–15

Free exercise of conscience,

102

2

134

2

G

God is infinite and eternal,

2

4

20

17–20

Godly walk and conversation required,

2

19

20

68–69n

Gathering of the saints to the place of the city—Zion,

4

1

84

1–3

God’s servants to live by every word that proceedeth

from his mouth,

11

4

35

13–18

Gifts come from God,

16

7

46

17–27

God is light,

17

6

50

22–30

Go with my servant,

28

1

69

1–4

God is merciful,

30

4

3

9–11

Gift of Aaron,

34

4o

8

5–12

Give heed,

38

5

12

9

———— unto all his words,

46

2

21

4–8

Go unto the Lamanites,

61p

3

28

8–9

—— with my servant Oliver,

54

1

32

1–5

Great day shall come,

56

2

34

9–12

Go to the Ohio,

58

1

37

1–2

Great I Am,

50q

1

39

1–4

Gift of the Holy Ghost,

59

6

39

23–24

Go forth and preach,

62

2

44

2–5

Give a new commandment to Thomas,

69

2

56

3–7

Go to certain countries,

76

1

79

1–4

— ye, go ye into the world,

77

1

80

1–5

Glory of the Father was with him,

82

2

93

12–17

Grace for grace,

82

2

93

12–17

Go to battle,

85

6

98

32–38

Go from house to house,

87

3

75

13–22

Great is his wisdom,

91

1

76

1–4

Glory of the Moon,

91

7

76

81–113

Grants this privilege,

91

8

76

114–19

Go and gather together, &c.

97

7

101

52–58

Gird up your loins,

99

2

106

4–5

Go ye out of Babylon,

100

1

133

1–7

Gentiles and Jews,

100

2

133

8–15

Go forth to Zion,

Governments instituted of God,

102

1

134

1

H

Holy priesthood,

4

3

84

18–22

Highpriests can organize counsels abroad

5

11

102

81–85

Hearken, &c.

15

1

45

1–5

Hypocrites among you,

17

3

50

7–9

Honored of laying the foundation of Zion,

18

3

58

5–12

Heritage of God,

18

4

58

13–19

Herbs, houses, barns, &c.

19

4

59

15–19

Hear the word,

20

1

63

1–4

Humble yourselves,

25

3

67

10–13

He must fall,

30

2

3

3–4

Hope and charity,

38

4

12

7

Holy men that ye know not of,

65

2

49

6–14

—— One of Zion,

75

3

78

12–16

—— Ghost shed forth, &c.

94

2

100

7–8

Husband and wife,

101

1

NAr

I

I come quickly,

7

38

88

123–26

Instruction received from the Spirit,

8

6

6

14

Instructions to the elders,

14

1

43

1–3

I am from above,

20

15

63

57–63

Inhabitants of Zion,

26

1s

70

6–8

I am the life, &c.

37

12

11

28–30

I am Alpha and Omega,

44

1

19

1–6

Inheritance in Zion,

48

1

25

1–2

Innocent from the beginning,

82

6

93

36–43

Inner court,

83

2

94

4–9

Israel shall be saved,

97

4

101

9–21

Importune at the feet of the Judge, &c. &c.

97

12

101

86–95

Inheritance for his father,

98

8

104

43–46

J

Justification and sanctification true,

2

6

20

29–36

Jared ordained by Adam,

3

23

107

47

Jews receive their king,

15

9

45

51–53

Joy may be full,

19

3

59

13–14

(John) tarry till I come,

33

2

7

4–7

Joints and marrow,

38

1

12

1–2

John should keep a history

63

1

47

1–2

————— keep the church record,

63

2

47

3–4

Journey to the land of Missouri,

66

2

52

7–12

—————— regions westward,

67

2

54

7–9

Joseph Coe journey with them,

68

3

55

3

Journey to Cincinnati,

70

2

60

3–7

John bear record,

82

1

93

1–11

Judge feared not God,

97

11

101

81–85

Joy in heaven,

99

3

106

6–8

K

Kingdom likened unto a field,

7

13

88

51–55

—————————— parable,

7

15

88

61

Keys of gift, &c.

8

13

6

28

Keep my commandments,

13

1

42

1–3

Keys of the mysteries, &c.

