From: gdm-owner@xmission.com To: gdm-digest@xmission.com Subject: gdm Digest V1 #8 Reply-To: gdm@xmission.com Errors-To: gdm-owner@xmission.com Precedence: gdm Digest Sunday, 2 March 1997 Volume 01 : Number 008 In this issue: ---> D&C Section 20 [none] See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the gdm or gdm-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Perry L. Porter" Date: Sat, 22 Feb 1997 21:45:53 -0700 Subject: ---> D&C Section 20 Subject: D&C 20 Extracts from "The Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ and the Book of Mormon," by Robert J. Woodford, Doctrines for Exaltation: The 1989 Sperry Symposium on the Doctrine and Covenants, (Deseret Book Compay, 1989) In 1959 Brenda Daily and her brother Bill attended the Ravenna High School in Ravenna, Ohio. They had recently moved there with their family from the Canal Zone where their father, William D. Daily, served in the military. While in the Canal Zone, these two young people had leamed conversational Spanish. They were anxious to study the language at their new school. Unfortunately the school was not large enough for a regular Spanish class; however, the principal, Wayne E. Watters, had experience teaching Spanish. He was willing to teach a class before school if Brenda and Bill could also get some other students to attend. They found several willing classmates, and soon they had an enthusiastic class functioning. During the year, Mr. Watters found out that Bill and Brenda were Latter-day Saints. Once he knew that, he had several discussions with them about the Church. On one occasion he mentioned that his wife's father had an early document of the LDS Church in his possession. He told them that the family had preserved it through four generations. His wife's maiden name is Virginia Ryder, and she is a great-greatgranddaughter of Symonds Ryder. He was an 1831 convert to the Church from Hiram, Ohio., Somehow Symonds Ryder obtained this document, but there are no historical records that relate how he obtained it. Later in the year, during a serious illness, Wayne and Virginia Watters feared her father would soon die. They thought that he had no more use for the document, and so they gave it to Brenda.' They felt it would be of greater value to a member of the Church than it was to them. Brenda took it to her father, and he immediately realized that it was a record of some worth. He conveyed it to the mission president in Ohio, who sent it to Church headquarters with the next missionary returning to Utah. The Church Historian placed it in the archives of the Historical Department of the Church, where researchers can have access to it today. This document is in the handwriting of Oliver Cowdery3 and is three pages in length. It begins: "A commandment from God unto Oliver how he should build up his Church & the manner thereof." It ends: "Written in the year of our Lord & Saviour 1829-A true copy of the Articles of the Church of Christ. O.C." The body of the document is composed of scriptures from the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants interspersed with commentary by Oliver Cowdery. Through these, Oliver Cowdery established several important doctrinal truths. ... There is a close connection between this 1829 manuscript of Oliver Cowdery and section 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants. The title of section 20 in the other surviving manuscripts is "The Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ." The title of section 20 as it was published in The Evening and the Morning Star is the same, and it is very similar to the title of Oliver Cowdery's manuscript. Section 20 also contains most of the Book of Mormon scriptures quoted by Oliver Cowdery in his manuscript. Oliver Cowdery's manuscript is probably an early draft of section 20. - --------------------------------------- Subject: D&C 20 as early Articles of Faith An extract from The "Articles of Faith" in Early Mormon Literature and Thought by DAVID J. WHITTAKER New Views of Mormon History: Essays in Honor of Lenard J. Arrington (this title may be a little incorrect) Almost anyone familiar with Joseph Smith has heard of the letter he wrote to John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat, in 1842. He was answering a specific request from Wentworth to supply Wentworth's friend, George Barstow, information on the history and beliefs o f the Latter-day Saints. Wentworth told Smith that Barstow was writing a history of the state of New Hampshire and that he wished to include information about the Mormons. Joseph Smith's letter is a masterpiece of succinctness: in just a few short pages he summarized his own religious experience and reviewed the first decade of the church's history. At the end of the historical sketch, Joseph attached a list summarizing the "faith of the Latter-day Saints," later titled the "Articles of Faith." Barstow never published the Wentworth letter , but it was printed in March 1842 in the church's periodical, the Nauvoo Times and Seasons. In 185 1, Franklin D. Richards, then president of the British Mission, assembled for that mission a pamphlet which contained a variety of documents that had earlier appeared in LDS publications. Among the items he selected was the "Articles of Faith." Reflecting the composite nature of his collection, he titled the work the Pearl of Great Price. In 1880, a general conference of the church voted to add this "gem" to the standard works of the church along with the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants, it thus achieved the status of canonized scripture. Even before 1880, the "Articles of Faith" had been a standard reference for those seeking a concise list of LDS beliefs, and after the 1880 canonization, their position was assured. Thus when James E. Talmage was asked by the First Presidency in 1891 to "prepare a work on theology, suitable as a text book for our Church schools," it was no surprise that he would use the "Articles of Faith" as the outline for his work. Finally published in 1889, his Articles of Faith further cemented in the minds and hearts of LDS students the thirteen statements from the Wentworth letter. Just how does the list of beliefs from the Wentworth letter fit into the larger body of LDS literature which contained similar lists of faith? Did Joseph Smith author them, or did he borrow from other early LDS authors who compiled similar lists? What was intended by these lists? In spite of his anticreedal attitude, did Smith intend to give the church a creed in these statements? How did the early church use and understand lists of belief? How have these listings changed over the years? This essay attempts to deal with these questions by examining the printed literature generated during the formative years of the Mormon movement. The approach will be primarily chronological, focusing on three periods of the "Articles of Faith": origin, popularization, and canonization. Even before the church was organized, Joseph Smith felt the need to formulate a statement that would briefly summarize the major beliefs of the religious movement he had been commanded to give institutional embodiment. As early as 1829, he and Oliver Cowdery