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.
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.
and us to receive the word of the Lord at the hands of the Levites therefore Jhon being Lawful heir to the the people were bound to receive his testimony. Hence the saying the Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force after Jhon had been testifying of Jesus for some time Jesus came unto him for Jhon felt that the honor of baptizing his master was too great a thing grater than he could claim and said I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me Jesus repl[i]ed thus it behooveth us to fulfill all righteousness thus signifying to Jhon the claim of the Aronic priesthood [p. [24]]