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Discourse, circa 16 March 1841

Source Note

JS, Discourse, [, Hancock Co., IL, ca. 16 Mar. 1841]. Featured version in William P. McIntire, Notebook, p. [16]; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Account of Meeting and Discourse, 5 Jan. 1841, as Reported by William P. McIntire.

Historical Introduction

JS gave a discourse on the Millennium at a lyceum meeting in , Illinois, that was likely held on 16 March 1841. JS was the fourth and final speaker in the meeting, and his discourse may have been prompted by the previous lecturer, , who spoke on philanthropy. Common beliefs about the importance of philanthropy and reform during this time grew out of the period’s predominant Christian belief in a postmillennial world, which held that the world would evolve into ultimate perfection as Christianity spread across the earth. Human action—exemplified in reform movements and philanthropic efforts—would lead to that perfection, which would then usher in the second coming of Jesus Christ. One of the most distinctive aspects of theology from its inception was its departure from this postmillennial Christian doctrine. Early revelations dictated by JS were much more premillennial in character—they declared an imminent, cataclysmic return of Christ that would purge the earth of sin and then usher in the Millennium.
The discourse featured here provided some clarification about the events and circumstances surrounding the second coming of Christ and the ensuing Millennium that expanded upon earlier JS revelations. Though JS’s teachings about the Second Coming were premillennial in nature, this discourse differed from teachings found in the period’s most well-known premillennial movement, led by William Miller. While Miller averred that “the wicked will be destroyed from the earth by fire, and the world cleansed from the curse of sin by the same means,” in the text featured here, JS declared that not all the wicked would be destroyed at Christ’s second coming. JS also clarified one of his earlier revelations that declared Christ would “dwell in righteousness with men on Earth a thousand Years.” Here, JS explained that though Christ would reign over humankind, he would not be continually present on the earth throughout the Millennium.
wrote the account featured here in his notebook, presumably during the meeting or shortly thereafter. McIntire did not provide a date for the meeting. Because lyceum meetings appear to have been held every Tuesday in early 1841 and because this text is found in the eleventh entry of McIntire’s notebook, JS likely delivered this message at the lyceum meeting of 16 March, the eleventh Tuesday of 1841.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    For more on the Nauvoo lyceum, see Discourse, ca. 2 Feb. 1841.

  2. [2]

    McIntire, Notebook, [16].

    McIntire, William Patterson. Notebook, 1840–1845. CHL. MS 1014.

  3. [3]

    See Walters, American Reformers, 3–19; Mintz, Moralists and Modernizers, xiii–xxii, 16–17; and Young, Bearing Witness against Sin, 1–9.

    Walters, Ronald G. American Reformers: 1815–1860. Rev. ed. New York: Hill and Wang, 1997.

    Mintz, Steven. Moralists and Modernizers: America’s Pre-Civil War Reformers. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.

    Young, Michael P. Bearing Witness against Sin: The Evangelical Birth of the American Social Movement. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.

  4. [4]

    For examples of JS’s teachings on the Millennium, see Revelation, Sept. 1830–A [D&C 29:14–21]; Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:26–33]; and Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:32–42, 89–91]. See also Underwood, Millenarian World of Early Mormonism, 1–10.

    Underwood, Grant. The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993.

  5. [5]

    Miller, Evidence from Scripture and History, 20.

    Miller, William. Evidence from Scripture and History of the Second Coming of Christ, about the Year 1843; Exhibited in a Course of Lectures. Troy, NY: Kemble and Hooper, 1836.

  6. [6]

    Revelation, Sept. 1830–A [D&C 29:11]. In an 1840 publication, apostle Orson Pratt similarly explained that the Saints would “reign with him [Christ] on earth a thousand years.” (Pratt, Interesting Account, 31.)

  7. [7]

    This dating assumes weekly meetings 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.

Page [16]

Joseph Said that they wi[c]ked will Not all be Destroyed at the Coming of Christ & also there will be wiked During the Melenum [Millennium]— for instance Isaiah says the Days of an infant shall be as the age of a tree also Zaich. [Zechariah] says all who Does Not Come up year by year with their Gifts to the feasts of the tabernicle that No Rain shall fall upon them— & that Jesus will be a Resident on the Earth a thousand [years] with the Saints is Not the Case but will Raign over the saints & come Down & instruct as he Did the 5 hundred Brethern (1st Cor.— 15) & those of the first Resurerection will also Raign with him over the saints— then after the Little season is expired & the Earth underGoes its Last Change & is Gloryfyed then will all the meek inherit the Earth wherein Dwelleth Righteous— he says satan cannot seduce us By his enticements unless we in our h[e]arts Consent & yeald [yield]— our organization such that we can Resist the Devil If we were Not organized so we would Not be free agents, [p. [16]]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

Page [16]

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, circa 16 March 1841
ID #
618
Total Pages
1
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:74–75
Handwriting on This Page
  • William McIntire

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Isaiah 65:20, 22; and Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:31].

  2. [2]

    See Zechariah 14:16–17.

  3. [3]

    In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul listed the various people and groups who saw the resurrected Christ and reported that “he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:6.)

  4. [4]

    See Revelation 20:3; Revelation, Sept. 1830–A [D&C 29:22]; and Revelation, Feb. 1831–A [D&C 43:31].

  5. [5]

    See 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1; Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 550–551 [Ether 13:9]; and Revelation, Sept. 1830–A [D&C 29:23–24].

  6. [6]

    See Psalm 37:11; Matthew 5:5; Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 466 [3 Nephi 12:5]; and Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:17].

  7. [7]

    See Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 245, 455 [Alma 10:25; 3 Nephi 7:5].

  8. [8]

    At one of the first lyceum meetings, held a few months earlier, JS also discussed resisting temptation. McIntire recorded, “Joseph said that before foundation of the Earth in the Grand-Counsel that the spirits of all Men ware subject to opression & the express purpose of God in Giveing it a tabernicle was to arm it against the power of Darkness.” An early revelation dictated by JS explained, “It Must needs be that the Devil should tempt the children of men or they could not be agents unto themselves for if they never should have bitter they could not k[n]ow the Sweet.” (Account of Meeting, ca. 19 Jan. 1841; Revelation, Sept. 1830–A [D&C 29:39].)

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