committed to paper the beginnings of the "Articles and Covenants" of the church, later Published as Doctrine and Covenants Section 20. The textual development of that section thus provides a starting point for our discussion. The dating of Doctrine and Covenants 20 has never been precisely established. Today, the headnote suggests April 1830 as the date of its composition. The Manuscript History of the Church simply gives the general date of 1830. The History of the Church, which generally prints the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants in chronological order, places Section 19 after Section 20, which suggests a pre-March 1830 dating. Some authors even proposed that Doctrine and Covenants 20 was revealed on 6 April 1830, the day the church was organized. But what appears to be the earliest effort to enumerate or summarize-the main beliefs of the restoration, perhaps an urtext to Doctrine and Covenants 20, is an unpublished document in Oliver Cowdery's handwriting dated 1829 --possibly as early as June. A revelation to Cowdery, which he himself recorded, the document bears strong similarities to Doctrine and Covenants 20. Specifically, it commands Cowdery to write "the articles of the Church of Christ," and contains a number of specific items now found in Doctrine and Covenants 20. In addition to several quotations from Doctrine and Covenants 18, the document cites 3 Nephi 18:29-32 concerning the sacrament and the central role of the atonement' of Christ. Doctrine and Covenants 20 is a much fuller elaboration of items in the Cowdery document. In their first printed form, Doctrine and Covenants 20 and 22 were combined and entitled "The Articles and Covenants or the Church" in the June 1832 issue of the The Evening and the Morning Star. It seems clear that both Smith and Cowderv were responsible for the final version, a fact that helps to understand the background of the argument over Cowdery's insistence that Smith change the wording of verse 37. Doctrine and Covenants 22 was later deleted from Doctrine and Covenants 20 and verses 66 and 67 were added. Even a superficial study of Doctrine and Covenants 20 reveals its composite nature. But it also reveals an orderly structure that led B.H. Roberts to call it "a declaration of fundamental doctrines," and to use its structure outline and discuss the basic beliefs of the early church in his Comprehensive History of the Church. " On 9 June 1830, during the first conference of the church, Joseph Smith read Doctrine and Covenants 20 to those assembled and the contents were accepted by the "unanimous voice of the congregation." Thus Doctrine and Covenants 20 became the first revelatory item canonized in the early church. Surviving records indicate that this document was read as a regular item of business during succeeding conferences. Its importance to the church would have been reinforced by the practice of making copies for early missionaries to carry with them into their fields of labor. Its prominence in early LDS thought is further emphasized by its place in the 1835 to 1869 editions of Doctrine and Covenants: it was the second document printed in those compilations of modern revelations to the church. Briefly, Doctrine and Covenants 20 enumerated the following doctrines: the existence of God, the creation and fall of man, the roles of Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost and the Trinity, justification and sanctification, falling from grace, baptism, the manner of baptism and confirmation, the duties of members, the sacramental prayers, duties of members respecting children, duties of the officers of the church, and the need for conferences. It was, of course, a redacted series of brief revelations on key concepts necessary for the infant church. It made no claim to completeness, and it seems that it was never taken as comprehensive by early members. It was a constitution, a basic charter of the new church, not a Summa Theologia. Doctrine and Covenants 20, then, functioned as a kind of creedal statement during the first decade of the church. At least one other item that appeared in the early LDS scriptures also helped members to formalize the beliefs of the young church. During the winter of 1834-35 a series of seven theological "Lectures on Faith" were presented to elders in Kirtland, Ohio. These lectures consisted of a series of propositions, each of which was supported by scriptural citations, logic, and short catechisms designed for a classroom presentation. The seven lectures lead to a final conclusion by the last one; their content and direction suggested to early members that any position on theological matters could be logical and systematically prepared and published. The fact that these lectures were placed in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants and remained until 1921 suggests their potential for systematically approaching the topic of faith. The School of the Prophets at which these lectures were presented was to instruct its members "more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God."" The whole standardizing that school lectures implied could have furthered the early Mormon attempt to create a uniform and standard list of Articles of Faith. Joseph Smith indicated in the preface to the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants that the volume contained "the leading items of the religion which we profess to believe." Further, he and his colleagues reasoned: There may be an aversion in the minds of some against receiving any thing purporting to be articles of religious faith, in consequence of there being so many now extant; but if men believe a system, and profess that it was given by inspiration, certainly, the more intelligibly they can present it, the better. It does not make a principle untrue to print it. Neither does it make it true not to print it.... We have, therefore endeavored to present through in few words, our belief, and when we say this, humbly trust, the faith and principles of this society as a body. While it was not specifically intended to be a creed, the publication of the Doctrine and Covenants was another step in the standardizing of Mormon faith. It is significant that the first attempt to give a listing of "ourearly Mormon periodical literature was made by Oliver Cowdery. In the first issue of the LDS Messenger and Advocate in 1834, Cowdery listed eight items, all of which had their roots in his early draft of Doctrine and Covenants 20. Writing that "our principles may be fully known" he enlarged upon those doctrines mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants 20: We believe in God, and his Son Jesus Christ. We believe that God, from the beginning revealed himself to man; and that whenever he has had a people on earth, he always had revealed himself to them by the Holy Ghost, the ministering of angels, or his own voice. We do not believe that he ever had a church on earth without revealing himself to that church: consequently, there are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, in the same. We believe that God is the same in all ages; and that it requires the same holiness, purity, and religion, to save a man now, as it