Words of Joseph Smith by Joseph Smith, Andrew F. Ehat, Lyndon W. Cook

314 Pages·2012·2.24 MB·English

by  Austin Archibald

Words  of  Joseph  Smith
by  Joseph  Smith,  Andrew  F.  Ehat,  Lyndon  W.
Cook
Contents
Foreword
Introductory Essay
Acknowledgments
Editorial Note
Abbreviations
27 June 1839 (Thursday). 1 Commerce, Hancock County, Illinois
2 July 1839 (Tuesday). Brigham Young 1 Dwelling, Montrose, Iowa Territory. 2
7 July 1839 (Sunday). 1
Before 8 August 1839 (1). 1
Before 8 August 1839 (2). 1
Before 8 August 1839 (3). 1
22 September 1839 (Sunday). 1
29 September 1839 (Sunday). Old Homestead. 1
5 October 1839 (Saturday). 1
6 October 1839 (Sunday Morning). 1
7 October 1839 (Monday Morning). 1
1 January 1840 (Wednesday). Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. 1
13 January 1840 (Monday Afternoon). Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. 1
25 January 1840 (Saturday). Brandywine, Chester County, Pennsylvania. 1
5 February 1840 (Wednesday Evening). Washington, D.c. 1
1 March 1840 (Sunday). 1
6 April 1840 (Monday). 1
7 April 1840 (Tuesday). 1
8 April 1840 (Wednesday Afternoon). 1
19 July 1840 1
30 July 1840 (Thursday). 1
9 August 1840 (Sunday). Lee County, Iowa Territory. 1
15 August 1840 (Saturday). 1
16 August 1840 (Sunday). Lee County, Iowa Territory. 1
30 August 1840 (Sunday). Lee County, Iowa Territory. 1
3 October 1840 (1) (Saturday Morning). 1
3 October 1840 (2) (Saturday Afternoon). 1
4 October 1840 (Sunday Morning). 1
5 October 1840 (Monday Morning). 1
December 1840. 1
5 January 1841 (Tuesday). Old Homestead. 1
12 January 1841 (Tuesday). Amos Davis Home. 1
19 January 1841 (Tuesday). 1
2 February 1841 (Tuesday). 1
9 February 1841 (Tuesday). 1
16 February 1841 (Tuesday). 1
23 February 1841 (Tuesday). 1
2 March 1841 (Tuesday). 1
9 March 1841 (Tuesday). 1
16 March 1841 (Tuesday). 1
21 March 1841 (Sunday). Vinson Knight Home. 1
28 March 1841 (Sunday). 1
30 March 1841 (Tuesday). 1
6 April 1841 (Tuesday Morning). Temple Site. 1
7 April 1841 (Wednesday Morning). Temple Site. 1
8 April 1841 (Thursday). Temple Site. 1
9 April 1841 (Friday Morning). Temple Site. 1
11 April 1841 (Sunday Afternoon). Temple Site. 1
25 April 1841 (Sunday Morning). Near Temple. 1
9 May 1841 (Sunday). 1
16 May 1841 (Sunday Morning). Meeting Ground. 1
23 May 1841 (Sunday). Montrose, Iowa Territory.
30 May 1841 (Sunday). 1
13 Or 20 June 1841 (Sunday). in Front of Temple. 1
25 July 1841 (Sunday Afternoon). Grove. 1
16 August 1841 (Monday Afternoon). 1
22 August 1841 (Sunday). at the Stand. 1
5 September 1841 (Sunday). at the Stand. 1
2 October 1841 (Saturday Afternoon). Meeting Ground. 1
3 October 1841 (Sunday Morning). Meeting Ground. 1
4 October 1841 (Monday Morning). Meeting Ground. 1
5 October 1841 (Tuesday Afernoon). Meeting Ground. 1
7 November 1841 (Sunday). Meeting Ground Near Temple. 1
14 November 1841 (Sunday). at Temple. 1
12 December 1841 (Sunday Morning). Brother Snider's Home. 1
19 December 1841 (Sunday). Old Homestead. 1
26 December 1841 (Sunday). 1 Old Homestead.
6 January 1842 (Sunday). Old Homestead. 1
30 January 1842 (Sunday). Old Homestead. 1
27 February 1842 (Sunday). 1
6 March 1842 (Sunday). Orson Spencer's Home. 1
17 March 1842 (Thursday). Upper Room, Red Brick Store. 1
20 March 1842 (Sunday Morning). Grove, West Side of Temple. 1
27 March 1842 (Sunday). Grove Near Temple. 1
30 March 1842 (Wednesday). Upper Room, Red Brick Store. 1
7 April 1842 (Thursday Afternoon). Grove. 1
8 April 1842 (Friday). Grove. 1
9 April 1842 (Saturday Morning). Grove. 1
10 April 1842 (Sunday Morning). Grove. 1
24 April 1842 (Sunday). Near Temple. 1
28 April 1842 (Thursday Afternoon). Upper Room, Red Brick Store. 1
1 May 1842 (Sunday Morning). Grove. 1
