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Discourse, 29 August 1842

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Discourse, 29 August 1842

Source Note

JS, Discourse, , Hancock Co., IL, 29 Aug. 1842. Featured version copied [between 29 Aug. and 2 Sept. 1842] in JS, Journal, Dec. 1841–Dec. 1842, in Book of the Law of the Lord, pp. 183–184; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124].

Historical Introduction

On 29 August 1842, at a special of in , Illinois, JS spoke about outwitting his enemies. These enemies included the legal officials who were attempting to arrest and extradite him to , as well as and individuals JS associated with him, including , , and . Bennett had accused JS of engaging in illicit sexual relations, alleged that JS had sent to assassinate former Missouri governor , and vowed to help extradite JS from to Missouri. Bennett’s claims might have contributed to JS’s arrest on 8 August; although JS was released on a jurisdictional question, he then went into hiding to avoid extradition. Bennett had also created problems in the eastern . On 8 August, had written JS from , urging JS and other leaders to “put down the slanders of Bennett.”
While JS was in hiding, the held a four-day meeting with in an attempt to resolve differences between him and JS. The apostles strove “to get him to recall his sayings against Joseph . . . but he persisted.” On 20 August, the council “cut off” Pratt from the church. However, JS’s journal suggests that a day later Pratt “signified his intention of coming out in defence of the truth and go to preaching.” JS returned to his home in , at the request of his wife , on 23 August. Three days later, he convened a meeting with members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and discussed plans to hold a conference and send the available elders on missions to foil ’s efforts.
The special conference occurred on 29 August. At ten o’clock that morning, “the Elders assembled in the near the ,” and called on “every Elder who can” to go east in order to counteract ’s “false statements,” preach the gospel, and obtain funds for the temple. JS then spoke, rehearsing the trouble the Saints had had with officials and describing his avoidance of extradition as another victory over them. He then instructed the elders to defend his character and expose the unjust and corrupt actions of and , and he warned , , and that their efforts to oppose him would fail. According to JS’s journal, “Orson Pratt set behind Joseph all the time he was speaking. He looked serious and dejected, but did not betray the least signs of compunction or repentance.” Writing a short time later, recorded that “about 400 Elders have since gone & many others are going.”
recorded an account of JS’s discourse into JS’s journal, which was being kept in the Book of the Law of the Lord, probably on or shortly after 29 August 1842. The entry in the journal appears to be a fair copy. Rather than carrying the large Book of the Law of the Lord with him to the , Clayton likely took notes of the discourse in a smaller notebook or on loose leaves and then used his notes to record an account of the discourse in JS’s journal.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 26 Aug. 1842; John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 27 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 8 July 1842, [2]; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 2 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2].

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

  2. [2]

    See Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 8 Aug. 1842.

  3. [3]

    Letter from John E. Page, 8 Aug. 1842.

  4. [4]

    Woodruff, Journal, 10 Aug.–18 Sept. 1842. In the 1850s, Brigham Young wrote that JS, who was in hiding on 20 August, had been informed of Pratt’s intransigence and had instructed the council to “ordain Bro. Amasa Lyman in Bro. Orson’s stead.” In January 1843 JS determined that “as there was not a quorum” when Pratt had been disciplined, he “had not legally been cut off”; JS did, however, uphold Lyman’s ordination. Some sources use the term disfellowshipped in reference to Pratt’s removal, while others use the term excommunicated. Regardless, when Pratt returned to the church in 1843, he “recived the presthood & the same power & authority as in former days,” thus regaining his membership in the Quorum of the Twelve. (Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Drafts, 64; Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 20 Jan. 1843; JS, Journal, 20 Jan. 1843; Taylor, Succession in the Priesthood, 18–20; see also England, Life and Thought of Orson Pratt, 75–86.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.

    Taylor, John. Succession in the Priesthood: A Discourse by President John Taylor, Delivered at the Priesthood Meeting, Held in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, Friday Evening, October 7th, 1881. [Salt Lake City?], [1881?].

    England, Breck. The Life and Thought of Orson Pratt. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1985.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 21 Aug. 1842.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 23 Aug. 1842.

  7. [7]

    JS, Journal, 29 Aug. 1842. Boggs, Missouri’s former governor, had claimed JS conspired to murder him. Carlin, Illinois’s governor, had issued a warrant for JS’s arrest in response to Missouri’s extradition request. (Lilburn W. Boggs, Affidavit, 20 July 1842; Thomas Reynolds, Requisition, 22 July 1842; Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 8 Aug. 1842.)

  8. [8]

    JS, Journal, 29 Aug. 1842.

  9. [9]

    Woodruff, Journal, 10 Aug.–18 Sept. 1842.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  10. [10]

    Changes in ink density suggest that Clayton recorded the discourse in JS’s journal no later than 2 September 1842. (Book of the Law of the Lord, 183–184.)