did anciently; and that He is no respecter of persons, always has, and always will reveal himself to men when they call upon him. We believe that God has revealed himself to men in this age, and commenced to raise up a church preparatory to his second advent, when he will come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. We believe that the popular religious theories of the day are incorrect; that they are without parallel in the revelations of God, as sanctioned by him; and that however faithfully they may be adhered to, or however zealously and warmly they may be defended, they will never stand the strict scrutiny of the word of life. We believe that all men are born free and equal, that no man, combination of men, or government of men, have power or authority to compel or force others to embrace any system of religion, or religious creed, or to use force or violence to prevent others from enjoying their own opinions, or practicing the same, so long as they do not molest or disturb others in theirs, in a manner to deprive them of their privileges as free citizens-or of worshiping God as they choose, an attempt to the contrary is an assumption unwarrantable in the revelations of heaven, and strikes at the root of civil liberty, and is a subversion of all equitable principles between man and man. We believe that God has set his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people Israel; and that the time is near when he will bring them from the four winds, with songs of everlasting joy, and reinstate them upon their own lands which he gave their fathers by covenants. And further: We believe in embracing good wherever it may be found; or proving all things, and holding fast that which is righteous. This in short, is our belief, and we stand ready to defend it upon its own foundation, when ever it is assailed by men of character and respectability. And while we act upon these broad principles, we trust in God that we shall never be confounded. Neither shall we wait for opposition; but with a firm reliance upon the justice of such a course, and the propriety of disseminating a knowledge of the same, we shall endeavor to persuade men to turn from error and vain speculation; investigate the plan which was devised for our salvation; prepare for the year of recompense, and the day of vengeance which are near, and thusly be ready to meet the Bridegroom. Cowdery referred to these as "broad principles" and invited all to further investigate the church. In later issues, he wrote more detailed essays on Mormon doctrines as he tried to fulfill his assignment as a "messenger and advocate" of the restoration. Two years later Brigham Young's brother, Joseph, provided John Hayward in Boston with five creedal statements, all of which were suggested in Doctrine and Covenants 20 and in Cowdery's 1834 listing. Referring to his list as "its principal articles of faith" Joseph Young wrote: - -------------------------- Subject: D&C 20 notes ..."The revelation was at once a formal declaration of belief as well as a written modus operandi for administering the affairs of the divine organization. ... The writing of this revelation was begun sometime in 1829 but apparently not completed until after 6 April 1830. Section 20 was first presented to the Church membership for sustaining vote on 9 June 1830 at the first conference of the Church in Fayette, New York. The "Articles and Covenants" were read aloud to the congregation almost as a routine requirement at the early Church conferences. But as Church leaders became more conversant with the revelation, an entire reading becam less frequent. The continual reference to the revelation, evidenced throughout Church records during the lifetime of Joseph Smith, served to teach proper Church policy and procedure to leader and layman alike. Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants, (Deseret Book, 1985) p.31. ____________________________________________________ Like the fuller Articles of Faith done in Nauvoo, they can be better understood by agreements and disagreements with the prevalent Protestant creeds. Joseph and his family were involved with the Methodist and Presbyterian churches. So their statements of belief are points of departure for the Latter-day Saint Articles and Covenants. The LDS format has marked similarities, though content deeply differs. Protestant creeds generally began with God and moved to the fall, Christ's redemption, the saving ordinances, and the believer's moral duties. That also summarizes D&C20:17-26. But this simple LDS credo eliminates all language about te God "without body" and "parts" as well as the strong descriptions that the Father and Son are together "one substance." Indeed, these phrases come from the later Christian councils, not the scriptures. Joseph said that in 1820 the First Vision taught him the error of Christian creeds, and in 1830 he avoided their nonscriptural language in the first statement of Latter-day beliefs. ... ... One interesting dating problem within the revelation concerns the meaning of the Church organized "one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh" (D&C20:1). Does this give the exact year of Christ's birth? That calculation places too much weight on what may have been and elaborate phrase of dating or an incidental statement. The first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants Commentary [The Doctrine and Covenants by Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl, 1923] cautioned against using this to prove that Christ was born at the exact beginning of the Christian Era; so have Bible scholars J. Reuben Clark and Bruce R. McConkie. Part of the problem is that Christ was alive at the death of Herod the Great, an event of 4 B.C. in careful chronologies. Richard Lloyd Anderson, "The Organization Revelations, Studies in Scripture, Volume One: The Doctrine and Covenants edited by Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson (Randall Book Co., 1984) p.110-115 __________________________________________ [Endnote 15:] Joseph Smith added to these prerequisites that persons must also "truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto a remission of their sins." During the summer of 1830, Oliver Cowdery wrote to the Prophet and commanded Joseph to delete this addition. (See History of the Church, 1:104-5.) Eventually Joseph was able to convince Oliver Cowdery and the Whitmer family (who agreed with Oliver that it should be removed) that the phrase was doctrinal and should be retained. Even though Oliver Cowdery was presumptuous in commanding the Prophet to remove this phrase, we can appreciate his forceful approach when we remember that he wrote the first draft of section 20 and had a definite interest in the final version. - ------------------------------ Subject: Revelation to Oliver Cowdery before D&C 20 A Revelation given through Oliver Cowdery. [references indicate similarity in D&C] 1. A commandment from God unto Oliver, how he should build up His Church and the manner thereof -- 2. Saying: Oliver, listen to the voice of Christ your Lord and your God and your Re?deemer and write the words which I shall command you concerning my Church, my Gospel, my