Sacred Texts: Mormons

Mormon Doctrine & Covenants 68. Revelation through Joseph Smith, Hiram, Ohio, November 1831.

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This is a Latter-day Saint scripture, specifically Doctrine and Covenants Section 68, recorded as a revelation received by Joseph Smith in November 1831 in Hiram, Ohio. It addresses several early church leaders by name — Orson Hyde, Luke Johnson, Lyman Johnson, and William McLellin — commissioning them and all faithful elders to preach, baptize, and bear witness of Christ. A distinctive and theologically significant claim appears early: any speech delivered under the influence of the Holy Ghost "shall be scripture," equating inspired elder speech with canonical revelation. The text then turns to church governance, laying out rules for the Aaronic Priesthood bishopric: the office belongs by right to literal firstborn male descendants of Aaron, but high priests of the Melchizedek Priesthood may fill it when no qualifying descendant can be found or verified. A final section addresses communal life in Zion, mandating child baptism at age eight, parental religious instruction, Sabbath observance, and honest labor — and expressing divine displeasure at idleness and materialism already present in the community. Readers interested in early Mormon ecclesiology, the development of LDS priesthood doctrine, or the mechanics of ongoing revelation will find this a compact but substantive primary source.

Mormon Doctrine & Covenants 68. Revelation through Joseph Smith, Hiram, Ohio, November 1831.

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