HISTORY AND ANALYSIS OF:

THE FLAMING SWORD, Or A Sign From Heaven. Being A Remarkable Phenomenon, Seen in the State of Vermont. Exeter []: Printed for J. Richardson, 1814.

The following document reproduces a single entry comprising pages 1825‐37 in:

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http://www.rickgrunder.com/parallels/mp454.pdf 454 [WALKER, Timothy P.] THE FLAMING SWORD, Or A Sign From Heaven. Being A Remarkable Phenomenon, Seen in the State of Vermont. Exeter [New Hampshire]: Printed for J. Richardson, 1814.

14½ cm. [4], 5-12 pp. Verso of title blank. "TO THE READER," p. [3], signed in type, "G. W." Author attribution appears only on p. 12, signed in type at the end of the text, "TIMOTHY P. WALKER." The copy examined was in contemporary plain blue wrappers (without printing), bearing at the top of the front wrapper some lower portions of an early ownership inscription, mostly torn away and insufficient for identification. AI 33566. The fourth recorded edition. OCLC shows six copies preserved at institutions in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts (saying, variously, 15 or 16 cm., 12 pp.). Only edition in NUC, but see below.

J[osiah]. RICHARDSON (1778-1857) is listed as publisher of more than forty editions of generally practical or colloquial, primarily religious works and pamphlets by other writers, printed in Exeter, 1814-32, preceded by his own compilation, The Religious Experience and Spiritual Trials of Josiah Richardson (Exeter: Printed by Samuel T. Moses, for Josiah Richardson, 1805; 16 pp., AI 9262). He appears to have been a Baptist preacher and polemicist, sometimes styling himself "preacher of righteousness," "preacher of the everlasting gospel," or "the Lord's messenger to the people" (1819 and later imprints). The few titles that identify Richardson's printer give the name of Mr. Moses (the 1805 pamphlet mentioned above, then several items in 1823). These were works of varying ability, ranging from hymns to medical advice for horse and man, mixed with attacks upon Universalism or infant baptism. The Flaming Sword was among Richardson's first publication efforts, however, and was surely the most colorful of his five items recorded for 1814. —OCLC

THIS curious work was evidently first published at Norwich [], 1799 (no printer given. 12 pp. AI 36665. OCLC locates three copies). Next published at Suffield, Connecticut, 1801 (AI 1598 naming the printer as "{E. Gray}" and giving no locations; OCLC shows only the Vermont State Library copy. Both AI and OCLC say 10 pp.). Then at "Groton Con[necticut]': Printed [by Timothy Waterous, Jr.?] in the year 1812" (8 pp., no printer named), OCLC locating only the copy at the American Antiquarian Society (Worcester, Massachusetts) with their cataloging note: "Signed at end: Timothy P. Walker. Foreword signed: G. W. The only other known early Groton imprint was another apocalyptic work, The Battle-Axe, written by the Waterous family, Rogerene Quakers, and printed by the younger Timothy [Waterous] on a press he set up in 1811. The type faces are the same, and on both title pages 'Connecticut' is abbreviated with an apostrophe." Following the 1814 edition analyzed here, this pamphlet shows up one last time - more than forty years later in 1857, the beginning year of the Utah War (New London, Connecticut: Starr & Farnham; 8 pp., OCLC locating only the copy at the Connecticut Historical Society). An excerpt

Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder 1825 from this text was eventually printed in an obscure pamphlet (The End of the World! How it is to be Understoood [sic], signed in type at end, p. 4, "John Rice, Elliotsburg, Pa., July 19, 1894." 4 pp., only one copy recorded, at Pennsylvania State University).

AN ALTERNATE TEXT exists in a single broadside example preserved at the Library Company of Philadelphia. Entitled FLAMING SWORD, Or a Sign from Heaven! Being a Remarkable Phenomenon seen in the State of New Hampshire in May last, it bears no publication information but appears to have been printed 1815-16. Set in New Hampshire and attributed to a different author, "Thomas C. Prentiss," it is an anonymous, clumsy adaptation of the Walker narrative to later circumstances. For my notes and historical commentary on that broadside and text, see the end of this entry, section headed, "An Alternate Version."

Woodcut illustration atop the Prentiss broadside version (not appearing in the primary, Walker text pamphlet analyzed below), showing the popular adaptability of this vision text for public consumption ca. 1815. Courtesy of The Library Company of Philadelphia; used with permission.

OVERVIEW: Extraordinary visions in a town adjacent to the Smith family residence, reported in a text and culture rich in Mormon parallels.

