Conditional Covenants in the D&C — History of the Church and Its Scattering

A reference for testing whether the blessings promised to the restored church were unconditional guarantees or conditional covenants that could be — and by the revelations' own account, in some cases were — broken.

How to read this

The catalog used to run section by section. It now runs along four chains, because a covenant only means something when you can see where it ended up — and reading the D&C in section order hides that. Each chain starts with an obligation and a promise, passes through the sections that restate or enforce it, and ends either at a verdict the text itself renders or at nothing at all.

Three things are encoded at once. Colour is the chain. Shape is what that section does: a circle states a condition without rendering a verdict, a square is a verdict that the condition was not met, a triangle is a verdict that it was, and a diamond is a governing principle rather than a covenant instance. The outline is what happened to the promised thing — restored, permanently forfeited, deferred, or still untested.

The page begins in 1820, not 1830. The covenant grammar is established on Joseph personally before it is ever applied to a church, and the earliest firsthand account of the First Vision contains both a commandment — "walk in my statutes and keep my commandments" — and, one page later, Joseph's own record of breaking it. That sequence is Chain 0, and it is the only chain in the book whose outcome is fully known on both branches. It is what the other three are measured against.

Two things to try. Press Verdict rendered only: what remains is every point at which the revelations themselves declare whether a condition was kept. Then follow Chain 3 — the endowment — left to right. It is the longest thread on the page and it ends without a verdict marker of any kind. That emptiness is the single most consequential feature of this chart, and it is what the argument turns on.

Chains

Filter

Drag to pan · scroll or pinch to zoom · click any marker for the obligation, the promise, the curse and the verdict

Circle — condition stated, no verdict Square — verdict: condition not met Triangle — verdict: condition met Diamond — governing principle Outline = what happened to the promised thing

Chain 0 · The prototype1820 First Vision → the plates → D&C 3 → 5 → 9 → 10 → 20:5-8. Verdict rendered on both branches; outcome known. The calibration chain.

Chain 1 · Land & Zion38:18-20 → 57 → 97:25-26 → 101 → 105. Verdict rendered: chastened, redemption deferred.

Chain 2 · Property & consecration38:34-36 → 41:9 → 42:30-34 → 51 → 78 → 82 → 104. Verdict rendered: broken and cursed.

Chain 3 · Endowment & the fulness20:8 → 38:32 → 95:8 → 105:11-12 → 109:22-23 → 110 → 124:28. No verdict rendered. Contested. The chain the fall thesis most depends on, and where the counter-reading is strongest.

What the empty end of Chain 3 does and does not show

The D&C demonstrably marks fulfilments when they occur. Section 38:32 makes two Ohio promises — "there I will give unto you my law" and "there you shall be endowed with power from on high." The first is fulfilled five weeks later and the text says so: D&C 42 is titled "the law of the church." No equivalent closing marker follows for the second. Because the book does mark fulfilments elsewhere, the silence is arguable rather than merely absent.

The counter-reading must be engaged, not stepped around. The traditional position treats the Kirtland solemn assembly and the manifestations of early 1836 as the fulfilment, and it has textual support — 95:8, 105:11-12 and 110. A page that leaves that out is not making an argument; it is making a case.

What sharpens it is 124:28, ten years later: there is "not a place found on earth that he may come to and restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fulness of the priesthood." Lost and taken away are the prototype's own words for a forfeiture whose object was never returned — see the discriminator below.

The discriminator — and why it dissolves the usual question

Across the five pre-1830 instances, the variable separating recoverable chastisement from permanent forfeiture is neither severity nor who was at fault. It is whether the thing at issue is standing or a specific entrusted object.

Restored every time: personal standing and fellowship (3:10, 10:3, 20:6 — and Oliver never lost his at all, 9:12); general capacity, such as the translation gift (10:3).
Never restored: the 116 pages (10:30 — "you shall not translate again those words"); Oliver's opportunity to translate (9:11 — "the time is past"). The work proceeded by substitution instead (10:38-42).

The rule: repentance restores the person; it does not reopen a closed window or return a forfeited object. That gives a third option where the argument usually offers two. "The church fell" and "the church was chastised and carried on" do not exhaust the possibilities — the prototype attests a third shape, in which the covenant people continue in good standing while a specific promised thing is permanently forfeited and the work is re-routed around the loss. Applied to Chain 3, the question stops being did the church fall? and becomes is the fulness of the priesthood a standing item or a specific entrusted thing? — which is answerable from the text, and which both sides can argue.

Anchor text — D&C 78:11-15 (the United Firm / United Order). The passage that prompted this catalog. The covenant structure it tracks is stated plainly here: an obligation ("organize yourselves by a bond or everlasting covenant that cannot be broken," v. 11), a promised blessing (the church standing "independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world," crowns, and rulership "over many kingdoms," vv. 14-15), and a promised curse ("he who breaketh it shall lose his office and standing in the church, and shall be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption," v. 12). Section 78 appears in its chronological place (March 1832) below.

Note on scope. Entries are listed in chronological order. Section 132 is deliberately excluded on provenance grounds. "Scriptural verdict" means a verdict the revelations themselves render (e.g. the Lord declaring a covenant broken); where the text renders none, that is stated rather than filled in with historical inference.

