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Minutes and Discourse, 1–5 October 1841

Source Note

General Conference of the Church, Minutes, and JS, Discourse, , Hancock Co., IL, 1–5 Oct. 1841. Featured version published in “Minutes of a Conference of the Church,” Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1841, vol. 2, no. 24, 576–580. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.

Historical Introduction

In early October 1841 in , Illinois, JS presided over a general of the , the minutes of which were published in the Times and Seasons. The conference was supposed to commence on 1 October but was delayed due to inclement weather that prevented the congregation from assembling at the meeting ground near the Nauvoo . Over the next four days, the conference met each morning and afternoon. The first meeting of the conference, held on the morning of 2 October, was conducted without the members of the , who were attending the cornerstone ceremony for the . JS attended and presided over all the meetings that followed, in which church leaders and members conducted a variety of business. Among the many matters discussed and voted upon were filling vacant church leadership positions, the counsel to to the Nauvoo area and the neglect of some Saints to follow that counsel, and the petitioning of Congress regarding the Saints’ expulsion from .
On 3 October, JS gave a discourse at the conference on the church’s practice of for the dead, whereby church members were baptized on behalf of their deceased relatives. In accordance with a January 1841 revelation—which instructed that baptisms for the dead should be performed in the —JS announced, “There shall be no more baptisms for the dead, until the can be attended to in the font of the Lord’s House; and the church shall not hold another general conference, until they can meet in said house.” JS counseled church members to direct their energies to building the house of the Lord.
and were appointed as secretaries of the conference. Their notes were apparently combined to create the minutes that were then published in the 15 October 1841 issue of the Times and Seasons.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    For more on the Nauvoo House cornerstone, see Memorandum, 2 Oct. 1841.

  2. [2]

    See Letter to the Saints Abroad, 24 May 1841; and Letter from Almon Babbitt, 19 Oct. 1841.

  3. [3]

    See Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:29–32].

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Minutes and Discourse, 1–5 October 1841 History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842] “History of Joseph Smith” “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 578

This doctrine appears glorious, inasmuch as it exhibits the greatness of divine compassion and benevolence in the extent of the plan of human salvation. This glorious truth is well calculated to enlarge the understanding, and to sustain the soul under troubles, difficulties, and distresses.
For illustration the speaker presented, by supposition, the case of too men, brothers, equally intelligent, learned, virtuous and lovely, walking in uprightness and in all good conscience, so far as they had been able to discern duty from the muddy stream of tradition, or from the blotted page of the book of nature. One dies, and is buried, having never heard the gospel of reconciliation; to the other the message of salvation is sent, he hears and embraces it, and is made the heir of eternal life. Shall the one become a partaker of glory, and the other be consigned to hopeless perdition? Is there no chance for his escape? Sectarianism answers, “none! none!! none!!!” Such an idea is worse than atheism. The truth shall break down and dash in pieces all such bigoted Pharisaism; the sects shall be sifted, the honest in heart brought out and their priests left in the midst of their corruption. The speaker then answered the objections urged against the for not admitting the validity of sectarian baptism, and for withholding fellowship from sectarian churches[.] It was like putting new wine into old bottles and putting old wine into new bottles. What, new revelations in the old churches! New revelatiens knock out the bottom of their bottomless pit. New wine into old bottles!—the bottles burst and the wine runs out. What, Sadducees in the new church! Old wine in new leathern bottles will leak through the pores and escape; so the Saddacee saints mock at authority, kick out of the traces, and run to the mountains of perdition, leaving the long echo of their braying behind them.
The speaker then contrasted the charity of the sects, in denouncing all who disagree with them in opinion, and in joining in persecuting t[h]e saints, with the faith of the saints, who believe that even such may be saved in this world and in the world to come, (murderers and apostates excepted.)
This doctrine, he said, presented in a clear light, the wisdom and mercy of God, in preparing an for the salvation of the dead, being by proxy, their names recorded in heaven, and they judged according to the deeds done in the body. This doctrine was the burden of the scriptures. Those saints who neglect it, in behalf of their deceased relatives, do it at the peril of their own salvation.
The of the fulness of times will bring to light the things that have been revealed in all former dispensations, also other things that have not been before revealed. He shall send Elijah the prophe[t] &c., and restore all things in Christ.
The speaker then announced, “There shall be no more baptisms for the dead, until the ordinance can be attended to in the font of the and the church shall not hold another general , until they can meet in said . For thus saith the Lord!”
Closed by prayer by —adjourned for one hour.
P. M. Conference opened by the choir singing Hymn 105, and prayer by Br. .
Br. addressed the at some length, on the importance of teaching abroad the first principles of the gospel, leaving the mysteries of the kingdom to be taught among the saints.
Also, on the propriety of the Elders, many of them, remaining at home, and working on the ; and that their labors will be as acceptable to the Lord as their going abroad, and more profitable for the church—that those who go abroad must take a recommend from the proper authorities, without which they will not be fellowshiped—and that those who go and those who remain make consecrations more abundantly than heretofore.
Br. , followed with remarks of a similar purport; resigning his mission of gathering means for the buildings.
Br. called upon the conference to appoint a committee to petition Congress for redress of wrongs and injuries received in .
On Motion—, , and , were appointed said committee.
On Motion—Elder was appointed to present said petition at the city of .
Closed by the choir singing hymn 125 and prayer by Elder . [p. 578]
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Source Note