21

2

64

4–13

Knowledge of the Savior,

30

6

3

16–20

King Benjamin,

36

9

10

40–43

Keep my commandments,

37

3

11

6–7

Know all things,

37

7

11

13–14

Keep my commandments,

37

9

11

18–19

——————————–,

37

10

11

20–22

Kingdom of God,

38

2

12

3–5

————— my Father,

40

3

15

6

Keep my commandments,

43

7

18

43–47

Keys of your ministry,

50

3

27

12–18

——— the mysteries, &c.

51

2

28

2–7

–————– kingdom,

79

1

81

1–7

————————–,

84

1

90

1–2

L

Lord no respecter of persons,

1

6

1

34–36

Lord is God and the spirit beareth record.

1

8

1

38–39

Licensing elders,

2

14

20

63

List of members to be sent to the conferences,

2

26

20

81–83

Literal descendants of Aaron, bishops preside over

the lesser priesthood,

3

8

107

13–17

Lamech ordained by Seth,

3

26

107

51

Lineage of the priesthood,

4

2

84

4–17

Lots cast by the counsellors,

5

15

102

34

Lawful heirs,

6

3

86

8–10

Light to the Gentiles,

6

4

86

11

Laws and glory,

7

5

88

21–24

Law breaker remains filthy still,

7

8

88

34–35

Laws given to all things,

7

11

88

42–44

Light shineth in darkness,

8

10

6

21

Lifted out of afflictions,

9

1

24

1–2

Little children redeemed,

10

13

29

46–48

Land of promise, &c.

12

4

38

13–20

Look to the poor and needy,

12

8

38

34–38

Lord utter his voice,

14

6

43

23–26

—— shall be terrible,

15

15

45

72–75

Let us reason saith the Lord,

17

4

50

10–16

Let my servants Joseph Wakefield, John Corrill,

Parley P. Pratt and Edward Partridge, &c.

17

8

50

37–46

Let God rule the Judge,

18

5

58

20–23

Let the wicked take heed,

20

2

63

5–7

Little or much,

20

10

63

39–40

Land of promise—Independence centre

27

1

57

1–5

Light which shineth,

37

5

11

10–11

Listen to the words of Jesus,

40

1

15

1–4

Last commandments,

42

3

17

7–9

Listen to the voice of Jesus Christ,

50

1

27

1–4

Little ones, &c.

53

1

31

1–2

Leave his merchandize,

61

3

41

7–12

Let servants take journey, &c.

66

6–9

52

23–44

Learn that he only is saved.

66

3

52

7–12

Lord forgives sins,

71

1

61

1–6

Lift up voices unto God,

71

5

61

26–32

Law of Moses,

73

2

74

2–3

Little children holy,

73

3

74

4–7

Lord spake unto Enoch,

75

1

78

1–7

Learn wisdom, &c.

81

1

97

1–2

Lord of Sabaoth,

85

1

98

1–3

Live by every word,

85

3

98

8–18

Laws concerning women and children,

88

1

83

1–3

Lift up your voices, &c.

94

1

100

1–6

Life or limb,

102

10

134

10

Leave judgment alone with me,

86

6

82

22–24

M

Ministering of an angel,

2

2

20

5–12

Men may fall from grace,

2

6

20

29–36

Manner in which elders are to conduct meetings,

2

9

20

45

Manner of ordaining,

2

12

20

60

Melchizedek priesthood holds the keys of all

spiritual blessings,

3

9

107

18–19

Mahalaleel ordained by Adam,

3

22

107

46

Methuselah ordained by Adam,

3

25

107

50

Many kingdoms and laws,

7

9

88

36–38

Michael fights, &c.

7

35

88

109–16

Miraculous work to come forth,

8

1

6

1–2

Magnify office,

9

2

24

3–4

Miracles, &c.

9

6

24

13–15

Michael’s Trump,

10

7

29

26–28

Murderer shall not have forgiveness,

13

6

42

18

———— shall die,

13

7

42

19–28

———— dealt with according to law, &c.

13

21

42

78–79

Millenial shall come,

14

7

43

27–33

Many gifts,

16

5

46

10–14

Many spirits gone forth,

17

1

50

1–3

Martin example to the church,

18

7

58

34–37

Mysteries of the kingdom,

20

7

63

22–23

Melchizedek priesthood,

22

2

68

13–21

Mine eyes are upon you,

25

1

67

1–3

Marvel not,

35t

7

10

35–37

My gospel,

36

15

10

60–66

— doctrine,

36

16

10

67–68

— church,

36

17

10

69

— word—rock—&c.

