1886 Revelation

History of the 1886 Revelation and its reception

Early discussion about the 1886 Revelation, its existence, provenance, and applicability

In February 1911, church leaders convened to discuss Church discipline for John W. Taylor, Taylor's son and a then-apostle who was being threatened with excommunication for opposing the church's shift in policy towards forbidding the practice of plural marriage. At this meeting, the younger Taylor told the leaders present that his father had "received a revelation which however was never presented to the Church." John W. Taylor claimed to have discovered the revelation among his father's papers, sometime after the elder Taylor's death in 1887.

As this example shows, previous to the full release of the original manuscript of the revelation in 2025, rumors, speculation, and partial releases of information about the revelation had made the rounds in the LDS and LDS fundamentalist communities.

For example, the LDS Archives' John Taylor Papers contains a copy of the original manuscript said to have been made by Joseph Fielding Smith on 3 August 1909.

LDS Apostle Melvin J. Ballard wrote in response to question from a Church member in 1934: The pretended revelation of President John Taylor never had his signature added to it but was written in the form of a revelation and undoubtedly was in his hand writing; nevertheless it was never submitted to his own associates in the Presidency and the Twelve nor to the Church and consequently does not bind the Church in any sense. In later decades, photographs of the original document were available, even though the existence and location of the original was unknown.

LDS historian Reed C. Durham said in informal remarks:

There was a revelation that John Taylor received and we have it in his handwriting. We've analyzed the handwriting. It is John Taylor's handwriting and the revelation is reproduced by the fundamentalists. That's supposed to prove the whole story because there was indeed a revelation. The revelation is dated September 27; that fits the account of a meeting, 1886.

Importance of the 1886 Revelation to fundamentalist and polygamist Mormon organizers and groups

In 1912, Lorin C. Woolley, a Mormon fundamentalist leader, published a claim that five copies of the revelation had been made and entrusted to LDS Church apostle George Q. Cannon with the intent of preserving the practice for posterity.

According to Woolley, President Taylor was in hiding from federal marshals and in September 1886 took refuge in John W. Woolley's home in Centerville, Utah. On a Sunday afternoon, a delegation of LDS church officials visited President Taylor and urged him that the church ought to renounce plural marriage. That night, Taylor prayed on the matter and subsequently received a lengthy visitation from Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith, who instructed him to yield neither to federal nor internal pressures.

Woolley claimed he was reading Doctrine and Covenants in his room when he was "suddenly attracted to a light appearing under the door leading to President Taylor's room, and was at once startled to hear the voices of men talking there. There were three distinct voices." Woolley ran to the door out of concern for Taylor's well-being but found it bolted shut. Woolley was confused, but continued to stand by the door until morning, when Taylor emerged from his room with a "brightness of his personage." Taylor explained to him and the other men, who were all now at the door, "Brethren, I have had a very pleasant conversation all night with Brother Joseph [Smith]." Woolley questioned him about the voices and Taylor explained that the third one belonged to Jesus Christ.

Taylor then placed "each person under covenant that he or she would defend the principle of Celestial or Plural Marriage, and that they would consecrate their lives, liberty and property to this end, and that they personally would sustain and uphold the principle."

After telling these men of this experience, Taylor wrote the revelation down and had his secretary L. John Nuttall make five copies. At the urging of Taylor, all of those present entered into a "solemn covenant and promise that they would see to it that not a year should pass without plural marriages being performed and children born under the covenant."

Release of facsimiles of 27 September 1886 revelation in June 2025

In June 2025, the LDS Church History Catalog released facsimiles of materials held in its archives, including the full text of the 27 September 1886 revelation by John Taylor written in his own hand, along with transcriptions of the handwritten revelation and other associated materials.

Included among the materials is a statement by J. Reuben Clark explaining how the handwritten copy of the 1886 revelation had come into possession of the First Presidency in 1933 soon after the First Presidency had issued an Official Statement on subject of polygamy on June 17th.

The June 17th First Presidency statement called the 27 September 1886 revelation "pretended" and went on to say:it should be said that the archives of the Church contain no such revelation; the archives contain no record of any such revelation, nor any evidence justifying a belief that any such revelation was ever given. From the personal knowledge of some of us, from the uniform and common recollection of the presiding quorums of the Church, from the absence in the Church archives of any evidence whatsoever justifying any belief that such a revelation was given, we are justified in affirming that no such revelation exists.

Furthermore, insofar as the authorities of the Church are concerned, since this pretended revelation, if ever given, was never presented to and adopted by the Church or by any council of the Church . . . the said pretended revelation could have no validity and no binding effect and force upon Church members, and action under it would be unauthorized, illegal, and void.The statement by J. Reuben Clark explains how, subsequent to this statement, the original copy of the revelation in John Taylor's hand was presented to the First Presidency:After the issuance of the Official Statement of June 17, 1933 by the First Presidency, covering the matter of pretended polygamous or plural marriages, President Ivins stated to Presidents Grand and Clark that a report had come to him that Sister Nellie Taylor, one of the plural wives of John W. Taylor, was affirming that she had found among the papers of her husband, John W. Taylor, after his death, a paper on which was something written in the handwriting of the President John Taylor. Sister Taylor stated that she had turned over this paper to Brother Frank Y. Taylor.

Full text of the 1886 Revelation

The text of the revelation is as follows:

1886 Revelation

Given to President John Taylor September 27, 1886

My son John, you have asked me concerning the New and Everlasting Covenant how far it is binding upon my people.

Thus saith the Lord: All commandments that I give must be obeyed by those calling themselves by my name unless they are revoked by me or by my authority, and how can I revoke an everlasting covenant, for I the Lord am everlasting and my everlasting covenants cannot be abrogated nor done away with, but they stand forever.

Have I not given my word in great plainness on this subject? Yet have not great numbers of my people been negligent in the observance of my law and the keeping of my commandments, and yet have I borne with them these many years; and this because of their weakness—because of the perilous times, and furthermore, it is more pleasing to me that men should use their free agency in regard to these matters. Nevertheless, I the Lord do not change and my word and my covenants and my law do not, and as I have heretofore said by my servant Joseph: All those who would enter into my glory must and shall obey my law. And have I not commanded men that if they were Abraham’s seed and would enter into my glory, they must do the works of Abraham. I have not revoked this law, nor will I, for it is everlasting, and those who will enter into my glory must obey the conditions thereof; even so, Amen.