Times and Seasons (, Hancock Co., IL), 1 July 1842, vol. 3, no. 17, pp. 831–846; edited by JS. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.
Historical Introduction
The 1 July 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons was the ninth issue published under JS’s editorship. Much of the issue was devoted to the publication of correspondence regarding ’s immoral conduct in , Illinois. This correspondence included a letter that JS wrote telling members about Bennett and describing how church leaders had handled his situation. To corroborate JS’s statements in that letter, the issue included excerpts of correspondence from unidentified individuals and from , who had evidently been sent to verify information about Bennett in . These statements, as well as JS’s letter, had been previously published in the 25 June 1842 issue of the Wasp.
In addition to information about , the 1 July issue contained an article by , excerpts from the “History of Joseph Smith,” an article on the Jews, and a reprint of a letter published in the Dollar Weekly Bostonian recounting a meeting at which “, the Mormon lecturer of the city of ” spoke. Also included were accounts of earthquakes that had occurred in Haiti and in Greece, a letter from to JS, communications from preaching outside of , minutes of in outlying , and a poem by about the . The issue also featured editorial commentary and notices written by the editorial staff. How involved JS was in composing the editorial material is unclear. While assisted him in editing the paper, JS, as editor, assumed primary responsibility for the paper’s content.
Note that only the editorial content created specifically for this issue of the Times and Seasons is annotated here. Articles reprinted from other papers, letters, conference minutes, and notices, are reproduced here but not annotated. Items that are stand-alone JS documents are annotated elsewhere; links are provided to these stand-alone documents.
A friend handed us the following communication for insertion in the Bostonian; we cheerfully comply with his request, not doubting that our readers will be also gratified with the perusal of it. Jo Smith and his followers are creating as great a revolution in the morals of our country, as our fathers in ’76 did in its political destinies. Our columns are open to both sides of the queston, provided communications are short and to the point.
——
LATTER DAY SAINTS, OR MORMONS.
Mr Editor:—Having attended the lectures lately delivered at the Boylston Hall by , the Mormon lecturer of the city of , who has just returned from where he had been for the last fifteen months declaring what he calls “the glories of the new and everlasting covenant,” I thought a short review of said lectures would prove interesting to the readers of your valuable paper; and I have no hesitation in saying that had made a decided hit in getting to assist him at this time, as the large, intelligent and attentive congregations that have attended to hear his lectures fully prove.
His first lecture was delivered on Wednesday evening, June 1st, in which he gave his reasons for renouncing Methodism, and embracing the doctrines and principles of the Latter Day Saints. His reasoning was unanswerable, and the way he walked into the affections of their supposed God, without body, parts or passions, was a caution to Yankee sinners. At the close he gave an opportunity for the Methodists to defend their system, and although some of their preachers were present, they said not a word—for they well knew the Bible condemned their creed. On Thursday evening he fully showed the ignorance and folly of Millerism, clearly proving by the scriptures that the Jews must be gathered home from their long dispersion, and rebuild their city on its own heaps of ruins, even Jerusalem itself, before Christ should come. On Friday and Saturday evenings he introduced a talented young elder from named , who clearly set forth that the doctrine of Christ was and is the same in all ages, and that the Church of Christ, when he has an organized church on the earth, is composed of the same officers, the same ordinances, and has in it the same gifts and blessings. On Sunday lectured on the second coming of Christ, and gave much light on that subject, showing that it would take place before this present generation shall pass away. He proved also, if the Bible is true, that the second advent must take place before 1880. In the course of the lecture he threw much light on the subject of the “Ancient of Days,” showing him not to be the Lord Jesus Christ, nor God the Father, but that he is old father Adam, who shall sit as a great patria[r]ch at the head of the whole family; when the second Adam, the Lord fom heaven, the Son of Man shall come with the clouds, and come to the Ancient of Days, and the saints should take the kingdom, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, according to Daniel, chapter vii. He also declared, as it was in the days of Noah, so now God had called a prophet, viz. Joseph Smith, to warn this generation to prepare for the coming of the Son of Man, and labored to show the injustice of destroying any generation without first warning them. In the afternoon he spoke on the subject of the resurrection, and every one that heard him, that said anything upon the subject, acknowledged that it surpassed every thing they ever heard on the final destiny of man. He first showed that the living soul is in its full meaning, composed of two eternal principles—matter and spirit; that through disobedience man became a dying soul. He then clearly set forth that Christ became the first fruits of them that slept at his resurrection, or the first saved soul, or the type or pattern of of every soul that will be saved; and that the soul consisted of the spirit and body being reunited at the resurrection no more to be seperated, and that the soul thus raised would be composed of flesh, bones and spirit, but not blood. He then fully established the reign of Christ on earth one thousand years, with those that have part in the first resurrection, and gave much light on the full sway after the unbinding of Satan at the close of the reign of peace; and then spoke of the last struggle between the powers of darkness and of light, when death itself shall be conquered and immoriality [immortality] alone endure. When he come to dwell on the second resurrection, the new heavens and the new earth, the whole congregation seemed for a moment to forget that they were listening to a poor despised Latter Day Saint or Mormon, and tears of joy fell from their eyes in abundence that plainly indicated they were wrapped up in the subject before them. He then sweetly spoke of the bringing back of the tree of life, that caused many hearts to rejoice.
In the evening he preached on the re-organization of the Church of Christ and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, showing that the Church of Christ had been disorganized and [p. 835]