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Minutes and Discourse, 9 June 1842

Source Note

Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, Minutes, and JS, Discourse, , Hancock Co., IL, 9 June 1842. Featured version copied [ca. 9 June 1842] in Relief Society Minute Book, pp. [61]–[68], handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book.

Historical Introduction

On 9 June 1842, JS delivered a discourse on mercy to the . He opened the society’s eleventh meeting, held in the near the , with prayer and then addressed the assembled women. He began his discourse by reiterating counsel he had given them in March 1842, shortly after the Relief Society was organized. In that discourse, as well as in this 9 June sermon, he expressed concern that some who had been admitted may not have been worthy of membership. He continued his 9 June discourse by counseling the women to be charitable, humble, and merciful. JS briefly interrupted his discourse to give the Relief Society time to receive new members; he then continued his address. He emphasized that the purpose of the Relief Society was not only to relieve the poor, but also to reform the repentant and save souls. He concluded by offering to provide the society with a city lot and an unfinished house they could use to begin building homes for the poor.
As secretary of the Relief Society, recorded an account of JS’s discourse in her minutes for the 9 June 1842 meeting. Although the original loose minutes she took are no longer extant, Snow copied the minutes, including her account of JS’s discourse, into the Relief Society Minute Book, probably shortly after this meeting.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Discourse, 31 Mar. 1842; see also Relief Society Minute Book, 31 Mar. 1842, in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 42–46.

    Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Minutes and Discourse, 9 June 1842 Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 Addenda “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [63]

Lord saying, that soul that has righteousness enough to ask God in the secret place for life, every day of their lives shall live to three score years & ten— We must walk uprightly all day long— How glorious are the principles of righteousness! We are full of selfishness— the devil flatters us that we are very righteous, while we are feeding on the faults of others— We can only live by worshipping our God— all must do it for themselves— none can do it for another. How mild the Savior dealt with Peter, saying “when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren”— at an other time he said to him “lovest thou me? “Feed my sheep”.— If the sisters love the Lord let them feed the sheep and not destroy them. How oft have wise men & women sought to dictate br. Joseph by saying “O if I were br. Joseph I would do this and that.” But if they were in br. Joseph’s shoes, they would find that men could not be compel’d into the kingdom of God, but must be dealt with in long suff’ring— and at last we shall save them. The way to keep all the saints together and keep the work rolling, is to wait with all long suff’ring till God shall bring such character to justice. There should be no license for sin, but mercy should go hand in hand with reproof.
Sisters of this , shall there be strife among you? I will not have it— you must repent and get the love of God. Away with selfrighteousness. The best measure or principle to bring the poor to repentance is to administer to their wants— the Society is not only to relieve the poor, but to save souls.
Prest. S. then said that he would give a lot of land to the Society by deeding it to the Treasurer, that the Society may build houses for the poor. He also said he would give a house— frame not finished— said that br. [p. [63]]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

Page [63]

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes and Discourse, 9 June 1842
ID #
851
Total Pages
8
Print Volume Location
JSP, D10:130–134
Handwriting on This Page
  • Eliza R. Snow

Footnotes

  1. [11]

    See Psalm 90:10.

  2. [12]

    See Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 65 [2 Nephi 2:27–28]; and Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:27–28].

  3. [13]

    Luke 22:32.

  4. [14]

    John 21:15–17.

  5. [15]

    Elvira A. Cowles was elected treasurer for the Nauvoo Female Relief Society at the first meeting on 17 March 1842. There is no record of JS deeding land to Cowles. (See Minutes and Discourses, 17 Mar. 1842.)

  6. [16]

    In an 1868 article about the purpose of the Relief Society, Eliza R. Snow recalled, “President Joseph Smith proposed deeding a city lot to the Society in Nauvoo, on which we purposed building comfortable houses for homes for the homeless, sick and destitute, and furnish such varieties of remunerative labor as would be adapted to the strength and capacities of such as were able to work.” She explained that the society’s goals were not realized because “the sudden death of the Prophet, and subsequent expulsion from Nauvoo, blasted all these fond anticipations.” (Eliza R. Snow, “Female Relief Society,” 18 and 20 Apr. 1868, in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 273.)

    Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

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