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Letter to the Church and Edward Partridge, 20 March 1839
Source Note
Source Note
JS, , , , and , Letter, , Clay Co., MO, to the church and , , Adams Co., IL, 20 Mar. 1839; handwriting of and , with insertions by JS; signatures of JS, , , , and ; seventeen pages; Revelations Collection, CHL. Includes redaction and docket.
Four bifolia and one leaf measuring 9¾ × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm), each with twenty-eight printed lines (now mostly faded). The letter was trifolded for mailing, and the final leaf may have once had a conjugal leaf bearing an address, as do most of JS’s letters written in the . The recto of the first bifolium’s first leaf was paginated with “1” twice—in the top right corner and the top left corner. One of the numbers appears to be original, and the other is apparently redactive. JS’s clerk docketed the letter sometime in the 1840s. At some point, the bifolia were fastened together with two staples, which have since been removed. The document has undergone conservation.
The Times and Seasons published an edited version of the letter in July 1840. Church clerk copied the letter into JS’s manuscript history in 1845. The letter was included in inventories for the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904, and the letter was cataloged in the Revelations Collection in 1983, indicating the letter has remained in continuous institutional custody since its reception.
Footnotes
- [1]
See “Copy of a Letter, Written by J. Smith Jr. and Others, While in Prison,” Times and Seasons, May 1840, 1:99–104.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
- [2]
See JS History, vol. C-1, 900–906; and Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 441.
Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.
- [3]
See “Index to Papers. in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, p. 3; “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, p. 1, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL; and the full bibliographic entry for the Revelations Collection in the CHL catalog.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
In the , Missouri, on 20 March 1839, JS dictated a letter addressed to ; members in , Illinois; and the Saints “scattered abroad.” The letter was the second general epistle JS directed to the church while in the jail, with the first missive composed on 16 December 1838. As the main body of Latter-day Saints was relocating from to and , JS apparently envisioned writing a series of general epistles in March 1839 to offer guidance and instruction in the wake of the catastrophic changes of the previous year. The immediate catalyst for the 20 March letter was the arrival of Latter-day Saint the previous evening. Rogers brought the prisoners a packet that contained letters from their families and friends, a letter from Illinois land speculator , and “the documents and papers sent by the authorities at Quincy.”
Stylistically, the 20 March letter is reminiscent of the apostle Paul’s epistles in the New Testament. Paul frequently named his companions in opening greetings and utilized the first-person plural voice even though he was the primary author of the letters. In a similar fashion, the 20 March 1839 letter opens with greetings from JS “in company with his fellow prisoners”; the body of the letter consistently employs the first-person plural—“we,” “our,” and “us”—with the exception of one portion presented in the voice of Deity; and all the prisoners signed the letter. JS was the principal author, although conversations with the other prisoners may have contributed to the letter’s ideas and themes. It is unknown who acted as scribe for the dictation draft, which is apparently not extant. The version featured here, which contains errors usually associated with copying, was inscribed by and . After McRae finished copying the last portion of the letter, JS and the other men signed the copy. At some point, JS made minor corrections and additions.
Following the opening greeting, the epistle contains an extended meditation on the Latter-day Saints’ recent sufferings and the prisoners’ frustrations in . This part of the missive includes a prayer in which JS pleads with God to deliver the Saints from their oppressors. The subject of the letter appears to shift with the acknowledgment of receiving letters from , , and , but this narrative actually continues the meditation on the meaning of persecution, revealing that reading the letters dissolved feelings of bitterness and opened JS’s heart to receive inspiration. Then, the voice of the letter transitions from that of the prisoners to that of the Lord providing an answer to the letter’s earlier prayer, explaining the deeper significance of the Saints’ persecutions and pronouncing judgments against the church’s enemies.
The second part of the letter addresses challenges the church faced in moving forward, such as deciding where the Saints should settle. JS declined to either approve or reject ’s offer to sell land to the church; instead, JS said that church leaders in should make that decision in future conferences and should forward minutes of the proceedings to JS for approval. The letter also advises the Quincy church leaders to eschew “an aspiring spirit” that had previously prevailed over “milder councils,” causing much suffering and death among the Saints. Additionally, the epistle contains counsel on how to seek revelation and guidance; this counsel is followed by strong affirmation that persecution would not hinder the work of God. Like other missives JS composed in the , this letter incorporates multiple biblical allusions. Near the close, the letter signals that another general epistle was forthcoming.
Although the letter’s greeting is directed to the church in general and to in particular, JS sent the missive to his wife because he wanted her “to have the first reading of it.” In a letter he wrote to her the following day, he informed her, “I have sent an Epistle to the church,” suggesting the epistle had already left the . The letter was probably carried from the jail by a church member, perhaps , who noted was visiting the jail on 20 March and was “going to start back this after noon” to , Missouri. Ripley told the prisoners that he could send their letters to “a mediately by some of the brethren.” It remains unclear who transported the missive from to Illinois or when it arrived in . On 10 April 1839, and Ripley wrote separate letters to JS and the other prisoners; both messages contain possible allusions to the general epistle, suggesting church members had received and read the epistle by that date. On 11 April, wrote to her husband, Hyrum Smith, stating she had read the epistle and that it was “food to the hungrey.” The 20 March epistle circulated widely among the Latter-day Saints in the months after its arrival in Illinois, as indicated by the extant copies in the handwriting of Partridge and . In addition, the Times and Seasons published an edited version in 1840, extending the letter’s circulation to the Saints “scattered abroad.”