26 May 1842 (Thursday). Upper Room, Red Brick Store. 1
1 June 1842 (Wednesday). Grove. 1
5 June 1842 (Sunday). 1
9 June 1842 (Thursday). Grove. 1
18 June 1842 (Saturday). Near Temple. 1
21 June 1842 (Tuesday). Temple Stand. 1
3 July 1842 (Sunday Morning). Grove. 1
4 July 1842 (Monday). 1
15 July 1842 (Friday Morning). Grove. 1
22 July 1842 (Friday Morning). Meeting Ground. 1
24 July 1842 (Sunday Afternoon). Grove. 1
27 July 1842 (Wednesday). Grove. 1
27 August 1842 (Saturday Evening). Old Homestead. 1
29 August 1842 (Monday Morning). Grove Near Temple. 1
31 August 1842 (Wednesday). Grove. 1
25 September 1842 (Sunday). Grove. 1
29 October 1842 (Saturday Morning). Red Brick Store. 1
17 January 1843 (Tuesday). Old Homestead. 1
22 January 1843 (Sunday). at Temple. 1
29 January 1843 (Sunday). in Temple. 1
16 February 1843 (Thursday Afternoon). Shokoquon, Henderson County, Illinois. 1
21 February 1843 (Tuesday Morning). at Temple. 1
12 March 1843 (Sunday Morning). Ramus, Illinois. 1
2 April 1843 (1) (Sunday Afternoon). Ramus, Illinois. 1
2 April 1843 (2) (Sunday Evening). Ramus, Illinois. 1
6 April 1843 (1) (Thursday Noon). in Temple. 1
6 April 1843 (2) (Thursday Afternoon). in Temple. 1
7 April 1843 (1) (Friday Morning). in Temple. 1
7 April 1843 (2) (Friday Afternoon). in Temple. 1
8 April 1843 (Saturday Morning). 1
9 April 1843 (Sunday Morning). Temple Stand. 1
13 April 1843 (Thursday). at Temple. 1
16 April 1843 (Sunday Morning). in Temple. 1
6 May 1843 (Saturday). Prairie East of Nauvoo. 1
14 May 1843 (Sunday). Yelrome, Hancock County, Illinois. 1
17 May 1843 (1) (Wednesday Morning). Ramus, Illinois. 1
17 May 1843 (2) (Wednesday Evening). Ramus, Illinois. 1
21 May 1843 (Sunday Morning). Temple Stand. 1
11 June 1843 (Sunday Morning). Temple Stand. 1
24 June 1843 (Saturday). Dixon, Lee County, Illinois. 1
30 June 1843 (Friday Afternoon). Temple Stand. 1
2 July 1843 (Sunday Evening). Front of Red Brick Store. 1
3 July 1843 (Monday Afternoon). Grove. 1
4 July 1843 (1) (Tuesday Morning). at Stand. 1
4 July 1843 (2) (Tuesday Afternoon). at the Temple Stand. 1
9 July 1843 (Sunday Morning). Temple Stand. 1
16 July 1843 (1) (Sunday Morning). at Stand in Grove, West of Temple. 1
16 July 1843 (2) (Sunday Afternoon). Temple Stand. 1
23 July 1843 (Sunday Afternoon). 1
6 August 1843 (Sunday Morning). Temple Stand. 1
13 August 1843 (1) (Sunday Morning). Temple Stand. 1
13 August 1843 (2) (Sunday Afternoon). 1
27 August 1843 (Sunday Morning). Temple Grove. 1
13 September 1843 (Wednesday). 1
14 September 1843 (Thursday Afternoon). Temple Stand. 1
16 September 1843 (Saturday Afternoon). 1
17 September 1843 (1) (Sunday Morning). 1
17 September 1843 (2) (Sunday Afternoon). 1
24 September 1843 (Sunday Morning). 1
7 October 1843 (Saturday Morning). 1
8 October 1843 (Sunday Morning). 1
9 October 1843 (1) (Monday Morning). 1
9 October 1843 (2) (Monday Afternoon). 1
15 October 1843 (Sunday Morning). Temple Stand. 1
12 November 1843 (Sunday). at Temple. 1
29 November 1843 (Wednesday Afternoon). Upper Room, Red Brick Store. 1
4 December 1843 (Monday). Upper Room, Red Brick Store. 1
9 December 1843 (Saturday). 1 Corner of Main and Water Streets.
18 December 1843 (Monday). Upper Room, Red Brick Store. 1
7 January 1844 (Sunday Afternoon). Cornelius P. Lott's Home. 1
19 January 1844 (Friday). Mansion House. 1
21 January 1844 (Sunday). Front of Robert D. Fosters Hotel, Near Temple. 1
8 February 1844 (Thursday Evening). Upper Room, Red Brick Store. 1
18 February 1844 (Sunday). at Temple. 1
21 February 1844 (Wednesday Evening). Upper Room, Red Brick Store. 1
25 February 1844 (Sunday). at Temple. 1
7 March 1844 (1) (Thursday Morning). at Temple. 1
7 March 1844 (2) (Thursday Afternoon). at Temple. 1
