Discourse, circa 19 July 1840, as Reported by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray–B
Source Note
JS, Discourse, , Hancock Co., IL, ca. 19 July 1840. Featured version copied [between fall 1843 and 1850s] in Martha Jane Coray, Notebook, ca. 1843–1850s, pp. [9]–[22]; handwriting of Martha Jane Knowlton Coray; CHL.
Small book, measuring 5⅝ × 3⅝ × ⅜ inches (14 × 9 × 1 cm). The notebook consists of ninety-two pages in four gatherings of eight, sixteen, ten, and twelve leaves each. The volume is loosely sewn together with thread and lacks a cover. The pages are ruled with now-faded black lines. The beginning of the notebook appears to be missing at least one leaf that likely contained diary entries. The majority of the book’s pages are unnumbered. Coray inscribed most of the entries in the book with black ink, but the volume also includes occasional inscriptions in graphite. Twenty-four pages in the middle of the book are blank. The reverse side of the book includes inscriptions regarding Coray’s study of French. The reverse pages are numbered 3 through 20 inclusive, suggesting that the reverse side is also missing at least one leaf.
The timing of ’s appointment as in (an event referred to in the notebook) and internal dating suggest that Coray made the entries in the notebook sometime between 1843 and 1855. The first date listed in the notebook is 8 August 1853, and the last recorded date is 1 December 1854. The notebook contains diary entries, financial statements, school notes, a copy of Coray’s patriarchal blessing, and transcripts of three sermons given by JS in , Illinois.
Presumably, Coray maintained ownership of the notebook until her death in 1881. The book likely remained in the possession of the Coray family until at least July 1902. Historians later discovered the book filed among the Joseph F. Smith Papers in the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, suggesting that the Coray family placed the notebook in Smith’s custody sometime prior to his death in 1918.
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.
lean and they shall bear away the constitution away from the <very> verge of destruction— Then shall the Lord say Go tell all my servants who are the strength of mine house my young men and middle aged &c Come to the Land of my vineyard and fight the battle of the Lord— Then the Kings & Queens shall come then the rulers of the Earth shall come then shall all saints come yea the Foreign saints shall come to fight for the Land of my vineyard for in this thing Shall be their safety and they will have no power to choose but will come as a man fleeeth from a sudden des [p. [13]]
Parley P. Pratt stated in a letter to Orson Pratt that JS had said—perhaps in this discourse—that “the government is fallen & needs redeeming. It is guilty of Blood & cannot stand as it now is but will come so near dessolation as to hang as it were by a single hair!” (Orson Pratt, Edinburgh, Scotland, to George A. Smith, Burslem, England, 21 Jan. 1841, George Albert Smith, Papers, CHL, underlining in original.)
Smith, George Albert. Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322.