37

8

11

15–17

Make known thy calling,

45

1

49

1–5

Move the cause of Zion,

46

2

21

4–8

My son Orson,

56

1

34

1–7

Mighty One of Israel,

57

1

36

1–3

Marriage ordained of God,

65

3

49

15–21

More diligent,

82

9

93

50

Mammon of unrighteousness,

86

6

82

22–24

Many sheaves,

87

1

75

1–5

Manner of building the house,

95

3

95

11–17

Mine when I come to make up my jewels,

97

1

101

1–3

Multiply blessings upon them,

98

4

104

24–26

Marriages in this church,

101

1

NAu

Man and man,

102

6

134

6

N

Noah ordained by Methuselah,

3

27

107

52

No member exempt &c. from the high council,

3

36

107

81

Number that voted,

5

3

102

5

New heaven and earth,

10

6

29

22–25

No knowledge no repentance,

10

14

29

49–50

New Jerusalem called Zion,

15

12

45

64–67

Now it is called to–day,

21

5

64

23–26

Not translated again,

36

6

10

30–34

No flesh safe upon the water,

71

3

61

14–22

New commandment,

86

3

82

8–10

N. K. Whitney, ordained bishop,

89

2

72

8

Never suppress the freedom of soul,

102

4

134

4

No interference with bond servants,

102

12

134

12

O

Office of elders,

3

3

107

7–8

Order of the priesthood by lineage,

3

18

107

40–41

Other seventies to be chosen,

3

43

107

93–98

Organizing the high council,

5

1

102

1–2

Order of counsellors speaking on cases,

5

8

102

13–17

Order of the house,

7

39

88

127–30

Ordinance of washing feet,

7

46

88

140–41

Other records,

8

12

6

26–27

One appointed to receive revelations,

14

2

43

4–7

Offend God,

19

5

59

20–24

Old records,

34

1

8

1–2

Other sheep,

36

14

10

57–59

Oliver returns,

58

2

37

3–4

Oracles of God,

84

2

90

3–5

Open hearts,

87

4

75

23–27

Overcome by denial,

91

4

76

31–49

Olihah have the lot,

98

5

104

27–33

Ozondah establishment,

98

7

104

39–42

Organize yourselves,

98

10

104

54–59

One wife and one husband,

101

4

NAv

Officers enforce laws,

102

3

134

3

P

Preface to the commandments,

1

2

1

6–10

Power to seal on earth and in heaven,

1

2

1

6–10

Peace shall be taken from the earth,

1

6

1

34–36

Priests’ duty,

2

10

20

46–52

Power of the Melchizedek priesthood,

3

3

107

7–8

Power of the lesser priesthood holds the keys of the

ministering of angels, &c.

3

10

107

20

Presiding elders, priests, teachers, & deacons,

3

30w

107

58

———— high priests,

3

31

107

59–67

Place of the temple pointed out,

4

2

84

4–17

Priesthood of Aaron,

4

3

84

18–22

Priesthood from Aaron to John,

4

4

84

23–28

Promises to those sent to preach,

4

11

84

66–73

———— to the faithful,

4

14

84

81–85

Plagues shall go forth,

4

16

84

89–98

Presidents and counsellors chosen,

5

2

102

3–4

President of the church President of the

council, his duty, &c.

5

6

102

9–11

Privilege of accuser and accused, &c.

5

9

102

18–22

President may inquire of the Lord,

5

10

102

23

Power of the first Presidents,

5

14

102

33

Power of God governs all things,

7

3

88

11–13

Prepare to perfect yourselves in the ministry,

7

23

88

84–85

——— O inhabitants of the earth,

7

25

88

88–92

Prune my vineyard,

9

7

24

16–19

Parable of the twelve sons,

12

5

38

21–26

Prophesy by the Comforter,

13

5

42

12–17

Prepare for the great day of the Lord,

14

5

43

17–22

Parable of the fig tree,

15

5

45

34–38

——— of the ten virgins fulfilled,

15

10

45

54–59

Purchase lands in Zion,

18

10

58

49

——————— whole region of country,

18

11

58

50–53

Part in that lake, &c.

20

5

63

16–18

Pattern given to the apostles,

20

6

63

19–21

Proclaim the everlasting gospel,

22

1

68

1–12

Parents that teach not their children, &c.

