Discourse, circa 19 July 1840, as Reported by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray–B
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Source Note
JS, Discourse, , Hancock Co., IL, ca. 19 July 1840. Featured version copied [between fall 1843 and 1850s] in Martha Jane Coray, Notebook, ca. 1843–1850s, pp. [9]–[22]; handwriting of Martha Jane Knowlton Coray; CHL.Small book, measuring 5⅝ × 3⅝ × ⅜ inches (14 × 9 × 1 cm). The notebook consists of ninety-two pages in four gatherings of eight, sixteen, ten, and twelve leaves each. The volume is loosely sewn together with thread and lacks a cover. The pages are ruled with now-faded black lines. The beginning of the notebook appears to be missing at least one leaf that likely contained diary entries. The majority of the book’s pages are unnumbered. Coray inscribed most of the entries in the book with black ink, but the volume also includes occasional inscriptions in graphite. Twenty-four pages in the middle of the book are blank. The reverse side of the book includes inscriptions regarding Coray’s study of French. The reverse pages are numbered 3 through 20 inclusive, suggesting that the reverse side is also missing at least one leaf.The timing of ’s appointment as in (an event referred to in the notebook) and internal dating suggest that Coray made the entries in the notebook sometime between 1843 and 1855. The first date listed in the notebook is 8 August 1853, and the last recorded date is 1 December 1854. The notebook contains diary entries, financial statements, school notes, a copy of Coray’s patriarchal blessing, and transcripts of three sermons given by JS in , Illinois.Presumably, Coray maintained ownership of the notebook until her death in 1881. The book likely remained in the possession of the Coray family until at least July 1902. Historians later discovered the book filed among the Joseph F. Smith Papers in the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, suggesting that the Coray family placed the notebook in Smith’s custody sometime prior to his death in 1918.
Footnotes
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1
Ehat and Cook, Words of Joseph Smith, 419n2.
Ehat, Andrew F., and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1980.
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2
Jessee, “Joseph Smith’s 19 July 1840 Discourse,” 390n1.
Jessee, Dean C. “Joseph Smith’s 19 July 1840 Discourse.” BYU Studies 19, no. 3 (Spring 1979): 390–394.
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1
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Historical Introduction
See Historical Introduction to Discourse, ca. 19 July 1840, as Reported by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray–A.
Document Transcript
Footnotes
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1
See Ezekiel 33:33.
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2
See Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:43–62].
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3
A July 1831 revelation stated that the Saints would build a temple near Independence, Jackson County, Missouri. (Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:3]; see also Revelation, 22–23 Sept. 1832 [D&C 84:3–4].)
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4
After the Saints were driven from Jackson County in fall 1833, a June 1834 revelation instructed the Saints to “make proposals for peace unto those who have smitten you” and to “lift up an ensign of peace, and make a proclamation for peace unto the ends of the earth.” Thereafter, church leaders drafted an “APPEAL for peace,” which was published in the August 1834 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star. (Revelation, 22 June 1834 [D&C 105:40]; William W. Phelps et al., “An Appeal,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Aug. 1834, 183–184, emphasis in original.)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
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5
See Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:81–85].
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6
A December 1833 revelation instructed the church to “impertune at the feet” of judges, the governor of Missouri, and the president of the United States to regain its Jackson County lands. Although church leaders complied with the revelation, they did not receive help from any of those sources. After church members were expelled from Missouri in 1838 and 1839, JS, Sidney Rigdon, and Elias Higbee appealed to Congress and President Martin Van Buren for redress but were denied assistance from the federal government. (Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:86–88]; “Joseph Smith Documents from April 1834 through September 1835”; Letter from Elias Higbee, 26 Feb. 1840; Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839.)
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7
See Matthew 5:13; Book of Mormon, 1837 ed., 506 [3 Nephi 12:13]; Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:40]; and Revelation, 24 Feb. 1834 [D&C 103:10].
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8
Although Peck was excommunicated, his family remained members of the church. They likely did not arrive in Quincy, Illinois, before mid-May 1839. (“Extracts of the Minutes of Conferences,” Times and Seasons, Nov. 1839, 1:15; William W. Phelps, Far West, MO, to Sally Waterman Phelps, St. Louis, MO, 1 May 1839, CHL.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Phelps, William W. Letter, Far West, MO, to Sally Waterman Phelps, St. Louis, MO, 1 May 1839. CHL.
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9
See Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:45–48].
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10
See Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:51].
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11
The federal government’s refusal to help the Saints led many church members to conclude that the United States was ripe for destruction. In the July 1840 issue of the Times and Seasons, for example, Alanson Ripley declared that if the Saints could not obtain redress, God would “hear the cries of innocent blood, and will let loose his indignation upon the rulers of this government, and vexation, and astonishment shall be the cry of this nation.” (Alanson Ripley, “To All the Saints,” Times and Seasons, July 1840, 1:137–138; see also Letter from Elias Higbee, 9 Mar. 1840.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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12
Parley P. Pratt stated in a letter to Orson Pratt that JS had said—perhaps in this discourse—that “the government is fallen & needs redeeming. It is guilty of Blood & cannot stand as it now is but will come so near dessolation as to hang as it were by a single hair!” (Orson Pratt, Edinburgh, Scotland, to George A. Smith, Burslem, England, 21 Jan. 1841, George Albert Smith, Papers, CHL, underlining in original.)
Smith, George Albert. Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322.
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13
See Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:55–56].
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14
See Matthew 26:21–22; and Mark 14:18–19.
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15
See Book of Mormon, 1837 ed., 359 [Alma 42:27]; and Revelation, Spring 1829 [D&C 10:66].
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16
See Book of Mormon, 1837 ed., 204, 488 [Mosiah 18:12; 3 Nephi 4:29]; and Revelation, ca. 8 Mar. 1831–A [D&C 46:7].
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17
See Matthew 5:14–15.
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18
At an April 1840 general conference, JS “requested the brethren to step forward and assist in liquidating the debts on the [Nauvoo] town plot, so that the poor might have inheritances.” (Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840.)
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19
As early as 1831, JS was accused of enriching himself from church members’ assets. An 1838 publication similarly claimed that it was “the grand object” of church leaders to get members to “surrender their property to the Mormon community.” (“Secret Bye Laws of the Mormonites,” Western Courier [Ravenna, OH], 1 Sept. 1831, [1]; Symonds Rider, Hiram, OH, to Amos S. Hayden, 1 Feb. 1868, in Hayden, Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, 221; Sunderland, Mormonism Exposed and Refuted, 22, 33.)
Western Courier. Ravenna, OH. 1826–1833.
Hayden, Amos Sutton. Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, Ohio; with Biographical Sketches of the Principal Agents in Their Religious Movement. Cincinnati: Chase and Hall, 1875.
Sunderland, La Roy. Mormonism Exposed and Refuted. New York City: Piercy and Reed, 1838.
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20
JS may have been contemplating the troubles he had encountered in Kirtland, Ohio. In 1837 and 1838, after a period of prosperity, an economic crisis caused in part by a national economic panic and the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society led many church leaders to denounce JS as a fallen prophet. He even feared for his life and ultimately relocated with his family to Far West, Missouri. (“Joseph Smith Documents from October 1835 through January 1838.”)
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21
See 1 Kings 10:4–7; and 2 Chronicles 9:3–6.
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22
See 1 Kings chap. 6.
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23
See Isaiah 49:23; and Book of Mormon, 1837 ed., 80 [2 Nephi 6:13].