Revelations in Context: Joseph Smith's Letter from Liberty Jail, March 20, 1839

BYU Studies Quarterly Volume 39 | Issue 3 Article 15 7-1-2000 Revelations in Context: Joseph Smith's Letter from Liberty Jail, March 20, 1839 Dean C. Jessee John W. Welch Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq Recommended Citation Jessee, Dean C. and Welch, John W. (2000) "Revelations in Context: Joseph Smith's Letter from Liberty Jail, March 20, 1839," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 39 : Iss. 3 , Article 15. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol39/iss3/15 This Document is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in BYU Studies Quarterly by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact , . Jessee and Welch: Revelations in Context: Joseph Smith's Letter from Liberty Jail, revelations in context joseph smiths letter from liberty jail march 201839 dean C jessee and john W welch while joseph smith was incarcerated in liberty jail from december i 1838 to april 6 1839 he wrote or dictated eight surviving letters four were addressed to emma his wife and all ofthem of them display the sterling charefthem acter of the prophet joseph under trials of the most extreme conditions imaginable his letter of march 20 1839 directed to the church of latter 201839 day saints at quincy illinois and scattered abroad and to bishop partridge in particular is one of the most revealing and most significant letters ever written by a prophet of god in the dispensation of the fullness of times embedded in this lengthy letter which was written in two parts on twenty nine sheets of paper are the words now contained in sections 121 23 of the doctrine and covenants reading the words of those revelations in their original context certainly enhances and heightens the impressive spiritual messages of those texts dean jessee published this important document in the personal writings ofjoseph of joseph smith 1984 deseret book company and the joseph fielding smith institute for latter day saint history have now combined their energies to produce a revised and corrected edition of this volume which will be off the press in the near future comments about the historical background of this letter can be found in that new volume below is reproduced the entire text of this two part letter it has been transcribed literally with spellings preserved as well as many other manuscript features some of which are understandably rough given the circumstances cum stances under which this epistle was drafted the manuscript was written by alexander mcrae and caleb baldwin who acted as scribes for joseph smith in the typesetting below josephs handwritten corrections bold faced type appear in boldfaced the manuscript has been segregated into two type sizes the larger size odthe is used to typeset all ofthe of the portions ofthis orthis of this letter not found in the doctrine odthe of the and covenants the smaller size in block quotes displays the portions ofthe letter now found in sections 121 23 this format readily reveals the sequential context in which the scriptural words originally appeared in the epistle before and after the six blocks oftest of text which were taken from this letter oftext to comprise the words of sections 121 23 are seven units of text that lead up 1 BYU studies39 studies 39 no 3 2000 Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 2000 125 1 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 39, Iss. 3 [2000], Art. 15 BYU studies 126 to and away from the canonized passages in each case these seven units add to our understandings of and sensitivities toward the meanings of the scriptures as is highlighted in the new introductory analysis and additional commentary that follows uniti unit 1 the first of these noncanonical units introduces the letter in a high scriptural style which accentuates the contrast between sacred knowledge virtue and fellowship on the one hand and horrendous evil suffering and atrocity on the other hand phrases such as prisoner for the lord jesus of god christs sake and nothing therefore can se perate us from the love ofgod position joseph in the apostolic tradition of paul who likewise suffered as philem 11 and endured inseparable from a prisoner for christ eph 31 phalem the love of god rom 835 39 joseph smiths tender love for his friends and his magnanimous quest and request that knowledge and virtue be multiplied upon the saints are astonishing when juxtaposed against the jarring and shocking articulation of the wrongs he and the saints had suffered after reading josepes josepeh josephs bill of particulars against his captors and justice over to god for divine seeing his willingness to turn the demands of ofjustice judgment readers should be doubly impressed by the statement true it must needs bee that offences come but WO to them by whom they come a scripture taken from words of christ in the new testament matt 187 which leads directly into what is now the beginning of seccoverett covereth ereth tion 121 0 god where art thou and where is the pavilion that cov thy hiding place the prophets plaintive plea does not come out of nowhere it grows out of extraordinary faith hope and love as well as extreme affliction and injustice the prophets soul rending petition then provides the text for the first six verses of section 121 unit 2 between doctrine and covenants 1216 and 7 originally stood a lengthy section that began by reflecting on the signs of the times and with the gushing of emotion as the flood gates of the prisoners harts had odthe of the prophet and his companions had been been hoisted as the efforts ofthe frustrated at every turn the promise of peace that eventually comes in 1217 my son peace be unto thy soul was not received without first wading through unimaginable grief poured out through the torrent of misfortune reported in this unit 2 although he knew that the time would indeed come when god will have our oppressors in derision josephs confidence was still tested in the extreme his lawyers were unfaithful swayed by public opinion government officials were treacherous these https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol39/iss3/15 2 Jessee and Welch: Revelations in Context: Joseph Smith's Letter from Liberty Jail, revelations in cont contextt letterfrom ietter from liberty jail letter 127 men receive a scathing denunciation an escape attempt by the prisoners seif representation in court had had been frustrated and their pro se self proven ineffectual nevertheless joseph was filled with a hope of better things his mind turned towards home finding consolation particularly in supporting words from friends his description of the power of a friendly voice that dispels all grief with a vivacity of lightning is classic healed by the loving voice of a friend enmity departed from the prophets soul his heart became sufficiently contrite and only then could the voice of inspiration steal along and whisper the reassuring peaceful (...truncated)