[In the following essay, Whittaker provides an overview of the literature produced during the early years of Mormonism, focusing primarily on “lists of belief” generated by early writers.]

Almost anyone familiar with Joseph Smith has heard of the letter he wrote to John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat, in 1842. He was answering a specific request from Wentworth to supply Wentworth's friend, George Barstow, information on the history and beliefs of the Latter-day Saints. Wentworth told Smith that Barstow was writing a history of the state of New Hampshire and that he wished to include information about the Mormons.¹

Joseph Smith's letter is a masterpiece of succinctness: in just a few short pages he summarized his own religious experience and reviewed the first decade of the church's history. At the end of the historical sketch, Joseph attached a list summarizing the “faith of the Latter-day Saints,” later titled the “Articles of Faith.” Barstow never published the Wentworth letter,² but it was printed in March 1842 in the church's periodical, the Nauvoo Times and Seasons. In 1851, Franklin D. Richards, then president of the British Mission, assembled for that mission a pamphlet which contained a variety of documents that had earlier appeared in LDS publications. Among the items he selected was the “Articles of Faith.” Reflecting the composite nature of his collection, he titled the work the Pearl of Great Price. In 1880, a general conference of the church voted to add this “gem” to the standard works of the church.³ Along with the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants, it thus achieved the status of canonized scripture.

Even before 1880, the “Articles of Faith” had been a standard reference for those seeking a concise list of LDS beliefs, and after the 1880 canonization, their position was assured. Thus when James E. Talmage was asked by the First Presidency in 1891 to “prepare a work on theology, suitable as a text book for our Church schools,” it was no surprise that he would use the “Articles of Faith” as the outline for his work.⁴ Finally published in 1889, his Articles of Faith further cemented in the minds and hearts of LDS students the thirteen statements from the Wentworth letter.

Just how does the list of beliefs from the Wentworth letter fit into the larger body of LDS literature which contained similar lists of faith? Did Joseph Smith author them, or did he borrow from other early LDS authors who compiled similar lists? What was intended by these lists? In spite of his anticreedal attitude, did Smith intend to give the church a creed in these statements? How did the early church use and understand lists of belief? How have these listings changed over the years? This essay attempts to deal with these questions by examining the printed literature generated during the formative years of the Mormon movement. The approach will be primarily chronological, focusing on three periods of the “Articles of Faith”: origin, popularization, and canonization.

Even before the church was organized, Joseph Smith felt the need to formulate a statement that would briefly summarize the major beliefs of the religious movement he had been commanded to give institutional embodiment. As early as 1829, he and Oliver Cowdery were committing to paper the beginnings of the “Articles and Covenants” of the church, later published as Doctrine and Covenants Section 20. The textual development of that section thus provides a starting point for our discussion.

The dating of Doctrine and Covenants 20 has never been precisely established. Today, the headnote suggests April 1830 as the date of its composition. The Manuscript History of the Church simply gives the general date of 1830.⁵ The History of the Church, which generally prints the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants in chronological order, places Section 19 after Section 20, which suggests a pre-March 1830 dating.⁶ Some authors even proposed that Doctrine and Covenants 20 was revealed on 6 April 1830, the day the church was organized.⁷ But what appears to be the earliest effort to enumerate or summarize the main beliefs of the restoration, perhaps an urtext to Doctrine and Covenants 20, is an unpublished document in Cowdery's handwriting dated 1829—possibly as early as June.⁸ A revelation to Cowdery, which he himself recorded, the document bears strong similarities to Doctrine and Covenants 20. Specifically it commands Cowdery to write “the articles of the Church of Christ,” and contains a number of specific items now found in Doctrine and Covenants 20. In addition to several quotations from Doctrine and Covenants 18, the document cites 3 Nephi 18:29-32 concerning the sacrament and the central role of the atonement of Christ.⁹

Doctrine and Covenants 20 is a much fuller elaboration of items in the Cowdery document. In their first printed form, Doctrine and Covenants 20 and 22 were combined and entitled “The Articles and Covenants of the Church” in the June 1832 issue of the The Evening and the Morning Star.¹⁰ It seems clear that both Smith and Cowdery were responsible for the final version, a fact that helps to understand the background of the argument over Cowdery's insistence that Smith change the wording of verse 37.¹¹ Doctrine and Covenants 22 was later deleted from Doctrine and Covenants 20 and verses 66 and 67 were added. Even a superficial study of Doctrine and Covenants 20 reveals its composite nature. But it also reveals an orderly structure that led B. H. Roberts to call it “a declaration of fundamental doctrines,” and to use its structure to outline and discuss the basic beliefs of the early church in his Comprehensive History of the Church.¹²

On 9 June 1830, during the first conference of the church, Joseph Smith read Doctrine and Covenants 20 to those assembled and the contents were accepted by the “unanimous voice of the whole congregation.”¹³ Thus Doctrine and Covenants 20 became the first revelatory item canonized in the early church. Surviving records indicate that this document was read as a regular item of business during succeeding conferences. Its importance to the church would have been reinforced by the practice of making copies for early missionaries to carry with them into their fields of labor.¹⁴ Its prominence in early LDS thought is further emphasized by its place in the 1835 to 1869 editions of Doctrine and Covenants: it was the second document printed in those compilations of modern revelations to the church.

Briefly, Doctrine and Covenants 20 enumerated the following doctrines: the existence of God, the creation and fall of man, the roles of Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost and the Trinity, justification and sanctification, falling from grace, baptism, the manner of baptism and confirmation, the duties of members, the sacramental prayers, duties of members respecting children, duties of the officers of the church, and the need for conferences. It was, of course, a redacted series of brief revelations on key concepts necessary for the infant church. It made no claim to completeness, and it seems that it was never taken as comprehensive by early members. It was a constitution, a basic charter of the new church, not a Summa Theologia. Doctrine and Covenants 20, then, functioned as a kind of creedal statement during the first decade of the church.

At least one other item that appeared in the early LDS scriptures also helped members to formalize the beliefs of the young church. During the winter of 1834-35 a series of seven theological “Lectures on Faith” were presented to elders in Kirtland, Ohio.¹⁵ These lectures consisted of a series of propositions, each of which was supported by scriptural citations, logic, and short catechisms designed for a classroom presentation. The seven lectures lead to a final conclusion by the last one; their content and direction suggested to early members that any position on theological matters could be logical and systematically prepared and published.

The fact that these lectures were placed in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants and remained until 1921 suggests their potential for systematically approaching the topic of faith. The School of the Prophets at which these lectures were presented was to instruct its members “more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God.”¹⁶ The whole standardizing that school lectures implied could have furthered the early Mormon attempt to create a uniform and standard list of Articles of Faith.¹⁷

Joseph Smith indicated in the preface to the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants that the volume contained “the leading items of the religion which we profess to believe.” Further, he and his colleagues reasoned:

There may be an aversion in the minds of some against receiving any thing purporting to be articles of religious faith, in consequence of there being so many now extant; but if men believe a system, and profess that it was given by inspiration, certainly, the more intelligibly they can present it, the better. It does not make a principle untrue to print it. Neither does it make it true not to print it. … We have, therefore, endeavored to present though in few words, our belief, and when we say this, humbly trust, the faith and principles of this society as a body.¹⁸

While it was not specifically intended to be a creed, the publication of the Doctrine and Covenants was another step in the standardizing of Mormon faith.¹⁹

It is significant that the first attempt to give a listing of “our principles” in early Mormon periodical literature was made by Oliver Cowdery. In the first issue of the LDS Messenger and Advocate in 1834, Cowdery listed eight items, all of which had their roots in his early draft of Doctrine and Covenants 20.²⁰ Writing that “our principles may be fully known” he enlarged upon those doctrines mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants 20:

We believe in God, and his Son Jesus Christ. We believe that God, from the beginning revealed himself to man; and that whenever he has had a people on earth, he always had revealed himself to them by the Holy Ghost, the ministering of angels, or his own voice.