22

4

68

25–35

Pay again,

23

3

51

10–12

Pray unto the Lord,

24

1

65

1–6

Printer unto the church,

27

5

57

11–14

Preaching the gospel,

29

1

73

1–2

Prayer and faith,

32

5

5

23–29

Power over death,

33

1

7

1–3

Power to translate,

36

2

10

14–19

Plates of Nephi,

36

8

10

38–39

Part of my gospel,

36

12

10

52

Paul mine apostle,

43

3

18

9–15

Preach unto the world,

43

6

18

37–42

Pray vocally,

44

4

19

28–31

Physician unto the church,

53

4

31

10–13

Preach the everlasting gospel,

57

2

36

4–6

Place not yet to be revealed,

64

2

48

4–6

Pattern to judge spirits,

66

5

52

18–22

Printing books for schools,

68

2

55

4–5

Pitching their tents by the way,

71

4

61

23–25

Proclaim my gospel from land to land,

74

2

66

3–5

Persecution and wickedness,

78

1

99

1–4

Pure in heart,

81

5

97

18–28

Polluted their inheritances,

97

3

101

6–8

Parable of the redemption of Zion,

97

6

101

44–51

Privilege this once,

98

13

104

78–86

Q

Quorum of the presidency—the twelve and the

seventy—their powers, &c.

3

11

107

21–32

R

Record of the Nephites given and translated by the

power of God,

1

5

1

24–33

Rise of the church of Christ,

2

1

20

1–4

Restrictions for ordaining,

2

16

20

65–66

Record to be kept,

2

26

20

81–83

Right of the priesidency of the high priesthood,

3

4

107

9

—— of a high priest,

3

5

107

10

—— of an elder,

3

6

107

11

—— of high priest and elder,

3

7

107

12

Revelation in force, &c.

4

12

84

74–76

Reprove the world,

4

23

84

112–16

Removal from office, &c.

5

5

102

8

Resurrection of the body,

7

6

88

25–32

Repentance unto this generation,

8

4

6

8–9

Riches of eternity,

12

9

38

39–42

Remember the poor,

13

8

42

29–31

Revelation upon revelation,

13

17

42

61–62

Remuneration for services,

13

19

42

70–73

Righteous gather to Zion,

15

14

45

71

Residue of the elders,

18

9

58

40–48

Repent speedily,

20

4

63

12–15

Reward in the world to come,

20

13

63

47–54

Receive my will,

21

1

64

1–3

Retain strong hold,

21

4

64

18–22

Reward of diligence,

26

4

70

15–18

Reap while the day lasts,

39

1x

14

3–5

Release thyself from bondage,

44

5

19

32–37

Record to be kept,

46

1

21

1–3

Receive commandments and revelations,

51

2

28

2–7

Reap with all your might,

55

2

33

5–11

Ruler when I come,

61

2

41

4–6

Reason with them,

65

1

49

1–5

Recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon,

72

1

62

1–3

Ride upon Mules or in chariots,

72

3

62

7–9

Restore four fold,

85

7

98

39–48

Render account of stewardship,

89

1

72

1–7

Recommended by church,

89

4

72

16–23

Received of his fulness,

91

3

76

11–30

Ruler in my kingdom,

97

8

101

59–62

Red in his apparel,

100

5

133

46–56

Record all marriages,

101

3

NAy

Religious belief,

102

7

134

7

S

Secret things shall be revealed,

1

1

1

1–5

Sword of the Lord bathed in heaven,

1

3

1

11–16

Spirit will not always strive with man,

1

5

1

24–33

Search these commandments,

1

7

1

37

Son of God given,

2

5

20

21–28

Seventy directed by the twelve,

3

13

107

34–35

Seth ordained and blessed by Adam,

3

19

107

42–43

Seven Presidents called to preside of the

number of seventy,

3

43

107

93–98

Sons of Moses and of Aaron to offer an acceptable

sacrifice in this generation,

4

6

84

31–42

Song of the redeemed,

4

17

84

99–102

Seven counsellors necessary for a council,

5

4

102

6–7

Sanctify yourselves,

7

18

88

67–68

Seek knowledge,

7

21

88

76–80

Signs in the heavens,

7

24

88

86–87

Sounding of the trump,

7

26

88

93–94

Second angel again sound, &c.

