Kirtland had its own temperance society, as did many small towns.14 Precisely because alcohol reform was so often discussed and debated, the Saints needed a way of adjudicating which opinions were right. See “Revelation, 27 February 1833 [D&C 89],” in Sidney Gilbert, Notebook, 113, josephsmithpapers.org; punctuation standardized; see also Doctrine and Covenants 89:8. Generally what is taught is that the WOW commandment was given as a direct revelation from God in response to Emma's complaining about the men using chewing tobacco and messing up the floo… See Gordon Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 339; Joseph F. Kett, “Temperance and Intemperance as Historical Problems,” Journal of American History, vol. They “immediately threw their tobacco pipes into the fire,” one of the participants in the school recalled.29 Since that time, the inspiration in the Word of Wisdom has been proven many times over in the lives of the Saints, its power and divinity cascading down through the years. Isaac McCoy,” New Hampshire Repository, vol. To the astonishment of observers like Trollope, Americans everywhere—men, women, and children—drank whiskey all day long. "The Word of Wisdom is not a system of vegetarianism. If we do not obey the Word of Wisdom, the Lord’s Spirit withdraws from us” (Gospel Principles, 2009, p.167). The Word of Wisdom, a revelation given through Joseph Smith in Kirtland, Ohio, in February 1833, is a “law of health for the physical and spiritual benefit of God’s children,” according to the August 15 statement. See “Revelation, 27 February 1833 [D&C 89],” in Sidney Gilbert, Notebook, 113; “City Marshall’s Department,” City Gazette and Commercial [Charleston, South Carolina], Apr. The Mormon dietary or health code is called the "Word of Wisdom." Clearly, meat is permitted [see D&C 42:18]. Herbs, fruits, flesh, and grain are ordained for the use of man and of animals, D&C 89:10–17. " The Word of Wisdom is a law of health for the physical and spiritual benefit of God's children. Same goes for the church’s two-volume handbook, which stake presidents, bishops and other LDS leaders use to guide their congregations. 1988), 1213–38; Richard L. Bushman, The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities (New York: Knopf, 1992); Dana C. Elder, “A Rhetoric of Etiquette for the ‘True Man’ of the Gilded Age,” Rhetoric Review, vol. 21, no. 2 (2002), 155, 159. 6 (Fall 1991), 17–19; Peter C. Mancall, “‘The Art of Getting Drunk’ in Colonial Massachusetts,” Reviews in American History, vol. The former sermon is unpublished. Daniel would not defile himself with the king’s meat and wine, Dan. Considered as a ‘code of health’ by members of the LDS faith, the Word of Wisdom is the name given to a section of the Doctrine & Covenants which was written by … See, for example, Samuel Underhill’s propositions in Mark Lyman Staker, Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting for Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2009), 110. The brethren did not have to be told what the words meant. Many faiths have dietary laws, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of them. The Puritans called alcohol the “Good Creature of God,” a blessing from heaven to be imbibed in moderation. The American Temperance Society adopted a formal pledge of abstinence from all alcoholic beverages in 1831. As valuable as the Word of Wisdom is as a law of health, it may be much more valuable to you spiritually than it is physically.” Boyd K. Packer, November 1979 Ensign . After the Revolution, tea drinking came to be seen as unpatriotic and largely fell out of favor—the way was open for a rival stimulant to emerge. We find that there is a high degree of variation in Word of Wisdom compliance. In the end, some overlap between the Word of Wisdom and the health reform movement of the 19th century is to be expected. Zebedee Coltrin reminiscence, in Salt Lake School of the Prophets, Minutes, Oct. 3 1883, Church History Library, Salt Lake City. After molasses imports were cut off, Americans sought a substitute for rum by turning to whiskey. See “Revelation, 2 January 1831 [D&C 38],” in Revelation Book 1, 51, josephsmithpapers.org. For other such arguments, see “Twenty Dollars Reward,” Daily National Intelligencer, Sept. 23, 1823, 4; “Rev. This is not to say that all health proposals of the time relied on elaborate argumentation. 3–4 (2003), 29–64. Joseph began inquiring of the Lord about what could be done, and on February 27, scarcely a month after the school started, he received the revelation later canonized as Doctrine and Covenants 89. Once the pipes were smoked out, they would then “put in a chew on one side and perhaps on both sides and then it was all over the floor.”3 In this dingy setting, Joseph Smith attempted to teach the men how they and their converts could become holy, “without spot,” and worthy of the presence of God.4. The answer was unequivocal: “Tobacco is not for man but is for bruises & all sick cattle; to be used with judgement & skill.”8, Tobacco was just one of a host of substances pertaining to bodily health and cleanliness whose merits were hotly debated on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean at the time the Word of Wisdom was received. Strong drink, the revelation says simply, is “not good.” Similarly spare explanations are given for the injunctions against tobacco and hot drinks.25 The revelation can be understood more as an arbiter and less as a participant in the cultural debate. Flesh Is to Be Used Sparingly “The Word of Wisdom is not a system of vegetarianism. The guidelines were given "not by commandment or … 24 (Sept. 1996), 383. It has become commonly referred to as the Word of Wisdom. The Lord has always taught His followers principles of health. 