In 2025, Latter-day Saints are studying Church history in Come Follow Me curriculum.
This post is one of a series of suggestions for improvement in the Joseph Smith Papers (JSP).
JSP provides an Editorial Note (an introduction) to Oliver Cowdery's eight essays on Church history, published as letters in the Messenger and Advocate. The current Note is mostly correct, but both incomplete and somewhat misleading. For example, the Note refers to the "vision he and JS had of John the Baptist," but Oliver describes it as a personal, physical visit ("the angel of God came down clothed with glory") which they saw and heard, and received the Priesthood "under his hand."
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/48
Readers may wonder why the Note minimizes the significance of Cowdery's history. Perhaps this is because some Church historians minimize the significance of President Cowdery's formal, published history. I've heard some complain that Oliver didn't mention the First Vision, for example. But obviously that was a choice of Joseph Smith, not Oliver Cowdery. After all, Joseph helped Oliver with the letters. At some points Oliver explains that he used Joseph's own words, that Joseph wasn't able to provide more details, etc. For whatever reason, Joseph didn't want to include the First Vision, but that omission does not diminish the significance of this history and the details Oliver provided, some of which are found nowhere else, probably because they didn't need to be reiterated given the ubiquitous availability of Oliver's history during Joseph's lifetime.
Those interested in Church history realize that it is impossible to understand the early members of the Church, both in the United States and in England, without being familiar with the Cowdery history, which was republished in the major Church publications so everyone could have them.
For these and other reasons, I suggest that JSP improve the Editorial Note as indicated below.
Original in left column, my comments in red in the right column
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/48
|
|
Editorial
Note The following
section includes transcripts of eight letters Oliver Cowdery wrote
in 1834 and 1835 regarding |
Editorial
Note The following
section includes transcripts of eight letters Oliver Cowdery wrote
in 1834 and 1835 regarding the “rise of this
church, in this last time,” including the translation of the Book of Mormon,
the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood, the visit of Moroni and the discovery
of the gold plates of the Book of Mormon in the hill Cumorah. He assured
readers “that it shall be founded upon facts.” |
|
On 29 October 1835 JS described the letters as part of “a
history of my life” https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-1835-1836/12
|
|
JS approved the later republication of the letters in Benjamin
Winchester’s Gospel Reflector (1841) and the Times and Seasons
(1842). The letters were republished in the Millennial Star (1841) and
The Prophet (1844), as well as the Improvement Era (1899). They
were also compiled in a booklet in England that sold thousands of copies (1842).
|
Cowdery
addressed the letters to William W. Phelps and published them as a
series in the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate between
October 1834 and October 1835. The titles and formatting employed in this
history are similar to those in the published series of articles, indicating
that the Cowdery letters were copied into the history from the Messenger
and Advocate, not from a manuscript version of the
letters. Frederick G. Williams could have begun the transcription
in JS’s history as early as 6 December 1834, the date of Cowdery’s last
historical entry in the preceding section of the history. However, Cowdery
probably gave the history to Williams around 2 October 1835, when he gave
Williams JS’s journal. On 29 October 1835, JS retrieved the history from
Williams and delivered it to Warren Parrish, who continued copying the
Cowdery letters. It is likely that Parrish finished copying the letters by
early April 1836, when he gave JS’s journal (and presumably the 1834–1836
history along with it) to Warren Cowdery.25 |
Cowdery
addressed the letters to William W. Phelps and published them as a
series in the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate between
October 1834 and October 1835. The titles and formatting employed in this
history are similar to those in the published series of articles, indicating
that the Cowdery letters were copied into the history from the Messenger
and Advocate, not from a manuscript version of the
letters. Frederick G. Williams could have begun the transcription
in JS’s history as early as 6 December 1834, the date of Cowdery’s last historical entry in the preceding
section of the history. However, Cowdery probably gave the history to
Williams around 2 October 1835, when he gave Williams JS’s journal. On 29
October 1835, JS retrieved the history from Williams and delivered it to Warren
Parrish, who continued copying the Cowdery letters. It is likely that Parrish
finished copying the letters by early April 1836, when he gave JS’s journal
(and presumably the 1834–1836 history along with it) to Warren Cowdery.25 |
In the first
letter, Oliver Cowdery recounted his experiences with JS beginning
when the two first met in April 1829. The letter includes an account of the |
In the first
letter, Oliver Cowdery recounted his experiences with JS beginning
when the two first met in April 1829. It includes
Cowdery’s account of the translation of the Book of Mormon with the Urim and
Thummim that is a note to JS-History 1:71. The letter includes an
account of the visit of John the Baptist,
who gave them the authority to baptize. |
After
composing this letter, but before its publication, Cowdery developed a new
history-writing plan: he decided that in subsequent letters he would relate
the “full history of the rise of the church,” beginning with JS’s early life
and visions. As editor of the Messenger and Advocate, Cowdery
prefaced the published version of the first letter with an explanation (also
transcribed into the history) of the new plan. Although he had no firsthand
knowledge of church history prior to April 1829, Cowdery assured his readers
that “our brother J. Smith Jr. has offered to assist us. Indeed, there are
many items connected with the fore part of this subject that render his labor
indispensible.” Some passages in the ensuing narrative seem to have been
