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Discourse, 26 May 1842

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, 26 May 1842. Featured version copied [ca. 26 May 1842] in Relief Society Minute Book, [51]–[53]; handwriting of
Eliza R. Snow

21 Jan. 1804–5 Dec. 1887. Poet, teacher, seamstress, milliner. Born in Becket, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. Daughter of Oliver Snow and Rosetta Leonora Pettibone. Moved to Mantua, Trumbull Co., Ohio, ca. 1806. Member of Baptist church. Baptized into Church...

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; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book.

Historical Introduction

On the evening of 26 May 1842, JS spoke to the
Female Relief Society of Nauvoo

A church organization for women; created in Nauvoo, Illinois, under JS’s direction on 17 March 1842. At the same meeting, Emma Smith was elected president, and she selected two counselors; a secretary and a treasurer were also chosen. The minutes of the society...

View Glossary
about showing mercy to individuals who had sinned and helping them to reform. He gave this discourse at the organization’s ninth meeting, held on the second floor of JS’s
dry goods store

Located in lower portion of Nauvoo (the flats) along bank of Mississippi River. Completed 1841. Opened for business, 5 Jan. 1842. Owned by JS, but managed mostly by others, after 1842. First floor housed JS’s general store and counting room, where tithing...

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in
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
, Illinois.
1

This is the location where all prior Female Relief Society of Nauvoo meetings had been held.


Accompanied by his wife
Emma Smith

10 July 1804–30 Apr. 1879. Scribe, editor, boardinghouse operator, clothier. Born at Willingborough Township (later in Harmony), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis. Member of Methodist church at Harmony (later in Oakland...

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, president of the Female Relief Society, he arrived late and began his sermon shortly after entering.
JS began by reading the fourteenth chapter of Ezekiel. He then counseled the assembled women to take responsibility for their own salvation. He especially emphasized being merciful to those in the community who had erred and encouraging them to repent. Although vague, these instructions seem to reference women in
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
who had been seduced and deceived by
John C. Bennett

3 Aug. 1804–5 Aug. 1867. Physician, minister, poultry breeder. Born at Fairhaven, Bristol Co., Massachusetts. Son of John Bennett and Abigail Cook. Moved to Marietta, Washington Co., Ohio, 1808; to Massachusetts, 1812; and back to Marietta, 1822. Married ...

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and other men who told them their immoral actions were sanctioned by JS.
2

See Historical Introduction to Notice, 11 May 1842; “Joseph Smith Documents from May through August 1842”; and Letter to Emma Smith and the Relief Society, 31 Mar. 1842.


Two days earlier, on 24 May, Sarah Miller, Margaret Nyman, and Matilda Nyman gave depositions before the Nauvoo high council as part of the council’s investigation into unvirtuous acts committed by men and women in Nauvoo.
3

JS, Journal, 24 May 1842; Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 24–25 May 1842.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.

In his 26 May discourse, JS also directed the women of the Relief Society to “put a double watch over the tongue” and to spare the
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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from retribution from those outside the religion by not openly or publicly discussing sin or other details about their community.
4

While JS’s references to guilty individuals likely applied to those who had been involved with Bennett’s seductions, JS’s admonition to keep confidences may have also related to rumors and misunderstandings about JS’s practice of plural marriage. (See “Joseph Smith Documents from May through August 1842”; Historical Introduction to Letter to Emma Smith and the Relief Society, 31 Mar. 1842; and Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 11–12.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

After JS concluded his discourse,
Emma Smith

10 July 1804–30 Apr. 1879. Scribe, editor, boardinghouse operator, clothier. Born at Willingborough Township (later in Harmony), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis. Member of Methodist church at Harmony (later in Oakland...

View Full Bio
addressed the Relief Society as its president, offering similar remarks, though she placed more emphasis on the public repudiation of sin. She agreed with JS’s direction to abandon “idle rumor and idle talk” and insisted that “sin must not be covered, especially those sins which are against the law of God and the laws of the country.” She warned that “all who walk disorderly must reform, and any knowing of heinous sins against the law of God, and refuse to expose them, becomes the offender.”
5

For the full minutes of the 26 May 1842 meeting of the Relief Society, see Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 68–72.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

Eliza R. Snow

21 Jan. 1804–5 Dec. 1887. Poet, teacher, seamstress, milliner. Born in Becket, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. Daughter of Oliver Snow and Rosetta Leonora Pettibone. Moved to Mantua, Trumbull Co., Ohio, ca. 1806. Member of Baptist church. Baptized into Church...

View Full Bio
recorded an account of JS’s discourse in the minutes she kept as secretary for the Relief Society. Her original notes of the meeting are apparently not extant, but she recorded the minutes, including the discourse, in the Relief Society Minute Book, presumably sometime shortly after the 26 May 1842 meeting.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    This is the location where all prior Female Relief Society of Nauvoo meetings had been held.

  2. [2]

    See Historical Introduction to Notice, 11 May 1842; “Joseph Smith Documents from May through August 1842”; and Letter to Emma Smith and the Relief Society, 31 Mar. 1842.

  3. [3]

    JS, Journal, 24 May 1842; Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 24–25 May 1842.

    Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.

  4. [4]

    While JS’s references to guilty individuals likely applied to those who had been involved with Bennett’s seductions, JS’s admonition to keep confidences may have also related to rumors and misunderstandings about JS’s practice of plural marriage. (See “Joseph Smith Documents from May through August 1842”; Historical Introduction to Letter to Emma Smith and the Relief Society, 31 Mar. 1842; and Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 11–12.)

    Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

  5. [5]

    For the full minutes of the 26 May 1842 meeting of the Relief Society, see Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 68–72.

    Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Discourse, 26 May 1842 Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 Addenda “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [53]

of God, should be cast from us, but dont do more hurt than good with your tongues— be pure in heart— Jesus designs to save the people out of their sins. Said Jesus ye shall do the work which ye see me do—
15

See John 14:12; and New Testament Revision 2, part 2, p. 13 [Joseph Smith Translation, Mark 3:23].


These are the grand key words
16

For more on JS’s teachings regarding keys and temple ritual, see Discourse, 1 May 1842.


for the
Society

A church organization for women; created in Nauvoo, Illinois, under JS’s direction on 17 March 1842. At the same meeting, Emma Smith was elected president, and she selected two counselors; a secretary and a treasurer were also chosen. The minutes of the society...

View Glossary
to act upon.
If I were not in your midst to aid and council you, the devil would overcome you. I want the innocent to go free— rather spare ten iniquitous among you than than condemn one innocent one. “Fret not thyself because of evil doers.”
17

See Psalm 37:1; and Proverbs 24:19.


God will see to it. [p. [53]]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

Page [53]

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, 26 May 1842
ID #
13544
Total Pages
3
Print Volume Location
JSP, D10:101–105
Handwriting on This Page
  • Eliza R. Snow

Footnotes

  1. [15]

    See John 14:12; and New Testament Revision 2, part 2, p. 13 [Joseph Smith Translation, Mark 3:23].

  2. [16]

    For more on JS’s teachings regarding keys and temple ritual, see Discourse, 1 May 1842.

  3. [17]

    See Psalm 37:1; and Proverbs 24:19.

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