1826 Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder ARLY ONE EVENING in 1798 before the spring foliage was out in Chelsea, E Vermont, some gentlemen sat by the fireplace of the village inn. It was Tuesday, March 27, a moonlit night. A traveler from Connecticut stepped through the doorway, and the proprietor found him a meal and a place to stay. The guest introduced himself to the other men in the room, and sat down to join in their conversation. Talk turned, inevitably, to recent alarming conditions in the nation, and to deteriorating American relations in Europe.

Ten miles to the south in Tunbridge, meanwhile, tucked her six-week-old infant Alvin into a crib, and sat by her own fire. As she took up the mending, Lucy may have contemplated those same fears which troubled so many people that season. It must have seemed as if ominous, powerful intrigues at home and abroad were threatening the peace and prosperity that had been established so recently in the new nation. Lucy's own father and eldest brother had engaged in perilous shipping and sailing for years, making the current international conflicts over ships at sea a likely topic of family interest and concern.

At the Chelsea inn, now, our visitor from Connecticut will retire early, wishing his new acquaintances a good evening. If he hopes for badly needed rest, however, the topics just discussed shall follow him to his room, to take on palpable, disturbing forms. Are these other-worldly scenes brought on by what he has just heard by the fire? Or does everything converge at this place, this night, to prepare him for some unexpected part he must play to deliver a warning to the world?

Timothy Walker shall publish quickly, if awkwardly. His homely little pamphlet can be taken up by others and reprinted over the years during times of impending war. Most copies pass eagerly from hand to hand, eventually to be read to death and lost. The narrative goes through several editions, in at least two versions. With sufficient time and insight, one might discover substantial exegesis of this story. For now, I offer some footnotes and the entire text of the 1814 edition here at hand, transcribed carefully below . . .

Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder 1827 TO THE READER. THE following phenomenon, happened within the circle of my acquaintance, and the truth of it here is unquestionable; although it may appear incredible to many—an omen which I conceive112 to forebode threatening and judgment on our land, by the great Ruler of nations and worlds, whose penetrating eye views with impartiality the most minute proceedings of his creatures, and will bring all nations under his government by the arm of his almighty power. G. W. [p. (3) ends]

THE SWORD, OR A SIGN FROM HEAVEN. FEELING it a duty incumbent on me to communicate to my fellow men, what has been so remarkably revealed to me.113—I shall attempt to communicate, as far as my memory and illiterate abilities114 will admit, a faithful narrative115 of a most remarkable phenomenon of which I was an eye witness. On the 26th of March 1798, as I was on my journey with a team from Woodstock, in Connecticut, the place of my nativity, to Burlington in Vermont, on the evening of the 27th of said month.116—I called for entertainment at the house of Capt. J. Bissell,117 Innholder in Chelsea118—after some time spent in the

112 The main text of the pamphlet may have been taken down and edited by this "G. W.," inasmuch as "Timothy P. Walker" mentions his own "illiterate abilities," p. 4. G. W.'s somewhat uncommon use of "conceive" in this preface occurs six more times in the main text. 113 Like the Book of Mormon's first line ("I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I . . . ," 1 Nephi 1:1), this is an incomplete sentence (as punctuated in the printing), rendered incorrect by a mis-used opening present participle. 114 See note 112. 115 This term was used in the first edition of Jonathan Edwards' famous and influential publication, A Faithful Narrative of the Surprizing Work of God in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls in Northampton, and the Neighbouring Towns and Villages of New-Hampshire in New-England . . . (London: for John Oswald, 1737). Closer to the time and place of The Flaming Sword here at hand, 's grandfather wrote and published his own pamphlet, A Narraitve [sic] of the Life of Solomon Mack, Containing an Account of the Many Severe Accidents He Met With During a Long Series of Years, Together with the Extraordinary Manner in Which He Was Converted to the Christian Faith . . . (Windsor [Vermont]: Printed at the expence [sic] of the author, [1811?]). 116 a Tuesday 117 Around 1796, Capt. Stephen Bohonnon, a popular Chelsea host, sold twenty acres of land to Phineas Dodge who built one of the village's first taverns on the property. That structure may well be the Morss House which stands to this day (telephone interview with Diane Mattoon, Chelsea Town Clerk and President of the Chelsea Historical Society, January 23, 2007). I note one Jeremiah Bissell in the 1800 census of Norwich, some thirty miles by road to the southeast (and through which the narrator almost certainly traveled before arriving at Chelsea). If Bissell had been visiting Chelsea that same night - or even if his name had come up in conversation - that might have been enough to confuse his name with that of Capt. Bohonon, especially considering a traveler's fatigue, aggravated by likely spirit refreshment at the inn. 118 This had to be Chelsea, Vermont, since there was no Chelsea, Connecticut, and since Chelsea, Massachusetts lies far to the east of this journey, near Boston. Judging from an early map, the writer must have preferred a route through the Hanover, New Hampshire / Norwich, Vermont area, resulting in his continuing intinerary through Chelsea, Vermont enroute to Burlington. The following description of Chelsea appeared in Zadock Thompson's 1824 Gazetteer of the State of Vermont:

