Joseph Smith’s 1843 Sermon
“Joseph Smith’s 1843 sermon. On April 16, 1843, Joseph Smith’s journal relates that he gave a sermon at the temple at 10 a.m. He read a letter about the death of Lorenzo Barns and discussed the topic of burial.
“I referred to it is to have the privilige [sic] of having our dead buried on the land where god has appointed to gather his saints together.— & where there will be nothing but saints, where they may have the privilege of laying their bodies where the Son will make his appearance. & where they may hear the sound of the trump that shall call them forth to behold him, that in the morn of the resurrection they may come forth in a body. & come right up out of their graves, & strike hands immediately in eternal glory & felicity rather than to be scattered thousands of miles apart. There is something good & sacred to me in this thing. The place where a man is buried has been sacred to me. –this subject is made mention of In Book of Mormon & Scriptures to the aborigines regard the burying places of their fathers is more sacred than any thing else.” Joseph Smith (emphasis added)
The portion in bold is of interest for two reasons. First, there is no place in the current Book of Mormon that mentions that the place where a man is buried is sacred. Joseph seems to be recalling a passage from the lost 116 pages, which, in his mind, were part of the Book of Mormon he translated.
Second, the sacred nature of a burial place is the basic premise for Native American Indian reverence for the burial mounds. Joseph alludes to this in the next passage when he refers to the “aborigines,” whom he considered Lamanites. This sermon may be a direct link between the 116 pages and the Native American Indian mounds.
The journal (left) is in the handwriting of Willard Richards. He apparently inserted the phrase “this subject is made mention of” after he wrote the main phrase, probably when he found a moment to catch up with what Joseph was saying.” Mormon History Association – Mounds and Mormons by Jonathan Neville Journal, December 1842-June 1844; Book 2, 10 March 1843-14 July 1843, p. 141. Online at http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-december-1842-june-1844-book-2-10-march-1843-14-july-1843/149.
The Mormons and the Mounds Abstract-
“Mormonism sprang from the mounds,” wrote Roger Kennedy, former director of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Even before the Book of Mormon was published, Mormonism was linked to the Moundbuilder civilizations of North America. One man who claimed to have heard a reading of the lost 116 pages said “It was a description of the mounds about the country and similar to the Book of Mormon. In 1843, Joseph Smith apparently alluded to the 116 pages when he said the Book of Mormon spoke about sacred burial places. Several authors have placed the Book of Mormon among other 19th century books about the origins of the Moundbuilders. At one time, *there were over a million ancient earth mounds in North America; approximately 100,000 remain today. Many of these mounds are located in the territory from western New York through western Missouri where early Mormon history took place.
*After visiting several thousand mounds and reviewing the literature, I am fairly certain that over 1,000,000 mounds once existed and that perhaps 100,000 still exist. Oddly, some new mound sites are discovered each year by archaeological surveys in remote areas. But in truth, a large majority of America’s mounds have been completely destroyed by farming, construction, looting, and deliberate total excavations” – Gregory L. Little, Ed.D., The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Native American Mounds & Earthworks, Eagle Wing Books, Inc., Memphis, TN [2009].
Jonathan Neville continues, “Three specific mounds figure prominently in LDS history: Zelph’s mound in Illinois, the Kinderhook mound, also in Illinois, from which the six brass plates were taken, and Enon mound in Ohio. Until the early Saints leveled them to build homes and farms, Indian mounds dominated Nauvoo. Joseph Smith purchased one and resorted to it from time to time. Less well known are the mounds located just north of Nauvoo that have recently been discovered and preserved. The connections between Mormonism and the mounds of North America have yet to be fully explored. …The increasing awareness of the numerous Hopewell mounds in the Nauvoo area may give renewed attention to the connection between Mormons and the mounds. When workers dug a utility trench between the Red Brick Store and the Joseph Smith Homestead, the equipment churned up Hopewell bones and artifacts. This area is adjacent to the Smith Family Cemetery, leading to the possibility that Joseph Smith, his wife Emma, his brother Hyrum and his parents are buried in a Hopewell burial site.” The Mormons and the Mounds – Jonathan Neville Mormon History Association June 2017.
Indian Burial Mounds
“Nauvoo appears to have been a destination for the living and the dead for centuries. According to Community of Christ Historic Sites Coordinator Lachlan Mackay, workmen digging a power wiring trench between the Smith Cemetery and Red Brick Store during the 1970s uncovered bones and artifacts, including a cardinal platform pipe from the Hopewell era (ca. 200 BC to 500 AD). This means that the Smith Family Cemetery was most likely built over an ancient graveyard. Lachlan Mackay referred to Gustavus Hills 1840 map of Nauvoo which revealed ancient tumuli, or burial mounds, including some on Partridge Street below the temple hill. In 1844, Henry Brown quoted John C. Bennetts 1842 description of Nauvoo: “The surface of the ground upon which Nauvoo is built, is very uneven. . . A number of tumuli, or ancient mounds, are found within the limits of the city, proving it to have been a place of some importance with the extinct inhabitants of this Continent” (History of Illinois, 1844, p. 490). Settlers, however, leveled the land for houses and gardens….