related to Cowdery by JS, since Cowdery recounts events in which only JS
participated. |
After
composing this letter, but before its publication, Cowdery developed a new
history-writing plan: he decided that in subsequent letters he would relate
the “full history of the rise of the church,” beginning with JS’s early life
and visions. As editor of the Messenger and Advocate, Cowdery
prefaced the published version of the first letter with an explanation (also
transcribed into the history) of the new plan. Although he had no firsthand
knowledge of church history prior to April 1829, Cowdery assured his readers
that “our brother J. Smith Jr. has offered to assist us. Indeed, there are
many items connected with the fore part of this subject that render his labor
indispensible.” Some passages in the ensuing narrative seem to have been
related to Cowdery by JS, since Cowdery recounts events in which only JS
participated. For example, when describing Moroni’s visit, Cowdery
writes that Joseph prayed and “hours passed unnumbered—how many or how few I
know not, neither is he able to inform me; but supposes it must have been
eleven or twelve, and perhaps later…” When Joseph went to the hill Cumorah, Cowdery writes “And
to use his own words it seemed as though two invisible powers were
influencing or striving to influence his mind…” |
Cowdery composed
the letters to inform the Latter-day Saints of the history of their church,
but he also wrote for the non-Mormon public. Employing florid romantic
language, frequent scriptural allusions, and much dramatic detail, he clearly
intended to present a rhetorically impressive account of early Mormon
history. He placed the rise of the church in a dispensational framework,
characterizing the time between the end of the New Testament and JS’s early
visions as a period of universal apostasy. He included the revivalism of
various denominations during the Second Great Awakening, which JS experienced
in his youth, as an example of the doctrinal confusion and social disharmony
present in Christendom. Throughout the series of letters, he defended JS’s character
and that of the Smith family, and his explicitly apologetic statements
include apparent allusions to both Alexander Campbell’s Delusions
(1832) and Eber Howe’s Mormonism Unvailed (1834). |
Cowdery composed
the letters to inform the Latter-day Saints of the history of their church,
but he also wrote for the non-Mormon public. Employing florid romantic
language, frequent scriptural allusions, and much dramatic detail, he clearly
intended to present a rhetorically impressive account of early Mormon
history. He placed the rise of the church in a dispensational framework,
characterizing the time between the end of the New Testament and JS’s early
visions as a period of universal apostasy. He included the revivalism of
various denominations during the Second Great Awakening, which JS experienced
in his youth, as an example of the doctrinal confusion and social disharmony
present in Christendom. Throughout the series of letters, he defended JS’s character
and that of the Smith family, and his explicitly apologetic statements
include apparent allusions to both Alexander Campbell’s Delusions
(1832) and Eber Howe’s Mormonism Unvailed (1834). Apparently to rebut Howe’s claim that the Book of
Mormon was a retelling of Solomon Spalding’s fictional Lost Manuscript,
Cowdery described the hill in New York where Joseph found the plates and
another ridge a mile west, declaring “the fact, that here, between these
hills, the entire power and national strength of both the Jaredites and
Nephites were destroyed.” Cowdery also described in detail the “manner in
which the plates were deposited.” |
Beginning in
the third letter, Cowdery provided the most extensive account of
the origins of the Book of Mormon published up to that time. He related JS’s
initial visions of the angel Moroni and, using biblical prophecies,
elaborated on the angel’s message concerning the gathering of Israel in the
last days in preparation for the Millennium. Cowdery continued his narrative
up to, but did not include, JS’s receiving the gold plates in September 1827. |
Beginning in
the third letter, Cowdery provided the most extensive account of
the origins of the Book of Mormon published up to that time. He related JS’s
initial visions of the angel Moroni and, using biblical prophecies,
elaborated on the angel’s message concerning the gathering of Israel in the
last days in preparation for the Millennium. He
related Moroni’s instruction that “the record was written and deposited not
far from” JS’s home and that it was JS’s “privilege, if obedient to the
commandments of the Lord, to obtain and translate the same by the means of
the Urim and Thummim, which were deposited for that purpose with the record.”
Cowdery
continued his narrative up to, but did not include, JS’s receiving the gold
plates in September 1827. |
The
transcription of the Oliver Cowdery letters into JS’s history was
evidently conceived in terms of the entire series, not as a piecemeal copying
of the individual letters. As noted above, Cowdery probably gave the “large
journal” containing the history begun in 1834 to Williams in
October 1835, the month of the Messenger and Advocate issue
in which his final installment was published.26 By
the time Williams received the history, Cowdery may have already written the
final letter; he had at least conceived of it as the final installment in his
series. With the serialized Cowdery letters complete or nearing completion,
the new history kept in the “large journal” could serve as a repository—more
permanent than unbound newspapers—for a copied compilation of the entire
series. |
The
transcription of the Oliver Cowdery letters into JS’s history was
evidently conceived in terms of the entire series, not as a piecemeal copying
of the individual letters. As noted above, Cowdery probably gave the “large
journal” containing the history begun in 1834 to Williams in
October 1835, the month of the Messenger and Advocate issue
in which his final installment was published.26 By the time Williams
received the history, Cowdery may have already written the final letter; he
had at least conceived of it as the final installment in his series. With the
serialized Cowdery letters complete or nearing completion, the new history
kept in the “large journal” could serve as a repository—more permanent than
unbound newspapers—for a copied compilation of the entire series. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment