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Discourse, 27 June 1839, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff–A

Source Note

JS, Discourse, , Hancock Co., IL, 27 June 1839. Featured version copied [between 27 June and 8 Aug. 1839] in Wilford Woodruff, “Book of Revelations,” pp. [19]–[20]; handwriting of ; CHL..
, “Book of Revelations,” [ca. 23 Dec. 1837–1860]; handwriting of and Asahel H. Woodruff; 107 pages; CHL. Includes shorthand, drawings, redactions, and use marks.
Blank book measuring 6 × 4 × ⅜ inches (15 × 10 × 1 cm). The text block originally consisted of fifty-six leaves, with two leaves of endpaper at the front and at the back of the volume. The book has a tight-back, quarter binding with cow leather. At some point, the first leaf of the text block and the two leaves of endpaper at the beginning of the volume were excised from the volume. Ink is visible on the stub of the first leaf of the text block, indicating that at least the recto of that leaf contained text. The wear on the stubs suggests that the pages were cut from the volume while it was still in use. inscribed “Book of Revelations | W Woodruff” on the front cover of the volume.
The volume was initially owned by Asahel Woodruff, who began using it as a diary or genealogical record sometime around December 1837. He died in October 1838, and his brother took possession of his “private letters, Journals, writing papers [and] Account Books” on 13 December 1838. Presumably this volume was among Asahel’s papers. Wilford Woodruff began copying into the volume in summer 1839. The volume was perhaps transferred with Woodruff’s other papers and journals to the Church Historian’s Office (now CHL) by 1858, but in 1860 Woodruff used the volume to record bids to provide grain for the soldiers stationed at Camp Floyd that year. The volume appears in a church inventory produced in 1878. At some point after 1878, the record was given to his wife Sarah Brown Woodruff and was then passed down through the family until it was donated to church historian and recorder Joseph Fielding Smith sometime in the mid-twentieth century. Smith apparently retained the volume among his papers, and it likely became part of the First Presidency’s papers when Smith became church president in 1970, as happened with other historical records in his possession. In 2010 the First Presidency transferred custody of Woodruff’s “Book of Revelations” to the CHL.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Woodruff, Journal, 13 Dec. 1838.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  2. [2]

    “Historian’s Office Catalogue Book March 1858,” [25], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  3. [3]

    “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office, 1878,” [14], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  4. [4]

    Eunice W. Perry to Joseph Fielding Smith, no date, in Case File for Woodruff, “Book of Revelations,” CHL.

    Woodruff, Wilford. “Book of Revelations,” ca. 1837–1860. CHL.

  5. [5]

    See, for example, Source Note for Revelation Book 1.

  6. [6]

    Brook P. Hales to Glenn N. Rowe, 28 June 2010, in Case File for Woodruff, “Book of Revelations,” CHL.

    Woodruff, Wilford. “Book of Revelations,” ca. 1837–1860. CHL.

Historical Introduction

On 27 June 1839, JS delivered a discourse in a meeting of the held at , Illinois. The members had met the previous two days, first in , Iowa Territory, and then in Commerce, debating the meaning of various scriptures and discussing whether former apostle should be readmitted into the quorum. JS was absent at the time of the 25 June meeting, visiting his brothers in other areas of . He returned to Commerce on 26 June, but it is not known whether he attended the quorum meeting that day. The 27 June meeting, which JS presided at, was the first of several meetings in June and early July in which JS instructed the apostles as they prepared for their mission abroad.
During the 27 June meeting, confessed his sins and was restored to full fellowship in the and in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Following Hyde’s reinstatement, JS instructed the apostles on the nature of ministering angels and the devil. Apostle later described JS’s instructions around this time as “unfolding keys of knowledge to detect ” when he appears as a ministering angel. Kimball noted that the instructions would “preserve us in the favor of God.” JS’s and ’s account of an 1832 vision identified Satan as a fallen angel, and JS revelations had warned the Saints about the devil and other evil spirits. In this 27 June discourse, JS provided tangible means of distinguishing between Satan and angels sent by God. Apostle , who attended the meeting, noted in his journal that JS presented this instruction “to the Twelve for there benefit in there experience & travels in the flesh.”
took notes on the discourse and then copied them into his “Book of Revelations” notebook, which he took with him when he left on 8 August to start his mission abroad. While in , Woodruff lent his notebook to fellow missionary , who copied this discourse into another notebook, which he called a “Pocket Companion.” Woodruff also copied the discourse into his 1839 journal. In the journal account, which Woodruff apparently made sometime after he wrote his “Book of Revelations” account, Woodruff expanded on and reorganized the content in the earlier account. Because the account in Woodruff’s “Book of Revelations” is the earliest extant version, it is featured here; significant differences between Woodruff’s notebook and journal accounts are noted in annotation.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Woodruff, Journal, 25–26 June 1839. In October 1838, Hyde left the church and signed an affidavit describing the Saints’ military operations against vigilantes in Daviess County, Missouri.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  2. [2]

    JS traveled to Plymouth, Illinois, to visit William Smith and then went to Macomb, Illinois, to see Don Carlos and Samuel Smith. (JS, Journal, 15–26 June 1839; see also Editorial Note preceding journal entry for 15–17 June 1839.)