1828 Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder evening in conversation with some gentlemen on the unhappy situation of our country, its relative situation, as it respects foreign powers, its internal divisions, &c.119 by reason of so many designing characters among [p. (4) ends]

us who are actuated more from sinister views120 than any real patriotic zeal for the general welfare; with a mind burdened with these reflections, I retired to my lodging,121 at an early hour: Whether the conversation of the evening had a

CHELSEA, a post township and shire town [county seat] of Orange county, . . . is bounded north by Washington, east by Vershire, south by Tunbridge, and west by Brookfield. . . . The first settlers were Thomas and Samuel Moore and Asa Bond, who removed their families here from Winchester, N. H. in 1785. They were shortly after followed by other families from different parts of New-England. The town was organized March 31, 1788, and Enos Smith was first town clerk. It was first represented in 1794, by Samuel Badger. There is a small society of Baptists, over which Elder Samuel Hovey, was ordained in April, 1798. There is also a Congregational church, consisting, at present, of 145 members, over which the Rev. Lathrop Thomson, was settled in November 1799. . . . Chelsea village is situated on the branch [of White River] at the centre of the township, and contains . . . a tavern, . . . and about 65 dwellinghouses. It is as the roads are travelled 22 miles from Montpelier, 23 from Hanover, N. H., and 18 from Connecticut river at Bradford. . . . Pop[ulation]. 1820, 1462. [Thompson, 100-101] 119 An undeclared war between France and the United States came to a head at this exact time. Against a backdrop of European war then raging, American emissaries had attempted to resolve shipping and other disputes with both France and Great Britain. America's former ally and enemy essentially traded positions at this juncture, with France becoming the effective foe. From March (the month of this vision) to May 1798, Congress passed a series of acts encouraging private American vessels to attack French ships. George Washington was called out of retirement in preparation for war, and the ultimate setting ripened for the pamphlet which is considered here. Complicating everything was the famous X.Y.Z. Affair in which Talleyrand, the French foreign minister, attempted to extract massive bribes from the U.S. emissaries whom he kept waiting in Paris until March 1798. Increasing publicity of these matters heightened a growing aura of intrigue . . . The publication of its ministers' despatches by the American Government created such a stir in this country that the affair acquired a unique place in the popular mind. The incident was given a mysterious quality by the substitution of the letters X, Y, and Z for the names of Talleyrand's agents. The Federalists made political capital of the situation, and Congress abrogated the treaties of 1778 . . . , suspended commercial relations with France, authorized the seizure of armed French vessels and strengthened the nation's naval and military forces. [E. Wilson Lyon, DAH 5:499, "XYZ Affair"] 120 Adding to complex American political maneuvering within these events, a populist conspiracy theory against French revolutionary-supported Illuminati further colored the air. "An Association has been formed," wrote John Robison, "for the express purpose of rooting out all the religious establishments, and overturning all the existing governments of Europe. . . . I have seen that this Association still exists, still works in secret . . . its emissaries are endeavouring to propagate their detestable doctrines among us . . ." (Proofs of a Conspiracy Against All the Religions and Governments of Europe, Carried on in the Secret Meetings of Free Masons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies. Collected from Good Authorities, By John Robison, A.M., Professor of Natural Philosophy, and Secretary to the Royal Society of Edinburgh . . . , quoting here from the fourth edition [New York: Printed and Sold by George Forman, 1798], pp. 14-15). ". . . alarming . . . intelligence!," exclaimed David Osgood in a May 1798 sermon: "Do we indeed totter on the brink of ruin?" (MP 294, Osgood, Some Facts . . . , p. 20). Even George Washington believed in this semi-occult conspiracy, and wrote in October 1798 that ". . . no one is more fully satisfied of the fact than I am." (see MP 263, New England Anti-Masonic Almanac for . . . 1831, section headed, "Illuminati"). 121 It is not absolutely clear from the text that the writer's sleeping quarters were in the actual inn or tavern where he spent the early evening in conversation with local citizens. However, that would be the usual inference. While the awkward punctuation of this sentence might at first give the impression that the writer went to the inn only after his early evening conversation, such a reading is not favored by practical logistics of travel with a tired and hungry team, or by the chilly temperatures of the season. Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder 1829 tendency to influence the vision of the night,122 I will not pretend to determine, but as no one ever paid less attention to the rambles of mopus123 than myself, I conceive there must be something evidently supernatural in the singular phenomenon I am about to relate. A few minutes before the clock struck one, as I conceived, I awoke, turning my eyes towards the window, beheld an uncommon gleam of light which induced me to leap from my bed, I looked out but nothing uncommon appeared, it being no other than an agreeable twilight night,124 I again got into bed with a view of getting a little more refreshment by sleep, but it was without effect. After musing some time on the conversation of the evening and the events which caused it; I was surprised at something resembling a field piece125 and the clashing of [p. 5 ends] swords, as I conceived, which I saw plainly through the window, at the same time a bright light appeared in the room, as though the moon in the height of its lustre had shone directly upon me, I raised myself in bed but immediately sunk back with terror and surprise, and lay some minutes motionless, at length methought126 I heard an audible voice which I conceived not human, call to me by name,127 and said arise and give ear to the messenger of Heaven,128 for you

