Smith, William B: Initiated into Masonry 9 April 1842. (1)
-- Apr 9, 1842 (Saturday Morning)
[Joseph Smith Sermon] Location: Grove, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, USA
Source: Wilford Woodruff Journal (Words of Joseph Smith, 112-13)
9th The Saints in Nauvoo assembled at the house of President Marks at an early hour in the morning to pay their last respects to the Body of Ephraim Marks son of President Marks who died on the evening of the 7th A large procession formed two by two & walked to the grove a larger concourse assembled President Joseph Smith spoke upon the occasion with much feelings & interest among his remarks he said it is a vary solumn & [DEL: awful :DEL] time I never felt more solemn it calles to mind the death of my oldest Brother who died in New York & my youngest Brother Carloss Smith who died in Nauvoo It has been hard for me to live on earth & see those young men upon whome we have leaned upon as a support & comfort taken from us in the midst of their youth, yes it has been hard to be reconciled to these things I have some times felt that I should have felt more reconciled to have been called myself if it could have been the will of God, yet I know we ought to be still & know it is of
God &
be reconciled all is right it will be but a short time before we shall all in like manner be called. It may be the case with me as well as you Some has supposed that Br Joseph Could not die but this is a mistake it is true their has been times when I have had the promise of my life to accomplish such & such things, but having accomplish those things I have not at present any lease of my life I am as liable to die as other men I can say in my heart that I have not done any thing against Ephraim Marks that I am sorry for & I would ask any of his companions if they have done any thing against him that they are sorry for or that they would not like to meet at the bar of God if so let it prove as a warning to all men to deal justly before God & with all men then we shall be clean in the day of judgment When we loose a near & dear friend upon whom we have set our hearts we can never feel the same afterwards knowing that if we set our hearts upon others they may in like manner be t
aken
from us President Smith made many other interesting remarks & left it for President Rigdon to close. (2)
-- 10Apr42
[Joseph Smith Sermon] Must Behave with Principles of Godliness
Sin Causes Loss of Knowledge
Salvation Comes from Knowledge (3)
-- Apr 10, 1842
Nauvoo, Illinois. While preaching in a grove near the Nauvoo Temple site, Joseph Smith reproved and rebuked the Saints for wickedness and all forms of iniquity. (4)
[Polygamy] to 10 Apr 1842 Smith proposes secret plural marriage to 19 year-old Nancy Rigdon. Joseph Smith invited Nancy Rigdon, nineteen-year-old daughter of his close friend and counselor, Sidney Rigdon, to meet him at the home of Orson Hyde. Upon her arrival Smith greeted her, ushered her into a private room, then locked the door. After swearing her to secrecy, wrote George W. Robinson, Smith announced his "affection for her for several years, and wished that she should be his...the Lord was well pleased with this matter...here was no sin in it whatever...but, if she had any scruples of conscience about the matter, he would marry her privately." Incredulous, Nancy countered that "if she ever got married she would marry a single man or none at all." Grabbing her bonnet, she ordered the door opened or she would "raise the neighbors." She then stormed out of the Hyde-Richards residence. The next day, Smith wrote Nancy a letter, where he justified his advances, saying " That wh
ich is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another. ... Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire. ... even things which might be considered abominable to all who understand the order of heaven only in part, but which in reality were right because God gave and sanctioned by special revelation." This is his first written statement of theocratic ethics. PLACE: Nauvoo, IL SOURCE: Official History of the Church, Vol. 5, p.134-136, Sidney Rigdon Biography by Richard S. Van Wagoner, p.295 (5)
-- Apr 10, 1842 (Sunday Morning)
[Joseph Smith Sermon] Location: Grove, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, USA
Source: Manuscript History of the Church (Words of Joseph Smith, 114)
I preached in the grove and pronounced a curse {upon all adulterers and Fornicators, and unvirtuous persons and those who have made use of my name to carry on their iniquitous designs}. (2)
[Joseph Smith Sermon] Location: Grove, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, USA
Source: Wilford Woodruff Journal (Words of Joseph Smith, 113-14)
A pleasant morning A large Congregation of Saints met at the grove President William Law addressed the assembly for about 1 hour Then Joseph the Seer arose in the power of God reproved & rebuked wickedness before the people in the name of the Lord God He wished to say a few words to suit the condition of the general mass And I shall speak with authority of the priesthood in the name of the Lord God which shall prove a savior of life unto life or of death unto death.