10 March 1844 (Sunday). at Temple. 1
24 March 1844 (Sunday). at Temple Stand. 1
5 April 1844 (Friday Morning). Near Temple. 1
6 April 1844 (Saturday Morning). Grove 1/4 Mile East of Temple on Young Street. 1
7 April 1844 (1) (Sunday Morning). Grove 1/4 Mile East of Temple. 1
7 April 1844 (2) (Sunday Afternoon). Grove 1/4 Mile East of Temple. 1
8 April 1844 (Monday Morning). Temple Stand. 1
23 April 1844 (Tuesday). Masonic Hall. 1
5 May 1844 (Sunday Afternoon and Evening). Mansion House. 1
12 May 1844 (Sunday Morning). Temple Stand. 1
14 May 1844 (Tuesday Evening). Temple Stand. 1
17 May 1844 (Friday). Upper Room, Red Brick Store. 1
26 May 1844 (Sunday Morning). 1
13 June 1844 (Thursday Afternoon). at Seventies Hall. 1
16 June 1844 (1) (Sunday Morning). Grove East of Temple. 1
16 June 1844 (2) (Sunday Afternoon). 1 Grove East of Temple.
18 June 1844 (Tuesday Afternoon). Frame Building, Near Mansion House. 1
Sources for Joseph Smith's Nauvoo Discourses
Foreword
Truman G. Madsen
What did Joseph Smith teach? The attempt to answer usually leads Latter-day Saints to three
publications: the written revelations of the Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price; the 7-
volume History of the Church, and the compilation Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, edited by
Joseph Fielding Smith. But most of these documents are based on the journals, diaries, and notebooks of
those who surrounded the Prophet. Some were appointed by him to fulfill the commission: "There shall
be a record kept" (D&C 21). Some were making private notes for their own use.
Here for the first time in church literature, presented with almost photographic fidelity, are the original
sources of all the discourses of Joseph Smith delivered during his climactic five years in Nauvoo. These
discourses not only shed light on the standard works; they also provide teachings beyond the scope of
those heretofore published. (In fact, many of these utterances were not available to the first-generation
historians when they began their compilations.)
The collection presents Joseph Smith during the era when he was dealing with Church doctrine and
organization in its ripest and fullest form. As is clear in the sermons of his last year, he was strugging
with a sense of urgency to present "all the strongest doctrines in public," to roll off all the keys of
responsibility on his brethren. He was trying to prepare the minds of the Saints to receive the truth even
when it opposed their traditions. And literally and figuratively he sought to place upon the Church the
capstone by finishing the temple and conferring upon the Saints within it the most sacred and glorious
consummations of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
These 177 separable discourses were recorded by some 36 individuals in 43 records. Probably still other
contemporary records of the Prophet's discourses have not yet found their way into the Church
Archives. But of these persons one can say they honored the commission of the Prophet (as recalled by
Oliver B. Huntington) that they should "be prompt in keeping daily journals." They fulfill his prediction
that their journals would be "sought after as history and scripture." In one classic admonition to the
Twelve, he had said soberly, "The time will come, when, if you will neglect to do this thing, you will
fall by the hands of unrighteous men." In lamentation that there were things already lost or never
recorded, he said that without such records the "Great and glorious manifestations which have been
made to us" could not be presented to the Church and to the world "with the same degree of power and
authority" (Teachings, pp. 72-73).