We do not believe that he ever had a church on earth without revealing himself to that church: consequently, there are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, in the same.

We believe that God is the same in all ages; and that it requires the same holiness, purity, and religion, to save a man now, as it did anciently; and that He is no respector of persons, always has, and always will reveal himself to men when they call upon him.

We believe that God has revealed himself to men in this age, and commenced to raise up a church preparatory to his second advent, when he will come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

We believe that the popular religious theories of the day are incorrect; that they are without parallel in the revelations of God, as sanctioned by him; and that however faithfully they may be adhered to, or however zealously and warmly they may be defended, they will never stand the strict scrutiny of the word of life.

We believe that all men are born free and equal, that no man, combination of men, or government of men, have power or authority to compel or force others to embrace any system of religion, or religious creed, or to use force or violence to prevent others from enjoying their own opinions, or practicing the same, so long as they do not molest or disturb others in theirs, in a manner to deprive them of their privileges as free citizens—or of worshiping God as they choose, and attempt to the contrary is an assumption unwarrantable in the revelations of heaven, and strikes at the root of civil liberty, and is a subversion of all equitable principles between man and man.

We believe that God has set his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people Israel; and that the time is near when he will bring them from the four winds, with songs of everlasting joy, and reinstate them upon their own lands which he gave their fathers by covenants.

And further: We believe in embracing good wherever it may be found; or proving all things, and holding fast that which is righteous.

This in short, is our belief, and we stand ready to defend it upon its own foundation, when ever it is assailed by men of character and respectability. And while we act upon these broad principles, we trust in God that we shall never be confounded.

Neither shall we wait for opposition; but with a firm reliance upon the justice of such a course, and the propriety of disseminating a knowledge of the same, we shall endeavor to persuade men to turn from error and vain speculation; investigate the plan which was devised for our salvation; prepare for the year of recompense, and the day of vengeance which are near, and thusly be ready to meet the Bridegroom.

Cowdery referred to these as “broad principles” and invited all to further investigate the church. In later issues, he wrote more detailed essays on Mormon doctrines as he tried to fulfill his assignment as a “messenger and advocate” of the restoration.

Two years later Brigham Young's brother, Joseph, provided John Hayward in Boston with five creedal statements, all of which were suggested in Doctrine and Covenants 20 and in Cowdery's 1834 listing.²¹ Referring to his list as “its principal articles of faith” Joseph Young wrote:

1. A belief in one true and living God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, and in his Son Jesus Christ, who came into this world 1800 years since, at Jerusalem; was slain, rose from the dead, ascended on high and now sits on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens that through the atonement thus wrought out, all men may come to God and find acceptance; all of which they believe is revealed in the holy Scriptures.

2. That God requires all men, wherever his gospel is proclaimed, or his law known, to repent of all sins, forsake evil, and follow righteousness; that his word also requires men to be baptized, as well as to repent; and that the direct way pointed out by the Scriptures for baptism, is immersion. After which, the individual has the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit; that this divine communication is absolutely promised unto all men, upon whom “the Lord our God shall call,” if they are obedient unto his commandments. This gift of the Holy Spirit, was anciently bestowed by the laying on of the apostle's hands: so this church believes that those who have authority to administer in the ordinances of the gospel, have this right and authority, through prayer; and without this authority, and this gift, the church is not now what it anciently was; consequently, cannot be recognized as the true Church of Christ.

3. That God will, in the last days, gather the literal descendants of Jacob to the lands anciently possessed by their fathers; that he will lead them as at the first, and build them as at the beginning. That he will cause his arm to be made bare in their behalf; his glory to attend them by night and by day. That this is necessary to the fulfillment of his word, when his knowledge is to cover the earth as the waters cover the seas. And that, as men anciently saw visions, dreamed dreams, held communion with angels, and conversed with the heavens, so it will be in the last days, to prepare the way for all nations, languages and tongues, to serve him in truth.

4. That the time will come when the Lord Jesus will descend from heaven, accompanied with ten thousand of his saints; that a mighty angel will lay hold on the dragon, bind him, cast him into the pit, where he will be kept from deceiving the nations for a thousand years; during which time, one continued round of peace will pervade every heart. And,

5. They believe in the resurrection of the body; that all men will stand in the presence of God, and be judged according to the deeds, or works, done in this life; that the righteous will enter into eternal rest, in the presence of God, but the wicked be cast off, to receive a just recompense of reward; and that to ensure eternal life, a strict obedience to all the commandments of God, must be observed, to the end.

The first book-length treatise on Mormon doctrine was A Voice of Warning, issued in New York in 1837 by Parley P. Pratt. Its influence in shaping Mormon thought during the nineteenth century cannot be overstated. Its structure, logical arguments, and well-written prose assured from its inception that it would be a powerful weapon in the cause of Mormonism.²² Published in New York City in September 1837, Voice of Warning proved to be the most popular nineteenth-century LDS work outside the standard works. Its subtitle promised that the work would be “An Introduction to the Faith and Doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” By discussing items ranging from the atonement of Christ to the establishment of Zion, Pratt provided the first full explication of the LDS faith. Its success would help shape other LDS doctrinal works as would Pratt's various pamphlets.²³

In October 1839, Pratt issued in Detroit his History of the Late Persecution. Three months later, he published a second edition in New York titled Late Persecution of the Church, to which he added a new introduction containing another concise formulation of Mormon beliefs.²⁴ In part, Pratt enumerated eighteen first “principles and doctrines” of the church, phrases from which are echoed in the later “Articles of Faith.”

Pratt included in his introduction:

The first principle of Theology as held by this Church is Faith in God the eternal father, and in his Son Jesus Christ, who verily was crucified for the sins of the world … and in the Holy Ghost who bears record of them, … the second principle is Repentance towards God; … the third principle is Baptism, by immersion in water, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, for remission of sins, with the promise of the Holy Ghost to all who believe and obey the gospel. The fourth principle is, the laying on of hands in the name of Jesus Christ, for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Fifth, it is the duty and privilege of the Saints thus organized upon the everlasting gospel, to believe in and enjoy all the gifts of revelation, prophecy, visions, the ministry of angels, healing the sick by the laying on of hands in the name of Jesus, the working of miracles, and in short all the gifts as mentioned in scripture, or as enjoyed by the ancient saints.

Referring to these statements as a “brief outline of the doctrine of this Church” he added additional items.

We believe that the scriptures now extant do not contain all the sacred writings which God ever gave to man. … the Holy Ghost is a spirit of revelation and prophecy … we therefore believe in the Book of Mormon which is an ancient American Record, lately discovered. … we believe that God will continue to reveal himself to us until all things are revealed concerning the past, present and future. … We believe that the Jews and all the House of Israel will soon be gathered home to their own lands … and that they will become one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel. … We also believe that Jesus Christ will come in person … and that he will destroy the wicked from the earth by terrible judgments. … We also believe that the saints will raise from the dead at his second coming, and that they will live and reign on earth one thousand years. … We further believe that the restoration of Israel and Judah, and the second advent of Messiah are near at hand.

At the end of this short discussion, Pratt referred his readers to his Voice of Warning, “which is particularly designed as an introduction to our faith and doctrine.”

In February 1840, Pratt reworked the doctrinal portion of the introduction of his Late Persecution into a separate four-page pamphlet which he titled An Address by Judge Higbee and Parley P. Pratt … to the Citizens of Washington and to the Public in General. As Peter Crawley notes, this was the first short LDS missionary tract outlining the basic Mormon beliefs.²⁵ By April 1840, Pratt was in England where he reprinted this work, and by 1843, An Address had been reprinted twice more in England and three more times in the United States.²⁶

Pratt's pamphlet was written with an awareness “of the anxiety of the public mind in relation to the faith and principles of our society” thus “we cheerfully offer this address, in order to give some information of our real principles.” He included as items belief in God the Father and the Son; the Bible; one true church; spiritual gifts; freedom of religion; repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost; perfectability of the Saints; morality; restoration of Israel to Jerusalem; the second coming and the millennium; and the veracity of the Book of Mormon. It was a listing specifically addressed to the larger, non-Mormon public. An Address seems to have set the pattern for other such addresses published in the 1840s. Erastus Snow and Benjamin Winchester published in Salem, Massachusetts, in September 1841 an Address to the Citizens of Salem and Vicinity,²⁷ which followed in general content Pratt's An Address. Much of the pamphlet was structured by “We believe” paragraphs.