Rock and my Salvation - 3. Behold the world is ripen?ing in iniquity and it must needs be that the children of men are stirred up unto repent?ance, both the Gentiles and also the House of Israel. [18:6] 4. For behold I command all men everywhere to repent and I speak unto you even as unto ,,Paul mine Apostle for ye are called even with that same calling with which he was called. [18:9] 5. Now therefore whosoever repenteth and humbleth him?self before me and desireth to be baptized in my name shall ye baptize them. [20:37] 6. And after this manner did he command me that I should baptize them. 7. Behold ye shall go down and stand in the water and in my name shall ye baptize them. 8. And now behold these are the words which ye shall say calling them by name saying: Having authority given me of Jesus Christ I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. [20:73] 9. And then shall ye im?merse them in the water and come forth again out of the water and after this manner shall ye baptize in my name. [20:74] 10. For behold verily I say unto you that the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are one and I am in the Father and the Father in me and the Father and I are one. [20:28] 11. And ye are also called to ordain Priests and Teachers according to the gifts and callings of God unto men and after this manner shall ye ordain them. 12. Ye shall pray unto the Father in my name and then shall ye lay your hand upon them and say: 13. In the name of Jesus Christ I ordain you to be a priest or if he be a teacher I ordain you to be a teacher to preach repentance and remis?sion of sins through Jesus Christ by the endurance of faith on his name to the end. Amen. 14. And this shall be the duty of the Priest; He shall kneel down and the members of the Church shall kneel also, which Church shall be called: The Church of Christ and he shall pray to the Father in my name for the Church. 15. And if it so be that it be built upon my Rock I will bless it. 16. And after that ye have prayed to the Father in my name ye shall preach the truth in soberness casting out none from among you but rather invite them to come. 17. And the Church shall oft partake of bread and wine and after this manner shall ye partake of it; [20:75] 18. The E lder or Priest shall minister it and after this manner shall he do, he shall kneel with the Church and pray to the Father in the name of Christ and then shall ye say-. 0 God the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remem?brance of the body of thy Son and witness unto thee, 0 God the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son and always remember him and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his spirit to be with them Amen. [20:76,77] 19. And then shall ye take the cup and say: 0 God the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this wine to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do Lit] in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them, that they may witness unto thee 0 God the Eternal Father that they do always remember him, that they may have his spirit to be with them. Amen. 20. And now behold I give unto you a commandment, that ye shall not suffer any one knowingly to partake of my flesh and blood unworthi?ly when ye shall minister it; for whoso eateth and drinketh my flesh and blood unworthi?ly eateth and drinketh damna?tion to his soul. 21. Therefore if ye know that a man is unworthy to eat and drink of my flesh and blood ye shall forbid him. Nevertheless ye shall not cast him out from among you but ye shall minister unto him and shall pray for him unto the Father in my name. 22. And if it so be that he repenteth and is baptized in my name then shall ye receive him and shall minister unto him of my flesh and blood. 23. But if he repenteth not he shall not be numbered among my people, that he may not destroy my people. 24. For behold I know my sheep and they are numbered. Nevertheless ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues or your places of worship for unto such shall ye continue to minister for ye know not but what they will return and repent and come unto me with full purpose of heart and I shall heal them and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them. 25. Therefore keep these things which I have com?manded you, that ye come not under condemnation for woe unto him whom the Father condemneth - 26. And the Church shall meet together oft for prayer and supplication, casting out none from your places of worship but rather invite them to come and each member shall speak and tell the Church of their progress in the way to eternal life. 27. And there shall be no pride nor envying nor strifes nor malice nor idolatry nor witchcrafts nor whoredoms nor fornications nor covetous?ness nor lying nor deceits nor no manner of iniquity. 28. And if anyone is guilty of any or the least of these and doth not repent and show fruits meet for repentance they shall not be numbered among my people that they may not destroy my people. (Joseph Smith Collection, Church Historians Office) ------------------------------ From: owner-gdm@xmission.com Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 17:30:32 -0700 (MST) Subject: [none] - -------------------------------- Doctrine and Covenants 20-22 Sender: owner-gdm@xmission.com Reply-To: gdm Lesson 8 Scriptural Highlights 1. Organization of the Church of Jesus Christ 2. Duties of priesthood officers and members of the Church 3. Importance of the living prophet Seek the Holy Ghost's guidance as you discuss the blessings of being members of the Church of Jesus Christ. Discussion and Application Questions * Ten years passed between the First Vision and the restoration of the Lord's Church. During this time, how had the events in Joseph Smith's life been a preparation for the organization of the Church? (See D&C 20:1-12 and the quotation from President Hinckley.) How did the coming forth of the Book of Mormon help prepare the way for the restoration of the Church? (D&C 20:6-12.) * Doctrine and Covenants 20:17-36 provides a summary of basic doctrines of the gospel. How do these doctrines bless your life? * In what ways are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost "one God"? (D&C 20:28). How can we become one with God? (John 17:11, 20-23; D&C 35:2.) * In D&C 20:38-67 the Lord outlines some of the offices and duties of the priesthood. How can Church members support priesthood holders who are performing their priesthood duties? * What counsel for conducting meetings is provided in D&C 20:45? (See also D&C 46:2; Moroni 6:9.) How can we apply this in our family councils and family home evenings? * Church leaders have taught that D&C 20:47 and 53 define responsibilities of home teachers. How can home teachers strengthen Church members? How have home teachers been a blessing to you? * Why does the Lord require us to be baptized when we join his Church? (D&C 20:72-74; 22.) What qualifications for baptism are listed in D&C 20:37? (See also Mosiah 18:8-10.) How can we improve our commitment to keep the promises we made to the Lord when we were baptized? * Why do we partake of the sacrament? (D&C 20:75-79; 3 Nephi 18:7, 10-11.) How has partaking of the