D&C 55: William W. Phelps, Printing, and Schoolbooks
I picked up a hand plane at an estate sale last spring. It was rusted, the blade was nicked, and the knob had a crack running through it. Most people would have walked past it. But I could see what it was underneath the neglect, so I paid five dollars and took it home. It took about three hours over two evenings to clean the rust off, sharpen the blade, and reassemble the whole thing. What emerged was a tool that could take a ribbon of wood shaving off a rough board that would curl into a pile on the floor. The rust was gone but the work I put into it stayed.
D&C 55 reads like that plane looked before I cleaned it. It is short, barely seven verses, and it does not look like much at first glance. But under the surface there is a revelation about how the Lord takes a person's existing skills and puts them to work on something eternal.
Who Was William W. Phelps in the Early Church
The printer William Phelps joined the Church in 1831, and that profession turned out to be the exact skill the Church needed. Back then the faith was still headquartered in New York and the printing press was about as vital to its growth as any missionary. The Book of Mormon was less than a year and a half old, and hymnals and schoolbooks all needed to move from hand-set type to paper. The Church needed someone who knew how to run a press.
D&C 55 lays out Phelps' assignment in order. First, he was to be baptized with an eye single to God's glory. After that, he would receive the Holy Spirit, be ordained by Joseph Smith, and assist Oliver Cowdery in selecting books for the children of the Church.
Here is what I keep coming back to. The Lord called Phelps because of his profession rather than in spite of it. Phelps was a printer before he was a member. When he brought his skills into the Church, the Lord put them to work immediately. The separation between sacred and secular was simply not there.
And again, I say unto you, I give unto you a commandment, that even as my servant Oliver Cowdery, that ye shall attend to the printing and selecting of books for schools in this church, that little children may receive instruction.
The Meaning of an Eye Single to the Glory of God in D&C 55
The phrase appears in verse 1. Phelps is told to be baptized with an eye single to God's glory. I have read that phrase before. It shows up in D&C 4, and the Sermon on the Mount has a version of it about the single eye filling the body with light. But here it is tied directly to the remission of sins. The baptism counts only if the intent is single.
There is a woodworking parallel. When you start a dovetail joint, the angle of the saw matters. A degree off at the cut becomes a visible gap at the assembly. You cannot fix it later with glue and hope. The intent has to be correct at the moment of the cut. An eye single means the saw is lined up before you make the first pass.
Phelps was going to be baptized anyway, just like every other convert. But the revelation makes clear that the condition of his heart at the moment of baptism would determine what came next. Mixed motives would produce a hollow result, while a single eye would produce a full remission of sins and the reception of the Holy Spirit.
How Professional Skills Are Used in Church Callings
The revelation assigns Phelps to select books for children. He is not called to preach sermons or lead congregations. He is called to pick out textbooks and set type. It is a narrow assignment that matches his narrow expertise.
This is the part I find quietly encouraging. The Lord does not always ask people to do things they have never done before. Sometimes he takes what they already know how to do and points it in a different direction. Phelps knew how to print and the Lord wanted books for schools. The skills translated directly.
The same pattern shows up across the early Church, where farmers became bishops, scribes became historians, and builders became temple architects. The calling matched the person because the Lord already knew what tools they were carrying. It echoes the same kind of specificity found in D&C 54, where broken covenants and fresh starts are weighed against each other.
I think about Phelps setting type for a children's reader. Someone had to teach those kids to read. That task was as spiritual as any sermon.
The Early Church Education Vision for Children
Verse 4 is remarkably clear in what it asks. The Lord wanted books for schools and children to receive instruction. This is 1831, before public education was standard, before any government mandate said children should be in classrooms. The early Saints were commanded to build schools and write textbooks.
The vision was not vague. It was specific enough that Phelps knew exactly what to do when he reached Kirtland. He had a printing press and a stack of manuscripts. The children needed lessons. He had the tools to make them.
There is a lesson there about how the Church views learning. It was never seen as a separate activity from worship. The same people who gathered for sacrament meeting also gathered for school, and the same leaders who preached also printed the materials. The division between spiritual education and academic education was an artificial one that the early Saints simply did not observe.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was William W. Phelps' professional background?
He was a printer and publisher by trade. When he joined the Church in 1831, the Lord directed him to use those exact skills to assist Oliver Cowdery in printing and selecting books for Church schools.
What does an eye single to God's glory mean in D&C 55?
It means focusing your intention entirely on God without mixing in worldly motives. In this context, Phelps was told to be baptized with that kind of focus so he could receive a full remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Why did the Lord emphasize children's education in this revelation?
The early Church understood that faith and learning belong together. By directing Phelps to write and print books for children, the Lord showed that teaching the next generation was as important as any other work of the Church.
What does D&C 55 teach about using professional skills in the Church?
It shows that the Lord calls people not in spite of their professional background but because of it. Phelps was a printer and the Church needed a printer. The calling matched the person.
The hand plane I cleaned up sits on my bench and I use it whenever a board needs flattening, which is more often than you would think. Its value comes from what it can do, not from how it looked when I bought it.
D&C 55 is like that. Seven verses that look like a quick instruction sheet for one man contain a principle that reaches past Phelps and into anyone who has wondered whether their skills matter to the Lord. They do. He already knows what tools you are carrying.
— D.