Disseminating “The Vision” in England

During this summer's Mormon Scholars Foundation Seminar at BYU the participants researched early primary sources on Mormon theology and crafted short reports for group discussion. The following is one of my reports in rough form. It isn't earth-shattering, I simply outline when "The Vision" was spread in England.

On February 16, 1832 Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon received a revelation regarding three degrees of afterlife glory while translating John 5:29. It was published as “A Vision” in the Evening and Morning Star in July 1832.¹ Nearly a decade later the revelation was published by Parley P. Pratt in England’s Millennial Star, but not before the doctrinal pump was primed a little—the European saints would receive the word line upon line. 

It remains to be seen exactly when the Vision was informally introduced as a revelation for the Church in England, a written record of the event may not be extant. But as early as May 1840 missionaries were selectively sharing it (evidently orally before textually). British convert William Clayton (later writer of "Come, Come Ye Saints") circumspectly recorded sharing it with some Branch members on May 30, 1840: “Read the vision to some of the sisters. Felt it good.”²

Parley P. Pratt, editor of the MS during this period, began ambiguously referring to the three degrees of glory about eight months before the vision was published in the MS. Pratt's articles seem to assume familiarity with the concept of degrees of glory:

The Saints are for truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; and wherever a principle of truth can be found, there is a principle which helps to constitute the great sum and substance of the faith of the Saints of the Last Days; no matter what that truth particularly refers to, whether it be God, angels, men, or devils, things seen or unseen, above or below, heaven or hell, celestial, terrestrial, or telestial, believed or disbelieved by men generally; show us a truth and we will believe it…

…therefore, we are ever ready to examine all things which are brought against us, as well as those which present themselves apparently in our favor; so that by the Holy Ghost, whose office it is to guide those who possess it into all truth, we may be enabled to discern the right ways of the Lord, even the way of truth, the old paths, that we may stand and walk therein, until we shall be enabled, by the grace of God, to arrive at the celestial city, the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, and there refresh ourselves in the presence of the Most High, and his son Jesus; having been cleansed by the blood of Christ, through sanctification of the spirit, and belief of the truth; and having been baptized with water, with the Holy Ghost, and with fire, that we might be made co-heirs with him to all the glories of his father’s kingdom…³

This language may have caught the attention of Methodist minister William Hewitt, who had been challenging Mormon elders to debate. When no challenger stepped forward Hewitt printed An Exposition of the Errors and Fallacies of the Self-Named “Latter-Day Saints.”⁴ Parley P. Pratt replied in An Answer to Mr. William Hewitt’s Tract Against the Latter-Day Saints.⁵ According to Hewitt, Mormons were teaching that “Paradise is not heaven.”⁶  Pratt responded:

Paradise is heaven; but it is not the heaven of those who are raised from the dead, but the place of rest for disembodied spirits to await the resurrection: “In my father’s house are many mansions,” says Jesus.—Paul tells of three heavens.⁷ 

A question/answer article by Pratt and Elder Joseph Fielding in the Millennial Star, gave further hints about four months later:

Ques. 3rd.—Paul says, that the law made nothing perfect. How then are they to be perfected who died under the law? and can they be meet for the kingdom of God unless they are perfected?

Ans.—Those who lived and died under the law must finally be perfected by the Gospel, or remain imperfect, and inherit another kingdom, instead of the celestial.

Ques. 4th.—If the Saints in the last days die before they become perfect, how can they be ready for the first resurrection; or will they be under a course of instruction after their spirits leave their bodies; or can they come forth in the first resurrection if they are imperfect?

Ans.—There is a progression in light and truth in the world to come, as well as in this world...⁸

The next questions ask about 1 Peter 3:19; 4:6 regarding salvation for the dead, to which Pratt responds: "Hence you see that the priesthood is without end; and that it ministers salvation in eternity as well as in time."⁹ Thus the concepts of multiple kingdoms, preaching the gospel in the spirit world, and progression beyond the grave were introduced before the full text of the Vision itself was published in June 1841 as “A VISION. REVEALING THE FINAL DESTINY OF MAN.” Given the sometimes-adverse reaction by saints to the Vision in America (discussed elsewhere), it is not surprising that dissemination was slightly more cautious in England. ¹⁰

FOOTNOTES

[1] W.W. Phelps, ed., The Evening and Morning Star (vol. 1 no. 2, July 1832): 2-3.

