The Vision and Vessels of Wrath

I am currently reading Rough Stone Rolling, a biography of the Prophet Joseph Smith by Richard L. Bushman and at the same time my scripture study focus is the Doctrine and Covenants.

As I was studying D&C 76, referred to as “The Vision”, I came across a very interesting phrase. But first, for those who do not know about this section of the D&C, it was a vision received by Joseph Smith & Sidney Rigdon regarding the resurrection. Joseph and Sidney were translating the Bible and they had read John 5:29, which says “And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” The prophet says this about the verse: “From sundry revelations which had been received, it was apparent that many important points touching the salvation of man had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled. It appeared self-evident from what truths were left, that if God rewarded every one according to the deeds done in the body, the term ‘Heaven,’ as intended for the Saints’ eternal home, must include more kingdoms than one.”

It was while they were pondering on this verse that they received the revelation found in the D&C. This revelation reveals that there are three degrees or kingdoms in the afterlife and one “kingdom” with no glory, known simply as “outer darkness” and those who will “reign” there are known as “sons of perdition”.

This is where it gets interesting. D&C 76:33, refers to these sons of perdition as “vessels of wrath”, a chilling term which makes me think of someone who is full of anger constantly. At the same time I was reading this section, I just happened to be reading about this time frame in the Prophet's life in Rough Stone Rolling.

“The Vision” was received on February 16, 1832 and Bushman states that “William Phelps immediately published ‘The Vision’ in the church newspaper in Missouri.” (Rough Stone Rolling, 200) It is this publication that, I think, ties together this revelation with some of the unfortunate aftermath.

On March 24, 1832, a month after “The Vision” had been received and published in the paper by Phelps, Joseph and Sidney are taken from their homes and beaten. Sidney was dragged by his heels and lay unconscious about 150 yards away from Joseph. Joseph was taken from his bed, stripped naked, administered poison (the attempt failed, but the mob broke the bottle of poison against Joseph’s teeth) and finally tarred and feathered him and left for dead.

The anger, or wrath, shown by this mob, some of whom were former members of the Church, is what strikes me as interesting. As I read the 33rd verse of section 76, “vessels of wrath”, this scene stood out to me. As the preverbal icing on the cake, one of the mobsters “fell on the naked Joseph, and ‘scratched my body with his nails like a mad cat’ muttering ‘God dam ye, that’s the way the Holy Ghost falls on folks.’” (Rough Stone Rolling, 179)

It might be a stretch to connect the publishing of “The Vision” by Phelps and the tarring and feathering episode since the paper was published in Missouri and Joseph and Sidney were living in Hiram, Ohio at the time, but because of the puzzling way that “The Vision” was received by some members of the church, and how this doctrine flies in the face of “fundamental Christianity©”, I can’t help but think that this revelation caused such a fervor that it boiled over and caused Joseph’s enemies to take these drastic actions.

Bushman, probably correctly, doesn’t make the connection between this beating and the publishing of “The Vision” by Phelphs, but rather blames the beating on some letters that were printed by anti-Mormon Ezra Booth. I personally think that even during that time frame, word of "The Vision" through either Phelps' publication or word of mouth, could have been an additional cause for the beating.

It’s not my position to judge these individuals, what their status will be after this life, but personally I think it interesting that those who not receive any glory are known as “vessels of wrath” and that was the state of this mob during this brutal beating.