William H. Miles, Letter to Walter Murray Gibson (December 3, 1860) Recollecting Joseph Smith’s Prophecy on War (D&C 87)

 The following is taken from:

 

William H. Miles letter, Church History Library, Call no.: CR 1234 1

 

New York, Dec 3rd 1860.

 

Dear Bro. Gibson,

 

We are happy to hear of your safe arrival, and that you find your family well, at this moment while I write Bro. Pratt, Cannon and Snow are in my office, all well, they have met together here, expressly to call upon your friend Mr. Willard. Bro. G.Q. Cannon has already been introduced to him, by myself.

 

Dec 10th. Having commenced this letter one week since and my attention being drawn off by the preparations amongst the brethren, who were getting ready to go to Europe, I had accordingly placed it aside until this day, I now resume the pen, to say I have just come from a very interesting interview, which Bro. O. Pratt & Snow had with your friend Mr. Willard, it is the second interview they have had, and I think it will result in good, Bro. Pratt laid before him the principles of the Gospel, in great plainness, and simplicity, and Mr. Willard rejoiced greatly.

 

The brethren in Company with G.Q. Cannon left for Europe in the Arago, on Saturday, in good health and spirits, 16 Missionaries left on the City of Baltimore steamer, the Saturday before, and for the two last Sabbaths, the Saints here, have feasted upon the good things of the Kingdom of God. Bro Cannon, and wife stopped with me four or five days, and their visit produced a good influence upon my family, I felt greatly blest myself, and desirous of profiting by all the privileges I now enjoy, Bro. O. Pratt preached last night in the old Hall, to a full house, a great many strangers present, who listened with breathless attention to his discourse, which was upon the subject of Modern revelation and prophecy, he gave a very graphic description of the troubles which this Nation would soon be called upon to pass through, repeated Joseph's prophecy about the rebellion of South Carolina, and pointed out with clearness wherein it was and would be fulfilled even to the very letter, Said that no person who observed the signs of the times, could fail to be convinced of the truth of that revelation, and that we were now upon the very eve of the greatest event of this or any other age. Such a sermon I think has never been preached in this City. Would to God that he could have had his thousands of souls to hear it.

 

Bro. Gibson, it is now universally conceded by the press of this City, that we are to have Secession, the State of South Carolina leading off. She has called a Convention on the 17th of the present month, for the purpose of resolving on Secession. there is no longer any hope for our beloved Country. I feel to mourn on her account, but I know well that the prophecies must be fulfilled. we all feel that a great many honest souls, are yet to hear the Gospel in this nation and be gathered out, in the midst of troublous times, I hope to have the opportunity the coming Spring, if all is well of getting home to the Mountains to join the Saints, How I shall rejoice in that day, when my feet shall stand upon Mount Zion, among the Saints of the living God. I am glad that you have a tolerable good opinion of us here in the East, but I can say for myself, I feel unconscious of having done more than my duty towards you, it is always in my heart to bless and do my brethren all the good I can, the brethren you mention in your letter, Bro. [E.?] Pratt, Snow, Croxall, Taylor, Stone, Schettler, Lang, Dwyer, & others, have all had the pleasure of reading your kind letter, and all desire to kindly be remembered to you and family, remember me also to our beloved Pres. B. Young he will remember your humble [crossed-out word, illegible] servant I think. God bless you Bro. Gibson and Yours!

 

I remain very respectfully, and

 

Affectionately Your Brother in the Gospel

 

Wm H Miles

 

 

Further Reading:

 

Resources on Joseph Smith’s Prophecies

 

George Burkett, Letter to his Children (December 18, 1870) Recollecting Joseph Smith’s Prophecy of the Return of the Saints to Jackson County

 The following comes from:

 

George Burket letter, Eden Utah, Church History Library, Call no.: MS 14715

 

 

Eden City, Ogden Valley, Weber Co. December 18 / 67

 

Dear Children,

 

I now take the opportunity of writing to you, I received your letter on the 11 of this month. I feel very thankful for the present you send me in your letter it was very acceptable, in the situation I am at present. I have been sick 2 Months or more and confined to the House. I am not able to walk from the bed to the fire without help. I expect I have not more than 5 or 6 lbs of flesh on my body, am reduced to a complete skeleton, this probably may be the last letter you may receive from me, for I am uncertain how long I may last.

 

[A heavily overwritten passage follows here. The legible fragments appear to include “Grandmother” and “able to wait on me,” but the full sentence cannot be read with confidence.]

 

Corn is well and has all the work to do in tending and feeding the stock. Concerning my faith I am satisfied with this work and when the Lords will is that I am to go I shall die happy. As to my son John I know not where he is at the present time, O. M. Allen told me last spring that he heard of John being 200 Miles below St Joseph on the Missouri River when he was in Missouri last winter on a mission. I should be very much pleased to see you all, especially you and Eleanor. Grandmother wishes to see you so bad she would like to see you all. I can tell you the price of stock now but as the winter has set in early this year I do not know what price they will be in the spring.