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Page 578

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes and Discourse, 1–5 October 1841
ID #
8322
Total Pages
5
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:284–294
Handwriting on This Page
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Footnotes

  1. [24]

    See John 17:12; and Vision, 16 Feb. 1832 [D&C 76:43].

  2. [25]

    The biblical Pharisees opposed the teachings of Jesus Christ. (See Matthew chap. 23; Mark 7:1–6; and Luke 11:37–54.)

  3. [26]

    See Matthew 9:17; Mark 2:22; and Luke 5:37.

  4. [27]

    See Revelation 17:8.

  5. [28]

    See Matthew 27:41–43; and Mark 11:27–33; 12:18–27.

  6. [29]

    See Ephesians 1:10; and Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:41].

  7. [30]

    See Malachi 4:5; see also Visions, 3 Apr. 1836 [D&C 110:13–16].

  8. [31]

    This passage appears to paraphrase the January 1841 revelation that called for a baptismal font to be built in the temple so the Latter-day Saints could properly perform baptisms for the dead. (See Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:29–32].)

  9. [32]

    Hymn 105 begins with the lines, “We’re not ashamed to own our Lord, / And worship him on earth; / We love to learn his holy word, / And know what souls are worth.” (Hymn 105, Collection of Sacred Hymns [1841], 113–114.)

    A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Edited by Emma Smith. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835.

  10. [33]

    Elders and other missionaries were typically given licenses or recommendations attesting to the bearer’s worthiness and authorization to proselytize or perform other duties for the church. (See, for example, Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:11]; License for Frederick G. Williams, 20 Mar. 1833; and Recommendation for Heber C. Kimball, between 2 and 13 June 1837.)

  11. [34]

    The Saints had been admonished to devote every tenth day to laboring on the construction of the temple. (See “Ecclesiastical,” Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1841, 2:296; Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840; and Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  12. [35]

    Since May 1841, Lyman Wight had been traveling around Illinois to raise funds for the Nauvoo House Association and other construction projects in Nauvoo. (William A. Empey, Invoice, 26 May 1841, Nauvoo House Association, Records, CHL; Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:62, 70]; “History of Lyman Wight,” 11, Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL.)

    Nauvoo House Association. Daybook, 1841–1843. Nauvoo House Association, Records, 1841–1846. CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.

  13. [36]

    This committee was the latest in a series of efforts by the Latter-day Saints to petition Congress for redress. Nearly two years earlier, a committee of three men, led by JS, traveled to Washington DC to ask the federal government for redress for the property and lives the Saints had lost in Missouri in the 1830s. After some discussion of the Saints’ case in the Senate, the Senate Judiciary Committee stated that the federal government did not have jurisdiction and declared that the “petitioners must seek relief in the courts of judicature of the State of Missouri.” Elias Higbee and Robert B. Thompson sent another petition, nearly identical to the first, to the United States Congress on 28 November 1840; it was again referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee and no action was taken beyond printing the petition. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; Report of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 4 Mar. 1840; “Latter-day Saints,” Alias Mormons: The Petition of the Latter-day Saints, Commonly Known as Mormons, House of Representatives doc. no. 22, 26th Cong., 2nd Sess. [1840]; Congressional Globe, 26th Cong., 2nd Sess., p. 175 [1841]; see also Lewis Cass, Washington DC, to Sidney Gilbert et al., Liberty, MO, 2 May 1834, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL.)

    “Latter-day Saints,” Alias Mormons: The Petition of the Latter-day Saints, Commonly Known as Mormons. House of Representatives doc. no. 22, 26th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1840).

    The Congressional Globe, Containing Sketches of the Debates and Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. Vol. 8. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1840.

    Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

  14. [37]

    Why these three men were selected for this committee is unknown. Elias Higbee had gone with JS on the first trip to petition Congress in 1839–1840. (See Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)

  15. [38]

    Hymn 125 begins with the lines, “Go, ye messengers of glory, / Run ye legates of the skies, / Go and tell the pleasing story, / That a glorious angel flies, / Great and mighty, / With a message from the skies.” (Hymn 125, Collection of Sacred Hymns [1841], 135.)

    A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Edited by Emma Smith. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835.

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