Many of the full-bodied discourses of Joseph Smith can be traced to only one man, Wilford Woodruff.
With an overwhelming conviction of his calling, he kept a faithful record of all the utterances of Joseph
Smith he was present to hear. He could hardly sleep until he had taken his notes and transcribed them
into a detailed account. Of his total effort B. H. Roberts wrote:
Other men may found hospitals or temples or schools for the Church, or endow special divisions or
chairs of learning in them; or they may make consecrations of lands and other property to the Church
but in point of important service, and in placing the Church under permanent obligations, no one will
surpass in excellence in permanence or largeness the service Wilford Woodruff has given to the Church
of Jesus Christ in the new dispensation, by writing and preserving the beautiful and splendid journals he
kept through sixty-three years—so far do the things of mind surpass material things (Comprehensive
History of the Church, 7:355).
This volume is the product of a decade of careful, consistent cooperative effort by two superb
researchers in Mormon origins: Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook. The result is in many ways a
first: Every firsthand contemporary account of Joseph's Nauvoo discourses is included here. The origin-
sources are reproduced with scrupulous fidelity to the original text, including stylistic abbreviations and
grammatical and spelling errors. Because a text without a context can become a pretext, the editors have
provided thorough bibliographic, biographical, and doctrinal commentary in their lengthy, but essential,
footnotes. The compilation is in exact chronology and is cross-referenced to all scriptural passages to
which the Prophet referred or alluded in his discourses. These in turn are cross-referenced to each other
and are extensively indexed.
There are side benefits in having the entire collection and commentary under one cover: we see
connections and relationships that otherwise are obscure; we see glimpses of the Prophet Joseph Smith
as a common man who identifies himself with the grinding labor and sufferings of his people; we see
how richly furnished was his mind and how receptive, malleable, and bold was its sweeping inspiration
and yet how his very thought patterns were rooted in the New Testament—especially in Paul. (There
are fewer allusions to the Old Testament, The Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants.) We
see something of the life-settings, the personalities, the needs, and even the crises surrounding many of
his statements. We see humor and wit, we see trauma and prophetic vision. And through it all we see a
man confident in his mission, assured of his divine calling—for all his light-hearted gregarious and
social instincts, he was a man serious to the core.
The editors have done another service. Their careful footnoting and tracing of earlier authentic
statements and later echoes affords the reader a fresh sense of the unfolding drama of the Restoration.
The King Follett discourse, for example, which until now has seemed unprecedented, is here shown to
be the outcome of earlier teachings. Its brilliance and stature emerge from its combining strands of prior
insights of the Prophet into one majestic, comprehensive statement. Thus, the editors have done
revelatory research on both the background and foreground of the discourses. The book becomes a
perennial instrument for interpreting and understanding later reminiscences and recollections about the
Prophet and his sayings. It is also a hedge against folklore and fiction, and against the charge that one
cannot trust the sources of Mormonism in its formative stages.
For teachers in all levels of Church administration and practice, for parents who are concerned to "go to
the source" when counseling and guiding and testifying in the home, for students who seek a handbook
of Mormon sources that will withstand careful scholarly scrutiny, for Latter-day Saints who wish to
treasure up the fundamental teachings of the Restoration at their very fountainhead, and for all in or
beyond the Church who have begun to recognize that in his high and inspired moments Joseph Smith
passed on to this generation "gems for the sanctified," this book is not only useful, it is indispensable.
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Introductory  Essay
In the latter-day Restoration no individual stands taller than Joseph Smith, the Lord's prophet. As the
first prophet of the last dispensation, he commands the respect and attention of all members of the
Church. An early revelation received by Joseph Smith declared, "This generation shall have my word
through you" (D&C 5:10), and no one would dispute the validity of this statement: the Prophet's
teachings are the foundation of Mormon theology.