Perhaps the best-known early list of items of belief appeared in a pamphlet published by Orson Pratt. Obviously drawing upon his brother's work, Orson Pratt enumerated at least fourteen clearly identifiable articles of LDS beliefs in his Interesting Accounts of Several Remarkable Visions published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1840. His listing appeared at the end of his pamphlet and contained the following as part of his “sketch of the faith and doctrine of this Church.”

First, We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost, who bears record of them, the same throughout all ages and forever.

We believe that all mankind, by the transgression of their first parents, and not their own sins, were brought under the curse and penalty of that transgression. …

We believe, that through the sufferings, death and atonement of Jesus Christ, all mankind, without one exception are to be completely, and fully redeemed, both body and spirit … from the endless penalty of the original sin. …

We believe that all mankind, in their infant state, are incapable of knowing good and evil. …

We believe that all mankind, in consequence of the fall … are capable of obeying and disobeying a law. …

We believe, that the penalty … can have no effect upon persons who have not had the privilege, in this life, of becoming acquainted therewith. …

We believe that all who have done evil, having a knowledge of the law … are under its penalty. …

We believe that the first condition to be complied with on the part of sinners is, to believe in God. … that the second condition is, to repent … that the third condition is, to be baptized by immersion in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for a remission of sins … that the fourth condition is, to receive the laying on of hands, in the name of Jesus Christ for the gift of the Holy Ghost. …

[We] believe in and enjoy all the gifts, powers, and blessings which flow from the Holy Ghost.

We believe that there has been a general and awful apostacy from the religion of the New Testament. …

We believe that there are a few, sincere, honest and humble persons, who are striving to do according to the best of their understanding; but they err in doctrine, because of false teachers and the precepts of men.

[We believe that] the gospel in the “Book of Mormon,” is the same as that in the New Testament. …

We believe that God will continue to give revelations by visions, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, until the saints are guided unto all truth. …

We believe that wherever the people enjoy the religion of the New Testament, there they enjoy visions, revelations, the ministry of angels, etc.

We believe that God has raised up this church, in order to prepare a people for his second coming in the clouds of heaven, in power, and great glory; and that then the saints who are asleep in their graves will be raised, and reign with him on earth a thousand years.

The general thrust, order, and content of this listing have suggested to several LDS scholars that the Wentworth list came from this pamphlet.²⁸ Such a conclusion is not totally unwarranted, and it may be possible that this was one of several texts Joseph Smith used to prepare the Wentworth list.²⁹ However, the primacy of the compilation by Parley P. Pratt, which provided the immediate background, and the earlier listings by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, which provided the more distant background for all the early lists of beliefs, must be considered. It should be obvious that by 1841 there were standardized lists of LDS beliefs in common usage. Two additional examples further illustrate how common the central core of Mormon beliefs was by the 1840s.

In 1841, Benjamin Winchester, a leader of the church in the Philadelphia area, listed seven items in the first issue of his Gospel Reflector.³⁰ Referring to these items as “some of the leading principles of our faith,” he included (1) “the scriptures contain the words of God”; (2) the Godhead; (3) “the name of Jesus Christ is the only name given under heaven, whereby man can be saved”; (4) the Gospel of Christ is the only plan of salvation, and it includes faith, repentance, baptism, and the laying on of hands; (5) an organized church after the New Testament pattern, with authorized leaders and the gifts of the spirit; (6) the majority of the Christian world lies in apostacy; and (7) the key role of the Book of Mormon in the restoration, especially in underpinning the Mormon belief in modern revelation.

At least one more list appeared following, but without access to, the Wentworth letter: written by June 1841, but not published until 1842 in Germany, Orson Hyde published A Cry from the Wilderness. It probably appeared in August of that year. Chapter 4 of A Cry contained sixteen “Articles of Faith and Points of Doctrine recognized by the Church of Latter Day Saints.” The section headings were:³¹

1. About the Godhead

2. About the Use and the Validity of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament in our Church

3. Faith

4. Repentance

5. Baptism

6. Confirmation by Laying on of Hands after Baptism

7. The Sacrament of the Bread and Wine

8. The Confession of Sins and the Method of Dealing with Members who Act Contrary to the Laws of the Church

9. Children and the Church

10. Revelations and Commandments God has Given to the Church

11. The Livelihood and Sustenance of our Priests

12. Baptism for the Dead

13. Prayer and the Manner of Prayer

14. Holidays

15. The Washing of Feet

16. Patriarchal Blessings and a Word about Marriage

Orson Hyde's listing reveals several things. First, it was one of the first lists that moved beyond mere doctrinal points to more administrative matters, and thus reveals the influence of Parley P. Pratt's Voice of Warning. Secondly, it shows a tendency to combine Doctrine and Covenants material, material from earlier LDS sources, and incorporate more recent doctrinal developments in the church (i.e., baptism for the dead). Hyde told Joseph Smith he had “written a snug little article on every point of doctrine believed by the Saints.” It also shows the tendency in foreign mission fields to emphasize those items of Mormon beliefs that would contrast with local or national beliefs. The pamphlet appeared in German, and therefore would not have had a great influence on other LDS works.³²

Thus it was in this larger context that in March 1842, Joseph Smith appended to his letter to John Wentworth a listing of the thirteen Articles of Faith as now canonized as the last item of the Pearl of Great Price.³³

The background of the Wentworth letter, and the history of its early printing, have been discussed elsewhere and need not detain us here.³⁴ It must be concluded, given the material just presented, that nothing new appears in the Wentworth listing. Every item had been presented in Mormon literature before the time of its composing. From Joseph Smith's coauthorship role with Doctrine and Covenants 20 through the emerging literature of the church, through his compiling of the letter, he was active in shaping the spirit and mind of the early church and so he remains central to the doctrine, no matter who finally set pen to paper.³⁵ But questions still remain: What was the list in the Wentworth letter meant to accomplish? And was it really the product, as B. H. Roberts suggests, of one mind, produced at one sitting?

The Wentworth letter itself is a composite document. Joseph Smith's personal history came largely from material committed to paper in 1838. In early June 1838 Smith commenced to dictate his history to James Mulholland. This historical material was abridged for the Wentworth letter and it was published in the 1 March 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons.³⁶ Two weeks later the same periodical began serializing the “History of Joseph Smith,” and Smith specifically commented: “In the last number I gave a brief history of the rise and progress of the Church. I now enter more particularly to that history.” What this means is that if the historical part of the Wentworth letter had been written four years before it was published, i.e., that Smith drew on previously written material, then it might be more likely for him to draw on previously composed material containing lists of beliefs. It should not detract from Smith's work or calling to suggest he did not create the Wentworth list of LDS beliefs out of whole cloth. It should be remembered that he himself had been the key mind of early Mormonism, helping to give shape and content to early statements of beliefs such as Doctrine and Covenants 20. It should also be remembered that Smith was capable of taking the statements of his followers and issuing them as his own, as was the case with the list of thirteen political beliefs prepared for the editor of the Chester County Register and Examiner in January 1840. This list is predated by an earlier statement of Oliver Cowdery, first published in the Messenger and Advocate in 1835 and eventually added to the Doctrine and Covenants.³⁷

The first Mormon historian to suggest that the thirteen Articles of Faith were written as the LDS response to the major religious questions of the day was T. Edgar Lyon. First proclaimed on the 110th anniversary of the Wentworth letter, Lyon's views were popularized throughout the 1950s and 1960s in both talks and in various publications.³⁸ His view has been echoed by others and it remains the main theoretical explanation for the Articles of Faith.³⁹

There is, however, no reason to accept this position as definitive. As far as is known, the only early Mormon writer who prepared a list of beliefs for particular response to other religious points of view was Parley P. Pratt. The last chapter of his Voice of Warning (1837) contains a parallel listing of “A Contrast Between the Doctrines of Christ and the False Doctrines of the Nineteenth Century.”⁴⁰ Pratt also did the same kind of comparison (zeroing in on Methodism) in the final pages of his Mormonism Unveiled (New York, 1838).⁴¹ While Pratt reveals his great abilities as a pamphleteer in the classical sense of the word there is little evidence that Joseph Smith intended to do the same in the Wentworth list. While it is true that Mormons were beginning to prepare their lists for outsiders by 1840, it should be remembered that all the previous lists were primarily designed for use in the Church—that was the heritage and the influence of Doctrine and Convenants 20.

