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Elders’ Journal, August 1838

Source Note

Elders’ Journal, , Caldwell Co., MO, Aug. 1838. For more complete suorce information, see the source note for Elders’ Journal, Oct. 1837.

Historical Introduction

The Elders’ Journal, which published two issues in , Ohio, in 1837 before the church’s was destroyed, was reestablished in , Missouri, in 1838, after JS and most other church leaders migrated from Kirtland to Far West. was the proprietor of the newspaper, and JS was the editor, though the amount and nature of JS’s involvement and editorial oversight is unclear. By May 1838, JS and began working on material for the first Far West issue, dated July 1838. Ultimately, two issues were published in , dated July 1838 and August 1838. The July issue included letters to and from church serving proselytizing missions, as well as articles, minutes of meetings, and other items. The August issue contained similar material, including an editorial by JS and a letter that the commissioned to write to who had not yet gathered to Missouri. The August issue also included an obituary for Ethan Barrows Jr., who died in mid-August 1838, indicating that the issue was published sometime in the second half of the month or later.
Note that only the editorial content created specifically for this issue of the Elders’ Journal 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, such as the Minutes from a 28 June 1838 conference, are annotated elsewhere.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Elders’ Journal, Oct. 1837; Historical Introduction to Elders’ Journal, Nov. 1837; Minutes, 21 Apr. 1838; and Prospectus for Elders’ Journal, 30 Apr. 1838. JS was identified as the editor of the November 1837 issue of the paper even though he was away from Kirtland from 27 September to approximately 10 December. (Editorial, Elders’ Journal, Nov. 1837, 27; Letter to Wilford Woodruff, ca. 18 June 1838; Vilate Murray Kimball, Kirtland, OH, to Heber C. Kimball, Preston, England, 19–29 Jan. 1838, Heber C. Kimball, Collection, CHL.)

    Kimball, Heber C. Collection, 1837–1898. CHL. MS 12476.

  2. [2]

    See JS, Journal, 8 May 1838. In May, Sidney Rigdon was assigned to edit the letters that would be included in the Elders’ Journal. (Minute Book 2, 12 May 1838; see also Minute Book 2, 23 June 1838.)

  3. [3]

    See, for example, Questions and Answers, 8 May 1838.

  4. [4]

    The obituary in the Elders’ Journal states that Barrows died on 15 August, but his father’s later autobiography gives the date of 18 August. (Obituary for Ethan Barrows Jr., Elders’ Journal, Aug. 1838, 64; “The Journal of Ethan Barrows,” Journal of History, Jan. 1922, 46; see also “The Journal of Ethan Barrows,” Journal of History, Oct. 1922, 451–452.)

    Journal of History. Lamoni, IA, 1908–1920; Independence, MO, 1921–1925.

  5. [5]

    See “Editorial Method”.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Elders’ Journal, August 1838 *Elders’ Journal, August 1838 *Elders’ Journal, August 1838 *Elders’ Journal, August 1838 *Elders’ Journal, August 1838 *Elders’ Journal, August 1838 *Minutes, 28 June 1838 Elders’ Journal, August 1838 *Revelation, 26 April 1838 [D&C 115] Journal, March–September 1838 Elders’ Journal, August 1838 History, 1838–1856, volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 56

shall, forever defy the Son of God, and so completely destroy the Zion of the last days, that he never will come down and reign, in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
Poor simpletons! they do not know, that he who sits in the heavens is laughing at them, that he has them in derision, and that after he has let them foam out their own shame, and completely work out their own damnation, that he will speak to them in his wrath, and vex them in his displeasure; and that when his wrath is but a little kindled, they will perish.
If we did not know, that the people of this generation, love lies more than the truth, or at least a great many of them, it would be a matter of some astonishment to us, to see with what eagerness, they give audience to every hypocrite and iniquitous wretch, we detect in his wickedness, and bring to an account: it matters not how scandalous is his conduct, the priests and all their coajutors, rally around them, the very instant they are excluded from the church, and listen with most intense interest, to their lies; and soon, the papers are filled with their lies and abomination. But such is the piteous situation of the priests, of all denominations, for there are no exceptions to be made; for to say the best of them, they have pleasure in lies, but in the truth they have no pleasure, neither have they any part.
Within the last six months, they have been making one of their greatest efforts. The church in accordance with her laws, excluded from her fellowship, a set of creatures, whose behavior would have disgraced a heathen temple, and as might have been expected, they had recourse to the foulest lying, and basest slander, in order to hide their iniquity. This served as a favorable opportunity, to the persecuting priests and their adherents. They gathered round them in swarms, like the flies round Esop’s fox, and opened both their eyes and ears, to enjoy a good feast of lies, which pleased them more abundantly, than any other sound could, except the voice of Beelzebub the prince of the whole brood; his voice, would doubtless have been more delightful to them, than an angel of light, to the ear of a prophet of the living God.
All these pious soul’s papers were put into requisition, and this gang of liars, thieves, and drunkards, were called upon, immediately, to wr[i]te their lies on paper, and let them print them; so, that all the world might have as great a feast of lies, as they had.— Accordingly to work they all went with one accord. And after this mighty mountain of bustle and human folly, has filled its full time of gestation.— Behold! and lo! it brought forth a mouse!! From the bowels of Mr ; and the priest’s papers, have flown abroad to tell the world of it.
No animal we presume, has been produced in the last century, which caused more agony, pain, and groaning, than this wonder of modern times; for during the time of gestation, and a long time before the birth thereof, he kept up such an unusual groaning and grunting, that all the devils whelps in and in Cuyahoga counties in Ohio, were running together, to hear what was about to come forth, from the womb of granny . He had made such an awful fuss, about what was conceived in him, that night after night, and day after day, he poured out his agony before all living, as they saw proper to assemble. For a rational being, to have looked at him, and heard him groan and grunt, and see him sweat and struggle, would have supposed, that his womb was as much swollen, as was Rebecca’s when the angel told her, that there were two nations there.
In all this grunting business, he was aided by who, however was generally so drunk, that he had to support himself, by something, to keep him from falling down; but then it was all for conscience sake. Also a pair of young blacklegs, one of them a shoemaker by the name of , a man notorious for nothing, but ignorance; ill breeding and impudence. And the other by the name of , whose notoriety consisted, if information be correct, in stealing a barrel of flour from his , and other acts of a similar kind.
Thus aided, mamma made [p. 56]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Elders’ Journal, August 1838
ID #
8534
Total Pages
16
Print Volume Location
JSP, D6:215–219
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