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Letter from Udney H. Jacob, 6 January 1844

Source Note

, Letter, [likely Pilot Grove Township, Hancock Co., IL], to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 6 Jan. 1844; handwriting presumably of ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, notations, and docket.
Bifolium measuring 12¼ × 7⅝ inches (31 × 19 cm). The pages are ruled with thirty-six horizontal lines printed in blue ink, now faded. The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer, the remnants of which are present on the verso of the second leaf. The letter was later refolded for filing.
The document was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) circa 1904. By 1973 the letter had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early docket, its listing in a circa 1904 inventory, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  2. [2]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [3], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  3. [3]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 6 January 1844, member wrote a letter to JS in , Illinois, expressing his concerns about certain passages in the Book of Mormon and asking for an explanation. Jacob, who had joined the church in 1843, apparently had never met JS. Prior to his , Jacob was hostile to the Latter-day Saints. In March 1840, he sent church member an excerpt on baptism from a book manuscript he had written, encouraging him to forward it “to your Printer, & to Joseph Smith, and to , and let them refute it if they can.” Later that month, Jacob wrote a letter to president in which he called the Saints “a deluded and dangerous set of fanatics.” Udney Jacob’s son Norton subsequently joined the church on 15 March 1841, and Norton reported that his father had violently opposed his decision, saying that “he had rather heard I was dead than that I was a Mormon.” In 1842, however, Udney Jacob employed the church’s , which JS owned, to publish a pamphlet endorsing polygamy called An Extract, from a Manuscript Entitled The Peace Maker. Jacob claimed in his pamphlet that he had used the Nauvoo printing office because “it was the most convenient.” JS, however, subsequently denounced Jacob’s pamphlet in the 1 December 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons, explaining that the pamphlet had been printed without his knowledge and that he would not have printed it otherwise. JS concluded by calling Jacob’s work “an unmeaning rigmarole of nonsence, folly, and trash.” Although Udney Jacob was baptized in 1843, Norton Jacob later reported that his father “did not know [this work] to be true” at the time and that he fell away from the church sometime before November 1845. It is unknown whether Udney Jacob was disaffected from the church at the time he wrote this letter.
In his 6 January letter to JS, wondered at the occurrences of the terms crucify and infinite atonement in an ancient book written by prophets who lived before the time of Jesus Christ. Jacob also argued that the word atonement could not be qualified and questioned the doctrine of unrepentant sinners suffering endless torment. He explained that he asked these questions in a sincere effort to find the truth.
likely wrote this letter in Pilot Grove Township, Illinois, where he resided. The letter bears no evidence of postal delivery, indicating that Jacob probably sent it to JS by courier. This possibility is further supported by the fact that Jacob intended to have a friend pick up JS’s response. It is unknown when JS received this letter, but it was likely in early January, shortly after Jacob composed it. There is no known response.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Jacob, Reminiscence and Journal, 22.

    Jacob, Norton. Reminiscence and Journal, May 1844–Jan. 1852. CHL. MS 9111.

  2. [2]

    Udney H. Jacob to Oliver Granger, Commerce, IL, 3 Mar. 1840, copy, CHL.

    Jacob, Udney H. Letter, to Oliver Granger, Commerce, IL, 3 Mar. 1840. Copy. CHL.

  3. [3]

    Udney H. Jacob, La Harpe, IL, to Martin Van Buren, Washington DC, 19 Mar. 1840, microfilm, Illinois State Historical Society, Papers, CHL.

    Illinois State Historical Society, Papers, 1840–1845. CHL. Microfilm. MS 8180.

  4. [4]

    Jacob, Reminiscence and Journal, 1, 3.

    Jacob, Norton. Reminiscence and Journal, May 1844–Jan. 1852. CHL. MS 9111.

  5. [5]

    See Historical Introduction to Notice, ca. 1 Dec. 1842.

  6. [6]

    Jacob, Extract, [2].

    Jacob, Udney Hay. An Extract, from a Manuscript Entitled The Peace Maker, or the Doctrines of the Millennium: Being a Treatise on Religion and Jurisprudence. . . . Nauvoo, IL: J. Smith, 1842.