 

Calves are about from 8 to 10 Dollars each that is spring Calves. Yearlings are about 15 Dollars and 2 Year Old from 20 to 25 Dollars. Cows about 35 Dollars and Sheep 4 Dollars per head. Flour is not dear only from 3 Dollars to 3.50 per Hundred, and though not so much Wheat has been raised through the Grasshoppers, enough corn has been raised to make up for the deficiency more corn than has ever been raised before, but money is very scarce, Store goods are cheap. William Allen left here last September and went to Dixie to see his Mother and Stepfather he says he will start back next April he promised only a week before he left that he would never leave his Grandfather and I have no Children now within 400 Miles and no Grandchildren nearer than Salt Lake Valley except Alma Taylor, though John Taylor has been up at times and been very kind in doing some chores and getting wood.

 

The people are very kind here in getting me wood and will not see me want for any thing I need. My faith is just the same as when I first embraced the gospel nothing could turn me out of the way and what I know about the Kingdom of God I know more now than I did then and my faith is increased. I do not be in a hurry of going to Jackson County for the land has to be cleared and the power of God to rest upon it before we think of returning there. I heard Joseph Smith say in my house when in Clay County that when we returned there there not would be a dog to wag his tail or move his tongue against us none but the pure in heart will go up there and the Lord will prepare his people they shall be clear as the sun fair as the moon and ⟨terrible⟩ as an army with banners these are our girls [?] the hundred and forty and four thousand that shall stand on Mount Zion these are the bride the Lambs wife.

 

This place is building up very fast the Kingdom of God is being built up in the mountains the highway is cast up for the children of Ephraim to return to their own land, and when the Lords time is they will return and not before. Grandmother would very much like if you would let Mandy come here to see us I would like to see all the children, we would like to see John and Nelly once more if we could.

 

Write back as soon as you receive this and send us the best news you can. I have told you all I can think of to interest you I must now conclude as I feel very feeble.

 

Give our love to all enquiring friends and accept the same yourselves.

 

This is from your affection Parents

 

 

Further Reading:

 

Resources on Joseph Smith’s Prophecies

Lee Martin McDonald on the use of the Apocyphra and the LXX Additions to Proto-Canonical Books by the Early Christians

  

The Apostolic Fathers (ca. 90–150), the closest writers chronologically to the NT writings with some overlap in dating, have a number of parallels, quotations, and allusions to noncanonical literature. For example, Clement of Rome (ca. 90–95 CE) quotes Sir 2:11 (1 Clem. 60.1), Wis 12:10 (1 Clem. 7.5), and Wis 12:12 (1 Clem. 27.5, with allusions in 3.4 and 7.5), and he does not distinguish between the stories of biblical Esther and nonbiblical Judith (1 Clem. 55.4–6). The author of 2 Clement (ca. 150 CE) has several quotations and references of unknown sources (2 Clem. 11.2–4, 7; 13.2). The Epistle of Barnabas includes several quotations or citations from 1 En. 89:56 (Barn. 16.5), 4 Ezra 4:33 and 5:5 (Barn. 12.1). The Didache (ca. 70–90 CE), which itself was included in some fifth-century canonical lists, but was excluded by Athanasius, makes use of Wis 12:5–7 and 15:11 (Did. 5.2) and Wis 1:14 (Did. 10.3), along with an unknown quotation (Did. 1.6). Lastly, Polycarp, Phil. 10.2 cites Tob 4:10 and 12:9.

 

The later second-century church fathers are similar. In his Dial. 120.5, Justin Martyr (ca. 160) appears to refer to the Ascension of Isaiah in an authoritative or scriptural manner and yet seems to base his argument on the books accepted by the Jews. He also refers to Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, 1–2 Kings, 1–2 Samuel (possibly), Psalms, Proverbs, and Job and names the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, the Minor Prophets, and 1 Esd 2:36–37 (see Dial. 72.1). He quotes, without referring to them by name, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and 2 Chronicles. These references to biblical literature do not imply that Justin’s references suggest that he had in mind the full scope of a biblical canon, but only that he used these texts when addressing specific situations addressed in his Dialogue with Trypho. It is nevertheless possible that this text may be reflective of the accepted Scriptures among Christians in the middle of the second century. Justin is surely not unique in the various texts he quotes, but, like Jesus, he does not mention Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Esther. This silence may reflect the doubts that existed about these books in the rabbinic community and possibly also in the second- and third-century churches as can be seen in the earliest scripture lists . . . (Lee Martin McDonald, The Formation of the Biblical Canon, 2 vols. [London: T&T Clark, 2017], 1:312)

 

 

