JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. D-1, created 4 July 1845–4 Feb. 1846 and 1 July 1854–2 May 1855; handwriting of , Robert L. Campbell, and ; 275 pages, plus 6 pages of addenda; CHL. This is the fourth volume of a six-volume manuscript history of the church. This fourth volume covers the period from 1 Aug. 1842 to 1 July 1843; the remaining five volumes, labeled A-1, B-1, C-1, E-1 and F-1, continue through 8 Aug. 1844.
Historical Introduction
History, 1838–1856, volume D-1, constitutes the fourth of six volumes documenting the life of Joseph Smith and the early years of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The series is also known as the Manuscript History of the Church and was originally published serially from 1842 to 1846 and 1851 to 1858 as the “History of Joseph Smith” in the Times and Seasons and Deseret News. This volume contains JS’s history from 1 August 1842 to 1 July 1843, and it was compiled after JS’s death.
The material recorded in volume D-1 was initially compiled under the direction of church historian , with the assistance of . After Richards’s death in 1854, continued work on the volume as the new church historian with Bullock’s continued help. The process adopted by Richards and Bullock involved Richards creating a set of rough draft notes and Bullock transcribing the notes into the volume along with the text of designated documents (such as letters and meeting minutes). George A. Smith followed a similar pattern, though he dictated the draft notes to Bullock and other scribes.
According to the Church Historian’s Office journal, finished the third volume of the series, volume C-1, on Thursday, 3 July 1845, in , Illinois. He began work on the fourth volume, D-1, the next day, beginning on page 1362 with the entry for 1 August 1842. (The pages in volumes A-1–E-1 were numbered consecutively.) Bullock continued work on the record, drawing upon ’s draft notes, until 3 February 1846—the day before D-1 and the other volumes were packed up in preparation for the Latter-day Saints’ exodus from Nauvoo. At that point he had reached page 1485 with the entry for 28 February 1843. Subsequently, apparently after the collection had arrived in Utah, Bullock added a brief comment beneath that entry: “end of W. Richard’s compiling[.] the books packed Feby. 4— 1846 in Nauvoo[.] Miles Romney— present. The records carried by T Bullock from Winter Quarters to G S L [Great Salt Lake] City in 1848.”
A notation at the top of page 1486 reports that “the books were unpacked in G. S. L. City by and . June 7. 1853. J[onathan] Grimshaw & Miles Romney present.” Vertically, in the margin, is a poignant epitaph: “Decr. 1 1853 Dr. Willard Richards wrote one line of History—being sick at the time—and was never able to do any more.” With Richards’s death on 11 March 1854, JS’s cousin was called to the office of church historian. The notation on the top of page 1486 acknowledges this change in officers, noting, “commencement of George A. Smith’s compiling as Historian. April 13. 1854[.] [C]ommenced copying July 1. 1854.” From mid-April to the end of June 1854, George A. Smith, in collaboration with Thomas Bullock, worked on the draft notes for the history before a new scribe, , resumed writing in D-1 on 1 July 1854, beginning with the entry for 1 March 1843.
continued transcribing intermittently into the late fall of 1854, when he was assigned other duties in the Historian’s Office. He had reached page 1546 with the entry for 5 May 1843. Work resumed in February 1855 in the hand of Robert L. Campbell, recently returned from a mission. He concluded volume D-1 on the morning of 2 May 1855 and began writing in E-1 that afternoon.
The 274 pages of volume D-1 contain a record of much that is significant in the life of JS and the development of the church he founded. Among these events are
• JS’s 6 August 1842 prophecy that the Saints would become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains.
•JS’s 8 August 1842 arrest on a warrant for being “an accessory before the fact” to an attack on former governor .
• ’s 17 August 1842 letter to governor , pleading for the humane treatment of her husband and family.
•JS’s 1 and 6 September 1842 instructions regarding the proper procedures for performing baptisms for the dead.
• JS’s 15 November 1842 “Valedictory” as he stepped down as editor of the Times and Seasons.
• The 26 December 1842 arrest of JS on a “proclamation” by former governor , and subsequent hearing in , Illinois.
• The 7 February 1843 recovery of a volume of patriarchal blessings given by , which had been stolen in , Missouri.
• JS’s 21 February 1843 remarks regarding the and .
• JS’s 2 April 1843 instruction at , Illinois, on the nature of God and other subjects.
• JS’s 16 May 1843 remarks at , Illinois, on the everlasting covenant and eternal marriage.
• The account of JS’s 23 June 1843 arrest and his hearing the following week at .
<June 11> they are prepared for them. They will be the first to stone you and put you to death, it was this same principle that crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, and will cause the people to kill the Prophets in this generation.
Many things are insoluble to the children of men, in the last days, for instance that God should raise the dead, and forgetting that things have been hid from before the foundation of the World, which are to be revealed to babes in the last days.
There are a great many wise men and women too in our midst, who are too wise to be taught, therefore they must die in their ignorance, and in the Resurrection they will find their mistake. Many seal up the door of heaven by saying so far God may reveal and I will believe.
All men who become heirs of God and Joint heirs with Jesus Christ will have to receive the fulness of the ordinances of his kingdom, and those who will not receive all the ordinances will come short of the fulness of that glory, if they do not loose the whole.
I will say something about the Spirits in prison there has been much said by Modern divines about the sayings of Jesus (when on the cross) to the thief, saying this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. King James’ Translators make it out to say Paradise, but what is Paradise? it is a modern word, it does not answer at all to the original word that Jesus made use of, find the original of the word paradise: You may as easily find a needle in a Hay Mow. here is a chance for a battle ye learned men. There is nothing in the original word in Greek from which this was taken, that signifies paradise, but it was this day [HC 5:424] thou shalt be with me in the world of Spirits, then I will teach you all about it, and answer your inquiries, and Peter says he went and preached to the world of Spirits (Spirits in prison 1st. Peter 3rd. chap 19 verse) so that they who would receive it could have it answered by proxy by those who live on the earth &c.
The doctrine of Baptism for the dead is clearly shewn in the new Testament & if the doctrine is not good, then throw the New Testament away, but if it is the word of God, then let the doctrine be acknowledged, and it was the reason why Jesus said unto the Jews how oft would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not, that they might attend to the ordinances of baptisms for the Dead as well as other ordinances of the Priesthood and receive Revelations from heaven and be perfected in the things of the kingdom of God, but they would not, this was the case on the day of Pentecost, those blessings were poured out on the disciples on that occasion. God ordained that he would save the dead, and would do it by gathering his people together.
It always has been when a man was sent of God with the Priesthood and he began to preach the fulness of the Gospel that he was thrust out by his friends who are ready to butcher him if he teach things which they imagine to be wrong, and Jesus was crucified upon this principle.
I will now turn linguist, there are many things in the Bible which do not as they now stand, accord with the Revelations of the Holy Ghost to me. [p. 1573]