The School of the Prophets

A named institution with a stated door, a stated seating, a stated greeting given word for word, and an entrance ordinance the text sources to a chapter of John by number.

What this page maps. Modern revelation, reported as the text gives it. D&C 88 speaks in a first-person divine voice — “verily I say unto you, my friends” (D&C 88:117) — and this page reports its instructions as the text frames them. Dates, places, and occasions are not in this wiki’s source text and are not stated; nothing about whether such a school met, or where, is available to this page. The section’s other material — the resurrection, the light of Christ, the kingdoms and the trumps — is hosted on The Resurrection, Light and Truth, and Degrees of Glory. This page hosts D&C 88:117–141.

Standing disclosure — KJV-overlap material. This page reports verbal correspondence with the King James text as textual fact, including where the correspondence follows the KJV’s English translation. What that correspondence implies about the origin of the Doctrine and Covenants text — in any direction — is an external question outside this wiki’s scope.

Account

The name, and where it stands

The corpus names this institution five times, and the five verses fall in three sections. “school of the prophets” stands at exactly five distinct frozen verses in the corpus: D&C 88:127, D&C 88:136, D&C 88:137, D&C 90:7, and D&C 95:10. Each of the three sections says a different kind of thing about it. This one gives its order in detail (D&C 88:127–141). A second states that keys to it are held: “As also through your administration the keys of the school of the prophets, which I have commanded to be organized;” (D&C 90:7), a verse hosted on The Order of Revelation and cited here. A third reports that it went wrong: “my servants sinned a very grievous sin; and contentions arose in the school of the prophets; which was very grievous unto me, saith your Lord; therefore I sent them forth to be chastened.” (D&C 95:10), hosted on Chastening and cited here. The same section supplies a fourth name for what appears to be a related body, in a different phrase: the higher part of a commanded house is dedicated “for the school of mine apostles” (D&C 95:17). Whether the two phrases name one institution is not settled by any verse in the corpus, and this page does not settle it.

The charge that precedes the order

The block opens on a command already given once — “call your solemn assembly, as I have commanded you” (D&C 88:117) — and then on an instruction about learning whose most-quoted clause is hosted elsewhere: “seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118), treated on Light and Truth and cited here. “the best books” stands at three distinct frozen verses in the corpus, this one and D&C 109:7 and D&C 109:14, which repeat the clause almost entirely and are treated on The Dedicatory Prayer.

Then the house is specified by seven uses in one sentence.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 88:119: “Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;” - Isaiah 56:7: “Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.”

The shared term is a short one and the corpus uses it sparingly: “a house of prayer” stands at exactly three distinct frozen verses in the corpus, this verse and D&C 109:8 and D&C 109:16, and the prophecy’s own form “an house of prayer” at exactly one, Isaiah 56:7, with a gospel carrying it as “the house of prayer” at Matthew 21:13. What this verse does that no other carrier does is make the term one of seven parallel appositives, and the six that accompany it are not in the prophecy at all. Divergences: the prophecy’s house is an existing sanctuary whose worship is being widened to “all people” (Isaiah 56:7), and this verse’s is a house not yet established, named by its uses in advance. Registered on the shared term and its position; a reader who judges the term too common to carry a pairing has the full distribution above to judge by.

The purposes attach to comings and goings rather than to ceremonies: “That your incomings may be in the name of the Lord; that your outgoings may be in the name of the Lord; that all your salutations may be in the name of the Lord, with uplifted hands unto the Most High.” (D&C 88:120). “uplifted hands” stands at exactly four distinct frozen verses in the corpus, three of them in this block (D&C 88:120, 88:132, 88:135) and the fourth at D&C 109:9.

What is to cease

Two verses are a list of prohibitions and habits, and their plainness is their most reportable feature: “Therefore, cease from all your light speeches, from all laughter, from all your lustful desires, from all your pride and light-mindedness, and from all your wicked doings.” (D&C 88:121); “Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.” (D&C 88:124). Four of those clauses stand at exactly one frozen verse in the corpus each: “light speeches”, “light-mindedness”, “Cease to be idle”, and “cease to find fault” — the third quoted with the capital raw gives it, since it opens its sentence.