  3. [3]

    See Allen et al., Men with a Mission, 59–60.

    Allen, James B., Ronald K. Esplin, and David J. Whittaker. Men with a Mission, 1837–1841: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992.

  4. [4]

    Woodruff, Journal, 27 June 1839; JS, Journal, 27 June 1839.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  5. [5]

    Kimball, “History,” 106.

    Kimball, Heber C. “History of Heber Chase Kimball by His Own Dictation,” ca. 1842–1856. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 2.

  6. [6]

    Vision, 16 Feb. 1832 [D&C 76:25–27]. Likewise, in the influential Theological Dictionary, which summarizes Protestant theology, minister Charles Buck described the devil as “a fallen angel” and the leader of fallen angels. Although both Buck and JS discussed the expulsion of angels from heaven as a result of sin, only JS characterized this expulsion in terms of a premortal council. (“Angel,” and “Devil,” in Buck, Theological Dictionary, 17, 116.)

    Buck, Charles. A Theological Dictionary, Containing Definitions of All Religious Terms; a Comprehensive View of Every Article in the System of Divinity. . . . New American ed., edited by George Bush. Philadelphia: James Kay Jr., 1830.

  7. [7]

    See Revelation, ca. 8 Mar. 1831–A [D&C 46:7]; and Revelation, 9 May 1831 [D&C 50:2]; see also JS History, vol. A-1, 93.

  8. [8]

    Woodruff, Journal, 27 June 1839.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  9. [9]

    Richards, “Pocket Companion,” 9–10.

    Richards, Willard. “Willard Richards Pocket Companion Written in England,” ca. 1838–1840. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, box 2, fd. 6.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Discourse, 27 June 1839, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff–A Discourse, 27 June 1839, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff–B Discourse, 27 June 1839, as Reported by Willard Richards

Page [20]

in the form of a personage unto man & reaches out his hand unto him & the man takes hold of his hand & feels no substan[c]e he may know it is for an angel of God (which is an angel of light) is a Saint with his resurrected body & when he appears unto man & offers him his hand & the man feels a substance when he takes hold of it as he would in shaking hands with his neighbour he may know it is a Angel of God. & should a Saint appear unto man whose body is not resurrectd he will never offer him his hand for it would be against the law by which they are governd & by observing this key we may detect Satan that he decieve us not [p. [20]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, 27 June 1839, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff–A
ID #
9112
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D6:508–510
Handwriting on This Page
  • Wilford Woodruff

Footnotes

  1. [6]

    See Luke 24:39–40, 42–43; and Matthew 27:52–53. Although theologians debated about the substance of angels, Charles Buck’s Theological Dictionary noted that “the more general opinion is, that they are substances entirely spiritual, though they can at any time assume bodies, and appear in human shape.” Like JS, eighteenth-century Swedish mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg described the corporality of angels and established his religious knowledge and authority by claiming to converse with angels face-to-face. Swedenborg also considered angels not as purely spiritual creations but as individuals who had at one time lived on earth. (“Angel,” in Buck, Theological Dictionary, 17; Brief Account of the Life of the Hon. Emanuel Swedenborg, 20–24; McDannell and Lang, Heaven, 188–189; Park, “Early Mormon Angelology,” 5–9.)

    Buck, Charles. A Theological Dictionary, Containing Definitions of All Religious Terms; a Comprehensive View of Every Article in the System of Divinity. . . . New American ed., edited by George Bush. Philadelphia: James Kay Jr., 1830.

    A Brief Account of the Life of the Hon. Emanuel Swedenborg, of the Senatorial Order of the Kingdom of Sweden; a Servant of the Lord; and the Messenger of the New Jerusalem Dispensation. Taunton, England: C. H. Drake, 1813.

    McDannell, Colleen, and Bernhard Lang. Heaven: A History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988.

    Park, Benjamin E. “‘A Uniformity So Complete’: Early Mormon Angelology.” Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies 2, no. 1 (2010): 1–37.

  2. [7]

    Woodruff’s journal version adds “face to face in personage.” (Woodruff, Journal, 27 June 1839.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  3. [8]

    Instead of “offers him his hand,” Woodruff’s journal version has “reaches out his hand unto the man.” (Woodruff, Journal, 27 June 1839.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  4. [9]

    Woodruff’s journal version describes the angel of God having a physical substance and then describes the devil’s lack of physical substance. (Woodruff, Journal, 2 July 1839.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  5. [10]

    Woodruff’s journal version adds “& he should place all Confidence in him such personages or angels are Saints with there resurrected Bodies.” (Woodruff, Journal, 27 June 1839.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  6. [11]

    Instead of “it would be against the law by which they are governed,” Woodruff’s journal version has “this is against the law given him.” (Woodruff, Journal, 27 June 1839.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  7. [12]

    Instead of “by observing this Key,” Woodruff’s journal version has “in keeping in mind these things.” (Woodruff, Journal, 27 June 1839.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

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