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Discourse, 22 January 1843, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff

Source Note

JS, Discourse, [, Hancock Co., IL, 22 Jan. 1843]. Featured version copied [ca. 22 Jan. 1843] in Wilford Woodruff, Journal, vol. 5, 1 Jan. 1843–31 Dec. 1844, pp. [4]–[9]; handwriting of ; Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Discourse, 17 Jan. 1843, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff.

Historical Introduction

On 22 January 1843, JS delivered a discourse at the site in , Illinois, during the Sunday morning worship service. He spoke on the kingdom of God and John the Baptist, subjects he had addressed in remarks to a smaller audience in his home on 17 January. In his journal entry for 22 January, noted that JS made at least some of his remarks in response to a pair of related questions raised at a recent lyceum meeting regarding whether the baptisms that John performed were for the remission of sins and whether God’s kingdom was established prior to the day of Pentecost. inscribed content from both the 17 January and the 22 January discourses in his journal, but he recorded this 22 January discourse in fuller detail. In both discourses, JS maintained that the kingdom of God on earth was organized prior to the day of Pentecost, or the day when the Holy Ghost was bestowed on the New Testament saints. In addition, he declared that because the kingdom of God had been a cohesive entity since the days of Adam, the baptism of John constituted a necessary Christian rite for the remission of sins, distinct from but related to the subsequent bestowal of the Holy Ghost.
While JS referred to the kingdom of God in revelations and discourses as early as 1829, this discourse marks an attempt to define the kingdom of God. In giving this sermon, JS may have had in mind a 1 January discourse of in which he referred to John the Baptist as he discussed God revealing his will to his servants. During his 22 January sermon, JS elaborated that John was a minister in the kingdom of God and that it was necessary to receive revelation to establish the kingdom.
reported the discourse in his journal around 22 January 1843. The account’s level of detail suggests that Woodruff worked from a nonextant daybook or rough notes as he inscribed the sermon in his journal. Around that same date, and recorded less-detailed accounts of the sermon. In their accounts, both Woodruff and Clayton made conscious efforts to preserve JS’s own voice, using “I” rather than “he.” Richards also tried to capture JS’s voice, introducing his account as “Joseph’s words 1843,” but he preserved only three statements from the discourse. Due to illness, did not leave an account of the sermon in JS’s journal, noting merely that JS “preached at the on the setting up of the Kingdom.” His rough draft notes for JS’s history demonstrate that he had access to the account in Clayton’s journal. Accordingly, the 22 January 1843 entry in a draft of JS’s history reflects Clayton’s description of the sermon. The accounts of the sermon written by Woodruff, Clayton, and Franklin D. Richards are each featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Discourse, 17 Jan. 1843. JS’s journal notes that on 28 October 1842, “the brethren finished laying the temporary floor, and seats in the Temple.” The following May, a correspondent reported to the New York Herald that the temple was “going on rapidly” and that services were held “on the first floor every Sabbath,” during which JS frequently addressed the Saints. (JS, Journal, 28 Oct. 1842; “Late and Interesting from the Mormon Empire on the Upper Mississippi,” New York Herald [New York City], 30 May 1843, [2]; see also Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 40–41.)

    New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.

    Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.

  2. [2]

    Extant records do not indicate exactly when this lyceum meeting was held, but JS may have given his 17 January 1843 discourse in connection with it. During 1841 the lyceum met on Tuesdays. JS’s 17 January discourse was given on a Tuesday and addressed the same topics that JS chose to speak on in the 22 January meeting. (Discourse, 17 Jan. 1843; Historical Introduction to Discourse, ca. 2 Feb. 1841.)

  3. [3]

    Whether Jesus Christ’s kingdom was established before or on the day of Pentecost was a heavily debated subject among nineteenth-century theologians. (See Discourse, 17 Jan. 1843.)

  4. [4]

    Revelation, Apr. 1829–A [D&C 6:3, 13]; see also Historical Introduction to Discourse, 17 Jan. 1843.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 1 Jan. 1843; Historical Introduction to Discourse, 17 Jan. 1843.

  6. [6]

    Woodruff frequently made notes in a daybook that he then used to compose journal entries at a later date.

  7. [7]

    Richards, Journal, 14–22 Jan. 1843; JS, Journal, 22 Jan. 1843.

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

  8. [8]

    Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 22 Jan. 1843, 11; JS History, vol. D-1, 1457. In revising the history of this period during the 1850s, Leo Hawkins canceled the majority of the Clayton account and inserted in the addenda for volume D-1 a new summary of the sermon that drew upon the account in Woodruff’s journal. Hawkins likely made the insertion sometime between 1 July and 13 October 1854, when the Church Historian’s Office journal notes that he was working on the volume. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 1 July and 13 Oct. 1854; JS History, vol. D-1, addenda, 4–6; Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 441.)

    Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Discourse, 22 January 1843, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff *Discourse, 22 January 1843, as Reported by William Clayton *Discourse, 22 January 1843, as Reported by Franklin D. Richards History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843] History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [9]

they are & authorized of God for nothing will save a man but a leger [legal] Administrator for none others will be acknowledge either by God or Angels
I know what I say, I understand my mishion & business God Almighty is my shield & what can man do if God is my friend I shall not be sacrafised untill my time comes then I shall be offered freely, all flesh is as grass & a governor is no better than other men when he dies he is but a bag of dung I thank God for preservi[n]g me from my enemies I have no en[e]mies I have no desire but to do all men good I feel to pray for all men we dont ask any people to throw away any good they have got we ownly ask them to come & get more what if all the world should embrace this gospel they would then see eye to eye & the blessings of God would be poured out upon the people which is my whol soul Amen. [p. [9]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, 22 January 1843, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff
ID #
974
Total Pages
6
Print Volume Location
JSP, D11:357–362
Handwriting on This Page
  • Wilford Woodruff

Footnotes

  1. [30]

    See Genesis 15:1; and Psalm 115:9–11.

  2. [31]

    This statement may have been related to the recent circumstances surrounding the efforts to extradite JS to Missouri. Immediately after Judge Nathaniel Pope discharged JS from arrest on a writ of habeas corpus, John C. Bennett promised to renew efforts to have JS extradited to Missouri on charges of “murder, burglary, [and] treason” dating back to the 1838 conflict in Missouri. While these circumstances may have led JS to have some presentiments of death, such feelings were not new for him. As recently as 28 April 1842, he had informed the Latter-day Saints that “the church would not have his instruction long, and the world would not be troubled with him a great while” because “God had appointed him elsewhere.” (Letter to Justin Butterfield, 16 Jan. 1843; John C. Bennett, Springfield, IL, to Sidney Rigdon and Orson Pratt, Nauvoo, IL, 10 Jan. [1843], Sidney Rigdon, Collection, CHL; Discourse, 28 Apr. 1842. For JS’s other early presentiments of death, see Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5:22]; Revelation, Apr. 1829–A [D&C 6:29–30]; and Discourse, 9 Apr. 1842.)

  3. [32]

    See Isaiah 40:6; and 1 Peter 1:24.

  4. [33]

    See Isaiah 52:8.

  5. [34]

    See Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 403 [Helaman 3:25].

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