The Evening And The Morning Star

Volume 1. Independence, Mo. July, 1832. No. 2

De: W.W. Phelps

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

The Evening And The Morning Star, Volume 1, Independence, Mo., July, 1832, No. 2

The July 1832 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star presents itself not as a mere chronicle of passing events, but as a carefully constructed apparatus—an instrument designed to organize, instruct, and persuade a burgeoning religious body. The numerous misspellings are kept as they were in the photocopies of this periodical to preserve as much historical accuracy as possible in the digital book in Kindle, and also, since most of these misspellings are done because of a phonetic pronunciation of the misspelled word, it will be interesting to see how these sound in the audible book (although we do not precisely know the dialect or accent of each writer). In this issue, one observes at once the deliberate arrangement of its contents: revelation, doctrine, correspondence, and even secular intelligence, all interwoven to produce the unmistakable impression of a divine work advancing with method and intent. This is no accidental compilation; it is a system—precise, hierarchical, and guided by the asserted authority of revelation through Joseph Smith Jr..

Within these pages we find a most curious cosmology: not a simple dichotomy of salvation and damnation, but a graduated hierarchy of glory—celestial, terrestrial, and telestial. It is an elegant solution, reconciling justice with mercy while advancing a doctrine of startling boldness: that man may ascend to become a son of God, divine—an heir to all that the Father possesses. Such an assertion, though extraordinary, is presented with the calm assurance of revealed fact, thereby transforming the destiny of man from mere survival to exaltation.

In the correspondence from Zion, we detect the friction between ideal and reality. The gathering of believers, though divinely mandated, is fraught with logistical difficulties—poverty, disease, and the crude conditions of frontier life. Zion, though prophesied as a place of abundance, exists at present in a state of hardship. Yet rather than weaken the narrative, this contrast strengthens it; adversity is recast as evidence of a process still unfolding, a necessary prelude to eventual triumph. Equally noteworthy is the treatment of prophecy and history. The elders argue that divine guidance has ever been continuous, and that to reject modern revelation is to repeat the fatal errors of antiquity. Scripture is read with a predominantly literal eye, yet boldly extended into the present.

The instructions to traveling elders reveal a subtle strategic intelligence. They are to persuade rather than alarm, to present the gospel as “glad tidings” rather than a catalogue of terrors. Such guidance suggests an acute understanding of human nature—one might even say a preference for attraction over coercion, a method far more effective in securing lasting allegiance.

Finally, the inclusion of worldly events—disease, conflict, celestial phenomena—serves to anchor the entire narrative within its historical moment, while simultaneously interpreting these occurrences as signs of a larger providential design. Thus, the periodical achieves its ultimate aim: it is not merely reporting events, but interpreting reality itself. In sum, we are confronted with a document of remarkable intentionality—one that seeks not only to inform belief, but to construct an ordered society through revelation and the law of consecration, and to prepare its adherents for what they perceive as an imminent transformation of the world.