122 "I have dreamed a dream;" declares Lehi in the Book of Mormon, "or, in other words, I have seen a vision." (1 Nephi 8:2). For other folk-level occurrences of the expression, "vision of the night," see MP 57 (Bishop, diary entry for May 20, 1822); MP 73 (Brothers, section headed, "Brothers' Visions"); and MP 91 (Chamberlin, p. 3, quoted near the middle of the entry). See also MP 113 (Devotional Somnium), section headed, "Dreams as Visions." 123 "a drone, a dreamer" (as given in various editions of Walker's dictionary [MP 453], quoting here from my 1824 Canandaigua edition) 124 The moon had reached its first quarter on March 25, 1798, and would become full on March 31. Thus, nearly two-thirds of the moon (facing hemisphere) was visible that night. Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC ( http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/phase/phasecat.html accessed December 10, 2006). On the evening of March 27, 1798, the moon was already up before sunset in Chelsea, Vermont, where it would not set until 4:15 a.m. (in the early hours of March 28). U.S. Naval Observatory, Astronomical Applications Department, Washington DC ( http://aa.usno.navy.mil/ accessed December 10, 2006). 125 a small cannon which could be transported to battle sites 126 The quaint methinks/methought device occurred in American-published hymns of that period and region; see MP 403 (Divine Hymns, published at Norwich, Connecticut, 1797, nos. 78; 4, 44). For an early 1700s American usage, see the manuscript beginning, "When I considered my age . . ." (MP 466, ". . . ye next day methought I saw ye goodness of God wherever I went.") The device was used in 1829 by David Bernard (see MP 262, New=England Anti=Masonic Almanac, for . . . 1830, section headed, "Freemasonry Devoid of Religion") and in the Book of Mormon (". . . for behold, methought I saw in my dream, a dark and dreary wilderness." [Lehi, in 1 Nephi 8:4]; "Yea, methought I saw, even as our father Lehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, . . ." [Alma the younger, in Alma 36:22]. Royal Skousen discusses "The archaic methought . . ." in his analysis of its use in 1 Nephi 8:4 [Skousen 1:159-60]). In 1831, methinks was used by Betsy Searl near Fayette, New York (manuscript letter, MP 370) and by Jacob Crist in a Reading, Pennsylvania publication (MP 108, The Fog of Universalism Dissipated by the Light of Truth, p. 8). 127 "He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me . . . ," Joseph Smith—History 1:33. 128 Compare in general terms to Joseph Smith's visions of Moroni, in two senses: 1) the setting, in bed and aroused from sleep, attended by light and called by name; and 2) the repetitive or multi-stage nature of the experience. 1830 Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder shall be witness of the signs which shall be given of the perilous days which are coming upon the earth, by reason of the innumerable sins and dissensions so prevalent among mankind, especially in this favoured land,129 for saith the Lord—"I have delivered this people like the children of Israel from the tyranny of a powerful nation,130 and fain would have gathered them as a hen gathereth her chickens131 under her, but they would not hearken to the voice of wisdom—they have become a rebellious and disobedient people, lusting as it were after the luxuries of Egypt, boasting in their strength, and pregnant [p. 6 ends] with evils innumerable, but their peace is destroyed, wars and rumours of wars shall they abound, both national and civil,132 the father shall rise against the son and the son against the father, for a great and powerful nation133 have I chosen to be a scourge unto all other nations of the earth, even the most haughty shall bow to them, for the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but by an Almighty arm all the nations of the earth shall be made to know that the most high reigneth; this nation shall lay waste your sea- ports and utterly destroy your navigation, she shall infect your sea-coast with the fleets of all the conquered nations, and her armies shall swarm round you like the flies and gnats of Egypt, for a season; until they shall know that the Lord giveth and taketh at his pleasure. And for a sign of these times shall you be witness of the Angel descending with a long Flaming Sword134 in his hand, which shall turn to every point, to prepare the way for ushering the Glorious Day; then shall the Sword be transformed into an Olive Branch, which shall arise and overspread the horizon, and appear as emblematical [p. 7 ends]

of the harmonious day in which all nations and languages shall be gathered into one family, and all become of one heart and mind, to serve under the peaceable government of Him whose Sceptre sways all worlds." After such a discourse, which I conceived more than human, my readers may well think me a stranger to sleep the remainder of the night,135 for neither tongue nor pen can describe the agitation of mind, or the trembling situation of my