sacrament strengthened you? How can we make the sacrament more meaningful to us? * Why is it important that we heed the words of the prophet? (See D&C 21 :4-6 and the quotation from 15 President Benson.) What counsel or teachings of latter-day prophets are especially important to you? How have you been blessed as you have followed the prophet? * What is the mission of the Lord's Church? (Moroni 10:32; Moses 1 :39; Ephesians 4:11-14.) How has the restoration of the Lord's Church blessed you? Quotations President Gordon B. Hinckley: "This day of organization was, in effect, a day of commencement, the graduation for Joseph from ten years of remarkable schooling. It had begun with the incomparable vision in the grove in the spring of 1820, when the Father and the Son appeared to the fourteen-year-old boy. It had continued with the tutoring from Moroni, with both warnings and instructions given on multiple occasions. Then there were the translation of the ancient record, and the inspiration, the knowledge, the revelation that came from that experience. There was the bestowal of divine authority, the ancient priesthood again conferred upon men by those who were its rightful possessors-John the Baptist in the case of the Aaronic Priesthood, and Peter, James, and John in the case of the Melchizedek. There were revelations, a number of them, in which the voice of God was heard again, and the channel of communication opened between man and the Creator. All of these were preliminary to that historic April 6" (Ensign, Apr. 1980, pp. 11-12). President Ezra Taft Benson: "The most important prophet, so far as we are concerned, is the one who is living in our day and age. This is the prophet who has . . . instructions from God to us today. God's revelation to Adam did not instruct Noah how to build the ark. Every generation has need of the ancient scripture plus the current scripture from the living prophet. Therefore, the most crucial reading and pondering which you should do is of the latest inspired words from the Lord's mouthpiece" (in Conference Report, Korea Area Conference 1975, p. 52). Additional Ideas 1. Show the class the latest copy of the Ensign. Emphasize that the First Presidency message is the word of the Lord to us. 2. Suggested topic for family home evening: "Jesus Made Repentance Possible," lesson 10 in the Family Home Evening Resource Book. Next Week's Reading Assignment Doctrine and Covenants 23-27 Page 15 Class Member Study Guide Lesson 8 After the Book of Mormon plates were translated, Joseph Smith continued to receive instructions from the Lord about his duties and the operation of the latter-day kingdom. In April 1830 he received a revelation on Church doctrine, organization, and government. This revelation, which became D&C 20, also described the ordinances of baptism and the sacrament and appointed the day on which the Church would be organized. The instructions contained in this revelation are still followed today, even though Church membership now numbers in the millions. As you study D&C 20, consider how the doctrines and ordinances described in the section bless your life. On 6 April 1830, Joseph Smith and others met at the Peter Whitmer home in Fayette, New York. During this momentous meeting, six brethren officially organized the Church. The Lord also spoke through Joseph to the Church, giving the revelation that is now D&C 21. The Prophet said of this occasion, "After a happy time spent in witnessing and feeling for ourselves the powers and blessings of the Holy Ghost, through the grace of God bestowed upon us, we dismissed with the pleasing knowledge that we were now individually members of, and acknowledged of God, 'The Church of Jesus Christ'" (History of the Church, 1:79). * As you study D&C 21, consider why it is important to heed the words of the prophet. How have you been blessed as you have followed the prophet? * How has the restoration of the Lord's Church blessed your life? Several who attended the meeting, including Martin Harris and the Prophet's parents, became convinced that the true Church had been restored and were baptized that same evening in nearby Seneca Lake. Later, others who had previously been baptized into other churches said they wanted to become members of the restored Church but did not want to be baptized again. In response to their concerns, the Lord revealed D&C 22. The Church's first conference convened at the Peter Whitmer home two months later on 9 June. Those assembled officially accepted what are now sections 20 and 22 as the "Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ" (Far West Record, pp. 1-2). This document was frequently read aloud in Church meetings as a guide to Church policies and procedures. As you study D&C 22, consider the following: * Why does the Lord require us to be baptized when we join his Church? How can you improve your commitment to keep the promises you made to the Lord when you were baptized? The interior of the restored log home of Peter Whitmer, located in Fayette, New York. The Church was organized in the original home on 6 April 1830. Joseph Smith also finished translating the Book of Mormon and received at least twenty revelations in this locale. Page 16 - -------------------------------- Last weeks post one section 20 related to lesson 8, sorry I am not coordinating very well. But I realize that not every ward does the same lesson # each week, we had a Blizzard a month ago and are behind other wards. This week in include a synopsis passed to me that relates to the Yearly Moroni Visits. - -------------------------------- From D. Michael Quinn's _Early Mormonism and the Magic World View,_ Salt Lake, 1987, pp. 133 - 143. Some text has been skipped indicated by ellipses. Ellipses in quote marks are as Quinn has presented them. Some footnotes are included in "{}". Bibliographic references can be found in Quinn's book. - --begin text-- All official and unofficial, traditional and nontraditional, friendly and unfriendly sources agree that Smith was not able to obtain the gold plates on 22 September 1823. Instead he returned to the hill on exactly the same day each year until 1827. None of these accounts explains why the visits had to occur each year on exactly the same day. ... The specific day continued to coincide with the autumn equinox. Thus Smith visited the Hill Cumorah annually from 1823 to 1827 to fulfill his original quest to "commune with some kind of messenger". Although absent from Smith's presently available first-person narratives, both early Mormon and non-Mormon sources agree that on 22 September 1823 Moroni required Smith to bring his oldest brother Alvin to the hill the following year in order to obtain the gold plates. About ten years later, one of Smith's devout followers, Joseph Knight, recorded Smith's relating that the following dialogue occurred on the hill in 1823: "Joseph says, if you Bring the right person with you. Joseph says, 'who is the right Person?' The answer was 'your oldest Brother.' But before September [1824] Came his oldest Brother Died. Then he was Disappointed and did not [k]now what to do. (Jessee 1976a, 31; also Hartley 1986, 20). The Smith's non- Mormon Palmyra neighbor Willard Chase