[2] George D. Smith, ed., An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1991), 54.

[3] Parley P. Pratt, “Look at Both Sides of the Question,” MS (vol. 1 no. 6 October 1840): 157.

[4] (Lane-End: Office of C. Watts, 1840); See Peter Crawley, A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church, vol. 1, 1830-1847 (Provo: Religious Studies Center, 1997), 139.

[5] Manchester, printed by W.R. Thomas, 1840.

[6] Pratt, An Answer, 3.

[7] Pratt, An Answer, 4.

[8] "Questions—By Elder Joseph Fielding, and Answers by the Editor [Parley P. Pratt]," MS (vol. 1 no. 10 February, 1841): 257-258.

[9] Ibid.

[10] “A Vision,” MS (vol. 2 no. 2, June 1841): 17-21. The introductory line about “Revealing” was added by the Pratt; it does not appear as an introductory statement in the written versions of the revelation (BCR or KRB), the published version in the Evening and Morning Star (July 1832), or in the Doctrine and Covenants (1835). Brigham Young described some of the difficulties saints faced with the Vision: "When God revealed to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon that there was a place prepared for all, according to the light they had received and their rejection of evil and practice of good, it was a great trial to many, and some apostatized because God was not going to send to everlasting punishment heathens and infants, but had a place of salvation, in due time, for all, and would bless the honest and virtuous and truthful, whether they ever belonged to any church or not” (Journal of Discourses, 16:42).

Review: Susan Easton Black, "The Best of the Frontier Guardian"

Title: The Best of the Frontier Guardian  
Editor: Susan Easton Black  
Publisher: BYU Studies/University of Utah  
Year: 2009  
Pages: 186 pp., DVD-ROM  
ISBN13: 9780842527408  
Price: $19.95  

There is no paper in the land 
That ever yet has come to hand 
That takes as just and bold a stand,     
    As the noble Frontier Guardian…. 

Orson Hyde stands at the helm 
The cause of error to o’erwhelm 
And clear away its nasty phlegm,     
    All through the Frontier Guardian.
(“The Frontier Guardian,” by North Pigeon Joe, 113.)

As vanguard companies of Latter-day Saint pioneers prepared for their first winter in the Great Basin in late 1847, federal Indian agents in Missouri complained that Mormons camped along the Missouri River were stripping the area of wood and game. To avoid further conflict, the Mormons moved to the eastern bank in Pottowattamie County, Iowa, and established Kanesville (later Council Bluffs), which became the central staging area for migrating Saints and other pioneers traveling to Oregon and California. Brigham Young appointed Apostle Orson Hyde to oversee the community.    

For roughly four years, Hyde directed the Mormon migration and edited a newspaper called the Frontier Guardian. The paper helped tie Church leaders, emigrants, and local settlers together. Alongside other Latter-day Saint newspapers, books, pamphlets, broadsides, and other publications, the Guardian is another reminder of the Mormon belief that “the extensive circulation of the printed word” is a crucial “impetus to the rolling of the great wheel of salvation” (122). The Guardian’s eighty-one issues are an important source for understanding this period of Mormon history. The Guardian has been made more readily available by BYU Studies and the University of Utah Press in Susan Easton Black’s The Best of the Frontier Guardian.    

The paperback volume consists of an introduction to the contents of the newspaper followed by thirteen chapters organized by themes said to represent the Guardian’s “best.” In the opening chapter Black very briefly situates the Guardian in the context of other LDS newspapers and explains Orson Hyde’s background and experiences as apostle and editor:     

Assuming his position as editor, Hyde confessed, “It is with a trembling hand, and a faltering knee that we step forward to our seat in the Editorial chair.” But if he lacked confidence it didn't show up in his published articles; Hyde frequently used the Guardian to vent his frustrations and disappointments, call for volunteers, and otherwise direct the Mormon outpost. An overview of the paper says as much about the editor as it does about the paper itself. It reveals Hyde’s need for money, his assistants’ unscrupulous tactics, and his transition from printing an official Church newspaper to a secular publication. (8)     

