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The Miraculous Printing of the 1840
Edition of the Book of Mormon
By Ebenezer Robinson
The first edition (three thousand copies) of the Book of Mormon was printed by E. B. Grandin in Palmyra, New York, in 1830. The second edition was printed in Kirtland, Ohio, in the Church printing office in the winter of 1836–37, on which I assisted in setting the type. This edition consisted also, I believe, of three thousand copies.
In 1837–38 a large majority of the Church members moved from Kirtland to Caldwell and Daviess Counties, Missouri. In the fall of 1838 the great persecution arose against the Church, which resulted in Lilburn W. Boggs, governor of Missouri, issuing his famous exterminating order to General Clarke, commander of the militia of the state, to "expel the Mormons from the state, or exterminate them if necessary." Quite a number of the members of the Church were killed (eighteen were massacred at one place—Haun's Mill), some sixty cast into prison, the writer being one of the number, and all were required to sign a deed of trust conveying their property, both personal and real, to the state to, as they said, "defray the expenses of the war," and the entire Church was driven from the state in the winter of 1838–39.
The writer (having been liberated from prison by order of the court) walked from Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri, through the snow in the latter part of January 1839 to Quincy, Illinois, where he arrived early in February with barely one dollar in his pocket, and his family (wife) yet to be provided for her removal.
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The Pioneer Saints Saw the Majesty of God!
A meteorite shower occurred on a night in Church history long remembered by the Saints. It was the night thousands of Saints were camped along the Missouri River at Wayne City Landing, after being driven out of Independence at gunpoint in November 1833. While camping there in the open, in the frigid cold weather, they witnessed a meteorite shower—a glorious display of heavenly lights which they interpreted as a sign from heaven that God was with them.
One encyclopedia explains that this was the Leonid meteor shower, which occurs every 33.25 years. It states that "every November, when the Earth passes through [the meteor's orbit], we meet at least a few Lenoids per hour," but that on November 13, 1833, the display was the greatest in recorded history. In that shower it was estimated to have "furnished 200,000 meteors for a given station [visible at a single place] between midnight and dawn, numbers of them brilliant, and many leaving trains" (The Encyclopedia Americana [1954] 18:713a, 713).
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From the Death of Joseph
Smith, Jr. to the Reorganization
How God Cleansed His Church and Set it
in Order
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"I the Lord can not look upon sin with the
least degree of allowance; nevertheless, he that repents and does
the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven; and he that repents
not, from him shall be taken even the light which he has received,
for my Spirit shall not always strive with man, saith the Lord
of Hosts" (Doctrine and Covenants 1:5f-g).
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Conspiracy Charges
Escalate against Joseph
April 1844 was a month like no other month had been since the Church was organized on April 6, 1830, fourteen years earlier. Despite the threats and persecutions that were heaped upon Joseph, he never slackened his fight against the doctrine of polygamy. The events in April included a Church Conference, the unveiling of another conspiracy under the leadership of William and Wilson Law, a constant barrage of civil suits brought by those in the Law conspiracy, the cutting off from the Church of some of the leading conspirators, the organization of a new church with William Law as the prophet, a plural marriage charge brought by Joseph against Harrison Sagers, and an increase in plural marriage charges brought against Joseph in the press.
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The William Law Conspiracy Moved Aggressively against Joseph
The conspirators against Joseph, and the Prophet's resistance against them, escalated during the month of April 1844. The conspirators, with President Law at their head, used the press more frequently to publicly charge Joseph with crimes. Joseph responded vigorously. No written account of Church history is complete without an account of the two conspiracies against Joseph, and his aggressive fight against his accusers and the doctrine of polygamy in the weeks immediately prior to his death. During the month of April Joseph had a loaded, double-barreled pistol pointed at his chest; other individuals threatened to kill him; and he was faced with continuous civil lawsuits, instigated by hatred and persecution. On April 18, 1844, Joseph's counselor, President William Law, his wife Jane Law, Wilson Law, Dr. Robert Foster of Nauvoo, and Howard Smith of Scott County, Illinois, were cut off from the Church for unchristian conduct (see Times and Seasons 5 [April 15, 1844]: 511).
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