reported in 1833: "He then enquired when he *could* have them, and was answered thus: come one year from this day, and bring with you your oldest brother, and you shall have them. This spirit, he said was the spirit of the prophet who wrote this book, and who was sent to Joseph Smith, to make known these things to him. Before the expiration of the year, [Smith's] oldest brother died" (W. Chase 1833, 241-42, emphasis in original). Nearly forty years later, Fayette Lapham remembered that Smith's father told him in 1830 that "Joseph asked when he could have them; and the answer was, 'Come in one year from this time, and bring your oldest brother with you; then you may have them.' During that year, it so happened that his oldest brother died" (F. Lapham 1870, 2:386). In 1884, a third Palmyra neighbor, Lorenzo Saunders, Benjamin Saunders's brother, was asked, "Did you ever hear Joe give an account of finding the plates?" He replied: "Yes. He gave the account in my father's house. He said he was in the woods at prayer and the angel touched him on the shoulders and he arose, and the angel told him where the plates were and he could take his oldest Brother with him in a year from that time and go and get them. But his oldest Brother died before the year was out" (L. Saunders 1884a, 9-10; also Saunders 1884c, 16). At present, no available evidence explains why Moroni in September 1823 required Alvin's presence the following year. ... Joseph was the son who had the theophany, but according to the family's Palmyra neighbors, prior to 1823 Lucy and Joseph Sr. both had said they looked to their first son Alvin, not their third, as the family seer. Orsamus Turner first met the Smiths in Palmyra about 1819-20 and later commented: "Their son, Alva [sic], was originally intended, or designated, by fireside consultations, and solemn and mysterious out door hints, as the forth coming Prophet. The mother and father said he was the chosen one; but Alvah ... sickened and died" (O. Turner 1851, 213). J. H. Kennedy said that in Vermont, Lucy Mack Smith "announced the advent of a prophet in her family, and on the death of Alvah [sic], the first born, the commission that had been intended for him was laid upon Joseph." (Kennedy 1888, 12) {Both Turner and Kennedy mistakenly referred to Joseph Smith's brother Alvin by the name of Joseph's first child Alva(h), named after Emma Hale's brother.} Although Joseph Jr. was a treasure seer in New York and in Pennsylvania by 1822 (Blackman 1873, 580- 81; W. Chase 1833, 240-41), the Palmyra neighbors also identified Alvin as a treasure-seeker and seer prior to his death in November 1823 (L. Saunders 1884c, 9; cf. W Chase 1833, 240-41; Quinn 1987, chap 2). Moreover, his mother observed that "Alvin manifested, if such could be the case, greater zeal and anxiety in regard to the Record [of the Book of Mormon] that had been shown to Joseph, than any of the rest of the family" (L. M. Smith 1853, 89-90). But with Alvin's unexpected death on 19 November 1823, it seems that Joseph Jr. again shouldered the primary responsibility in his family's search for treasure. Given the messenger's requirement for the second visit to the Hill Cumorah, the intensity of the Smith family's despair over Alvin's death less than two months later is understandable. Alvin's last words to his brother Joseph were to "do everything that lies in your power to obtain the Record. Be faithful in receiving instruction, and keeping every commandment that is given to you. Your brother Alvin must leave you" (L. M. Smith 1853, 88). Alvin's final charge underscored the dilemma Joseph now faced: he had been commanded to meet the angelic treasure-guardian at the hill the following 22 September 1824 and to bring Alvin with him. By some accounts, Smith had been violently jolted three times and severely chastised for disobeying instructions during his first visit, and Mormon convert Joseph Knight wrote that now Smith "did not [k]now what to do" (Jessee 1976a, 31). One can only imagine the turmoil Smith would have experienced during the ten months between the death of his eldest brother on 19 November 1823 and his next solitary visit to the hill. Smith's own available histories give no details of the visits to the hill between 1824 and 1826, but it seems likely that he hoped to obtain the plates on 22 September 1824 even though he did not bring Alvin. The day was a stinging disappointment. According to Smith's 1832 autobiography, the messenger told him "to come again in one year from that time [1823]. I did so [in 1824], but did not obtain them" (Jessee 1984b, 77; Faulring 1987, 51). His friend Joseph Knight wrote, "But when the 22nt Day of September Came he went to the place and the personage appeard [sic] and told him he Could not have it now" (Jessee 1976a, 31). Lorenzo Saunders remembered that Smith told him, "At the end of the time he went to the place to get the plates the angel asked where his Brother was. I told him he was dead." Fayette Lapham recalled the story as "Joseph repaired to the place again, and was told by the man who still guarded the treasure, that, inasmuch as he could not bring his oldest brother, he could not have the treasure yet" (L. Saunders 1884a, 10; Lapham 1870, 2:386). As Smith left the hill in disappointment on 22 September 1824, apparently the message he had received was: without your dead brother Alvin, you cannot have the gold plates. Within days of this second unsuccessful visit to the hill, local events indicated that someone evidently contemplated remedying the impasse by exhuming Alvin's body. Joseph Smith, Sr., published a notice, dated 25 September 1824, in the Palmyra newspaper, denying "reports [that] have been industriously put in circulation, that my son, Alvin, had been removed from the place of his internment and dissected." He chastised town gossips for disturbing the peace of mind of a still-grieving parent, and then made two comments that allude to his son Joseph as target of such gossip: "[these rumors] deeply wound the feelings of relations ... [and] have been stimulated more by desire to injure the reputation of certain persons than a philanthropy for the peace and welfare of myself and friends" (Wayne Sentinel, 29 Sept.