Note on the pre-1830 entries. They are graded differently from everything after them, and the difference matters. No contemporaneous 1820 document exists: the earliest account of the First Vision was written twelve years later and the canonical one eighteen to twenty-two. The D&C sections from 1828-29 are near-contemporaneous by comparison but their earliest surviving manuscripts are later than the events. Nothing in this section should be read at the evidentiary strength of the 1831-34 revelations, which survive in manuscripts and imprints from within a few years of their dates.

How each entry is laid out. Every covenant on this page is broken into the same four steps, numbered and colour-coded so the shape is visible before a word of it is read: 1 · the commandment — what was actually required; 2 · the blessing promised for keeping it; 3 · the consequence stated for breaking it; and 4 · what the record says happened. Step 4 is the one that matters, and it is deliberately the hardest to fill: it carries only what the revelations themselves declare, never historical inference. Where the text renders no verdict, the box says so and stays empty. Every entry ends with links to the document behind it — the manuscript on the Joseph Smith Papers, the scripture text, and the historical background — so no claim here has to be taken on this page's word.

Part oneBefore the church — 1820–1830

The covenant grammar established on one man, before it is applied to a body. Both branches run to a known outcome, which is what makes this the control case for everything after it.

The First Vision

1820

Chain 0 · The prototypeVerdict: condition not metStanding restoredLaid on Joseph personally

“go thy way walk in my statutes and keep my commandments”

1The commandment

“Go thy way, walk in my statutes and keep my commandments” — History, circa Summer 1832, p. 3, in Joseph’s own hand. The only account of the vision containing a commandment.

2The blessing promised

Forgiveness of sins, granted in the same sentence: “Joseph my son thy sins are forgiven thee.”

3The consequence for breach

None stated.

4What the record says happened

Rendered one page later, in the same manuscript: “I fell into transgressions and sinned in many things which brought a wound upon my soul” (p. 4). Two pages on, Joseph names the consequence himself — “therefore I was chastened” (p. 5).

The earliest record of the restoration contains a commandment, its breach, and the word for the consequence — in one document, written before any section of the D&C had been printed. Every later instance tests this obligation in a particular.

How this entry is read — all sides

It was a real condition. The 1823 refusal enforces it in the angel’s own words — “the commandments of the Lord which I gave unto you” — which points back to something already given.
It is single-witness. The commandment appears in one of ten accounts. It is the earliest and the only holograph, but it stands alone.
It may be untestable. “Keep my commandments” is coextensive with all obedience, so unlike the plates or the 116 pages it cannot be failed in a specific, checkable way.

One of the ten accounts contains a commandment — and it is the earliest, in Joseph’s own hand. Open the full comparison.

No contemporaneous 1820 document exists. Every account below is at least twelve years after the event and the canonical one is eighteen to twenty-two — a longer lag than several sources this site grades as weak elsewhere, and it is stated here for the same reason it is stated there. Listed in source-date order, not in order of familiarity.

#	Source date	Account	Hand	Lag	Carries the commandment	What it uniquely supplies
1	ca. summer 1832	History, circa Summer 1832, pp. 3-5 Joseph Smith — holograph through p. 3	Firsthand	~12 yrs	✓ yes	The only account containing a commandment — “go thy way, walk in my statutes and keep my commandments” — and the only one that records its breach, one page later.
2	9 Nov 1835	Journal, pp. 23-24 — recital to Robert Matthews Warren Parrish, scribe	Firsthand	~15 yrs	—	Forgiveness and a testimony of Christ. No directive spoken in the vision at all. Carries the James 1:5 warrant for praying.
3	14 Nov 1835	Journal, p. 37 — the Erastus Holmes visit Warren Parrish, scribe	Firsthand	~15 yrs	—	One sentence, no content — but Joseph calls it “the first visitation of angels” and dates it to age fourteen, against 1832’s “16th year.”
4	1838-39, pub. 1842	History, 1838-1856, Draft 2, pp. 2-3 — canonised as JS—H 1 James Mulholland, scribe, dictated	Firsthand	~18-22 yrs	—	“Hear him,” and the prohibition, twice. Also the admission that the record is partial: “many other things did he say unto me which I cannot write at this time.”
5	1840	An Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions, pp. 4-5 Orson Pratt	Secondhand	~20 yrs	—	The textual parent of both Hyde and the Wentworth letter’s vision paragraph. Pratt was nine years old in 1820.
6	1842	Ein Ruf aus der Wüste, pp. 15-16 Orson Hyde	Secondhand	~22 yrs	—	“Wait patiently” is unique to Hyde — and it is the instruction the 1823-27 interval tests directly. Follows Pratt’s sequence and formulas.
7	1 Mar 1842	“Church History,” Times and Seasons 3:706-707 — the Wentworth letter Published over Joseph Smith’s name	Firsthand*	~22 yrs	—	Not an independent witness. Reproduces Pratt’s three clauses in the same order in nearly the same words — including “go not after them.”
8	11 Jun 1843	Journal, vol. 18, p. 16 Levi Richards	Secondhand	~23 yrs	—	Sermon notes, bulleted and joined by ampersands throughout. Usable for the prohibition only — the “everlasting covenant was broken” clause is a point in the sermon, not part of the reported 1820 answer.
9	29 Aug 1843	Interview, Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette David Nye White	Secondhand	~23 yrs	—	A non-member reporter, independent of the Pratt line, corroborating both “hear him” and the prohibition. Substance-reliable, wording-unreliable.
10	24 May 1844	Journal Alexander Neibaur	Secondhand	~24 yrs	—	The only account in which Joseph names the sect he asked about: the Methodists. Independently carries 1832’s “none that doeth good no not one” and 1838’s “harken ye him.”

