Instruction, 9 February 1843 [D&C 129], as Reported by Willard Richards
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Source Note
JS, Instruction, [, Hancock Co., IL, 9 Feb. 1843]. Featured version copied [ca. 9 Feb. 1843] in JS, Journal, bk. 1, 21 Dec. 1842–10 Mar. 1843, pp. [173]–[176]; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS, Journal, 1842–1844.
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Historical Introduction
On 9 February 1843, JS delivered an instruction to guests he was entertaining at his home in , Illinois. JS apparently gave the remarks during a casual conversation with and and others who had called on him in the afternoon. Though they were not delivered as a formal discourse, his teachings were significant enough that and , who were both present on this occasion, wrote them down. Prefacing his remarks, JS “related some of his history” and then instructed those in attendance how they “might know whether any administration was from God.”JS’s remarks touched on a variety of doctrinal teachings that he had shared with other groups at various times since June 1839. Some of his comments were similar to teachings regarding the discerning of spirits that he originally shared with some members of the on 27 June 1839. On that occasion, JS spoke of a to “detect Satan when he transforms himself nigh unto an angel of light.” He explained that a person might distinguish between an angel of God and Satan by trying to shake hands. Still imprisoned in in June 1839, missed the meeting and JS’s instruction. was also likely absent when JS gave the instruction, having arrived in Columbia, Missouri, by 1 July 1839 to assist with Parley’s escape from prison. Shortly after Parley escaped from custody, he and Orson arrived in in July 1839. The two brothers left for a mission to shortly thereafter. Although Orson had returned to Nauvoo by early August 1841, he became disaffected from JS and the in early summer 1842 and remained so until January 1843. Parley remained in England longer than the rest of the apostles and did not return to Nauvoo until 7 February 1843. This February 1843 meeting, therefore, may have been the first time JS shared these 1839 teachings with either of the Pratts.JS’s remarks in February 1843 centered on an explanation of the ways to distinguish between various types of heavenly messengers and the devil. Among eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Protestants, there were several competing ideas about the identification of angels, most of them based on a passage in the epistle to the Hebrews that mentions “an innumerable company of angels” and the “spirits of just men made perfect.” Some religionists held that these verses refer to “those translated to heaven in their bodies, and those raised from the dead after Christ’s resurrection.” Others believed they refer more generally to “all in every age and nation who have feared God and wrought righteousness.” Theologians also debated the substance and materiality of angels. Eighteenth-century Swedish mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg suggested that angels were corporeal beings who had lived on the earth and could converse with men face-to-face. While those who believed angels were translated or risen beings seemingly believed that all angels were corporeal beings, some concluded that “angels have no corporeal forms.” Theologian Charles Buck explained that “as to the nature of these beings we are told that they are spirits,” with the “more general opinion” being that “they are substances entirely spiritual.” At the same time, Buck allowed that “they can at any time assume bodies and appear in human shape.”JS suggested a new idea, which classified heavenly messengers as either resurrected corporeal beings or disembodied spirits awaiting resurrection. These distinctions may have appeared in Latter-day Saint theology as early as 1829, when the Book of Mormon suggested a difference between “angels and ministering spirits.” In JS’s “new translation” of the Bible, however, Hebrews 1:7 explained that “angels are ministering spirits.” In his 27 June 1839 discourse, JS emphasized that “an angel of God (which is an angel of light) is a Saint with his resurrected body” but also noted that it was possible to be visited by deceased believers who were not yet resurrected. JS used this occasion in February 1843 to refine that explanation by distinguishing between “resurrected personages” and “the spirits of just men made perfect” who were still awaiting resurrection.In addition to teaching periodically about the ways to distinguish between types of angels, JS had demonstrated a long-standing interest in recognizing the differences between true and false spirits. A circa 8 March 1831 revelation urged the Saints to “beware lest ye are deceived” and to do “all things with prayer & thanksgiving that ye may not be seduced by evil spirits or doctrines of Devils or the commandments of men for some are of men & others of Devils.” A revelation the following May was even more specific, explaining, “There are many spirits which are false spirits which have gone forth in the Earth deceiving the world & also Satan hath sought to deceive you that he might overthrow you.” In April 1842 JS reiterated this message in a lengthy editorial in the church newspaper, urging the Saints to “try the spirits.” Then, recounting portions of his own personal history to the Saints in a September 1842 letter, JS alluded to an early experience “on the banks of the Susquehanna” when the devil had appeared to him “as an Angel of light.”included JS’s comments in JS’s journal, while recorded them in his own journal. Both the Clayton and Richards versions are featured here.
