In a
discourse at his home in Nauvoo on the evening of 30 January 1842, Joseph Smith
spoke about robust deification in a
way that would be similar to his King Follett Discourse of April 1844. Wilford
Woodruff, the then-future fourth president of the Church, likely took notes
during the discourse and recorded them into his booklet “Book of Revelations.”
Except for a brief note in Joseph Smith’s journal, Woodruff’s notes are the only
extant account of this sermon. The following is the transcription from the Joseph
Smith papers series:
Jan 30[th] [1842] Joseph
the Seer taught the following principles that the God & father of our lord
Jesus Christ was once the same as the Son or Holy Ghost bothaving [both having]
redeemed a world became the eternal God or that world he had a son Jesus Christ
who redeemd this earth the same as his father had a world which made them equal
& the Holy Ghost would do the same in his turn & so would all the
saints who inherited a Celestial glory so their would be Gods many & Lords
many their were many mansions even 12 from the abode of Devils to the Celestial
glory All spirits that have bodies have power over those that have not hence
men have power over Devils &c (The
Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Vol. 9: December 1841 – April 1842, eds.
Alex D. Smith, Christian K. Heimburger, and Christopher James Blythe [Salt Lake
City: Church Historian's Press, 2019], 129)