The Apocryphal additions to biblical books in the LXX further demonstrate this point. For example, the additions to Daniel – namely the Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon – all became part of the LXX and were accepted by Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Origen. The additions to Esther mentioned in Josephus are also referred to by Clement of Rome, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen. The Prayer of Manasseh is found in the Syriac Didascalia (third century CE), in the Apostolic Constitutions 2.22.12–14 (second half of the fourth century CE in Syria), and in Codex Alexandrinus (fifth century CE). According to Grant, an examination of the Apostolic Fathers shows conclusively that they appealed to apocryphal and pseudepigraphal literature in much the same way that they appealed to the Scriptures of the HB. He adds: “We cannot deny, of course, that the Apostolic Fathers did make use of apocryphal documents. Indeed, the only explicit quotation in the Shepherd of Hermas comes from the lost Book of Eldad and Modad (Herm. Vis. 2–4; cf. Num 11:26).” (Lee Martin McDonald, The Formation of the Biblical Canon, 2 vols. [London: T&T Clark, 2017], 1:313-14)

 

Why I Tithe

Simple: I am a faithful member of the Church and believe and defend its truth claims. I do not larp as a Latter-day Saint while in reality am an agnostic. Further, the Lord Jesus Christ (whose resurrection is a historical event I affirm) commanded such in both ancient and modern revelation.

Of course, there are also benefits; for example, the Church has made contributions in opposition to a citizen-led ballot, as the Church wishes to stop the holocaust that is abortion in Idaho. Such is "based" as the kids would say.

Lee Martin McDonald on the Use of the Wisdom of Solomon by Paul

  

The most obvious example, of course, is whether Paul cited Wisdom of Solomon as sacred scripture in Rom 1:19–32 (compare Wis 12–15). The parallels between Rom 2:4 and Wis 15:1–5 also suggest more than a casual familiarity with that book. The question this raises for Lim has to do with the way that Paul makes use of this text and whether he is citing it as scripture. He is not convinced that Paul thought of Wisdom as scripture, but he does not deny Paul’s awareness of this text. It may be that a reexamination of how the NT uses and cites the OT texts and other texts needs further clarification. Some scholars continue to insist that Paul cited Wisdom as scripture in this text and that may well be the case. Lim cites Dunn as an example. The lack of Paul’s use of citation formulae is not necessarily determinative here, as we see in other NT examples where Jesus, according to Mark 14:62, cites Dan 7:13, but does not use any scriptural formulae such as “as the scripture says.” It is generally conceded that Jesus saw and cited Daniel of sacred scripture. This practice of citing scriptural texts without the scriptural formulae is also found throughout the book of Hebrews in which its author regularly cites many OT texts, more than almost any other NT book, but with one exception (Heb 10:7) without the familiar introduction “as it is written.”

 

That author and others seems to be “writing with scripture,” to use Jacob Neusner’s line, which often reflects the way that the NT writers occasionally made use of scriptural texts, namely without the typical introductory formulae. Paul’s use of the Wisdom of Solomon, like other NT writers’ use of Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach, may reflect what was common in the early churches who welcomed these books and subsequently included them in sacred scripture collections. While Sirach was a disputed book for generations in rabbinic Judaism, it was welcomed initially by the rabbis as scripture and it is also included in early Christianity scripture canons. Does this suggest that it was also accepted as scripture in the first century and cited as such in several texts in the NT? The history of the early churches’ reception of both of these books as scripture suggests that Paul too may have had a more positive view toward Wisdom as scripture than what some scholars have seen. (Lee Martin McDonald, The Formation of the Biblical Canon, 2 vols. [London: T&T Clark, 2017], 1:262)

 

Stacy Trasancos and George Elliott (RCs) on "this is my body" and "this is my blood"

 While defending Transubstantiation (which requires a virtual presence of the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus after the words of consecration), two Catholics noted that:

 

. . . the copula “to be” (GK: εστιν) by itself does not require a literal translation. To understand the meaning of “is” in this context better, we have to turn to the underlying Aramaic and the context of the passage.

 

The underlying Aramaic that Jesus used at the Last Supper is speculative but largely agreed upon by biblical scholars, Catholics and non-Catholic alike. Through an analysis of the Greek text, Jesus likely pronounced the words dēn biśrî (literally, “this is my body”) and dēn ‘idmî (literally, “this, my blood”) over the bread and wine respectively. The Greek is a faithful translation of this Aramaic wording. While this construction in Aramaic can be interpreted as literal, it does not entirely dismiss the possibility of a figurative understanding of the text. (Stacy Trasancos and George Elliott, Behold, it is I: Scripture, Tradition, and Science on the Real Presence [Gastonia, N.C.: TAN Books, 2021], 37-38)

 

Gary Campbell (former SSPX Priest) Calling the SSPX a "Cult"

  

When I left the SSPX in 1999 I did not keep in contact with any members of the movement. Neither did I frequent the legitimate communities granted the pre-reform missal by Rome. I was traumatized, as anyone escaping a cult is, and I wanted to assimilate into Catholic life quietly and without obstacles. (Gary Campbell, I Will Go Unto the Altar of God: A Reply to the Traditionalists on the Mass of Paul VI [St. Louis: Enroute, 2026], 3)