  7. [7]

    Notice, ca. 1 Dec. 1842.

  8. [8]

    Jacob, Reminiscence and Journal, 22, underlining in original.

    Jacob, Norton. Reminiscence and Journal, May 1844–Jan. 1852. CHL. MS 9111.

  9. [9]

    Jacob, Reminiscence and Journal, 3, 22.

    Jacob, Norton. Reminiscence and Journal, May 1844–Jan. 1852. CHL. MS 9111.

Page [2]

that it ever entered the brain of of any rational being! Attonement or Pacification, is attonement, or Pacification; and no more, nor less. It is not subject to comparison, and cannot consistantly be qualified with an adjective— When God declares that his law is satisfied— What then?— It is satisfied— when God declares that any thing is an attonement, or Pacification for sin;— it is so— if it were merely the blood of a Dove or a Mouse— It is written that Christ should make reconciliation for sin— To make reconciliation for sin, is precisely the same thing as to make attonement for sin— How would it sound to read infinite pacification? Infinite satisfaction? Infinite reconciliation? Infinite settlement? I am aware of the fact that modern Divines have had a long protracted contest upon this matter; but I have always supposed that it originated from the confusion of Babel, and the darkness of Mystery Babylon— What then shall I think when I find this modern imp of darkness in the mouth of Nephi ages before Christ was born? Do not suppose Dear Br. Smith that I make these enquiries from evil motives of opposition— It is not so— I am a humble enquirer after truth— I am also a member of your by , and that by particular revelation to me personally— But I should be glad to understand these things, and to be able to meet the cavils, or enquiries of such as oppose. Shall I suppose that the young man who translated the Book of Mormon had at that time no other ideas of Divinety or religion than such as he had gathered from the fals Church and thus atribute these things and many other Modernism to the cause alluded to in the Preface of the Book? If you will admit this it would relieve my mind amazeingly— There are other things in said Book that are very far from being plain to me. I will mention the doctrine of endless torments so frequently occuring therein. How could I Justify the idea of devoteing any sensative being to endless torments? even a Rattle Snake.— They did not bring themselves into existance, and their end was foreknown—
When they’ve been there ten thousand years, in horid flames of fire; The end is yet ten thousand years, and never will come nigher— Is this the truth! and must I believe it? I find nothing in Moses, nor in the Prophets intimateing such dreadfull doctrine: No, nor yet in the any of the scriptures is there such a declaration. To suppose that this cruel doctrine was originally in God’s revealed word, and that it has been expunged by the fals Church is unreasonable— directly opposite to all their Preaching and to their most ardent desire of finding something in the Bible to support it— [p. [2]]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Udney H. Jacob, 6 January 1844
ID #
1242
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Udney H. Jacob

Footnotes

  1. [7]

    See Leviticus 14:30.

  2. [8]

    See Hebrews 2:17.

  3. [9]

    See Genesis 11:9; and Revelation 17:5.

  4. [10]

    According to the Book of Mormon’s internal chronology, the book of 2 Nephi was written in the sixth century BC. (See Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 73, 103 [2 Nephi 5:34; 25:19].)

  5. [11]

    Jacob was probably referring to the Book of Mormon’s title page, which contains a brief explanation of the work. Although it is not labeled as a preface, it effectively serves as such. The title page of the 1840 edition states, “And now if there are faults, they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment seat of Christ.” (Title Page, Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., [v].)

  6. [12]

    See Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 80, 112, 137, 158, 210, 565 [2 Nephi 9:19, 26; 28:23; Jacob 6:10; Mosiah 3:25; 28:3; Moroni 8:21].

  7. [13]

    An 1829 revelation clarified the meaning of eternal torment, stating, “Nevertheless, it is not written, that there shall be no end to this torment; but it is written endless torment. . . . For behold I [God] am endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand, is endless punishment, for endless is my name: Wherefore—Eternal punishment is God’s punishment: Endless punishment is God’s punishment.” (Revelation, ca. Summer 1829 [D&C 19:6, 10–12].)

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