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Letter to the Church in Colesville, 2 December 1830

Source Note

JS and , Letter, , Seneca Co., NY, to “Dearly beloved in the Lord” [church members], [, NY], 2 Dec. 1830. Featured version copied [ca. 1871] in , History, 196–211; unidentified handwriting; private possession. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Newel Knight and the Church in Colesville, 28 August 1830.

Historical Introduction

This letter gives instructions to the church members in , New York, in general but also addresses JS’s brother in particular. At the time JS and wrote it, Hyrum and his wife, , were living in Colesville with and his wife, . Hyrum Smith and Newel Knight were engaged in preaching in the area. The letter included a copy of a recently received letter from , who reported on the great success he and his three missionary companions were experiencing in the area around , Ohio. The entire letter, including Cowdery’s communication, was eventually copied into Newel Knight’s autobiography.
This letter was apparently part of an ongoing correspondence, not all of which is extant, between JS and members of the church in . Like JS’s August 1830 letter to members in Colesville, it reflects a belief in an imminent Second Coming and cites international political conflict and natural catastrophes as evidence that “the prophecies of the Book of Mormon are fulfilling as fast as time can bring it about.”

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 12 Nov. 1830.

  2. [2]

    Letter to Newel Knight and the Church in Colesville, 28 Aug. 1830.

  3. [3]

    The apocalyptic content of the letter raises the possibility that it may also have been intended to prepare the Colesville branch for the forthcoming exodus of church members from New York to Ohio, declaring as it did that the “time is soon at hand that we shall have to flee whithersoever the Lord will, for safety.” The inclusion of Cowdery’s letter, with its encouraging commentary on the work in Kirtland, may have helped prepare members in Colesville to respond positively to the call to leave New York and remove to that distant location. However, no other evidence indicates that JS was contemplating a move to Ohio prior to the 30 December revelation. (See Revelation, 30 Dec. 1830 [D&C 37:2–3].)

Page 209

tween eleven and twelve at night, and on the 6[th] there was one more; on the 7th. nine in the day time and at night nineteen; on the 8[th] three; on the 9[th]., 3. on the 10[th] at night, one; on the 11[th], one, on this day another, making in the whole fifty five, among whom are brother and wife. There is considerable call here for books, and I wish you would send five hundred immediately here, and when they are, <​or​> a part of them are [p. 209]
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Source Note

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Page 209

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to the Church in Colesville, 2 December 1830
ID #
52
Total Pages
16
Print Volume Location
JSP, D1:214–219
Handwriting on This Page
  • Unidentified

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