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Journal, December 1841–December 1842 History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843] *Discourse, 29 August 1842 Journal, December 1841–December 1842 History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843] “History of Joseph Smith”
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Page 184

tens, hundreds and thousands to fight for you. If oppression comes I will then shew them that there is a Moses and a Joshua amongst us; and I will fight them if they dont take off oppression from me, I will do as I have done this time, I will run into the woods. I will fight them in my own way. I will send to call every where through-out the , and let documents be taken along and show to the world the corrupt and oppressive <​conduct​> of . and others, that the public may have the truth laid before them. Let the send all who will support the character of the Prophet— the Lords anointed. And if all who go will support my character I prophecy in the name of the Lord Jesus whose servant I am, that you will prosper in your missions. I have the whole plan of the kingdom before me, and no other person has. And as to all that , or can do to prevent me I can kick them off my heels, as many as you can name, I know what will become of them”. He concluded his remarks by saying “I have the best of feelings towards my brethren since this last trouble began, but to the apostates and enemies I will give a lashing every oppertunity and I will curse them.” [p. 184]
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Source Note

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, 29 August 1842
ID #
10421
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D10:449–454
Handwriting on This Page
  • William Clayton

Footnotes

  1. [13]

    See Numbers chaps. 21, 31; and Joshua chaps. 6–12.

  2. [14]

    According to Wilford Woodruff, available elders were specifically charged to go to the “free states & mostly to New England or the canidas not to go to any of the indians or slave states.” (Woodruff, Journal, 10 Aug.–18 Sept. 1842.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  3. [15]

    JS likely had in mind documents related to his extradition. He also intended to provide the elders with “all the affidavits concerning Bennetts conduct . . . so that each Elder could be properly furnished with correct and weighty testimony to lay before the public.” The affidavits were published as a broadsheet dated 31 August. About a month before, the Wasp and the Times and Seasons had published affidavits defending JS and condemning Bennett. (JS, Journal, 26 Aug. 1842; Affidavits and Certificates [Nauvoo, IL: 1842], copy at CHL; “Bennettiana,” Wasp, Extra, 27 July 1842, [1]–[2]; Times and Seasons, 1 Aug. 1842, 3:874.)

    Affidavits and Certificates, Disproving the Statements and Affidavits Contained in John C. Bennett’s Letters. Nauvoo Aug. 31, 1842. [Nauvoo, IL: 1842]. Copy at CHL.

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  4. [16]

    Wilford Woodruff noted that, along with about four hundred elders, “many others are going,” including all members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles except Woodruff and John Taylor, who were both ill. (Woodruff, Journal, 10 Aug.–18 Sept. 1842.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  5. [17]

    An 1841 revelation indicated the Saints would yet receive “things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fulness of times.” (Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:41]; see also Discourse, 1 May 1842.)

  6. [18]

    Rigdon and JS had been at odds since May, at least in part due to differences concerning Bennett. In mid-August, Rigdon, who had been warned by his daughter Elizabeth to repent, “bore testimony to the truth of the work” and denied that “he had said Joseph was a fallen prophet.” (JS, Journal, 12–13 May 1842; 28 June 1842; 21 Aug. 1842; see also John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 27 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 8 July 1842, [2]; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 2 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2]; Letter to Nancy Rigdon, ca. Mid-Apr. 1842; and Letter from Sidney Rigdon, 1 July 1842.)

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

  7. [19]

    Robinson, who was married to Rigdon’s oldest daughter, Athalia, appeared to side with Bennett and against JS in the summer of 1842. In a late June letter to the Sangamo Journal, Bennett named Robinson as an individual whom the editors could rely on to corroborate his allegations. Robinson never offered the corroboration Bennett sought. By July he had resigned his position in the Nauvoo Legion and left the church. (John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 27 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 8 July 1842, [2]; George W. Robinson, Nauvoo, IL, to John C. Bennett, 20 June 1842, in Bennett, History of the Saints, 44; George W. Robinson, “Letter from Nauvoo,” Quincy [IL] Whig, 23 July 1842, [2]; “G. W. Robinson,” Times and Seasons, 1 Aug. 1842, 3:878; “Bennett’s Second and Third Letters,” Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2]; George W. Robinson, Nauvoo, IL, to James Arlington Bennet, 27 July 1842, in Bennett, History of the Saints, 245–247; George W. Robinson, Nauvoo, IL, to John C. Bennett, 8 Aug. 1842, in Bennett, History of the Saints, 247–248; “Letter from Col. Robinson,” Sangamo Journal, 26 Aug. 1842, [2].)

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

    Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.

    Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

    Bennett, Henry Holcomb, ed. The County of Ross: A History of Ross County, Ohio, from the Earliest Days, with Special Chapters on the Bench and Bar, Medical Profession, Educational Department, Industry and Agriculture, and Biographical Sketches. Madison, WI: Selwyn A. Brant, 1902.

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