Content preview - You need a premium account to view this content.
Appendix
The Prophet's Epistle to the Church
Sections 121 122 and 123 of the Doctrine and Covenants are all taken from "The Prophet's Epistle to the Church" written between March 20 and March 25 1839 while he was still held prisoner at Liberty Jail. The Prophet Joseph Smith was nearing the end of his incarceration but he did not know that nor did he know he would be able to rejoin the Saints in time for general conference. He began the epistle: "To the Church of Latter-day Saints at Quincy Illinois and scattered abroad and to Bishop Partridge in particular" because his letter answered questions and concerns posed by Bishop Partridge in a recent letter received by the Prophet. In addition to instructions to Bishop Partridge about the temporal affairs of the Church the epistle also included personal reflections; expressions of love for individuals and the Saints; complaints about misdeeds and mistreatment endured by Joseph his companions and the Saints by the enemies of the Church; and of course three sections of canonized latter-day scripture.
Figure A.1 offers a very high-level description of the Prophet's epistle by breaking it into blocks of text. It is interesting that while the texts of section 122 and 123 are unbroken, section 121 is formed from five separated blocks. There are two additional structural features that are interesting to note. First, the epistle is divided near the middle, when the Prophet wrote: "We are your brethren and fellow-sufferers, and prisoners of Jesus Christ for the Gospel's sake, and for the hope of glory which is in us. Amen." Verses 1-33 of section 121 appear before this division and verses 34-46 appear after it. Second, there is no break between the last verse of section 121 and the first verse of section 122. Given that section 121 is broken into five separate blocks, this might seem odd except that there is a definite change in voice at this point in the text. An inspired Joseph Smith was the mouthpiece for Doctrine and Covenants 121:34-46, while the Lord began speaking to Joseph in the first verse of section 122.
While section 121 appears in five separate blocks of text, it divides naturally into four distinct parts. In verses 1-6, Joseph pleaded with the Lord for the suffering Saints. Verses 7-25 are the Lord's direct response to Joseph's pleadings. Then verses 26-33 (and verse 46) represent a marked shift in the text-Joseph became the mouthpiece as the Lord taught him and the Saints about the plan for the dispensation of the fulness of times as ordained in the council in heaven. Finally, verses 34-45 are an answer to a question posed directly in verse 34: Why are many called, but only a few are chosen?
