Keep the Church Record and History Continually
Historical Background and Reflections on D&C 47
Doctrine and Covenants 47, like Doctrine and Covenants 46, was originally received on March 8, 1831 in Kirtland, Ohio. Oliver Cowdery was the first historian of the Church, but in this revelation that is now D&C 47, the Lord called John Whitmer, who had already served as clerk to the prophet, to serve as the new Church historian and recorder. Although he initially hesitated and preferred not to do it, after Joseph Smith received this revelation, John Whitmer accepted the calling and served well in his appointed office. I shared some of the historical background for this revelation in a previous post, and in his chapter “The Book of John Whitmer,” in Revelations in Context, LDS author Brian Reeves sheds further light on the same subject:
John Whitmer as Historian and Recorder
In the fall of 1830, Oliver Cowdery embarked on a mission to the Lamanites. In his stead, John Whitmer was appointed “by the voice of the Elders to keep the Church record,” Whitmer wrote. “Joseph Smith Jr. said unto me you must also keep the Church history.”9
Whitmer was comfortable transcribing Joseph Smith’s revelations but hesitant to embrace the unfamiliar role of historian. He told Joseph, “I would rather not do it,” but he agreed to accept the assignment if the Lord willed it—in which case, Whitmer continued, “I desire that he would manifest it through Joseph the Seer.”10
In the resulting revelation (now Doctrine and Covenants 47), dated March 8, 1831, the Lord affirmed Whitmer’s twofold assignment to “write & keep a regula[r] history & assist my servent Joseph in Transcribing all things which shall be given him.”11 Responding to Whitmer’s insecurity about his writing skills, the Lord promised, “It shall be given thee by th[e] comforter to write these things.”12 Three months later, Whitmer began his history, “The Book of John Whitmer.”13
A few months after that, Church leaders took steps to publish Joseph Smith’s revelations, a hymnal, a Church newspaper, and other works.14 A November 1831 revelation (now Doctrine and Covenants 69) directed Oliver Cowdery and John Whitmer to carry the manuscript revelations to Independence, Missouri, to have them published where W. W. Phelps had set up a printing press.15 The revelation further instructed that missionaries who were “abroad in the Earth should send forth their accounts to the Land of Zion” and enlarged Whitmer’s duties as Church historian, telling him to “travel many times from place to place & from Church to Church that he may the more easily obtain knowledge Preaching & expounding writing cop[y]ing & selecting & obtain[in]g all things which shall be for the good of the Church & for the rising generations which shall grow up on the Land of Zion.”16
In July 1832, Joseph Smith encouraged Whitmer to “remember the commandment to him to keep a history of the church & the gathering.”17 Later that year, the Prophet received another revelation that expanded John Whitmer’s historical charge: “It is the duty of the lord[’s] clerk whom he has appointed to keep a hystory and a general church reccord of all things that transpire in Zion … and also [the] manner of life and the faith and works and also of all the apostates.”18
Whitmer thus kept his record of the young Church for the duration of his membership, which ended in 1838. According to one group of historians, the history John Whitmer created “illuminates many important concerns of the early church, including property issues, church discipline,” the New Jerusalem, “the treatment of dissidents, and the establishment of a priesthood leadership hierarchy. … Whitmer’s work is particularly significant for the revelations, petitions, and letters that form a large part of his history.”19 (pp. 113-114)
What happened to John Whitmer’s record? Reeves continues:
What Became of John Whitmer and His History?
In 1834, Joseph Smith appointed a presidency for the Church in Missouri, with John Whitmer and W. W. Phelps serving as counselors to David Whitmer. John Whitmer and Phelps were later accused of financial wrongdoing in connection with their positions there and were subsequently excommunicated from the Church in March 1838.
Whitmer wrote in his history: “Some temperal movements, have not proved satisfactory to all parties has also terminated in the expulsion of [many] members, among whom is W. W. Phelps and myself.
“Therefore I close the history of the church of Latter Day Saints, Hoping that I may be forgiven of my faults, and my sins be bloted out and in the last day be savd in the kingdom of God notwithstanding my presnt situation.”20
Joseph Smith arrived in Far West just days after the excommunications. A newly appointed clerk called on Whitmer to obtain his history, but Whitmer refused to surrender the document.21 He temporarily left Far West during the conflict in Missouri in 1838–39, but he returned a short time later and resided there for the rest of his life.22
After John Whitmer’s death in 1878, his history passed to his brother David,23 and in 1903 the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints obtained the history from a David Whitmer descendant. Eventually, in 1974, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints obtained a microfilmed copy of the manuscript in an exchange of historical materials with the RLDS Church.24 In 2012, John Whitmer’s history was published as part of the Joseph Smith Papers project.25 (pp. 114-115)
The revelation itself is short and sweet, and below is my short and sweet study of it, with the help of Smith’s and Sjodahl’s commentary:
Behold, it is expedient in me that my servant John should write and keep a regular history, and assist you, my servant Joseph, in transcribing all things which shall be given you, until he is called to further duties.
Again, verily I say unto you that he can also lift up his voice in meetings, whenever it shall be expedient.
And again, I say unto you that it shall be appointed unto him to keep the church record and history continually; for Oliver Cowdery I have appointed to another office.
Wherefore, it shall be given him, inasmuch as he is faithful, by the Comforter, to write these things. Even so. Amen. (D&C 47:1-4)
Why was Whitmer hesitant to accept this calling? Whatever the case, we are indebted to Whitmer for his record, and to the Joseph Smith Papers Project for preserving the record for us to study. Recall that John Whitmer was one of the scribes for the Book of Mormon and also one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. His efforts as scribe and as Church historian are invaluable to all those who wish to better understand Mormonism. I look forward to studying Whitmer’s inspired record.
General Notes
Previous to this time Oliver Cowdery had been the historian and recorder of the Church. When the suggestion was made that John Whitmer be appointed to this important work, he expressed the wish that the Lord would make His will manifest through the Prophet Joseph. Then this revelation was received.
John Whitmer was now appointed custodian of the records of the Church. When he was excommunicated, March 10, 1838, at Far West, he refused to deliver up the documents in his possession, and at his death they were taken charge of by his nephew John C. Whitmer, or Richmond, Mo.
The position of the Church Historian is one of great importance. One of the epoch-making events in the history of the world took place when the Church was organized. But without a specially-appointed recorder, that event would have passed almost unnoticed, or it would have been described from the viewpoint of enemies. The development of the Church would have had no proper place in the annals of man but for a truthful historian, well acquainted with and instructed in that part of human history. The Prophet began his history on May 2nd, 1831, “to disabuse the public mind, and put all inquirers after the truth into possession of the facts, as they have transpired, in relation to both myself and the Church, so far as I have such facts in my possession” (History of the Church, Vol. I, p. 1), and that is the great reason for the existence of the office of the Historian of the Church. (pp. 278-279)
The authors of the LDS Come Follow Me manual note that John Whitmer’s calling to keep a history of the Church continued a long tradition of record keeping among God’s people. This is a very interesting point to consider, especially in light of Noel B. Reynold’s work on the Nephite scribal school.
Why do you think that keeping a history is so important to the Lord?
What do you feel the Lord wants you to record about your life?
I’ve already written a rough draft of my autobiography, but I have much more to write, about my life, about Church history, and about many other things.