The "Wentworth letter" was a letter written in 1842 by Latter Day Saint founder Joseph Smith, Jr. to "Long" John Wentworth

John Wentworth (mayor)

"Long" John Wentworth was the editor of the Chicago Democrat, a two-term mayor of Chicago, and a six-term member of the United States House of Representatives....

, editor and proprietor of the Chicago Democrat

Chicago Democrat

The Chicago Democrat was the first newspaper in Chicago, Illinois. It was published from 1833 to 1861.-History:Publisher was a Jacksonian Democrat, lured west at the end of 1833 from Watertown, New York to start the Democrat inspired by traveler's stories about Chicago after a series of newspaper...

. It outlined the history of the Latter Day Saint movement

Latter Day Saint movement

The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...

 up to that time, and included Mormonism

Mormonism

Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...

's Articles of Faith

Articles of Faith

Articles of faith are sets of beliefs usually found in creeds, sometimes numbered, and often beginning with "We believe...", which attempt to more or less define the fundamental theology of a given religion, and especially in the Christian Church....

.

The letter was written in response to Wentworth's inquiry on behalf of one of his friends who was writing a history of New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

. The letter was first published on March 1, 1842 in the Times and Seasons

Times and Seasons

Times and Seasons was a 19th-century Latter Day Saint periodical published monthly or twice-monthly at Nauvoo, Illinois, from November 1839 to February 15, 1846...

in Nauvoo, Illinois

Nauvoo, Illinois

Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...

.

A similar letter (with some slight revisions) was published by Daniel Rupp in 1844 in a book called An Original History of the Religious Denominations at Present Existing in the United States. wikisource:The Rupp Letter

Significance

The Wentworth Letter is significant for several reasons.

First, it connects the message of what Mormons believe to be the Restoration with the history of said Restoration: "By these things we know..." (Doctrine and Covenants

Doctrine and Covenants

The Doctrine and Covenants is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement...

 20:1-17)

Second, it emphasizes the First Vision

First Vision

The First Vision refers to a vision that Joseph Smith, Jr. said he received as a youth in a wooded area in Manchester, New York, which his followers call the Sacred Grove. Smith described it as a personal theophany in which he received a forgiveness of sins...

 as an essential part of Latter-day Saint message.

Third, it contains the Standard of Truth, the mission statement for missionaries:

“Our missionaries are going forth to different nations . . . the Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” (History of the Church 4:540)

Fourth, it ends with the statements which later became the Articles of Faith. B. H. Roberts said of these,

“These Articles of Faith were not produced by the labored efforts and harmonized contentions of scholastics, but were struck off by one inspired mind at a single effort to make a declaration of that which is most assuredly believed by the church, for one making earnest inquiry about the truth."

"The combined directness, perspicuity, simplicity and comprehensiveness of this statement of the principles of our religion may be relied upon as strong evidence of a divine inspiration resting upon the Prophet, Joseph Smith.” (B. H. Roberts, Comprehensive History of the Church, Vol.2, Ch.47, p.131)

And finally, the Wentworth letter re-establishes Joseph Smiths teachings that the Lamanites are the principal ancestors of the American Indians. In the Wentworth letter we read,

"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." (Wentworth Letter http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/wlett10.txt)

Changes in versions published by the LDS Church

The wording of some of the articles was modified in 1851 and 1902:

1. The fourth article of faith originally read, “We believe that these ordinances are: 1st. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; 2d. Repentance; 3d. Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; 4th. Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

• It now reads: “We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: 1st. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; 2d. Repentance; 3d. Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; 4th. Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (emphasis added) (Answers to Gospel Questions 2:92)

2. The tenth article originally read, “that Zion will be built upon this continent . . .” It was later changed to "that Zion will be built upon this [the American] continent . . ."

• It now reads: “that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent . . .”

3. The eleventh article originally read, "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our conscience,..."

• It now reads: "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience,..."

Joseph Fielding Smith

Joseph Fielding Smith

Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr. was the tenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1970 until his death. He was the son of Joseph F. Smith, who was the sixth president of the LDS Church...

wrote:

“The reason for the adding of the word "principles," and that is the only change, was because the brethren considered when they were preparing the 1921 edition for publication of the D&C, that the term ordinances did not fully cover the article completely. For instance, "faith" is not an ordinance, neither is "repentance," but they are principles. Therefore we felt fully justified in making the article so that it would convey clearly just what the Prophet intended. So now it reads: "We believe that the first principles and ordinances are," and in doing this we were perfectly within the bounds of propriety. Were the Prophet here, he would fully justify our action.”

"We have no apology to make for this addition. We have in no sense destroyed the original meaning.” (Answers to Gospel Questions 2:92)

External links

• JosephSmithPapers.org The forthcoming scholarly collection of extant Joseph Smith documents, including the Wentworth Letter
• http://www.archive.org/download/nonfiction005_librivox/wentworthletter_smith_lkm.mp3 Listen to a recording of The Wentworth Letter online. Public domain recording provided by Librivox.org