Discourse, circa 19 July 1840, as Reported by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray–B
Source Note
JS, Discourse, , Hancock Co., IL, ca. 19 July 1840. Featured version copied [between fall 1843 and 1850s] in Martha Jane Coray, Notebook, ca. 1843–1850s, pp. [9]–[22]; handwriting of Martha Jane Knowlton Coray; CHL.
Small book, measuring 5⅝ × 3⅝ × ⅜ inches (14 × 9 × 1 cm). The notebook consists of ninety-two pages in four gatherings of eight, sixteen, ten, and twelve leaves each. The volume is loosely sewn together with thread and lacks a cover. The pages are ruled with now-faded black lines. The beginning of the notebook appears to be missing at least one leaf that likely contained diary entries. The majority of the book’s pages are unnumbered. Coray inscribed most of the entries in the book with black ink, but the volume also includes occasional inscriptions in graphite. Twenty-four pages in the middle of the book are blank. The reverse side of the book includes inscriptions regarding Coray’s study of French. The reverse pages are numbered 3 through 20 inclusive, suggesting that the reverse side is also missing at least one leaf.
The timing of ’s appointment as in (an event referred to in the notebook) and internal dating suggest that Coray made the entries in the notebook sometime between 1843 and 1855. The first date listed in the notebook is 8 August 1853, and the last recorded date is 1 December 1854. The notebook contains diary entries, financial statements, school notes, a copy of Coray’s patriarchal blessing, and transcripts of three sermons given by JS in , Illinois.
Presumably, Coray maintained ownership of the notebook until her death in 1881. The book likely remained in the possession of the Coray family until at least July 1902. Historians later discovered the book filed among the Joseph F. Smith Papers in the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, suggesting that the Coray family placed the notebook in Smith’s custody sometime prior to his death in 1918.
Ehat, Andrew F., and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1980.
peace but the Nations of the Earth will be at war:
our cry from the 1st has been for peace and we will continue pleading like the Widow at the feet of the unjust judge but we may plead at the feet of Majistrates and at the feet of Judges At the feet of Governors and at the feet of senotors & at the feet of the Pre[s]idents for 8 years it will be of no avail we shall find no favor in any <of the> courts of this government
The is the redemption of all N & S America and those 12 must be built up before the redemption of Zion can take place and those who refuse to gather [p. [10]]
After the Saints were driven from Jackson County in fall 1833, a June 1834 revelation instructed the Saints to “make proposals for peace unto those who have smitten you” and to “lift up an ensign of peace, and make a proclamation for peace unto the ends of the earth.” Thereafter, church leaders drafted an “APPEAL for peace,” which was published in the August 1834 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star. (Revelation, 22 June 1834 [D&C 105:40]; William W. Phelps et al., “An Appeal,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Aug. 1834, 183–184, emphasis in original.)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.