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Appendix 1: First Theological Lecture on Faith, circa January–May 1835

Source Note

First Theological Lecture on Faith, [, Geauga Co., OH], ca. Jan.–May 1835; “Theology. Lecture First on the Doctrine of the Church of the Latter Day Saints,” broadside; CHL.
Broadside measuring 13⅛ × 10⅛ inches (33 × 26 cm). The verso is blank and lined with tissue. The text is printed in three columns. The broadside has horizontal and vertical creases, indicating that it was folded at some point. Breaks occur along the center horizontal crease, resulting in slight textual loss. Some horizontal staining is present at the top, middle, and bottom of the document.
The broadside was likely not published before January 1835, when JS and others began preparing the lectures for publication. By 26 May 1835, the first six gatherings of the Doctrine and Covenants, which contained all seven lectures, had been printed, though the book itself was not available until September. The broadside and the Doctrine and Covenants apparently used the same typesetting, suggesting that the broadside was published by the end of May. The Church Historical Department obtained a photocopy of the broadside in 1977 and acquired the original in 1987.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS History, vol. B-1, 563.

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

  2. [2]

    William W. Phelps, Kirtland, OH, to Sally Waterman Phelps, Liberty, MO, 26 May 1835, William W. Phelps, Papers, BYU; Historical Introduction to Doctrine and Covenants, 1835.

    Phelps, William W. Papers, 1835–1865. BYU.

  3. [3]

    After comparing the typesetting of the two documents, Peter Crawley concluded that the broadside was likely printed before the Doctrine and Covenants. (Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:53.)

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

  4. [4]

    See the full bibliographic entry for the First Theological Lecture on Faith in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

Sometime in the first months of 1835, the church’s in , Ohio, printed this broadside of a theological lecture “on the doctrine of the .” The lecture was designated as the first in a series of several presentations on faith given at a theological school in Kirtland in the winter of 1834–1835. A June 1834 revelation declared that before church members could reclaim their lands in , God’s people needed to “be taught more perfectly, and have experience and know more perfectly concerning their duty, and the things which I [God] require at their hands.” Thereafter, several of the “” in were appointed to travel to Kirtland to receive an of power. Some of them were also told to assist in gathering the “strength of the Lord’s house” and in preaching the gospel so that could be redeemed. As these began to reach Kirtland in fall 1834, JS and other leaders made “preperations for the school for the Elders, wherein they might be more perfectly instructed, in the great things of God during the coming winter.” The lectures were presented at this school and directed to elders who were preparing to proselytize, with the goal of “unfold[ing] to the understanding the doctrine of Jesus Christ.” They also provided instruction necessary for those who were preaching and gathering the elect to Zion, thereby facilitating the redemption of Zion. Such instruction prefaced an intense period of missionary work in 1835, when numerous men, including those newly designated as or , were sent from Kirtland to preach in the eastern and .
The , which met in the on the lower story of the , was apparently functioning by December 1834. A later JS history explains that by 1 December, it was “well attended.” The history also states that participants in the school “gave the most studious attention to the all important object, of qualifying themselves, as messengers of Jesus Christ, to be ready to do his will.” According to , who said he attended this “high school together with Brothers Joseph & ,” the theological lectures were given during evening sessions devoted to “instruction in the principles of our Faith and religion.” The lectures appear to have been concluded by January 1835, when JS and others apparently began preparing them for publication.
Although numerous scholars have tried to identify the author of the lectures presented in the school, contemporary records are largely silent as to who actually wrote or delivered them. None of the 1835 publications of the lectures attributed authorship to any individual. However, it seems likely that had a large hand in composing the lectures. , who was living in in 1835, later remembered that “Elders Smith, Rigdon, and others, acted as teachers” in the school, though he did not specify who gave the lectures. ’s memories also tie the lectures to Rigdon, stating that the presentations were given at the school “where Sidney presided.” After Rigdon broke with and the in 1844, the periodical for the church that Rigdon led republished the lectures in 1845 and 1846, stating that they presented the principle of faith “in a clear and interesting manner.” Although the periodical does not declare the lectures’ authorship, it seems unlikely that Rigdon’s new church would have published the lectures had Rigdon not had a prominent role in their composition. Perhaps the most direct evidence of Rigdon’s involvement is Brigham Young’s characterization of the lectures in 1860 as ones “Brother Sidney prepared.” Young was in Kirtland at this time and likely attended the school.
Even though likely had a large role in producing the lectures, JS was apparently involved as well. ’s recollection of JS as one of the teachers in the School of the Elders suggests JS may have helped present the lectures. Entries in a later JS history, which were prepared by in 1843, also state that JS devoted much time to the school in late 1834 and early 1835, to the point that both the school and the lectures were “absorb[ing], for the time being, every thing else of a temporal nature.” In addition, the history states that in January 1835, JS engaged in “preparing the Lectures on Theology for publication in the Book of Doctrine and covenants, which the committee appointed last September, were now compiling.” It is not clear from extant records what form this preparation took or how extensively JS was involved, nor is it clear how different the lectures in their published form were from their oral delivery. However, as part of the committee commissioned to compile the Doctrine and Covenants, JS and other members of the church presidency signed their names to the book’s preface, which declared that the seven lectures included in the volume “embrac[ed] the important doctrine of salvation.”
The broadside of the first lecture is reproduced here as an example of the lectures as a whole. Because JS’s role in producing the lectures cannot be clearly determined, the first lecture is presented as an appendix of the volume rather than as a featured text. It is unclear why the first lecture was published separately as a broadside, though several of JS’s revelations had previously been published as broadsides and distributed to church members. It may be that elders preaching in 1835 took the broadside with them as they traveled, perhaps leaving copies with church members or others who were interested.
In August 1835, an assembly of church members voted to approve the Doctrine and Covenants as compiled, thereby making the book “a law. unto the church, and a rule of faith and practice unto the same.” In the course of the approval process, some church officers commented specifically on the lectures. , one of the presidents of the , stated “that he had examined the Lectures and many of the Revelations” in the book and “knew that they were true by the testimony of the Holy Spirit of God given unto him.” , the in , similarly commented “that he had examined the Lectures . . . and that he believed them beyond a doubt.” The lectures remained part of the Doctrine and Covenants until 1921.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS History, vol. B-1, 562; Preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, 17 Feb. 1835.

