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Discourse, 13 August 1843–A, as Reported by Willard Richards

Source Note

JS, Discourse, [
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Hancock Co., IL], 13 Aug. 1843. Featured version copied [ca. 13 Aug. 1843] in JS, Journal, Dec. 1842–June 1844, bk. 3, pp. [44]–[50]; handwriting of Willard Richards; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS, Journal, 1842–1844.

Historical Introduction

On 13 August 1843, JS delivered a discourse prompted by the death of
church

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

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member
Elias Higbee

23 Oct. 1795–8 June 1843. Clerk, judge, surveyor. Born at Galloway, Gloucester Co., New Jersey. Son of Isaac Higbee and Sophia Somers. Moved to Clermont Co., Ohio, 1803. Married Sarah Elizabeth Ward, 10 Sept. 1818, in Tate Township, Clermont Co. Lived at ...

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. Higbee had held a number of prominent ecclesiastical and civic offices over the course of his life, including
Zion

JS revelation, dated 20 July 1831, designated Missouri as “land of Zion” for gathering of Saints and place where “City of Zion” was to be built, with Independence area as “center place” of Zion. Latter-day Saint settlements elsewhere, such as in Kirtland,...

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high council

A governing body of twelve high priests. The first high council was organized in Kirtland, Ohio, on 17 February 1834 “for the purpose of settling important difficulties which might arise in the church, which could not be settled by the church, or the bishop...

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member, church historian,
Caldwell County

Located in northwest Missouri. Settled by whites, by 1831. Described as being “one-third timber and two-thirds prairie” in 1836. Created specifically for Latter-day Saints by Missouri state legislature, 29 Dec. 1836, in attempt to solve “Mormon problem.” ...

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judge, and captain general of the
Danite

The common name for the “Daughter of Zion,” an oath-bound military society organized among the Latter-day Saints in Missouri in summer 1838 to defend the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from internal and external opposition. The official name ...

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society during the mid- to late 1830s.
1

Minute Book 2, 6 Jan. 1836 and 6 Apr. 1838, 67, 114; “Higbee, Elias,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:253; Reed Peck, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, pp. 47–48, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA; Historical Introduction to Letter to Elias Higbee, 16 Apr. 1839; Swartzell, Mormonism Exposed, 17–18; Baugh, “Call to Arms,” 95–96.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.

Peck, Reed. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

Swartzell, William. Mormonism Exposed, Being a Journal of a Residence in Missouri from the 28th of May to the 20th of August, 1838, Together with an Appendix, Containing the Revelation concerning the Golden Bible, with Numerous Extracts from the ‘Book of Covenants,’ &c., &c. Pekin, OH: By the author, 1840.

Baugh, Alexander L. “A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1996. Also available as A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2000).

In 1839, Higbee accompanied JS and
Sidney Rigdon

19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...

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to
Washington DC

Created as district for seat of U.S. federal government by act of Congress, 1790, and named Washington DC, 1791. Named in honor of George Washington. Headquarters of executive, legislative, and judicial branches of U.S. government relocated to Washington ...

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, where he played a key role in petitioning the federal government for redress and restitution on behalf of the Latter-day Saints whose lives and property were lost in
Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Latter-day Saint ...

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the previous winter.
2

Minutes and Discourses, 5–7 Oct. 1839; Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839.


He was appointed a member of the
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
temple

Located in portion of Nauvoo known as the bluff. JS revelation dated Jan. 1841 commanded Saints to build temple and hotel (Nauvoo House). Cornerstone laid, 6 Apr. 1841. Saints volunteered labor, money, and other resources for temple construction. Construction...

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building committee in October 1840. In early June 1843, Higbee contracted cholera and died five days later, on 8 June.
3

JS, Journal, 8 June 1843.


He was interred in the Nauvoo cemetery on 12 June.
4

Huntington, Cemetery Records, [5].


