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“Latter Day Saints,” 1844

Source Note

JS, “Latter Day Saints,” pp. 404–410 in (ed.), He Pasa Ekklesia [The whole church]. An Original History of the Religious Denominations at Present Existing in the United States. Containing Authentic Accounts of Their Rise, Progress, Statistics and Doctrines. Written Expressly for the Work by Eminent Theological Professors, Ministers, and Lay-Members, of the Respective Denominations. Projected, Compiled and Arranged by I. Daniel Rupp, of Lancaster, Pa. Author of “Der Maertyrer Geschichte,” Etc. Etc.; Philadelphia: James Y. Humphreys; Harrisburg, PA: Clyde and Williams; printed by C. Sherman; 1844; i–viii, 9–734 pp. The copy used for transcription is held at CHL; includes redactions and archival marking.
The history is the twenty-second of forty-three chapters in the volume. It comprises seven pages that measure 9⅛ x 5⅝ inches (23 x 14 cm) within a book measuring 9½ x 6½ x 2 inches (24 x 17 x 5 cm). The copy used for transcription has apparently been in continuous church custody since its purchase in 1905.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    This copy was purchased 21 June 1905 from a Salt Lake City bookstore for the Church Historian’s Office. The lower right corner of the inside front cover bears a sticker of the bookstore, “Shepard Book Company”, and the upper left corner bears a sticker of the “Historian’s Office Library”. Several “Historian’s Office” stamps are found throughout the book, including on the first page of the essay on the Latter-day Saints. A notation on the recto of the blank leaf preceding the title page indicates the day of purchase and a library number, “3493”, written in ink and later erased. “3493” corresponds to an entry made sometime after 1930 in an early Church Historian’s Office catalog book. (“Library Record,” book no. 3493.)

    “Library Record for the Listing or Cataloguing of Books.” Historian’s Office, Library Accession Records, ca. 1890–ca. 1930. CHL. CR 100 429.

Historical Introduction

In July 1843, JS received a letter from Clyde, Williams & Co. of , Pennsylvania, announcing the planned publication of a volume of articles “written expressly for the Work, by distinguished Divines” from various religious denominations in the . The letter invited JS or “some other competent person” representing the Latter-day Saints to submit an “impartial account of the Rise and Progress, Faith and Practice” of the church. On behalf of JS, prepared a letter in reply, promising that an article would be “matured and forwarded in season to meet your anticipations.”
The resulting essay, published as “Latter Day Saints,” was a revised version of “Church History,” an overview of Latter-day Saint history and doctrine recently written in response to a similar request and published in the church newspaper. Taken as a whole, the revisions highlight JS’s emphasis on revelation, with a new opening paragraph explaining the revelatory foundations of the church and JS’s prophetic calling. The revised essay, composed in September 1843, also expanded on the achievements of the hardworking Latter-day Saints, noting the progress of , Illinois, during the eighteen months since the publication of “Church History.” Whereas the earlier version noted simply, “We have commenced to build a city called ‘Nauvoo’” and alluded only briefly to the city charter, the Nauvoo Legion, and the Saints’ missionary outreach, “Latter Day Saints” elaborated on these now-implemented plans. The Nauvoo Legion was growing in numbers, and the University of Nauvoo was to be a place “where all the arts and sciences will grow.” The newly begun received a descriptive paragraph of its own. While “Church History” emphasized the departure of missionaries to many parts of the world, the updated version announced that “thousands have already gathered with their kindred saints, to this the cornerstone of Zion.”
“Latter Day Saints” was written on behalf of JS and appeared under his name. JS approved of and may have collaborated on the content, but apparently it was who wrote the additions to “Church History.” Phelps’s handwriting appears in a three-page document containing drafts of passages that correspond to the changes to “Church History,” including both the initial paragraph of the revised text and the new section that precedes the concluding list of beliefs. The verso of the document’s second page reads, “Additions to an article in the Times & Seasons. Sent to Clyde Williams and Co. Publishe[r]s——September—1843.” In early April 1844, JS’s essay was published in the volume He Pasa Ekklesia [The whole church], edited by German-American author and translator . The text presented herein is a transcription of the published version, with notes indicating textual variations from Phelps’s draft and from “Church History.”
On 5 June 1844, JS wrote to acknowledging receipt of a copy of He Pasa Ekklesia: “I feel very thankful for so valueable a treasure. The design, the propriety, the wisdom of letting every sect tell its own story; and the elegant manner in which the work appears, have filled my breast with encomiums upon it, wishing you God’s speed.” He continued, “I shall be pleased to furnish further information, at a proper time, and render you such service as the work, and vast extension of our church may demand for the benefit of truth, virtue, and holiness.” He then assured Rupp that “your work will be suitably noticed in our paper, for your benefit.” On 26 June, the day before JS was killed, the promised endorsement appeared in the Mormon-owned community newspaper, the Nauvoo Neighbor, noting that “every sect is its own witness” and declaring, “Such a work is actually worth its weight in gold. The author has our blessing for his success.”

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Clyde, Williams & Co., Harrisburg, PA, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, ca. 15 July 1843, JS Collection, CHL.

