JS, Letter, , OH, to , , Monroe Co., NY, 4 Jan. 1833. Retained copy, [ca. 4 Jan. 1833] in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 14–18; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 1.
Historical Introduction
On 4 January 1833, JS wrote a letter to a newspaper editor identified in the inside address as “N. E. Sextan” of , Monroe County, New York. Less than a month later, the American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer, edited by , published a portion of JS’s letter, indicating that Saxton was the intended recipient. The American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer was a weekly evangelical newspaper published in upstate . According to Saxton, the newspaper was devoted to “the free discussion and critical investigation of the doctrines and duties of Christianity.” Saxton encouraged “his brethren in the ministry and other correspondents to contribute liberally to the columns of the Revivalist,” advice that JS apparently took seriously.
Speaking of the time period in which JS wrote this letter, a later JS history states that “appearances of troubles among the nations, became more visible, this season, than they had previously done, since the church began her journey out of the wilderness.” A cholera epidemic, an outbreak of the plague in India, and political tumult between South Carolina and the federal government were especially troubling. JS saw these events, on which had reported in several issues of his newspaper, through a millenarian lens. In the four months before he wrote to Saxton, JS’s revelations and other documents had warned of disasters preceding the return of Jesus Christ—disasters that seemed to be afflicting the world. A September 1832 revelation, for example, explained that because “the whole world lieth in sin and groaneth under darkness,” the Lord “laid [his] hand upon the nations to scorge them for ther wickedness.” “Plagues” would continue, the Lord declared in the revelation, “untill I have completed my work.” In October 1832, after walking through the streets of , New York, JS lamented that “aganst man is the anger of the Lord kindled because they Give him not the Glory.” The calamities that the Lord would pour out on the world were graphically portrayed in a 25 December 1832 revelation: “With the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn and with famine and plague, and Earthquake and the thunder of heaven and the fierce and vivid lightning also shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel.” A 27–28 December revelation therefore proclaimed it the duty of the of the church “to warn the people” and “to prepare the saints, for the hour of judgments, which is to come.”
JS wrote to partly to issue the required warning. JS explained that God had again established on the earth the covenant that Christ offered during his ministry—a covenant different from the ancient covenants that God had made with the children of Israel. To allow Israel access to this new covenant, the gathering of Israel had commenced, the apostolic church had been restored, and the inhabitants of the earth now needed to repent, be , and receive the Holy Ghost. JS concluded his letter with an explanation of the Book of Mormon, its doctrines, and the establishment of in , using imagery from a Book of Mormon allegory that compares Israel to an olive tree.
The original letter is no longer extant, but copied it into JS’s letterbook, probably soon after its composition. When published a portion of the letter—beginning at the paragraph starting with “The Book of Mormon is a record of the forefathers . . .” and continuing to the end of the letter—he prefaced it by stating it was written by “Mr. J. Smith Jr., who we suppose, is a principal leader of the sect that embrace Mormonism.” The letter, Saxton continued, contained “much good feeling and urbanity.” Subsequent issues of the newspaper contained no commentary or articles about the letter. In February 1833, JS wrote another letter to Saxton, complaining that the editor had published only a portion of the original letter. JS warned him to “publish that letter entire” if he wanted “to clear your garments from the blood of you[r] readers,” but Saxton never published the complete letter.
“Mormonism,” American Revivalist, and Rochester (NY) Observer, 2 Feb. 1833, [2]. Saxton was previously the editor of the New York Evangelist, which was consolidated with the Rochester Observer in 1832. The Rochester Observer began in 1827 as a Presbyterian newspaper; by the end of 1832, it had three thousand subscribers. It was known as the American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer from 29 September 1832 to 13 July 1833. (See French, Gazetteer of the State of New York, 396; Norton, “Comparative Images,” 359, 361.)
American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer. Rochester, NY. 1827–1833.
French, J. H. Gazetteer of the State of New York: Embracing a Comprehensive View of the Geography, Geology, and General History of the State. . . . 8th ed. Syracuse, NY: R. Pearsall Smith, 1860.
Norton, Walter A. “Comparative Images: Mormonism and Contemporary Religions as Seen by Village Newspapermen in Western New York and Northeastern Ohio, 1820–1833.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1972.
“American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer,” American Revivalist, and Rochester (NY) Observer, 29 Sept. 1832, [1]; see also Norton, “Comparative Images,” 359–360.
American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer. Rochester, NY. 1827–1833.
Norton, Walter A. “Comparative Images: Mormonism and Contemporary Religions as Seen by Village Newspapermen in Western New York and Northeastern Ohio, 1820–1833.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1972.