7

35

88

109–16

Satan bound,

7

35

88

109–16

Salvation, &c.

7

41

88

133

———— a sample for, &c.

7

44

88

136–37

Stand faithfully,

8

8

6

18–19

Sinners shall be cast out,

13

11

42

37–39

Scriptures for church government,

13

16

42

59–60

Sent forth to teach, &c.

14

4

43

15–16

Solemnities of eternity,

14

8

43

34–35

Signs of his coming,

15

6

45

39–44

Sacrament meetings,

16

2

46

5

Seek the best gifts,

16

4

46

8–9

Sound must go forth from this place,

18

15

58

61–65

Shall make another,

20

14

63

55–56

Spirit received through prayer,

20

16

63

64–66

Sought evil in their hearts,

21

3

64

14–17

Sell goods without fraud,

27

4

57

8–10

Stop and stand still,

32

6

5

30–35

Spirit by which Moses, &c.

34

2

8

3–4

Satan stirs them up,

36

3

10

20–27

Sharper than a two-edged sword,

37

1

11

1–2

Seek to bring forth Zion,

38

3

12

6

Shall build up, &c.

43

1

18

1–5

Save one soul,

43

3

18

9–15

Straight gate, &c.

47

1

22

1–4

Selection of sacred hymns,

48

3

25

10–13

Settle all things according to the covenants,

51

5

28

14–16

Singleness of heart,

57

3

36

7–8

Satan tempted him,

60

1

40

1–3

Shall be damned,

65

1

49

1–5

Son of man comes not in the form of a woman,

65

4

49

22–23

Satan abroad in the land,

66

4

52

13–17

Shake off the dust of thy feet,

70

4

60

14–17

Savior of the world,

74

1

66

1–2

Saints who are at Zion,

75

2

78

8–11

Son Ahman,

75

4

78

17–22

Salvation of Zion,

81

3

97

10–14

See God,

81

4

97

15–17

Stake of Zion,

83

1

94

1–3

School of the prophets,

84

3

90

6–10

Smite you or your families,

85

5

98

23–31

Sin no more,

86

2

82

7

Soul that sins, &c.

86

5

82

20–21

Sons of perdition,

91

4

76

31–49

Suffering of the ungodly,

91

4

76

31–49

Sun of the firmament, &c.

91

5

76

50–70

Shederlaomach a member,

93

2

92

2

Spokesman unto my servant,

94

3

100

9–12

Strange act,

95

1

95

1–7

Stake set for the strength of Zion,

96

1

96

1–5

Salt of the earth,

97

5

101

22–42

See the salvation of God,

99z

3

133

1–7

Sedition and rebellion,

102

5

134

5

Spiritual privileges,

102

9

134

9

T

Two first elders,

2

1

20

1–4

Transgression of his holy laws,

2

4

20

17–20

Those who keep his commandments sacred,

2

5

20

21–28

Teacher’s duty,

2

11

20

53–59

The two priesthoods,

3

1

107

1–4

Twelve directed by the presidency of the church,

3

12

107

33

Twelve to call upon the seventy,

3

16

107

38

Trial of the president of the priesthood,

3

37

107

82–84

Tares bound in bundles,

6

2

86

4–7

Truth abideth,

7

17

88

66

Trump second,

7

28

88

99

——— third,

9aa

29

88

100–1

——— fourth,

7

30

88

102

——— fifth,

3bb

31

88

103–4

——— sixth,

3cc

32

88

105

——— seventh,

3dd

33

88

106–7

Treasure up wisdom,

12

6

38

27–30

Testimony relating to companions,

13

20

42

74–77

Trump sound before he comes,

15

7

45

45–46

This land his residence,

18

6

58

24–33

Thou shalt love the Lord,

19

2

59

7–24

Thrust in the sickle,

31

1

4

1–5

————————

37

2

11

3–5

Testimony of three,

32

3

5

9–20

Translated the book,

42

2

17

3–6

The twelve shall be my disciples,

43

5

18

26–36

Tongue loosed,

45

2

23

3

Take up your cross,

45

5

23

6–7

——— thy brother Hiram, &c.

51

4

28

10–13

Things that the apostles and prophets, &c.