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

  2. [2]

    JS per William W. Phelps, Nauvoo, IL, to Clyde, Williams & Co., Harrisburg, PA, 1 Aug. 1843, JS Collection, CHL. Volumes describing various religious denominations were not uncommon in this time period. In addition to John Hayward’s 1836 Religious Creeds and Statistics, Robert Baird published A View of Religion in America in Glasgow in 1842, with a revised edition, titled Religion in America, printed in the United States two years later and reprinted many times thereafter. Other examples are P. Douglas Gorrie, The Churches and Sects of the United States, (New York: Lewis Colby, 1850), and Joseph Belcher, The Religious Denominations in the United States, (Philadelphia: J. E. Potter, 1854). Rupp’s volume is distinctive in that it is a collection of essays written by representatives of the respective denominations.

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

  3. [3]

    See JS, “Church History”. When JS composed “Church History,” he quoted from Orson Pratt’s A[n] Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  4. [4]

    JS, “Church History,” 709.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  5. [5]

    William W. Phelps, “Additions to an Article in the Times & Seasons,” Sept. 1843, CHL.

    Phelps, William W. “Additions to an Article in the Times & Seasons.” Sept. 1843. CHL.

  6. [6]

    The book was published in or shortly after April 1844, the date found in its preface. (Rupp, He Pasa Ekklesia, vi.)

    Rupp, Israel Daniel, ed. He Pasa Ekklesia [The Whole Church]: An Original History of the Religious Denominations at Present Existing in the United States, Contains Authentic Accounts of Their Rise, Progress, Statistics and Doctrines. Written Expressly for the Work by Eminent Theological Professors, Ministers, and Lay-Members, of the Respective Denominations. Projected, Compiled and Arranged by I. Daniel Rupp, of Lancaster, Pa. Philadelphia: J. Y. Humphreys; Harrisburg: Clyde and Williams, 1844.

  7. [7]

    JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Israel Daniel Rupp, Lancaster City, PA, 5 June 1844, copy, JS Collection, CHL.

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

  8. [8]

    “He Pasa Ekklesia,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 26 June 1844, [2].

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. “Church History,” 1 March 1842 Additions to “Church History,” September 1843, Draft “Latter Day Saints,” 1844

Page 409

. Here, in the fall of 1839, we commenced a city called , in Hancock county, which, in December, 1840, received an act of incorporation from the Legislature of , and is endowed with as liberal powers as any city in the . , in every respect, connected with increase and prosperity, has exceeded the most sanguine expectations of thousands. It now contains near 1500 houses, and more than 15,000 inhabitants. The charter contains, amongst its important powers, privileges, or immunities, a grant for the “University of Nauvoo,” with the same liberal powers of the , where all the arts and sciences will grow with the growth, and strengthen the strength of this beloved city of the “saints of the last days.” Another very commendatory provision of the charter is, that that portion of the citizens subject to military duty are organized into a body of independent military men, styled the “Nauvoo Legion,” whose highest officer holds the rank, and is commissioned lieutenant-general. This legion, like other independent bodies of troops in this republican government, is at the disposal of the Governor of this , and President of the . There is also an act of incorporation for an agricultural and manufacturing association, as well as the Association.
The of God, now in the course of erection, being already raised one story, and which is 120 feet by 80 feet, of stone, with polished pilasters, of an entire new order of architecture, will be a splendid house for the worship of God, as well as an unique wonder for the world, it being built by the direct revelation of Jesus Christ for the salvation of the living and the dead.
Since the organization of this church its progress has been rapid, and its gain in numbers regular. Besides these , where nearly every place of notoriety has heard the glad tidings of the gospel of the Son of God, England, Ireland, and Scotland, have shared largely in the fulness of the everlasting gospel, and thousands have already gathered with their kindred saints, to this the cornerstone of Zion. Missionaries of this church have gone to the East Indies, to Australia, Germany, Constantinople, Egypt, Palestine, the Islands of the Pacific, and are now preparing to open the door in the extensive dominions of Russia.
There are no correct data by which the exact number of members composing this now extensive, and still extending, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints can be known. Should it be supposed at 150,000, it might still be short of the truth.
Believing the Bible to say what it means and mean what it says; and guided by revelation according to the ancient order of the fathers [p. 409]
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Page 409

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
“Latter Day Saints,” 1844
ID #
4786
Total Pages
7
Print Volume Location
JSP, H1:502–516
Handwriting on This Page
  • Printed text

Footnotes

  1. [16]

    The Saints began settling in Commerce, Illinois, in spring 1839, and by that fall, they began referring to the area as Nauvoo. (See Leonard, Nauvoo, chap. 3; and “Nauvoo Journals, December 1841–April 1843,” in JSP, J2:xv.)

    Leonard, Glen M. Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2002.

    JSP, J2 / Hedges, Andrew H., Alex D. Smith, and Richard Lloyd Anderson, eds. Journals, Volume 2: December 1841–April 1843. Vol. 2 of the Journals series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011.

