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Letter to Silas Smith, 26 September 1833

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Geauga Co., OH, to , , St. Lawrence Co., NY, 26 Sept. 1833. Featured version copied [ca. Oct. 1855] in Jesse Smith, Autobiography and Journal, 2–5; handwriting of Jesse Smith; CHL.
Jesse Smith’s autobiography and journal was inscribed in a large, commercially produced blank book. The book’s ledger paper is horizontally ruled with two red lines above forty faint blue lines on each page. The book underwent conservation efforts in the mid-1990s. The leaves measure 14 × 8⅝ inches (36 × 22 cm). The volume measures 14½ × 10 × 2¼ inches (37 × 25 × 6 cm). The volume contains 655 inscribed pages followed by 31 blank pages. The first 23 pages contain Smith’s autobiography and his family history. Included in those 23 pages are a transcript of the letter featured here; the conversion story of his father, ; a copy of Jesse’s patriarchal blessing; and Jesse’s family history to October 1855. In October 1855, Jesse Smith began using the ledger as a journal. This volume was used as Smith’s personal journal in Utah and Arizona from 1855 until his death in 1906. The last entry is dated 5 June 1906.
It is likely that passed the original letter to his son Jesse Smith, who kept it but wanted to make a second copy. It is unknown when Jesse Smith’s volume was donated to the Church History Library or by whom. This journal was labeled “Journal #174” by staff of Church History Library and was received by the Church Historian’s Office prior to the 1940s when clerk Alice M. Rich transcribed its contents.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Jesse Smith, Autobiography and Journal, typescript, CHL.

    Smith, Jesse Nathaniel. Autobiography and Journal, 1855-1906. Typescript, not before 1940. CHL. MS 1489, fd. 2.

Historical Introduction

JS wrote this 26 September 1833 letter, defending the idea of modern-day revelation, to his uncle , who resided in , New York. Besides Silas and his family, several other relatives of JS lived in the Stockholm area at this time, including his grandmother Mary Duty Smith and his uncles Jesse and and their families.
, then a Presbyterian, was aware of his nephew’s revelations and of the Book of Mormon. According to a later history written by Silas’s son Jesse Smith, and his son visited Silas and other family members in 1830. Although Silas received the testimony of his family members “concerning the Latter day Work,” he was “slow about yielding obedience to the Gospel owing to the determined opposition” of his wife, Mary Aikens, and his brother Jesse, an ardent opponent of JS and the . Silas likely discussed the Church of Christ and its beliefs in new scripture and modern-day revelation with his brother in the year prior to receiving this letter. John was in January 1832, and from July 1832 to late April 1833, he proselytized and held church meetings around the area. Sometime in late 1832, John “went to Stockholm [and was] put up for the night at my Brothers,” and in early March 1833 he spent an evening with “Br. Silas” and had a conversation with him on “spiritual things.” John returned to , Ohio, in late May 1833 and undoubtedly told JS of his proselytizing efforts.
JS’s objective in this 26 September letter was to persuade his uncle that it was both scripturally sound and reasonable that God would speak to prophets in modern times as he did in biblical times. Most Christians of the era believed that the canon of scripture was closed and found the idea of additional canonical revelation to be repugnant, even blasphemous. This letter is a prime example of the Mormon argument for modern and continuing revelation. In the letter, JS heavily referenced books from both the Old and New Testaments to demonstrate that each age needs to hear the voice of God anew. The ideas expressed in this letter appeared again in the second installment of a serialized letter written by “the of the Church in ” and published in The Evening and the Morning Star in early 1834.
JS closed this letter by expressing his hope that would eventually join the Church of Christ. Jesse Smith, Silas’s son, recorded that his father received this letter from JS and that Silas “was baptized in the summer of 1835 by , and in the spring of 1836 emigrated to , Ohio,” with family members, including his aged mother, Mary Duty Smith.
Jesse Smith transcribed the letter featured here in its entirety into the family history portion of his journal in 1855. He apparently copied the original letter sent by JS, which was evidently still in the possession of the family at the time because the transcript included postal information not contained in any other extant version; Jesse’s copy appears to be the most complete and accurate extant copy. Martha Jane Knowlton Coray transcribed a copy of JS’s letter to for ’s history in the mid-1840s. However, that version varies significantly from the text featured here in words, phrases, and punctuation. Some of the variants in the Coray copy make the wording of the letter less clear when compared to Jesse Smith’s transcript. In addition, the Coray copy includes some later, Utah-era redactions and insertions that appear to have been made to match the version in Jesse’s journal. Significant differences between these two versions are noted in footnotes throughout the following transcript.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Jesse Smith, Autobiography and Journal, 2.

    Smith, Jesse Nathaniel. Autobiography and Journal, 1855-1906. CHL. MS 1489, fd. 1.

  2. [2]

    John Smith, Journal, [Dec. 1832], 11; 8 Mar. 1833. John did not specify that he stayed with Silas, and he could have been referring to his other brother, Asahel Smith, who also lived in Stockholm. It is likely, but not certain, that the “Br. Silas” in John’s journal refers to Silas Smith. (Jesse Smith, Autobiography and Journal, 2.)

