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Discourse, 28 April 1842

Source Note

JS, Discourse, [, Hancock Co., IL, 28 Apr. 1842]. Featured version copied [ca. 28 Apr. 1842] in Relief Society Minute Book, pp. [35]–[41]; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes use marks. For more complete source information, see the source note for Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book.

Historical Introduction

At a meeting of the held on 28 April 1842, JS delivered a discourse on the gift of healing, the order of the , and related topics. This was the society’s sixth meeting and the third time JS addressed its members. JS took 1 Corinthians chapters 12 and 13 as his text, emphasizing to society members the importance of magnifying whatever callings they individually held, rather than aspiring to office. Responding to circulating criticism that the women leading the organization were acting improperly in administering blessings of healing by , JS spoke at length on the topic, opining that miraculous signs such as healing the sick “should follow all that believe whether male or female” and that “if the sisters should have faith to heal the sick, let all hold their tongues, and let every thing roll on.” Contemplating his own mortality, and echoing a previous assertion that he would make the society a “kingdom of priests,” JS declared that he would deliver over to the society and the church the “ of the kingdom.” Secretary noted in the minutes following JS’s discourse that “the spirit of the Lord was pour’d out in a very powerful manner, never to be forgotten by those present on that interesting occasion.”
It appears contemporaneously took notes of JS’s instructions, as well as the rest of the meeting’s proceedings, on a separate document—no longer extant—and then, presumably shortly after the meeting, made the copy featured here in the minute book.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Discourse, 31 Mar. 1842.

  2. [2]

    Relief Society Minute Book, 28 Apr. 1842, [41], in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 61.

    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.

  3. [3]

    On 27 August 1844 John McEwan copied the discourse from the minute book into the back of Wilford Woodruff’s 1841–1842 journal.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Discourse, 28 April 1842 Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book Journal, December 1841–December 1842 History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 Addenda History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 Addenda “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [36]

were not going right in &c. Said if he had common sympathies, would rejoice that the sick could be heal’d: that the time had not been before, that these things could be in their proper order— that the church is not now organiz’d in its proper order, and cannot be until the is completed—— Prest. Smith continued the subject by adverting to the commission given to the ancient apostles “Go ye into all the world” &c.— no matter who believeth; these signs, such as healing the sick, casting out devils &c. should follow all that believe whether male or female. He ask’d the if they could not see by this sweeping stroke, that wherein they are , it is the privilege of those set apart to administer in that authority which is confer’d on them— and if the sisters should have faith to heal the sick, let all hold their tongues, and let every thing roll on.
He said, if God has appointed him, and chosen him as an instrument to lead the , why not let him lead it through? Why stand in the way, when he is appointed to do a thing? Who knows the mind of God? Does he not reveal things differently from what we expect?— He remark’d that he was continually rising— altho’ he had every thing bearing him down— standing in his way and opposing— after all he always comes out right in the end.
Respecting the female laying on hands, he further remark’d, there could be no devil in it if God gave his sanction by healing— that there could be no more sin in any female laying hands on the sick than in wetting the face with water— that it is no sin for any body to do it that has faith, or if the sick has faith to be heal’d by the administration.
He reprov’d those that were dispos’d to find fault with the management of concerns— saying if he undertook to lead the church he would lead it right— that he calculates to organize the church in proper order &c. [p. [36]]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

Page [36]

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, 28 April 1842
ID #
819
Total Pages
7
Print Volume Location
JSP, D9:400–407
Handwriting on This Page
  • Eliza R. Snow

Footnotes

  1. [2]

    At a society meeting on 19 April 1842, Abigail Calkins Leonard was “administered to for the restoration of health” by Emma Smith’s counselors, Sarah Kingsley Cleveland and Elizabeth Ann Smith Whitney. In the same meeting another member, Elizabeth Davis Durfee, referred to a healing blessing she received at the hands of the society’s presidency the previous week. (Relief Society Minute Book, 19 Apr. 1842, [31], [33], in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 50–52.)

    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.

  2. [3]

    A January 1841 revelation instructed the Latter-day Saints to “build a house unto my name, for the Most High to dwell therein, for there is not place found on the earth; that he may come and restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fulness of the Priesthood.” The revelation continued, “Let this house be built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein, unto my people, for I deign to reveal unto my church, things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world . . . and I will shew unto my servant Joseph all things pertaining to this house and the priesthood thereof.” (Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:27–28, 40–42].)

  3. [4]

    See Mark 16:17–18.

  4. [5]

    JS’s 1832 revelation on priesthood emphasized that “evry soul who believeth on your words and are baptized by water for the remission of there sins shall receive the holy ghost,” with signs and “many wonderful works” following them. Women in the church began administering blessings for health in the 1830s. (Revelation, 22–23 Sept. 1832 [D&C 84:64–66]; Stapley and Wright, “Female Ritual Healing in Mormonism,” 4–6.)

    Stapley, Jonathan A., and Kristine Wright. “Female Ritual Healing in Mormonism.” Journal of Mormon History 37, no. 1 (Winter 2011): 1–85.

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