Footnotes
While JS likely authored many of the paper’s editorial passages, John Taylor reportedly assisted him in writing content. No matter who wrote individual editorial pieces, JS assumed editorial responsibility for all installments naming him as editor except the 15 February issue. (Woodruff, Journal, 19 Feb. 1842; Historical Introduction to Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1842.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
See “Editorial Method”.
Faith, repentance, baptism, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost were enumerated as the church’s first principles and rites in the summation of church beliefs given in a narrative published in the previous issue. (“Church History,” 1 Mar. 1842 [Articles of Faith 1:4].)
This may be a reference to the revelations contained in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants generally or may refer more specifically to two prominent revelatory texts often referred to, respectively, as the “Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ” and the “Laws of the Church of Christ.” (Doctrine and Covenants 2 and 13, 1835 ed. [D&C 20 and 42].)
In February 1831 JS dictated a revelation that commanded members of the church to “cons[e]crate all [their] properties” to the church in order to help “administer to him who hath not.” Though church members in Missouri observed elements of this law of consecration during the early 1830s, the practice was largely abandoned years before the Saints gathered in Nauvoo, Illinois. In March 1840 JS told members of the Iowa high council that the law of consecration “could not be kept here, & that it was the will of the Lord that we should desist from trying to keep it.” (Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:30, 33]; Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 28 Jan. 1832; Levi Jackman, Deeds of Consecration and Stewardship, ca. 1833, CHL; Revelation, 8 July 1838–C [D&C 119]; Revelation, 8 July 1838–D [D&C 120]; Minutes and Discourse, 6 Mar. 1840.)
Jackman, Levi. Deeds of Consecration and Stewardship, ca. 1833. CHL. MS 3103.
See Isaiah 58:7; Matthew 25:35–36; James 1:27; and Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 124 [Jacob 2:19].
In the previous issue of the Times and Seasons, JS stated: “We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal, and we believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” (“Church History,” 1 Mar. 1842 [Articles of Faith 1:9].)
In the previous issue of the Times and Seasons, JS stated that the Latter-day Saints believed in “doing good to all men.” (“Church History,” 1 Mar. 1842 [Articles of Faith 1:13], italics in original.)