129 On the theme of America as a favored land to the righteous, begin with MP 126 (Dwight, Conquest of Canäan ), section headed, "America, the Divinely-Favored Land to the Righteous." 130 Great Britain; cf. 1 Nephi 13:17-19. 131 I find it intriguing to see these words which Jesus spoke over Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34) applied here to America in an overtly revelatory context (as opposed to some didactic sermon application) - much as the expression was applied to America by Christ in the Book of Mormon's 3 Nephi 10:4-6. 132 For discussion of Joseph Smith's "Prophecy on War," begin with MP 244 (Massachusetts. General court. Joint Committee on the Library. State Papers On Nullification . . . ). 133 France; see note 119 above. 134 "Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." (Genesis 3:23-24); "So I drove out the man, and I placed at the east of the Garden of Eden, cherubim and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life." (Moses 4:31). For sword-wielding angels, see Numbers 22 (mentioned in note 141 below) and 1 Chronicles 21. 135 As Joseph Smith later wrote of his bedside vision of the angel: "By this time, so deep were the impressions made on my mind, that sleep had fled from my eyes, and I lay overwhelmed in astonishment at what I had both seen and heard." (Joseph Smith—History 1:46) Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder 1831 frame—I can truly say with the Belshazer136 when he saw the finger writing on the wall, my knees smote one against the other; tho' I found myself more composed on mature deliberation, when I could not but consider myself as highly favoured in being a bearer of the divine message.137 As the clock struck three, I arose from my bed and prepared my team, paid my fare and set out on my journey,138 without making known to the family the singular occurrence of the preceding night,139 though my mind was so truly fixed on what had past, that it was with much irregularity that I proceeded on my journey. I had not got on my way more than one mile [p. 8 ends]

and a half,140 before my team, which consisted of four oxen and a horse, in full speed, were instantly stopped as though hushed by a mighty hand; I unthinkingly bid them go on, but without effect;141 for at the same instant, a bright light appeared to overspread the horizon, and an Angel, or some supernatural Being, as I conceived, descended and stood erect in the air but a little distance before me; dressed in a long unfoiled142 robe, with a Flaming Sword in his hand; and I can say with Daniel, I was alone and without strength;143 and he said unto me, "stand on thy feet and give ear to the words which I shall speak."144 And as I stood trembling, and recollecting the vision I

136 i.e., Belshazzar, king of Babylon; see Daniel 5:6. 137 Compare to Joseph Smith—History 1:33: "He called me by name, and said . . . that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people." 138 The moon was still up; see note 124 above. 139Joseph Smith did not tell his family about his night vision until commanded by the angel the next day (to tell his father; Joseph Smith—History 1:49-50). 140 Perhaps in the little valley north of town on present Vermont State Highway 110 as it runs northwest of its junction with Chelsea's Upper Village Road. 141 Compare to the amusingly memorable episode of Balaam striking and arguing with his (talking) donkey for turning from the path blocked by an invisible angel holding a drawn sword, Numbers 22:22-34. Compare also to the curiously chilling vision experience which Martin Harris related to future Utah Territorial Governor Stephen Harding around early September 1829: "He [Harris] told me that since he saw me at Mr. Smith's, he had seen fearful signs in the heavens. That he was standing alone one night, and saw a fiery sword let down out of heaven, and pointing to the east, west, north, and south, then to the hill of Cumorah, where the plates of Nephi were found. At another time, he said, as he was passing with his wagon and horses from town, his horses suddenly stopped and would not budge an inch. When he plied them with his whip, they commenced snorting and pawing the earth as they had never done before. He then commenced smelling brimstone, and knew the Devil was in the road, and saw him plainly, as he walked up the hill and disappeared. . . ." (Gregg, 45; also available in EMD 3:159-60. Harris concluded by describing the devil's appearance as resembling "a greyhound as big as a horse, without any tail, walking upright on his hind legs.") 142 While unfoiled might be stretched to the extremities of its archaic definitions (see OED) to suggest "pure" or "undefiled," I think perhaps that tries too hard. (The "f" is not a long "s," so I cannot make the word into unsoiled, unless through a printing error, either here or continued from some error in an earlier edition; the alternate text [ca. 1815, described at the end of this entry] also reads, "unfoiled.") My Walker's Canandaigua 1824 dictionary defines unfoiled simply as, "unsubdued." Perhaps the original intent was merely the somewhat similar-sounding word, unfurled. 143 "Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me . . . ," Daniel 10:8. 144 This identical, non-biblical ten-word phrase, "and give ear to the words which I shall speak" ("unto you") occurs in D&C 43:1 (February 1831). 1832 Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder was under the influence of a few hours before: I lifted up my eyes and beheld his face, which had the appearance of lightning, and his eyes were as lamps of fire;145 the Sword which he held in his hand, to appearance was about thirty feet long, the hilt of which was variously ornamented, it appeared of pure gold set with stones of various hues, the blade of which resembled fire; and I cast up my eyes and beheld a bow in the cloud, beautifully variega-[p. 9 ends]