* The Wentworth letter went out over Joseph’s name, but on this passage it reproduces Orson Pratt’s 1840 pamphlet clause for clause. Pratt, Hyde and Wentworth are counted here as one witness, not three. That cuts against this page: it means the familiar command “go not after them” has a single textual parent, and that parent is secondhand.

Go to the source

1832 history, p. 3 — the vision and the commandment 1832 history, p. 4 — “I fell into transgressions”1832 history, p. 5 — “therefore I was chastened”1838-39 Draft 2, p. 3 — the canonical account JS—H 1 — as canonised All ten accounts — JSP index

The plates — refused

1823

Chain 0 · The prototypeVerdict: condition not metDeferredLaid on Joseph personally

1The commandment

A qualifying condition on motive: no object in view but to glorify God. Cowdery states it as a standing rule — “no man can obtain them if his heart is impure.”

2The blessing promised

The plates, the Urim and Thummim, the breastplate.

3The consequence for breach

Disqualification by motive; no penalty clause stated.

4What the record says happened

Condition failed, and the cause stated outright: “you have not kept the commandments of the Lord which I gave unto you therefore you cannot now obtain them” (1832). Attested in six of seven accounts across ten years, three authors and two languages.

Note what this sentence does: it enforces a commandment already given, three years earlier, in the vision. This is not a new condition being imposed.

Go to the source

1832 history, p. 4 — “you have not kept the commandments”Journal, 9-11 Nov 1835, p. 25 — “because I was under transgression”Cowdery, Letter VIII, p. 94 — the same cause, independently 1838-39 Draft 2, p. 7 — the attempt forbidden Orson Pratt, 1840, p. 10 — “the commandment of God is strict”

The plates — delivered

22 Sept 1827

Chain 0 · The prototypeVerdict: condition metStanding restoredLaid on Joseph personally

1The commandment

The same condition, held through four years of annual returns.

2The blessing promised

The plates delivered.

3The consequence for breach

No curse or penalty is stated.

4What the record says happened

Condition met; blessing delivered. The only instance in the corpus of an appointed time plus a qualifying condition running to completion successfully, with the outcome documented.

It also shows that an interim failure does not void the covenant: he was refused, told why, sent away, refused again, and received the blessing in the fourth year.

Go to the source

Journal, 9-11 Nov 1835, p. 26 — “the third and the fourth year”1838-39 Draft 2, p. 7 — “four years from that time”Orson Pratt, 1840, p. 12 — the four years as instruction Wentworth letter, 1 Mar 1842, p. 707 — delivery, no obstacle JS—H 1:42-59

D&C 3 — the 116 pages

July 1828

Chain 0 · The prototypeVerdict: condition not metStanding restoredLaid on Joseph personally

“remember also the promises which were made to you, if you did not transgress them”

1The commandment

Keep the strict commandments governing custody of the translation; do not yield to the persuasions of men (3:6-7).

2The blessing promised

“He would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary” (3:8) — stated retrospectively, already forfeited.

3The consequence for breach

Two grades. Recoverable: “thou hast lost thy privileges for a season” (3:14). Terminal: “except thou do this, thou shalt be delivered up and become as other men, and have no more gift” (3:11).

4What the record says happened

Condition failed — “how oft you have transgressed the commandments and the laws of God… you should not have feared man more than God” (3:6-7). Privileges lost; the terminal branch held open as the alternative to repentance.

The earliest-dated section in the book states the whole thesis of this catalog, and applies it to the prophet: 3:5. And 3:4 settles that revelatory office confers no exemption — “although a man may have many revelations… he must fall.”

Go to the source

D&C 3 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 5 — Martin Harris

March 1829

Chain 0 · The prototypeCondition stated, no verdictStanding restoredLaid on Joseph personally

1The commandment

Harris: “except he humble himself and acknowledge unto me the things that he has done which are wrong, and covenant with me that he will keep my commandments” (5:28). Joseph, restated: repent; yield to the persuasions of men no more (5:21-22).

2The blessing promised

A view of the plates (5:24). To Joseph: eternal life “even if you should be slain” (5:22).

3The consequence for breach

No such view (5:28); if he later denies, “he is condemned” (5:27). To Joseph: “no more gift… I will take away the things which I have entrusted with thee” (5:31).

4What the record says happened

First condition met — the view came in June 1829. The second clause runs for the rest of Harris’s life, and its condition is denial of the testimony, not church membership. Cut off 1837, rebaptized 1842, affiliated with other movements, rebaptized again 1870 — and never denied it. On the text’s own terms the condition held across fifty years and three separations.

A deferral is also imposed here: “thou shalt stop for a season” (5:30) — the phrase that returns at 105:9-10.