66

3

52

7–12

Take upon you mine ordinances,

66

2

52

3–6

——— up his cross and follow me,

69

1

56

1–2

Thou shalt not idle away thy time,

70

3

60

8–13

Tarry not many days,

74

3

66

6–7

Truth is knowledge,

82

4

93

21–28

Translation of the prophets,

84

5

90

12–18

Third and fourth generation,

85

5

98

23–31

Telestial glory,

91

7

76

81–113

Tried even as Abraham,

97

2

101

4–5

Tares bound in bundles,

97

9

101

63–71

Taken out of the treasury,

98

11

104

60–66

Ten talents,

98

12

104

67–77

Two put their ten thousands to flight,

100

6

133

57–63

U

Uplifted hands, &c.

7

40

88

31–132

Unworthy—no place,

7

42

88

134

Urim Thummim,

36

1

10

1–13

———————

42

1

17

1–3

United order of Zion,

98

9

104

47–53

Use their ability,

102

8

134

8

V

Voice of the Lord is unto all men,

1

1

1

1–5

Vale of darkness soon rent,

12

2

38

7–9

Volumn of the book,

78

2

99

5–8

Valient in testimony,

91

6

76

71–80

Voice of the order,

98

3

104

19–23

Vengeance cometh speedily upon the ugodly,

81

5

97

18–28

W

World judged by witnesses,

2

3

20

13–16

Words of the majesty on high,

2

3

20

13–16

Wheat and tares,

6

1

86

1–3

Worlds roll in the midst of the power of God,

7

12

88

45–50

Warn his neighbor,

7

22

88

81–83

Washing feet &c.

7

45

88

138–39

Witness for God,

8

11

6

22–25

Weeping among the hosts of men,

10

4

29

14–17

Wicked kept in chains,

12

1

38

1–6

Wars are nigh,

15

11

45

60–63

Word received by the Comforter,

17

5

50

17–21

Workmen sent forth,

18

12

58

54–56

Wo unto ye rich men,

67ee

5

56

16–17

———– him that hides his talent,

70

1

60

1–2

Wife is sanctified,

73

1

74

1

Word of wisdom,

80

1

89

1–9

World to come,

82

11

93

52

What I say unto one I say unto all,

93

1

92

1

Waste places of Zion,

97

4

101

9–21

Wise men sent to purchase lands,

97

10

101

72–80

Worthy of his hire,

99

1

106

1–3

Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth,

100

8

133

71–74

Washing feet,

70

4

60

14–17

War in far countries,

12

6

38

27–30

Wars in your own lands,

15

11

45

60–63

Warriors,

97

7

101

52–58

Who is this that cometh down from God,

100

5

133

46–56

We believe, &c.

102

1

134

1

Y

Years of accountability before baptism,

3ff

21

20

71

——— the redeemed is come,

100

5

133

46–56

You were driven out,

100

7

133

64–70

Z

Zion shall rejoice,

11

6

35

24–27

—— a place of safety,

15

13

45

68–70

—— shall flourish,

21

8

64

40–43

—— shall be a seat,

28

2

69

5–8

———— flourish upon the hills,

65

6gg

49

24–28

—— do these things, shall prosper,

81

5

97

18–28

—— shall be redeemed,

93hh

4

100

13–17

—————– turned back, &c.

100

3

133

8–15

About the author(s)

Grant Underwood is Professor of History and Research Historian at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History at Brigham Young University. He wishes to express deep appreciation to former research assistant Scott Morrison, who painstakingly prepared the appendix.

Notes

1. Entries may occasionally be worded the same, but they always reference separate paragraphs. For example, the phrase “Keep my commandments” is used five times as an entry, each referring the reader to a different Doctrine and Covenants paragraph.

2. Oliver Cowdery and Orson Hyde, “General Assembly,” Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of the Latter Day Saints (Kirtland, Ohio: F. G. Williams, 1835), 255; Joseph Smith Jr., History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. B. H. Roberts, 2d ed., rev., 7 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1971), 2:165, 243 (hereafter cited as History of the Church).

3. For the Doctrine and Covenants, such studies include: Robert J. Woodford, “The Historical Development of the Doctrine and Covenants, Volumes I–III” (Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1974; reprinted on CD, Provo, Utah: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History and BYU Studies, 2001); Richard P. Howard, Restoration Scriptures: A Study of Their Textual Development, 2d ed., rev. and enl. (Independence, Mo.: Herald House, 1969; 1995); Melvin Joseph Petersen, “A Study of the Nature of and the Significance of the Changes in the Revelations as Found in a Comparison of the Book of Commandments and Subsequent Editions of the Doctrine and Covenants” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1955).