ted, much resembling a rainbow, incircling a constellation of sixteen stars,146 differently diversified, there being nine to the southerly part of the bow of a most beautiful azure, in the centre of which appeared an Olive Branch richly decorated with golden buds, the seven to the north of a deep crimson,147 and all very transparent brilliant, which afterwards separated, the nine of the azure fell to the south, and the seven of a crimson to the north, attended with a heavy rumbling in the air, like the rushing of many armies to battle;148 at which I fell with my face to the ground, where I lay in a profound reverie for some time, at length I thought I heard an audible voice articulate and say, all these are signs by which you shall know what is to befall the nations149 now in the latter days.150 Woe unto the inhabitants of the land for their sins and ingratitude, in wars and rumours of wars shall they abound, their fields shall be crimsoned with blood of their own citizens, and nothing but lamentation and mourning shall be heard to echo through the lonely valley until all the tares and brambles of the earth shall [p. 10 ends] be plucked up and demolished from the face thereof; by the pestilence which walketh in darkness and by the sword which lays waste at noon day,151 for there shall be such a destruction as shall greatly thin the inhabitants of the earth, both by war, pestilence, and famine, until there shall arise a Branch from the root of Jesse, who shall perform such remarkable wonders through the power of the Almighty God as shall effectually convince the world of his divine authority,152 and shall cause eventually the remnant of all nations to be of one heart, one

145 Daniel 10:6: ". . . and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire . . ." Doctrine and Covenants 110:3 (April 3, 1836) describes the vision of Jesus in the Kirtland Temple: "His eyes were as a flame of fire; . . . his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun . . ." 146 There were sixteen states in the Union from 1 June 1796 (Tennessee) until 1 March 1803 (Ohio). 147 Presumbly referring to differences between the Federalist-leaning, commercial northern states vs. the Jeffersonian "Republican," agrarian-sympathizing southern states. While American war sentiment against France at this time was by no means restricted to Federalists, strong in the North, they symbolized and promoted such response. 148 Compare to the vision of soldiers marching across a bow in the sky, experienced by members of the Young and Kimball families at Mendon, New York, 1827 (Vilate Kimball autobiography quoted in Tullidge, 107-8; or see MP 320 [Pitts, Gospel Witness], introductory material). 149 The non-biblical phrase, "to befall the nations," occurs in D&C 101:98 (words of "I, the Lord," December 16, 1833). 150 The parallel-tempting phrase "in the latter days" actually occurs more frequently in the Old Testament than in the Book of Mormon. 151 Psalm 91:6: "Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday." 152 A station which was then claimed by Richard Brothers, and which would later be claimed by Joseph Smith; see MP 73 (Brothers), section headed, "Brothers as the Rod and Root of Jesse." Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder 1833 mind, and one Religion, when there shall be no more wars among mankind, who will ever after be in the strictest bonds of mutual friendship, professing unfaining love to God and one another; and the Jews and Gentiles shall coincide in sentiments, and become one and indivisible, declaring Jesus Christ to be their only king and sovereign, and as he ended, proclaimed, father thy will be done on Earth as in Heaven, and may all the people say AMEN. AND as he spake these words I looked and behold [sic] the Sword which he held [p. 11 ends]

in his hand was transformed into an Olive Branch, which grew and overspread the horizon, under which a reflection of light presented to my view a long and spacious153 landscape covered with innumerable hosts of beings like unto the stars of Heaven, worshipping and praising him who is King over all there: the lion lay down with the lamb and the beast of the earth; and the fowls of the air were mingled together in concert, and nothing but love unutterable appeared among them, and as it ascended a voice proclaimed, glory to God in the highest, peace on Earth and good will to men, &c. ALL the echo of which I feel on my face in amazement and terror. How long I continued so, I cannot tell, but when I came to myself154 the mighty appearance so lately before me had vanished from my sight, and I journeyed on, contemplating on the wonderful works which I had seen, and determining to lay them before the public, by whom I hope it will be read with candor, From their humble Servant, TIMOTHY P. WALKER.