-3 Nov. 1824; Kirkham 1951, 1:147; Rich 1970, 256). Biographers of Joseph Smith to the present have consistently ignored Mormon and non-Mormon sources concerning Moroni's requirement to bring the now- deceased Alvin to the hill, and therefore have regarded this as a bizarre incident explainable only by neighborhood malice (Brodie 1945, 28; D. Hill 1977, 60; Gibbons 1977, 42; Bushman 1984, 65). However, the treasure-guardian's unfulfilled requirements to bring the now-deceased Alvin provided a context for such rumors and denials. ... Even though they were influenced by the magic world view, none of the Smiths may have actually considered this drastic option, but someone in the family obviously described the angel's requirement and Joseph's predicament to neighborhood friends, since Willard Chase, Lorenzo Saunders, and Fayette Lapham all knew about the situation. Someone evidently talked openly about the possibility of using part of Alvin's remains to fulfill the requirement of the treasure guardian by necromancy, and village rumors required the denial, which Joseph Smith, Sr., published in six consecutive issues of the local weekly. Without providing details, E. D. Howe's Mormonism Unvailed claimed that young Joseph became "very expert in the arts of necromancy" (E. D. Howe 1834, 12). And a year later, Oliver Cowdery's published history of the new church also referred, without details, to rumors that Smith dug treasure "by some art of nicromancy" (O. Cowdery 1835, 2:201; Kirkham 1951, 1:103). All existing second-hand accounts agree that the treasure-guardian next required Smith to bring another person with him in September 1825. Mormon convert Joseph Knight wrote that in 1824 the "personage appeard [sic] and told him he Could not have it now. But the 22nt Day of September nex[t] he mite have the Book if he Brot with him the right person. Joseph says, 'who is the right Person?' The answer was you will know" (Jessee 1976a, 31). {Knight added that the person required was Smith's future wife Emma Hale. This would seem to be wrong, though, because by her father's and Smith's own accounts, he and Emma did not meet until he was working for Josiah Stowell in Harmony, Pennsylvania, in October-November 1825 (I. Hale 1834; HC 1:17). It is likely that Knight omitted the 1825 visit involving Samuel F. Lawrence because of its unsuccessful outcome.} One visit to the hill between 1823 and 1827 seems to be missing in several accounts, and the omission was somehow connected to Samuel F. Lawrence, a neighborhood seer. Knight indicated that Lawrence had something to do with a visit to the Hill Cumorah. "I will say there [was] a man near By [sic] By the name Samuel Lawrance [sic]. He was a Seear [sic] and he had Bin to the hill and knew about things in the hill" (Jessee 1976a, 32). Lorenzo Saunders remembered Smith telling him, "The angel told him there would be another appointed. Joseph chose Samuel Lawrence. But he did not go" (L. Saunders 1884a, 10). Neighbor Willard Chase provided the fullest account in 1833: "Joseph believed that one Samuel T. [sic] Lawrence was the man alluded to by the spirit, and went with him to a singular looking hill, in Manchester, and shewed him where the treasure was. Lawrence asked him if he had ever discovered any thing with the plates of gold; he said no: he then asked him to look in his stone, to see if there was any thing with them. He looked, and said there was nothing; he told him to look again, and see if there was not a large pair of specks with the plates; he looked and soon saw a pair of spectacles, the same with which Joseph says he translated the Book of Mormon." That this visit to the hill with Lawrence occurred in 1825 is indicated by Chase's next comment: "Lawrence told him it would not be prudent to let these plates be seen for about two years, as it would make a big disturbance in the neighborhood [which did occur in September 1827]. Not long after this, Joseph altered his mind, and said L. was not the right man, nor had he told him the right place" (W. Chase 1833, 242). >From existing accounts, there may be an explanation for what seems to be the intentional omission of one visit to the hill as Joseph Knight and Joseph Smith referred to the events from 1823 to 1827 (Jessee 1976a; Jessee 1984b, 77; Faulring 1987, 51-52). Although indicating that the visit with Lawrence occurred in 1825, Willard Chase did not indicate that the visit occurred on 22 September. Joseph Smith may have taken Lawrence to the hill to look for the plates prior to the required date in 1825, and Chase's account does indicate that Joseph Smith was not happy about the results of their activities on that occasion. This may be why Lorenzo Saunders reported of the visit on 22 September 1825 that Lawrence "did not go," even though Joseph Smith had previously chosen him. Both Chase and Saunders report that the effort to obtain the plates with Lawrence was a failure. That failure may be directly indicated by the fact that none of these accounts of Smith's visit to the hill with Lawrence mention the angel. If the messenger did not appear on the hill in September 1825, the nonappearance of Moroni may be the reason for the omission of the one visit. The hope and disappointment Smith may have experienced with Lawrence in the quest for Cumorah's treasure in September 1825 was repeated later that year in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Joseph Smith's treasure seeking expedition with Josiah Stowell ended first in failure to obtain the treasure, and then in a nearby court the following March (Quinn 1987, chap. 2). But the redeeming incident of his second disappointment in 1825 ultimately resolved Smith's continuing dilemma about whom he should take to the hill. While engaged in this treasure-seeking venture in the fall of 1825, Smith met Isaac Hale and his twenty-one-year-old daughter Emma at Harmony, and she immediately attracted this young man's interest (I. Hale 1834, 262-63; L. M. Smith 1853, 92; HC 1:17; Newell and Avery 1984, 17-18). Smith, however, was only nineteen years old, and men in his family generally married much later. His eldest brother died unmarried at 25, the next oldest married at 25, their father had married at 24, and three of his uncles had married at 28,34 and 38. Uncle Jesse had been the youngest man in two generations of the Smith family to marry, and he waited until 21 (M. Anderson 1929, 65-66, 74). Joseph Jr. appears to have broken with that expectation in order to fulfill the requirements of Moroni to obtain the gold plates. >From every available account, Smith had little reason to hope for success as he ascended the hill to commune with the messenger on 22 September 1826. His own disobedience as an over-eager treasure-seeker had thwarted the visit of 1823, Alvin's death had left the requirement unfulfilled in 1824 and had caused a village uproar over rumors of necromantic grave-robbing, Samuel Lawrence had apparently failed him as a fellow seer in 1825, and now Smith went to the appointed spot with no idea what he should do next. Joseph Knight described the condition of renewed hope and anxiety when Smith met "with the personage which told him if he would Do right according to the will of God he might obtain [the plates] the 22nt Day of September Next and if not he never would have them." Smith learned from his seer stone what the requirement was: "Then he looked in his glass and found it was Emma Hale, Daughter of old Mr. Hail of Pensylvany, a girl that he had seen Before, for he had Bin Down there Before with me" (Jessee 1976a, 31- 32; Hartely 1986, 21). But, as Palmyra neighbors learned, the requirement was not simply to bring an acquaintance to the hill. Henry Harris testified in 1833 that Smith told him that "an angel appeared, and told him he could not get the plates until he was married, and that when he saw the woman that was to be his wife, he should know her, and she would know him." Smith also related this requirement to Lorenzo Saunders (H. Harris 1833, 252; L. Saunders 1884c, 16). Other residents remembered that "it was freely talked among the neighbors that Jo Smith said he had a revelation to go to Pennsylvania and get him a