After tracing the development of the Guardian’s four volumes, Black’s introduction concludes with a description of the newspaper’s development and general content. The thirteen themes are: “General Epistles” of the First Presidency, “Counsel” from Brigham Young and the First Presidency, Church conference minutes, efforts of boundary maintenance against splinter groups, political conflicts between Orson Hyde and Almon W. Babbitt, poetry, letters from the mission field, news from the California gold fields, instructions for westward-bound emigrants, announcements of marriages and deaths, “words of wisdom” (pithy statements and anecdotes), and humor. A significant weakness throughout these selections is the absence of introductions, analysis, annotation, and contextualization of the content. Readers might wonder why a Church conference in 1851 “voted to observe the words [sic] of wisdom, and particularly to dispense with the use of tea, coffee, snuff, and tobacco” if they are unfamiliar with the development of observance of the word of wisdom (58), or why the death of Oliver Cowdery was announced in one obscure sentence given his earlier prominence in the Church (171). The excerpts provide a general flavor of the Guardian’s content, although Black does not explain her method of selecting the “best.”    

The DVD archive of the Guardian offers rich possibilities for researchers interested in Latter-day Saint publication history. I agree with Sherry Pack Baker’s assessment that “while much good work already has been done in Mormon media studies, this area has not as yet been overtly recognized as a discipline unto itself.”¹ Making full works like the Guardian available is an important step in the direction of better media-grounded studies of Mormonism. Understanding the context in which Latter-day Saint publications arose better illuminates their content and tone. The Guardian inherited the idea-centered and overtly partisan nature of early American newspapers. The power of print was widely acknowledged after colonial printers successfully opposed the Stamp Act of 1765, whereby British Parliament attempted to impose a tax on publishers in colonies of British America. The First Amendment extended a remarkable measure of freedom, much of which was used to promote the interests of rising political parties. Technological advances made the printing press more affordable and available, which helped lead to the rise of “‘alternative’ media--the black and American Indian press and the abolitionist, women’s, and labor publications.”² Alexis de Tocqueville’s observation that, during the 1830s, “there is scarcely a hamlet that has not its newspaper” was only a slight exaggeration, and his assessment of the press’s purpose was accurate: “It rallies the interests of the community round certain principles and draws up the creed of every party; for it affords a means of intercourse between those who hear and address each other without ever coming into immediate contact.”³    

 Some Americans resisted this new power, believing that it tended to corrupt the moral sense of the community, provide excuses for the invasion of privacy, encourage crime and vice, or dumb down the readership. By contrast, Latter-day Saints embraced the new technology with gusto. Following the printing of the Book of Mormon, the next official publication of the fledgling Church came in the form of a newspaper, with many more to follow. In 1831 Joseph Smith received a revelation (D&C 70) creating a Literary Firm to take charge of publishing revelations and receiving remuneration. In addition, missionaries produced their own tracts to warn of the impending Millennium and counter anti-Mormon accusations.⁴ Several LDS newspapers disseminated sermons, revelations, political positions, notices of birth, death and marriages, and other items of interest. LDS leaders clearly recognized the utility of the press and in 1845 took steps to centralize the voice of the Church. Parley P. Pratt’s “Regulations for the Publishing Department of the Latter-day Saints in the East” rebuked independent Mormon printers and warned Saints to patronize only official publications.⁵ The Guardian, one such official paper, served as the main organ for the Church in America from 1849 to 1852. Such contextualization from Black would have helped the reader better understand its role and importance.    

Like earlier LDS papers, the Guardian followed the general newspaper format of the times, though with an LDS slant. Newspapers before the Civil War had not yet entered the industrialized business-oriented model of news-gathering which gave rise to the professionalization of journalism, the decline of party presses, yellow journalism, the Associated Press, and well-staffed newsrooms. Embodying Joseph Smith’s overlap of the sacred and secular, the Guardian mixed sermons and agricultural advice beside advertisements and jokes. Ezra T. Benson, one of Hyde’s counselors at Kanesville, testified of that overlap: “We talk about moving to the Valley, about our labor, our stock, calves, &c., because it is our religion” (71). Orson Pratt, one of Mormonism’s foremost authors and publishers, exultantly wrote from England on July 23, 1850 that the increasing ease and speed of travel had “almost united the continents into one” (119). Technological developments enabled Isaiah’s prophesied “swift messengers” to warn the world of coming judgment and gather the elect to Zion. “The extensive circulation of the printed word,” Pratt continued, “has also given an impetus to the rolling of the great wheel of salvation” (122).    

