Church to Publish Sermons of Eliza R. Snow

[smac97]

Here:

Quote

On July 10, 1868, Eliza R. Snow delivered a short-but-uplifting sermon to the sisters of the Salt Lake 20th Latter-day Saint Ward Relief Society. A secretary recorded her words, which included these inspiring thoughts:

• “The Lord loves a cheerful heart. If we sometimes discover gloomy feelings creeping over us — we must arouse ourselves, (and) shake it off.”
• “We are gaining an experience which is our wealth beyond the grave; (and) why should we shrink from experience.”
• “The soul that trusts in God — it mitigates much of their trials.”

The July 10, 1868, discourse, which even includes details about Snow’s Latter-day Saint conversion, is one of more than 1,000 she gave from 1840 to 1887, primarily in the Utah and Idaho territories.

Now her words are available to all.

For the first time, the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has created a website featuring “The Discourses of Eliza R. Snow,” accessible on Churchhistorianspress.org.

Wednesday’s first batch contains Snow’s sermons from 1868-1869, with more scheduled to come in the fall. Along with the talks, the website provides a timeline and biographical information, images, a list of Snow’s various publications, reference material with essential 19th-century historical context and a map showing Snow’s travels and the locations of her discourses. Some of the sermons even include a historic photo of the meetinghouse where Snow preached.

A print volume of select talks will be published at a future date, according to Jenny Reeder, a 19th century women’s history specialist and the project’s leader.

Oh, this is so cool.

Thanks,

-Smac

[mfbukowski]

Good

[Nacho2dope]

That is great news, thanks for sharing!

[Storm Rider]

There is a reason she was known as a prophetess. 

[JLHPROF]

The Church News article is also good- https://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2020-07-15/eliza-r-snow-discourses-speaker-poet-relief-society-188887

I especially like this part:

"Sometimes speaking three times a day, Eliza kept a vigorous schedule as she traveled throughout the Utah and Idaho territories. 

She worked to develop and maintain relationships with every settlement, bringing them notices from Salt Lake and taking back to Salt Lake the settlements’ conditions and concerns, Reeder said.

In Kanab, Utah, women honored Eliza as the president “of all the feminine portion of the human race.”

AND

"As a plural wife of both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, Eliza was well-versed in Church doctrine. “She had a very close relationship with them,” Reeder said. “She could testify of Joseph Smith’s role as the Prophet of the Restoration and also instruct the women according to how Brigham Young saw fit.” 

[pogi]

 

I am thrilled and delighted and look forward to reading her writings.  I think she was a highly inspirational and profound thinker and an excellent poet, and I am excited to read more of her words. 

This quote got me thinking however:

Quote

“The Lord loves a cheerful heart. If we sometimes discover gloomy feelings creeping over us — we must arouse ourselves, (and) shake it off.”

The birth of Happy Valley!

While there is some truth to this statement, without further expounding, it could be deleterious to mental health.  I would be really interested to read how she expounded upon it.  I think women especially are plagued in the church today with unrealistic cultural expectations of keeping up appearances of happiness and having it all together.  I wonder if the birth of this culture is as old as the relief society itself.     

It is important to understand that the Lord also loves a sorrowful heart, and a wounded heart, an aching heart, and even a depressed heart; and that if you have gloomy feelings, it doesn't mean you are unworthy.  It is also important to know that it is healthy to embrace gloomy feelings (they are not our enemy but tools for healing) as being human, expected, and normal.  The sooner we embrace them, the sooner we can learn from them, address them, and eventually shake them off.   We sometimes skip over critical steps there and attempt to go straight to the "shake it off" part. 

Edited July 15, 2020 by pogi

[Duncan]

Shortly after Joseph Smith was killed, she was so overcome with grief and he came to her in a vision comforting her

[JLHPROF]

7 hours ago, Duncan said:

Shortly after Joseph Smith was killed, she was so overcome with grief and he came to her in a vision comforting her

Well she was his wife. 

And the Savior appeared to Mary.

[Tacenda]

 

I know most don't like podcasts, but this is not too long and has two of the historians behind the project. 

https://www.sltrib.com/podcasts/mormonland/

Church historians discuss the legacy of Eliza R. Snow and her 1,200 sermons | Episode 138

Eliza R. Snow ranks as the most influential Latter-day Saint woman of her time and after Emma Smith, wife of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, perhaps the best-known woman in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Snow was a poet and a preacher, a plural wife of prophets and a defender of polygamy, a leader of the Relief Society and a champion of women. Still, there is much Latter-day Saints don’t know about her.That may change now that the church has launched a new website, called The Discourses of Eliza R. Snow, that brings together her sermons, nearly 1,200 of them.On this week’s podcast, two of the forces behind the massive project — historians Jennifer Reeder and Elizabeth Kuehn — discuss how a reluctant public speaker became a powerhouse at the pulpit, how she viewed Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and how she traversed the Utah Territory, building up the faith’s women and rebuilding the Relief Society.

[JamesBYoung]

Good for her, and most importantly, good for us.

She is probably the most important LDS female speaker before 1880 and among the five before 1910.

Lydia Knight, imo, is the one most inspiring to me.

[Tacenda]

It seems before the PH took over the RS, women were able to be more expressive, back then more prophetess behaviors. They were in charge...had their own money that they could decided what to do with, and many other things they did without getting their bishop's okay, even selected their own leaders, pre 70's. Wish we could go back to those days, I would become active again, possibly. I've been in too many presidencies to see how annoying it is for the presidents of these auxiliaries to have to get the okay here and there. But I guess it has to do with control...too many people to worry about I guess, with millions of members. But maybe the church can change some things, to enable the women to express like Eliza R. Snow. We need to break the glass ceilings!  

“Something Better”

The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo

I now turn the key to you in the name of God, and this society shall rejoice and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time—this is the beginning of better days to this society.

Joseph Smith