In his essays and talks, Lyon argued (1) that the “Articles of Faith” were written by Joseph Smith; (2) that Joseph “apparently geared the Articles to try to deal with the important issues that people at that time were facing”; (3) that Joseph was not writing for LDS consumption; (4) that “the Articles reveal an acute awareness of the strong currents of religion that were in the world at that time,” hence Joseph selected topics that were controversial topics of the period; and (5) that up to this time (1842) “the Church had been so busy with its various pioneering and missionary ventures that no one had taken time to write … an exposition of the principles of the faith.”

In his item-by-item analysis of the Wentworth listing, Lyon argued that Article 1 showed that the Mormons rejected the Unitarian belief in the godhead and thus revealed they were a Christian body. Article 2 showed that Mormons rejected original sin, infant baptism, and predestination. Article 3 put Mormons close to the Universalists, while 4 was Joseph's way of specifically contrasting the Mormons with the Campbellites. Article 5 was to show the LDS position on the issue of the question of religious authority, and Article 6 put Mormons in the same camp as the Restorationists. Article 7 was Smith's reaction to “spirit rappings,” and 8 was a response to critics who argued Mormons had rejected the Bible. Article 9 showed that Smith was not a millenarian; Article 10 revealed that he was not expecting an imminent return of Christ; Article 11 was a reaction to early Mormon experience with intolerance and persecution; Article 12 stated the LDS position regarding the important contemporary questions concerning the relationship of the individuals to governmental bodies; and Article 13 was a kind of summary of the open-ended Mormon approach to life.

It is possible to argue all of these points, but such logic fails to consider the larger textual context out of which the Wentworth listing came. In addition, since the Wentworth list seems to depend on earlier, lengthier statements, it is possible to more fully understand many of the articles that only appear in their most abbreviated form in the Wentworth list. If this comparative textual approach is taken, it is also possible to show not only that several of Lyon's positions are incorrect, but probably what the Wentworth listing more fully meant for Joseph Smith.

Just what Smith had in mind in publishing a list in 1842 may never be known. In the 1838 account of his early religious experiences, he said that he was told in his first vision that the creeds of Christendom were an abomination in the sight of God,⁴² and it is clear from the Pelatiah Brown affair that he did not like creedal statements.⁴³ The closest Smith came to summarizing LDS beliefs, excluding the Wentworth letter, was his published answer in the Elder's Journal to the question “what are the fundamental principles of your religion?” to which he replied, “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that he died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.”⁴⁴ It is not even known for sure that he himself composed the Wentworth list. Lyon noted traditions in the Orson Pratt family (that he, Lyon, heard when doing research at the University of Chicago) that Joseph Smith had asked Orson to prepare a shorter, more concise list than what had appeared in his own 1840 tract. There is so far no evidence to substantiate this, although while Pratt could be quite wordy in his publications, he could also be quite succinct and to the point. He had a mind of a mathematician, a mind for reducing things to their lowest common denominator.⁴⁵ The fact that Joseph Smith never again referred to this listing, and that Orson Pratt did and even felt free to add a few more items to it in later lists, possibly suggests he helped write them in the first place.

We probably will never know just who was finally responsible for the form the articles took in the Wentworth letter—there is no question about their beauty or their conciseness; but they were hardly definitive answers to the pivotal religious questions of the early nineteenth century—many of them are so worded that they invite questions and further discussion, not so as to close the door. Many were so broadly worded that both Catholics and Protestants could agree with them. Thus there is little indication in either the origin or structure of any of these first listings to suggest that their authors were responding to the religious controversies of the 1830s. At best they were minimal statements of Mormon doctrine intended primarily for a Protestant audience. They were primarily declarative, confessional statements offered in a missionary context.⁴⁶ This does not mean that as propositions they could not be called upon in a debate or argument; and it is possible that their structure was dictated by similar creeds that were well known in New England.⁴⁷ If what is suggested here is true, that the earliest listings we have can be traced to Doctrine and Covenants 20, then they were written first for insiders, for members, and only gradually were used in a missionary context. Why would converts who had rejected the contemporary denominations need to be reminded how their new faith differed from those they had rejected?

Lyon thus failed to see the evolutionary nature of the Articles prior to 1842, especially the role of Doctrine and Covenants 20 and the subsequent newspaper and pamphlet literature. He also failed to consider the obvious borrowing and coauthorship that went on in the early church. Finally, like so many other LDS authors, Lyon allowed the public visibility of Orson Pratt to obscure the greater contributions of his brother Parley.

What is suggested for the pre-1842 period continued to be true during the years thereafter. It was probably the continued diffusion of various lists that led church leaders in 1880 to canonize the Wentworth list as part of the Pearl of Great Price.

The listing attributed to Joseph Smith appeared in March 1842 and was again printed in a book edited by John E. Page and L. R. Foster, Correspondence Between Joseph Smith, The Prophet, and Col. John Wentworth,⁴⁸ and even though his position gave them an “official” status that encouraged others to reprint them, there continued to appear other lists or modifications of those already published. Several publications that appeared between 1842 and 1844 just reprinted the Wentworth listing.⁴⁹ After Joseph Smith's death in 1844, Orson Pratt again printed his 1840 listing (adding a fifteenth item dealing with the impending destruction of the nation) in the short-lived Listen to the Voice of Truth.⁵⁰ Parley P. Pratt continued to issue his more narrative descriptions of Mormon belief.⁵¹

An interesting list appeared in April 1849 in a pamphlet published under Orson Pratt's direction: James H. Flanigan, Reply to a Sheet Entitled “The Result of Two Meetings between the L.D. Saints and Primitive Methodists” at Gravely, Cambridgeshire. This seems to be the first printing of the well-known thirteen Articles of Faith, with one additional one, and includes all the canon with some few additions: “The Lord's Supper” is a fifth ordinance listed in Article 4; “inspiration” is named in Article 5 as the vehicle of men's calling, and being “duly commissioned” replaces “in authority.” Included in Article 7 as gifts believed in are “faith” and “discerning of spirits,” “wisdom, charity, [and] brotherly love.” Article 8 includes “all good books” as possible sources of the Word of God, but fails to include the “as far as it is translated correctly” rider to the Bible's credibility. Article 9 adds “the Messiah's second coming” as an addition to the belief in prophecy, and 10 sets the messianic reign at a thousand years. A whole eleventh article affirms that “We believe in the literal resurrection of the body, and that the dead in Christ will rise first, and that the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years are expired.” Article 12 includes the term “unmolested” as a condition of worship claimed by the Saints, 13 adds “queens” to the rulers to which they are subject, and 14 adds “temperate” and “upright” as qualities sought after, with a final “looking forward to the ‘recompense of reward.’”⁵² All these additional items are suggested in Orson Pratt's 1840 pamphlet and the other, earlier lists discussed above. The same list was included in Flanigan's Mormonism Triumphant!⁵³