wife" (S. Walker 1888, 1; W. R. Hine 1888, 2). His visit to the hill in September 1826 seems to have been the reason the twenty-year-old Smith was determined to set aside his family's tradition of delayed marriage and even to ignore the opposition of his intended father- in-law: he had to marry Emma Hale within a year or the gold plates of Cumorah would be lost forever. The number of visits he subsequently made to the Hale home in Pennsylvania is unclear, but there were several. When Smith asked permission of Isaac Hale to marry his daughter, Hale, in his affidavit, said he refused because of the young man's treasure-seeking background (I. Hale 1834, 243). ... His money-digging friends were hardly the allies Smith needed to overcome Hale's opposition, but they, more than anyone else, would have understood the necessity of complying with the requirement of the treasure guardian. First, Joseph Smith turned to Samuel F. Lawrence for assistance. Willard Chase testified that sometime during "the fall of 1826, [Joseph] wanted to go to Pennsylvania to be married; but being destitute of means, he now set his wits to work, how he should raise money, and get recommendations, to procure the fair one of his choice. He went to [Samuel F.] Lawrence with the following story, as stated to me by Lawrence himself. That he had discovered in Pennsylvania, on the bank of the Susquehannah River, a very rich mine of silver, and if he would go there with him, he might have a share in the profits ... When the got to Pennsylvania, Joseph wanted L. to recommend him to Miss H[ale]., which he did ... L. then wished to see the silver mine, and he and Joseph went to the river, and made search, but found nothing" (W. Chase 1833, 243-244). This incident only reinforced Smith's reputation for treasure seeking, got him no closer to the kind of secular respectability Hale demanded, and probably led to the final estrangement between him and his previous treasure-seeking associate Samuel F. Lawrence. >From among the treasure diggers, Smith turned next to the prosperous Joseph Knight to borrow horses and a sleigh for an impressive, but still unsuccessful, attempt for Hale's permission as the winter's snow fell (Jessee 1976a, 32; Newell and Avery 1984, 18-19). When Smith turned twenty-one in late December, he was still nine months away from the night when he was to bring Emma to the hill as his wife. He no doubt felt that the gold plates would be lost if he had to depend on obtaining permission from Emma's father to marry. Less that a month later, Smith enlisted the help of a third treasure-seeker to obtain Emma Hale as a wife according to the requirement of Moroni. Emma did not mention her father's claim that this happened while he was away from home on business, but later told her children, "I was visiting at Mr. [Josiah] Stowell's, who lived at Bainbridge, and saw your father there. I had no intention of marrying when I left home; but, during my visit at Mr. Stowell's, your father visited me there. My folks were bitterly opposed to him; and, being importuned by your father, aided by Mr. Stowell, who urged me to marry him, and preferring to marry him to any other man I knew, I consented." The couple eloped on 18 January 1827 (E. Smith 1879, 289; I. Hale 1834, 363; HC 1:17; D. Hill 1977, 69; Youngreen 1982, 5-6). In commenting about this, Mormons typically speak of romance and Smith's love for Emma as the reason for their elopement (e.g. Cadwell 1879). It is more probable, however, that Smith risked alienating his parents-in-law from his new bride by eloping - not for love alone - but to fulfill the requirement of Moroni. According to Palmyra neighbors, as the appointed day in September 1827 approached, Smith made additional preparations to assure the success of his last opportunity to obtain the gold plates. Willard Chase stated that Smith was required to "repair to the place where was deposited this manuscript, dressed in black clothes, and riding a block horse with a switch tail, and demand the book in a certain name ... They according fitted out Joseph with a suit of black clothes and borrowed a black horse." Chase thought that this applied to the 1823 visit, but all of Smith's own accounts of the events of 1823 preclude the time necessary for such preparations. And Lorenzo Saunders said that the requirement for blackness applied to the 1827 visit (W. Chase 1833, 242; L. Saunders 1884b, 11). Without mentioning the color, both Joseph Knight and Lucy Mac Smith noted that Smith borrowed Knight's horse and carriage for the September 1827 visit to the hill (Jessee 1976a, 33; L. M. Smith 1853, 100-101). Contemporary evidence may support the neighbors' claim that Smith used the color black to help obtain the gold plates in 1827. Dr. Gain Robinson, "an old friend" of the Smith family (L. M. Smith 1853, 95; L. Porter 1971, 74), owned a store in Palmyra, and his account books of the purchases by the Smiths from 1825 to 1829 show that the first time any of the Smiths purchased lampblack from his store was on 18 September 1827 - four days before Smith's final visit to the hill - the entry for this particular purchase beginning "Joseph Smith for Son" (G. Robinson 1825; G. Robinson 1826; G. Robinson 1827). Lampblack was a common pigment used to paint objects a deep black color (Webster's 1981). ... After the anticipation and frustration of the four previous visits, Smith prepared "about twelve o'clock" midnight on Friday, 21 September 1827, to go with Emma to the hill for the plates. Josiah Stowell and Joseph Knight, his only treasure-seeking associates not now arrayed against him, had arrived on 20 September and were asleep in the Smith home (L. M. Smith 1853, 99-100; Hartley 1986, 23). ... Smith's sister later stated that in order to obtain the gold plates "he was commanded to go on the 22d day of September 1827 at 2 o'clock" (Salisbury 1886) ... Emma's cousins reported that she "stood with her back toward him, while he dug up the box" (Lewis and Lewis 1879). Husband and wife did not return from the hill until the family met for breakfast on 22 September 1827. Joseph Knight best captured the excitement Smith expressed that morning: "'it is ten times Better than [sic] I expected.' Then he went on to tell the length and width and thickness of the plates, and said he, 'they appear to be Gold' " (Jessee 1976a, 33; also L. M. Smith 1853, 100-101). According to Joseph Smith, his mother, and early converts, he spent the next several months defending himself and the plates from the efforts of his former treasure-digging associates to seize what the regarded as a gold treasure rightly theirs. ------------------------------ End of gdm Digest V1 #8 *********************** To subscribe to gdm Digest, send the command: subscribe gdm-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@xmission.com". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-gdm": subscribe gdm-digest local-gdm@your.domain.net A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to subscribe to that instead, replace all instances of "gdm-digest" in the commands above with "gdm". Back issues are available for anonymous FTP from ftp.xmission.com, in pub/lists/gdm/archive. These are organized by date.