Times and Seasons (, Hancock Co., IL), 15 Oct. 1842, vol. 3, no. 24, pp. 943–958; edited by JS. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.
Historical Introduction
JS, assisted by and , served as editor for the 15 October 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons, the twenty-fourth and final issue in the third volume. It is highly unlikely that JS played any significant role in writing editorial content for this particular issue, because he spent much of October in hiding in Henderson County, Illinois. Nevertheless, as the newspaper’s editor, he was ultimately responsible for its content. This was the last issue published under JS’s editorship.
The non-editorial content in the issue, which is not featured here, included an installation of the serialized “History of Joseph Smith” and several articles reprinted from other newspapers on the impact of violence and disease in various places around the world, including the outbreak of cholera in Europe, the slaughter of Chinese forces by British soldiers in China, ongoing labor protests in , and the destruction in Cuba caused by a recent storm.
Editorial content in this issue included commentary on biblical history, a rebuttal of rumors that JS had fled to , and criticism of published comparisons of the Bible with the writing of William Shakespeare. Additional editorial content included a defense of JS’s decision to hide from law enforcement officials who were seeking his arrest and his extradition to ; a passage countering opinions that the Latter-day Saints should flee , Illinois, in order to avoid future persecution; and an article presenting evidence for Christianity’s general falling away from the primitive church described in the New Testament. Furthermore, the editors included comments on reports of ’s lectures in , a description of a pamphlet wrote about the church written in German, an introduction to a brief history of Australia, and a request for church members to renew their subscriptions to the newspaper.
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.
To have a good paper it is necessary to have good patrons, who will use due dilligence to forward means to support the establishment, without which no press can long be sustained.
The new translation of the bible, and the book of Doctrine and Covenants are entriely dependent on the liberality of the well-disposed for the cause of our Redeemer. We can therefore say as said the prophet, ‘consider your ways.’
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THE JEWS.
Still we are all here safe encamped in quarrantine beneath the rocky brow of Mount Carmel close by the sea.
We left Alexandria on the 16th of May, and arrived in in twenty-three days. The first part of our journey, as far as Damietta, we rode upon asses reminding us of the sons of Jacob when they carried corn out of Egypt.— Our track lay by the sea shore, so that we enjoyed a cool breeze tempering the hot air of the desert. We crossed the only two remaining branches of the Nile, and drank of the water.
From Damietta we sailed across Lake Menzalah as far as San—the ancient Zoan. You may believe that the ruins of this once ancient city afforded us matter for deep reflection. For about three miles there are immense mounds of brick and pottery entirely covered with close alluvial matter. At one place we found immense blocks of granite, the remains no doubt of some ancient Temple, two sphynxes were laying close by one, in a very perfect state of preservation, and a great many obelisks beautifully carved.
There are also many petrified stones as if the place had been destroyed by fire, Isa. xix. 12. Ezek. xxx. 14. Psa. lxxviii. 12. when God did his marvelous works upon Pharaoh and his people.
The country round is quite flat, a rich soil; but without water, without cultivation—desolate. From Zoan to we rode upon camels. Before coming to the land of the Philistines we found it all a waste howling wilderness, “a land of drought, and of the shadow of death.”
-[From the Jewish Intelligencer.
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is requested to return home immediately, as his family needs his assistance.
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Poetry.
PARTING HYMN.
by .
To leave my dear friends, and from neighbours to part,
And go from my home, it afflicts my poor heart—
With the thoughts of absenting myself far away,
From the house of my God where I’ve chosen to pray.
But Jesus doth call me a message to bear,
To kingdoms, and countries, and islands afar;
His presence will bless me and be with me there,
His Spirit inspire me, in answer to prayer.
Then why should I linger with fondest desire
O’er home and the raptures its comforts inspire!
For sweeter, O sweeter, the message I bear
To comfort the mourner in answer to prayer.
Dear friends, I must leave you, and bid you adieu,
And pay my devotions in parts that are new;
But still I’ll remember in pilgrimage there
The joys that we tasted in answer to prayer.
How oft, when the day’s busy bustle has clos’d,
And nature lies sleeping in silent repose,
To some lone retreat I will fondly repair
Remember my kindred, and pray for them there.
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BOOKS OF MORMON, &C.
JUST published and for sale, Books of Mormon, and Hymn Books, together with some other publications in defence of the faith of the saints.
. Aug. 20, 1842.
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The Times and Seasons,
Is edited, printed and published about the first and fifteenth of every month, on the corner of Water and Bain Streets, , Hancock County, Illinois, by
JOSEPH SMITH.
TERMS.—Two Dollars per annum, payable in all cases in advance. Any person procuring five new subscribers, and forwarding us Ten Dollars current money, shall receive one volume gratis. All letters must be addressed to Joseph Smith, publisher, post paid, or they will not receive attention. [p. 958]
From 1830 to 1833, JS worked on a project that involved revising, clarifying, and augmenting the text of the King James Version of the Bible, an undertaking that was sometimes termed the “New Translation.” Since 1833, church leaders had discussed publishing the translation, but it remained unpublished. According to the July 1840 issue of the Times and Seasons,Samuel Bent and George W. Harris had been appointed to collect money to print, among other things, “the new translation of the scriptures.” (Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 3–6; Letter to Church Brethren, 15 June 1835; “Books!!!,” Times and Seasons, July 1840, 1:140.)
Faulring, Scott H., Kent P. Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds. Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2004.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
The majority of unsold copies of the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants was likely destroyed in a fire in the Kirtland, Ohio, printing office in 1838. In July 1840, JS and the Nauvoohigh council appointed George W. Harris and Samuel Bent to solicit orders for new editions of several church books, including the Doctrine and Covenants. In January 1842, the Times and Seasons announced that a new edition of the Doctrine and Covenants was being stereotyped with the goal of publishing it that spring. At this time, the new edition was not yet published. (Historical Introduction to Doctrine and Covenants, 1835; Minutes, 17 July 1840; “Book of Doctrine and Covenants,” Times and Seasons, 1 Jan. 1842, 3:639.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.