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Letter to Noah C. Saxton, 4 January 1833

Source Note

JS, Letter, , OH, to , , Monroe Co., NY, 4 Jan. 1833. Retained copy, [ca. 4 Jan. 1833] in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 14–18; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 1.

Historical Introduction

On 4 January 1833, JS wrote a letter to a newspaper editor identified in the inside address as “N. E. Sextan” of , Monroe County, New York. Less than a month later, the American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer, edited by , published a portion of JS’s letter, indicating that Saxton was the intended recipient. The American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer was a weekly evangelical newspaper published in upstate . According to Saxton, the newspaper was devoted to “the free discussion and critical investigation of the doctrines and duties of Christianity.” Saxton encouraged “his brethren in the ministry and other correspondents to contribute liberally to the columns of the Revivalist,” advice that JS apparently took seriously.
Speaking of the time period in which JS wrote this letter, a later JS history states that “appearances of troubles among the nations, became more visible, this season, than they had previously done, since the church began her journey out of the wilderness.” A cholera epidemic, an outbreak of the plague in India, and political tumult between South Carolina and the federal government were especially troubling. JS saw these events, on which had reported in several issues of his newspaper, through a millenarian lens. In the four months before he wrote to Saxton, JS’s revelations and other documents had warned of disasters preceding the return of Jesus Christ—disasters that seemed to be afflicting the world. A September 1832 revelation, for example, explained that because “the whole world lieth in sin and groaneth under darkness,” the Lord “laid [his] hand upon the nations to scorge them for ther wickedness.” “Plagues” would continue, the Lord declared in the revelation, “untill I have completed my work.” In October 1832, after walking through the streets of , New York, JS lamented that “aganst man is the anger of the Lord kindled because they Give him not the Glory.” The calamities that the Lord would pour out on the world were graphically portrayed in a 25 December 1832 revelation: “With the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn and with famine and plague, and Earthquake and the thunder of heaven and the fierce and vivid lightning also shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel.” A 27–28 December revelation therefore proclaimed it the duty of the of the church “to warn the people” and “to prepare the saints, for the hour of judgments, which is to come.”
JS wrote to partly to issue the required warning. JS explained that God had again established on the earth the covenant that Christ offered during his ministry—a covenant different from the ancient covenants that God had made with the children of Israel. To allow Israel access to this new covenant, the gathering of Israel had commenced, the apostolic church had been restored, and the inhabitants of the earth now needed to repent, be , and receive the Holy Ghost. JS concluded his letter with an explanation of the Book of Mormon, its doctrines, and the establishment of in , using imagery from a Book of Mormon allegory that compares Israel to an olive tree.
The original letter is no longer extant, but copied it into JS’s letterbook, probably soon after its composition. When published a portion of the letter—beginning at the paragraph starting with “The Book of Mormon is a record of the forefathers . . .” and continuing to the end of the letter—he prefaced it by stating it was written by “Mr. J. Smith Jr., who we suppose, is a principal leader of the sect that embrace Mormonism.” The letter, Saxton continued, contained “much good feeling and urbanity.” Subsequent issues of the newspaper contained no commentary or articles about the letter. In February 1833, JS wrote another letter to Saxton, complaining that the editor had published only a portion of the original letter. JS warned him to “publish that letter entire” if he wanted “to clear your garments from the blood of you[r] readers,” but Saxton never published the complete letter.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    “Mormonism,” American Revivalist, and Rochester (NY) Observer, 2 Feb. 1833, [2]. Saxton was previously the editor of the New York Evangelist, which was consolidated with the Rochester Observer in 1832. The Rochester Observer began in 1827 as a Presbyterian newspaper; by the end of 1832, it had three thousand subscribers. It was known as the American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer from 29 September 1832 to 13 July 1833. (See French, Gazetteer of the State of New York, 396; Norton, “Comparative Images,” 359, 361.)

    American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer. Rochester, NY. 1827–1833.

    French, J. H. Gazetteer of the State of New York: Embracing a Comprehensive View of the Geography, Geology, and General History of the State. . . . 8th ed. Syracuse, NY: R. Pearsall Smith, 1860.

    Norton, Walter A. “Comparative Images: Mormonism and Contemporary Religions as Seen by Village Newspapermen in Western New York and Northeastern Ohio, 1820–1833.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1972.

  2. [2]

    “American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer,” American Revivalist, and Rochester (NY) Observer, 29 Sept. 1832, [1]; see also Norton, “Comparative Images,” 359–360.

    American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer. Rochester, NY. 1827–1833.

    Norton, Walter A. “Comparative Images: Mormonism and Contemporary Religions as Seen by Village Newspapermen in Western New York and Northeastern Ohio, 1820–1833.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1972.

