A Revelation Given through the Prophet Joseph Smith to William E. McLellin
Doctrine and Covenants 66:1–13
1 Behold, thus saith the Lord unto my servant William E. McLellin—Blessed are you, inasmuch as you have turned away from your iniquities, and have received my truths, saith the Lord your Redeemer, the Savior of the world, even of as many as believe on my name.
2 Verily I say unto you, blessed are you for receiving mine everlasting covenant, even the fulness of my gospel, sent forth unto the children of men, that they might have life and be made partakers of the glories which are to be revealed in the last days, as it was written by the prophets and apostles in days of old.
3 Verily I say unto you, my servant William, that you are clean, but not all; repent, therefore, of those things which are not pleasing in my sight, saith the Lord, for the Lord will show them unto you.
4 And now, verily, I, the Lord, will show unto you what I will concerning you, or what is my will concerning you.
5 Behold, verily I say unto you, that it is my will that you should proclaim my gospel from land to land, and from city to city, yea, in those regions round about where it has not been proclaimed.
6 Tarry not many days in this place; go not up unto the land of Zion as yet; but inasmuch as you can send, send; otherwise, think not of thy property.
7 Go unto the eastern lands, bear testimony in every place, unto every people and in their synagogues, reasoning with the people.
8 Let my servant Samuel H. Smith go with you, and forsake him not, and give him thine instructions; and he that is faithful shall be made strong in every place; and I, the Lord, will go with you.
9 Lay your hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. Return not till I, the Lord, shall send you. Be patient in affliction. Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 Seek not to be cumbered. Forsake all unrighteousness. Commit not adultery—a temptation with which thou hast been troubled.
11 Keep these sayings, for they are true and faithful; and thou shalt magnify thine office, and push many people to Zion with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads.
12 Continue in these things even unto the end, and you shall have a crown of eternal life at the right hand of my Father, who is full of grace and truth.
13 Verily, thus saith the Lord your God, your Redeemer, even Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:
“William E. [McLellin] . . . sought for a blessing by revelation from the Lord. He accepted the gospel in the spirit of faith but he had may weaknesses. In seeking this blessing he did so with full desire to know the will of the Lord concerning himself. The Lord answered by saying that he was blessed, ‘inasmuch as you have turned away from your iniquities, and have received my truths, saith the Lord your Redeemer, the Savior of the world, even of as many as believe on my name’ [D&C 66:1]. Through his continued faithfulness he was promised that there would be given to him the ‘everlasting covenant,’ which is interpreted to be ‘the fulness of the gospel’ [D&C 66:2]. In other words, every principle, key, and authority, belonging to the gospel of Jesus Christ, constitute the new and ‘everlasting covenant.’ It is not, as some may believe, any one covenant which is everlasting, but the sum total of them all.
“Through his repentance and the sincere desire to do right, the Lord declared that he was clean, ‘but not all’ [D&C 66:3]. There had come to him forgiveness, but still there lingered in some manner, evidently in his mind and thoughts, some thing from which he had not cleansed himself by full repentance. The Lord read his soul. He was commanded to go forth and preach the gospel ‘from land to land, and from city to city, yea, in those regions round about where it has not been proclaimed.’ [D&C 66:5]. He was instructed not to go up to the land of Zion at that time, and he was to think more of the work of the Lord than of his property [see D&C 66:6]. In his preaching he was to have as a companion Samuel H. Smith, brother of the Prophet [see D&C 66:8]. This was a wonderful revelation to William E. [McLellin] and should have been a great blessing and incentive to him to remain faithful. One besetting sin, so the Lord revealed, was the temptation of sexual sin. He was not accused of committing such a sin, but the dangers, because of his failings, which lay in this direction [see D&C 66:10].”
(Church History and Modern Revelation, 2 vols. [1953], 1:244–45.)