The listing by Orson Hyde in The Frontier Guardian⁵⁴ is exactly the same fourteen statements, including the caption. Hyde did add one sentence to the end: “But an idle or lazy person cannot be a christian, neither have salvation. He is a drone and destined to be stung to death and tumbled out of the hive,” a clear indication of the pioneer work ethic the Mormons were beginning. It was from one of these listings that Charles Mackay, a non-Mormon author, obtained his list.⁵⁵

In 1850, Erastus Snow listed sixteen articles of faith in a pamphlet published in Danish,⁵⁶ and a short three-page tract appeared in Liverpool in 1851 which listed fourteen with “Parallel Scripture References to prove the Latter-day Saint Faith and Doctrine.”⁵⁷

Although Franklin D. Richards included the Wentworth listing in his compilation The Pearl of Great Price⁵⁸ (Liverpool, 1851), neither Mormons nor non-Mormons seemed bound to them alone. Charles Mackay's The Mormons: Or the Latter Day Saints reproduced the fourteen, and the great success of this volume assured that others would quote this listing. The numerous “belief” publications of the 1850s fail to show any signs of being bound to one list. In 1852 a broadside listing fourteen “Latter-day Saint Beliefs” appeared in England.⁵⁹ In 1853 Hugh Findlay published a pamphlet in Bombay, India, and on the last page reprinted, with some alterations, the Flanigan listing, adding scriptural references after several of the articles, apparently following the 1852 broadside.⁶⁰ Another printing was a pamphlet by Jesse Haven, published in South Africa. He listed a total of thirty-three “principal doctrines,” including the thirteen given in the Wentworth letter, to which he added such items as baptism for the dead, the three degrees of glory, and plural marriage. Haven's entire pamphlet was a list of items of belief.⁶¹

The next year, 1854, at least three different prints containing articles of faith appeared. Perhaps the best known was the listing that appeared in Sydney, Australia. This listing followed the fourteen and gave expanded “scriptural proofs” following many of the articles.⁶² Although the exact publication date is unknown, there appeared an exact reprinting in London that same year.⁶³ It is not known who copied whom. During the same year John Routledge reprinted the Flanigan list in England in his A Companion for the Bible, or Important Scripture References, to Prove a few of the First and Leading Principles of the Church.⁶⁴

Other lists appeared in the next few years. John Taylor published one of the most imaginative. Containing nineteen “beliefs,” his list follows in idea the earlier printed lists of the 1850s although it seemed to rely on Orson Pratt's 1844 list in Listen to the Voice of Truth.⁶⁵ In 1855 George A. Smith reprinted the Wentworth list from the Times and Seasons in The Deseret News, to which he added “we also believe in the Patriarchal order of matrimony.”⁶⁶ In 1856, Samuel M. Smucker printed the Flanigan list of fourteen items.⁶⁷ In 1857 the Wentworth listing appeared again in the LDS Millennial Star.⁶⁸ In 1862 Richard F. Burton reprinted Orson Hyde's Frontier Guardian list of fourteen with explanatory notes provided by Burton himself.⁶⁹

Although some of the aforementioned lists did appear in Mormon publications after 1860, the trend over the next two decades was to reprint the Wentworth listing as in George A. Smith, Rise, Progress and Travels.⁷⁰ This standardization was in large measure a product of the growing centralization of the Mormon press⁷¹ and several periods of housecleaning revealed most clearly in the reformation movement of 1856-57 and in the catechisms of the 1850s and 1860s. It was in this setting that lists of beliefs could assume a more functional role in LDS society.⁷²

Three years after Brigham Young's death in 1877, the Pearl of Great Price was canonized,⁷³ and because the Wentworth list of thirteen articles was included in this volume its priority was assured. At a general conference ten years after their canonization Wilford Woodruff asked Orson F. Whitney to read the Articles of Faith just prior to the announcement of the manifesto which rescinded church approval of plural marriage. At the same time, F. D. Richards formally proposed the individual acceptance of the Articles of Faith “as a rule of our faith and of our conduct” for the Latter-day Saints.⁷⁴ But as late as 1897, when members of the Salt Lake Stake Sunday Schools were to recite the Articles of Faith in the Tabernacle, leaders sought to advise all of the “correct form” to be used by printing the Wentworth list.⁷⁵ As early as the 1870s, young children in the Sunday School were being taught to memorize the “articles of our faith” and were being told that Joseph Smith was the author.⁷⁶ This standardizing procedure has been followed in the years since, and as to the present time, in the curriculum materials used by the church as well as in the publications of various Mormon authors.⁷⁷

When he wrote that the Articles of Faith “were struck off by one mind at a single effort,” B. H. Roberts had failed to see the evolutionary nature of this creedal statement in nineteenth-century Mormonism.⁷⁸ Others since Roberts, assessing the significance of the Wentworth list have likewise been unaware of the amount of sharing and borrowing that went on during this formative period, and its impact on the composing of that letter. That the Articles of Faith evolved gradually, and that their role as a creedal statement evolved along with their wording is evident from the documents here cited.

The early development of such statements of faith and belief, in Mormonism as in traditional Christianity, helped to articulate categories of thought. Hymns, prayers, beliefs expressed in rituals, and creeds have appeared in the literatures of most religious movements, Christian included. And while the New Testament contains no fully developed creed, it does suggest the early existence of basic confessions of faith, as in Matthew 28:10-20 and Acts 8:37. That Mormonism's restoration of the primitive faith included such a statement of faith is here evidenced.

Also delineated here is the centrality of a core of Mormon doctrines during its formative years. In spite of the variations among the various published lists, they show a remarkable consistency, not all of it accounted for by the extensive borrowing from one to another.

Notes

1. For the full letter see B. H. Roberts, ed., History of the Church, Period I, 7 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., revised ed., 1956), 4:535-41 (hereafter cited as HC); and Dean C. Jessee, ed., The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1984), 212-20.

2. George Barstow (1812-83) did publish a history of the state of New Hampshire in 1842, but he did not include the material Smith sent to Wentworth. Some biographical information is in Jessee, Personal Writings, 667, n. 2.

3. A good study of its contents and history is James R. Clark, The Story of the Pearl of Great Price (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1955). See also Clark, “Our Pearl of Great Price: From Mission Pamphlet to Standard Work,” Ensign 6 (August 1976): 12-17.

4. “Journal of James E. Talmage,” 31 January 1893. MS in Special Collections, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

5. See “MS History of the Church,” Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. This repository hereafter cited as LDS Church Archives.

6. HC, 1:64-74.

7. Orson Pratt discourse of 10 October 1880 in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool, 1854-1886), 22:32. Compare the comments of A. A. Ramseyer in LDS Millennial Star 60 (6 September 1900): 566.

8. While an exact dating is not possible, it could have been as early as June 1829. On 14 June 1829 Cowdery wrote a letter to Hyrum Smith, MS in LDS Church Archives, in which he included material from Doctrine and Covenants 18 (hereafter cited as D&C), the same section cited in the “1829” MS by Cowdery. See also David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ (Richmond, Mo.: Author, 1887), 49, 64.

9. For a discussion of the relation of this MS to D&C 20, which includes a typescript of the Oliver Cowdery MS, see Robert J. Woodford, “The Historical Development of the Doctrine and Covenants” (Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1974), 1:286-93. The original Cowdery MS is in LDS Church Archives.

10. The Evening and the Morning Star (Independence, Mo.) 1 (June 1832): 1, 2. In most all the early MS copies, D&C 22 is not combined with D&C 20. A useful overview of the early printings and texts is Richard L. Anderson, “The Organizational Revelations (D&C 20, 21 and 22)” in Studies in Scriptures, Volume 1: The Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson (Sandy, Utah: Randall Book Co., 1984), 109-23.

11. HC, 1:104, 105.

12. See Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1930), 1:189-98. Hereafter cited as CHC.

13. “Far West Record,” MS, LDS Church Archives, 1.

14. Woodford notes the various MS copies of D&C 20 extant in the handwriting of such early Mormon missionaries as Orson Hyde, Wilford Woodruff, and Orson Pratt. See Woodford, “Historical Development,” 1:293. Martin Harris provided a copy of the Articles and Covenants to the Painsville Telegraph (19 April 1831), p. 4.