In recent years a greater sense of "getting to the sources" has marked Mormon historical writing. Serious
students of Mormon history have sought to apply modern historical research methods to verify, firm up,
and fill in the gaps of our seven-volume history. This approach has helped us understand and appreciate
the efforts of early Church members in preserving our history. However, some have argued that the
sources of official Church writings were altered to create faithful, but inaccurate history. Some have
even argued that Joseph Smith's public teachings were not actually his but were created after his death
—that Church historians took a free hand in creating or amplifying nonexistent or cryptic notes into full-
blown discourses.
However, the following compilation of contemporary accounts of 177 known public discourses shows
that all the Prophet's teachings during the Nauvoo period can be documented from original sources.
Admittedly the reports of his discourses were incomplete, but having multiple accounts of many of the
sermons allows one to compare and contrast what each reporter recorded of the Prophet's ideas. Thus,
there is no evidence that Church historians who prepared Joseph Smith's discourses for publication went
beyond a reasonable interpretation of the original recorded statements.
It is not our purpose to reconstruct how the Church historians, particularly George A. Smith,
amalgamated the various versions of Joseph Smith's discourses in preparing them for publication.
Suffice it to say that all available reports were synthesized into a single, coherent account. Of this
process George A. Smith said, "The greatest care [was] taken to convey the ideas in the Prophet's style
as near as possible; and in no case [was] the sentimentÂ​varied that I know of; as I heard the most of his
discourses myself, was on the most intimate terms with him, have retained a most vivid recollection of
his teachings, and was well acquainted with his principles and motives" (Letter from George A. Smith
to Wilford Woodruff, 21 April 1856).
Only those people who recorded Joseph Smith's teachings at the time could have preserved his doctrine
and phraseology. One who desired to preserve the words of Joseph Smith was twenty-two-year old
Franklin D. Richards. He began a personal record of the Prophet's teachings in 1843 and called it
"Joseph's Words."
Because there were no mechanical devices for recording the Prophet's sermons, verbatim accounts of
his words do not exist. Therefore, contemporary reports (almost always in the form of private notes and
diaries) constitute the closest approximation of Joseph Smith's actual words.
This volume presents for the first time the original accounts of all Joseph Smith's public discourses given
during the Nauvoo period. This includes records of previously unpublished sermons, contemporaneous
reports not available when the Church historians finished their official reports of the discourses, and the
originals of those used in the published accounts. The criterion for inclusion of a source in this work
was whether that source was a contemporaneous record of a public discourse. While reminiscent
accounts often contain much that is authentic, there is always the risk that recorders will make
interpolations. Perhaps the clearest example of this problem is in reminiscent accounts of the Prophet's
final public address—his address to the Nauvoo Legion. In reminiscent reports the Prophet is
remembered as saying that the Saints will go to the Rocky Mountains to settle. However, according to
contemporaneous records, he "called for all philanthropic men from Maine to the Rocky Mountains" to
aid the Latter-day Saint people in overcoming mob oppression. Because we have selected only those
sources that were unmistakably recorded at the time, the collection can serve as a standard against which
to judge the myriad recollections.
The reports of Joseph Smith's sermons were copied and recopied by his disciples. For example, some of
James Burgess's reports of the Prophet's discourses were copied from Willard Richards's "Pocket
Companion," accounts Richards had earlier obtained from Wilford Woodruff and John Taylor. Later
(probably while they were both clerks for the Prophet) William Clayton copied Richards's "Pocket
Companion" records of discourses given in Nauvoo before Clayton arrived from England. William
Clayton then added these teachings to his own collection of the Prophet's words that he recorded while
Elders Richards, Woodruff, Taylor, and Burgess were in England. Even after Joseph Smith's death this
sharing continued. James Harvey Glines, for example, copied some sayings of the Prophet from William
Patterson McIntire's notebook. And Howard Egan recorded in Wilford Woodruff's private journal
Joseph Smith's 28 April 1842 discourse to the Relief Society.
Aware of this sharing, we have analyzed each report and selected for inclusion in this volume the
earliest reports available. Full bibliographic detail is noted the first time a source is used.
Without question, Willard Richards and Wilford Woodruff were the two most important reporters of
Joseph Smith's sermons. Richards, who was appointed in December 1842 to record the Prophet's
activities, reported in Joseph Smith's diary more than one-third of all the discourses we have reproduced.