Go to the source

D&C 5 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 9 — Oliver’s attempt

April 1829

Chain 0 · The prototypeVerdict: condition not metPermanently forfeitedLaid on Joseph personally

1The commandment

Not merely to ask, but “study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right” (9:8).

2The blessing promised

Power to translate (9:2, 9:10).

3The consequence for breach

The privilege taken away (9:5).

4What the record says happened

Condition failed, and the window closed. “You did not continue as you commenced… I have taken away this privilege from you” (9:5); “you feared, and the time is past, and it is not expedient now” (9:11).

Two things only this instance supplies. A blessing can be permanently forfeited without the person being condemned — “neither of you have I condemned” (9:12). And the failure mode is fear, not rebellion.

Go to the source

D&C 9 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 10 — restored, and re-routed

1828-29

Chain 0 · The prototypeVerdict: condition metPermanently forfeitedLaid on Joseph personally

“you shall not translate again those words which have gone forth out of your hands”

1The commandment

Be faithful; finish the remainder of the work (10:3).

2The blessing promised

The gift restored (10:3).

3The consequence for breach

No curse or penalty is stated.

4What the record says happened

Repentance accepted, gift restored: “you have lost them. And you also lost your gift at the same time… Nevertheless, it is now restored unto you again.”

Standing restored. Gift restored. The 116 pages not restored (10:30) — and the work proceeds by substitution instead (10:38-42). This is where the pattern’s real rule becomes visible.

How this entry is read — all sides

The rule. Repentance restores standing and capacity; it does not restore the specific forfeited thing.
The counter-consideration. The substitute was prepared in advance (1 Nephi 9:5; Words of Mormon 1:7), so the loss was foreknown and provided for.
Both readings are available — either nothing is truly lost, or the provision was necessary because the loss was real. This page does not settle it.

Go to the source

D&C 10 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

Part twoThe church — 1830–1843

The same four-part structure, now at the scale of a people. Read step 4 down the page: it is where the revelations themselves say whether a condition was kept.

D&C 20 — Articles and Covenants

April 1830

Chain 0 · The prototype · Chain 3 · EndowmentVerdict: condition metStanding restored

1The commandment

The whole church bound to the articles and covenants.

2The blessing promised

Standing as a member of Christ’s church; and to the first elder, “power from on high… to translate the Book of Mormon” (20:8).

3The consequence for breach

Those who transgress and repent not are “dealt with according to the covenants of the church” (20:80).

4What the record says happened

None rendered against the church. But two are rendered on the first elder in vv. 5-6, before a single church obligation is stated: “he was entangled again in the vanities of the world; But after repenting… God ministered unto him by an holy angel.”

The church’s constitutional document opens by narrating the covenant pattern rather than asserting it — blessing received, forfeited, restored on repentance, then commandments, then power. And the first use of “power from on high” in the D&C describes a capacity granted to an individual after a forfeiture. The pattern is native to the book.

Go to the source

D&C 20 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 21 — heed the prophet

6 April 1830

Not in a chainCondition stated, no verdict

1The commandment

Receive the prophet’s word “as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith” (21:5).

2The blessing promised

“The gates of hell shall not prevail against you… and cause the heavens to shake for your good” (21:6).

3The consequence for breach

Implied loss of the same.

4What the record says happened

None rendered.

Given the day the church was organized. The significance is the grammar: the promise of institutional preservation is conditional, not an unconditional guarantee of permanence.

Go to the source

D&C 21 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 38 — the gathering to Ohio

2 Jan 1831

Chain 1 · Land & Zion · Chain 2 · Property · Chain 3 · EndowmentCondition stated, no verdictUntested / open

1The commandment

Gather to Ohio; be one; “let every man esteem his brother as himself” (38:24-25); appoint men to relieve the poor and govern church property (38:34-36).

2The blessing promised

“There I will give unto you my law” and “there you shall be endowed with power from on high” (38:32); a land of promise as everlasting inheritance (38:18-20); “ye shall be the richest of all people” (38:39).

3The consequence for breach

“If ye are not one ye are not mine” (38:27); the land given only “if you seek it with all your hearts” (38:19); “beware of pride, lest ye become as the Nephites of old.”

4What the record says happened

Three chains start here and end differently: the law is fulfilled five weeks later (42); the land verdict comes in 101 and 105; the property chain is broken at 104; the endowment ends without a verdict.

Standing at the time: “ye are clean, but not all; and there is none else with whom I am well pleased” (38:10) — where “none else” is explained by v. 11 as the world outside the church. With 1:30 that gives two independent 1831 datapoints of collective approval. Any “fall” must be dated after 1831.

How this entry is read — all sides

Precision note the page will not skip. 38:32 is a flat future indicative — “there you shall be endowed.” There is no if.
Its conditionality is inferred from the surrounding commandments and from 82:10 and 130:20-21. It is not stated in Section 38.
The explicit conditionals in 38 are vv. 19, 22, 27, 30 and 39. An argument leaning on 38:32 as a conditional has to carry that distinction openly.

Go to the source

D&C 38 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 41 — receive the law, or be cast out

4 Feb 1831

Chain 2 · PropertyCondition stated, no verdict

1The commandment

Receive and do the law.