Footnotes
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1
Clayton, Journal, 9 Feb. 1843.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
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3
Columbia is two hundred miles southwest of Nauvoo, making it unlikely that Orson could have been in Nauvoo on 27 June and then in Columbia on 1 July. (Pratt, Autobiography, 266–267; England, Life and Thought of Orson Pratt, 56–59; see also Woodruff, Journal, 19 July 1839.)
Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.
England, Breck. The Life and Thought of Orson Pratt. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1985.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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4
Parley P. Pratt, Commerce, IL, to Aaron Frost, North Bethel, ME, 21 July 1839, Parley P. Pratt, Letters, CHL.
Pratt, Parley P. Letters, 1838–1839. CHL. MS 5828.
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5
In early 1840, both Parley and Orson Pratt visited with JS in Philadelphia and Washington DC and evidently learned new ideas from him. It is not clear whether JS relayed his teachings regarding the detecting of false spirits to the brothers at that time. (Letter to Robert D. Foster, 30 Dec. 1839; Orson Pratt to Sarah Marinda Bates Pratt, Nauvoo, IL, 6 Jan. 1840, in Times and Seasons, Feb. 1840, 1:61; Benjamin Winchester, Philadelphia, PA, 10 Feb. 1840, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, May 1840, 1:104.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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6
JS, Journal, 20 Jan. 1843; Letter to Justin Butterfield, 16 Jan. 1843; Minutes, 20 Jan. 1843. On 17 June 1842, Heber C. Kimball wrote to Parley P. Pratt explaining that JS had taught the apostles things that “are not to be riten” and inviting him to “come and get them fore your self.” He then stated that Orson Pratt was somewhat aloof from the group during that period and “hangs back.” (Heber C. Kimball, Nauvoo, IL, to Parley P. Pratt and Mary Ann Frost Pratt, “Manchester or Liverpool,” England, 17 June 1842, Parley P. Pratt, Correspondence, CHL.)
Pratt, Parley P. Correspondence, 1842–1855. CHL. MS 897.
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7
Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840; Clayton, Journal, 7 Feb. 1843.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
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8
Hebrews 12:22–23.
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9
Alexander Campbell, “Materialism—No. 2,” Millennial Harbinger, Oct. 1836, 456.
Millennial Harbinger. Bethany, VA. Jan. 1830–Dec. 1870.
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10
MacKnight, New Literal Translation, 572; see also Watson, Sermons, 424–425.
MacKnight, James. A New Literal Translation, from the Original Greek of All the Apostolic Epistles. . . . New ed. Philadelphia: Desilver, Thomas, 1835.
Watson, Richard. Sermons and Sketches of Sermons. Vol. 2. New York: T. Mason and G. Lane, 1838.
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11
McDannell and Lang, Heaven, 188–189.
McDannell, Colleen, and Bernhard Lang. Heaven: A History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988.
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12
Stuart, Letters on the Trinity, 111.
Stuart, Moses. Letters on the Trinity and on the Divinity of Christ; Addressed to the Rev. William E. Channing, in Answer to His Sermon “On the Doctrines of Christianity.” New ed. Aberdeen, Scotland: George King, 1834.
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13
“Angel,” in Buck, Theological Dictionary, 19, italics in original.
Buck, Charles. A Theological Dictionary, Containing Definitions of All Religious Terms: A Comprehensive View of Every Article in the System of Divinity. . . . Philadelphia: W. W. Woodward, 1818.
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14
New Testament Revision 2, p. 138 (second numbering) [Joseph Smith Translation, Hebrews 1:7].
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16
Revelation, ca. 8 Mar. 1831–A [D&C 46:7–8].
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17
Revelation, 9 May 1831 [D&C 50:2–3].
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18
“Try the Spirits,” Times and Seasons, 1 Apr. 1842, 3:743–748.
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19
Letter to the Church, 7 Sept. 1842 [D&C 128:20].
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20
Orson Pratt subsequently adapted Clayton’s version for inclusion in the 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. (Instruction, 9 Feb. 1843, in Doctrine and Covenants 129, 1876 ed. [D&C 129].)
The Doctrine and Covenants, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Containing the Revelations Given to Joseph Smith, Jun., the Prophet, for the Building Up of the Kingdom of God in the Last Days. Salt Lake City: Deseret News Office, 1876.
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