The prisoners left the wagon and immediately ascended the south steps. . . . The door was open, and, one by one, the tall and well proportioned forms of the prisoners entered. The Prophet Joseph was the last of the number who lingered behind. Then turning away, and lifting his hat, he said in a distinct voice, “Good afternoon, gentlemen.”

With that, Joseph Smith descended into the basement of the jail at Liberty, Missouri—a dark, cold, and cheerless dungeon in which he would spend the dreary winter months of 1838-39.

This eyewitness account, written by Lyman Littlefield, is typical of the hundreds of quotations—many of them previously unpublished—that have been gathered into this study of the origins of the Doctrine and Covenants and the effect of its revelations in the lives of the early Saints. By setting the scenes, Joseph Smith and the Doctrine and Covenants enables us to more fully appreciate the magnitude of the Restoration and to better understand the tenets, principles, doctrines, ordinances, and practices the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith.

The testimonies written by those who observed the Prophet at work and who endured those turbulent years will enhance every reader’s understanding of the revelations that were a part of what the Lord described as ‘the beginning of the rising up and the coming forth of my church out of the wilderness.’