4. Stephen D. Moore, “Negative Hermeneutics, Insubstantial Texts: Stanley Fish and the Biblical Interpreter,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 54 (winter 1986): 708. He is quoting Jane P. Tompkins, introduction to Reader-Response Criticism (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980), xvi–xvii.

5. Cowdery and Hyde, “General Assembly,” 255, italics added; History of the Church, 2:165.

6. Kirtland High Council, Minutes, Church Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (hereafter cited as Church Archives), 103, 105; italics added. The account in this source offers more detail of the proceedings of the August 17, 1835, general assembly than the account in History of the Church.

7. “Preface,” Doctrine and Covenants (1835), iii, italics added.

8. So that the results would not be skewed, sections with ten verses or less have been disregarded.

9. For the ratio of references to verses I have used the number of verses in the current edition of the Doctrine and Covenants.

10. Other evidence shows that section 76 was little discussed among the Saints in the 1830s. See Grant Underwood, “‘Saved or Damned’: Tracing a Persistent Protestantism in Early Mormon Thought,” BYU Studies 25, no. 3 (1985): 85–103. Nevertheless, the lower number of entries may reflect the longer paragraphs in this section and the tendency in the “Contents” to have only one entry per paragraph.

11. The view that these titles were intended to communicate chronology seems to derive from the way the manuscript history of Joseph Smith was worded. In it John the Baptist tells Joseph and Oliver that the Melchizedek Priesthood would “in due time be conferred on [them]. And that [Joseph] should be called the first Elder of the Church and [Oliver] the second.” Dean C. Jessee, ed., The Papers of Joseph Smith, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989–92), 1:291. See also History of the Church, 1:40–41.

Gregory A. Prince has noted that in the opening paragraph of “Articles and Covenants” (printed prior to the publication of the Doctrine and Covenants) both Joseph and Oliver were simply designated “an elder of this church” rather than “first” and “second” elders. Gregory A. Prince, Power from on High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1995), 21. In the very next paragraph of “Articles and Covenants,” however, the phrase “first elder” is found, and in all surviving manuscripts of the revelation received on the day the Church was organized, Oliver is reminded that he is “an elder under [Joseph’s] hand, he being the first unto you” (D&C 21:11). Indeed, the earliest surviving ministerial licenses in the Church, signed for John Whitmer, Christian Whitmer, and Joseph Smith Sr. at the June 1830 conference, carry the titles “first elder” and “second elder” after Joseph’s and Oliver’s names, respectively. Thus, the relative position between the two was clear from the beginning and was not an 1835 invention, and the 1835 wording change in the first paragraph of “Articles and Covenants” simply conformed with these earlier usages.

12. That “first elder” was understood to mean chief ecclesiastical officer of the Church is further corroborated by a notation made by Oliver Cowdery at the time he recopied the patriarchal blessing book of Joseph Smith Sr., which, incidentally, was very near the time Cowdery was working on the Doctrine and Covenants and possibly helping to prepare “Contents.” Apparently desiring to underscore the fact that the Patriarch father did not take precedence over the Prophet son, Cowdery wrote that “although his father laid hands upon and blessed the fatherless, thereby securing the blessings of the Lord unto them and their posterity, he was not the first elder, because God called upon his son Joseph and ordained him to this power and delivered to him the keys of the Kingdom.” Oliver Cowdery, Minutes in Joseph Smith, Sr., Patriarchal Blessing Book, vol. 1, 8, 1835, cited in Irene M. Bates and E. Gary Smith, Lost Legacy: The Mormon Office of Presiding Patriarch (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996), 42, photocopy of original in possession of Bates and Smith, italics added by Bates and Smith.

13. The quoted portion of this revelation was actually received the next day in the presence of “eleven high Priests save one.” “Kirtland Revelation Book,” Church Archives, 24.

14. See “Bible Dictionary,” in Holy Bible (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1979), 612, s.v. “apostle”; Noah Webster’s First Edition of an American Dictionary of the English Language (1828; Anaheim: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1967); and Francis H. Agnew, “The Origin of the NT Apostle-Concept: A Review of Research,” Journal of Biblical Literature 105 (March 1986): 75–96.

