You may have been hearing a lot about Letter VII (Letter 7). It is a book by Jonathan Neville, but that’s not what Letter VII began as. Long before it was copied into a book by Jonathan, it is one of a series of eight letters that Oliver Cowdery wrote to WW Phelps who was living in Missouri. It was cheaper to send mail to each other than it was to publish books, articles or pamphlets. Joseph Smith asked Oliver to put in letter form, a history of the Church and Joseph assisted him in producing much of the information. In return WW Phelps sent 11 letters to Oliver’s eight. The importance of these letters can be understood because Letter I by Oliver was canonized in the Pearl of Great Price. See in JSH 1:71 the asterisk*. These 8 letters were originally published in the “Messenger and Advocate, vol. 1 (October 1834), pp. 14–16.”
LETTER VII was published in the following publications:
Messenger and Advocate (Kirtland 1835)
Copied into Joseph Smith’s Personal Journal (1835)
Quoted in Orson Pratt’s Pamphlet (1840)
Gospel Reflector (Philadelphia 1841)
Times and Seasons (Nauvoo 1841)
The Prophet (New York City 1844-45)
Liverpool Pamphlet (1844)
Millennial Star (1866)
Improvement Era (Salt Lake City 1899)
“I think Letter VII was reprinted so many times because it was so important. Oliver’s history was the most complete history of the early days of the Church until the serialized History of Joseph Smith began running in the Times and Seasons in 1842, but it was also important for people to know that the New York hill was a touchstone for the Book of Mormon. It was a connection between ancient and modern times–a pin in the map.” Jonathan Neville
Letter I to Letter VIII Introduction as found in the Joseph Smith Papers
History, 1834–1836 Joseph Smith Papers.org
Editorial Note
The following section includes transcripts of eight letters Oliver Cowdery wrote in 1834 and 1835 regarding JS’s visions of an angel and his discovery of the gold plates of the Book of Mormon. Cowdery addressed the letters to William W. Phelps and published them as a series in the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate between October 1834 and October 1835. The titles and formatting employed in this history are similar to those in the published series of articles, indicating that the Cowdery letters were copied into the history from the Messenger and Advocate, not from a manuscript version of the letters.
Frederick G. Williams could have begun the transcription in JS’s history as early as 6 December 1834, the date of Cowdery’s last historical entry in the preceding section of the history. However, Cowdery probably gave the history to Williams around 2 October 1835, when he gave Williams JS’s journal. On 29 October 1835, JS retrieved the history from Williams and delivered it to Warren Parrish, who continued copying the Cowdery letters. It is likely that Parrish finished copying the letters by early April 1836, when he gave JS’s journal (and presumably the 1834–1836 history along with it) to Warren Cowdery
In the first letter, Oliver Cowdery recounted his experiences with JS beginning when the two first met in April 1829. The letter includes an account of the vision he and JS had of John the Baptist, who gave them the authority to baptize. After composing this letter, but before its publication, Cowdery developed a new history-writing plan: he decided that in subsequent letters he would relate the “full history of the rise of the church,” beginning with JS’s early life and visions. As editor of the Messenger and Advocate, Cowdery prefaced the published version of the first letter with an explanation (also transcribed into the history) of the new plan. Although he had no firsthand knowledge of church history prior to April 1829, Cowdery assured his readers that “our brother J. Smith Jr. has offered to assist us. Indeed, there are many items connected with the fore part of this subject that render his labor indispensible.” Some passages in the ensuing narrative seem to have been related to Cowdery by JS, since Cowdery recounts events in which only JS participated.
Cowdery composed the letters to inform the Latter-day Saints of the history of their church, but he also wrote for the non-Mormon public. Employing florid romantic language, frequent scriptural allusions, and much dramatic detail, he clearly intended to present a rhetorically impressive account of early Mormon history. He placed the rise of the church in a dispensational framework, characterizing the time between the end of the New Testament and JS’s early visions as a period of universal apostasy. He included the revivalism of various denominations during the Second Great Awakening, which JS experienced in his youth, as an example of the doctrinal confusion and social disharmony present in Christendom. Throughout the series of letters, he defended JS’s character and that of the Smith family, and his explicitly apologetic statements include apparent allusions to both Alexander
Campbell’s Delusions (1832) and Eber Howe ’s Mormonism Unvailed (1834).
