on behalf of the First Presidency (including JS), Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to “the Saints Scattered Abroad,” Sept. 1840. Featured version published in “To the Saints Scattered Abroad,” Times and Seasons, Oct. 1840, 177–179. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.
Historical Introduction
The October 1840 issue of the Times and Seasons—the newspaper published in , Illinois—printed a letter dated September 1840 from the addressed to the “Saints Scattered Abroad.” Church leaders periodically communicated with the Latter-day Saints in outlying through published open letters such as this one, encouraging members to move forward in “the work of the Lord” and providing news and general instruction. In this letter, the First Presidency discussed the building of a at Nauvoo, announced efforts to publish new editions of Latter-day Saint scripture and a hymnal, and recommended that church members gather to , Illinois, if they were able to do so.
The published letter identified as the scribe and stated that the letter was written “by order of the first Presidency.” The primary author, however, is unclear. No manuscript version of the letter appears to be extant.
We address a few lines to the , who have obeyed from the heart, that form of doctrine which has been delivered to them by the servants of the Lord, and who are desirous to go forward in the ways of truth and righteousness, [p. [177]]