The Papers
Browse the PapersDocumentsJournalsAdministrative RecordsRevelations and TranslationsHistoriesLegal RecordsFinancial RecordsOther Contemporary Papers
Reference
PeoplePlacesEventsGlossaryLegal GlossaryFinancial GlossaryCalendar of DocumentsWorks CitedFeatured TopicsLesson PlansRelated Publications
Media
VideosPhotographsIllustrationsChartsMapsPodcasts
News
Current NewsArchiveNewsletterSubscribeJSP Conferences
About
About the ProjectJoseph Smith and His PapersFAQAwardsEndorsementsReviewsEditorial MethodNote on TranscriptionsNote on Images of People and PlacesReferencing the ProjectCiting This WebsiteProject TeamContact Us
Published Volumes
  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842

Source Note

Times and Seasons, (, Hancock Co., IL), 15 June 1842, vol. 3, no. 16, 815–830; edited by JS. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.

Historical Introduction

As editor of the Times and Seasons, JS oversaw the publication of the newspaper’s 15 June 1842 issue. The issue opened with an excerpt from the church’s newspaper in , the Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, emphasizing the necessity of a restoration of the gospel. This was followed by the seventh installment of the serialized “History of Joseph Smith” and excerpted articles from several eastern newspapers about JS and the . The issue also included a letter from traveling in , who had just returned from his mission in England, and the minutes of a 14 May 1842 church held in Grafton, Ohio. The issue concluded with a poem on the by and a public notice that the had withdrawn “the hand of fellowship” from .
In addition to these items, the issue included editorial content that was presumably written by JS or his editorial staff. This editorial content, which is featured here, includes three items: commentary on a popular book on American antiquities, with quotations from the Book of Mormon; a letter to the editor denouncing a pair of missionaries in Tennessee, together with an editorial response; and an article on the .
Note that only the editorial content created specifically for this issue of the Times and Seasons is annotated here. Articles reprinted from other papers, letters, conference minutes, and notices, are reproduced here but not annotated. Items that are stand-alone JS documents are annotated elsewhere; links are provided to these stand-alone documents.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    John Taylor assisted JS in editing the Times and Seasons, but JS, as editor, assumed primary responsibility for the content in the issues. (Woodruff, Journal, 19 Feb. 1842; “To Subscribers,” Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1842, 3:710.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  2. [2]

    The first installment of JS’s history was published in the 15 March 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons.

  3. [3]

    Although the notice was written on 11 May 1842, it was withheld from publication until this mid-June issue. (See Historical Introduction to Letter to the Church and Others, 23 June 1842; Notice, 11 May 1842; and JS, Journal, 26 May 1842.)

  4. [4]

    Priest, American Antiquities, 205–208.

    Priest, Josiah. American Antiquities and Discoveries in the West. . . . 5th ed. Albany: Hoffman and White, 1838.

  5. [5]

    See “Editorial Method”.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842 *Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842
*Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842
*Letter from George J. Adams, 21 April 1842 Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842 *Notice, 11 May 1842 Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842 *Letter from John D. Lee and Others, 18 May 1842 Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842

Page 823

——————————
TIMES AND SEASONS.
CITY OF ,
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 1842.
——————————
 