Beginning in the third letter, Cowdery provided the most extensive account of the origins of the Book of Mormon published up to that time. He related JS’s initial visions of the angel Moroni and, using biblical prophecies, elaborated on the angel’s message concerning the gathering of Israel in the last days in preparation for the Millennium. Cowdery continued his narrative up to, but did not include, JS’s receiving the gold plates in September 1827.
The transcription of the Oliver Cowdery letters into JS’s history was evidently conceived in terms of the entire series, not as a piecemeal copying of the individual letters. As noted above, Cowdery probably gave the “large journal” containing the history begun in 1834 to Williams in October 1835, the month of the Messenger and Advocate issue in which his final installment was published.
By the time Williams received the history, Cowdery may have already written the final letter; he had at least conceived of it as the final installment in his series. With the serialized Cowdery letters complete or nearing completion, the new history kept in the “large journal” could serve as a repository—more permanent than unbound newspapers—for a copied compilation of the entire series.
Letters from Messenger and Advocate The following communication was designed to have been published in the last No. of the star; but owing to a press of other matter it was laid over for this No. of the Messenger and ad[v]ocate. Since it was writen, upon further reflection, we have thought that a full history of the rise of the church of the Latter Day Saints, and the most interesting parts of its progress, to the present time, would be worthy the perusal of the Saints.— If circumstances admit, an article on this subject will appear on in each subsequent No. of the Messenger and advocate, until the time when the church was driven from Jackson Co. Mo. by a lawless banditti; & such other remarks as may be thought appropriate and interesting.
That our narrative may be correct, and particularly the introduction, it is proper to inform our patrons, that our brother J. Smith Jr. has offered to assist us. Indeed, there are many items connected with the fore part of this subject that render his labor indispensable. With his labor and with authentic documents now in our possession, we hope to render this a pleasing and agreeable narrative, well worth the examination and perusal of the Saints.
To do <Justice to> this subject will require time and space: we therefore ask the forbearance of our readers, assuring them that it shall be founded upon facts.” Letter I to Letter VIII Introduction as found in the Joseph Smith Papers History, 1834–1836 Joseph Smith Papers.org (emphasis added)
Answering- Is Letter VII Simply Speculation?
“We all agree that the message is more important than the geography, but people don’t read the book when they think it is fiction, as most of the world does. Plus, no one leaves the Church while still believing the Book of Mormon is a true history. That’s why anti-Mormons attack the historicity of the Book of Mormon.
It was precisely this problem that led President Cowdery to write Letter VII in the first place. Parley P. Pratt and others in the British Mission knew how important physical evidence is, which is why they reprinted Letter VII in the Millennial Star. This approach led them to convert 5,000 people with only 3,000 copies of the Book of Mormon. Today, there are over 150 million copies of the Book of Mormon in print, plus electronic versions, but there are fewer than 300,000 converts per year.
Maybe the physical evidence is more important than we realize.
Letter VII was one of a series of eight historical letters written by Oliver Cowdery with the assistance of Joseph Smith. Before he wrote Letter VII, Oliver was ordained by Joseph Smith as the Assistant President of the Church, which Joseph said included the responsibility to act as spokesman. In that capacity, in February 1835, President Cowdery ordained the first Twelve Apostles and gave them their charges.
The letters were written partly in response to anti-Mormon books and articles that claimed the Book of Mormon was fiction. They were published in the official Church newspaper, the Messenger and Advocate, in Kirtland in 1834-5.
In Letter VII, published in July 1835, Oliver wrote that it was a fact that the final battles of the Jaredites and Nephites took place in the mile-wide valley west of the Hill Cumorah in New York. He also said Mormon’s depository of Nephite records was in the same hill. Oliver knew this because, as Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, Heber C. Kimball, and others explained, Joseph and Oliver had actually visited that depository on multiple occasions.
There are some LDS intellectuals who teach that President Cowdery was merely speculating, but when you read these historical letters, you see that he was emphasizing the importance of relating facts to counter anti-Mormon arguments. The location of Cumorah was an important fact to refute the anti-Mormon claim that the Book of Mormon is fiction.