Between them stands a rule of order that is unusual for being about turn-taking: “Appoint among yourselves a teacher, and let not all be spokesmen at once; but let one speak at a time and let all listen unto his sayings, that when all have spoken that all may be edified of all, and that every man may have an equal privilege.” (D&C 88:122). “let one speak at a time” and “an equal privilege” each stand at exactly one frozen verse in the corpus, this one.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 88:125: “And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace.” - Colossians 3:14: “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”

“the bond of perfectness” stands at exactly two distinct frozen verses in the corpus, these two. Both open on the same construction — “above all things” here, “above all these things” in the letter (Colossians 3:14) — and both make charity the thing put on. Divergences: the letter’s “put on charity” is here “clothe yourselves with the bond of charity” (D&C 88:125), so the thing worn is the bond rather than the charity; this verse adds a simile the letter does not carry, “as with a mantle” — a phrase standing at exactly two distinct frozen verses in the corpus, this one and Psalms 109:29, where the sense is a covering of shame; and this verse adds a second noun to the predicate, “and peace” (D&C 88:125), which the letter does not.

[Textual] — paraphrase / allusion. () - D&C 88:126: “Pray always, that ye may not faint, until I come. Behold, and lo, I will come quickly, and receive you unto myself. Amen.” - Luke 18:1: “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;”

The shared material is the pairing of praying always with not fainting; the wording differs in every word of the connective tissue, which is why this is registered as allusion. “Pray always, that ye may not faint” stands at exactly one frozen verse in the corpus, this one. The gospel’s own wording stands at exactly two — Luke 18:1 and D&C 101:81, “for men ought always to pray and not to faint, which saith—”, which reproduces the clause verbatim and names the parable it introduces; that verse is treated on The Redemption of Zion and is disclosed here rather than paired. So the corpus carries the saying twice in the gospel’s words and once, here, in its own. Divergences from the gospel: the gospel states a general lesson drawn from a parable, and this verse attaches the praying to a terminus the parable does not name — “until I come” (D&C 88:126).

The order of the house, stated as choreography

From D&C 88:127 the material changes kind: it stops giving principles and starts staging a room. The presiding officer is placed — “He that is appointed to be president, or teacher, shall be found standing in his place, in the house which shall be prepared for him.” (D&C 88:128) — and the placing is given an audibility reason rather than a dignity one: “in a place that the congregation in the house may hear his words carefully and distinctly, not with loud speech.” (D&C 88:129). He is to arrive first, and the text supplies its own reason and its own aesthetic judgement in one clause: “for he should be first in the house—behold, this is beautiful, that he may be an example—” (D&C 88:130). “found standing in his place” and “the house of the presidency” (D&C 88:128) each stand at exactly one frozen verse in the corpus.

He kneels, and the kneeling is given a token function: “Let him offer himself in prayer upon his knees before God, in token or remembrance of the everlasting covenant.” (D&C 88:131). The phrase “in token or remembrance” stands at exactly two distinct frozen verses in the corpus, this one and D&C 88:133, where it recurs inside the greeting itself.

Then the greeting, which the section gives as direct speech to be said in those words: “And when any shall come in after him, let the teacher arise, and, with uplifted hands to heaven, yea, even directly, salute his brother or brethren with these words:” (D&C 88:132), followed by the words themselves — “Art thou a brother or brethren? I salute you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in token or remembrance of the everlasting covenant, in which covenant I receive you to fellowship, in a determination that is fixed, immovable, and unchangeable, to be your friend and brother through the grace of God in the bonds of love, to walk in all the commandments of God blameless, in thanksgiving, forever and ever. Amen.” (D&C 88:133). “Art thou a brother” stands at exactly one frozen verse in the corpus, this one. The reply is prescribed too, with a permitted short form: the one entering salutes “with this same prayer and covenant, or by saying Amen, in token of the same.” (D&C 88:135).

The consequence of not being greeted this way is stated without procedure: “And he that is found unworthy of this salutation shall not have place among you; for ye shall not suffer that mine house shall be polluted by him.” (D&C 88:134). The section then names what it has just done: “this is an ensample unto you for a salutation to one another in the house of God, in the school of the prophets.” (D&C 88:136), and states the purpose the practice serves: “that it may become a sanctuary, a tabernacle of the Holy Spirit to your edification.” (D&C 88:137). “a tabernacle of the Holy Spirit” stands at exactly one frozen verse in the corpus, this one.