15. A general overview of the lectures is presented in Leland H. Gentry, “What of the Lectures on Faith?” Brigham Young University Studies 19 (Fall 1978): 5-19. The Lectures on Faith had been a committee project. See Elinore H. Partridge, “Characteristics of Joseph Smith's Style and Notes on the Authorship of the Lectures on Faith,” Task Papers in LDS History, No. 14 (Salt Lake City: The Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1976); and Alan J. Phipps, “The Lectures on Faith: An Authorship Study” (MA thesis, Brigham Young University, 1977).

16. D&C 88:78.

17. The authorship questions are treated in the sources cited in note 36 below.

18. Preface dated 17 February 1835, Kirtland, Ohio.

19. David Whitmer later argued that the D&C was a creed. See his An Address to All Believers in Christ, 51-52. See also the “Kirtland Council Minute Book,” 17 August 1835, MS in LDS Church Archives. Here the D&C is specifically referred to as containing “the faith[,] articles and covenants” of the Latter-day Saints.

20. LDS Messenger and Advocate (Kirtland, Ohio) 1 (October 1834): 1-2. For another example of the understanding of the central tenets of Mormonism, see the summary in the letter of William E. McClellin to Samuel McClellin, 4 August 1832. MS in LDS Church Archives.

21. John Hayward, The Religious Creeds and Statutes of Every Christian Denomination in the United States and British Provinces (Boston: John Hayward, 1836), 139-40.

22. Bibliographical material is provided in Peter Crawley, “A Bibliography of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New York, Ohio, and Missouri,” BYU Studies 12 (Summer 1972): 516-18.

23. On the larger impact of Parley P. Pratt see Crawley, “Parley P. Pratt: Father of Mormon Pamphleteering,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 15 (Autumn 1982): 13-26.

24. Late Persecution of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ten Thousand American Citizens robbed, plundered, and banished; others imprisoned, and others martyred for their religion. With a sketch of their rise, progress and doctrine. (New York: J. W. Harrison, Printer, 1840), iii-xiii.

25. Crawley, “Parley P. Pratt,” 16.

26. Full bibliographical information is in Chad Flake, ed., A Mormon Bibliography, 1830-1930 (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1978), 520. Hereafter cited as Flake, with item number following.

27. An Address to the Citizens of Salem and Vicinity was first issued in Salem, Massachusetts. The work was dated 9 September 1841. A second printing was made within a week by Freeman Nickerson in Boston. A third printing appeared in the Times and Seasons 2 (15 October 1841): 574-76 and 3 (15 November 1841): 578-84.

28. Among them are T. Edgar Lyon, S. George Ellsworth, Leonard J. Arrington, and Dean C. Jessee.

29. The ordering of the historical and doctrinal material in both Orson Pratt's pamphlet and in Joseph Smith's Wentworth letter make it difficult to argue against the strong possibility that Joseph had a copy of Pratt's pamphlet in front of him when he composed the Wentworth letter. According to Orson's 24 September 1840 letter from Edinburgh to George A. Smith, this pamphlet was “at press” and he expected 2,000 copies for a 6 October conference. MS in LDS Church Archives. Flake, 6501-6505.

30. The Gospel Reflector (Philadelphia) 1 (1 January 1841): 2-3. Winchester was also influenced by Parley P. Pratt.

31. English translation by Justus Ernst. MS of translation in LDS Church Archives. In a letter to Joseph Smith from London, 15 June 1841, Hyde told of writing this pamphlet “to publish in the German language” and specifically mentioned Orson Pratt and Oliver Cowdery as his sources. Hyde also outlined the contents of the pamphlet. See LDS Millennial Star 18 (6 September 1856): 565. Cf. HC, 4:373.

32. Several years later, as editor of the Frontier Guardian (Kanesville, Iowa), Orson Hyde would print one of the well-known lists of fourteen articles of faith. See note 54 below.

33. Times and Seasons 3 (1 March 1842): 709-10. Between this printing and the most recent edition of the Pearl of Great Price (1981) there have been several textual changes made to this list. See Walter L. Whipple, “An Analysis of Textual Changes in ‘The Book of Abraham’ and in the ‘Writings of Joseph Smith, The Prophet,’ in the Pearl of Great Price” (MA thesis, BYU, 1959), 126-33, 140; and Lyndon W. Cook, “The Articles of Faith,” BYU Studies 17 (Winter 1977): 254-56 (Re: changes in wording in the Fourth Article). It could be argued that someone other than Joseph Smith authored the Wentworth letter. He did use clerks and scribes for his correspondence and his History. But the following must be considered: (1) Joseph commenced as editor with the 15 February 1842 issue, the same issue that contained the farewell remarks of Ebenezer Robinson, the retiring editor; and (2) in the issue (1 March 1842) that contains the Wentworth letter, Joseph specifically inserted a notice to subscribers: “This paper commences my editorial career, I alone stand responsible for it, and shall do for all papers having my signature henceforth” (p. 710). This notice followed Joseph Smith's signature at the end of the Wentworth letter. Joseph was in Nauvoo during the month the letter appeared in the Times and Seasons and if he did not personally write the Wentworth letter, he surely approved of its contents.

34. CHC, 2:130-33; Joseph Fielding Smith, Church History and Modern Revelation, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City: The Council of the Twelve Apostles, LDS Church, 1953), 2:284-94; George Q. Morris, “The Origin of the Articles of Faith,” Instructor 91 (February 1956): 44, 45; Preston Nibley, “The Wentworth Letter,” Improvement Era 65 (February 1962): 96-97, 114-18; Robert J. Matthews, “The Number and Text of the Articles of Faith,” (Provo, Utah: n.p., n.d.); Edward J. Brandt, “The Articles of Faith: Origin and Importance,” Pearl of Great Price Symposium (Provo, Utah: BYU Press, 1976), 68-75; John W. Welch and David J. Whittaker, “‘We Believe …’ Development of the Articles of Faith,” Ensign 9 (September 1979): 51-55; and Whittaker, “Early Mormon Pamphleteering,” (Ph.D. diss., BYU, 1982), 308-11, n. 137.

35. See, for example, David J. Whittaker, “Orson Pratt: Prolific Pamphleteer,” Dialogue 15 (Autumn 1982): 34-35; and Peter Crawley, “Parley P. Pratt: Father of Early Mormon Pamphleteering,” ibid., 14. Also valuable is Crawley, “The Passage of Mormon Primitivism,” ibid. 13 (Winter 1980): 26-37.

36. The historical material came from the early sections of the “Manuscript History of the Church,” a project begun in 1838. See Dean C. Jessee, “The Writing of Joseph Smith's History,” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439-73; and Howard C. Searle, “Early Mormon Historiography: Writing the History of the Mormons, 1830-1858,” (Ph.D. diss., UCLA, 1979), 200-336.

37. The list of Joseph Smith's political beliefs, dated 22 January 1840 and addressed to “Mr. Editor,” appeared in the Chester (Pennsylvania) County Register and Examiner, 11 February 1840. See Jessee, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, 455-58. An examination of Joseph's list shows its relationship to the material authored by Oliver Cowdery. Known today as D&C 134, the statement was approved by a church conference in Kirtland on 17 August 1835. It was published in the LDS Messenger and Advocate 1 (August 1835): 163-64, and also appeared as Section 102 in the 1835 edition of the D&C. While Joseph Smith was not present at this conference he later referred to this section as “the belief of the Church.” See ibid. 2 (April 1836): 291. Joseph's 1840 list of political beliefs illustrates his practice of taking material from the early publications and using it for his own purposes. Compare the earlier and shorter “Political Motto” (March 1838) in Joseph Fielding Smith, comp., Teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1938), 117. It is possible that a committee produced D&C 134, just as they did D&C 109: the dedication prayer for the Kirtland Temple, which Oliver Cowdery and others helped Joseph Smith write. See Leonard J. Arrington, “Oliver Cowdery's Kirtland, Ohio, ‘Sketch Book,’” BYU Studies 12 (Summer 1972): 426.