All four members of the First Presidency in 1835 endorsed the letters. Joseph helped write them and had his scribes copy them into his journal as part of his life story. It was Frederick G. Williams, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, who started copying the letters into Joseph’s history before another scribe took over. Sidney Rigdon, First Counselor in the First Presidency, gave permission to Benjamin Winchester to publish the letters in the Gospel Reflector–as did Joseph Smith. Every member of the Quorum of the 12 in 1835 who spoke/wrote about Cumorah affirmed Letter VII.
1841, Joseph gave the letters to his brother Don Carlos to publish in the Times and Seasons. Joseph’s brother William published Letter VII in the New York newspaper called The Prophet just two days after the martyrdom in Carthage.
The Pratt brothers, Parley and Orson, both reprinted Letter VII in England. Due to strong demand, the letters were published in a special pamphlet in England in February 1844.
Letter VII and its teachings about Cumorah in New York were ubiquitous during Joseph’s lifetime. It was in this context that Joseph wrote D&C 128:20.
All of the apostles and prophets who have ever spoken or written about Cumorah affirmed the New York setting. This has continued through at least the 1970s, when President Marion G. Romney and Elder Mark E. Petersen re-affirmed the New York Cumorah in General Conference.
No modern prophet or apostle has ever rejected Letter VII or claimed Cumorah is anywhere else.
LDS intellectuals have taken the position that all of the modern prophets and apostles were wrong about Cumorah.
It’s really an easy choice: do we follow the prophets or the intellectuals?
Why have the intellectuals chosen to reject the prophets and apostles?
Purely because they believe the Book of Mormon took place in Central America, and that New York is too far away to be the Cumorah spoken of. To reach this conclusion, they have characterized Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. and Orson Pratt, Joseph Fielding Smith, LeGrand Richards, Marion G. Romney, Mark E. Petersen, and others, as perpetrators of a false tradition.
The saying, “to a hammer, everything is a nail” applies to the LDS Mesoamerican experts. They think they have found “correspondences” between Mayan culture and the Book of Mormon, but these “correspondences” are common to most human cultures. People everywhere and throughout time have had wars, weapons, forts, crops, animals, etc. But the descriptions in the text describe a culture that built with wood and earth, not stones. Even when cement is mentioned, they built with wood and cement, not stone and cement.
The Mesoamerican theory originated with anonymous articles in the 1842 Times and Seasons that have been attributed to Joseph Smith, but now it is apparent that Joseph had nothing to do with those articles. They were written by Benjamin Winchester, edited by W.W. Phelps, and published by William Smith, who was publishing the Wasp at the same time, using the same office, printing press, etc.
There’s a lot more information about all of this for anyone who is interested.” Jonathan Neville
“Most members of the Church believe the Hill Cumorah is in New York. Church leaders have consistently taught this for over 150 years.
However, some intellectuals in the Church—including some faculty at BYU and some at CES—claim there are “two Cumorahs.” They rationalize that New York is too far from Central America (Mesoamerica) for the hill in New York to be the scene of the final battles of the Jaredites and the Nephites.
Because these intellectuals have trained thousands of LDS students for decades, their ideas have permeated the Church. The “two-Cumorahs” theory is being taught in some Church media and at Church visitors centers, but it has never been taught by a single member of the First Presidency or Quorum of the Twelve.
The efforts of the intellectuals have caused confusion among members and investigators. Recent discoveries in Church history reaffirm the original teaching that there is one Cumorah and it is in New York. For example, there is a lot of information in the book titled “Letter VII: Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery Explain the Hill Cumorah.” In response, many intellectuals are teaching their students that the prophets and apostles are wrong.
“This summary of Church history will help members understand the issue, so they can support the Brethren when confronted with arguments against the New York Cumorah.
- In 1834, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery decided to publish a series of letters about Church history in the Church newspaper titled The Messenger and Advocate. This was in response to anti-Mormon publications that were disrupting the missionary effort.
- Oliver wrote the letters with Joseph’s assistance. They published eight letters between October 1834 and October 1835.
- A section of Letter I is included as a footnote in the Pearl of Great Price at the end of Joseph Smith—History.
