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Account of Meeting and Discourse, 5 January 1841, as Reported by William P. McIntire

Source Note

Account of Meeting and JS, Discourse, [, Hancock Co., IL, 5 Jan. 1841]. Featured version copied [ca. Jan. 1841] in William P. McIntire, Notebook, pp. [1]–[5]; handwriting of ; CHL.
, Notebook, ca. 1841–1845; handwriting of ; thirty-six pages; CHL.
Small gathering of pages sewn together with black thread. The volume lacks a hard cover and consists of a single, eclectic gathering of thirty-eight pages of differing sizes and colors. Two of the pages are blank. The first and last pages are approximately one centimeter shorter than the majority of the pages, which measure 6¼ × 4 inches (16 × 10 cm). Several of the pages show wear from age, including tears on the edges and stains. The pages were inscribed in black ink, with occasional entries in graphite. An unknown scribe, possibly someone in the Church Historian’s Office, made additional entries in red ink in 1878.
According to his autobiography, arrived in on 22 October 1840. During winter 1840–1841, McIntire heard JS “give much in struction to the Saints on Doctrine & principle” and “made a short Record” of JS’s remarks. This volume constitutes McIntire’s record of the sermons JS gave during that period. In addition to recording JS’s sermons, McIntire’s notes from 1841 include comments by several other early church leaders, including . Halfway through the notebook, McIntire recorded notes for discourses given in 1844 and 1845. These include sermons by JS, , , , and others.
possessed the notebook throughout the period and likely retained it during the early Utah period. The notebook came into the possession of the Church Historian’s Office at an unknown time. It has remained in church custody since then.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    McIntire, Autobiography, 62.

    McIntire, William Patterson. Autobiography. In William Patterson McIntire, Daybook, 1840–1856, pp. 57–67. BYU.

Historical Introduction

On 5 January 1841, JS spoke at the organization of a “school of instruction” at his in , Illinois. The school was probably a lyceum that met weekly at various locations throughout the city to discuss secular and sacred topics. Lyceums were popular organizations among nineteenth-century Americans, and a group of had formed one several years earlier in , Ohio. As ’s account of this meeting demonstrates, the lyceum format usually involved two or three presentations followed by debate among those in attendance. In his discourse at the meeting, JS focused on the principle that matter is eternal, arguing that the earth was created through a reorganization of preexisting elements. He also discussed the eternal nature of spirits, advancement toward salvation, and the spiritual progression of God and Jesus Christ.
Two early accounts of JS’s teachings on this occasion, recorded by and , are featured here. Though McIntire appears to have kept his record contemporaneously, he seems to have mistakenly dated the meeting as 8 January 1840, almost a year before he moved to . Clayton’s account appears to date the meeting correctly as 5 January 1841. Further evidence that the meeting occurred on Tuesday, 5 January, comes from McIntire’s notebook. This record includes accounts of the lyceum’s subsequent weekly meetings, suggesting that the next two meetings were held on 12 and 19 January 1841—both Tuesdays. Clayton’s original notes of this meeting are not extant, so it is unknown when he created his account. Apparently in 1880, L. John Nuttall filled the opening pages of a notebook with what he titled “Extracts from William Clayton’s Private Book.” The “extracts” were reports of various JS teachings, arranged both chronologically and topically, and included the account of this 5 January lyceum meeting, which was presented under the topic “Keys.”
While ’s and ’s accounts of JS’s discourse and comments during the meeting parallel each other in some respects, they diverge in significant ways. McIntire’s version, for instance, contains JS’s thoughts on phrenology, which are not found in Clayton’s. The account by Clayton, in turn, provides a physical description of the apostle Paul that was not included by McIntire. One of the topics discussed or questions asked—whether the was taken from the earth with Moses—was recorded only by Clayton. McIntire’s record more clearly illustrates the interactive debate format, with questions, answers, responses, and comments. By contrast, Clayton’s account reads more like a discourse because it includes only JS’s statements during the meeting. However, this lack of detail may be a reflection of Nuttall’s selection from Clayton’s record rather than an indication that Clayton’s original notes skipped over elements of the meeting.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 18 Nov. 1835. The format described by McIntire—three speakers addressing various topics—fits the lyceum model. Women were typically included in lyceum meetings, but it is unclear if women participated in the Nauvoo lyceum at this time. (Ray, Lyceum and Public Culture in the Nineteenth-Century United States, 22–26, 36; Wright, Cosmopolitan Lyceum, chap. 2.)