Editorial Note
The 15 June issue of the Times and Seasons also included a treatise on the , which was likely written in response to reports of improper manifestations of the Spirit that occurred in connection with Alfred and ’s preaching in Tennessee. Although the treatise was written in a first-person plural voice, it was signed “ED,” an abbreviation for “Editor,” which attributed authorship of the piece to JS as the editor of the paper. The editorial drew heavily from 1 Corinthians to discuss the various gifts of the Spirit; it also included allusions to several other passages in the Bible. The editorial expounded on the nature of the gift of the Holy Ghost and established a middle ground between those who believed the Spirit would manifest as merely an inner feeling and those who expected outward, even miraculous, manifestations. The article emphasized that the majority of spiritual manifestations are private experiences, not public spectacle. It also discouraged the practice of glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, and encouraged people to cultivate righteousness so they could discern between good and evil.
.
Various and conflicting are the opinions of men in regard to the gift of the Holy Ghost. Some people have been in the habit of calling every supernatural manifestation, the effects of the spirit of God, whilst there are others that think their is no manifestation connected with it at all; and that it is nothing but a mere impulse of the mind, or an inward feeling, impression, or secret testimony or evidence which men possess, and that there is no such thing as an outward manifestation. It is not to be wondered at that men should be ignorant, in a great measure, of the principles of salvation, and more especially of the nature, office, power, influence, gifts and blessings of the Gift of the Holy Ghost; when we consider that the human family have been enveloped in gross darkness and ignorance for many centuries past without revelation, or any just criterion to arrive at a knowledge of the things of God, which can only be known by the spirit of God. Hence it not unfrequently occurs, that when the of this preach to the inhabitants of the world, that if they obey the gospel they shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, that the people expect to see some wonderful manifestation; some great display of power, or some extraordinary miracle performed; and it is often the case that young members in this church, for want of better information, carry along with them their old notions of things and sometimes fall into eggregious errors. We have lately had some information concerning a few members that are in this dilema, and for their information make a few remarks upon the subject.
We believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost being enjoyed now, as much as it was in the apostles days;—we believe that it is necessary to make and to organize the ; that no man can be called to fill any office in the ministry without it; we also believe in prophesy, in tongues, in visions, and in revelations, in gifts, and in healings; and that these things cannot be enjoyed without the gift of the Holy Ghost; we believe that holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and that holy men in these days speak by the same principle; we believe in its being a comforter and a witness bearer, “that it brings things past to our remembrance, leads us into all truth, and shews us of things to come:” we believe that “no man can know that Jesus is the Christ, but by the Holy Ghost.” We believe in it in all its fullness, and power, and greatness, and glory: but whilst we do this we believe in it rationally, reasonably, consistently, and scripturally, and not according to the wild vagaries, foolish, notions and traditions of men. The human family are very apt to run to extremes, especially in religious matters, and hence people in general, either want some miraculous display, or they will not believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost at all. If an elder upon a person, it is thought by many that the person must immediately rise and speak in tongues, and prophesy; this idea is gathered from the circumstance of Paul laying his hands upon certain individuals who had been previously (as they stated) baptized unto John’s baptism; which when he had done, they “spake with tongues and prophesied.” Philip also, when he had preached the gospel to the inhabitants of the city of Samaria, sent for Peter and John, who when they came laid their hands upon them for the gift of the Holy Ghost, for as yet he was fallen upon none of them; and when Simon Magus saw that through the laying on of the apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money that he might possess the same power. Acts viii. These passages are considered by many as affording sufficient evidence for some miraculous, visible, manifestation, whenever hands are laid on for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
We believe that the Holy Ghost is imparted by the laying on of hands of those in authority, and that the gift of tongues, and also the gift of prophecy, are gifts of the spirit, and are obtained through that medium; but then to say that men always prophesied and spoke in tongues when they had the imposition of hands, would be to state that which is untrue, contrary to the practice of the apostles, and at variance with holy writ; for Paul says, “to one is given the gift of tongues, to another the gift of prophecy, and to another the gift of healing”—and again, “do all prophecy? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?” evidently shewing that all did not possess these several gifts; but that one received one gift and another received another gift—all did not prophecy; all did not speak in tongues; all did not work miracles; but all did receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; sometimes they spake in tongues and prophesied in the Apostles’ days, and sometimes they did not.— The same is the case with us also in our admin [p. 823]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Page 823

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842
ID #
8150
Total Pages
16
Print Volume Location
JSP, D10:146–162
Handwriting on This Page
  • Printed text

Footnotes

  1. [35]

    The notion that the Holy Ghost was both an inner influence and a gift that manifested itself outwardly provoked diverse religious interpretation and debate among contemporaries. Methodist theologian Adam Clarke pointed to this ambiguity in his biblical commentary on “manifestation of the Spirit” found in 1 Corinthians 12:7, writing, “This is variably understood by the fathers,” some of whom rendered the word for manifestation as “illumination, others demonstration, and others, operation.” Episcopal minister William Keene taught, “It has become a settled principle, with most persons, that the gift of the Holy Ghost consists of two separate parts, the one an ordinary, secret, and inward influence, the other an extraordinary power, manifested in signs and wonders, and mighty miracles.” Methodist preacher Peter Cartwright saw the Spirit as an inner feeling of peace and integral to conversion. He denounced enthusiastic displays as “sudden impulses” taken as “inspirations from God.” These were performed for publicity by some, or even worse, utilized by “wizards, witches, and spiritual rappers,” whom Cartwright saw as “the common property of the devil.” Ann Lee and the Shakers also experienced healings, ecstatic displays, and miracles as manifestations of the “gifts of the Holy Ghost.” (Clarke, New Testament, 2:269, italics in original; Keene, Letter on the Gift of the Holy Ghost, 4, 40; Cartwright, Autobiography, 275–276; Stein, Shaker Experience, 78.)

    Clarke, Adam. The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Text Carefully Printed from the Most Correct Copies of the Present Authorised Version, Including the Marginal Readings and Parallel Texts. . . . Vol. 1. New York: J. Emory and B. Waugh, 1831.

    Keene, William. A Letter, on the Gift of the Holy Ghost, to the Church of Christ. Melksham, England: J. Cochrane, 1834.

    Cartwright, Peter. Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, the Backwoods Preacher. Edited by W. P. Strickland. New York: Carlton and Porter, 1857.

    Stein, Stephen J. The Shaker Experience in America: A History of the United Society of Believers. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992.

  2. [36]

    Here the editorial is likely referencing the letter that appears earlier in this issue of the Times and Seasons. The letter reported the extraordinary miracles, which John D. Lee found questionable, performed by William and Alfred Young in Tennessee.

  3. [37]

    Some of these beliefs had been recently outlined in a history of the origins of the church written at the request of John Wentworth. (“Church History,” 1 Mar. 1842.)

  4. [38]

    See John 14:26; 16:13.

  5. [39]

    See 1 Corinthians 12:3.

  6. [40]

    See Acts 19:6.

  7. [41]

    See Acts 8:5–18.

  8. [42]

    See 1 Corinthians 12:8–10, 29–30.

  9. [43]

    See 1 Corinthians 12:9–11.

© 2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of UseUpdated 2021-04-13Privacy NoticeUpdated 2021-04-06