2The blessing promised

Discipleship.

3The consequence for breach

“He that saith he receiveth it and doeth it not, the same is not my disciple, and shall be cast out from among you” (41:5).

4What the record says happened

None rendered.

States the membership condition as bluntly as anywhere in the book. Verse 9 calls Edward Partridge as the first bishop — executing the appointment commanded five weeks earlier at 38:34-36.

Go to the source

D&C 41 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 42 — “the law of the church”

Feb 1831

Chain 2 · PropertyCondition stated, no verdict

1The commandment

Consecrate properties and receive stewardships (42:30-34); keep all the commandments (42:29).

2The blessing promised

Inheritance, and the temporal and spiritual order of Zion.

3The consequence for breach

Those who sin and repent not are delivered up “unto the law of the land” and dealt with by the church (42:84-93).

4What the record says happened

The institutional attempt to live this law — the United Firm — is declared broken at 104:4-5, 52-53.

This is the textual fulfilment of the first half of 38:32 — “there I will give unto you my law” — given in Ohio five weeks later and titled the law of the church. It matters because it proves the book marks fulfilments when they happen, which is what makes the silence on the second half of 38:32 arguable.

Go to the source

D&C 42 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 51 and 57 — the order and the place

May / July 1831

Chain 1 · Land & Zion · Chain 2 · PropertyCondition stated, no verdict

1The commandment

51 sets the practical order of stewardships; 57:1-3 identifies the land of 38:18-20 as Missouri.

2The blessing promised

Inheritance in the land of promise.

3The consequence for breach

No curse or penalty is stated.

4What the record says happened

None rendered in either.

Links rather than terminals — included because a chain read without them jumps from a promise to a verdict with nothing in between.

Go to the source

D&C 51 — full text D&C 57 — full text Historical context — D&C 57

D&C 58-59 — Missouri consecration

Aug 1831

Chain 1 · Land & ZionCondition stated, no verdict

1The commandment

Build up Zion; keep the law of consecration in Missouri; observe the Sabbath and confess God’s hand in all things.

2The blessing promised

“After much tribulation come the blessings” (58:4); “the fulness of the earth is yours” (59:16-20).

3The consequence for breach

Those who confess not God’s hand and obey not — “the wrath of God” is kindled against them (59:21).

4What the record says happened

The Missouri failure is addressed in 101 and 105.

Go to the source

D&C 58 — full text D&C 59 — full text Historical context — D&C 58

D&C 64 — the obedient and the rebellious

11 Sept 1831

Chain 1 · Land & ZionCondition stated, no verdict

1The commandment

Forgive one another (64:9-10); render a willing heart.

2The blessing promised

“The willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days” (64:34).

3The consequence for breach

“The rebellious shall be cut off out of the land of Zion, and shall be sent away, and shall not inherit the land” (64:35).

4What the record says happened

None rendered here; the cutting-off is stated as a conditional future.

Go to the source

D&C 64 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 1 — the Preface

1 Nov 1831

Not in a chainCondition stated, no verdict

1The commandment

Repent and keep the commandments.

2The blessing promised

“He that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven” (1:32).

3The consequence for breach

“He that repents not, from him shall be taken even the light which he has received” (1:33).

4What the record says happened

The church is placed in good collective standing: v. 30 has the Lord “well pleased” with it “collectively.”

On v. 15 — “they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant” — this is not a verdict against the restored church. The antecedent “they” traces to v. 14, those “who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants.” The wording is drawn almost verbatim from Isaiah 24:5, a global indictment of the apostate world. Note the identical grammatical structure at 38:10 ten months earlier.

Go to the source

D&C 1 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 70 — the Literary Firm

12 Nov 1831

Chain 2 · PropertyCondition stated, no verdict

1The commandment

Faithful stewardship over the revelations. Called an “ensample” (70:9-11) — the same word used in the anchor text at 78:13.

2The blessing promised

“Worthy of his hire” (70:12); stewardship honoured.

3The consequence for breach

Unfaithfulness in stewardship condemned.

4What the record says happened

None rendered.

A structural precursor to the United Firm’s stewardship principle.

Go to the source

D&C 70 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 78 — the United Firm

1 March 1832

Chain 2 · PropertyCondition stated, no verdict

1The commandment

“Organize yourselves by a bond or everlasting covenant that cannot be broken” (78:11).

2The blessing promised

The church standing “independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world”; crowns; rulership “over many kingdoms” (78:14-15).

3The consequence for breach

“He who breaketh it shall lose his office and standing in the church, and shall be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption” (78:12).

4What the record says happened

Broken — see 104.

The anchor text of the whole catalog. The covenant structure this page tracks is stated plainly here: obligation, promised blessing, promised curse — in three consecutive verses.

Go to the source

D&C 78 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 82 — the Firm restated

26 April 1832

Chain 2 · PropertyCondition stated, no verdict

“I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise”

1The commandment

The same covenant, with nearly identical sanction (82:21).

2The blessing promised

As 78.

3The consequence for breach

Buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption.

4What the record says happened

Broken — see 104.

82:10 is the governing principle of the entire conditional logic — and it is stated four years earlier, and applied to the prophet personally, at 3:4-5.

