The Papers
Browse the PapersDocumentsJournalsAdministrative RecordsRevelations and TranslationsHistoriesLegal RecordsFinancial RecordsOther Contemporary Papers
Reference
PeoplePlacesEventsGlossaryLegal GlossaryFinancial GlossaryCalendar of DocumentsWorks CitedFeatured TopicsLesson PlansRelated Publications
Media
VideosPhotographsIllustrationsChartsMapsPodcasts
News
Current NewsArchiveNewsletterSubscribeJSP Conferences
About
About the ProjectJoseph Smith and His PapersFAQAwardsEndorsementsReviewsEditorial MethodNote on TranscriptionsNote on Images of People and PlacesReferencing the ProjectCiting This WebsiteProject TeamContact Us
Published Volumes
This item is reproduced by permission of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Letter to Edward Partridge and Others, 30 March 1834

Source Note

JS, Letter with postscript by , , Geauga Co., OH, to , , and other members of the , [, MO], 30 Mar. 1834. Featured version copied [ca. 30 Mar. 1834] in Oliver Cowdery, Letterbook, 30–38; handwriting of ; Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. Transcription from digital color image obtained from the Huntington Library in 2011. For more complete source information on Oliver Cowdery, Letterbook, see the source note for Letter to J. G. Fosdick, 3 Feb. 1834.

Historical Introduction

From the end of February to the end of March 1834, JS traveled to recruit individuals for the expedition to . On 28 March, he returned to , Ohio, and found that he had received several letters from Missouri church leaders, some of which were from members of the . Those letters, though no longer extant, seem to have discussed, among other things, the business of the firm, including its losses. The letters from Missouri must have also criticized JS and other Kirtland church leaders; according to JS, the letters contained “sharp, piercing, & cutting reproofs,” partly because of misspellings and grammatical errors that appeared in a published broadside of a December 1833 revelation and partly because of the lack of financial support from Kirtland for Missouri church members. Earlier missives from Missouri were similarly critical of Kirtland church leaders, and Missouri members had been consequently rebuked for being contentious. A December 1833 revelation even declared that church members had been driven from , Missouri, in part because of the “jar[r]ings and contentions envyings and strifes and lustful and covetous desires among them.” Although acknowledged that “it was right that we should be driven out of the land of ,” the letters that JS received in March 1834 apparently exhibited at least a measure of the same critical spirit found in earlier correspondence.
After spending the preceding day with his family and in the midst of attending to ecclesiastical affairs, JS penned a reply to the leaders on 30 March 1834. The letter, featured here, offers a glimpse into how the hardships of late 1833 and early 1834 affected JS and how he handled criticism. This letter exhibited JS’s frustration over their complaints but also evinced his desire to forgive past transgressions for the sake of unity. In the letter, JS also offered more information on the matters with which and others had found fault, bemoaned the persecution the church was experiencing in both Missouri and , and reported on the expected expedition of “able brethren” to Missouri. Specifically, he noted church members’ lack of support (in terms of both financial donations and individual volunteers) for the contemplated expedition to . JS also suggested that though he intended to be part of the expedition, he had other matters to resolve before departing. In fact, it was not until 9 April 1834, after the legal proceedings against (who had been charged with threatening to kill JS) had successfully concluded, that JS finally determined to “go to Zion.”
The letter further provided information on the advantage of employing attorney general Robert W. Wells in the Mormons’ legal suits, on debts and finances in , on the recent purchase of a printing press by in , and on the selling of property. Though some church leaders in Missouri wrote letters to Kirtland in the months following this letter, they did not specifically address this letter or its contents. Therefore, it is not clear if the men of the in Missouri received this letter.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Minutes, 24 Feb. 1834; Revelation, 24 Feb. 1834 [D&C 103]; and JS, Journal, 26 Feb.–28 Mar. 1834.

  2. [2]

    See Letter to William W. Phelps, 11 Jan. 1833.

  3. [3]

    Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:6].

  4. [4]

    Letter from William W. Phelps, 15 Dec. 1833.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 9–10 Apr. 1834. This 9 April notation in JS’s journal is the first known documentary evidence that JS had decided to go with the Camp of Israel.

  6. [6]

    See, for example, “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, May 1834, 160; and “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, June 1834, 168.

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

Page 33

revelation! for when you hint they will ask a question, and if by any means in the heat of zeal you would hit them a kick it never fails to turn over the dish. Therefore, when we give them a hint, and they ask a question, we sometimes answer them plainly; but all this is a wonder and a mystery; but it wont do to kick, therefore to unfold the mystery we must of necessity send out the word of the mystery we must of God unto the different , or they could not be made to understand, that they, with their moneys, and their young men & their middle aged, must, in order to do the will of God, redeem the land which had been purchased, & the children of — and if by chance in doing all this <​we​> should have to suffer peril by false brethren. For men are as liable in this generation to turn aside from the holy , as were the children of Israel when Aaron bought the golden calf at the expense of all the jewelry, & riches of the children of Israel, while Moses tarried yet forty days in the mount, that he might receive the law of the everlasting gospel upon tables of stone, written by the finger of of God, while they, the children of Israel, were delivered over, & bowed down and worshiped the dumb idol, and said, These be our Gods that brought us up out of the land of Egypt. And Moses being angry destroyed the tables of Stone, and the golden calf and made the children of Isarel drink the substance of their God, which they said brought them up out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, I say, if we should suffer peril among false brethren, should it be accounted a strange thing? But here comes up another question, a great mystery! How did the revelation come to be garbled by the printers of the day, published and sent to and elsewhere? But if all these things, upon a little reflection had been rightly considered and understood, there would have been no mystery, nor any question asked. Not a sigh— not a lingering thought— not a grief, or a single reflection cast upon the innocent, a virgin, the spouse of Zion! Suffice it to say, that the revelation went into the hands of the world by stealth, through the means of false brethren, and lest it should reach the ears of the President and , with a false coloring, being misrepresented, [p. 33]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Page 33

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Edward Partridge and Others, 30 March 1834
ID #
210
Total Pages
9
Print Volume Location
JSP, D3:488–498
Handwriting on This Page
  • Thomas Burdick

Footnotes

  1. [13]

    See Exodus chap. 32.

  2. [14]

    Here, JS may have been referring to a revelation that was leaked to the Painesville Telegraph. The paper published the revelation on 24 January 1834. In August 1833, Oliver Cowdery warned the Church of Christ leaders in Missouri against “tatling” and admonished them to keep revelations “from false brethren & tatlers.” (See “A Scrap of Mormonism,” Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 24 Jan. 1834, [1]; Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101]; and Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 10 Aug. 1833.)

    Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.

© 2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of UseUpdated 2021-04-13Privacy NoticeUpdated 2021-04-06