A July 1831 JS revelation commanded that Phelps be a “Printer unto the Church.” Sometime that fall, possibly at a 1 October 1831 conference, Phelps received further instructions regarding the creation of what would become The Evening and the Morning Star at Independence, Missouri. These instructions may have included the directive that Phelps described in this council meeting. The prospectus for The Evening and the Morning Star stated that the paper would be printed “without interfering with politics, broils, or the gainsayings of the world.” (Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:11]; William W. Phelps, The Evening and the Morning Star Prospectus, Evening and Morning Star, June 1832 [Jan. 1835], 1.)

Evening and Morning Star. Edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. Kirtland, OH. Jan. 1835–Oct. 1836.

Other church leaders expressed similar thoughts. Two months earlier Brigham Young and other members of the Twelve wrote a letter to Parley P. Pratt directing him to take the editorship of the Prophet, the church’s newspaper in New York. The letter stated, “We think there has been a sufficient published on Rigdonism to show every honest man his corruption & believe that the colums of our papers may henceforth be occupied with more useful matter leaving Rigdon & his followers to fester and die in their own corruption like all other Apostates.” Pratt had already advised readers of the Prophet to not actively oppose “Rigdonism” as it “would have been dead and buried and almost forgotten e’re this time, but for the exertions of our Elders.” (Brigham Young et al., Nauvoo, IL, to Parley P. Pratt, 22 Jan. 1845, copy, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; Parley P. Pratt, “Rigdonism!,” Prophet, 18 Jan. 1845, [2].)

Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

The Prophet. New York City, NY. May 1844–Dec. 1845.

TEXT: Possibly “It”.