- In December 1834, Joseph ordained Oliver Cowdery as Assistant President of the Church, explaining that this made him the spokesman. Joseph later referred to these letters as “President Cowdery’s letters.”
- In Letter VII, published in July 1835, President Cowdery described the Hill Cumorah in New York. He explained that “at about one mile west rises another ridge of less height, running parallel with the former” and declares it was a “fact that here, between these hills, the entire power and national strength of both the Jaredites and Nephites were destroyed.” He emphasized that “in this valley fell the remaining strength and price of a once powerful people, the Nephites.” “This hill, by the Jaredites, was called Ramah; by it, or around it, pitched the famous army of Coriantumr their tent… The opposing army were to the west, and in this same valley, and near by.” He also explained that Mormon’s depository of Nephite records (Mormon 6:6) was in the same hill.
- The entire First Presidency at the time endorsed these letters. Joseph Smith had President Frederick G. Williams begin the process of copying all eight letters into his history, which you can read in the Joseph Smith Papers in History, 1834-1836. (go to www.josephsmithpapers.org and search for “Letter VII.”) President Sidney Rigdon separately approved of them.
- All members of the original Quorum of the Twelve (they were called and ordained by President Cowdery and others in February 1835) who ever mentioned Cumorah affirmed what Letter VII teaches, including Parley and Orson Pratt, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and William Smith.
- Letter VII was originally published in the Messenger and Advocate(1835) and copied into Joseph Smith, History, 1834-1835, shortly thereafter. It was republished in the Millennial Star(1840), the Times and Seasons (1841), the Gospel Reflector (1841), a special pamphlet in England (1844), The Prophet (1844), and The Improvement Era. Joseph referred to it in D&C 128:20, which was originally a letter published in the Times and Seasons a year after Letter VII was published in the same newspaper.
- Over the years, multiple members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, speaking in General Conference, have affirmed the New York Cumorah. Elder James E. Talmage in Articles of Faithaffirmed it, as have other apostles, including LeGrand Richards in A Marvelous Work and a Wonder.
- No member of the Twelve or First Presidency has ever said the Hill Cumorah was anywhere else.
- Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff and others explained that on multiple occasions, Oliver and Joseph had actually visited Mormon’s depository of records in the Hill Cumorah, which explains why President Cowdery wrote that it was a fact that Cumorah was in New York.
- The intellectuals nevertheless have framed Letter VII as “Oliver Cowdery’s opinion,” characterizing it as a false tradition that Joseph Smith passively accepted. They claim that all the other prophets and apostles who have affirmed the New York Cumorah were perpetuating this false tradition. They claim that Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff and others were mistaken because Oliver had merely told them about a vision of a hill in Mexico.
- The intellectuals have rejected the New York Cumorah because they think it contradicts their preferred theory that the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica. To persuade their students to agree with them, they have made a series of claims about archaeology, anthropology, geology, and geography, and they have insisted on an interpretation of the text that, they claim, makes the New York setting impossible. Lately, BYU and CES have been teaching students about the Book of Mormon by using a video-game-like fantasy mapthat depicts Cumorah in a mythical setting.
- Although the consistent, repeated teachings of the prophets and apostles should be enough to settle this matter, there is evidence from archaeology, anthropology, geology, and geography that supports the New York Cumorah as the scene of the final battles of the Jaredites and the Nephites. There are dozens of archaeological sites in western New York, dating to Book of Mormon times, that contain artifacts from the Ohio Hopewell civilization (the archaeological and anthropological term for the people who correspond to the Nephites). Bushels of stone weapons have been recovered from the vicinity of Cumorah. Research in the area is ongoing.
- When the Mesoamerica/two-Cumorahs theory began to be accepted by LDS intellectuals, Joseph Fielding Smith, then Church Historian and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, released a statement that he later reiterated after he became President of the Quorum of the Twelve. He wrote, “Because of this theory some members of the Church have become confused and greatly disturbed in their faith in the Book of Mormon.” His prophetic warning against the efforts of the intellectuals remains as valid today as it was when he originally published it.”
Source: “Letter VII” by Jonathan Neville Read Letter I through Letter VIII HERE!