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AN ALTERNATE VERSION

If the setting and certain details tend to support this visionary narrative, its text still describes highly peculiar, supernatural events. Its prophecies were only ful- filled to whatever degree one seeks to apply them. I find no other work by, or historical reference to Timothy P. Walker, nor any iron-clad census identification of the right Walker where I would expect to find Timothy P. in 1790 or 1800. While no "Capt. J. Bissell, Innholder in Chelsea" seems to cooperate with my

153 The non-biblical term "spacious" occurs a number of times in the Book of Mormon, where it is applied to buildings except in the two references to the "spacious field" of the Lehi/Nephi iron rod dream, 1 Nephi 8:9, 20. 154 "When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven." (Joseph Smith— History 1:20); ". . . when I came to myself I was lost in wonder and admiration . . ." ("The experience of Betsey Pitts . . . ," in MP 320, Pitts, The Gospel Witness); ". . . and when I came to myself I was lying on my face, on the ground, and I arose . . ." ("The Experience of SAVIAH ELDRED." ibid.); ". . . I came to myself, and found that I was on the earth, for which I felt to mourn, . . ." (John Colby, MP 102). 1834 Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder preliminary research, certain underlying names and facts may answer for the present.155 Yet whatever the circumstances, The Flaming Sword's Mormon parallel and cultural significance lies not in any veracity of this fantastic story, but rather, in the text itself, in its repeated publication, and in its mentality and apparent appeal to certain classes of readers in relevant place and time.

When the 1814 pamphlet which I analyze above was printed in Exeter, New Hampshire, the Joseph Smith family was living approximately one hundred miles to the northwest, in Lebanon, New Hampshire, or possibly Norwich, Vermont. The following year, so far as I can extrapolate, this vision was appropriated by some printer hoping to make a little money, or to promote a point of view. He changed the text enough to adapt it to then-recent world events and to particular sentiments. He provided a different author name, and published his version anonymously, as an illustrated poster.

The significance here to a Bibliographic Source is evident at several levels. An alternate text displays the flexible adaptability of spiritual folklore, for example, casually disseminated in the early United States. The broadside's homely production underscores how readily such publications could appear, thrown together almost overnight. In addition, this poster's subsequent rarity - as with the earlier-version pamphlets - underscores its ephemeral nature, deteriorating on wall or shelf, or circulated until virtually all copies were lost. How many other works or editions of this sort existed two centuries ago, which are now completely unknown? The following bibliographic notes and historical commentary about this alternate Flaming Sword text may interest some researchers.

THIS ALTERNATE VERSION of the visionary account appeared shortly after the War of 1812, with different author attribution, a different place and date for the vision, and with other textual changes adapting it to the later political climate. The text is recorded in only one example, an undated broadside without publisher's imprint or other identification, but likely printed in mid- 1815 (or at least between June 1815 and May 1816, given the wording and context). It was evidently created to exploit public concern over the Barbary War of mid-1815 (conducted by the United States Navy against Algiers and other southern Mediterranean principalities sponsoring piracy against European and American shipping).

The broadside (49 X 27 cm., printed in three columns) is entitled FLAMING SWORD, Or a Sign from Heaven! Being a Remarkable Phenomenon seen in the State of New Hampshire in May last. It is preserved at the Library Company of Philadelphia in the Zinman Collection of Early American Imprints (purchased ca. 1988 from Dawson's Book Shop in Los Angeles —telephone interview with Michael Zinman, February 8, 2007). Instead of the original attribution to Timothy P. Walker, this version is signed in print near the end, "From their humble Servant, THOMAS C. PRENTISS." A closing paragraph is adapted awkwardly from the opening paragraph of the Walker version, and is signed in type, "S.W." (instead of the original "G.W." of the Walker

155 See note 117 above. Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder 1835 version). The location of the vision is changed to "Plymouth," enroute "from Boston to Grafton, in New Hampshire . . ." (thus, Plymouth, Grafton County, New Hampshire). Between the first two words of the title appears the primitive woodcut of an angel (6 X 4½ cm., with simple hand- coloring) which is illustrated further above in this entry. This "Prentiss" broadside's dependency upon the earlier Walker text may be detected in a number of places in its text. In the second paragraph, for example, the political background description seems awkward from a literary point of view, twice using the word "late," unnecessarily close together in the same sentence. The political characterization also feels ad hoc, with a more recent enemy nation's name plugged into what, originally, had been more broad and genteel allusion . . .

