Discourse, 16 May 1841, as Published in Times and Seasons
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Source Note
JS, Discourse, [, Hancock Co., IL], 16 May 1841. Featured version published in Times and Seasons, 1 June 1841, vol. 2, no. 15, 429–430. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.
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Historical Introduction
On 16 May 1841 in , Illinois, JS spoke to “a large concourse of the assembled on the meeting ground” on a Sunday morning with weather that “promised a beautiful day.” He began speaking at ten o’clock in the morning and spoke for “more than two hours.” In his sermon, JS explained that the devil did not have compulsory power over embodied beings, thereby refuting the idea that Satan could compel people to sin. JS also spoke on the “first principles of the gospel,” especially the for the . He then addressed the doctrine of election, explaining that the promises of the Old Testament continue and that the elect “shall be the ‘Saviors on mount Zion.’”Multiple accounts of the discourse exist. One of the featured accounts of the sermon suggests that JS selected these topics after “observing that many of the saints who had come from different States and Nations, had only a very superficial knowledge of these principles.” Before joining the Latter-day Saint faith, some of the newly arrived British converts were members of the Church of England, which affirmed the doctrine of predestination, or unconditional election. Much of JS’s recorded sermon, however, refuted the Anglican understanding of this doctrine by focusing on election through obedience to the gospel.The 16 May 1841 discourse was widely distributed. The published account of the discourse in the 1 June 1841 issue of the Times and Seasons was printed, distributed, and mailed to subscribers sometime in early June. The New York Herald republished the discourse alongside JS’s January 1841 revelation and several other Latter-day Saint proclamations. The editor of the Herald caustically opined: “Joe has some of the energetic characteristics of Mahomet, the Arabian prophet, or Moses, the Jewish prophet. His ‘Revelation’ is his code of thought—his ‘Sermon,’ his practice at his home—his ‘Proclamation’ is carrying Mormons to the West—and his ‘General Orders’ show that he is determined not to be put down by the Gentiles.” The Herald also lambasted JS for combining his religion with military and civil power, thus reinforcing a growing fear among many Americans that JS held too much power in .No complete manuscript of the sermon as it was delivered exists. The scribe or scribes who recorded the discourse are unknown. The version published in the Times and Seasons concluded by informing its readers that “this is but a very imperfect sketch” of the lengthy discourse. An additional partial transcript of the text in unidentified handwriting also exists. The handwritten account of the discourse was apparently created by someone in attendance at the meeting and includes details not found in the published version. The handwritten version was copied into a larger collection of JS's teachings, some of which are not dated, making it difficult to determine when this version was copied into the larger source.
Footnotes
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1
Report, Times and Seasons, 1 June 1841, 2:429, 430.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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2
Thorp, “Religious Backgrounds of Mormon Converts in Britain,” 60. The seventeenth article of the Church of England asserted that “predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the world were laid, he hath constantly decreed by his counsel, secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour.” (Wilson, XXXIX Articles of the Church of England, 119–125.)
Thorp, Malcom R. “The Religious Backgrounds of Mormon Converts in Britain, 1837–52.” Journal of Mormon History 4 (1977): 51–66.
Wilson, William. The XXXIX of the Church of England, Illustrated by Extracts from the Liturgy, Nowell’s Catechism, Jewell’s Apology, the Homilies, Bullinger’s Decades, &c. New, enlarged ed. Oxford: J. Abrams, 1840.
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3
“Highly Important from the Far West,” New York Herald, 29 June 1841, [2].
New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.
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4
“Highly Important from the Far West,” New York Herald, 29 June 1841, [2]; see also, “The Mormons,” Warsaw (IL) Signal, 19 May 1841, [2].
New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.
Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.
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