January 17, 1843

Sermon delivered at Smith homestead in Nauvoo, Ill. on Tuesday January 17, 1843 Sources: Wilford Woodruff Journal

The Kingdom of God is Present Whenever a Legal Administrator Exists
This was an interesting day a day that was appointed by general proclamation for humiliation fasting & prayer & thanksgiving for the release & delivery we had received¹ Meetings were appointed in each ward throughout the city I met at President Joseph Smith,s & we had an interesting time Br Joseph spoke to some length on the Kingdom of God & the Baptism of John, he said the Kingdom of God was set upon the earth in all ages from the days of Adam to the present time whenever there was a man on earth who had authority to administer the ordinances of the gospel or a priest of God & unto such a man God did reveal his will [--] concerning the Baptism of John. It was the Baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins for the receiving of the Holy Ghost & it was the gospel Baptism, These were questions which had been in debate for many years & in some degree among the Saints, ² He also spoke upon the subject of honor & dishonor &c.

Notes

1. The deliverance was the Illinois Supreme Court's decision that the grounds for Governor Carlin's arrest order (for extradition to Missouri) were insufficent.

2. Typical of most Christian thought on the subject was Alexanger Campbell who argued that the kingdom was established with Christ and not before. Hence baptisms found in the Book of Mormon prior to Christ's advent branded it as a fraud. Of course Joseph Smith was much more explicit than that in his translation of the Bible (for example in the Enoch texts restored to Genesis, see Moses 6 of the LDS Pearl of Great Price). The subject continues to appear in Joseph Smith's sermons, for example see 22Jan43 and 7Apr44

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