A) Walker version (dated in the text, March 27, 1798 at the time of the difficulties with France): ". . . conversation with some gentlemen on the unhappy situation of our country, its relative situation, as it respects foreign powers, its internal divisions, &c. by reason of so many designing characters among us who are actuated more from sinister views than any real patriotic zeal for the general welfare;"

B) Prentiss broadside (dated merely "the 3d of May last," giving no year, but naming England as the recent adversary): ". . . conversation with some gentlemen on the late unhappy situation of our country relative to our late contest with Great Britain, and our present internal divisions, &c. by reason of so many designing characters among us who are actuated more from sinester [sic] views than any real patriotic zeal for the general welfare;"

The Walker version fits its stated time period's politics perfectly, as I discuss in footnotes above. The Prentiss version, however, applies better to a later period, immediately following the War of 1812. Its tones of recent, temporary conditions, and of continuing cynical, internal political division would not fit the Revolutionary War period so well. In addition, the broadside's typography, without long s's - conforms much better to 1815 than, say, some production thirty years earlier. The War of 1812 had only ended with the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, and fighting had continued for weeks afterward. Then on March 2, the United States declared war on Algiers. The broadside's stated vision date of May 3 would correspond nicely with high public anticipation over Stephen Decatur's fleet, which would sail from New York for the Mediterranean on May 20, 1815. No actual mention of the Barbary Wars is made in the broadside, for that would require too much transparency and commitment (and might limit the marketing period of public interest unnecessarily). Nonetheless, portions of the 1798 vision which would no longer appeal to American sentiments by 1815 are now removed from the narrative, most notably the substantial angelic reference to the "great and powerful nation" raised up by the Almighty to "lay waste your seaports and utterly destroy your navigation . . ." For most people in the United States, there could be nothing great, powerful, or divinely-appointed about the petty pirate-sponsoring principalities of North Africa. Another detail removed from this version was the small portable field cannon seen from the bedroom window in the preliminary portion of Walker's vision: such a weapon would have no place in the upcoming Naval encounters. And for whatever reason, the printer decided that, in the angel's predicted divine retribution upon nations of the latter days, the impending wars might still leave "their fields . . . crimsoned with blood," but no longer the blood "of their own citizens"; those four words are removed from the Walker text. An alteration of another sort appears near the beginning of the broadside, when the narrator stops on his journey for the night. In smaller communities of that era, a local inn doubled as the tavern, a natural place for both

1836 Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder travelers and local citizens to gather, eat —and, of sociological interest here, to drink. The Walker narrative of 1798 thinks nothing of mentioning that, "I called for entertainment at the house of Capt. J. Bissell, Innholder in Chelsea . . ." But between about 1808 and 1813, Northeastern American concern against alcohol had risen dramatically, particularly among Federalists and religious citizens in general.156 Accordingly, the Prentiss text emphasizes that, ". . . I called for entertainment for the night at a public house . . . ," good enough usage in the language of that era to assure us that this was no casual happy-hour stop along the way. Early the next morning, on the road, the angel forgets to update the number of stars (American states) represented in the sky, but does think to transpose their colors. It is now the Southern states which are "deep crimson" (no doubt because they had encouraged the War of 1812). In the earlier Walker version's contest with France, it was the northern states which bore that color (see footnote 147 above for background). The angel has also become female, conceivably for no better reason than that the angel woodcut device which was available to use on the broadside looked like a woman. This was an impromptu production, after all. When the typesetter altered the angel's pronouns to the feminine, he missed one, resulting in a passage which reads, "I lifted up my eyes and beheld his face, which had the appearance of lightning, and her eyes were as lamps of fire; . . ." I won't conceive an error of that kind occurring in any original sentence. I think our printer was composing from a printed text, altering and improvising as he went. The broadside's dependence upon the earlier Walker text is further betrayed in the final paragraph, where the typesetter inadvertently dropped a word from a phrase (which appears in the opening paragraph of the Walker text), leaving it meaningless: "and the Truth of here is unquestionable;" (originally, "and the truth of it here is unquestionable;"). A number of unusually clumsy spelling errors, finally, occur throughout the broadside, plus many unnecessary capitali- zations, and a few changes of narrative terms or details — the number of horses pulling the wagon, or the time the narrator went to bed — which seem to offer even less sense than whatever purpose they might serve, except perhaps to make this version appear sufficiently original to avoid prosecution for breach of copyright. While the Barbary War of 1815 would turn out to be a stunning American success within a very few months of May 3 that year, Americans could not know such a thing in advance. In fact, the nation's efforts against the same North African states at the beginning of the century (1801-5) had proven much more difficult. My presumed period for this broadside was also the season of Napoleon's final hurrah in Europe, before he was exiled to St. Helena (October 1815). In such a climate, the Flaming Sword vision of "war, pestilence, and famine" could have served some printer well, if he did not scruple to appropriate another man's pamphlet, or to publish anonymously.

156 Ahlstrom, 426; DAH 5:240, "Temperance Movement"; see also Rorabaugh, 191, who adds that, ". . . in 1814 . . . a seminal temperance pamphlet issued by Andover's New England Tract Society . . . was widely used by ministers to prepare sermons opposing the use of alcohol." Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source © 2014 Rick Grunder 1837