TO WILLIAM W. PHELPS
1833 JANUARY 11

FC Joseph Smith, Kirtland, Ohio, to William W. Phelps, Independence, Missouri, 11 January 1833, in Joseph Smith Letterbook 1, pp. 18-20, in hand of Frederick G. Williams, Joseph Smith Collection, LDS Church Archives.

Kirtland January 11-1833

Bro Brother William

I Send you the Olieve leaf461 which we have plucked from the tree of Paradise, the Lords message of peace to us, for though our Brethren in Zion, indulge in feelings towards us, which are not according to the requirements of the new covenant yet we have the satisfaction of knowing that the Lord approves of us & has accepted us, & established his name in kirtland [p. 18] for the salvation of the nations, for the Lord will have a place from whence his word will go forth in these last days in purity, for if Zion, will not purify herself so as to be approved of in all things in his sight he will seek another people for his work will go on untill Isreal is gathered & they who will not hear his voice must expect to feel his wrath, Let me say unto you, seek to purefy yourselves, & also all the inhabitants of Zion lest the Lords anger be kindled to fierceness, repent, repent, is the voice of God, to Zion, & yet strange as it may appear, yet it is true mankind will presist in self Justification until all their eniquity is exposed & their character past being redeemed, & that which is treasured up in their hearts be exposed to the gaze of mankind, I say to you (& what I say to you, I say to all) hear the <warning> voice of God lest Zion fall, & the Lord swear in his wrath the inhabitants of Zion shall not enter into my rest, The Brethren in Kirtland pray for you unceasingly, for knowing the terrors of the Lord, they greatly fear for you; you will see that the Lord commanded us in Kirtland to build an house of God, & establish a school for the Prophets, this is the word of the Lord to us, & we must yea the Lord helping us we will obey, as on conditions of our obedience, he has promised <us> great things, yea <even> a visit from the heavens to honor us with his own presence, we greatly fear before the Lord lest we should fail of this great honor which our master proposes to confer on us, we are seeking for humility & great faith lest we be ashamed in his presence, our hearts are greatly greaved at the spirit which is breathed both in your letter & that of Bro G s the very spirit which is wasting the strength of Zion like a pestalence, and if it is not detected & driven from you it will ripen Zion for the threatened Judgments of God, remember God sees the secret springs of human action, & knows the hearts of all living, Br suffer us to speak plainly for God has respect to the feelings of his saints & he will not let them be tantalized with impunity. tell Br G t that low insinuations God hates, but he rejoices in an honest heart and knows better who is guilty than he does, we send him this worning voice & let him fear greatly for himself lest a worse thing overtake him, all we can say by way of conclusion is, if the fountain of our tears are not dried up we will <still> weep for Zion, this from your brother who trembles greatly for Zion, and for the wrath of heaven which awaits her if she repent not,

P. S. I am not in the habit of crying peace, when there is no peace, and knowing the th[r]eatened Judgments of God. I say Wo, unto them who are at ease [p. 19] in zion fearfulness will speedily lay hold of the hypocrite, I did not expect that you had lost commandments, but thought from your letters you had neglected to read them, otherwise you would not have writen as you did, it is in vain to try to hide a bad spirit from the eyes of them who are spiritual for it will shewe itself in speaking & in writing as well as all our other conduct, it is also useless to mak[e] great pretentions when the heart is not right before God, for God looks at the heart, and where the heart is not right the Lord will expose it to the view of his faithful saints, we wish you to render the Star as interesting as possable by setting forth the rise progress and faith of the church, as well as the doctrine for if you donnot render it more interesting than at present it will fall, and the church suffer a great Loss thereby

Joseph Smith Jr