Most of us in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints love the Wentworth Letter that Joseph Smith wrote in 1842 to John Wentworth, editor and proprietor of the Chicago Democrat. It outlined the history of the Church and included the 13 Articles of Faith. Read the entire Wentworth Letter Here
The Prophet Joseph Smith shared with us important information regarding the Lamanites spoken of in the Book of Mormon and how they were the Native Americans of this land of North America. (See bold orange text further down the page).
Below in quotes and in normal black text is a portion of the Wentworth Letter. When you come to the orange text this is the part of the Wentworth Letter that was omitted from the lesson manual titled Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith Chapter 38 page 441.
“I was also informed concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of this country [America] and shown who they were, and from whence they came; a brief sketch of their origin, progress, civilization, laws, governments, of their righteousness and iniquity, and the blessings of God being finally withdrawn from them as a people, was [also] made known unto me; I was also told where were deposited some plates on which were engraven an abridgment of the records of the ancient prophets that had existed on this continent. The angel appeared to me three times the same night and unfolded the same things. After having received many visits from the angels of God, unfolding the majesty and glory of the events that should transpire in the last days, on the morning of the 22nd of September, A.D. 1827, the angel of the Lord delivered the records into my hands.
These records were engraven on plates which had the appearance of gold. Each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long, and not quite so thick as common tin. They were filled with engravings, in Egyptian characters, and bound together in a volume as the leaves of a book, with three rings running through the whole. The volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters on the unsealed part were small, and beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction and much skill in the art of engraving. With the records was found a curious instrument, which the ancients called “Urim and Thummim,” which consisted of two transparent stones set in the rims of a bow fastened to a breastplate. Through the medium of the Urim and Thummim I translated the record by the gift and power of God.
In this important and interesting book the history of ancient America is unfolded, from its first settlement by a colony that came from the Tower of Babel at the confusion of languages to the beginning of the fifth century of the Christian era. We are informed by these records that America in ancient times has been inhabited by two distinct races of people. The first were called Jaredites and came directly from the Tower of Babel. The second race came directly from the city of Jerusalem about six hundred years before Christ. They were principally Israelites of the descendants of Joseph. The Jaredites were destroyed about the time that the Israelites came from Jerusalem, who succeeded them in the inheritance of the country. The principal nation of the second race fell in battle towards the close of the fourth century. The remnant are the Indians that now inhabit this country. This book also tells us that our Savior made His appearance upon this continent after His Resurrection; that He planted the gospel here in all its fulness, and richness, and power, and blessing; that they had apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists—the same order, the same priesthood, the same ordinances, gifts, powers, and blessings, as were enjoyed on the eastern continent; that the people were cut off in consequence of their transgressions; that the last of their prophets who existed among them was commanded to write an abridgment of their prophecies, history, etc., and to hide it up in the earth; and that it should come forth and be united with the Bible for the accomplishment of the purposes of God in the last days. For a more particular account I would refer to the Book of Mormon, which can be purchased at Nauvoo, or from any of our traveling elders.” Portion of the Wentworth Letter by Joseph Smith
To see this edit in the “Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith” see Chapter 38 page 441, here.
It is my opinion that this important text about the Native Americans today in the United States being descended from the Lamanites of the Book of Mormon may have been left out on purpose by those over seeing the printing of this Church manual. It is not my opinion that the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints edited this book or had any wrongdoing in leaving portions of the Wentworth Letter out. I love the Brethren of the Church and support them in all that they do.
Is it possible that employees at the Church left this portion of the Wentworth Letter out of the lesson manual on purpose, based on their opinion that the Book of Mormon speaks about events in Mesoamerica? I will let you decide. I don’t bring this up for the sake of contention, but to be sure we understand the full context of this important paragraph. I would hope those in the Church Correlation Department or relevant departments would dialogue with myself, Jonathan Neville or Rod Meldrum about this. As of today we have had no takers to discuss this information. (Sept 3, 2018)
Jonathan Nevilles Blog Below
“If we were living in the United States in 1842, right about now we’d be receiving our copy of the March 1, 1842, Times and Seasons. This issue contains the Wentworth letter, which contains the Articles of Faith.
You can find this issue online here: http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v2n09.htm
You can also see the entire letter here: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2002/07/the-wentworth-letter?lang=eng.
There’s an excellent historical introduction here: http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/church-history-1-march-1842/1#historical-intro
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I have a 40-page chapter on the Wentworth Letter in my book called, The Editors: Joseph, William, and Don Carlos Smith. It was released April, 2017. You can order it here:
Here’s an excerpt from that chapter:
“The Wentworth letter relates to the authorship of the 900 words because it is a crucial piece of evidence regarding Joseph Smith’s thinking at a critical time. Recall that the thank-you note to John Bernhisel was written and mailed in November, 1841. This is the note that supposedly endorsed a Mesoamerican setting for the Book of Mormon. If Joseph had anything to do with the Bernhisel note (which I don’t think he did), than one would expect him to be consistent in March 1842. Instead of explicitly rejecting Orson Pratt’s hemispheric model, Joseph would have embraced it, or at least limited it to Central America. He could have condensed it and still kept Pratt’s original concept.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he replaced it with the clarification that the “remnant” of the Book of Mormon people are “the Indians who now inhabit this country.”
Because this point is so crucial, some promoters of the Mesoamerican theory have insisted that when Joseph wrote to Mr. Wentworth and referred to “this country,” he actually meant all of North and South America. That debate is beyond the scope of this book, but there are plenty of online references for anyone interested in following it.
For my purposes here, it seems unlikely that Joseph was thinking about how someone trying to promote a Mesoamerican setting in the twenty-first century might interpret the phrase. He was writing to a fellow resident of Illinois, knowing the article was intended for publication in the United States. Certainly Mr. Wentworth would understand the phrase to refer to the country in which he and Joseph both lived. If Joseph wanted to convey a hemispheric idea to Wentworth, he would have written “the Indians who live in North and South America” or similar words.” The Editors: Joseph, William, and Don Carlos Smith by Jonathan Neville
The Wentworth letter is an amazing accomplishment, and not only because of the Articles of Faith. It is a succinct explanation of the history of the Church and Joseph’s own experiences.
Where you can’t see the entire letter is in the lesson manual Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith. The reason: the manual edited the Wentworth letter to omit Joseph’s explanation that the Lamanites are the American Indians living in “this country.”
I discussed the Wentworth letter here, in the context of Orson Pratt’s pamphlet about Church history: http://www.lettervii.com/2016/08/letter-vii-in-histories-volume-1.html
Source: Book of Mormon Wars by Jonathan Neville
Below is the actual article by Jonathan Neville that I have copied in this blog. Jonathan and I would like our readers to understand the importance of our Church history especially regarding the Lamanites of this land of North America. http://www.moronisamerica.com/the-wentworth-letter/