Go to the source

D&C 82 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 84 — the church under condemnation

22-23 Sept 1832

Not in a chainVerdict: condition not metStanding restored

1The commandment

Receive the priesthood and magnify the calling.

2The blessing promised

Sanctification, and “all that my Father hath” (84:33-38).

3The consequence for breach

“Whoso breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come” (84:41).

4What the record says happened

Rendered in the same section: the whole church placed under condemnation for treating the Book of Mormon and the former commandments lightly — “which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all” (84:54-57).

Directly central to the fall thesis — and the place where the counter-reading is most often skipped.

How this entry is read — all sides

The fall reading. A church-wide condemnation is declared, in the text, by the Lord, on the whole body — “even all.”
The chastisement reading, which must be engaged. v. 57 states the remedy (“say nothing but repentance… bring forth fruit meet”) and v. 58 the alternative (“otherwise there remaineth a scourge”). That is the structure of chastisement-with-a-cure, not verdict-and-sentence.
What the strong thesis actually requires. Showing the condemnation was never lifted — a claim about later text and history, not about §84 itself. And Chain 0 sets the default the other way: every prototype branch that runs to a conclusion ends in restoration.

Go to the source

D&C 84 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 95 — chastened for the house

1 June 1833

Chain 3 · EndowmentVerdict: condition not metDeferred

1The commandment

Build the house of God, which the Saints had been commanded to build and had not.

2The blessing promised

“That you may be endowed with power from on high” (95:8).

3The consequence for breach

Chastening — “whom I love I also chasten” (95:1-2).

4What the record says happened

Condemnation for neglect, with the remedy named.

One of the clearest statements that the endowment is tied to a building the Saints had not yet built — and a link in Chain 3 that the traditional reading uses, correctly, as evidence the promise was still live in 1833.

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D&C 95 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 97 — Zion conditional

2 Aug 1833

Chain 1 · Land & ZionCondition stated, no verdict

1The commandment

“Observe to do all things whatsoever I have commanded her.”

2The blessing promised

“Zion shall escape” (97:25).

3The consequence for breach

“But if she observe not… I will visit her according to all her works, with sore affliction” (97:26).

4What the record says happened

The affliction followed — see 101.

As explicit an if/then as the D&C contains, and the cleanest test case in Chain 1 because both branches are written out in consecutive verses.

Go to the source

D&C 97 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 101 — why Zion was afflicted

16-17 Dec 1833

Chain 1 · Land & ZionVerdict: condition not metDeferred

1The commandment

Not set here — this section renders the verdict on an obligation laid earlier.

2The blessing promised

Not set here — this section renders the verdict on an obligation laid earlier.

3The consequence for breach

Not set here — this section renders the verdict on an obligation laid earlier.

4What the record says happened

“In consequence of their transgressions” the Saints “must needs be chastened” (101:2). The causes are named: “jarrings, and contentions, and envyings, and strifes” (101:6).

The named causes are the precise failure of the unity condition set at 38:24-27 — the chain closing on itself, three years later, in the text’s own words.

Go to the source

D&C 101 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 103 — the call to redeem Zion

24 Feb 1834

Chain 1 · Land & ZionCondition stated, no verdict

1The commandment

Gather “the strength of my house” to redeem Zion, and keep the commandments.

2The blessing promised

They will “prevail against mine enemies” and are appointed to be “the saviors of men” (103:9-10).

3The consequence for breach

“Inasmuch as they are not the saviors of men, they are as salt that has lost its savor… good for nothing but to be cast out” (103:10); if they pollute their inheritances they “shall be thrown down” (103:14).

4What the record says happened

Rendered four months later in 105.

The revelation organizing what became Zion’s Camp.

Go to the source

D&C 103 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 104 — the Firm broken and dissolved

23 April 1834

Chain 2 · PropertyVerdict: condition not metPermanently forfeited

“they have broken the covenant through covetousness, and with feigned words”

1The commandment

Not set here — this section renders the verdict on an obligation laid earlier.

2The blessing promised

Not set here — this section renders the verdict on an obligation laid earlier.

3The consequence for breach

“A very sore and grievous curse” (104:5).

4What the record says happened

Some “have broken the covenant through covetousness, and with feigned words, I have cursed them with a very sore and grievous curse” (104:4-5); the order is then formally reorganized and dissolved (104:52-53).

The clearest instance in the book of a named restoration covenant declared broken by the Lord. Chain 2 is the one chain that reaches an unambiguous terminus, which is exactly why it is the right control for reading the other three.

Go to the source

D&C 104 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 105 — redemption deferred

22 June 1834

Chain 1 · Land & Zion · Chain 3 · EndowmentVerdict: condition not metDeferred

1The commandment

Not set here — this section renders the verdict on an obligation laid earlier.

2The blessing promised

Not set here — this section renders the verdict on an obligation laid earlier.

3The consequence for breach

Delay.

4What the record says happened

The redemption waits “for a little season” because “they do not learn to be obedient to the things which I require at their hands, but are full of all manner of evil” (105:9-10), and because the Saints did not impart of their substance as becometh Zion (105:3).

Verses 11-12 and 33 make the endowment a precondition of Zion’s redemption — the elders wait “until… my people be endowed with power from on high.” Chains 1 and 3 are therefore not independent, and an argument about one has consequences for the other. On “a little season,” compare 3:14 and 5:30.