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

  2. [2]

    Revelation, 22 June 1834 [D&C 105:10].

  3. [3]

    Minutes, 23 June 1834; see also Minute Book 2, 6–7 Aug. 1834.

  4. [4]

    JS History, vol. B-1, 557–558.

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

  5. [5]

    JS History, vol. B-1, 588; Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, 14–15 Feb. 1835; Minutes and Blessings, 28 Feb.–1 Mar. 1835; Phelps, “Letters of Faith from Kirtland,” 529.

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

    Phelps, Leah Y. “Letters of Faith from Kirtland.” Improvement Era 45, no. 8 (Aug. 1942): 529.

  6. [6]

    JS History, vol. B-1, 557–558, 562.

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

  7. [7]

    Burgess, Autobiography, 4. Some later recollections conflate the School of the Elders with a larger grammar school operated by William E. McLellin, but, according to William W. Phelps, they appear to be two separate entities. The grammar school began on 22 December 1834 with McLellin and Thomas Burdick as instructors. The school taught geography, grammar, and writing, among other things, and apparently was attended by many of the elders as well. (William W. Phelps, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Sally Waterman Phelps, Liberty, MO, 18 Dec. 1835, in “Some Early Letters of William W. Phelps,” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Jan. 1940, 30; McLellin, Journal, 22 Dec. 1834; William E. McLellin, Notice, 27 Feb. 1835, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Feb. 1835, 1:80; Johnson, My Life’s Review, 21–22; Kimball, “Journal and Record,” 51.)

    Burgess, Harrison. Autobiography, ca. 1883. Photocopy. CHL. MS 893. Also available as “Sketch of a Well-Spent Life,” in Labors in the Vineyard, Faith-Promoting Series 12 (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1884), 65–74.

    Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine. Salt Lake City. 1910–1940.

    McLellin, William E. Journal, July 1834–Apr. 1835. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 4. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

    Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. My Life’s Review: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Johnson. Independence, MO: Zion’s Printing and Publishing Company, [1947].

    Kimball, Heber C. “The Journal and Record of Heber Chase Kimball an Apostle of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” ca. 1842–1858. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 1.

  8. [8]

    JS History, vol. B-1, 563.

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

  9. [9]

    See, for example, Partridge, Notes on the Authorship of the “Lectures on Faith”; Phipps, “Lectures on Faith: An Authorship Study”; and Reynolds, “Case for Sidney Rigdon as Author of the Lectures on Faith,” 1–41.

    Partridge, Elinore H. Characteristics of Joseph Smith’s Style and Notes on the Authorship of the Lectures on Faith. Task Papers in LDS History 14. Salt Lake City: History Division, Historical Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1976.

    Phipps, Alan J. “The Lectures on Faith: An Authorship Study.” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1977.

    Reynolds, Noel B. “The Case for Sidney Rigdon as Author of the Lectures on Faith.” Journal of Mormon History 32 (Fall 2005): 1–41.