Footnotes
- [1]
- [2]
Near the conclusion of this 20 March letter, JS and his fellow prisoners wrote, “We shall continue to offer further reflections in our next epistle.” A short time later, the men wrote another general epistle, stating: “We continue to offer further reflections to Bishop Partridge and to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints.” The prisoners concluded this letter with a note that “we shall continue our reflections in our next.” However, the prisoners apparently did not write another letter prior to their departure from the Clay County jail on 6 April 1839. (Letter to Edward Partridge and the Church, ca. 22 Mar. 1839; Hyrum Smith, Diary, 6 Apr. 1839.)
Smith, Hyrum. Diary, Mar.–Apr. 1839, Oct. 1840. CHL. MS 2945.
- [3]
Hyrum Smith, Liberty, MO, to Mary Fielding Smith, Quincy, IL, 19 Mar. 1839, Mary Fielding Smith, Collection, CHL.
Smith, Mary Fielding. Collection, ca. 1832–1848. CHL. MS 2779.
- [4]
It is unknown which “documents and papers” the leaders in Quincy sent, but in JS’s March 1839 general epistles, he indicated awareness of discussions documented in two sets of minutes, one dated 9 March 1839 and the other undated, which Rogers may have delivered to the jail. (See Rogers, Statement, [1], CHL; see also Letter to Edward Partridge and the Church, ca. 22 Mar. 1839; Minutes, 9 Mar. 1839, in JS Letterbook 2, p. 49; Far West Committee, Minutes, 17 Mar. 1839; and Minutes, no date, in JS Letterbook 2, p. 48.)
Rogers, David W. Statement, [not before 1846]. CHL.
Far West Committee. Minutes, Jan.–Apr. 1839. CHL. MS 2564.
- [5]
See, for example, 1 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; and Doty, Letters in Primitive Christianity, chap. 2; see also Letter to the Church in Caldwell Co., MO, 16 Dec. 1838; and Letter to Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young, 16 Jan. 1839.
Doty, William G. Letters in Primitive Christianity. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1973.
- [6]
- [7]
For example, Hyrum Smith wrote about a major theme in the general epistle—persecution and its significance—in March 1839 letters to his wife, Mary Fielding Smith. The brothers may have discussed the subject in the jail. On the evening of 20 March, Lyman Wight noted in his journal that while JS was “writing an epistle to the church,” Wight and Caleb Baldwin were writing letters to their families, which suggests the two men had minimal or no involvement in preparing the epistle, at least at that time. (Hyrum Smith, [Liberty, MO], to Mary Fielding Smith, Quincy, IL, [ca. Mar. 1839], Hyrum Smith Collection, CHL; Hyrum Smith, Liberty, MO, to Mary Fielding Smith, Quincy, IL, 16 Mar. 1839; Hyrum Smith, Liberty, MO, to Mary Fielding Smith, [Quincy, IL], 20 Mar. 1839, Mary Fielding Smith, Collection, CHL; Lyman Wight, Journal, in History of the Reorganized Church, 2:323.)
Smith, Hyrum. Collection, ca. 1839–1911. CHL.
Smith, Mary Fielding. Collection, ca. 1832–1848. CHL. MS 2779.
The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 8 vols. Independence, MO: Herald Publishing House, 1896–1976.
- [8]
The first draft was apparently discarded after it was copied, as was common practice.
- [9]
- [10]
- [11]
Hyrum Smith, Liberty, MO, to Mary Fielding Smith, [Quincy, IL], 20 Mar. 1839, Mary Fielding Smith, Collection, CHL. Wight reported that Ripley returned to the jail on 22 March 1839 and took the prisoners’ “package of letters for Quincy.” It is unclear whether Ripley went to Far West on 20 March and then returned to Liberty two days later or whether he remained in Liberty during that period. (Lyman Wight, Journal, in History of the Reorganized Church, 2:323.)
Smith, Mary Fielding. Collection, ca. 1832–1848. CHL. MS 2779.
The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 8 vols. Independence, MO: Herald Publishing House, 1896–1976.
- [12]
- [13]
Mary Fielding Smith, [Quincy, IL], to Hyrum Smith, 11 Apr. 1839, Mary Fielding Smith, Collection, CHL; JS, Liberty, MO, to the Church and Edward Partridge, Quincy, IL, 20–25 Mar. 1839, copy, CHL; JS et al., Liberty, MO, to the Church and Edward Partridge, Quincy, IL, 20 Mar. 1839, copy, Albert Perry Rockwood, Mormon Letters and Sermons, 1838–1839, Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT; “Copy of a Letter, Written by J. Smith Jr. and Others, While in Prison,” Times and Seasons, May 1840, 1:99–104. Portions of the 20 March 1839 letter were canonized in the 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. (Doctrine and Covenants 121, 1876 ed. [D&C 121].)
Smith, Mary Fielding. Collection, ca. 1832–1848. CHL. MS 2779.
Smith, Joseph. Letter, Liberty, MO, to the Church and Edward Partridge, Quincy, IL, 20–25 Mar. 1839. Copy. CHL.
Rockwood, Albert Perry. Mormon Letters and Sermons, 1838–1839. Western Americana Collection. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
The Doctrine and Covenants, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Containing the Revelations Given to Joseph Smith, Jun., the Prophet, for the Building Up of the Kingdom of God in the Last Days. Salt Lake City: Deseret News Office, 1876.
Epistle of Joseph Smith & Others in to the in .
March 20th 1839
E. [p. [18]]
Source Note
Source Note
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Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
Docket in handwriting of William Clayton.