Discourse, 21 May 1843, as Reported by Howard Coray

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Discourse, 21 May 1843, as Reported by Howard Coray
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....
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, Hancock Co., IL, 21 May 1843]. Featured version copied [after 5 Sept. 1854] in Howard Coray and Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, Notebook, ca. 1853–ca. 1855, verso, pp. [36]–[46]; handwriting of
Howard Coray
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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; CHL.

The discourse is found in a small book, measuring 5⅝ × 3⅝ × ⅜ inches (14 × 9 × 1 cm), with forty-six leaves. The pages are ruled with twenty horizontal blue lines that are now faded. The volume is loosely sewn together with thread and lacks a cover. The book has sixty-three inscribed pages.
Howard Coray
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paginated the first nineteen pages, although the first leaf, which presumably included pages 1 and 2, is now missing, as is the leaf containing pages 9 and 10. The numbered pages include inscriptions in black ink and graphite by Howard Coray and Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, his wife; some of the inscriptions are dated 1854 and 1855. Between August and December 1853, Howard Coray turned the book over and inscribed journal entries and financial notations on four leaves in the reverse of the notebook, although it is likely that at least one leaf is missing. Beginning on the fifth extant leaf in the reverse of the notebook, Martha and Howard Coray inscribed copies of four accounts of discourses that JS delivered between 1840 and 1843, as well as a copy of Martha Coray’s patriarchal blessing; this inscription presumably occurred after December 1853.
1
At the conclusion of Martha Coray’s inscription of a circa 19 July 1840 discourse, there is a note stating that “on this day” John Smith was “publicly appointed” president of the stake in Macedonia, Illinois. Smith was appointed to this position on 24 September 1843. This was likely the date that Coray expanded her contemporaneous rough notes of the 1840 sermon into her more polished account. While it is possible that Coray inscribed the polished expanded version in the reverse portion of this physical notebook a decade before Howard Coray began using the book, it is perhaps more likely that Martha Coray copied the account, with its accompanying note about John Smith, from an earlier, nonextant source into the notebook around 1853 or 1854. (Coray and Coray, Notebook, verso, [22]; and Macedonia Branch, Record, 21 Sept. 1843; see also Historical Introduction to Discourse, ca. 19 July 1840.)
Comprehensive Works Cited
Coray, Martha Jane Knowlton, and Howard Coray. Notebook, ca. 1853–1855. CHL.
Macedonia Branch, Record / “A Record of the Chur[c]h of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints in Macedonia (Also Called Ramus),” 1839–1850. CHL. LR 11808 21.
Howard and Martha Coray were still copying as of 5 September 1854, the date of a now-canceled journal entry in Howard Coray’s handwriting on the thirty-seventh extant inscribed page of the reverse of the notebook. The canceled journal entry and another canceled entry, for 12 April 1843, are on the first three lines of the second page of the discourse account featured here.

The volume likely remained in the possession of the Coray family until at least July 1902.
Howard Coray
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or his descendants apparently gave the book to Joseph F. Smith sometime prior to Smith’s death in 1918. Historians later discovered the book filed among the Joseph F. Smith Papers in the Church Historical Department (now CHL).
2
See Ehat and Cook, Words of Joseph Smith, 419n2; Jessee, “Joseph Smith’s 19 July 1840 Discourse,” 390n1; and the full bibliographic entry for Howard Coray and Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, Notebook, ca. 1853–ca. 1855, in the CHL catalog.
Comprehensive Works Cited
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.
Jessee, Dean C. “Joseph Smith’s 19 July 1840 Discourse.” BYU Studies 19, no. 3 (Spring 1979): 390–394.
Footnotes
[1]
At the conclusion of Martha Coray’s inscription of a circa 19 July 1840 discourse, there is a note stating that “on this day” John Smith was “publicly appointed” president of the stake in Macedonia, Illinois. Smith was appointed to this position on 24 September 1843. This was likely the date that Coray expanded her contemporaneous rough notes of the 1840 sermon into her more polished account. While it is possible that Coray inscribed the polished expanded version in the reverse portion of this physical notebook a decade before Howard Coray began using the book, it is perhaps more likely that Martha Coray copied the account, with its accompanying note about John Smith, from an earlier, nonextant source into the notebook around 1853 or 1854. (Coray and Coray, Notebook, verso, [22]; and Macedonia Branch, Record, 21 Sept. 1843; see also Historical Introduction to Discourse, ca. 19 July 1840.)
Coray, Martha Jane Knowlton, and Howard Coray. Notebook, ca. 1853–1855. CHL.
Macedonia Branch, Record / “A Record of the Chur[c]h of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints in Macedonia (Also Called Ramus),” 1839–1850. CHL. LR 11808 21.
[2]
See Ehat and Cook, Words of Joseph Smith, 419n2; Jessee, “Joseph Smith’s 19 July 1840 Discourse,” 390n1; and the full bibliographic entry for Howard Coray and Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, Notebook, ca. 1853–ca. 1855, in the CHL catalog.
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.
Jessee, Dean C. “Joseph Smith’s 19 July 1840 Discourse.” BYU Studies 19, no. 3 (Spring 1979): 390–394.
Historical Introduction
See Historical Introduction to Discourse, 21 May 1843, as Reported by Willard Richards.
Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Discourse, 21 May 1843, as Reported by Willard Richards Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 2, 10 March 1843–14 July 1843 *Discourse, 21 May 1843, as Reported by Franklin D. Richards *Discourse, 21 May 1843, as Reported by James Burgess Discourse, 21 May 1843, as Reported by Levi Richards History Draft [1 March–31 December 1843]
*Discourse, 21 May 1843, as Reported by Howard Coray
History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843] “History of Joseph Smith”
Page [36]
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Every man goes to his own place 2 Peter 1. Ch.— Judas by transgression fell that he might go to his own place.
1
According to the New Testament, Judas Iscariot, one of the original twelve apostles, betrayed Jesus to Roman and Jewish authorities in exchange for money. (Matthew 27:2–4.)
there is one glory of the Sun another of the moon & another of the stars as one Star differetheth &c, so also is the reserection of the dead,
2
See 1 Corinthians 15:40–41.
brethren I am not a very pious man. I do not wish to be a great deal better than any body else. If a Prophet was so much better than any body else was he would inherit a glory far beyond what any one else would inherit [p. [36]]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, 21 May 1843, as Reported by Howard Coray
ID #
1075
Total Pages
11
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:323–326
Handwriting on This Page
Howard Coray
Footnotes
[1]
According to the New Testament, Judas Iscariot, one of the original twelve apostles, betrayed Jesus to Roman and Jewish authorities in exchange for money. (Matthew 27:2–4.)
[2]
See 1 Corinthians 15:40–41.