  10. [10]

    Editorial, LDS Messenger and Advocate, May 1835, 1:122; Preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, 17 Feb. 1835; First Lecture on Faith, in Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., [5].

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

  11. [11]

    Grant, Collection of Facts, 8.

    Grant, Jedediah M. A Collection of Facts, Relative to the Course Taken by Elder Sidney Rigdon, in the States of Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking and Guilbert, 1844.

  12. [12]

    School of the Prophets Salt Lake City Minutes, 11 Oct. 1883.

    School of the Prophets Salt Lake City Minutes, Apr.–Dec. 1883. CHL.

  13. [13]

    “Faith,” Messenger and Advocate of the Church of Christ, 15 Oct. 1845, 1:[360]. This issue contained the first lecture. Subsequent lectures were published in the following issues: Nov. 1845 (2:385–389); Dec. 1845 (2:405–407); Jan. 1846 (2:422–424); Feb. 1846 (2:443–445); and Mar. 1846 (2:449–452).

    Messenger and Advocate of the Church of Christ. Pittsburgh. Apr. 1845–Sept. 1846.

  14. [14]

    Brigham Young, Discourse, 4 Apr. 1860, in George D. Watt, Discourse Shorthand Notes, 4 Apr. 1860, Pitman Shorthand Transcriptions, CHL. By 1835, Rigdon was also already in the process of authoring a fifteen-installment piece on “Faith of the church,” which appeared in both The Evening and the Morning Star and the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. (“Faith of the Church of Christ in These Last Days,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Feb. 1834, 130–131; Apr. 1834, 145–146; May 1834, 153–154; June 1834, 162–163; July 1834, 170–172; Aug. 1834, 178–179; Sept. 1834, 186–187; Editorial, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Nov. 1834, 1:25–26; for a more extensive explanation of Rigdon’s probable role in preparing the lectures, see Reynolds, “Case for Sidney Rigdon as Author of the Lectures on Faith,” 1–41.)

    Watt, George D. Papers, ca. 1846–1865. CHL.

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

    Reynolds, Noel B. “The Case for Sidney Rigdon as Author of the Lectures on Faith.” Journal of Mormon History 32 (Fall 2005): 1–41.

  15. [15]

    JS History, vol. B-1, 557–558, 562–563; Richards, Journal, 28 Aug. 1843.

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

  16. [16]

    A note prefacing two of the lectures in the Messenger and Advocate states that catechisms for the lectures were included in the publication so “that the reader may fully understand the manner in which this science was taught,” indicating that the published form of the lectures may have been quite similar to the oral versions. (Editorial, LDS Messenger and Advocate, May 1835, 1:122.)

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

  17. [17]

    Preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, 17 Feb. 1835.

  18. [18]

    The Joseph Smith Papers previously published all seven lectures as part of its reproduction of the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. (Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., [5]–74.)

  19. [19]

    See, for example, Verily, I Say unto You, concerning Your Brethren Who Have Been Afflicted, [Kirtland, OH, ca. Jan. 1834], copy at CHL [D&C 101]; “A Scrap of Mormonism,” Painesville (OH) Telegraph, 24 Jan. 1834, [1]; and Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 155.

    Verily, I say unto you, concerning your brethren who have been afflicted. [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834]. Copy at CHL.

    Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.

    Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.

  20. [20]

    Minutes, 17 Aug. 1835.

  21. [21]

    Reynolds, “Case for Sidney Rigdon as Author of the Lectures on Faith,” 2. The fifth and sixth lectures were also published in the May 1835 issue of the Messenger and Advocate. (“Lecture Fifth” and “Lecture Sixth,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, May 1835, 1:122–126; for two views on why the lectures were removed from the Doctrine and Covenants, see Gentry, “What of the Lectures on Faith?” 5–6; and Van Wagoner et al., “Lectures on Faith,” 71–77.)

    Reynolds, Noel B. “The Case for Sidney Rigdon as Author of the Lectures on Faith.” Journal of Mormon History 32 (Fall 2005): 1–41.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

    Gentry, Leland H. “What of the Lectures on Faith?” BYU Studies 19, no. 1 (1979): 5–19.

    Van Wagoner, Richard S., Steven C. Walker, and Allen D. Roberts. “The ‘Lectures on Faith’: A Case Study in Decanonization.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 20, no. 3 (Fall 1987): 71–77.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Appendix 1: First Theological Lecture on Faith, circa January–May 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, 1844

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Editorial Title
Appendix 1: First Theological Lecture on Faith, circa January–May 1835
ID #
7012
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D4:457–467
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