See, for example, the following articles in the American Revivalist, and Rochester (NY) Observer: “Cholera Record,” 29 Sept. 1832, [1]; “Effects of the Cholera,” 29 Dec. 1832, [1]; “Political News: South Carolina Nullification,” 22 Dec. 1832, [3]; and “Persia,” 29 Dec. 1832, [4].
American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer. Rochester, NY. 1827–1833.
the Apostolic platform, and who can look at this, and and not exclaim in the language of Isaiah, [“]the earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof because they have transgressed the Laws; changed the ordinances and broken the everlasting covenant”
The plain fact is this, the power of God begins to fall upon the Nations, and the light of the latter day glory begins to break forth through the dark atmosphere of sectarian wickedness and their iniquity rools [rolls] up into view and the Nations of the are like the waves of the sea casting up mire and dirt or all in commotion and they hastily are preparing to act the part allotted them when the Lord rebukes the nations, when he shall rule them with a rod of iron & break them in peaces like a potters vessel, The Lord has declared to his servants some Eighteen months since that he was then withdrawing his spirit from the earth, and we can see that such is the fact for not only the churches are dwindling away, but there are no convers[i]ons, or but very few, and this is not all, the governments of the earth are thrown into confusion & division, and distruction to the eye of the spiritual beholder seemes to be writen by the finger of an invisable hand in Large capitals upon almost evry thing we behold——
And now what remains to be done under circumstan[c]es like these, I will proce[e]d to tell you what the Lord requires of all people high and Low, rich and poor, male and female, ministers & people professors of religeon, and nonproffessors in order that they may enjoy the holy spirit of God to a fulness, and escape the Judgments of God which are almost ready to burst upon the nations of the earth— Repent of all your sins and be in water for the remission of them, in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy Ghost, and receive the of the of him who is and unto this power, that ye may receive the holy spirit of God, and this according to the holy scriptures, and of the Book of Mormon; and [p. 16]
A March 1831 revelation stated that “when the times of the gentiles is come in a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness & it shall be the fulness of my Gospel.” It also explained that the Lord had “sent mine everlasting covenant unto the World to be a light to the world” (Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:9, 28]; see also Isaiah 58:8.)
Earlier revelations stated that one of the signs of the times of Christ’s coming is that “the whole Earth shall be in commotion.” (Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:26]; see also Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:91].)
See Micah 4:3; and Isaiah 2:4; 17:13. The July 1832 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star used this same phrase when describing tumult among the nations of the earth: “All the Kingdoms of the East seem to be preparing to act the part allotted to them, when the Lord rebukes the nations.” (“Foreign News,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1832, [6].)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Likely a reference to the declaration in a 30 August 1831 revelation that “I the Lord am angry with the wicked I am holding my spirit from the inhabitants of the earth.” (Revelation, 30 Aug. 1831 [D&C 63:32].)
The same issue of the American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer that published JS’s letter contained a report from the Cumberland Conference in Maine. Several churches there maintained that they had experienced little growth in 1832. One stated, “No admissions to this church the past year”; another declared, “This church has increased but little in number the last year.” Still another said, “Religion is low.” (“Cumberland Conference, Maine,” American Revivalist, and Rochester [NY] Observer, 2 Feb. 1833, [2].)
American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer. Rochester, NY. 1827–1833.
This statement probably reflected not only the ongoing difficulties between South Carolina and the federal government but also problems outside the United States. The July 1832 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star reported that “the wars and rumors of wars, with many other signs of the distress of nations, from the old world, (as it is called across the Ocean) whispers so loud to the understanding, that he that runs may read the label on the Eastern sky: The end is nigh.” At this time, Russia and Persia were continuing a series of wars that began in the 1820s, while Greece was waging a war for independence against the Ottoman Empire. Belgium had only recently concluded its own battle for independence with the Netherlands. (Historical Introduction to Revelation, 25 Dec. 1832 [D&C 87]; “Foreign News,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1832, [6]; Bitis, “1828–1829 Russo-Turkish War,” 506–525; Pappas, United States and the Greek War for Independence, 1–13, 117–126; Rooney, Revolt in the Netherlands, 175–184.)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Bitis, Alexander. “The 1828–1829 Russo-Turkish War and the Resettlement of Balkan Peoples into Novorossiia.” Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, Neue Folge, Bd. 53, H. 4 (2005): 506–525.
Pappas, Paul Constantine. The United States and the Greek War for Independence, 1821–1828. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985.
Rooney, John W. Revolt in the Netherlands: Brussels—1830. Lawrence, KS: Coronado, 1982.