Eliza R. Snow copies contents of a scrap of paper in an unknown hand found prior to a Relief Society meeting and containing Masonic language.

Date: Mar 17, 1842
Type: Meeting Minutes / Notes
Source: Unknown
LDS
Hearsay: Holograph
Reference: Eliza Roxcy Snow, Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book, 1842–1844, The Joseph Smith Papers website, p. 4, accessed April 7, 2023.
Scribe/Publisher: Eliza R. Snow
People: Eliza R. Snow, Unknown
Audience: Relief Society
Transcription: A
Book of Records.
Containing
the proceedings
of
The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo.
[4 lines blank]
The following appropriate frontispiece, was found lying on an open Bible, in the room appropriated for the Society; at its first meeting.
<Written on a scrap.>
“O, Lord! help our widows, and fatherless children! So mote it be. Amen. With the sword, and the word of truth, defend thou them. So mote it be. Amen.”
[7 lines blank]
This Book,
was politely presented to the Society by
Elder W[illard] Richards;
on the 17th of March, AD. 1842.
[3 lines blank] [p. 4]
[page 5 blank] [p. 5]
Source Link: https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book/27#full-transcript
BHR Staff Commentary: The scrap of paper found in the room containing the Masonic phrase "So mote it be" and a possible allusion to Hiram Abiff ("fatherless children") was likely left on the pulpit after Joseph Smith's initiation into Freemasonry the previous day. The phrase "So mote it be" originally came from a piece of medieval verse that was picked up by Masons. The open Bible is a standard piece of Masonic furnishing in a Lodge. Recognizing the sentiments on the paper as "appropriate" to the mission of the Relief Society, it was copied into the frontispiece of the minutes book.
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