38. T. Edgar Lyon, “The Origin and Purpose of the Articles of Faith,” Instructor 97 (August-October 1952); “Joseph Smith—the Wentworth Letter and Religious America of 1842,” Twelfth Annual Joseph Smith Memorial Sermon, 5 December 1954 (Logan, Utah: LDS Institute of Religion, 1955). Also in The Herald Journal (Logan, Utah) 26 December 1954; “The Articles of Faith: How they were Born,” LDS Millennial Star 119 (November 1957): 330-33, 338; “What Is a Prophet of God?” (Address to the student body of Brigham Young University, 2 November 1960), 3-8; and “Doctrinal Development of the Church During the Nauvoo Sojourn: 1839-1846,” BYU Studies 15 (Summer 1975): 445-46: “What [Joseph Smith] really did was list points of doctrine which were directed to the burning issues of the day. …”

39. See Leonard J. Arrington, “Charles Mackay and his ‘True and Impartial History’ of the Mormons,” Utah Historical Quarterly 36 (Winter 1968): 26; and Milton V. Backman Jr., “Joseph Smith, Popularizer or Restorer?” Improvement Era 70 (March, April 1967): 58ff, 76ff. This was published in pamphlet form by Deseret Book Company in 1967. Backman repeats Lyon's position: “The Articles of Faith … indicate, in part, the LDS position on controversial theological issues of the early nineteenth century” (p. 5). Backman argued that the Wentworth list emphasized the LDS similarities with other Christian religions rather than the differences.

40. Parley P. Pratt, A Voice of Warning (New York: W. Sandford, 1837), 121-28.

41. Parley P. Pratt, Mormonism Unveiled (New York, 1838), 42-45.

42. Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith—History, 1:19.

43. HC, 5:40-41 (8 April 1843): “I did not like the old man being called up for erring in doctrine. It looks too much like the Methodists and not like the Latter-day Saints. Methodists have creeds which a man must believe or be asked out of their church. I want the liberty of thinking and believing as I please. It feels so good not to be trammelled. It does not prove that a man is not a good man because he errs in doctrine.” In 1835 Almon W. Babbitt was accused by the Kirtland High Council of teaching that “we have no articles of faith except the Bible.” “Kirtland Council Minute Book,” 19 August 1835, MS in LDS Church Archives. Also HC, 2:252. On 1 January 1843, Joseph Smith provided some additional insights: “In reply to Mr. Butterfield, I stated that the most prominent difference in sentiment between the Latter-day Saints and sectarians was, that the latter were all circumscribed by some peculiar creed, which deprived its members the privilege of believing anything not contained therein whereas the Latter-day Saints have no creed, but they are ready to believe all true principles that exist as they are made manifest from time to time” HC, 5:215. Compare HC, 5:517. In his diary (kept by Willard Richards) for 31 December 1842, Joseph notes: “I have no creed to circumscribe my mind therefore the people do not like me.” MS in LDS Church Archives. William W. Phelps, in a letter to William Smith in December 1844, echoed these sentiments: Mormonism is “the great leveling machine of creeds.” Times and Seasons 5 (1 January 1844): 758. All of this underlies the key Mormon belief in the principle of continuing revelation and that a creedal statement suggests an end to development.

44. The question (#20) appeared in the Elders Journal (Kirtland, Ohio) 1 (November 1837): 29. The answer was in ibid. (Far West, Mo.) 1 (July 1838): 44.

45. See Whittaker, “Orson Pratt: Prolific Pamphleteer,” 32-36.

46. See Steven P. Sondrup, “On Confessing Belief: Thoughts on the Language of the Articles of Faith,” in Neal E. Lambert, ed., Literature of Belief (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, BYU, 1981), 197-215.

47. In addition to Williston Walker, The Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism (1969), see Milton V. Backman Jr., American Religions and the Rise of Mormonism (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1965), 446-56; Samuel Miller, The Utility and Importance of Creeds and Confessions: An Introductory Lecture … July 2, 1824 (Princeton, N.J.: D. A. Boorenstein, 1824); John H. Leith, ed., Creeds of the Churches (Richmond, Va.: John Knox Press, rev. ed., 1973).

48. John E. Page and L. R. Foster, Correspondence Between Joseph Smith, The Prophet, and Col. John Wentworth (New York: J. N. Harrison, 1844), 6. This was published by John E. Page and L. R. Foster.

49. See, for example, Noah Packard, Political and Religious Detector (Medina, Ohio: Michael Hyee, 1842), 34; the 1842 edition of John Hayward, The Religious Creeds; and I. Daniel Rupp, An Original History of the Religious Denominations, at present existing in the United States (Philadelphia: Humphreys, 1844), 41 (2nd ed., 1849), 348.

50. Listen to the Voice of Truth, Vol. I, No. 1 (New York City: S. Brannan 1844), 1-4. According to The Prophet (New York) this tract was to be “the first of a series of cheap, comprehensive TRACTS illustrating the great truths we are contending for.” The Prophet (15 August 1844). The title above the text reads “A Sketch of the Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Particularly for those who Are Unacquainted With Our Principles.” The material is an exact reprint from the first American edition of Pratt's An Interesting Account (New York: Joseph W. Harrison, Printer, 1841), 25-34 (1842 ed.), 27-36.

51. See “What is Mormonism” The Prophet (New York) beginning with No. 46. Pratt's systematizing reached its fullest expression in Key to the Science of Theology (Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855).

52. James H. Flanigan, Reply to a Sheet Entitled “The Result of Two Meetings between the L.D. Saints and the Primitive Methodists” at Gravely, Cambridgeshire (Liverpool? 1849), 7-8. While this pamphlet is dated Bedford, 1 March 1849, Flanigan's Journal shows that on 3 April 1849, “I wrote the ‘Reply’ to the Ranters in Gravely Cambridgeshire.” He received 300 copies on 21 April 1849, but he does not indicate who printed them. MS in LDS Church Archives. On 1 January 1849 Flanigan received word that Orson Pratt had appointed him to be the president of the Bedford Conference, and it was in connection with this assignment that Flanigan published several items defending Mormonism. It is probable that the source for the “printed ‘Creed’” of the Latter-day Saints reprinted in the 1851 British Census for Religious Worship was this pamphlet. See Census of Great Britain, 1851, Religious Worship, England and Wales, Report and Tables (London: George E. Eyer and William Spottiswoode for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1853), cx-cxi.

53. James H. Flanigan, Mormonism Triumphant! (Liverpool: R. James, 1849), 32. James H. Flanigan's Journal reveals that he wrote this work in June and July, and that he finished it on 13 July 1849, the day he sent the MS to “O. Pratts press.” He suggests that 6,000 copies were made, 500 of which he received on 22 September 1849, the remainder of which were presumably distributed by the LDS Millennial Star office in Liverpool. MS in LDS Church Archives. The pamphlet was advertised as “just published” in the Millennial Star 11 (15 August 1849): 256. Flanigan's letter to Orson Pratt was printed just inside the cover of the pamphlet.

54. Frontier Guardian 2 (20 February 1850): 1. It was published under the title “Latter-day Saints's Faith.”

55. Between June 1851 and 1857 Charles Mackay's The Mormons: Or the Latter-day Saints (London) went through five editions. The 14 Articles appeared on pages 46-47 in the 1851 edition and pages 40-41 in the 1852 edition. The impact of this history is considered in Arrington, “Charles Mackay and his ‘True and Impartial History’ of the Mormons,” 24-40. It was from Mackay that Wilford Wood obtained the list he included in his second volume of Joseph Smith Begins His Work (n.p.: Wilford C. Wood, 1962). Wood's volume is the source for the popular knowledge in the LDS Church of the list of fourteen “Articles of Faith.”