    Ray, Angela G. The Lyceum and Public Culture in the Nineteenth-Century United States. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2005.

    Wright, Tom F. The Cosmopolitan Lyceum: Lecture Culture and the Globe in Nineteenth-Century America. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2013.

  2. [2]

    Both men arrived in the area only a few months before January 1841. McIntire moved to Nauvoo at the end of October 1840, and Clayton at the end of November. (McIntire, Autobiography, [62]; Clayton, Diary, 24 Nov. 1840.)

    McIntire, William Patterson, Daybook and Autobiography, 1840. BYU.

    Clayton, William. Diary, Vol. 1, 1840–1842. BYU.

  3. [3]

    See Account of Meeting, 12 Jan. 1841; and Account of Meeting, ca. 19 Jan. 1841.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Account of Meeting and Discourse, 5 January 1841, as Reported by William P. McIntire *Discourse, 5 January 1841, as Reported by William Clayton

Page [3]

to distroyed a hundred thousand one knight [night] Joseph Smith said to D Ells, & to the Congragetion that he for a len[g]th of time, thought on phreknoledgee [phrenology]; & that he had a revalation. the Lord rebukeing him sharply on Creating such a thing; & further said there was no reality in such a science but was the workes of the Devil; he also said the Lord had told him that bro.— Law would do well; he would go & preach the gospel he also said as for his own knowledge the Earth was make made out of sumthng for it was imposible for samthng to be made out of nothing fire,— air, & watter are eternal existant principles which are the Composition of which [p. [3]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Account of Meeting and Discourse, 5 January 1841, as Reported by William P. McIntire
ID #
592
Total Pages
5
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:490–495
Handwriting on This Page
  • William McIntire

Footnotes

  1. [4]

    This passage probably refers to the event described in 2 Kings 19:35 and Isaiah 37:36, in which an angel went out from Jerusalem during the night and killed 185,000 Assyrians to defend the Israelites.

  2. [5]

    Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary loosely defined phrenology as “the science of the human mind and its various properties.” In practice, phrenology consisted of measuring various exterior dimensions of the head and, based on standardized tables, using those measurements to determine character and personality traits. Phrenology was popular at this time and was considered a legitimate science by some, though others disbelieved it and viewed it as entertainment. JS received personal phrenology readings both before and after this discourse. He spoke against phrenology on at least one other occasion. Willard Richards recorded in a May 1843 entry in JS’s journal that JS objected to a phrenologist who was “performing” in Nauvoo, saying that he “thought we had been imposed upon enough— by such kind of things.” (“Phrenology,” in American Dictionary [1828]; Phrenology Charts, 14 Jan. 1840; A. Crane, “A Phrenological Chart,” Wasp, 2 July 1842, [2]; JS, Journal, 6 May 1843; 13 and 14 Oct. 1843.)

    An American Dictionary of the English Language: Intended to Exhibit, I. the Origin, Affinities and Primary Signification of English Words, as far as They Have Been Ascertained. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. New York: S. Converse, 1828.

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

  3. [6]

    “Law” was probably William Law, who was made a counselor to JS in the church’s First Presidency two weeks later. (Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:91]; Cook, “William Law, Nauvoo Dissenter,” 54.)

    Cook, Lyndon W. “William Law, Nauvoo Dissenter.” BYU Studies 22 (Winter 1982): 47–72.

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