Smith Family Cemetery
The Joseph Smith Homestead became a graveyard for the Smith family, including Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith and their sons Don Carlos, Hyrum, Joseph, and Samuel. Those who died before 1846 were buried elsewhere in Nauvoo and later moved to the Smith Family Cemetery. When Don Carlos Smith and Joseph and Emma’s baby Don Carlos died in 1841, their bodies were buried near the temple and later reinterred on the Smith property. Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum’s bodies were laid to rest on the Homestead property in 1928 (Lachlan Mackay, Mormon Historical Studies, Fall 2002, pp. 240-252)…
Cemetery Impressions
The Prophet Joseph Smith said, “The place where a man is buried is sacred to me.” Each grave has a story to tell of a persons life and the time and place in which he or she lived. Visits to cemeteries offer reflection on the meaning of life, the inevitability of death, and the promise of resurrection. LDS visitors to Nauvoo feel the Spirit in the historic homes and the holy temple. Sometimes they search for ancestors in the cemetery on Parley Street and contemplate their lives. But other burial sites in Nauvoo have voices, too. Perhaps their voices will tell us why they came to Nauvoo and what they learned about life and death, joy and sorrow, faith, family, and community. They might whisper, “When you’re here, were here because we are in you–for we are all Heavenly Fathers children.” Laid to Rest in Nauvoo By Rosemary G. Palmer · July 17, 2014 Meridian Magazine https://latterdaysaintmag.com/article-1-14629-2/
Alvin Smith’s Death
It is very likely that Alvin Smith was buried on an ancient burial mound as his brother Joseph Smith was. There is something sacred about this possibility. The connection between the Nephites and Joseph Smith’s family must have been incredible. What joy during the resurrection to see the many wonderful saints arise next to each other.
“We took hold of the child [Lucy], but she clenched hold of him [Alvin] with such a desperate grasp that it was very difficult to disengage her hands.
As I turned with the child, Alvin said, “Father, Mother, brothers, sisters, farewell! I can now breathe out my life as calmly as a clock,” and immediately closed his eyes in death.[7]
The child still cried to go back to Alvin. One present said to her, “Alvin is gone. An angel has taken his spirit to heaven.” When the babe heard this, she renewed her cries, and as I bent over his corpse with her in my arms, she again threw her arms around him and kissed him repeatedly, screaming as before. And until the body was taken from the house, she continued constantly crying and showing such manifestation of affection mingled with terror at the scene before her as is seldom witnessed in a child.[8]…
When the time for interment arrived, the inhabitants of the surrounding country gathered together, and during the funeral obsequies they gave the most affectionate manifestations of their sympathy; but there was one that felt our grief more deeply than the rest-a lovely young woman who was engaged to be married to my son. The disconsolate girl was rendered most desolate by his unexpected death, and as long as we knew her, she never recovered her wonted animation and good spirits…
Alvin had ever manifested a greater zeal and anxiety, if it were possible, than any of the rest with regard to the record which had been shown to Joseph, and he always showed the most intense interest concerning the matter. With this before our minds, we could not endure to hear or say one word upon that subject, for the moment that Joseph spoke of the record it would immediately bring Alvin to our minds with all his kindness, his affection, his zeal, and piety. And when we looked to his place and realized that he was gone from it, to return no more in this life, we all wept with one accord over our irretrievable loss, and we could “not be comforted, because he was not.”[10]…
[10] See Matt. 2:18; Jeremiah 31:15. The Smiths had now lost three children; that is, Alvin, Ephraim, and their firstborn son. The vision given in the Kirtland Temple, January 21, 1836 (twelve years after Alvin’s death), was especially powerful to Joseph: “The heavens were opened upon us, and I beheld the celestial kingdom of God, and the glory thereof. . . . I saw the transcendent beauty of the gate through which the heirs of that kingdom will enter; . . . also the blazing throne of God, whereon was seated the Father and the Son. . . . I saw Father Adam and Abraham; and my father and my mother; my brother Alvin, that has long since slept; and marveled how it was that he had obtained an inheritance in that kingdom, seeing that he had departed this life before the Lord had set his hand to gather Israel the second time, and had not been baptized for the remission of sins. Thus came the voice of the Lord unto me, saying: All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God; also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom; for I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.” (D&C 137:1, 2, 3, 5-9.)
Alvin Smith’s grave is located in the Swift Cemetery just south of Four Corners in Palmyra, New York. (See red circle left). It is located just a half mile from the Grandin Press. See the Directions here:
See the Ancient Tumuli Bluffs in Nauvoo Illinois on the map below:
Define Tumuli:
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, or kurgans. When composed largely or entirely of stones they are usually referred to as cairns. The phenomenon appears early in human history, during the Neolithic era, and although used almost universally tumuli differ in size, structure, and usage with each culture. In one aspect, the tumulus is a simple way to bury the dead and honor them with a memorial, for it requires little sophistication or technology. On the other hand, though, the size of many of these mounds is impressive by today’s standards, and far more so considering the lack of technology available in ancient times. Their appearance throughout the world in unrelated cultures indicates a universal appreciation for the dead members of their society, and a desire to mark their life permanently in the physical world. New World Encyclopedia
The Lost 116 pages – part 1
Don Bradley’s new book, The Lost 116 Pages, is exceptional. He has done an outstanding job accumulating and explaining what we know about the translated pages Martin Harris lost from the original Book of Mormon.
This week I’m going to discuss several aspects of the book and offer some additional thoughts on specific topics. In important ways that are not apparent at first, Don’s book addresses the geography and historicity issues that we discuss on this blog.
A few years ago Don gave me some material to use in my presentation at the Mormon History Association titled “Mormons and the Mounds.” He mentions this material on page 218:
While memorializing Elder Lorenzo Barnes on April 16, 1843, Joseph made reference to a detail from the Book of Mormon text:
“[T]he place where a man is buried has been sacred to me.–this subject is made mention of In Book of Mormon & Scriptures. to the aborigines regard the burying places of their fathers is more sacred than any thing else.”
Joseph appears to refer to a description from the Book of Mormon that its peoples regarded the burial places of their fathers as sacred… if Joseph Smith cited an unknown Book of Mormon text, he was not speaking from inferior knowledge to ours but from superior knowledge [i.e., the lost 116 pages]… by Jonathan Neville, continued blog here: http://www.moronisamerica.com/the-lost-116-pages-part-1/