Wilford Woodruff, though having no special assignment, recorded more than twice the number of
discourses reported by any other individual (except Willard Richards). Moreover, it is significant that
half the discourses reported by Woodruff were recorded by no other person.
In terms of technique of recording, Willard Richards's entries in Joseph Smith's diary were, if not always
dictated, written as if they had been dictated. However, Richards's reports of the Prophet's discourses in
the diary are often cryptic and conceptually incomplete when compared with the well-rounded accounts
by Woodruff. The disparity between the recording methods of these two men helps illustrate the
problem of record-keeping in Nauvoo. Though both men knew some shorthand, neither was sufficiently
skilled to take verbatim reports. Nevertheless, though their reports and the large number of companion
reports of the Prophet's words comprised in this book are in this sense incomplete and lack some of his
phraseology and personality, they do reflect Joseph Smith's mind and his doctrine.
Public discourse in Nauvoo occurred most often in the open air. While many meetings were held at or
near private residences, in Joseph Smith's store, and on the rough floor of the Nauvoo Temple (still
under construction), the majority were held in a grove. Usually the focal point of the meeting place was
a portable platform called a "stand." Church leaders sat on the stand, and the audience sat on benches of
split logs or on the ground. Rain and cold often precluded Sabbath meetings.
The physical strength required to preach from week to week to large open-air congregations was
considerable. Naturally Joseph Smith was the preferred speaker at Sunday meetings, but occasionally he
"used the boys' lungs," because his own constitution could not tolerate weekly use. For example, the
day following the celebrated King Follett sermon, the Prophet was so worn out that he could speak only
a few minutes. But he had given instructions to George J. Adams to speak. Rhoda Richards observed,
"I heard brother Joseph by the mouth of brother Adams." On another occasion Willard Richards
recorded that Joseph was sick because his lungs "were oppressed" and "overheated" from preaching the
week before.
Before 1839, Sidney Rigdon stood as the public spokesman of Mormonism, having been so designated
by revelation (D&C 100:9). But when he began to neglect this responsibility, in late 1839 Joseph Smith
"came of age" in public discourse. After spending six months in a Missouri jail and seeing the entire
Mormon population expelled from that state, the Prophet's desire for redress and justice compelled him
to speak before national leaders. In many ways the 1839-40 trip to Washington, D.C., was a milestone
in Joseph Smith's career, and of particular significance is the fact that on this occasion Joseph Smith
himself did the speaking. And the Prophet did the preaching. It was not Sidney Rigdon (as in previous
visits to the East Coast) but Joseph Smith who local newspapers and reporters announced would preach.
It seems that sheer necessity and commitment of purpose compelled the Prophet to stand for himself and
his people and defend his mission. Mathew L. Davis, a Washington correspondent who observed the
Prophet at this time, stated,
He is not an educated man: but he is a plain, sensible, strong minded man. Everything he says, is said in
a manner to leave an impression that he is sincere. There is no levity, no fanaticism, no want of dignity
in his deportmentÂ​. In his garb there are no pecularities; his dress being that of a plain, unpretending
citizen.
Nor was the Prophet's desire solely to speak out for his people. By 1839 he had done a lot of thinking
about the temple and the plan of the Kingdom as he alone then understood it. He had a keen desire to
articulate these ideas to his people. His understanding was not yet complete, but there is no doubt that
the seeds had been planted. From then on, he rarely spoke without making reference to some aspect of
temple theology. And as he unfolded his vision of the Kingdom, his people yearned more and more for
his words.
The Saints' anxiety to hear the Prophet is graphically described by Charlotte Haven, a non-Mormon,
who visited Nauvoo in 1843. As she went for the first time to hear Joseph Smith preach, she was
amazed at "such hurrying" at least two hours before the services were to commence. "One could have
thought it was the last opportunity they would ever have to hear him." On another occasion, at the
Nauvoo Temple, the Saints swarmed to hear Joseph Smith. Willard Richards recorded that nothing
could be seen "from the stand but the heads and bodies of the congregation. They stood on the walls of
the uncompleted building and the floor. It was one mass of Saints. To speak was literally to speak to the
people, for there was nothing else to be seen."
At the Nauvoo lyceums the Prophet often spoke. On one of these occasions Mercy R. Thompson
"heard him reprove the brethren for giving way to too much excitement and warmth in debate. I have
listened to his clear and masterly explanations of deep and difficult questions. To him all things seemed
simple and easy to be understood, and thus he could make them plain to others as no other man could."
