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.
eye to eye Isaiah 52:8. Whatever is glorious.— Whatever is desirable— Whatever pertains to salvation either temporal or spiritual. Our hopes, our expectations, our glory and our reward, all depend on our building up Zion according to the testimony of the prophets. For unless Zion is built; our hopes perish, our expectations fail, our prospects are blasted, our salvation withers, and God will come and smite the whole earth with a curse.— Hear then O ye saints of the last days! and let this our appeal have a favorable reception among you. Let every saint consider well the nature of his calling in the last days, and the great responsibility which rests upon him or her, as one to whom God as has revealed his will, and make haste not only to the relief of , but also to the building up of Zion. Let every man, and every woman, give heed the very instant that they embrace the Gospel, and exert themselves with energy to send on means to build up Zion; for our God bids us to haste the building of the City, saying, the time has come when the City must be pushed forward with unceasing exertions. for, behold, the day of calamity draweth nigh, and unless the saints speed the building of the City, they will not escape. Be admonished then O ye saints! and let not Covetousness, which is Idolitry nor worldly ambition hinder you; but gather up your Gold and your silver, and the means you have, and send on to the saints who are engaged in this great work of building the Zion of our God, that there may be a place of refuge for you, and for your children in the day of God’s vengeance, when he shall come down on Idumea, or the world, in his fury, and stamp them down in his wrath, and none shall escape, but the inhabitants of Zion.
What we say unto one we say unto all, haste— haste— and delay not: for the hour of desolation does not linger, and with all the power that the Saints have, and with all the diligence they can use they will scarcely Escape. The time is not far distant, when some of those who now deride and mock the saints for devoting their all to build up <the> Zion of God, will bless their name, for having provided a city of refuge, for them and their Children, regardless of the ravings of ungodly priests, and the mockings of a stupid and ignorant people
In the Confidence which we have in the good sense and righteous principles of the multitude of the Saints, we send this our memorial in the name of our Master Jesus; believing that this appeal, will be received with great kindness and will be attended to with untiring perseverance, until the object for which it has been sent shall be accomplished. And may the God of all grace, pour out his richest blessings on your heads, and crown you with abundance, that the Zion of our God may flourish, and cease not until the righteousness thereof shall go forth as the light, and the Salvation thereof as a lamp which burneth is the prayer of your brethren in Christ Jesus