On 9 July 1843 in , Illinois, JS delivered a discourse comparing the with other Christian denominations. The occasion was the first Sunday meeting at which JS preached to the Saints after his 23 June arrest in , Illinois, and his subsequent discharge by the Nauvoo Municipal Court on 1 July. Following the discharge, , the sheriff of , Missouri, and the agent authorized to transport JS out of following the arrest, petitioned Illinois governor to dispatch the militia to retake JS. As of 9 July, word had not yet reached Nauvoo as to Ford’s decision. This anticipation aggravated tensions between the Saints and their antagonists outside of Nauvoo, leading JS and other church leaders to employ various strategies to influence public opinion. Similarly, in this discourse JS sought to emphasize the points of agreement between Latter-day Saint beliefs and those of other religions. According to , who was present at the meeting, JS explained that he differed “but little from other men” in terms of religious beliefs, although he identified “a few points” of divergence.

Much of the discourse was framed as a dialogue between JS and an interlocutor who asked a series of questions regarding Latter-day Saint beliefs. It is unclear if JS was responding to a past conversation with a specific individual or if he was generalizing from several such conversations. Just over one month prior to giving the discourse, he met with Erastus DeWolf, an Episcopal priest from , Illinois. The content of their discussion is unknown, but the following Sunday, 11 June 1843, DeWolf preached before a Latter-day Saint audience that included JS on Christian principles outlined in Hebrews 6, including faith, , the , resurrection, and eternal judgment. In his 9 July 1843 discourse, JS did not refer directly to DeWolf, but he did reference some of the topics DeWolf addressed, such as baptism and the laying on of hands, suggesting that he was at least partly responding to the priest. While differentiating the Saints’ beliefs from those of other religions, JS’s discourse also built on common ground and expressed toleration and respect for the beliefs of others. Richards later described the sermon as “a sweet conciliating discourse” that was “expressive of good feeling to all men.”

As JS’s scribe, may have captured rough notes of the discourse as he heard it in a small booklet or on loose leaves of paper, later transferring the notes (which are apparently not extant) into JS’s journal, as was apparently his common practice. The uneven nature of Richards’s account of the discourse suggests that he did minimal polishing and expansion when copying the notes.