JS delivered the funeral discourse on the morning of 13 August before a group of Latter-day Saints gathered for Sunday worship services at the preaching
stand

Term usually refers to speaker’s stand located in one of three groves where JS and others often spoke. JS also preached at temple stand, temporary structure built at various times on east, west, and south walls of unfinished Nauvoo temple. See also “Grove...

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near the
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
temple

Located in portion of Nauvoo known as the bluff. JS revelation dated Jan. 1841 commanded Saints to build temple and hotel (Nauvoo House). Cornerstone laid, 6 Apr. 1841. Saints volunteered labor, money, and other resources for temple construction. Construction...

More Info
construction site. Drawing from passages of biblical scripture—including 2 Peter 3, Hebrews 12, Malachi 4, and Revelation 7—JS discussed the state of human relationships after death, including the idea that parents could be forever linked, or “
sealed

To confirm or solemnize. In the early 1830s, revelations often adopted biblical usage of the term seal; for example, “sealed up the testimony” referred to proselytizing and testifying of the gospel as a warning of the approaching end time. JS explained in...

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,” to their children through the “
everlasting covenant

Generally referred to the “fulness of the gospel”—the sum total of the church’s message, geared toward establishing God’s covenant people on the earth; also used to describe individual elements of the gospel, including marriage. According to JS, the everlasting...

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.” The discourse ended when JS became “much exhau[s]ted,” after which
George J. Adams

7 Nov. 1810–11 May 1880. Tailor, actor, clergyman. Born in Oxford, Sussex Co., New Jersey. Lived in Boston during 1820s and 1830s. Became Methodist lay preacher. Married Caroline. Moved to New York City, before 1840. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of...

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and
Parley P. Pratt

12 Apr. 1807–13 May 1857. Farmer, editor, publisher, teacher, school administrator, legislator, explorer, author. Born at Burlington, Otsego Co., New York. Son of Jared Pratt and Charity Dickinson. Traveled west with brother William to acquire land, 1823....

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spoke.
5

JS, Journal, 13 Aug. 1843.


JS delivered another discourse on a variety of topics later that afternoon.
6

Discourse, 13 Aug. 1843–B.


Church members
Willard Richards

24 June 1804–11 Mar. 1854. Teacher, lecturer, doctor, clerk, printer, editor, postmaster. Born at Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe. Moved to Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, 1813; to Chatham, Columbia Co...

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,
William Clayton

17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...

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, and
Franklin D. Richards

2 Apr. 1821–9 Dec. 1899. Carpenter, businessman, newspaper editor. Born at Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. Son of Phinehas Richards and Wealthy Dewey. Raised Congregationalist. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Phinehas ...

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, as well as
Howard

6 May 1817–16 Jan. 1908. Bookkeeper, clerk, teacher, farmer. Born in Dansville, Steuben Co., New York. Son of Silas Coray and Mary Stephens. Moved to Providence, Luzerne Co., Pennsylvania, ca. 1827; to Williams, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania, by 1830; and...

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or Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, were likely in the audience that day, and each of them produced handwritten manuscripts that captured elements of JS’s discourse. Richards likely recorded rough notes of the discourse on loose paper or in a notebook before inscribing a more polished account in JS’s journal.
7

See Historical Introduction to Appendix 3: Willard Richards, Draft Notes of JS’s Activities, 1842, 1844.


The polished nature of Clayton’s and Franklin D. Richards’s versions suggest that they also reconstructed them from notes or memory. Martha and Howard Coray recorded several of JS’s discourses in the early 1840s, and one of them likely took nonextant notes of JS’s discourse. Martha Coray later copied them into a notebook sometime after 1853.
8

Martha Coray recounted that “from the age of thirteen years,” she had been “much in the habit of noting down evrything, I heard and read which possessed any peculiar interest to me, in order to preserve facts.” According to one account, Coray “took in common hand every di[s]course that she heard him [JS] preach, and has carefully preserved them.” Coray’s daughter noted that “it was ever her [Coray’s] custom when going to meeting to take pencil and note paper; she thus preserved notes of sermons that would otherwise have been lost to the Church.” (Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, Provo, Utah Territory, to Brigham Young, 13 June 1865, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; “Obituaries,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Feb. 1882, 10:133; Lewis, “Martha Jane Knowlton Coray,” 440.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

Woman’s Exponent. Salt Lake City. 1872–1914.

