with the requirements of them in not obtaining reccommends &c4seccondy [secondly], that thechurchshould procede to receiveWm McLelin [William E. McLellin]into there fellowship & communion on any other conditions, then the filling his mission to the South countries according to the commandment of Jesus Christ, I cite your minds to thise saying he that loveth Father or Mother wife & Children more than me is not worthy of me thus saith the Lord5Thirdly the unorganized & confused state in leaving here, and the evil surmisings which were among them & neglect of duty &c6more then this I do not wish to mention, now therefore the buffitings of the advasary be upon all those <​among you​> who are eniquitous persons and rebelious, I would inform you them they do not have my right hand of fellowship, but I will leave this subject for will not my God and your God do right, I return to your letter you informed me slightly that you heard of the accident tobroth [Newel K.] WhitneyatGreenvillIdn. [Indiana]7A question how did you hear, did any of you receive letters writen by any of us informing you of the critical situation we were placed in, if so how did you treat them if not so have you writen to us to give us that information which would be calculated to releave the mind of its painful anxciety concerning you, whether that fellowship and brotherly love continued among you towards us which you professed when we left you, it is true we received a letter from broth[e]rJohn Carl [Corrill]by the hand ofBroth [Sidney] Gilbertafter we arived home from Indiana who had arived here before us,8but what did it contain, it gave us this inteligence, that the Devel had been to work with all his inventive immagination to reward us for our toils in travling from this country toZionamidst a crooked & preverse generation9leaving our familys in affliction amidst of death upon the mercy of mobs & of brethren who you know sometimes are found to be u[n]stable unbeleiving, unmerciful & unkind, and in this trying situation to keeping the commandment of God we took our lives in our hands and traveled through evry combination of wickedness to your country for your salvation10& for our travail & our toils, suffering & privations as I said before [p. 2] we learned byBroth Johns letter that the devel had set to work to reward us by stirring up your hearts (I mean those who were engaged in this wickedness) by raking up evry fault, which those eyes that are filled with beams could see in looking for motes11in the eyes of those who are laboring with tender and <​prayerful​> hearts continually for there salvation, and not being content with bringing up those things which had been settled & forgiven & which they dare not bring to our faces but many with which we were charged with were absolutely false & could not come from any other sourse than the fath[e]r of all lies12& this is the thanks & the reward the advisary saught to reward us by the instrumantality of those who should have been our staff & after our detention on the road I often times wandered alone in the lonely places seeking consolation of him who is <​alone​> able to console me,13while my belovedBrothe[r] Whitney(who is without gile) poured out his soul with much weeping upon his pillow14for you or forZionwhile I in <​the​> lonely places communed with him whi[c]h who is altogeth[e]r lovely15witnessed your case & viewed the conspiricy16with much grief and learned the displeasure of heaven and veewed the frowns of the heavenly hosts uponzion& upon all the earth, and my Brethren I would inform you that I do not fellowship the letter which was writen to me byBro. John& neither the spirit thereof, I do not plead guilty of the charges made against me in that letter. I have not given occasion of offence to the brethren or sisters inzion, neither of Jealousy, or evel surmisings. I have ever been filled with the greatest anxiety for them, & have taken the greatest intrest for there welfare. I am a lover of the cause of Christ and of Virtue chastity and an upright steady course of conduct & a holy walk, I dispise a hypocrite or a covenant breaker, I judge them not, God shall Judge them according to there works, I am a lover even of mine enimies for an enimy seeketh to destroy openly, I can pray for those who dispitefully use and persicute me,17but for all I can not hope, and now I conjure you and exhort mine accusers and the hypocrite inzionin the love of Christ [p. 3] yea in the name of Jesus of Nazreth to remember the covenant which they have made with God, and to me18& repent of there iniquities and give satisfaction to the innocent whom they have injured I appeal to your conciences, and if appealing to your conciences by all the ties which bind man to man which are st[r]onger than death will not open your eyes & let you see the stand state & standing which you are in and bring you to repentance I then appeal to a higher court even the court of heaven the tribunal of the great God & there I & my Brethren (I mean BrothSidney [Rigdon]&Newel) will meet them you to be weighed in the ballance and there the innocent shall not suffer and the guilty go unpunished for the Lord God Almighty will do right I bear you record that myselfBro Sidney&Newelas far as any thing that I know have ever maintained the purest desires for your welfare and do still our object in going tozionwas altogether to keep thecommandmentsof God the most high, whenBro Sidneylearned the feelings of the Brethren in whom he had placed so much confidence for whom he had endured so much fateague & suffering & whom he loved with so much love his heart was grieved his spirits failed & for a moment he became frantick & the advisary taking the advantage, he spake unadvisedly with his lips19after receiving a severe chastisement resigned his commision and became a private member in thechurch, but has since repented like Peter of old and after a little suffering by the buffiting of thesatanhas been restored to his high standing in the church of God,20now this is a warning to all to whom this knowledge may come, and he that thinks he stands, let him take heed least he fall,21tellBro Edward [Partridge]it is very dangerous for men who have received that the light he has received to be a seeking a <​after​> sign, for there shall no sign be given for a sign except as it was in the days of Lot. God sent angels to gather him & his family out of Sodom while the wicked