Of all of the documents quoted by Mormon fundamentalists, none is more common than a revelation written by church president John Taylor in 1886. The manuscript is important to modern polygamists, not only because of its content, but also because it simply exists. This article will discuss the document and its significance in the history of Mormon fundamentalism.

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In summary, the 1886 revelation states that God’s laws (and their conditions) as well as His covenants do not change and cannot be revoked or abrogated. In contrast, God’s commandments can be revoked. All three must be obeyed when given by specific revelation.

Conclusion

The 1886 revelation provides multiple layers of validation for Mormon fundamentalists. Many are certain that, somewhere within its stern language, the practice of plural marriage continues to be commanded. The revelation also serves to corroborate the whole of Lorin Woolley’s 1929 account, with its reported nighttime visitation of Jesus Christ to John Taylor, a subsequent eight-hour meeting, and the described makeor-break ordinations foreshadowing the eventual departure of priesthood authority from the mother church. Ostensibly, that authority is exercised by fundamentalists today to perform their plural marriages. The question arises as to how history might have unfolded if LDS church leaders in the early decades of the twentieth century had simply admitted the existence of the revelation and classified it with other documents of similar origins.133 As D. Michael Quinn observed, it “really added nothing to any of the revelations that had been given on plural marriage.”134 Would fundamentalist investigators, thereafter, have been more highly motivated to scrutinize Lorin Woolley’s other teachings, as recorded by Joseph W. Musser in his Book of Remembrance135 or to closely examine the details he provided regarding the September 1886 occurrences? If so, what conclusions might they have drawn and would those conclusions have affected the paths of leaders like Rulon Allred and Rulon Jeffs (Warren’s father)? Unfortunately, there is no way to tell.