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Discourse, circa 21 March 1841, as Reported by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray

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Discourse, circa 21 March 1841, as Reported by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray

Source Note

JS, Discourse, [, Hancock Co., IL, ca. 21 Mar. 1841]. Featured version copied [between fall 1843 and 1855] in Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, Notebook, ca. 1843–1850s, pp. [23]–[29]; handwriting of Martha Jane Knowlton Coray; CHL.
Small book, measuring 5⅝ × 3⅝ × 3/8 inches (14 × 9 × 1 cm). The notebook consists of ninety-two pages in four gatherings of eight, sixteen, ten, and twelve leaves, respectively. 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. At some point, Coray turned the notebook upside down and used several blank leaves at the back of the notebook for her study of French. These reverse pages are numbered 3 through 20, suggesting that the back of the notebook was also missing at least one leaf.
The timing of ’s appointment as in , Illinois (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.
Coray presumably maintained ownership of the volume until her death in 1881. The volume 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 Church 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.

Footnotes

  1. Ehat and Cook, Words of Joseph Smith, 419n2.

    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.

  2. Jessee, “Joseph Smith’s 19 July 1840 Discourse,” 390n1.

    Jessee, Dean C. “Joseph Smith’s 19 July 1840 Discourse.” BYU Studies 19, no. 3 (Spring 1979): 390–394.

Historical Introduction

See Historical Introduction to Discourse, ca. 21 Mar. 1841, as Reported by William P. McIntire.
Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Discourse, circa 21 March 1841, as Reported by William P. McIntire
*Discourse, circa 21 March 1841, as Reported by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray

Page [23]

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Sermon 2nd
on the death of delivered in the latter part of the winter about just before he took Laws store at the House of year 1841
Joseph Smith read the 3 chap Malachi dwelt <​with emphasis​> upon the and the promise concerning them
Took up Jhon [John] shewed him to be a Levite and proceeded The voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord and make his paths strait Now it was written that the priests lips should keep know[l]edge, and to them should the people seek for understanding and above al[l] the law binds them [p. [23]]
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Source Note

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, circa 21 March 1841, as Reported by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray
ID #
620
Total Pages
7
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:79–85
Handwriting on This Page
  • Martha Jane Knowlton Coray

Footnotes

  1. This is the second JS sermon Coray recorded in her notebook, not the second sermon given at the meeting.

  2. Elias Higbee, who had served as a judge in Missouri, died on 8 June 1843, more than two years after JS delivered this sermon. (Affidavit, 8 Sept. 1838; JS, Journal, 8 June 1843.)

  3. A January 1841 revelation had called Knight to “preside over the Bishoprick.” (Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:141].)

  4. The McIntire account of this sermon recorded that JS read from both the second and third chapters of Malachi. Though only the third chapter of Malachi is noted here, portions of Coray’s version also come from Malachi 2.

  5. See Luke 1:5–9.

  6. See Mark 1:3.

  7. See Malachi 2:7.

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