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Letter to William W. Phelps, 22 July 1840

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , [, Montgomery Co., OH], 22 July 1840. Featured version copied [ca. 22 July 1840] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 157–158; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.

Historical Introduction

On 22 July 1840, JS wrote a letter to , who was then living in , Ohio. Phelps had been a prominent leader in the but was excommunicated in March 1839 after he testified against JS and other church leaders in a November 1838 hearing in . In June 1840, Phelps sent a letter to JS requesting forgiveness for his past actions and asking to be readmitted into the church. Phelps’s letter was accompanied by a letter from and , two members of the , who were preaching in Dayton. Hyde and Page supported Phelps’s attempt to regain fellowship within the church, stating that Phelps was “willing to make any sacrifice” to become a member of the church again. Phelps’s letter was read before the Saints on Sunday, 19 July 1840, and the congregation voted “with one voice and uplifted hands” to restore him to fellowship. JS wrote this letter three days later to inform Phelps of the decision and to express his personal joy at Phelps’s repentance.
The original letter is not extant. copied it into JS Letterbook 2 before the letter was sent.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Phelps was also excommunicated in March 1838 but apparently was reinstated later that year. (Minute Book 2, 10 Mar. 1838; Revelation, 8 July 1838–B.)

  2. [2]

    Letter from William W. Phelps, with Appended Letter from Orson Hyde and John E. Page, 29 June 1840.

  3. [3]

    Editorial, Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1841, 2:304.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  4. [4]

    Thompson recorded this letter and Phelps’s June 1840 letter to JS immediately following a note dated 4 July 1840. (Note, 4 July 1840, in JS Letterbook 2, p. 154.)

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter to William W. Phelps, 22 July 1840 Letterbook 2 History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 158

the day of thy brother, in the day that he became a stranger neither shouldst thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress”
However the cup has been drunk, the will of our heavenly Father has been done, and we are yet alive for which we thank the Lord. And having been delivered from the hands of wicked men by the mercy of our God, we say it is your privilidge to be delivered from the power of the Adversary— be brought into the liberty of God’s dear children, and again take your stand among the saints of the Most High, and by diligence humility and love unfeigned, commend yourself to our God and your God and to the
Believing your confession to be real and your repentance genuine, I shall be happy once again to give you the right hand of fellowship, and rejoice over the returning prodigal.
Your letter was read to the saints last sunday and an expression of their feeling was taken, when it was unanimously resolved that should be received into fellowship.
“Come on dear Brother since the war is past,
For friends at first are friends again at last.”
Yours as Ever
Joseph Smith Jr [p. 158]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

Page 158

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to William W. Phelps, 22 July 1840
ID #
555
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:345–348
Handwriting on This Page
  • Robert B. Thompson

Footnotes

  1. [8]

    See Obadiah 1:11–12.

  2. [9]

    See Luke 22:42.

  3. [10]

    In April 1839, a grand jury in Daviess County, Missouri, indicted JS and other church leaders for treason, riot, arson, burglary, and receiving stolen goods. On their way to Boone County, Missouri, where the trial was set to occur, the prisoners escaped. On 22 April 1839, they crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois, where they rejoined the main body of the Saints. (JS, “Extract, from the Private Journal of Joseph Smith Jr.,” Times and Seasons, July 1839, 1:7; JS, Journal, 22–23 Apr. 1839.)

  4. [11]

    See Daniel 7:18, 22, 25, 27; Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:66]; Revelation, 26 Apr. 1832 [D&C 82:13]; and Letter to William W. Phelps, 27 Nov. 1832 [D&C 85:11].

  5. [12]

    See 2 Corinthians 6:6; 1 Peter 1:22; and Letter to Edward Partridge and the Church, ca. 22 Mar. 1839 [D&C 121:41].

  6. [13]

    See Luke 15:11–32. Phelps had opened his letter to JS by stating, “I am as the prodigal Son,” and Hyde and Page had referred to Phelps as “a returning prodigal” in their postscript. (Letter from William W. Phelps, with Appended Letter from Orson Hyde and John E. Page, 29 June 1840.)

  7. [14]

    JS paraphrased a poem written by Methodist poet and hymnist Charles Wesley titled “An Epistle to the Reverend Mr. George Whitefield”: “Come on, my Whitefield! (since the strife is past, / And friends at first are friends again at last.)” (Charles Wesley, “An Epistle to the Reverend Mr. George Whitefield,” in Osborn, Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, 67, emphasis in original.)

    Osborn, G. The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley: Reprinted from the Originals, with the Last Corrections of the Authors; together with the Poems of Charles Wesley Not before Published. Vol. 6. London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870.

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