  3. [3]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 244.

  4. [4]

    See, for example, the following articles in the American Revivalist, and Rochester (NY) Observer: “Cholera Record,” 29 Sept. 1832, [1]; “Effects of the Cholera,” 29 Dec. 1832, [1]; “Political News: South Carolina Nullification,” 22 Dec. 1832, [3]; and “Persia,” 29 Dec. 1832, [4].

    American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer. Rochester, NY. 1827–1833.

  5. [5]

    Revelations in 1831 explained events that would precede Christ’s return, but JS seemed especially concerned with signs of the times in late 1832 and early 1833. (See, for example, Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45]; Revelation, 1 Nov. 1831–B [D&C 1]; Revelation, 3 Nov. 1831 [D&C 133]; Letter to Emma Smith, 13 Oct. 1832; and Letter to William W. Phelps, 31 July 1832.)

  6. [6]

    Revelation, 22–23 Sept. 1832 [D&C 84:49, 96–97].

  7. [7]

    Letter to Emma Smith, 13 Oct. 1832.

  8. [8]

    Revelation, 25 Dec. 1832 [D&C 87:6].

  9. [9]

    Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:81, 84].

  10. [10]

    See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 131–139 [Jacob chap. 5].

  11. [11]

    “Mormonism,” American Revivalist, and Rochester (NY) Observer, 2 Feb. 1833, [2].

    American Revivalist, and Rochester Observer. Rochester, NY. 1827–1833.

  12. [12]

    Letter to Noah C. Saxton, 12 Feb. 1833.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter to Noah C. Saxton, 4 January 1833 Letterbook 1 History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 17

the only way that man can enter into the . These are the requesitions of the new Covenant or first principles of of the Gospel of Christ; then add to you[r] faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience, brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity (or Love) and if these things be in you and abound, they make you to be neither baran nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ——
The Book of Mormon is a reccord of the forefathers of our western Tribes of Indians, having been found through the ministration of an holy Angel into our own Language by the gift and power of God, after having been hid up in the earth for the last fourteen hundred years containing the word of God, which was delivered unto them, By it we learn that our western tribes of Indians are desendants from that Joseph that was sold into Egypt, and that the Land of America is a promised land unto them, and unto it all the tribes of Israel will come. with as many of the as shall comply with the requesitions of the new co[v]enant. But the tribe of Judah will return to old Jerusalem, The City, of , spoken of by David in the 102 Psalm will be built upon the Land of America and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to it with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, and then they will be delivered from the overflowing scourge that shall pass through the Land But Judah shall obtain deliverence at Jerusalem see Joel 2. 32. Isaiah 26, 20 & 21, Jer. 31, 12, Psalm 50. 5, Ezekiel 34, 11, 12 & 13, These are testamonies that the good Shepherd will put forth his own sheep and Lead them out from all nations where they have been scattered in a cloudy and dark day, to Zion and to Jerusalem beside many more testamonies which might be brought——
And now I am prepared to say by the authority of Jesus Christ, that not many years shall pass away before the shall present such [p. 17]
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Page 17

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Noah C. Saxton, 4 January 1833
ID #
139
Total Pages
5
Print Volume Location
JSP, D2:348–355
Handwriting on This Page
  • Frederick G. Williams

Footnotes

  1. [28]

    According to the description of a 16 February 1832 vision experienced by JS and Sidney Rigdon, the celestial kingdom is the highest “glory” attainable in the hereafter. (Vision, 16 Feb. 1832 [D&C 76].)

  2. [29]

    See 2 Peter 1:5–8.

  3. [30]

    The portion of the letter published by Noah C. Saxton begins here and continues to the end of the letter.

  4. [31]

    According to the Book of Mormon, the last prophet and writer of the record, a man called Moroni, concluded his account around 420 years after Christ was born. (Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 585 [Moroni 10:1].)

  5. [32]

    See, for example, Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 485–486 [3 Nephi 15:12–13]. The December 1832 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star explained that “last week about 400, out of 700 of the Shawnees from Ohio, passed this place for their inheritance a few miles west, and the scene was at once calculated to refer the mind to the prophecies concerning the gathering of Israel in the last days.” (“The Indians,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1832, [6].)

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  6. [33]

    See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 501 [3 Nephi 21:22–26].

  7. [34]

    See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 498 [3 Nephi 20:29–33].

  8. [35]

    Psalm 102:13–22; see also “Signs of the Times,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Oct. 1832, [6]; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 566 [Ether 13:4–6].

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  9. [36]

    See Isaiah 35:10; and Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:71].

  10. [37]

    See Isaiah 28:15, 18; and Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:31].

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