See Watt, Sermons on Various Subjects, Divine and Moral, 492–493; Hymn 257, Collection of Sacred Hymns [1841], 279–280.
Watt, Isaac. Sermons on Various Subjects, Divine and Moral: With a Sacred Hymn Suited to Each Subject. Design’ d for the Use of Christian Families, as Well as for the Hours of Devout Retirement. 6th ed. Vol. 2. London: Richard Hett and James Brackstone, 1740.
A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Edited by Emma Smith. Nauvoo, IL: E. Robinson, 1841.
Phelps referred to the forcible expulsion of the Latter-day Saints from Missouri in the winter of 1838–1839. Although the number of Mormons driven from Missouri is unknown, this estimate of fifteen thousand appears to be too high. Others estimated that about eight thousand Mormons were driven from Missouri. (See Eliza R. Snow, Caldwell Co., MO, to Isaac Streator, Streetsborough, OH, 22 Feb. 1839, photocopy, CHL; for further information on the expulsion, see Hartley, “Almost Too Intolerable a Burthen,” 6–40.)
Snow, Eliza R. Letter, Caldwell Co., MO, to Isaac Streator, Streetsborough, OH, 22 Feb. 1839. Photocopy. CHL. MS 9108.
Hartley, William G. “‘Almost Too Intolerable a Burthen’: The Winter Exodus from Missouri, 1838–39.” Journal of Mormon History 18 (Fall 1992): 6–40.
A document included at the end of the 1844 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants stated that the deaths of JS and Hyrum Smith had “cost the best blood of the nineteenth century.” (“Martyrdom of Joseph Smith and His Brother Hyrum,” in Doctrine and Covenants 111:6, 1844 ed. [D&C 135:6].)
That is, American Indians, whom Latter-day Saints viewed as descendants of the biblical Jacob. (See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 248 [Alma 10:3].)
According to English common law, a child was considered to be “of legal discretion” and able to “choose a guardian” at the age of fourteen. Phelps earlier referenced this legal tradition in his invocation at the April 1844 conference of the church, held on the fourteenth anniversary of the church’s organization. (Blackstone, Commentaries, 1:463; Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 6 Apr. 1844.)
Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England: In Four Books; with an Analysis of the Work. By Sir William Blackstone, Knt. One of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas. In Two Volumes, from the Eighteenth London Edition. . . . 2 vols. New York: W. E. Dean, 1840.
Historian’s Office. General Church Minutes, 1839–1877. CHL