In a notebook he kept of 1841 meetings, made notes of a discourse JS gave at a meeting of the lyceum in , Illinois. McIntire left this entry in his notebook undated, introducing it simply by writing “Next Meeting.” Lyceum meetings appear to have been held every Tuesday in 1841; because the text of this discourse is found in the eighth entry in McIntire’s notebook, JS likely delivered it at the lyceum meeting of 23 February, the eighth Tuesday in 1841. The meeting opened with the recently appointed Nauvoo city marshal, , expounding on the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. He was followed by , a trustee of the , who spoke on education. Lyceum attendees then heard a speech on charity, followed by a discourse by on manners. It is unclear which, if any, of these presentations prompted JS’s remarks on loyalty featured here, but McIntire recorded these remarks after noting Miller’s address.
This dating assumes a weekly meeting beginning on Tuesday, 5 January 1841. For more on the dating issues in McIntire’s notebook, see Historical Introduction to Discourse, ca. 2 Feb. 1841.
McIntire, William Patterson. Notebook, 1840–1845. CHL. MS 1014.
Page [13]
hear a man snore Louder than he coul[d] shout in battle— he Did Not want a man say O Joseph how I Love you &cc & when the time of Danger come forsake him [p. [13]]
This statement comes from Plutarch’s record of Cato the Elder, who reportedly opined that “he did not like a soldier who moved his hands in marching, and his feet in fighting, and who snored louder in bed than he shouted in battle.” (Plutarch’s Lives, 247.)
Plutarch’s Lives, Translated from the Original Greek: With Notes, Critical and Historical: and a Life of Plutarch. Translated by John Langhorne and William Langhorne. Baltimore: W. C. William and Joseph Neal, 1831.
JS may have had in mind his arrest by the Missouri militia; he believed he had been betrayed by some of his friends who had led him to believe that he was simply going to negotiate an end to the conflict between the Latter-day Saints and other Missourians. Several months after that arrest, JS spoke on loyalty and the importance of true friendship, stating, “Whatever you do do not betray you Friend.” He expressed a similar sentiment in a letter to William W. Phelps when the latter asked to rejoin the church following his excommunication for conduct related to the conflict with the Missourians. (Letter to Emma Smith, 4 Nov. 1838; Woodruff, Journal, 2 July 1839, underlining in original; Letter to William W. Phelps, 22 July 1840.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.