15. John Taylor, “Communications,” Messenger and Advocate 3 (June 1837): 514.

16. “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons 2 (September 1, 1841): 521; History of the Church, 4:403.

17. On the developing role of the Twelve, see T. Edgar Lyon, “Nauvoo and the Council of the Twelve,” in The Restoration Movement: Essays in Mormon History, ed. F. Mark McKiernan and others (Lawrence, Kans.: Coronado, 1973), 167–206; Ronald K. Esplin, “The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830–1841” (Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1981); and William G. Hartley, “‘Upon You My Fellow Servants’: Restoration of the Priesthood,” 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), 49–72.

18. Oliver Cowdery, as cited in “Mormonism No. 8–9,” by Ezra Booth, Ohio Star, December 8, 1831, p. 1, col. 1.

19. This instruction was taken seriously enough that shortly after the revelation was received, a council of high priests appointed Orson Hyde and Hyrum Smith to draft a letter of reprimand to the brethren in Zion. History of the Church, 1:317–21.

20. F. Mark McKiernan and Roger D. Launius, eds., An Early Latter Day Saint History: The Book of John Whitmer Kept by Commandment (Independence, Mo.: Herald House, 1980), 37. Levi W. Hancock remembered a visit to the “Family” during which a brother “came to me and took my watch out of my pocket and walked off as though it was his. I thought he would bring it back soon but was disappointed as he sold it. I asked him what he meant by selling my watch. ‘Oh, said he, I though[t] it was all in the family.’ I told him I did not like such family doing and I would not bear it.” Levi W. Hancock, The Levi Hancock Journal, typescript, 28, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

21. See Grant Underwood, The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993).

22. See Gordon Irving, “The Mormons and the Bible in the 1830s,” BYU Studies 13, no. 4 (1973): 473–88; Grant Underwood, “Joseph Smith’s Use of the Old Testament,” in The Old Testament and the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Randall Book, 1986), 381–413; and Philip L. Barlow, Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-day Saints in American Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).

a. This is a typographic error in the 1835 edition: it should be section 3, not section 5. Paragraph 29 of section 3 in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants discusses this topic; Section 5 contains only 15 paragraphs.

b. This is a reference mistake. The paragraph is really number 5, and the word in both the 1835 and 1981 versions is “example” rather than “ensample.”

c. Typographic error; it should be section 89. The paragraph is in fact 3, and it corresponds with 1981 section 72 as noted above.

d. Typographic error; it should be paragraph 8.

e. There are two sections 66 in the 1835 edition, due to a printing error. The order of the sections is 64, 65, 66, 66, 68, and so on. Whether it is the first or the second section 66 is noted in the adjacent parenthesis. 66(1) corresponds with 1981 section 52, and 66(2) corresponds with 1981 section 53.

f. Typographic error; it should be paragraph 19.

g. Verse 68 in the 1981 edition is composed of both paragraphs 18 and 19 from 1835 edition. Paragraph 19 begins after first sentence.

h. In the 1835 edition used by the compilers (though apparently not in all 1835 printings), the paragraphs in section 4 are numbered 21, 24, 22, 23. This entry references the paragraph numbered 24.

i. See footnote h.

j. See footnote h. This entry references the paragraph numbered 22.

k. See footnote e.

l. Typographic error; it should be paragraph 2. Paragraph 2 corresponds with 1981 verses 5–12 as noted in the appropriate column.

m. Typographic error; it should be section 13, paragraph 5.

n. First sentence of 1981 verse 68 belongs to 1835 paragraph 18.

o. Typographic error; it should be paragraph 3.

p. Typographic error; it should be section 51.

q. Typographic error; it should be section 59.

r. Section 101 in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants is a four-paragraph statement entitled “Marriage” and is not included in the current Doctrine and Covenants.

s. Typographic error; it should be paragraph 2.

t. Typographic error; it should be section 36.

u. See footnote r.

v. See footnote r.

w. Typographic error; it should be paragraph 31.

x. Typographic error; it should be paragraph 2.

y. See footnote r.

z. Typographic error; it should be section 100.

aa. Typographic error; it should be section 7.

bb. Typographic error; it should be section 7.

cc. Typographic error; it should be section 7.

dd. Typographic error; it should be section 7.

ee. Typographic error; it should be section 69.

ff. Typographic error; it should be section 2.

gg. Typographic error; it should be paragraph 5.

hh. Typographic error; it should be section 94.

 

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