Go to the source

D&C 105 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 109 — the dedicatory prayer

27 March 1836

Chain 3 · EndowmentCondition stated, no verdictUntested / open

1The commandment

Not set here — this section is a petition offered up, not a command coming down.

2The blessing promised

That the Saints “may be armed with power from on high” (109:22-23).

3The consequence for breach

Not set here — this section is a petition offered up, not a command coming down.

4What the record says happened

A petition, not a verdict.

The distinction is worth holding onto: the prayer asks for the thing 38:32 promised, five years after it was promised. That cuts both ways — it shows the promise was still outstanding in March 1836, and it sits one week before 110.

Go to the source

D&C 109 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 110 — the Kirtland visitations

3 April 1836

Chain 3 · EndowmentVerdict: condition metStanding restored

1The commandment

No obligation is laid in this section.

2The blessing promised

Keys committed; the Lord accepts the house — “I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here” (110:7).

3The consequence for breach

No curse or penalty is stated.

4What the record says happened

The traditional fulfilment marker for Chain 3, and the strongest textual support for the reading that the endowment of 38:32 was given.

This entry exists because the page would not be honest without it. Anyone arguing that the endowment was never received has to engage 110 directly, together with 95:8 and 105:11-12 — not step around them.

How this entry is read — all sides

The fulfilment reading. 110:7 is an explicit divine acceptance of the house, one week after the dedicatory prayer asked for the power, in the place 38:32 named.
The counter. 110 records keys committed and the house accepted; it does not use the words of 38:32, and the D&C elsewhere marks fulfilments in the promise’s own language, as 42 does for “my law.”
What would settle it. Whether any later section treats the endowment as possessed rather than still to come. 105:11-12 (1834) and 124:28 (1841) both point the other way, and 124:28 is five years after Kirtland.

Go to the source

D&C 110 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

D&C 124 — rejected as a church

19 Jan 1841

Chain 3 · EndowmentCondition stated, no verdictUntested / open

“restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fulness of the priesthood”

1The commandment

Build the Nauvoo temple and the Nauvoo House, within an appointed time (124:31-32, 45-48).

2The blessing promised

The blessings of the house; the restoration of “that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fulness of the priesthood” (124:28).

3The consequence for breach

“If you do not these things at the end of the appointment ye shall be rejected as a church, with your dead, saith the Lord your God” (124:32).

4What the record says happened

None rendered in the text. The appointed-time condition is the sharpest untested test in the book of whether the church stood or fell.

“Lost” and “taken away” are the prototype’s own words for a real forfeiture whose specific object was not returned even after standing was restored (10:1-3 with 10:30).

How this entry is read — all sides

The fall reading. A church-wide rejection is stated as the consequence of a condition with a deadline, and 124:28 describes the fulness of the priesthood as already lost or taken away in 1841.
The counterweight, in the same section. 124:49-51: where enemies hinder a commanded work, “it behooveth me to require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offerings.” Any argument from 124 must address 49-51 directly or it is incomplete.
The third shape. On the prototype’s discriminator, the operative question is not whether the church fell but whether the fulness of the priesthood is a standing item or a specific entrusted thing — because those have different outcomes, and 124:28’s own vocabulary belongs to the second category.

Go to the source

D&C 124 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

Part threeThe governing principle

Three passages that state the rule the other entries are instances of — the earliest in 1828, applied to the prophet himself.

3:4-5 — office is no exemption

July 1828

Governing lawGoverning principleLaid on Joseph personally

1The commandment

No obligation is laid in this section.

2The blessing promised

No blessing is promised here.

3The consequence for breach

No curse or penalty is stated.

4What the record says happened

“Although a man may have many revelations, and have power to do many mighty works, yet if he boasts in his own strength… he must fall” (3:4); “remember also the promises which were made to you, if you did not transgress them” (3:5).

The governing rule, stated in the earliest section of the book and applied to the prophet — four years before 82:10 and fifteen before 130:20-21.

Go to the source

D&C 3 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

82:10 — bound when ye do what I say

26 April 1832

Governing lawGoverning principle

1The commandment

No obligation is laid in this section.

2The blessing promised

No blessing is promised here.

3The consequence for breach

No curse or penalty is stated.

4What the record says happened

“I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.”

The clause the whole catalog turns on, and the reason a promise without an explicit if — such as 38:32 — can still be read as conditional.

Go to the source

D&C 82 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

130:20-21 — the law of blessings

2 April 1843

Governing lawGoverning principle

1The commandment

No obligation is laid in this section.

2The blessing promised

No blessing is promised here.

3The consequence for breach

No curse or penalty is stated.

4What the record says happened

“There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated — And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.”

Establishes that no blessing in the restoration is unconditional by nature.