When English convert William Rowley first heard Joseph Smith speak, he wrote that he "knew he was
listening to one that had not been taught of men so different were all his thoughts and language."
The authority and power with which the Prophet delivered a message was convincing. Even Willard
Richards, who knew the Prophet's private life better than any other man, told his sister, following a
public sermon on the resurrection, that he had "heard the sweetest sermon from Joseph he ever heard in
his life." Charles Smith observed that when the Prophet spoke he "drew your soul out in love towards
him."
Although his testimony was not borne in our traditional fashion, Joseph Smith did radiate a conviction
of his own divine appointment. In 1843 he said, "If I had not actually got into this work, and been called
of God, I would back out, but I cannot back out, I have no doubt of the truth." In Washington, D.C., in
1840, Joseph Smith affirmed that the Book of Mormon was "communicated to him, direct from heaven.
If there was such a thing on earth, as the author of it, then he was the author of it; but the idea that he
wished to impress was that he penned it as dictated by God."
So spoke Joseph Smith's contemporaries about his manner, authority, and conviction in public
discourse. In the wake of the Prophet's martyrdom his influence continued to spread. Bathsheba W.
Smith, the last living person who heard Joseph Smith's public and private teachings in every facet of the
gospel, stated, "I never like to hear a sermon without hearing something of the Prophet, for he gave us
everything, every order of the priesthood."
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Acknowledgments
We are indebted to many individuals who have assisted either directly or indirectly in the preparation of
this work. Materials used in this study were gleaned from the Church Archives, Historical Department
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah; Special Collections, Harold B.
Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; Archives and Manuscripts, Harold B. Lee
Library, Provo, Utah; Manuscripts Division, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake
City, Utah; and History Division, Library-Archives, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints, The Auditorium, Independence, Missouri. Thanks are given to the kind, talented staffs at these
libraries. We especially remember the exceptional cooperation of James L. Kimball, Jr., at Church
Archives. Chad Flake of Brigham Young University Library, Madelon Brunson and Patricia Roberts at
the RLDS Library-Archives, and Della Dye of the University of Utah Library have also greatly assisted
us in our work. Others who have contributed significantly are Dean C. Jessee, Ronald Watt, Lauritz
Petersen, Ronald K. Esplin, Haybron Adams, William Slaughter, Gladys Noyce, and Linda Haslam.
We appreciate the painstaking efforts of Nancy Matthews, Julie Stokes, Stephen and Jeanine Ehat,
Myron Decker, Blake Penrod, Anena Turner, and Kirk and Jacqueline Sherman, who assisted in the
typing, proofreading, indexing, and final preparation of the book.
R. Stephen Marshall, Matthew R. Marshall, Matthew Moore, Luke Ong, David Sharp, and David E.
Sloan carefully compared the original published version of The Words of Joseph Smith with this
infobase. The time they spent and the care given in proofing is gratefully remembered here. I am also
grateful to Curtis Weber for his careful attention to myriad details as we prepared the electronic edition.
John N. Drayton, managing editor at Brigham Young University Press, has contributed significantly to
the style and format of the text and the readability of the footnotes.
Donald Barney, manager of Seventy's Mission Bookstore, first recognized the importance of this study
and worked for its publication.
Richard L. Anderson and James B. Allen, professors at Brigham Young University, gave
encouragement and shared important materials used in this book.
We are particularly grateful to Truman G. Madsen and LaMar C. Berrett, formerly directors in the
Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University, who over the years have given direction and
constant encouragement, and have extended to us financial assistance that has substantially helped us in
the preparation of this volume.
Finally, we are greatly indebted to our wives for their encouragement and patience during the writing
and preparation of this book.
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Editorial  Note
Every effort has been made to present a faithful copy of the original reports of Joseph Smith's
discourses. By retaining original spelling, punctuation, and paragraphing we hoped to preserve the
integrity of the documents. The footnotes provide biographical data on each individual mentioned in the
text, doctrinal insights into many of the Prophet's teachings, historical background to each sermon,
bibliographic information on each report, and references to scriptures the Prophet quoted but were not
identified. Unless otherwise indicated, all discourses were delivered at Commerce, later, Nauvoo,
lllinois.