Times and Seasons (, Hancock Co., IL), 15 Aug. 1842, vol. 3, no. 20, pp. 879–894; edited by JS. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.
Historical Introduction
The 15 August 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons was the twelfth JS oversaw as editor. The issue reprinted a letter from the Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star detailing the Saints’ “first Foreign Mission” to Great Britain, which lasted from 1837 to 1838. The issue also continued the serialized “History of Joseph Smith” and reprinted the conclusion of an account from the Bostonian of a “Great Discussion on Mormonism” that had recently taken place in between Latter-day Saint missionary and Methodist minister George Montgomery West.
In addition, the issue included editorial content created by the staff of the paper. These items included an account of the history of persecution endured by the ; a short treatise on the spiritual power of knowledge; a note about unwelcome “loafers” in , Illinois; and an obituary for , a in the church. The issue concluded with a notice asking those indebted to JS’s deceased brother to pay their debts to his widow, . The extent of JS’s involvement in the creation and oversight of the issue’s content is difficult to ascertain, especially since he spent early August preoccupied with attempts to extradite him to and had gone into hiding by 10 August to avoid arrest and possible extradition. Regardless, as editor of the paper, JS assumed responsibility for all published 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.
proved true, for when the fulness of the gospel came from to , it was first preached in , and through the influence of the Temperance Society, the Latter Day Saints procured the use of the Temperance Hall, in , (a commodious building, originally erected for cock fighting,) for their chapel, and commenced meeting therein on the 3d of September, 1837, and continued until they were ejected through the influence of others, the Temperance Society not having it entirely at their control.— Similar favors have been received from several other Temperance Societies in , for which, the Lord reward them.
continued to labor against much opposition in Bedford and the region round about, until the 7th of March, 1838, when he returned to , leaving about 40 members in charge of elder James Lavender.
Elder Russell continued to labor at Alston, Brampton, &c., and returned to near the same time, leaving about 60 members in the care of Jacob Peart.
At Christmas, 1837, was elder, and several were ordained , &c., at ; and in March, 1838, the had extended from to Penwortham, Longton, Southport. Eccleston, Whittle, Huntershill, Chorley, and the intermediate region through the labors of elders , , and , and the members amounted to several hundred in the region of and Clithero.
During this month, elders and were diligently engaged organizing the different ; and on the 1st of April, a general was called at , when the organization of the churches was completed, and many were ordained; among whom were elders , , and , to the , and set apart by elders and to preside over all the churches in .
On the 9th, elders , , and Russell, took leave of the Saints in , and went to , where they were visited by elders , , , and others, and on the 20th of April sailed for , on board the Garrick, the same ship they came out on to
When elders and had returned to Longton, they found a pamphlet purporting to be by the Rev. Richard Livesey, a Methodist minister, who had spent some time on a mission to the , as he says, and having nothing more important to attend to during his mission, it appears that he spent his time in gathering up a heap of lies and filth from the American papers, and imported them to on his return; and finding that the work of God had commenced in his native land, and was likely to destroy his craft, set himself at work to condemn his heterogeneous mass of transatlantic lies, and form the wonderful production of the Rev. Richard Livesey’s tract against the Latter Day Saints, it being the first thing of the kind that the enemy of all righteousness had found means to export from , and circulate in , but since which he has found servants in abundance, to assist in this nefarious merchandize of his heart’s delight.
The church at this time, was in its infancy, and needed much instruction, which necessarily occupied the attention of the presiding elders to a great extent, and as there were few laborers in the field, the spread of the work was not very rapid for some time.
Sister Alice Hodgin died at on the 2d of September, 1838, and it was such a wonderful thing for a Latter Day Saint to die in , that was arraigned before the Mayor’s court at , on the 3d of October, charged with ”killing and slaying” the said Alice, with a “black stick,” &c., but was discharged without being permitted to make his defence, as soon as it was discovered that the iniquity of his accusers was about to be made manifest.
October 19, 1838, gave himself wholly to the work, and soon after commenced preaching and baptizing in ; and from thence the work spread into Stockport, and other places in the neighborhood, through the labors of elders , , John Moon, and [David] Wilding. A small church had previously sprung up in Bolton, through the labors of elder Wilding, and was continued by elder . In the summer of 1839 elders , , and J. Moon labored in Burslem with some success, and a small church was planted in Burnley by elder [p. 883]