Go to the source

D&C 130 — full text Historical context — D&C Central

Summary

Section (date)	Chain	Obligation	Promised blessing	Promised curse	Scriptural verdict on keeping
First Vision (1820)	0	Walk in my statutes; keep my commandments	Sins forgiven	—	Broken — "I fell into transgressions" (1832 history, p. 4)
The plates (1823-27)	0	No object but to glorify God	Plates, Urim and Thummim	Disqualification by motive	Failed, then met; delivered 22 Sept 1827
3 (Jul 1828)	0	Keep the custody commandments; fear God above men	Support against "the fiery darts of the adversary"	Privileges lost "for a season" (3:14); terminal branch at 3:11	Condition failed (3:6-7); mercy and recall offered (3:10)
5 (Mar 1829)	0	Harris: humble himself, covenant, exercise faith	A view of the plates	No such view; if he denies, "he is condemned" (5:27)	Met June 1829; never denied, across 50 years and 3 separations
9 (Apr 1829)	0	Study it out, then ask (9:8)	Power to translate	Privilege taken away (9:5)	Failed by fear (9:11); standing untouched (9:12)
10 (1828-29)	0	Be faithful; finish the work	Gift restored (10:3)	—	Repentance accepted; gift restored, pages not (10:30)
20 (Apr 1830)	0, 3	Live the articles & covenants	Membership in Christ's church; "power from on high" (v. 8)	Dealt with per church covenants	None against the church — two rendered on the first elder, vv. 5-6
21 (Apr 1830)	—	Heed the prophet	Gates of hell shall not prevail	(Conditional — implied loss)	None rendered
38 (Jan 1831)	1, 2, 3	Gather; be one; esteem thy brother; relieve the poor & govern church property	My law + endowment of power (v. 32); land of promise (vv. 18-20); riches of eternity (v. 39)	"If ye are not one ye are not mine" (v. 27); pride → "as the Nephites of old"	Law fulfilled (42); land verdict in 101/105; property chain broken (104); endowment open
41 (Feb 1831)	2	Receive and do the law	Discipleship	Cast out from among you	None rendered
42 (Feb 1831)	2	Consecrate; keep commandments	Inheritance / order of Zion	Delivered to law; dealt with	Broken via United Firm (see 104)
51 / 57 (1831)	1, 2	Order of stewardships; the land identified	Inheritance in Missouri	—	Links, not terminals
58-59 (Aug 1831)	1	Build Zion; keep Sabbath	Fulness of the earth	Wrath kindled	Failure addressed in 101, 105
64 (Sept 1831)	1	Willing heart; forgive	Eat the good of Zion	Rebellious cut off from Zion	None rendered
1 (Nov 1831)	—	Repent, keep commandments	Forgiveness	Light taken away	Church "collectively" well pleased (v. 30); v. 15 = the apostate world (cf. Isa. 24:5), not the restored church
70 (Nov 1831)	2	Faithful stewardship	Worthy of hire	Condemnation	None rendered
78 (Mar 1832)	2	United Firm covenant	Independence; crowns; rulership	Buffetings of Satan	Broken (see 104)
82 (Apr 1832)	2	United Firm covenant	(as 78)	Buffetings of Satan	Broken (see 104). 82:10 states the governing rule
84 (Sept 1832)	—	Magnify priesthood	Sanctification; "all the Father hath"	No forgiveness this world or next	Whole church under condemnation (84:54-57) — but with remedy stated (57-58)
95 (Jun 1833)	3	Build the house	"That you may be endowed with power from on high" (95:8)	Chastening (95:1-2)	Chastened for neglect
97 (Aug 1833)	1	Zion obedient	Zion escapes	Sore affliction	Affliction followed (101)
101 (Dec 1833)	1	(verdict section)	—	—	Chastened for transgressions
103 (Feb 1834)	1	Redeem Zion (Zion's Camp)	Prevail; be "saviors of men"	Cast down; as savorless salt	Outcome deferred (see 105)
104 (Apr 1834)	2	(verdict section)	—	Sore & grievous curse	Covenant broken; order dissolved
105 (Jun 1834)	1, 3	(verdict section)	—	Delay	Redemption deferred "a little season" (105:9-10); endowment made a precondition (vv. 11-12, 33)
109 (Mar 1836)	3	(petition)	"Armed with power from on high" (109:22)	—	A petition, not a verdict
110 (Apr 1836)	3	—	Keys committed; the house accepted (110:7)	—	The traditional fulfilment marker — must be engaged
124 (Jan 1841)	3	Build the house by the appointed time	(blessings of the house)	Rejected as a church, with your dead	None rendered; cf. 124:28 ("lost… or taken away") and the hindrance clause, 124:49-51
130:20-21 (1843)	—	(principle)	Any blessing	—	All blessings conditional by law

Pattern. From the organization of the church (21), through its founding law (42) and gathering promise (38), the central blessings — protection, endowment "with power from on high," inheritance in Zion, and even "the gates of hell shall not prevail" — are consistently framed as conditional. In multiple sections the revelations themselves render a verdict that the conditions were not met: 84:54-57, 101 and 105, and 104:4-5. Section 1:15 is deliberately excluded from that list: on the stronger reading its "broken everlasting covenant" describes the apostate world that occasioned the restoration — echoing Isaiah 24:5 — not the restored church, which v. 30 places in good collective standing as of 1831. Whether the genuine verdict passages amount to a "fall" of the church, to correctable chastisement within a still-standing covenant, or to the third shape the prototype attests — standing kept while a specific promised thing is forfeited — is the question the pattern sets up, and this page does not settle it.