Administer to Their Relief

In a recent podcast, Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat described the organization of the Relief Society. In particular, he told of the discussion that was had originally about the name of this female organization of the Church. As he laid it out, here was what happened (this was described in detailed minutes of the meeting): 

·         Sarah Cleveland, a counselor in the presidency, moved that the name be called “the Nauvoo Female Relief Society.”

·         John Taylor suggested an amendment to change the name to “the Nauvoo Female Benevolent Society.” Brother Dirkmaat commented, “It was a pretty common            way of talking about charitable organizations in the 19th               century. Benevolent meaning it’s a 

charitable society that's gonna do good works.” The motion was passed and the name was changed.

·         Emma Smith suggested that she wanted to discuss benevolent vs. relief.

·         Joseph Smith spoke up and argued for the term benevolent, suggesting that if they used the term relief the enemies of the church might construe it to mean that the Church was trying to relieve criminals from punishment. He highlighted that the term benevolent was a more popular term and would be well-known to those outside the Church. Dr. Dirkmaat suggested the Joseph was being sensitive to not give any additional fuel to the enemies of the Church through the name of the organization.

·         Emma, though, disagreed. She argued that the reason they shouldn’t use the word benevolent was exactly because it was popular. Dr. Dirkmaat related, “No person can think of the word as associated with public institutions without thinking of the Washington Benevolent Society, which was one of the most corrupt institutions of the day.” Emma argued for a name that no other organization had, not wanted it called after the societies of the world.

·         After that Joseph arose and stated that he had no objection to the word relief.    

·         Sarah Cleveland remarked that we should not regard the idle words of our enemies. In other words, we shouldn’t do things based on what our enemies might think.

·         Eliza R. Snow spoke and concurred with Emma, saying that there were many existing societies that used the term benevolent which were corrupt. She argued that the popular institutions of the time should not be their guide but that they were daughters of Zion who should be setting the example for the world. She acknowledged that one objection to the word relief was that it implied dealing only with great calamities and extraordinary occurrences instead of the everyday kind of challenges which they of course wanted to address.

·         Emma responded by saying that indeed they were going to do something extraordinary and that their society would help in both cases: the urgent calamities and the common needs.

·         John Taylor conceded and said that their arguments were so potent he could not stand before them, accepting the term relief.

·         Joseph Smith concurred and declared that all he had to give to the poor he would give to this society.

·         Finally it was moved and approved that the name be the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo. 

This is a powerful example of what a council system should look like, and it is instructive to see that even with Joseph there as the prophet they didn’t just do what he said in the beginning. His opinion was changed as they counseled together. And this shows the powerful vision that these sisters had to be something different from the world and to do the work of the Lord to relieve suffering wherever they found it. It is interesting to note that the word benevolent only appears once in the scriptures (in the 13^th article of faith), whereas relief is much more common. Jacob taught, “And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted” (Jacob 2:19). King Benjamin similarly encouraged his people, “I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants” (Mosiah 4:26). In the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord said, “And they shall look to the poor and the needy, and administer to their relief that they shall not suffer” (38:35). He also declared, “Behold, I say unto you, that ye must visit the poor and the needy and administer to their relief, that they may be kept until all things may be done according to my law which ye have received” (44:6). It makes sense that this scriptural term would ultimately win the day and become part of the name of the women’s organization of the Church. And since that time, the Relief Society has indeed done extraordinary things to relieve the suffering of countless individuals.