56. See En Sandheds-Rost (A Voice of Truth) (Kjobenhavn, 1850), 14-16. English translation by Paul V. Johnson in Special Collections, BYU. Flake, 8169. Lorenzo Snow had earlier written a pamphlet that dealt with only the first four articles: The Only Way to be Saved (London: D. Chalmers, 1841).

57. Invitation (Liverpool, 1851). Flake, 1882a. This item containing fourteen articles of faith was reprinted several times.

58. The Pearl of Great Price (Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1851), 55. In this first edition the caption read simply “‘Times and Seasons,’ Vol. III, page 709.” In a preface, Richards stated that he hoped “this little collection of precious truths” would increase the ability of true believers in the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith “to maintain and to defend the holy faith by becoming possessors of it.” The title caption “Articles of our Faith” was added to the 1878 edition (Salt Lake City: LDS Printing and Publishing Establishment), 63. This was reprinted in the 1879 edition (Liverpool: William Bridge), 79; and the 1882 edition (Liverpool: Albert Carrington), 79. The 1888 edition shortened the title to “Articles of Faith” (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Company), 121. This was not followed in the 1891 edition, where the caption returned to “Articles of Our Faith” (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon and Sons Co. Publishers), 79. The 1902 edition, which was divided into chapters and verses with added references by James E. Talmage returned to the 1891 caption “The Articles of Faith” to which was added “Of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” In addition the reference to the Times and Seasons was eliminated in this edition (Salt Lake City: The Deseret News), 102. This remained the practice through the 1921 edition, which was the last major edition until the 1982 edition, which added after the title “History of the Church, Vol. 4, pp. 535-541.”

59. “Latter-day Saint Beliefs” (Liverpool? 1852?). Original in BYU Archives. Flake, 4771a. A blank space was left at the bottom of the broadside where missionaries could add information regarding their preaching locations. This was probably the first use in Mormonism of the “missionary card” containing the Articles of Faith, although it was not until the 1870s and more fully after World War II that the individualized Articles of Faith cards became standard fare for Mormon missionaries. Examples of these include the following, most of which are in the LDS Church Archives: “The Latter Day Saints' Belief,” Broadside (Hull: Oliver's Printing Establishment, 1852?); “The Latter-Day Saints' Belief,” Broadside (Liverpool? 1852?); “Articles of Faith,” Broadside (n.p.: n.p., 187-?); “Latter-Day Saints” (Liverpool: Millennial Star Office, 1895). This broadside included a list of LDS publications, including “Articles of Faith, per 1000” 1 Shilling; “A Conference of Members of the Church … in the Sheffield Conference District will be held in the County Court Room, (Guild Hall,) Doncaster on Sunday, November 8, 1986.” On the reverse side of this broadside were the “Articles of Faith”; similar conference announcements are extant which were issued in England in 1896, 1897, and 1900, all of which contain the Wentworth listing on the verso of the broadside. The Deseret Sunday School Union issued several printings of the Wentworth listing in the 1880s and 1890s. The smaller, wallet-size Articles of Faith cards seem to have become popular after World War II. They have since appeared in many languages, especially during the 150th anniversary of the church in 1980. Samples are in LDS Church Archives. The standardization of the translation is assured by The Pearl of Great Price Translation Guide Fascicle 5, The Articles of Faith (Salt Lake City: Translation Services, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1978).

60. The Mormons or the Latter-day Saints (Bombay, India: Duftur Ashkara Press, 1853), 22: “The Latter-day Saints Belief.” See also Hugh Findlay, To The Marattas of Hindoostan, A Treatise on the True and Living God (ca. March 1855), same listing on last page.

61. Some of the Principle Doctrines or Belief of the Church (Cape Town: W. Foelscher 1853), 1-6. This pamphlet was reprinted in David J. Whittaker, “Early Mormon Imprints in South Africa,” BYU Studies 20 (Summer 1980): 410-16.

62. Zion's Watchman 1 (5 August 1854): 135-36. “The Faith and Doctrines of the Latter-day Saints, With Scriptural Proofs.”

63. C. Armstrong, “He that Readeth, Let Him Understand.” (Walworth: W. Aubrey, 1854?) under the title “The Faith and Doctrines of the LDS With Scriptural Proofs,” 2-4. Flake, 201.

64. John Routledge, A Companion for the Bible, or Important Scripture References, to Prove a few of the First and Leading Principles of the Church (Liverpool, 1854), 20-21. He included the Flanigan listing (again from Mackay?) but without scriptural references under the title “Latter Day Saints Faith.”

65. This list ran in every issue of The Mormon (New York City), beginning with Vol. 1, No. 1 (17 March 1855): 4. It also included the same material in French on the same page.

66. Deseret News, 5 September 1855.

67. The Religious, Social and Political History of The Mormons (New York: Miller, Orton's Mulliged, 1856), 61-63. This list clearly came from Mackay's volume. Note the comments by John Taylor in The Mormon, 20 September 1856.

68. Millennial Star (21 February 1857): 120.

69. The City of the Saints (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1862), 387-98.

70. George A. Smith, Rise, Progress and Travels (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Office, 1869), 40-41.

71. See Whittaker, “Early Mormon Pamphleteering,” 35-49.

72. The standardizing of LDS beliefs can be seen in the various published catechisms in early Utah. See Davis Bitton, “Mormon Catechisms,” Task Papers in LDS History, No. 15 (Salt Lake City: Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1976). We have generally ignored here lists of beliefs issued by individuals or groups who broke with mainstream Mormonism. Examples would include William Smith, William Smith on Mormonism (Lamoni, Iowa: Herald Steam Book and Job Office, 1883), 29-32 (Seventeen Articles); Articles of Faith, Published by Committee of the Church of the Firstborn, Organized in San Francisco, California, July 2nd, 1876 (San Francisco: n.p., 1887) (Thirteen Articles); and “Statement of Belief,” mimeographed MS, 8 pp., copy in LDS Church Archives, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; last two pages follow Wm. Smith's list: “Epitome of the Faith and Doctrines of the Church of Christ.”

73. See Journal History for an account of the 10 October 1880 conference. Also Clark, The Story of the Pearl of Great Price, 205-7. As Clark suggests there must have been some question as to the exact place of the Articles of Faith in the standard works, as they were specifically recanonized in October 1890.

74. See LDS Millennial Star 46 (17 November 1890): 722. The date of the proposal was 6 October 1890. Wilford Woodruff had set the stage for the public reading of the Articles of Faith by Orson F. Whitney by counseling that an often asked question is “What do the Latter-day Saints Believe In?”

75. Deseret Evening News 30 (16 February 1897): 4.

76. The Juvenile Instructor 74 (1 January 1879): 5.

77. In publications between 1882 and 1985, the following authors and authorities contributed to the standardizing process: John Jaques, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Its Priesthood, Organization, Doctrines, Ordinances and History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1882), last page; Wilford Woodruff, in “Official Refutation of Slander,” LDS Millennial Star 73 (9 and 16 March 1891): 145-49, 160-64, esp. 163; James E. Talmage, The Articles of Faith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1899); Arthur Price, “On Remembering the Articles of Faith,” LDS Millennial Star 66 (10 November 1904): 732-33; Charles W. Penrose, “The ‘Mormon’ Creed Explained,” ibid. 64 (6 March 1902): 157-58; cf. the earlier listing in “The Character of the ‘Mormon’ People,” ibid. 49 (1 August 1887): 491; First Presidency, Joseph F. Smith, Anthon H. Lund, John Henry Smith, letter of 6 February 1911, in ibid. 73 (2 March 1911): 137, refer to the Articles of Faith specifically as a “creed”; Heber J. Grant, in Address of 3 October 1919, in Conference Reports (October 1919), 27-34; also 5 April 1935 in Conference Reports (April 1935), 8-11; and Spencer W. Kimball, in Address of October 1975, in Conference Reports (October 1975), 117-19; and Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985).

78. CHC, 2:131. Compare with HC, 4:535n.