The book itself is brief and interesting but seems like an afterthought. The real treasure is attached to the inside back cover: a DVD-ROM containing the complete archive of the Guardian, including scanned images of every page in addition to searchable HTML text. The DVD is simple to navigate but the quality of the scanned images could be improved. The bottom left side of each scan is too light, making some words difficult to make out except by zooming in on each image. It is not clear if the defect is in the scans or the paper pages, but it seems to be the former. A search feature allows wild-card text searches. The DVD also includes sixteen photographs and a collection of “annotations” compiled by Black: lists of all the names and places mentioned in the Guardian and a glossary of 135 “commonly used” nineteenth-century terms. The DVD makes the book well worth the cover price, joining similar collections that offer important, if uneven, access to primary documents from the privacy and proximity of a personal computer.⁶ Perhaps Susan Easton Black’s greatest contribution to Mormon history to date has been providing such grist for other historians’ mills.⁷  Orson Hyde certainly thought the Guardian itself was worth the attention of Latter-day Saints: “Who, among the Saints,” he asks, “will raise up a family of children without giving them education, the bible [sic], and the Guardian?” (10).

FOOTNOTES

[1] Sherry Pack Baker, “Mormon Media History Timeline, 1827-2007,” BYU Studies 47, no. 4 (2008), pp. 117-123.

[2] Hazel Dicken-Garcia, Journalistic Standards in Nineteenth-Century America, University of Wisconsin Press (1989), 51.

[3] Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Signet Classics), Signet Classics (2001), edited by Richard C. Heffner, 93-94, 1835.

[4] David J. Whittaker, “Early Mormon Pamphleteering,” Journal of Mormon History 4 (1977): 43.

[5] Parley P. Pratt, “Regulations For the Publishing Department of the Latter-day Saints in the East,” New York Prophet 1 (January 4, 1845): 2; rpt. Times and Seasons Vol. 6 No. 1 (January 15, 1845): 778.

[6] For a slightly dated overview of available CD-ROM collections, see Ronald Walker, David J. Whittaker, and James B. Allen, Mormon History (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001), 87–88. See also Richard E. Turley, ed., Selected Collections from the Archives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, 2 vols., 74 disks, DVD (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, [Dec. 2002]; New Mormon Studies CD-ROM: A Comprehensive Resource Library, Smith Research Associates, Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Book Publishing, 2009. 

[7] Other primary-source contributions by Black, all published in Provo, Utah, by the BYU Religious Studies Center, are Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1848, 50 vols. (1989); Early Members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 6 vols. (1993); and Annotated Records of Baptisms for the Dead 1840–1845, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, 7 vols. (2002).

FAIR Podcast, Episode 2: Terryl L. Givens

Dr. Givens is Professor of Literature and Religion at the University of Richmond. He has authored several books, including The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy (Oxford 1997); By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion (Oxford 2003); People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture (Oxford 2007); The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford 2009); and When Souls had Wings: Pre-Mortal Life in Western Thought (2010).

His current projects include a biography of Parley P. Pratt (with Matt Grow, to be published by Oxford in 2011), a sourcebook of Mormonism in America (with Reid Neilson, to be published by Columbia in 2011), a history of Mormon theology (with Steven Harper), and a study of the idea of human perfectibility in the Western tradition. He lives in Montpelier, Virginia.
(Image and info from http://terrylgivens.com/)

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Part 1
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Overview:
(Runtime: 55:26)

For this episode host Blair Hodges sat down with Dr. Givens during the Mormon Scholars Foundation Summer Seminar at Brigham Young University. Blair uses selections from Givens's books as jumping off points for further discussion on a wide array of subjects, including: nineteenth-century anti-Mormon literature, the Book of Mormon, prisca theologia, the paradox of searching and certainty, recent developments in Mormon studies, Parley P. Pratt, the preexistence, globalization, thoughtful faith, and dealing with difficult historical and theological puzzles.

Questions about this episode and ideas for future episodes can be added to the comments section here, at the FAIR blog, or emailed to podcast@fairlds.org.