Notwithstanding this congregation profess to be saints yet I stand in the midst of all characters and classes of men If you wish to go whare God is you must be like god or possess the principles which God possesses for if we are not drawing towards God in principle we are going from him & drawing towards the devil, yes I am standing in the midst of all kinds of people Search your hearts & see if you are like god, I have searched mine & feel to repent of all my sins, we have theives among us Adulterers, liars, hypocritts, if God should speak from Heaven he would Command you not to steal, not to commit Adultery, not to covet, nor deceive but be faithful over a few things As far as we degenerate from God we descend to the devil & loose knowledge & without knowledge we cannot be saved & while our hearts are filled with evil & we are studying evil their is no room in our hearts for good or studying good, is not God good, Yes then you be good. if he is faithful then you be faithfu
l Add
to your faith virtue to virtue knowledge. & seek for evry good thing the church must be cleansed & I proclaim against all iniquity. A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge for if he does not get knowledge he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world as evil spirits will have more knowlede & consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. hence it needs Revelation to assist us & give us knowledge of the things of God. What is the reason that the Priest of the day do not get Revelation They ask ownly to consume it upon their lust their hearts are corrupt & they cloke their iniquity by saying that their is no more Revelations But if any Revelations are given of God they are universally opposed by the priest & christendon at large for it reveals their wickedness & abominations many other remarks of interest were made by the speaker I truly felt in my own heart that it was a profitable meeting. (2)
-- Apr 11, 1842
Joseph Smith writes a letter to sixteen-year-old Nancy Rigdon in which he attempts to persuade her to become his secret, plural wife. The letter expounds Joseph's version of situation ethics: "that which is wrong under one circumstance, may be and often is, right under another." Willard Richards delivers the letter to Nancy. The letter makes its way to John C. Bennett who publishes it in the SANGAMO JOURNAL. Smith denies having written the letter but after his death the Church publishes its content in the HISTORY OF THE CHURCH as an "essay" written by Joseph Smith. In succeeding years portions of the letter/essay are often quoted in general conference and in official church publications. (6)
-- Apr 14, 1842
Joseph Smith unsuccessfully proposes plural marriage to Nancy Rigdon and "in a day or two" dictates a letter to her which reads in part: "That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another. . . .Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire." This is his first written statement of theocratic ethics. Joseph Smith engages Calvin Warren to commence "an investigation of the principles of general insolvency in my behalf according to the statutes-" (6)
-- Apr 15, 1842
The TIMES AND SEASONS, edited by Joseph Smith publishes the "History of Joseph Smith:" "While I was thus in the act of calling upon God I discovered a light appearing in the room which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside standing in the air for his feet did not touch the floor. . . He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Nephi." In later versions of the story the name is changed from "Nephi" to "Moroni." (7)
Nauvoo, Illinois. Joseph Smith published an editorial in the Church newspaper Times and Seasons concerning baptism for the dead. (4)
-- Apr 16, 1842
The Wasp first published in Nauvoo, Illinois, with William Smith and John Taylor as editor. (8)
William Smith publishes the first issues of the Wasp, a Nauvoo community newspaper. (9)
Footnotes:
1 - Cook, Lyndon W., The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants, Seventy's Mission Bookstore, Provo UT, 1985
2 - The Woodland Institute, http://www.woodlandinstitute.com
3 - The Parallel Joseph, http://www.boap.org/LDS/Parallel/
4 - BYU Studies Journal, volume 46, no. 4: A Chronology of the Life of Joseph Smith
5 - Joseph Smith Polygamy Timeline, http://www.i4m.com/think/polygamy/JS_Polygamy_Timeline.htm
6 - On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com
7 - This Day in Mormon History, http://www.advent-adam.com/jakestand.html
8 - Sherry Baker: Mormon Media History Timeline: 1827-2007, http://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=7984
9 - The Woodland Institute 'On This Day Historical Database,' http://www.woodlandinstitute.com
LDS History Timeline
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