The door, and the ordinance at it

Admission is stated as a single condition, negatively: “And ye shall not receive any among you into this school save he is clean from the blood of this generation;” (D&C 88:138). “the blood of this generation” stands at three distinct frozen verses in the corpus — this one, D&C 88:85, and D&C 112:33 — and in the two others the clause is about the responsibility of those sent to preach rather than about admission to a school.

The condition is then made an ordinance, and the ordinance is given a purpose clause that is circular in the text’s own words: “And he shall be received by the ordinance of the washing of feet, for unto this end was the ordinance of the washing of feet instituted.” (D&C 88:139). “washing of feet” stands at exactly one frozen verse in the corpus, this one, and “washing feet” at exactly one, the next (D&C 88:140), which names who administers it: “the president, or presiding elder of the church” (D&C 88:140).

The last verse of the block sources the whole thing to a chapter of a gospel, by number: “It is to be commenced with prayer; and after partaking of bread and wine, he is to gird himself according to the pattern given in the thirteenth chapter of John’s testimony concerning me. Amen.” (D&C 88:141). “he is to gird himself” stands at exactly one frozen verse in the corpus, this one; the verb alone, “gird himself”, at exactly two — this and Luke 12:37, a different scene. Two connection records for that citation are already in the register ( against John 13:4, and against John 13:5), both asserted_by: "source" — the verse names the chapter and names the act, and the frozen chapter’s girding and washing stand at those two verses. They are cited here, not duplicated. What the gospel chapter supplies and this verse does not is the instituting scene’s own statement of purpose: “For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” (John 13:15).

Significance

The interest of this block is its granularity. A corpus that elsewhere speaks in the register of “Hearken, O ye people” here specifies who enters a room first, how loudly he speaks, what he does with his hands, what sentence he says, and what the person entering may say back. Two things follow from reading it as one unit rather than as scattered counsel.

The first is that the school is described almost entirely as a set of practices rather than a curriculum. The one verse about content is about how to acquire it (“even by study and also by faith”, D&C 88:118); everything else is about conduct, order, greeting, and admission. What is taught in the school is not stated in any of the five verses that name it.

The second is where the text locates its own authority for the entrance ordinance. It does not derive the washing of feet from a principle; it points at a chapter and a number (D&C 88:141). That is one of the few places in the collection where an ordinance is grounded by citation rather than by declaration, and it is why the two records on that verse are asserted_by: "source" and not the wiki’s.

Key references

D&C 88:117–120 — the solemn assembly; study and faith; the house named by seven uses
D&C 88:121–126 — what is to cease; turn-taking; the bond of charity; praying without fainting
D&C 88:127–137 — the order of the house; the salutation given word for word
D&C 88:138–141 — the condition of admission; the washing of feet; the chapter cited
D&C 90:7, D&C 95:10, D&C 95:17 — the collection’s other verses naming the school
Colossians 3:14, Luke 18:1, Isaiah 56:7, John 13:4–5 — the passages this block tracks or names

The Order of the Church · Light and Truth · Chastening · The Dedicatory Prayer · The Order of Revelation · The Houses Commanded · Offices of the Church · Index · Connections

Sources

Doctrine and Covenants section 88, verses 117–141 (verse text only; headnotes excluded); the section’s other material is hosted on The Resurrection, Light and Truth, Degrees of Glory, and The Order of the Church. Cross-references quoted from Colossians 3, Luke 18, Isaiah 56, and John 13. D&C 90, D&C 95, D&C 101, D&C 109, D&C 112, Matthew 21, Psalms 109, and Luke 12 are cited inside disclosures rather than registered as connections of this page.

Every quote is verbatim from the frozen source text, cited to its exact reference and checked character-for-character; no quote crosses a verse boundary. Five connection records are registered here, all [textual]. Three are asserted_by: wiki; the two asserted_by: "source" records on D&C 88:141’s citation of a chapter of John are registered here as well. Distribution figures are counts of distinct frozen verses in the corpus, derived by search at the time of writing.