    Smith, John (1781-1854). Journal, 1833–1841. John Smith, Papers, 1833-1854. CHL. MS 1326, box 1.

    Smith, Jesse Nathaniel. Autobiography and Journal, 1855-1906. CHL. MS 1489, fd. 1.

  3. [3]

    For more information on these theological views that were common in nineteenth-century America, see Holland, Sacred Borders.

    Holland, David F. Sacred Borders: Continuing Revelation and Canonical Restraint in Early America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

  4. [4]

    See Letter to the Church, ca. Mar. 1834.

  5. [5]

    Jesse Smith, Autobiography and Journal, 6. According to a letter from Hyrum Smith, “[It is the will] of god that uncle Silas Should fetch granmother in spite of [all the devils there] are out of Haadees & god will Bless Him in So doing & give her Strinth [to endure the jou]rney.” John Smith wrote in his journal that he returned to Kirtland on 18 May 1836 and “found our mother and brethren from the east.” (Hyrum Smith, Kirtland, OH, to Elias Smith, East Stockholm, NY, 27 Feb. 1836, CHL, missing text supplied from Smith, Life of Joseph F. Smith, 116; John Smith, Journal, 18 May 1836; Elias Smith, Journal, 17–18 May 1836.)

    Smith, Jesse Nathaniel. Autobiography and Journal, 1855-1906. CHL. MS 1489, fd. 1.

    Smith, Hyrum. Letter, Kirtland, OH, to Elias Smith, East Stockholm, NY, 27 Feb. 1836. CHL. MS 4950.

    Smith, Joseph Fielding. Life of Joseph F. Smith, Sixth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1938.

    Smith, John (1781-1854). Journal, 1833–1841. John Smith, Papers, 1833-1854. CHL. MS 1326, box 1.

    Smith, Elias. Journals, 1836–1888. CHL. MS 1319.

  6. [6]

    Jesse’s journal begins with a family history. He began writing in this journal in 1855. (Jesse Smith, Autobiography and Journal, 2–5.)

    Smith, Jesse Nathaniel. Autobiography and Journal, 1855-1906. CHL. MS 1489, fd. 1.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845 *Letter to Silas Smith, 26 September 1833

Page 4

Egypt, why was it necessary that the Lord should begin to speak to them?
The promise or word to Abraham, was, that his seed should serve in bondage, and be afflicted, four hundred years, and after that they should come out with great substance. Why did they not rely upon this promise, and when they had remained in Egypt, in bondage, four hundred years, come out, without waiting for further revelations, but act entirely upon the promise given to Abraham that they should come out?
Paul said to his Hebrew brethren, that God might more abundantly show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, He confirmed it by an oath. He also exhorts them, who, through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Notwithstanding, we (said Paul) have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor to the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the vail, yet he was careful to press upon them the necessity of continuing on until they, as well as those who then inherited the promises, might have the assurance of their salvation confirmed to them, by an oath from the mouth of Him who could not lie; for that seemed to be the example anciently, and Paul holds it out to his Hebrew brethren as an object attainable in his day.
And why not? I admit that by reading the Scriptures of truth the Saints, in the days of Paul, could learn, beyond the power of contradiction, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had the promise of eternal life confirmed to them by an oath of the Lord, but that promise or oath was <​no​> assurance to them of their salvation; but they could by walking in the footsteps and continuing in the faith of their fathers, obtain, for themselves an oath for confirmation that they were meet to be partakers of the inheritance, with the Saints in light.
If the Saints in the days of the Apostles were priviledged to take the Ancients for examples, and lay hold of the same promises, and attain to the same exalted privilege of knowing that their names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and that they were sealed there as a perpetual memorial before the face of the Most High, will not the same faithfulness, the same purity of heart and the same Faith, bring the same assurance of eternal life, and that in the same manner, to the children of men now in this age of the world? I have no doubt but that the holy Prophets and Apostles and [p. 4]
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Page 4

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Silas Smith, 26 September 1833
ID #
7970
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D3:301–308
Handwriting on This Page
  • Frederick G. Williams

Footnotes

  1. [18]

    See Genesis 15:13–14.

  2. [19]

    Instead of the plural word “revelations,” the copy in Lucy Mack Smith’s history has the singular “revelation.” (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845, 230.)

  3. [20]

    Instead of “might more abundantly show,” the copy in Lucy Mack Smith’s history has “being more abundantly willing to show.” (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845, 230.)

  4. [21]

    Hebrews 6:17.

  5. [22]

    Hebrews 6:18–19.

  6. [23]

    The word “then” is missing at this location in the copy in Lucy Mack Smith’s history. (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845, 230.)

  7. [24]

    Instead of “Ancients,” the copy in Lucy Mack Smith’s history has “saints.” (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845, 231.)

  8. [25]

    See James 5:10.

  9. [26]

    See Revelation 21:27.

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