Letter to Saints Scattered Abroad, September 1840
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Source Note
on behalf of the First Presidency (including JS), Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to “the Saints Scattered Abroad,” Sept. 1840. Featured version published in “To the Saints Scattered Abroad,” Times and Seasons, Oct. 1840, 177–179. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.
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Historical Introduction
The October 1840 issue of the Times and Seasons—the newspaper published in , Illinois—printed a letter dated September 1840 from the addressed to the “Saints Scattered Abroad.” Church leaders periodically communicated with the Latter-day Saints in outlying through published open letters such as this one, encouraging members to move forward in “the work of the Lord” and providing news and general instruction. In this letter, the First Presidency discussed the building of a at Nauvoo, announced efforts to publish new editions of Latter-day Saint scripture and a hymnal, and recommended that church members gather to , Illinois, if they were able to do so.The published letter identified as the scribe and stated that the letter was written “by order of the first Presidency.” The primary author, however, is unclear. No manuscript version of the letter appears to be extant.
Footnotes
Document Transcript
Footnotes
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1
See Acts 20:32.
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2
See Ephesians 1:10.
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3
See Acts 3:21.
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4
See JS History, vol. A-1, 5–6; and Acts 26:6.
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5
See Psalm 48:14.
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6
See Exodus chaps. 13–14.
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7
This sentence refers to the conflicts in northern Missouri, which culminated when Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs ordered that the Saints be driven from the state or exterminated. Church leaders subsequently purchased extensive tracts of land in Hancock County and immediately across the Mississippi River in Lee County, Iowa Territory. The Saints viewed this acquisition of land as a deliverance from the hostilities and persecution in Missouri. (Lilburn W. Boggs, Jefferson City, MO, to John B. Clark, Fayette, MO, 27 Oct. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City; Bonds from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A and B; Lee Co., IA, Land Records, 1836–1961, Deeds [South, Keokuk], vol. 1, pp. 507–509, microfilm 959,238; vol. 2, pp. 3–6, 13–16, microfilm 959,239, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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8
See, for example, Ephesians 1:10; Deuteronomy 30:3; and Isaiah 54:7.
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9
See Exodus 17:12.
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10
The first temple, or House of the Lord, built by the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, was mandated by a December 1832 revelation. Both that revelation and the prayer offered at the dedication of the completed structure on 27 March 1836 described the building as “a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.” (Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:119]; Minutes and Prayer of Dedication, 27 Mar. 1836 [D&C 109:8].)
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11
A few weeks after this letter was published, a conference of the church in Nauvoo resolved that church members should devote one out of every ten days to assist with building the temple. (Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840.)
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12
On 5 October 1839, a general conference of the church unanimously agreed that Commerce, Illinois, later renamed Nauvoo, would be the new gathering place of the church. (Minutes and Discourses, 5–7 Oct. 1839.)
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13
Ephesians 3:18–19.
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14
Requests had been made for new printings of the scriptures and hymnals to make them more widely available. At this time, JS and Ebenezer Robinson were preparing a new edition of the Book of Mormon, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was compiling a new hymnal in England, Emma Smith had been appointed to select hymns for a new hymnal in Nauvoo, and funds were being collected to publish a “new translation” of the Bible that JS had worked on from 1830 to 1833. Efforts were being made to print the Doctrine and Covenants both in England and the United States, though the next edition of that book did not appear until 1844. (Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 22 Nov. 1839; Letter from Orson Hyde and John E. Page, 1 May 1840; [Don Carlos Smith], “To the Saints Scattered Abroad,” Times and Seasons, July 1840, 1:144; Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return, May 1890, 259; Minutes, 27 Oct. 1839; “From England,” Times and Seasons, June 1840, 1:120–121; Letter from Brigham Young, 7 May 1840; Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 3–8; “Books!!!,” Times and Seasons, July 1840, 1:140; Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:121–124, 129–133, 148–151, 154–155, 277–280.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.
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.
Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.
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15
See 2 Timothy 3:15.