  2. [17]

    The Nauvoo charter was passed by the Illinois legislature and signed by the governor in December 1840. (Journal of the Senate . . . of Illinois, 9 Dec. 1840, 61; Journal of the House of Representatives . . . of Illinois, 12 Dec. 1840, 110; An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo [16 Dec. 1840], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], pp. 52–57.)

    Journal of the Senate of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, Convened By Proclamation of the Governor, Being Their First Session, Begun and Held in the City of Springfield, November 23, 1840. Springfield, IL: Wm. Walters, 1840.

    Journal of the House of Representatives of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, Convened By Proclamation of the Governor, Being Their First Session, Begun and Held in the City of Springfield, November 23, 1840. Springfield, IL: Wm. Walters, 1840.

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twelfth General Assembly, at Their Session, Began and Held at Springfield, on the Seventh of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty. Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1841.

  3. [18]

    The Nauvoo charter granted the city’s university trustees “full power to pass, ordain, establish, and execute all such laws and ordinances as they may consider necessary for the welfare and prosperity of said university, its officers and students: Provided, That the said laws and ordinances shall not be repugnant to the Constitution of the United States or of this State.” (An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo [16 Dec. 1840], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], pp. 56–57, sec. 24; see also Bennett and Cope, “City on a Hill,” 23–25.)

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twelfth General Assembly, at Their Session, Began and Held at Springfield, on the Seventh of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty. Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1841.

    Bennett, Richard E., and Rachel Cope. “‘A City on a Hill’—Chartering the City of Nauvoo.” The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal (2002): 17–42.

  4. [19]

    See section 25 of the Nauvoo charter. (An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo [16 Dec. 1840], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], p. 57, sec. 25.)

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twelfth General Assembly, at Their Session, Began and Held at Springfield, on the Seventh of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty. Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1841.

  5. [20]

    The Illinois legislature passed an act on 23 February 1841 to incorporate the Nauvoo House Association, authorizing the association to “erect and furnish a public house of entertainment” or boarding house to accommodate visitors to Nauvoo. Four days later, 27 February 1841, the legislature passed the act to incorporate the Nauvoo Agricultural and Manufacturing Association. (An Act to Incorporate the Nauvoo House Association [23 Feb. 1841], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], 131–132; An Act to Incorporate the Nauvoo Agricultural and Manufacturing Association, in the County of Hancock [27 Feb. 1841], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841],139–141.)

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twelfth General Assembly, at Their Session, Began and Held at Springfield, on the Seventh of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty. Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1841.

  6. [21]

    Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841, in Doctrine and Covenants 103:10–12, 1844 ed. [D&C 124:26–39], gave instructions for the building of the temple at Nauvoo and described its purpose as a holy place in which to perform rites for church members and by proxy for deceased persons.

    The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith. 2nd ed. Nauvoo, IL: John Taylor, 1844.

  7. [22]

    The text omits Wales, which is included in “Church History.” About 250 people had joined the church in Wales by 1844. (JS, “Church History,” 709; Dennis, “The Welsh and the Gospel,” 237–241.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    Dennis, Ronald D. “The Welsh and the Gospel.” In Truth Will Prevail: The Rise of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the British Isles, 1837–1987, edited by V. Ben Bloxham, James R. Moss, and Larry C. Porter, 236–267. Cambridge: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1987.

  8. [23]

    In addition to the assignments mentioned in “Church History,” JS here adds Constantinople, Egypt, the Pacific islands, and Russia as missionary destinations. Orson Hyde visited Constantinople and Egypt during his mission to the Jews.a Missionaries had by this time also been assigned to the Sandwich Islands, though they actually went to the Society Islands, in French Polynesia.b In spring 1843, Hyde and George J. Adams were appointed to open missionary work in Russia, though they did not fulfill the assignment.c

    (aHyde, Voice from Jerusalem, 22–23. bJS, Journal, 23 May 1843, JS Collection, CHL; see also Pratt, Journals, 20 Sept. 1843–28 Apr. 1847; and Britsch, Unto the Isles of the Sea, chap. 1. c“Recommendatory,” Times and Seasons, 1 June 1843, 4:218.)

    Hyde, Orson. A Voice from Jerusalem, or a Sketch of the Travels and Ministry of Elder Orson Hyde, Missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to Germany, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. Liverpool: P. P. Pratt, 1842.

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

    Pratt, Addison. Journals, 1843–1852. Addison Pratt, Autobiography and Journals, 1843–1852. CHL. MS 8226, fds. 4–11.Pratt, Addison. Autobiography and Journals, 1843–1852. CHL.

    Britsch, R. Lanier. Unto the Islands of the Sea: A History of the Latter-day Saints in the Pacific. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1986.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  9. [24]

    Historian Dean L. May gave a conservative estimate of approximately thirty thousand Latter-day Saints by 1846; other sources indicate as many as thirty-five to forty thousand. In any case, the figure given is too high. (May, “Demographic Portrait of the Mormons,” 123.)

    May, Dean L. “A Demographic Portrait of the Mormons, 1830–1980.” In After 150 Years: The Latter-day Saints in Sesquicentennial Perspective, edited by Thomas G. Alexander and Jessie L. Embry, 38–69. [Provo, UT]: Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, 1983.

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