By Mark Ashurst-McGee, Senior Research and Review Editor
It is known as the King Follett discourse, a sermon that Joseph Smith gave toward the end of his life in honor of recently deceased church member King Follett. Widely considered Smith’s greatest discourse—in which he expounded the doctrines of premortal spirit existence, salvation for the dead, and exaltation—it is also the best documented of all his discourses. The seven extant accounts go beyond capturing his words, offering valuable details regarding his dynamic preaching style.
King Follett had joined the church in spring 1831, suffered through the Missouri persecutions, and gathered again with the Latter-day Saints in Illinois. Follett was “stoning up a well” in Nauvoo when the rope lowering a tub of rocks into the well snapped and he was severely injured. Follett, who “suffered much” over the next several days, died on 9 March and was buried the following day.
The Follett family asked Smith to preach a funeral sermon in King’s honor, and he obliged them, though he was unable to do so until almost a month later. On 7 April 1844, at the church’s semiannual conference, Smith honored King Follett as part of his remarks to several thousand Latter-day Saints who had gathered for the conference in Nauvoo.
AUDIENCES AND REFERENTS
Part of Joseph Smith’s dynamic preaching style in this discourse, as evident in the extant accounts, was his constant shifting of focus onto various constituencies within the audience. While speaking to thousands of Latter-day Saints and other onlookers, Smith occasionally directed his remarks specifically to Follett’s “friends” and “mourners” and, at one point, addressed Follett’s widow, Louisa Tanner Follett, directly: “your husband is gone to wait until the resurrection.”
Joseph Smith also spoke directly to the “learned men,” the “doctors and lawyers of the scripture” in the audience who might disagree with his interpretations of certain passages from the Bible. Smith even directly addressed the famous contemporary religious leader Alexander Campbell as if he were present, challenging him on a point of doctrine: “Alexander Campbell, how are you going to save them with water alone?”
In his polyglot Bible, which had parallel columns in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and German, Joseph Smith read the most from the German translation and then called on the German immigrants in the audience to verify his fluency: “I call upon all you Germans, who know that it is true, to say aye.” To this they responded with “loud shouts of aye.” This kind of interactive call-and-response manifests a lively preaching style.
BIBLE USAGE
Early American preachers commonly drew upon the Bible, and surviving accounts of the King Follett discourse affirm that Joseph Smith used the Bible frequently and in a variety of ways. Smith quoted and paraphrased Bible passages throughout his discourse, making both formal and informal citations. As noted above, he read from a scholarly edition of the Bible with columns in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and German—reading some phrases in all four languages.
Smith also compared the different versions of the Bible to his own revelations: “I have been reading the German and find it to be the most correct, and it corresponds nearest to the revelations I have given for the last fourteen years.” Regarding the radical teachings in the King Follett discourse, Smith declared that though he knew of their truth independently, he would prove them from the Bible as a concession to the Bible-dominated religious culture of the day.
Perhaps Smith’s most creative use of the Bible was his loose paraphrasing of the words of Jesus Christ and John the Baptist in first-person perspective. As if talking directly to Jesus, Smith asked, “Jesus what are you going to do?” He then answered: “To lay down my life, as my Father did, and take it up again. . . . I do the things I saw my Father do when worlds came rolling into existence. I saw my Father work out his kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same; and when I get my kingdom I shall present it to my Father.”
BODY LANGUAGE AND OBJECT LESSONS
While delivering the King Follett discourse, Joseph Smith may have emphasized points and otherwise conveyed meaning with body, arm, and hand gestures. This was commonly done by preachers in Smith’s day. A painting that was apparently created shortly after his death depicts him using an arm gesture while speaking in Nauvoo on 6 April 1844, the day before he gave the King Follett discourse.
In addition to using his voice and body, Smith utilized some ordinary accoutrements to deliver object lessons. He used his polyglot Bible—which was apparently resting upon the podium before him—not only as a source of doctrine but as a metaphor for revelation: “I thank God I have got this book, and thank him more for the gift of the Holy Ghost. I have got the oldest book in the world, but I have got the oldest book in my heart” (emphasis added).
Smith also utilized a ring as an object lesson. Removing the ring from his finger and apparently holding it up to the view of the audience, he used it to illustrate the doctrine of premortal existence: “I take my ring from my finger and liken it unto the mind of man, the immortal spirit, because it has no beginning. Suppose you cut it in two . . . as the Lord lives there would be an end.” Smith’s contemporaries widely believed that the human spirit lived on after bodily death. But Smith insisted that if the spirit had no end, then, like a ring, it had no beginning either: “It is a spirit from age to age, and there is no creation about it.”
CONCLUSION
Joseph Smith closed his greatest sermon with this famous and enigmatic statement: “You never knew my heart; no man knows my history. . . . When I am called at the trump of the ark-angel, and weighed in the balance you will all know me then.” While this comment is true in an absolute sense, there is much that we can learn about Joseph Smith by reading his papers—including the words of those who recognized the importance of the King Follett discourse and took notes as best they could. They succeeded in capturing many of his words and even provide some clues as to his personal style of delivery.
All seven extant accounts of the sermon are featured on The Joseph Smith Papers website.