were distroyed by a devouring fire22behold this is an exsample; but I must return to your letter again you complain that there have already [p. 4] to[o] many deciples arived there for the means,23tellbrothe[r] Edwardto remember Ananias & Sophria,24remember also that your own wickedness hedge up your own ways, you Suffer your children; your ignorant & unstable Sisters, & weak members who are acquainted with your evil hearts of unbelief to write wicked and discouraging letters to there reletives who have a zeal but <​not​> according to knowledge25and prophe[s]y falsly which excites many to believe that you are putting up the Indians to slay theGentiles26which exposes the lives of the Saints evry where you observe that God has been merciful, very true then never forget to revere his holy name for ever, that circumstances are as well with you as they are, you requested me to preserve all the origeonal copies of thecommandments, my reasons for not sending the remainder, & also the Vision27I think will give you satisfaction towards me I have much care and tribulation calculated to weigh down and distroy the mind and in times past they have been snatched from under my hand as soon as given I will send them to you as soon as possable, but I will exhort you to be careful not to alter the sense of any of them for he that adds or diminishes to the prop[h]ecies must come under the condemnation writen therein,28you mention concerning the translation29I would inform you that they will not go from under my hand during my natural life for correction, revisel or printing and the will of [the] Lord be done therefore you need not expect them this fall,Brother Frederickin [is] employed to be a scribe for me of the Lord—30we have finished the translation of the New testament great and marvilous glorious things are revealed, we are making rapid strides in the old book31and in the strength of God we can do all things according to his will the rage of the enemy is abating in this regeon of the country and while God is rem[em]bering mercy unto us and making us mighty to the pulling down the strong holds ofSatan, having sent down the Angel of God to trouble the waters that a few more sick folk may be healed32he is streaching forth his hand in awful [p. 5] Judgment upon all the face of the earth, we have information which may be relyed upon that the cholera is cutting down its hundreds in the city ofNew Yorkpr day also is raging in Boston Charleston Rochiste [Rochester]Albany &Buffaloand in all the large citys in the eastern countrys33we have Just received a letter from sister Elmira Scoba [Almira Mack Scobey]who is now atDetroitto visit her friends she states that the cholera is raging in that city to an alarming degree, hundreds of families are a fleeing to the country and the country people have become alarmed and torn up the bridges and stopped all communication and even shot peoples horses down under them who attempt to cross the river on any express two steam boats loaded with troops for the Indian expedition while going up [the] Detroit river the cholera made its attact [attack] upon the soldiers about fifty died the rest disbanded (about six hundred in number) and the last account we have of them they could find no quarters among the inhabitants and were a dying in the sheds and fields and nobody to bury them35while between us and you the Indians are a spreading death and devastation wherever they go no force has as yet been brought sufficient to stand before them36frequent cases of the cholera occures on steem boats and <​othe[r]​> water crafts on the Lakes the dysentary and the Cholera Morbus are the prevailing deseases as far as our information extends and is so malignent that it baffles the skill of the most eminent Phisicians we have news from our brethren who have gone to the east God is with them pulling down the strong holds ofSatantwo brethren are here from the east New hampshire & one fromVermontwho areEldersand worthy young men who were brought in by the hands of Bros.Lyman Johnson&Orison [Orson] Prattwho are like Peter & John building up the cause of God wherever they go and healing the sick they havebaptizedbetter then sixty since they left here37we also here [hear] from many others whose good success in gaining converts to the redeemers [p. 6] cause is a proof of there faithfulness in the high calling I would exhort BrosOliver [Cowdery]& John to be ware of saducing spirits38and stand firm in the liberty wherein they have been set free39and never be weary in well doing40which is also my exhortation to all those inzionthat love the appearing of our Lord and saviour Jesus christ.41I [w]ent42toKirtlandlast week and held a meeting on the Lords day and found the brethren strong in the faith and enjoying the sweet influence of the holy spirit cheering there hearts and enlarging ther understandings and binding there souls togethe[r] that nothing but death can break asunder43we found the brethren in the injoyment of tolerable health except Siste[r] Elliott whom the Doctors <​(two of them)​>44had given over &Bro Sidney[’s] secconddaughte[r]45but were restored to health by the preayer of faith,46Father [John] Johnsons family & mine are enjoying tolerable health inso much we cannot complain. Sister Sarah Jackson47came to live with me us yesterday you have the prayers of us all day daily and I think I can say almost hourly and in this day of calamity the saints & sinner hearts are almost failing them for fear48and are crying to whom shall we go or whethe [whither] shall we flee O my God spare Zion that it may be a place of Reffuge and of safety.49I have a partickuler request to make of BroJohn Whitmerthat is as soon as you receive this letter for him to assertain the exact number of Deciples that have arived inzion& how many have received thereinheritenceand the stat[e]50and standing of eachbrancho[f]51thechurchand of this inteligence communicate to us as soon as it can be done by letter such as is not wisdom to publish in the paper,52I exhortBro John [Whitmer]also to remember the commandment to him to keep a history of the church & thegathering53and be sure to shew him self approoved whereunto he hath been called54

This is a copy of a letter writen to BrothWm PhelpsJuly 31— 1832 fromHyramexcept a few words on the wrapper by way of exhortation complementary &c

Joseph Smith Jr. [p. 7]

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