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The King Follett Discourse is an address delivered by Joseph Smith, Jr., founder and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, on April 7, 1844, less than three months before Smith's assassination. The discourse was presented to a congregation of about twenty thousand Latter-day Saints at a general conference held shortly after the funeral service of Elder King Follett, who had died on March 9 1844 of accidental injuries. A verbatim account of the speech does not exist, but (at least) Willard Richards, Wilford Woodruff, Thomas Bullock, and William Clayton took notes of the address. Some versions were recorded using a version of Pitman Shorthand and are considered by scholars as accurate (near-verbatim). A complete version
reconstructed from those transcripts was published in the Church paper Times and Seasons of August 15, 1844. Doctrinal topics in the sermon include: - "It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another." (TPJS, p. 345)
- "If the veil were rent today, and .. God .. (were) to make himself visible, .. if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form -- like yourselves in all the person, image, and the very form as a man." (TPJS, p. 345)
- man's potential to progress in God's likeness --
- Smith discussed the potential of mankind by referencing Romans 8:17, then stating that men may go: "..from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to
grace, from exaltation to exaltation .. until (they) arrive at the station of a God." (TPJS, p. 346-47)
- the tie between the living and their progenitors --
- "Is there nothing to be done? -- no preparation -- no salvation for our fathers and friends who have died without having had the opportunity to obey the decrees of the Son of Man?" (TPJS, p. 355)
- "God hath made a provision that every spirit in the eternal world can be .. saved unless he has committed (the) unpardonable sin." (TPJS, p. 357)
Regarding his personal religious experiences, Smith stated: "I don't blame anyone for not believing my history. If I had not experienced what I have, I could not have believed it myself." (TPJSm p. 361) Concerned with difficulties facing the Church and threats on his own life, he closed the two hour and fifteen minute address with a plea for peace and invoked God's blessing on the assembled Latter Day Saints. Although the discourse is considered by Mormons to be one of the most important given by Smith on the nature of God and exaltation, it is not part of the Church's canonized scriptures. Resources- Times and Seasons, August 15 1844
- Documentary History of the Church, Volume Six, pp. 302-317.
- Cannon, Donald Q. and Dahl, Larry E., editors. The Prophet Joseph Smith's King Follet Discourse: A Six-Column Comparison of Original Notes and Amalgamation. Provo, Utah, 1983.
- Ludlow, Daniel H., Editor. Church History, Selections From the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Deseret Book Co., Salt Lake City, UT, 1992. ISBN 0-87579-924-8.
- Smith, Joseph Fielding, editor. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (TPJS), Salt Lake City, 1938. Section Six 1843-44, pp. 342-61.
See also: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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