14 (Fall 1981), 56; “For the Evening Post,” New York Evening Post, June 27, 1829, [2]. Those who wish to be baptised members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must be willing to listen to and obey the prophets- which includes such things as the Law of Chastity, paying our tithing, and the Word of Wisdom, even though these things are not commandments. See Milton V. Backman Jr., “School of the Prophets and School of the Elders,” in Joseph: Exploring the Life and Ministry of the Prophet, ed. But the spread of middle-class refinement in the early decades of the 19th century brought a new round of public critics. The Word of Wisdom: Hope, Healing, and the Destroying Angel Is an important book for all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to read because it breaks down the Word of Wisdom into three sections, the Don'ts, the Sometimes and the Dos. The “Word of Wisdom” is a law of health revealed by the Lord for our physical and spiritual benefit. See Steven R. Sorensen, “Schools of the Prophets,” in Daniel H. Ludlow, ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 5 vols. The room was very small, and about 25 elders packed the space.2 The first thing they did, after sitting down, was “light a pipe and begin to talk about the great things of the kingdom and puff away,” Brigham Young recounted. Frances Trollope, Domestic Manners of the Americans, 2 vols. Home-brewed beer was a favorite, and after 1700, British-American colonists drank fermented peach juice, hard apple cider, and rum either imported from the West Indies or distilled from molasses made there. See “Revelation, 27 February 1833 [D&C 89],” in Sidney Gilbert, Notebook, 113. During the early 1800’s, drinking alcoholic beverages was a common and accepted practice among Americans, including the members of the church. Discussion was so frequent because abuse was so widespread. As early as 1784, both Quakers and Methodists were advising their members to abstain from all hard liquor and to avoid participation in its sale and manufacture.12 A more aggressive temperance movement took hold among the churches in the early decades of the 19th century. For other ways the Word of Wisdom may have departed from accepted wisdom, see Steven C. Harper, Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants: A Guided Tour through Modern Revelations (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2008), 332–33. “Hot drinks”—which Latter-day Saints understood to mean coffee and tea19—“are not for the body, or belly,” the revelation explained (see D&C 89:9). “The Lord also counsels us against the use of ‘hot drinks’ (D&C 89:9). President Grant clearly taught the revelation as a commandment, not as a guideline or a suggestion. By the early 20th century, when scientific medicines were more widely available and temple attendance had become a more regular feature of Latter-day Saint worship, the Church was ready to accept a more exacting standard of observance that would eliminate problems like alcoholism from among the obedient. The Word of Wisdom remains to light our way. 24:9. The Word of Wisdom is a health code included in the Doctrine and Covenants, a book of scripture used by Latter-day Saints. Coffee fell to 10 cents a pound, making a cup of coffee the same price as a cup of whiskey, marking whiskey’s decline. 1981), 881; Rorabaugh, “Alcohol in America,” 17. 6 (May 3, 1824), 70; “From the Times and Advertiser,” Times and Hartford Advertiser, Jan. 3, 1826, 4. By 1840, per capita consumption in America had fallen to about three gallons, the steepest 10-year drop in American history. ed. The Church’s “Doubling Down” on the Word of Wisdom Could it be that the speculation of the possibility that coffee and tea was soon to be made kosher (so to speak) in Mormonism cause the leadership some angst. Temperance reformers often tried to frighten their hearers by linking alcohol consumption with a host of horrific diseases or social ills.24 The Word of Wisdom offered no such rationale. (London, 1832), 2:101. See “Revelation, 27 February 1833 [D&C 89],” in Sidney Gilbert, Notebook, 113; see also Doctrine and Covenants 89:5. On the night Joseph Smith was visited by the angel Moroni for the first time, in the fall of 1823, the angel quoted a line from the book of Joel and said it was about to be fulfilled: “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh,” the passage read (Joel 2:28; emphasis added). The name came from the 1 st verse. The Word of Wisdom contains two kinds of instructions: (1) prohibitions, and (2) counsel. The Lord often uses poetic words, with layered meanings, to teach us, and I believe that this is true of the words He uses in D&C 89, the Word of Wisdom. Members should not use any substance that contains illegal drugs. Grant to call on all Saints to live the Word of Wisdom to the letter by completely abstaining from all alcohol, coffee, tea, and tobacco. It is also the name of a health code based on this scripture, practiced most strictly by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and