Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842
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Source Note
Times and Seasons, (, Hancock Co., IL), 15 June 1842, vol. 3, no. 16, 815–830; edited by JS. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.
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Historical Introduction
As editor of the Times and Seasons, JS oversaw the publication of the newspaper’s 15 June 1842 issue. The issue opened with an excerpt from the church’s newspaper in , the Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, emphasizing the necessity of a restoration of the gospel. This was followed by the seventh installment of the serialized “History of Joseph Smith” and excerpted articles from several eastern newspapers about JS and the . The issue also included a letter from traveling in , who had just returned from his mission in England, and the minutes of a 14 May 1842 church held in Grafton, Ohio. The issue concluded with a poem on the by and a public notice that the had withdrawn “the hand of fellowship” from .In addition to these items, the issue included editorial content that was presumably written by JS or his editorial staff. This editorial content, which is featured here, includes three items: commentary on a popular book on American antiquities, with quotations from the Book of Mormon; a letter to the editor denouncing a pair of missionaries in Tennessee, together with an editorial response; and an article on the .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.
Footnotes
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1
John Taylor assisted JS in editing the Times and Seasons, but JS, as editor, assumed primary responsibility for the content in the issues. (Woodruff, Journal, 19 Feb. 1842; “To Subscribers,” Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1842, 3:710.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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2
The first installment of JS’s history was published in the 15 March 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons.
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3
Although the notice was written on 11 May 1842, it was withheld from publication until this mid-June issue. (See Historical Introduction to Letter to the Church and Others, 23 June 1842; Notice, 11 May 1842; and JS, Journal, 26 May 1842.)
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4
Priest, American Antiquities, 205–208.
Priest, Josiah. American Antiquities and Discoveries in the West. . . . 5th ed. Albany: Hoffman and White, 1838.
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5
See “Editorial Method”.
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1
people of the destruction of Jerusalem, and my word shall be verified at this time, as it hath hitherto been verified.
And now I command you, my servant Joseph, to repent and walk more uprightly before me, and yield to the persuasions of men no more; and that you be firm in keeping the commandments wherewith I have commanded you, and if you do this, behold I grant unto you eternal life, even if you should be slain.
And now again I speak unto you, my servant Joseph, concerning the man that desires the witness: behold I say unto him he exalts himself and does not humble himself sufficiently before me: but if he will bow down before me, and humble himself in mighty prayer and faith, in the sincerity of his heart, then I will grant unto him a view of the things which he desires to see. And then he shall say unto the people of this generation, behold I have seen the things which the Lord has shown unto Joseph Smith, jr. and I know of a surety that they are true, for I have seen them: for they have been shown unto me by the power of God and not of man. And I the Lord command him, my servant , that he shall say no more unto them concerning these things, except he shall say I have seen them, and they have been shown unto me by the power of God: and these are the words which he shall say. But if he deny this he will break the covenant which he has before covenanted with me, and behold he is condemned. And now except he humble himself and acknowledge unto me the things that he has done which are wrong, and covenant with me that he will keep the commandments, and exercise faith in me, behold, I say unto him, he shall have no such views; for I will grant unto him no views of the things of which I have spoken. And if this be the case I command you, my servant Joseph, that you shall say unto him, that he shall do no more, nor trouble me any more concerning this matter.
And if this be the case, behold I say unto thee Joseph, when thou hast translated a few more pages thou shalt stop for a season, even until I command thee again: then thou mayest translate again. And except thou do this, behold thou shalt have no more gift, and I will take away the things which I have entrusted with thee. And now because I foresee the lying in wait to destroy thee: yea, I forsee that if my servant humbleth not himself, and receive a witness from my hand, that he will fall into transgression; and there are many that lie in wait to destroy thee from off the face of the earth: and for this cause, that thy days may be prolonged, I have given unto thee these commandments; yea for this cause I have said, stop and stand still untill I command thee, and I will provide means wherby thou mayest accomplish the thing which I have commanded thee; and if thou art faithful in keeping my commandments, thou shalt be lifted up at the last day. Amen.
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Editorial Note
The first item featured here begins with an excerpt from the work of popular writer Josiah Priest. Priest’s American Antiquities and Discoveries in the West first appeared in 1833, claiming to offer evidence that some pre-Columbian American inhabitants had Israelite origins and traditions. The book collected the writings of others on the subject and presented them with commentary for a general audience. The section of Priest’s book excerpted in the Times and Seasons paraphrased and commented on passages from a book by Prussian naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt, who interpreted an image from a Mesoamerican codex as a depiction of the Old Testament story of Noah and the flood. Humboldt’s contribution to the piece was not fully acknowledged in the Times and Seasons extract. In addition to excerpting Priest’s commentary on Humboldt, the Times and Seasons added its own commentary, drawing parallels between Priest’s observations and the story of the brother of Jared in the book of Ether, one of the books in the Book of Mormon.
TRAITS OF THE MOSAIC HISTORY, FOUND AMONG THE AZTECA NATIONS.
The tradition commences with an account of the deluge, as they had preserved it in books made from the buffalo and deer skin, on which account there is more certainty than if it had been preserved by mere oral tradition, handed down from father to son
They begin by painting, or as we would say by telling us that Noah, whom they call Tezpi, saved himself with his wife, whom they call Xochiquetzal, on a raft or canoe. Is not this the ark? The raft or canoe rested on or at the foot of a mountain, which they call Colhuacan. Is not this Ararat? The men born after this deluge were born dumb. Is not this the confusion of languge at Babel? A dove from the top of a tree destributes languages to them in the form of an olive leaf. Is not this the dove of Noah, which returned with that leaf in her mouth, as related in Genisis? They say that on this raft, besides Tezpi and his wife, were several children, and animals, with grain, the preservation of which was of importance to mankind. Is not this in almost exact accordance with what was saved in the ark with Noah, as stated in Genisis?
When the Great Spirit, Tezcatlipoca, ordered the waters to withdraw, Tezpi sent out from his raft a vulture, which never returned, on account of the great quantities of dead carcases which it found to feed upon. Is not this the raven of Noah, which did not return when it was sent out the second time, for the very reason here assigned by the Mexicans? Tezpi sent other birds one of which was the humming bird; this bird alone returned, holding in its beak a branch covered with leaves. Is not this the dove?— Tezpi, seeing that fresh verdure now clothed the earth, quitted his raft near the mountain of Colhuacan. Is not this an allusion to Ararat of Asia? They say the tongues which the dove gave to mankind, were infinitely varied; which when received, they immediately dispersed.— But among them there were 15 heads or chiefs of families, which were permitted to speak the same language, and these were the Taltecs, the Aculhucans and Azteca nations who embodied themselves together, which was very natural, and traveled they knew not where, but at length arrived in the country of Aztalan, or the lake country in America. [p. 818]
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