Lewis, Martha J. C. “Martha Jane Knowlton Coray.” Improvement Era 5, no. 6 (Apr. 1902): 439–440.

All four versions are featured here in their entirety. Annotation that appears in Willard Richards’s version of the discourse is not repeated in corresponding locations in the versions by Coray, Clayton, or Franklin Richards.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Minute Book 2, 6 Jan. 1836 and 6 Apr. 1838, 67, 114; “Higbee, Elias,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:253; Reed Peck, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, pp. 47–48, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA; Historical Introduction to Letter to Elias Higbee, 16 Apr. 1839; Swartzell, Mormonism Exposed, 17–18; Baugh, “Call to Arms,” 95–96.

    Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.

    Peck, Reed. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

    Swartzell, William. Mormonism Exposed, Being a Journal of a Residence in Missouri from the 28th of May to the 20th of August, 1838, Together with an Appendix, Containing the Revelation concerning the Golden Bible, with Numerous Extracts from the ‘Book of Covenants,’ &c., &c. Pekin, OH: By the author, 1840.

    Baugh, Alexander L. “A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1996. Also available as A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2000).

  2. [2]

    Minutes and Discourses, 5–7 Oct. 1839; Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839.

  3. [3]

    JS, Journal, 8 June 1843.

  4. [4]

    Huntington, Cemetery Records, [5].

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 13 Aug. 1843.

  6. [6]

    Discourse, 13 Aug. 1843–B.

  7. [7]

    See Historical Introduction to Appendix 3: Willard Richards, Draft Notes of JS’s Activities, 1842, 1844.

  8. [8]

    Martha Coray recounted that “from the age of thirteen years,” she had been “much in the habit of noting down evrything, I heard and read which possessed any peculiar interest to me, in order to preserve facts.” According to one account, Coray “took in common hand every di[s]course that she heard him [JS] preach, and has carefully preserved them.” Coray’s daughter noted that “it was ever her [Coray’s] custom when going to meeting to take pencil and note paper; she thus preserved notes of sermons that would otherwise have been lost to the Church.” (Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, Provo, Utah Territory, to Brigham Young, 13 June 1865, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; “Obituaries,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Feb. 1882, 10:133; Lewis, “Martha Jane Knowlton Coray,” 440.)

    Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

    Woman’s Exponent. Salt Lake City. 1872–1914.

    Lewis, Martha J. C. “Martha Jane Knowlton Coray.” Improvement Era 5, no. 6 (Apr. 1902): 439–440.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Discourse, 13 August 1843–A, as Reported by Willard Richards Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 3, 15 July 1843–29 February 1844 *Discourse, 13 August 1843–A, as Reported by William Clayton *Discourse, 13 August 1843–A, as Reported by Franklin D. Richards *Discourse, 13 August 1843–A, as Reported by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [45]

to the works and ways of the Almighty.
we are calld this mourn thies mo[r]ning the death of a good man a great man & a m[i]ghty man—
It is a Sol[e]mn idea that man has no hope of seeing a frie[n]d after he has lost him. but I will give you a more painful thought— the thought is simple and I never design to communicate no ideas but what are simple for to this end I am sent.— suppose we have an idea of a resurrection. &c &c and yet know nothiing at all of the gospel and could not comprehend one principle [p. [45]]
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Editorial Title
Discourse, 13 August 1843–A, as Reported by Willard Richards
ID #
1134
Total Pages
7
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:33–36
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  • Willard Richards

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