Mormon fundamentalists, and to a lesser extent, some other Latter Day Saint denominations. Latest. Tobacco came to be known as the “filthy weed,” and words like “disgusting” and “annoying” increasingly became associated with it. In the words of one authority, alcohol “stupefies their feelings, benumbs their moral sensibilities, weakens the powers of digestion, and in course brings on dispepsia, than which a more formidable disease hardly afflicts the human race” (“On Drunkenness,” Connecticut Herald, Feb. 21, 1826, 1). “Members of The Church of … In 1750, personal cleanliness and hygiene were infrequent, haphazard practices, mostly the concern of the wealthy and aristocratic. She may have complained of being asked to perform this thankless task, but there was also a more practical consideration: “She could not make the floor look decent,” Brigham Young recalled.7 The stains were impossible to get out. 67 (Mar. In the 20th century, some Latter-day Saints sought to isolate the offending chemicals in the substances prohibited in the Word of Wisdom, but such analysis was never accepted as Church doctrine and went beyond the reasoning of the revelation itself. American consumption of distilled spirits climbed precipitously, from two and a half gallons a person in 1790 to seven gallons in 1830, the highest amount of any time in American history and a figure three times today’s consumption rate.11, This elevated alcohol consumption offended religious sensibilities. In 1812, the Congregational and Presbyterian churches in Connecticut recommended strict licensing laws limiting the distribution of alcohol. The Word of Wisdom is a law of health for the physical and spiritual benefit of God's children. Susan Easton Black and Andrew C. Skinner (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005), 165–75. Besides rejecting the use of tobacco, the Word of Wisdom also came down against alcoholic beverages: “Inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or Strong drink among you behold it is not good, neither mete in the sight of your Father.”15, Nevertheless, it required time to wind down practices that were so deeply ingrained in family tradition and culture, especially when fermented beverages of all kinds were frequently used for medicinal purposes. By 1770, per capita consumption of distilled spirits alone—to say nothing of beer or cider—stood at 3.7 gallons per year.10, The American Revolution only exacerbated this reliance on alcohol. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently released a statement regarding its stance on the use of vaping or e-cigarettes, coffee-based products, marijuana, and opioids. In the 18th century, coffee was considered a luxury item, and British-manufactured tea was much preferred. It includes instruction about what foods are good for us and those substances to avoid. Today Church members are expected to live this higher standard.17, American temperance reformers succeeded in the 1830s in no small part by identifying a substitute for alcohol: coffee. The Lord has always taught His followers principles of health. He provides evidence that affirms what we already believe about God's promises to us when we follow His commandments for us. “Revelation, 27 February 1833 [D&C 89],” in Sidney Gilbert, Notebook, 114–15. The clouds of smoke were so thick the men could hardly even see Joseph through the haze. To prepare these recent converts for their important labors, Joseph Smith started a training school called the School of the Prophets, which opened in Kirtland on the second floor of the Newel K. Whitney mercantile store in January 1833.1, Every morning after breakfast, the men met in the school to hear instruction from Joseph Smith. See John A. Widtsoe and Leah D. Widtsoe, The Word of Wisdom: A Modern Interpretation (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1950). and exp. Soon after receiving the Word of Wisdom, Joseph Smith appeared before the elders of the School of the Prophets and read the revelation to them. Edmunds Jephcott (New York, 1978); Georges Vigarello, Concepts of Cleanliness: Changing Attitudes in France since the Middle Ages, trans. [20] Instead, the revelation encouraged the consumption of basic staples of the kind that had sustained life for millennia. Eat the foods at the bottom part of the chart sparingly, if at all. Insofar as temperance reform made people less dependent on addictive substances, prompting humility and righteous action, the movement surely was inspired by God. In a recent article in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, John Ferguson, Jana Riess, and I share results from the 2016 Next Mormons Survey regarding observance of the Word of Wisdom among self-identified American Mormons. This was a time of “refreshing” (Acts 3:19), a moment in history where light and knowledge were pouring down from heaven. This episode in the Whitney store occurred in the middle of a massive transformation within western culture. 20:1. Frances Trollope, a British novelist, reported disdainfully in 1832 that in all her recent travels in the United States, she hardly ever met a man who was not either a “tobacco chewer or a whisky drinker.”9, Drinking, like tobacco chewing, had clearly gotten out of hand. Like their European counterparts the “do nots” of the Doctrine and Covenants, God! 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