History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Volume 1Smith, Joseph, Jr.
Religion
History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Volume 1
Smith, Joseph, Jr.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Smith, Joseph, Jr., 1805-1844
1. Behold, I say unto you, that you shall let your time be devoted
to the studying of the Scriptures, and to preaching, and to
confirming the Church at Colesville, and to performing your labors
on the land, such as is required, until after you shall go to the
west to hold the next conference; and then it shall be made known
what you shall do.
2. And all things shall be done by common consent in the Church, by
much prayer and faith, for all things you shall receive by faith.
Amen.
[Sidenote: Compilation of Revelations.]
Shortly after we had received the above revelations, Oliver Cowdery
returned to Mr. Peter Whitmer's, Sen., and I began to arrange and copy
the revelations, which we had received from time to time; in which I
was assisted by John Whitmer, who now resided with me.
[Sidenote: Cowdery's Error.]
Whilst thus employed in the work appointed me by my Heavenly Father,
I received a letter from Oliver Cowdery, the contents of which gave
me both sorrow and uneasiness. Not having that letter now in my
possession, I cannot of course give it here in full, but merely an
extract of the most prominent parts, which I can yet, and expect long
to, remember. {105} He wrote to inform me that he had discovered an
error in one of the commandments--Book of Doctrine and Covenants: "And
truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of
Christ unto a remission of their sins." [5]
The above quotation, he said, was erroneous, and added: "I command you
in the name of God to erase those words, that no priestcraft be amongst
us!"
I immediately wrote to him in reply, in which I asked him by what
authority he took upon him to command me to alter or erase, to add to
or diminish from, a revelation or commandment from Almighty God.
[Sidenote: The Prophet's Correction of the Error.]
A few days afterwards I visited him and Mr. Whitmer's family, when
I found the family in general of his opinion concerning the words
above quoted, and it was not without both labor and perseverance that
I could prevail with any of them to reason calmly on the subject.
However, Christian Whitmer at length became convinced that the sentence
was reasonable, and according to Scripture; and finally, with his
assistance, I succeeded in bringing, not only the Whitmer family, but
also Oliver Cowdery to acknowledge that they had been in error, and
that the sentence in dispute was in accordance with the rest of the
commandment. And thus was this error rooted out, which having its rise
in presumption and rash judgment, was the more particularly calculated
(when once fairly understood) to teach each and all of us the necessity
of humility and meekness before the Lord, that He might teach us of
His ways, that we might walk in His paths, and live by every word that
proceedeth forth from His mouth.
Footnotes
1. Pearl of Great Price.
2. Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 24.
3. Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 25.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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