JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. B-1, created 1 Oct. 1843–24 Feb. 1845; handwriting of and ; 297 pages, plus 10 pages of addenda; CHL. This is the second volume of a six-volume manuscript history of the church. This second volume covers the period from 1 Sept. 1834 to 2 Nov. 1838; the subsequent four volumes, labeled C-1 through F-1, continue through 8 Aug. 1844.
Historical Introduction
This document, volume B-1, is the second of the six volumes of the “Manuscript History of the Church.” The collection was compiled over the span of seventeen years, 1838 to 1856. The narrative in volume B-1 begins with the entry for 1 September 1834, just after the conclusion of the Camp of Israel (later called Zion’s Camp), and continues to 2 November 1838, when JS was interned as a prisoner of war at , Missouri. For a fuller discussion of the entire six-volume work, see the general introduction to the history.
, serving as JS’s “private secretary and historian,” completed the account of JS’s history contained in volume A-1 in August 1843. It covered the period from JS’s birth in 1805 through the aftermath of the Camp of Israel in August 1834. When work resumed on the history on 1 October 1843, Richards started a new volume, eventually designated B-1.
At the time of JS’s death in June 1844, the account had been advanced to 5 August 1838, on page 812 of volume B-1. ’s poor health led to the curtailment of work on B-1 for several months, until 11 December 1844. On that date, Richards and , assisted by , resumed gathering the records and reports needed to draft the history. Richards then composed and drafted roughed-out notes while Thomas Bullock compiled the text of the history and inscribed it in B-1. They completed their work on the volume on or about 24 February 1845. Richards, , and Jonathan Grimshaw later added ten pages of “Addenda,” which provided notes, extensive revisions, or additional text to be inserted in the original manuscript where indicated.
Though JS did not dictate or revise any of the text recorded in B-1, and chose to maintain the first-person, chronological narrative format established in A-1 as if JS were the author. They drew from a variety of primary and secondary sources including JS’s diaries and letters, minutes of meetings, the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, church and other periodicals, reports of JS’s discourses, and the reminiscences and recollections of church members. As was the case with A-1, after JS’s death, , , , and others modified and corrected the manuscript as they reviewed material before its eventual publication.
Beginning in March 1842 the church’s Nauvoo periodical, the Times and Seasons, began publishing the narrative as the “History of Joseph Smith.” It was also published in England in the church periodical the Millennial Star beginning in June 1842. Once a press was established in Utah and the Deseret News began publication, the “History of Joseph Smith” once more appeared in print in serialized form. Beginning with the November 1851 issue, the narrative picked up where the Times and Seasons had left off over five years earlier.
The narrative recorded in B-1 continued the story of JS’s life as the prophet and president of the church he labored to establish. The account encompasses significant developments in the church’s two centers at that time—, Ohio, and northwest —during a four-year-span. Critical events included the organization of the Quorums of the Twelve Apostles and the Seventy, the dedication of the House of the Lord in Kirtland, Ohio, the establishment of the Kirtland Safety Society, dissension and apostasy in Kirtland and Missouri, the first mission to England, JS’s flight from Kirtland to Missouri in the winter of 1838, the Saints’ exodus from Kirtland later that year, the disciplining of the Missouri presidency, and the outbreak of the Missouri War and arrest of JS. Thus, B-1 provides substantial detail regarding a significant period of church expansion and transition as well as travail.
of times &c. Now I ask what is a dispensation? I answer it is power and <July. ’s Epistle continued.> authority to dispense the word of God, and to administer in all the ordinances thereof.
This is what we are to understand by it, for no man ever had the Holy Ghost to deliver the Gospel, or to prophecy of things to come but had liberty to fulfil his mission; consequently the argument is clear, for it proves itself; nevertheless I will call on the scriptures to prove <x> the assertion. Ephesians 3:2. “If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me, to you-ward; how that by Revelation he made known unto me the mystery; as I wrote in a few words,” And also Collossians 1:25. “Wherefore I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for [HC 3:50] you, to fulfil the word of God.”
It is evident then, that the dispensation given the Apostle, came to him by revelation from God. Then, by this we may understand. in some degree, the power by which he spake; and also the dispensation of the fulness of times.
Now, this, at first thought, would appear very small to some who are not acquainted with the order of God from the beginning; but when we take into consideration the plan of God for the salvation of the world, we can readily see that plan carried out most faithfully in all its bearings
See after the fall of adam, the plan of salvation was made known to him of God himself: who in like manner, in the meridian of time revealed the same, in sending his first begotton Son Jesus Christ: who also revealed the same to the Apostles, and God raised him from the dead to perfect the plan: and the apostles were made special witnesses of that plan; and testified, “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times, God would gather together allthings in one, all things in Christ; whether they be things in heaven, or things on the earth.”
Now the thing to be known, is, what the fulness of times means, or the extent and authority thereof. It means this, that the dispensation of the fulness of times is made up of all the dispensations that ever have been given since the world began until this time.
Unto Adam first was given a dispensation. It is well known that God spake to him with his own voice in the Garden, and gave him the promise of the Messiah. And unto Noah also was a dispensation Given: For Jesus said, “at as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. And as the righteous were saved then, and the wicked destroyed, so it will be now. And from Noah to Abraham; and from Abraham to Moses; And from Moses to Elias; and from Elias to John the Baptist; And from John to Jesus Christ; and from Jesus Christ to Peter, James and John: The Apostles all having received in their time, a dispensation by Revelation from God, to accomplish the great scheme of restitution, spoken of by all the holy prophets since the world began: The end of which is the dispensation of the fulness of times: In the which, all things shall be fulfilled, that have been spoken of since the Earth was made.
Now, the question is, unto whom is this dispensation to be given? or by whom to be revealed? The answer is, to the deliverer that was to come out of Zion, and given to him by the angel of God. Rev. 14:7. [p. 809]